Posts by Perry

10

Jehovah's Witness disfellowshipped for questions, joins Catholic Church to "feel Love"

by Balaamsass2 in

harber become a fan.

yogi, contemplative, writer.

producer of radio program radical spirituality and sacred activism.

Perry

Recently I witnessed about 20 children from our parish taking their first communion. My 7-year old inner child wept as Father Seamus delivered the homily, stating and re-stating in every possible configuration, that these children were loved - by their faith community, their parents, and God - and that there was nothing, nothing, they could ever do to separate themselves from this love. The complete opposite of what I had heard about God and Love and Faith as a child .

I can certainly identify with the need for love in children and as children. But, I could not help but notice how the words "Jesus Christ" were ENTIRELY missing from the narrative.

4

JW wife likes watching the 700 club

by goingthruthemotions in

jw
friends

i have noticed lately that my wife has been watching the 700 club..i asked her if she liked it?

she said yes because it is positive.. i then agreed with her and left it there.

(note: i never hear anything positive at the meetings).

Perry

That is interesting.

We will just be in agrement right now that she will see TTATT & TTAJC

Where two are in agreement .....

48

A few questions for believers

by keyser soze in

jw
friends

when confronted with all of the inconsistencies and atrocities of the bible, many believers invariably claim that they don't base their faith in christ on what's written in the bible.

so what is the basis then, if not scripture?.

and please don't tell me "the lord has revealed himself to me".

Perry

Mad Giant,

Are not you basically asking if Jesus is really just a Copy-Cat Savior Myth "borrowed" from other Gods?

I read this years ago and it helped me to see things in a more scholarly way.

8

History of the church/Christianity, etc.

by Joe Grundy in

i have learned a great deal from some of the very erudite posters on this site (thank you).. for many years i've been interested in the history of the development of christianity, not only from its earliest days but through the reformation, etc., and through to the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries when denominations, sects, cults took off in all directions like exploding fireworks.. i was aware, in broad terms, of luther, calvin and the development of protestantism from which so many denominations and sects (including jws) arose.

i was vaguely aware of the schism (1,000 years ago) between the western (catholic) and eastern (orthodox) churches and was tangentially interested as to why it happened (if the 'east' was the home of christianity, how come the 'west' disagreed with it?).

i was quite interested to read, while living in cyprus, a greek orthodox english language bible which had a large section in the back about the schism.

Perry

Here is a page from my website that deals with Christian History, both Apostate and Biblical.

The book featured there is quite revealing in tracing bible Christians from the first century to the present.

This chart may also be helpful.

48

A few questions for believers

by keyser soze in

jw
friends

when confronted with all of the inconsistencies and atrocities of the bible, many believers invariably claim that they don't base their faith in christ on what's written in the bible.

so what is the basis then, if not scripture?.

and please don't tell me "the lord has revealed himself to me".

Perry

When confronted with all of the inconsistencies and atrocities of the bible...

Isn't that kinda poisoning the well?

Most of the popularly cited "inconsistencies and attrocities" are dealt with here and here from a biblical and historical perspective. Other worldviews are effectively dealt with here and here.

Essentially we are under condemnation from the womb. If you think we have a right to life, then MUCH of what God has done will appear wrong.

And please don't tell me "The lord has revealed himself to me".

Here's a list of things that from what I have personally experienced and learned may prevent God from revealing himself to a person, even though he is familiar with Jesus:

1. A person must be willing to say good-bye to all his worldly posessions and even his own mother and father.

2. He must abandon himself to Jesus.

3. He must not only believe in Jesus as a historical figure but trust in him. For me, the kind of trust that it took for God to accept me is similar to jumping out of an airplane with a parachute on. People either fail to jump, or they fail to pull the rip cord, or they pull the rip cord of something other than the parachute, which is Christ our Savior. Most of us as JW's took the jump, but the cord we pulled wasn't Jesus Christ, it was the Watchtower corporation and our works. We might as well have tried to just flap our arms. The crash was inevetible.

4. A person will fail to have God revealed to him personally if he puts his trust in Jesus AND ________________ (anything else). Jesus utterly rejects such a person.

5. Failure to Repent

I repented a number of times as a JW and afterwards but failed in the other respects.... never met God in those circumstances. Later, when I did it the biblical way, I did. The bottom line is that there is much more to getting right with God than a casual belief in Jesus. You must be born again or you will definitely never meet God in this life and in the next there is only a meeting at Judgment for your sins to expect.

Hope this helps.

7

Anyone here at the Natick Mass Assembly Hall dedication in the early 70's

by sparky1 in

jw
friends

.

Perry

Very interesting. Thanks for that post Sparky. Few modern JW's are aware of how they were thrown under the bus by their leaders:

YOU ARE NOT JUSTIFIED

The ...“other sheep”, [non 144,000] are in a different condition. …They are still human

creatures, not even justified, - Wt. 38 p.104, 105

JEHOVAH IS NOT YOUR FATHER

“he is not yet giving the ‘other sheep’ the standing of sons….

they address him prospectively as ‘Our Father’.” - Wt. 8/15/45 p. 253

JESUS IS NOT YOUR MEDIATOR

in a “strict Biblical sense Jesus is the ‘mediator’ only for anointed

Christians.” [The 144,000] - Wt.4/1/79 p. 31

This creates a problem for Jehovah's Witnesses: Roman 3: 10 says that "there is no one righteous , no not one." And, 1 Cor. 6: 9 & 10 reads: Or do you not know that unrighteous people will not inherit God’s Kingdom? And, Jesus told Nicodemus 3 TIMES that you have to be born-again (be justified) to either "see" or "enter" the Kingdom of God. So, without being one of the annointed, a person cannot inherit, see or enter the Kingdom.

This obviously applies to everyone. To prove the point: The "great crowd" or tribulation survivors (as Christians generally refer to them) in Rev. 7 had ALREADY "washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb" - the white robes are an indication of their righteous standing through their new covenant membership.

"Therefore, those in union with Christ Jesus have no condemnation." - Romans 8: 1 NWT

The ONLY way to be "in union with Jesus" is through the New Covenant, also known as the blood covenant - the payment price for our personal sins. The watchtower leaders tricked people into essentially choosing condemnation as opposed to a full pardon on judgment day.

In other words, witnesses now reject Jesus' "gospel of salvation" ..... in the name of Jesus, of course.

"you heard the word of truth, the good news about your salvation. After you believed, you were sealed: - Eph 1: 13 NWT

34

Is truth relative?

by Pinku in

seeing various/changing laws on the same action, some may feel truth is relative, and there is no such thing as right and wrong.. yet a closer look at beneath the details would show that truth is not relative, and everyone knows what is right and wrong.. driving in the night by putting the head-light off is wrong, but right when country is in war with another country.

behind both the conflicting laws, the truth is same: safety and welfare of the people.

this is true of notion about what is right and wrong:.

Perry

If someone peddles the truth that there is no truth, why should I believe him?

There are no eternal facts, as there are no absolute truths.
– Friedrich Nietzsche: Human, All-too-Human

It is impossible for us, of our own volition to have a God's eye view of the universe. So, many like to say truth is subjective, and as such is subject to alteration because that statement relates to our subjective experience in our environment. However, truth could exist outside of our personal experience and we would be none the wiser. For instance, if a man is charged with killing his neighbor, he either did it or not. Our beliefs about the guilt or innocence is quite outside of the "Gods-eye" view.

So, I guess I'm arguing for , no.

83

Blown away-- where to go from here

by All for show in

jw
friends

i stumbled upon this website a few weeks ago due to the jw.org ridiculousness, since then i haven't been able to pull myself away.

the thoughts, feelings, and concerns i have had the past few years aren't just mine.

it's global.

Perry

When I have gone out I get put with some 18 -20 year old pioneer girls so they can 'assist and encourage' me and help with whichever kids I have. How ridiculous, I end up taking the doors and they are 'shocked' how well I can speak to householders and such. What this tells me is they have judged me, some punk teenagers with little to No life experience are going to encourage me, a married women with children, and actual life experience. Ha. Ha.

How most meetings what we hear is so hypocritical is just absurd.

This fine pioneer sister was having similar negative feelings. She humbly felt the need to have her thinking readjusted.

The elders were able to utilize a new electronic service through JW.org to pinpoint an area of brain activity that had not yet fully submitted to the directions of the Faithful and Discreet Slave. After several treatments, she is now not only able to tolerate chatty teenaged sisters assigned to assist and encourage her, she even helps them with their homework!

What a fine outcome there is when things are practiced according to arrangement.

22

Observations from a day at the zoo

by Simon in

so we went to calgary zoo today and i'm torn between zoo's being great for conservation vs using animals to make money.

i think on the whole they are a good thing but it's sad to see some of the animals caged up - somehow i always end up staring into the eyes of a gorilla and it makes me sad.. but that isn't what struck me ... it's these things:.

http://www.amazon.com/step2-wagon-two-plus-blue/dp/b0048wqhgw/ref=zg_bs_166419011_2.

Perry

Cookie, a Major Mitchel Cockatoo is pushing 80 years at this zoo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9crMt1Ro3oQ

4

Role Play of Matthew 24:14

by God_Delusion in

hello my lovelies x,.

i've just written an article which portrays parts of matthew 24, and especially verse14, which i've always found extremely implausible to comprehend.

i've written it in role play fashion, and i hope you find it interesting.. here's the link to my article - http://www.jehovahswitnessblog.com/jehovahs-witness-prophecies/are-jehovahs-witnesses-false-prophets/.

Perry

Please let me know if you understand what 'Good News' Jesus was referring to, because I certainly can't find any good in the news he's giving his followers.

But you also hoped in him after you heard the word of truth, the good news about your salvation. After you believed, you were sealed - Eph 1: 13 NWT

I never heard this scipture quoted once as a JW either at home or the KH. However growing up, I did hear about "good news of the kingdom" seemingly about every 3rd sentence someone would utter. The salvation that Jesus offered was from judgment after death..... not the battle of armageddon; which btw is about the wrath of Satan as he attacks Israel, not God wiping out people for not accepting magazines at their doors.