Posts by NikL

17

So according to the bible, "believing" is enough to have everlasting life.

by NikL in

i am certain this has been brought up many times before.

according to john 6.... 44 no man can come to me unless the father, who sent me, draws him,+ and i will resurrect him on the last day.+ 45 it is written in the prophets: ‘they will all be taught by jehovah.+ everyone who has listened to the father and has learned comes to me.

46 not that any man has seen the father,+ except the one who is from god; this one has seen the father.+ 47 most truly i say to you, whoever believes has everlasting life.+.

NikL

The Bible also says that "Faith without works is dead"

And those works are?

17

So according to the bible, "believing" is enough to have everlasting life.

by NikL in

i am certain this has been brought up many times before.

according to john 6.... 44 no man can come to me unless the father, who sent me, draws him,+ and i will resurrect him on the last day.+ 45 it is written in the prophets: ‘they will all be taught by jehovah.+ everyone who has listened to the father and has learned comes to me.

46 not that any man has seen the father,+ except the one who is from god; this one has seen the father.+ 47 most truly i say to you, whoever believes has everlasting life.+.

NikL

I am certain this has been brought up many times before.

According to John 6...

44 No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him,+ and I will resurrect him on the last day.+ 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by Jehovah.+ Everyone who has listened to the Father and has learned comes to me. 46 Not that any man has seen the Father,+ except the one who is from God; this one has seen the Father.+ 47 Most truly I say to you, whoever believes has everlasting life.+

The word translated "believe" in verse 47 is πιστεύων

47 ἀμὴν Amen ἀμὴν amen λέγω I am saying ὑμῖν, to YOU, ὁ the (one) πιστεύων believing ἔχει is having ζωὴν life αἰώνιον. everlasting.

Yet the NWT translates the same word differently on a much more famous scripture which we all know...

16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son,+ so that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.+

16 Οὕτως Thus γὰρ for ἠγάπησεν loved ὁ the θεὸς God τὸν the κόσμον world ὥστε as-and τὸν the υἱὸν Son τὸν the μονογενῆ only-begotten ἔδωκεν, he gave, ἵνα in order that πᾶς everyone ὁ the πιστεύων believing εἰς into αὐτὸν him μὴ not ἀπόληται might be destroyed ἀλλὰ but ἔχῃ may have ζωὴν life αἰώνιον. everlasting.

Faith and believing are not the same thing and it's not even what they're own interlinear says!

I am no student of Greek but the scriptures seem to be pretty clear.

Whoever believes is eligible for everlasting life.

22

Those married to "still in" JWs

by NikL in

jw
friends

kind of got into it with my jw wife last night for the first time in a long time.. i try to not engage in conversations about doctrinal matters unless she asks me which she did.. anyway, i wont go into details but of course i am "not going to change her mind" and "why is it that you can't see when very smart people can?

" yada yada yada.

you probably can imagine.. it makes me so depressed.

NikL

@Ding

It seems like there are two possibilities:
1. You stop going to the meetings with her.
2. You go to the meetings but don't say anything critical about them.
Have you asked her (not in a sarcastic way) which she would prefer?
If she'd rather you not go at all, then you won't have to go to any more meetings.

Those very thoughts went through my head around 2:15 this morning

22

Those married to "still in" JWs

by NikL in

jw
friends

kind of got into it with my jw wife last night for the first time in a long time.. i try to not engage in conversations about doctrinal matters unless she asks me which she did.. anyway, i wont go into details but of course i am "not going to change her mind" and "why is it that you can't see when very smart people can?

" yada yada yada.

you probably can imagine.. it makes me so depressed.

NikL

Thanks for all the kind words everyone.

The thing is this isn't anything new. I've been inactive for over 25 years.

I went for years not going to meetings but she had a nervous breakdown a few years ago and basically begged me to go with her.

I did and it was fine. I even started to think they had changed the things I was against and were moving in a positive direction.

I think she began to feel the change in me and was happy.

First assembly I went to with her in years was the one on imitating Jesus a couple years ago. I kid of liked a lot of what they talked about. They stressed looking at Jesus and making "him" our focus.

The following years assembly was like a complete reversal it seemed to me.

Then came the Australian Royal commission. I happened to find it online by accident. Wasn't searching for "apostate" stuff.

Geoffrey Jackson said it was "presumptuous" to say they were gods spokesperson on earth. I thought wow, cool.

But then came articles and WT studies that proved he didn't mean what he said. making him a liar.

Then I slipped back into the apostate world. I've been a member of this board since the 90s and I jumped right back in.

Ironic thing is that I've been reading scripture much more then I ever did as a JW. I had previously just threw it all out of my life. Now I feel like a "christian" again.

She noticed a difference when I stopped praying with her and reading daily text with her and stuff.

I think she still wants me to do those things with her but I felt like a hypocrite not having her know my true feelings.

Maybe now that she does we can get back to those things.

I guess time will tell.

22

Those married to "still in" JWs

by NikL in

jw
friends

kind of got into it with my jw wife last night for the first time in a long time.. i try to not engage in conversations about doctrinal matters unless she asks me which she did.. anyway, i wont go into details but of course i am "not going to change her mind" and "why is it that you can't see when very smart people can?

" yada yada yada.

you probably can imagine.. it makes me so depressed.

NikL

Kind of got into it with my JW wife last night for the first time in a long time.

I try to not engage in conversations about doctrinal matters unless she asks me which she did.

Anyway, I wont go into details but of course I am "not going to change her mind" and "why is it that you can't see when very smart people can?" Yada yada yada. You probably can imagine.

It makes me so depressed. There is this huge wedge between us and we are supposed to be "one flesh".

I go with her to meetings to be supportive and she made comments like "why do you go if you just look to criticize?"

The worst part of it is that I felt totally fuzzy in my head. Like I couldn't argue my point well. I began to actually feel like "what is wrong with me?".

She actually seems okay this morning but I am not. I am finding myself nervous and depressed. I had a nightmare last night and I am sure I was yelling in my sleep though my wife is a heavy sleeper and didn't notice.

I am not sure what the point of this post is. Maybe hear from those that have still in spouses and how you deal with this vary dicey situation?

12

Watchtowers Real Estate Website...www.watchtowerbrooklynrealestate.com/

by NikL in

jw
friends

is this for real?.

https://www.watchtowerbrooklynrealestate.com/.

apologies if this has been brought up before..

NikL

Yeah, you are probably right.

It is so depressing

12

Watchtowers Real Estate Website...www.watchtowerbrooklynrealestate.com/

by NikL in

jw
friends

is this for real?.

https://www.watchtowerbrooklynrealestate.com/.

apologies if this has been brought up before..

NikL

How would the average rank and file publisher feel about this if they found out do you think?

12

Watchtowers Real Estate Website...www.watchtowerbrooklynrealestate.com/

by NikL in

jw
friends

is this for real?.

https://www.watchtowerbrooklynrealestate.com/.

apologies if this has been brought up before..

NikL

Is this for real?

https://www.watchtowerbrooklynrealestate.com/

Apologies if this has been brought up before.

12

Spiritual food from the org on the same level as the Bible?

by CitizenofEarth in

hello to you all again.. i just told my father:"be carefull that you do not put the so called spiritual food at the same level, or on the same pedestal, as the bible.

it is clear to me that they are not.

" to me, at the moment, this is self evident.

NikL

It's one of the many things that bother me as well. Whenever a talk is given it seems like there is always an instance of the speaker using and quoting something from WT publications just as they would when quoting scripture.

17

Do JW members follow any directive from GB blindly?

by Da.Furious in

following from the worldwide campaign to send letters to the russian government: topic covered here.. i started observing a scary trend, i got around 100 messages on multiple messaging apps, facebook and other social media posts encouraging all jws to send letter to the russian government protesting on the ban with the hope they will overturn it.. what struck me is that all are doing it and encouraging others to do it.

so, what if the gb via jw.org request something like street protests, civil disobedience, to the extreme of voting for or against a particular law or fighting (far-fetched).. what would the jw membership do, not the awakened one?

in addition, i feel this exercise exposes the awakened ones.

NikL

In answer to your question. They are SUPPOSED to.

As to the letter writing campaign, my wife mentioned it this morning and what I found interesting is how we are supposed to remain neutral as to governmental affairs but it's okay if it's something like this.

The other thing is that it might backfire. Remember the letters sent to Hitler back in the day. History showed it made things worse.

The answer I gave my wife was "it's only stuff". That's what they are wanting to protect is their property. At least that's what it seems to me.