Perry

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Posts by Perry

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  447

  Does Anyone Still Believe in God?

  by LaurenM in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  do any of you ex-jw's still believe in god?

  even with the new rebranding/softening of this religion, i still don't see how people can believe in him.

  the god of the old testimate is an angry murderer who approved rapes and slavery and killed thousands of men, women and children.

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  Perry

  Everyone believes in God. It is instinctual. There hasn't ever been a culture without belief in God.

  With the discovery of DNA, (and many other things) we have what statistics PROVE is evidence of intelligent design.

  God never acknowledges the existence of atheists in the bible. He only says, "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God."

  God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. - Romans 1

  People know that God exists, they just suppress it. Regardless of the nice things that unsaved people say from time to time about God, the reality is that they really don't like him. This is because psychologically we know that we are God's enemy and he ours - by nature. We cover it all up with religion, good works, pride, more good works etc.; it's all so tiresome.

  The old vehicle can't be fixed. That's why Jesus said that we must be born again. Many people are just fine with their first birth and are not willing to go through another. The watchtower offered us a way to be religious without going through the circumcision of the spirit and getting born again. It seemed like something that we could control, and not too weird or radical. It didn't work.
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  10

  It's not your conduct, it's your status

  by donny in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jw's often state that their practice of disfellowshipping is used to keep the congregation clean and free of "worldly" influences and the like, however that is just pure b.s.

  in actual practice, all they actually care about is your status according to the watchtower society.

  case in point is ray's situation.. ray disassociated himself about 20 years ago because elders and other jw's were constantly spreading false rumors after he quit attending meetings.

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  Perry

  His dad gave him instructions on how he is to behave so he will not have to cut him off.

  The key is secrecy. As long as people sorta behave themselves and don't talk ill of Mother Church, then even if you leave you still will probably get thrown an emotional bone or two now and then by relatives.

  The secrecy (facade) is what they want to protect the most.
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  18

  This newly leaked letter PROVES the WTS are hypocrates and do not speak the truth.

  by Dunedain in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  after reading this newly leaked letter, something profoundly "hit" me.

  myself, being born a "witness", and most of us here, who have learned their teachings for years, know of the "importance" the gb/wts always placed on the watchtower and awake magazines, themselves.. from the magazines inception, from back in probably the 1920's, or somewhere that far back, the wts claimed that the preaching work, and specifically the distribution of these magazines, were a sign of the times, and a fulfilment of bible prophecy in these last days.

  they would compare the watchtower magazine to a "stinging scorpion", claiming those magazines fulfilled that verse in revelation.

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  Perry

  I have long seen similarities between the Armstrong organization and the Watchtower.

  At some point, the GB are going to have to jettisone the dating of second coming at 1914. When that happens, the general membership will be allowed to have a relationship with Christ through the New Covenant like they did in the beginning.

  Who knows?
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  63

  EXACTLY Why JW's Are NOT Christian

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a lot of people, ex-jws, believers and unbelievers alike, think that jw's are just a somewhat kooky brand of christianity.

  is it possible to "try and follow jesus" and not be christian?

  what exactly makes someone a christian?

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  Perry

  Crazy Guy,

  When I became a Christian I conducted business strictly with Jesus and was saved, since "there is no other name under heaven by which we are saved". But, Christians have always believed Jesus, the man, is irrevocably fused with the personage of the Son which has the same essence as Jehovah.

  As my wife and I started going to services, especially more traditional services I was surprised how many references to Jehovah were made in the Hymnals. It is not uncommon to find songs that go back three to five hundred years affirming that the father and son are one essence.

  Here's just one example.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK9-bJlSt6cf
  
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  74

  That's it! The Jesus stories are most reasonably explained as myth. History makes this obvious.

  by Island Man in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  a careful examination of the historical pagan religious context existing at the time of the genesis of christianity leads any reasonable person to conclude that jesus is just another one of several similar myths.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn7teoa9ark.

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  Perry

  We will have to just agree to disagree. I just realized my source link didn't work.

  Here it is again:

  Article
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  63

  EXACTLY Why JW's Are NOT Christian

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a lot of people, ex-jws, believers and unbelievers alike, think that jw's are just a somewhat kooky brand of christianity.

  is it possible to "try and follow jesus" and not be christian?

  what exactly makes someone a christian?

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  Perry

  Garyneal,

  I would be comfortable in any number of bible believing churches. When we moved, we found a similar church, though not officially Baptist. Doctrine is identical. They have elders, which is a Presbyterian influence. Doesn't really matter, nice solid folks there.

  I can’t say I am really much of a biblical scholar but man you would think if that was god’s plan for humanity, you would think the bible would be pretty consistent in this teaching.

  Clambake,

  The New Testament is perfectly consistent in its teaching that a person has to be a member of the new covenant in order to have forgiveness of sins. NOT ONE scripture shows how a person can get their sins forgiven while outside of the New Covenant.

  BTW, as a side note, the English words: testament and covenant are from the same Greek word. They both just mean "contract". The bible has been divided by the old contract and the new contract.

  The entire new testament describes how things should be when / after entering into the "new contract" with God.
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  74

  That's it! The Jesus stories are most reasonably explained as myth. History makes this obvious.

  by Island Man in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  a careful examination of the historical pagan religious context existing at the time of the genesis of christianity leads any reasonable person to conclude that jesus is just another one of several similar myths.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn7teoa9ark.

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  Perry

  Half-Bananna,

  I think the evidence is overwhelming in favor of genuine history, for many, many reasons. This connection you propose is popular in some dark corners of the internet, but not among reputable scholars.

  Despite having popular appeal on the Internet, the idea that the resurrection story of Jesus was borrowed from pagan mythology has been abandoned by the vast majority of critical scholars today.1 In fact, one noted resurrection expert named Gary Habermas said that he could count on one hand of the 2,000 or so publications that he surveyed from French, German, and English written during 1975 to the present of how many scholars attribute the story of the resurrection of Jesus as being borrowed from pagan mythology.2

  Article
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  Your best memories, in or out of the BORG...

  by James Mixon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know many will be the day you left the wt organization.

  i'm sure we have a lot.

  of good memories, but the ones that sticks out in your mind.. 1) the birth of my children.. 2) the day i stepped foot on the plane that flew me home from viet nam.. 3)and the day in high school i made the winning point against our cross town rival.

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  Perry

  James,

  I was born in 1963. No worries, were still young!

  Hard to compete with your # 3 !

  Seriously, birth of children are at the top for me ...with 1 or 2 others.
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  22

  Who Really is ..... The Blood Washed Multitude (Great Crowd) ?

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for jw's the issue has never been who the faithful and wise servant (f&ds) was.

  that is just misdirection and sleight of hand.

  it is plain from the context that this was obviously a rhetorical question meant for self introspection.

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  Perry

  Sorry Perry but that movie is far more memorable than the 4 Gospels combined.

  Oh, I don't really think so. The New Testament is the world's best selling book by far. And this rebuttal to the copy cat accusation is pretty well dispelled here.
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  74

  That's it! The Jesus stories are most reasonably explained as myth. History makes this obvious.

  by Island Man in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  a careful examination of the historical pagan religious context existing at the time of the genesis of christianity leads any reasonable person to conclude that jesus is just another one of several similar myths.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn7teoa9ark.

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  Perry

  The very fact that you and millions of Christians need to make the choice over which version to accept should really demonstrate the silliness of trying to argue for the infallibility of the bible. Which bible?

  Mephis,

  In the very beginning Satan told a lie. He misquoted God. To think that he would not continue to launch attacks on the word of God is ridiculous. That is his gig, lying and deception. Sinaiticus & Vaticanus look like chicken scratch. Everyone agrees that they were altered over and over for centuries. When you throw them out (and the 10% that are based upon them) you are left with the remaining 90% which are in virtual total agreement.

  That settled the issue for me. If you want to believe that we can't know the truth, go ahead. That is certainly your choice to make. I have no problem with that.

  However, just by studying the early church fathers and their writings (and they wrote A LOT) in just the first 3 centuries, it is easy to determine exactly what sound doctrine is, where and when heretical doctrine came in; and who was the culprit.
  

  The early church fathers usually wrote a letter and quoted much scripture to warn congregations about the error. To illustrate just how much the early church fathers wrote, ALL of the New Testament can be reconstructed from their writings.

  Here's an excellent book on this topic.

  Ancient Church Fathers: What the Disciples of the Apostles Taught Paperback – July 17, 2010

  by Ken Johnson (Author)

  69 customer reviews

  
  

  If you took all their quotes, WHICH PREDATE SINAITICUS AND VATICANUS, what you would end up with is the Majority Text - Basically the readings in the King James Bible.

  
  

  Regarding the contradictions you claim in the New Testament, I have researched most claims and found them to be baseless. You got one you would like to discus? Open a thread, I'm game.

  
  

  BTW, the TRUTH is a person