If everyone was neutral there would have been no war,
No, we would have self-interest and complacency......the very formula for war.
peacefulpete
JoinedPosts by peacefulpete
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62
Ten reasons Jehovah’s Witnesses have the true religion (plus a bonus one)
by slimboyfat inthinking back when i was a true believer these are probably the top ten reasons why i believed jws are the true religion.
1. they show love among themselves by not going to war.
not killing your fellow believers in any circumstances, including war, would seem to be a very basic requirement for true christianity.
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peacefulpete
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Ten reasons Jehovah’s Witnesses have the true religion (plus a bonus one)
by slimboyfat inthinking back when i was a true believer these are probably the top ten reasons why i believed jws are the true religion.
1. they show love among themselves by not going to war.
not killing your fellow believers in any circumstances, including war, would seem to be a very basic requirement for true christianity.
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peacefulpete
Slimboy...That was very insulting and completely inaccurate. The suffering and loss of the Jews the JWs as well as the Roma, the gays, and many others was a dark chapter that can never be repeated. Analyzing what went wrong for this to have happened leads me to conclude that, at least in part, the lack of vocal and resolute opposition to the propaganda and hate speech of the Nazi party on the part of the churches enabled the cancer to grow. The WT like other churches first attempted to placate Hitler and convince him they were no threat to him. For the WT it didn't work. The WT's antigovernment message was well known.
The sad reality is that if the churches, including the WT, had unitedly opposed the message of Hitler people would have listened. Their "neutrality" was wrong. Today, when we hear similar hate speech from individuals or authority figures we also have a responsibility to respond. Neutrality is an illusion; you are either against wrong or you are complicit. And yes, that includes use of force when absolutely necessary. If the WT allows a person to use force to defend family and church members, their choice to not do the same for their neighbor is not because of an objection to violence, it's a result of disconnect from society.
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Ten reasons Jehovah’s Witnesses have the true religion (plus a bonus one)
by slimboyfat inthinking back when i was a true believer these are probably the top ten reasons why i believed jws are the true religion.
1. they show love among themselves by not going to war.
not killing your fellow believers in any circumstances, including war, would seem to be a very basic requirement for true christianity.
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peacefulpete
From the second link:
The Bekennende Kirche—the "Confessing Church"—emerged in opposition to the “German Christians.” Its founding document, the Barmen Confession of Faith, declared that the church's allegiance was to God and scripture, not a worldly Führer. Both the Confessing Church and the "German Christians" remained part of the German Evangelical Church, and the result was a Kirchenkampf, or "church struggle" within German Protestantism—an ongoing debate and struggle for control between those who sought a "nazified" church, those who opposed it, and the so-called "neutral" church leaders whose priority was the avoidance both of church schism and any kind of conflict with the Nazi state.
Interestingly, the majority of Catholic and protestant leadership assumed a position of "neutrality" They neither sought to support nor oppose the government, but did what was thought necessary for the continuation of their way of worship.
It is worth noting that JWs being targeted also wasn't because of opposing the Nazis, it was because of the nature of the church. Many suffered because of direction from Brooklyn that defined just what they could and could not do. What I mean is that no doubt many would have been left alone had they simply individually interpreted the salute as a formality, similar to standing before a judge, as many of other faiths where free to do. The hierarchal nature of the religion deprived them of that choice. I have never read that it was outspoken opposition to the antisemitism of Nazism, for example, that resulted in being targeted.
It ought never be forgotten that it was the individual convictions of Catholic and Protestants in the resistance and the Allied armies that saved the JWs.
If anything, WW2 demonstrates the dangers or neutrality and the danger s of hierarchal controls over morality.
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1974 Watchtower Prophecies verses Dad’s Prophecies. Who was correct? An old guy reflects on calamity howling.
by Balaamsass2 incalamity howling is always in style with some folks, every year.
1974 was 50 years ago this year!
i was fresh out of high school bright eyed and earnest about all things jw and watchtower.
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peacefulpete
It seems 'calamity howling' and 'rage baiting' is everywhere.
Clickbait headlines today said, 'Russian bombers over Alaska!' Another said US jets had "intercepted" Russian planes,
The real news said Russian planes were well inside international waters and that such incursions by "Russian military aircraft occur regularly and are not seen as a threat". No interception was needed.
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Ten reasons Jehovah’s Witnesses have the true religion (plus a bonus one)
by slimboyfat inthinking back when i was a true believer these are probably the top ten reasons why i believed jws are the true religion.
1. they show love among themselves by not going to war.
not killing your fellow believers in any circumstances, including war, would seem to be a very basic requirement for true christianity.
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peacefulpete
.1, They show love among themselves by not going to war. Not killing your fellow believers in any circumstances, including war, would seem to be a very basic requirement for true Christianity.
46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even Gentiles do the same?
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
"But to those of you who will listen, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,"
All sects share a certain common bond, the better way is to show love in practical ways for all. That is what I believe was intended by John 13. Jesus is depicted as loving all. Not just his supporters.
2. They honour Jehovah’s name by using it and giving it prominence. Again this would seem to be a very basic requirement for Christians who are said to be called out of the nations as “a people for his name”.
A can of worms. Yahweh was one of the names in the OT but never used by NT writers. Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.
3. They reject the post biblical teaching of the Trinity which uses language that is not found in the Bible and distances people from God by making him appear incomprehensible.
A favorite pet topic for you, you have spent hundreds of hours posting about how you disagree with the church's efforts to formally codify a single definition of God/Christ/Holy Spirit. Suffice to say billions of Christians past and present have had their own take on it.
4. They teach the truth about who Jesus is as God’s firstborn and his loyal servant.
Same as above, the hypostatic expressions of sonship and servitude are not preclusive to traditional understanding of Christ as fully divine.
5. They point to God’s kingdom as the only hope for mankind as Jesus and the early Christian’s did and don’t get involved in politics or social or protest movements.
Another example of circular reasoning, take the JW definition of 'Kingdom' and cite it as proof of sectarian superiority. By the definition of the JWs, God is the 'only hope', not for "mankind" but a tiny portion of it. The rest must be killed. Billions understand the 'Kingdom of God' as an expression of forgiveness and compassion and a Christian movement seeking to imitate Jesus' universal love. Regarding 'involvement' in politics and war, most people see this as detachment from humanity. Failure to get 'involved' is often a definition of cowardice and unconcern. Many of the earliest records include Christians who were soldiers. The OT repeats a story cycle wherein worshippers of God served in foreign royal courts. The JWs have repeatedly engaged in campaigns to influence Government policy, (I personally marched across the Brooklyn bridge when asked to demonstrate against a zoning policy) they just only do it for themselves.
6. They preach and publish in more languages than any other group in history, fulfilling the Bible prophecy about preaching to all the earth in the last days.
The sectarian circular reasoning continues. The last Days were 2000 years ago, they were 1000 years ago they were a hundred years ago. For people wanting something that will never happen, it will always be the 'last days'. The same regarding the definition of the 'gospel' aka 'good news'. A third of the world has been converted to Christianity, certainly the 'gospel' was preached globally long before the JWs. As you know the NT itself asserts the gospel was preached to everyone 2000 years ago.
7. Their founder Russell rediscovered basic Bible truths at a time when technology was in place to facilitate the preaching work worldwide.
Russell was a cult leader adored by thousands as sent by God. His followers alive today identify the JWs as apostates.
8. Jehovah’s Witnesses have increased from a tiny number in one country to be a great crowd of worshippers from all nations of the world.
The one county is the USA, the time was the tail end of the Second Great Awakening. Hundreds of churches and movements arose, many became international.
9. Each of the JW leaders has been just what was needed at the time for Jehovah to accomplish his purpose: Russell to recover Bible truth; Rutherford to arrange a theocratic structure and remove remaining false beliefs and practices; Knorr to organize the logistics of an unprecedented worldwide preaching campaign; Franz to provide a Bible translation that accurately conveys God’s word; the Governing Body in the final part of this system of things to prepare God’s people to come through the Great Tribulation and into the new world.
You are describing the process of a cult of personality becoming a global corporation.
10. Witness teaching about humans looking forward to endless life on earth makes better sense as our biblical destiny rather than viewing this life a waiting room before we go to heaven.
Nearly all Christain denominations formally have a teaching that there will be a 'new earth', sectarian definitions and selective proof texting prevent any unanimous interpretation as to what was meant by various NT authors. 'Endless life' stuck on a planet you can circumnavigate in a week doesn't make sense to anyone who has actually thought about it. For that matter endless life anywhere sounds like the ravings of an egoist worried the universe couldn't continue without them.
11. Witness teaching that God’s sovereignty has been challenged and will be vindicated makes sense of human history, gives an explanation for suffering, and offers the hope that it will end permanently in the future under God’s kingdom.
This was another sectarian effort to justify millennia of failed expectations. The JWs stole the idea from earlier Adventists who called it "Cosmic Controversy" rather than "Universal Sovereignty". Again, anyone who thinks deeply about it knows this is a meaningless post hoc rationalization.
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Another poster asked me to post this as they want to remain anonymous for the sake of the victims.
by karter inhey karter can you post this for me?
as you know my ex wife and i adopted her brother at 7 years old when his parents passed away.. we brought him up a j.w but he left at 16 and moved in with his girlfriend.. it came out he had been interfering with our 3 daughters when they were very young.. he never got prosecuted becouse my daughters didnt want to ( i suspect their mother a hard out j.w has something to do with that) so basicly he walked free.. latter in life he left his girlfreind comes back to the j.ws and they welcome him like the prodical son and he marries a j.w.. if anyone reading this thinks the j.ws like to hide c.s a read on.. it came to my attention recently by 2 ex elders that had read the letter that followers him when he moves congros that it says the sex bettween him and my daughters was consensual..they were under 10 years old.. this were it gets disgusting.. i approach the p.o of my old congro and ask him who wrote the letter he said he had moved by that time go see another elder .. i did he didnt know as well and said for me to ring the branch.. i did and they were not interested in changing the letter at all basicly go away.. the offender has moved congros 3 times and every time they elders think my daughters under 10 went along with this pos.. not sure what my next move is as the branch here has closed down and they operate out of a diffrent country.. if anyone wants to ask questions ill p.m the reply to you..
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peacefulpete
Phizzy....I have to disagree. Even the most conservative of churches and courts recognize that youthful sexual experimentation and exploration is very common. Equating this innocent behavior with criminal abuse can destroy lives. In my own youthful life there were moments of such exploration. Looking back at it for what it was is perfectly healthy. Had some well intentioned adult learned of it and declared us as perverts or criminals, then real damage would have been done. I know of another situation where intense feelings of shame and guilt were created through adult intervention that labeled the youth and led to suicidal thoughts.
Children even young teens, playing doctor or even acting out what was seen on TV is not predatory behavior and should not result in lifelong consequences. The best response is sometimes reassurance that they are normal and can look back on this experience as part of the complicated process of growing up.
In this case, it sounds like a boy and his stepsisters satisfied curiosity mutually. If that is accurate, they should laugh and move on.
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Another poster asked me to post this as they want to remain anonymous for the sake of the victims.
by karter inhey karter can you post this for me?
as you know my ex wife and i adopted her brother at 7 years old when his parents passed away.. we brought him up a j.w but he left at 16 and moved in with his girlfriend.. it came out he had been interfering with our 3 daughters when they were very young.. he never got prosecuted becouse my daughters didnt want to ( i suspect their mother a hard out j.w has something to do with that) so basicly he walked free.. latter in life he left his girlfreind comes back to the j.ws and they welcome him like the prodical son and he marries a j.w.. if anyone reading this thinks the j.ws like to hide c.s a read on.. it came to my attention recently by 2 ex elders that had read the letter that followers him when he moves congros that it says the sex bettween him and my daughters was consensual..they were under 10 years old.. this were it gets disgusting.. i approach the p.o of my old congro and ask him who wrote the letter he said he had moved by that time go see another elder .. i did he didnt know as well and said for me to ring the branch.. i did and they were not interested in changing the letter at all basicly go away.. the offender has moved congros 3 times and every time they elders think my daughters under 10 went along with this pos.. not sure what my next move is as the branch here has closed down and they operate out of a diffrent country.. if anyone wants to ask questions ill p.m the reply to you..
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peacefulpete
Forgive me but it sounds like the boy was also quite young.
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Rumour 144,000 literal number teaching to be abandoned at Annual Meeting
by slimboyfat insay it ain’t so!
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in one sense it’s a no brainer because the figures just don’t add up any more.. in another (negative) sense it’s a no brainer because it’s been fundamental to jws since year dot and might undermine the whole thing?
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peacefulpete
Why not. They might have to get a second bottle of wine though.
I recall after the 'memorial' pouring the still full glass back into the bottle and giving it to the Elder who bought it. No one was ever interested in leftover crackers, however.
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Help I'm Being Repressed
by peacefulpete intoday's news included a small story about a libertarian post on x that endorsed the murder of vice president harris.
when there was outrage:.
demands for investigation after nh libertarian party shares threatening harris (msn.com).
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peacefulpete
Didn't waste time reading it all but is it a false flag?
(I edited my comment.) The point is to read all the available evidence and not to be quick to suspect conspiracy.
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Is Watchtower totally off base on Armageddon?
by Vanderhoven7 into me it is quite evident that the gt spoken about in matthew 24, mark 13 and luke 21 is a one time, non-repeatable localized event resulting in the destruction of jerusalem and the temple followed by the dispersion of surviving jews throughout the nations.. however, what is not so clear to most is that the gt of revelation deals with the same event.
my understanding is that the gb of jehovah witnesses has no clue as to how to interpret the apocalyptic messages found both in the synoptics and revelation.
but steve greg has armageddon down pat.
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peacefulpete
Rattigan...This may be a first but yes, that is how the Gospel John (16) deals with this. The 4 times repeated phrase 'little while see again' is defined as 'figurative'. It never clarifies in this section what was meant but we have to believe it is either reference to Jesus being with them in heaven or in a spiritual sense. Chapt. 14 promised the arrival of the Holy Spirit who in Johannine thought was another of the pleroma of God as the Word was. The initiated among the readers would recognize all of the story to be figurative.
I know it is a leap but read the Apocryphon of John to see how this conceptualization of Divinity progressed in just a couple decades in the Johannine community.