Afraid I don't have any explanation, SA, just the same questions.
outnfree
outnfree
JoinedPosts by outnfree
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10
The Ransome Issue
by Amazing infrom a very young age i have been curious about the ransom jesus provided.
i always wondered why god found it necessary to have his son killed for our sins or our inherited sin, when he simply could have just waved his hand and forgiven us.
my catholic faith helped me some to understand the 'financial' exchange aspect of the ransom, but it was never truly satisfying to my sensibilities.. upon becoming a jw, i felt that they had better ideas and definitions.
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my intro and 1st impression of Memorial
by BlueDanube ini'm a new member but have been a lurker for some time, even more so since witnet went down.. i have never been a jw, though i have a couple family members on my side who are, also my inlaws and my inactive jw husband.
right now i'm studying though it's more out of learning about them and finding out what makes them tick rather than joining.
also the jws are the only religion that my husband would allow me to get involved with.
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outnfree
Hey, Blue,
Looks like you need to talk, talk, talk with your husband about what each of you believe and how you're going to worship and raise your child.
Keep that level head while you're figuring out how you're going to deal with the dad-in-law & family when they won't celebrate holidays, etc., with you and they begin trying to indoctrinate your daughter.
Who are you studying with? Not your a relative, I hope? You may be raising false hopes with her and de-entangling yourself will be that much stickier.
And when you said that your husband wouldn't let you be any other religion, did you perhaps mean that he didn't feel he could go along with you in any other religion? In other words, that he would decline to participate in any other religion? I'm getting a feeling that he just isn't all that interested in ANY religion, because of his "Sunday Social Club" statement about even Witness meetings.
In which case, if you'll be on your own, RUN, don't walk, away from your study and the Kingdom Hall.
Just my opinion,
outnfree -
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my intro and 1st impression of Memorial
by BlueDanube ini'm a new member but have been a lurker for some time, even more so since witnet went down.. i have never been a jw, though i have a couple family members on my side who are, also my inlaws and my inactive jw husband.
right now i'm studying though it's more out of learning about them and finding out what makes them tick rather than joining.
also the jws are the only religion that my husband would allow me to get involved with.
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outnfree
Trouble posting, sorry!
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outnfree
I have a question for Wayne: WHY ARE YOU HERE?
You are ALLOWED to be here, granted, because of your DF'd state. You are even WELCOME here, even though not all of your views will be tolerated or accepted. But if you so fervently believe that the FDS and the WTS are God's workers here on earth, WHY are you NOT LISTENING TO THEIR DIRECTIVES? You are not supposed to be mingling with apostates. Espcially not on the internet, where you're not even supposed to go to sites that are for happy & active JWs. In fact, you're not even supposed to spread encouraging stories that you may have received via e-mail from people you DO know, because you can't be certain that the stories are true (would a Witness LIE?!!!) Doing any of these things will CERTAINLY hinder you from working your way back in!!!
If you do equate the law of Christ with the a-nationalistic organization that is the Watchtower, then you really should not be here.
So why are you?Just wondering,
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High priced Kingdom Halls
by JWD init`s been interesting watching the org.
trying different ways to make money while at the same time keeping up a front of not being interested in money.
especially since they were forced to drop the.
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outnfree
Welcome, Jerry. Your voice of experience is and will be again (I hope) appreciated on this Discussion Board.
outnfree
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cult?
by hannibal inwhy does it matter if j/ws are clssifyed as a cult or not,sure thay are.but wasnt the foundation of cristianty a cult,12 following one man?
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outnfree
Welcome to you, too, Abaddon!
outnfree
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cult?
by hannibal inwhy does it matter if j/ws are clssifyed as a cult or not,sure thay are.but wasnt the foundation of cristianty a cult,12 following one man?
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outnfree
Hannibal,
Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary would agree with you, because it equates a cult with a sect, that is, "a group of devoted followers."However, for this board's purposes we are talking about a destructive, mind-controlling cult, where there is a closed society, a "we are special" mentality, a "nobody has the truth but us" outlook, where the leadership is not to be questioned because it is God's mouthpiece, where to read anything but society-published or -approved materials is taboo, and where fear of leaving is engendered because the world outside is SO wicked and you will not reap the cult's promised reward (whatever that is -- in the JW world it's surviving Armaggedon and having a shot at living forever in paradise).
I hope that clear it up for you, and welcome to the board.
outnfree
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tears of sorrow, tears of joy
by Mommie Dark incoming out of this religion nearly killed me.
every single core belief i ever held has been mangled, strangled, drawn&quartered, dipped in pitch and burnt and reduced to carbon ash.
my mind and heart got buried in the soulquake; a protoplasmic blob of rage of pain of stifled grief was all that remained of the human who was born me in lodi ohio.
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outnfree
Poets are born of despair!
Your post was very touching.
Yes, rejoice at Brenda's willingness to assist your dying ex-JW sister! Out of their renewed relationship and fanned embers of love you, too, may have regained BOTH of your sisters. Little by little, Brenda may see what the Society has robber her of.
I have prayed for that outcome, whatever that is worth to you, MD.
And may your journey to that Clear Calm Center make you happier than you've ever been!
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What's Right about "Right?"
by Farkel inhang on, folks.
if a) is true then god is arbitrary: anything he says is right, is right.
so you admit that gods decisions are purely arbitrary?.
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outnfree
How about this from a book I'm reading about Freemasonry? (My paternal grandfather was involved in this, so I thought I'd have a look.)
"Albert Pike (1809-1891) was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a teacher and a Brigadier General in the Civil War. Later, he was tried for treason. He held the highest office in Scottish Rite Masonry and rewrote all Scottish right rituals which are still practiced today. These rituals are pagan and occultic in design. Mr. Pike was an admitted Luciferian, believing that two co-equal Gods exist in the universe; Lucifer, the god of good and light, and Adonay, the Christian god, who rules evil and darkness.
"'The religious beliefs of Albert Pike should be considered as they are found in the instructions issued by him on July 4, 1889 to the twenty-three Supreme Councils of the world. That which we must say to the crowd is - We worship a God, but it is the God that one adores without superstition. To you, Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, we say this, that you may repeat it to the Brethren of the 32nd, 31st, and 30th degrees -- The Masonic religion should be, by all of us initiates of the high degrees, maintained in the purity of the Luciferian doctrine. If Lucifer were not God, would Adonay (The God of the Christians) whose deeds prove his cruelty, perfidy, and hatred of man, barbarism and repulsion for science, would Adonay and his priests, calumniate him? Yes, Lucifer is God and unfortunately Adonay is also God. For the eternal law is that there is no light without shade, no beauty without ugliness, no white without black, for the absolute can only exist as two Gods: darkness being necessary to light to serve as its foil as the pedestal is necessary to the statue, and the brake to the locomotive. In analogical and universal dynamics one can only lean on that which will resist. Thus the universe is balanced by two forces which maintain its equilibrium: the force of attraction and that of repulsion. These two forces exist in physics, philosophy and religion. And the scientific reality of the divine dualism is demonstrated by the phenomena of polarity and by the univeral law of sympathies and antipathies. That is why the intelligent disciples of Zoroaster, as well as, after them, the Gnostics, the Manicheans and the Templars have admitted, as the only logical metaphysical conception, the system of the two diving principles fighting eternally, and one cannot believe the one inferior in power to the other. Thus, the doctrine of Satanism is a heresy; and the true and pure philosophic religion is the belief in Lucifer, the equal Adonay; but Lucifer, God of Light and God of Goo, is struggling for humanity against Adonay, the God of Darkness and Evil. At the time of this declaration, Pike accepted simultaneously the positions of Grand Master of the Central Directory of Washington, Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of Charleston and Sovereign Pontiff of Universal Freemasonry. He is looked upon today as the foremost literary genius of Masonry and is probably best known for his famous work Morals and Dogman.'"
Ref. is: "Occult Theocracy" - Lady Queensborough - The Christian Book Club of America
From "Freemasonry" - Copyright - Jack Harris - Whitaker House, 1983
Freemasonry is definitely another mind control cult -- as indicated above, you have to make it to the 30th degree before you are told what you are really worshipping. (I wonder if susceptibility to mind-control is a genetic disorder????) But since many of this board's members have a hard time with Jehovah's penchant for blood and in light of Farkel's other post on Evil being a game, I thought the above interesting enough to share.
Just trying to do right in the big chess game of life,
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Evil: Live With It. It's a Game
by Farkel inis good a part of god or is god a part of good?
which is the bigger thing which contains the other?
most people would say that god is the container of good and not the other way around.. if this is true, then good comes from god.
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outnfree
My husband brought this up at brunch out with the family when I was relating what had happened after what turned out to be my last Watchtower Study and post-study elder's meeting.
This matter that God must have created evil because without evil one wouldn't know what good is, and vice versa. We all sort of looked at him dumbfounded -- (Hey! me and my kids haven't been indoctrinated by the WTBTS for nuthin', y'know!) -- and he backed off. Mostly because we were in a public place and he hates scenes. But likely, also because he could see that we weren't going to be receptive. I think I retorted something like, "But God is Love!" or "Satan was created good but turned evil -- created with freewill like us humans" or something equally inane.
However, my 15 year old and I have since had a nice discussion and come to the same conclusion. God must have created good AND evil.
Or, alternatively, God Himself must be both Good and Evil. Or there are many gods. As my daughter said, "What if there really is a Zeus [the one true God] and all those other gods and the Greeks had it right after all?" Or God is NOT all-caring, all-powerful, all-knowing and all-present? And GOOD vs. EVIL IS just His way of getting us to come to greater inner knowledge?I like the chess game analogy, Farkel. (Gee, ELDERS challenged my son to games at our house during the parties I could only have when my non-JW husband was away on business! Didn't realize there was ANY baggage there!) It is an incredible learning process, and so is life!
I'm so glad you're outrageous, Farkel! -- or ARE you?
outnfree
of the maybe you've got something there class -- LOL