Posts by peacefulpete

23

Where Adam and Eve Vegan/Vegetarian?

by KerryKing in

jws seem to firmly believe that before the flood mankind eas vegan or at least vegetarian.. however, in gen 1:24,25 it says that god created livestock (domestic animals) and beasts of the eart (wild beasts).. why would adam and eve need livestock if they were vegan and naked?

wouldn't need wool or hide for clothing, nor meat for food.

possibly for dairy products only?

peacefulpete

Remember there are two creation stories. The first in Genesis 1-2:2 (traditionally ascribed to P, Priestly) has a particular focus on the exclusivity of temple rite and Sabbath (7-day template). In this version, animals and people only eat vegetation, because in his idealized past blood is never shed not even by animals. Blood is reserved for sacrifices (that only comes later with the Moses Tabernacle story and performed by priests). In his mind therefore, the imagined golden beginning has no blood shed. P picks up again with his version of a Flood story, after which it has God grant humans a carnivorous diet (but does not have Noah do a sacrifice).

In contrast, J (the Yahwist Gen 2:3-) has animals used (skinned for clothes, and sacrificed (Abel and Noah) right from the beginning. J having Abel and Noah doing sacrifices explains why he has 7 pairs of "clean" animals whereas P only has 1 pair of all animals.

The two stories were each idealizations, filled with allegory. They were never supposed to exist side by side, and didn't until a compiler in the Persian period made it so.

152

Do JWs believe Jesus is an angel?

by slimboyfat in

i would suggest:.

the short answer is yes.. the longer answer is a qualified yes, with some caveats.

the short answer is yes because jehovah’s witnesses teach that jesus is michael the archangel, their leader, eldest and most powerful, and have taught this since the very beginning of the religion.

peacefulpete

deleted just because.

115

Vice President Kamala Harris…your thoughts??

by minimus in

jw
friends

good pick?

bad pick?

helpful to president biden?

peacefulpete

PolitiFact | In Context: What Gov. Tim Walz said about the border wall and investing in a 'ladder factory'

Not that facts matter or character or words or criminal records or anything.

152

Do JWs believe Jesus is an angel?

by slimboyfat in

i would suggest:.

the short answer is yes.. the longer answer is a qualified yes, with some caveats.

the short answer is yes because jehovah’s witnesses teach that jesus is michael the archangel, their leader, eldest and most powerful, and have taught this since the very beginning of the religion.

peacefulpete

In contexts like this, responses like, "You believe in God, don't you?" or ""You believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, don't you?" are classic thought stoppers. They put the brakes on rational dispassionate discussion through a rhetorical religious test. The one who says them is simultaneously saying they will not engage on that topic and that someone who doesn't pass the test is not worthy of being taken serious.

It's not just JWs who use thought stopping triggers phrases.

16

League of Nations as the disgusting thing that causes desolation

by xaminewt in

so, the organization says the “disgusting thing that causes desolation” in daniel 11:31 is the united nations being set up in 1945, but in daniel 12:11 when they interpret the 1,290 days they say it’s the league of nations in 1919. please could someone play devils advocate and tell why this could be anything but inconsistent?

.

peacefulpete

Some might find this really old thread interesting.

The UN, was the WTS given special knowledge?

43

Is 1st Century advice on marriage still relevant in today’s modern world?

by liam in

republicans want to make a law that forbids ‘uncontested divorce”.

they based this on this scripture.. matthew 19. is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”.

4 “haven’t you read,” jesus replied, “that at the beginning the creator ‘made them male and female,’and said, ‘for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’ so they are no longer two, but one flesh.

peacefulpete

Mark 10:11,12 has Jesus forbid divorce for anyone. When the redactor of Matt revised this passage, he added the interrupter phrase, "except for porneia" he was reflecting the times and community he lived in. Interestingly G. Luke (16:18) either saw and disagreed with the redactor of Matt or it was not yet in the copy of Matt he was using. He also has Jesus forbid divorce on any grounds.

75

God won't lift a finger to help you.

by nicolaou in

sea breeze: @nicolau,i stated my case rather succiently, which you failed to address.

if you have a better solution to the problem of evil than what jesus offers, then why don't you present that in a new topic?.

pathetic diversion.

peacefulpete

Life is not hopeless of meaningless because it is limited in scope. I cannot leap more than a few feet but that does not make my legs worthless. I cannot do advanced math in my head but that doesn't make my thoughts without value. Every day has an evening but that doesn't mean we don't enjoy and appreciate the sunlight.

How strange the idea that some have, that if we cannot live forever there is no 'point' to living. We sound like whining children demanding more candy when we have handfuls in our pockets.

Equally inane is the trope that if we were not the willful product of a deity we have no purpose. Years ago I learned I wasn't a planned child, ought I have concluded I had no value, and my life was purposeless?

4

New reinstated family member

by Jayk in

a 1st cousin(a) of mine just called me about one of my great aunts(b) getting reinstated.

(b) has been disfellowship for as long as i can remember.

(a) has always stood on the fence with his beliefs.

peacefulpete

Pomi is very common. And on my opinion are most to be pitied. POd about someone or some trivial thing, or alienated because of church censure. Always haunted by what ifs or never feeling worthy.

Decades can pass but the programming endures. Some posters here have complained about doctrine or mistreatment for many years. Rejecting the efforts of others to get them to step back from the trees and see the forest.

26

2023-01-27--Civil Unrest!

by Atlantis in

jw
friends

2023-01-27--civil unrest.

click image to enlarge.. .

https://postimg.cc/gxqvnfcq.

peacefulpete

His tireless work is of value to millions. Thankyou.

57

Holding a grudge

by LongHairGal in

i read something recently on reddit (not sure what thread) where a person related how some jw told them that ‘they hold a grudge’.. this reminded me of something an old jw acquaintance said to me some years back when i related my bad experience in the religion.. so, apparently, jehovah’s witnesses feel they should be forgiven for anything.

people should forget all about it and act like nothing happened and be charitable towards them, etc… when i read in james and ephesians i got the sense ‘holding a grudge’ was referring to the things average people do to offend each other.. i don’t see it applying to a religion that claimed to speak for god and who engendered hateful and unchristian attitudes towards people.. i know because i experienced this.. in addition, some people’s lives were damaged by listening to faulty teachings and interference in things that were clearly none of anybody’s business.. one case in point: them knocking worldly careers and now there are thousands of destitute jws in senior years with nothing.. then in 2023 the religion does away with a century old teaching about counting hours in the ministry.

meanwhile, i got judged over this.

peacefulpete

Despite what the SCOTUS said, corporations are not people. The WT corporate entity (with it's ever-changing board of directors is not a 'someone' it is a 'something'. Therefore, the notion of holding a grudge is oxymoronic.

I will always wish to avoid and defeat cancer, for example. It would be silly to suggest I'm 'holding a grudge' against cancer. I consider the WT and churches like them a cancer.

People I can and will forgive, forgiving cancer is just word salad.