quick recap.
i'm 44, been df'd about a 10 months.
got baptized when i was 18, in and out of the borg for years due to guilt.
All the attendants were going round taking the count and they were dressed really weird. They had on these very bright colored flowing outfits that looked like feathers but all rainbow colored and they had these long feathery things on the ends of their arms and hands. Very strange. I think they were trying to impress the children and also they were taking donations.
That's pretty creepy. Just your subconscious trying to make sense of things at the intuitive level.
i know this sounds like a ridiculous question but i was talking with my mom in the car today and of course we got on the topic of getting babtized again.
she told me that jehovah holds me accountable for my sins regardless of wether i am babtized or not so i have no reason to be holding back because it won't change anything.
my parents are the type of super strict jw who will shun you just for not being a witness.
I would question them constantly on the issue of justification.
It's a big word I know. All it means is "how we get our sins forgiven."
Read Matthew 26: 27 & 28 from the NWT :
As they continued eating, Jesus took a loaf, and after saying a blessing, he broke it, and giving it to the disciples, he said: “Take, eat. This means my body.” And taking a cup, he offered thanks and gave it to them, saying: “Drink out of it, all of you, for this means my ‘blood of the covenant,’ which is to be poured out in behalf of many for forgiveness of sins.
Tell them that you want to be shown from the New Testament how a person can get their sins forgiven OUTSIDE of the New Covenant. Assure them that once they can show you that scripture you'll be happy to get baptized.
When they start demanding that they ARE part of the New Covenant, even though they officially and very publicly show that they ARE NOT part of the NC each Memorial, ask to see a scriptural reference to people getting saved from judgment that reject the emblems.
When they cannot; remind them that the doctrines instituted by Jesus and the apostles cannot be changed without incurring a curse:
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. - Gal. 1: 8
Remind them that it is they that taught you to revere the scriptures and that your questions are sincere. You REALLY do not want to be judged by God for your sins.
Read up on the Reformation and how the issue of whether or not a person's church can save them was settled 500 years ago.
My website has some other info along these lines here. But keep it simple. Don't allow them to drag you into any other topic! Let this be your motto:
For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 1 Cor. 2:2
the watchtower of december 2015 reports the following reaction of a family with four teenagers in the country of rwanda with the publication of the nwt, and how grateful they were for it.
the wt magazine said: .
things changed when the new world translation in their language became available.
Jesus said, "Come to me, and you will find rest".
We didn't come to Jesus, and we certainly found no rest.... Just more work.
so when you first found out specific facts about the organisation, how did you feel??.
the un membership.
the way 1914 was calculated from pyramid measurements.
I felt all of the things that other posters listed. Eventually I realized that my feelings were part of the problem. I was a JW because it "felt right", had the "ring of truth" etc. Once I started living by the word of God, and not my feelings, everything changed on a dime.
"You are justified by faith, not your feelings" - Spurgeon
i did not realize that they were symptoms that something was wrong with my cat -but i did notice that my cat was breathing a little differently for a period of about a few days.
i also noticed prior and after to that, that on occasion, my cat would cry at the litter box, but that was a very seldom event.. anyway, about a week ago i noticed the symptom that my very loved cat was breathing heavy.
so i called a taxi and i was going to rush him to emergency room for cats.
Sorry for your loss. I know how it can feel. I love animals & pets too.
today is also my 12th anniversary to my most wonderful wife.
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happy valentines day to all of you!!.
Today is also my 12th anniversary to my most wonderful wife.
Happy Valentines Day to all of you!!
in stalin's ussr the science of genetics was deemed "reactionary and decadent".
scientists were sent to the gulags or simply disappeared.
dmitri konstantinovich belyaev lost his job at the at the central research laboratory of fur breeding in moscow because of his commitment to classical genetics.
Let's sum up 40 years of effort:
1. You start with a Canine
2. 40 Years later you end up with a Canine.
And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. - Genesis 1: 25
Canines will never turn into docile doodle bugs no matter how much selective breeding is performed. The fox experiment is powerful proof that certain boundaries cannot be crossed with selective breeding processes, exactly as God indicated with his statements above.
the question as to what believing in this entity called god entails is a fairly important question that needs to be answered first.
to me, the key difference between a universe in which god exists versus one where god doesn't lies in the idea of teleology.
in my view, a universe with god entails some sort of process towards an end, an end which can be characterized with words such as bliss and unity and others.
God is just a mechanism to make you feel that there is something after death.
Materialism is a fairytale for some adults to bolster their vain hope that there will be no consciousness and no judgment after they die. This is impossible.
Hebrews 9: 27 - it is appointed once for men to die and then judgment
We ALONE among all the animals have the great gift of morality, being made in the image of the eternal God. And with that great gift comes great responsibility. All have failed this responsibility ....... except one.
Amos 4: 12 - "prepare to meet thy God"
this forum offers the stories of folks with as many variations as there are folks and a “great crowd” of lurkers whose stories may never be offered.
i am an outsider with a broken heart for some insiders that i love more than they know.
after reading nearly every “apostate” book ever written, lurking, being worn out searching the wt cd, i have come to an idea that i present for your appraisal..
You are very welcome Jerry.
Once I got the concept through my head, I couldn't believe it was really as simple as that. After 10 years, I'm just as ready to "throw down" with those that try to make this complicated as I was at first. Too much at stake to back off.
Everyone should be applying greater and greater pressure on JW's to explain how their sins are forgiven outside the New Covenant as much as and as often as possible.
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Gal. 1: 8
Here's my website if any are interested: BibleReady.org
this forum offers the stories of folks with as many variations as there are folks and a “great crowd” of lurkers whose stories may never be offered.
i am an outsider with a broken heart for some insiders that i love more than they know.
after reading nearly every “apostate” book ever written, lurking, being worn out searching the wt cd, i have come to an idea that i present for your appraisal..
what is wrong with simply accepting the gospel Jesus offered and saying so.
Nice post.
Not only is there nothing wrong with it, it is a requirement for salvation.
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. - Matthew 10: 34-36
But do not think that you will escape a price that must be exacted for accepting Jesus alone for your escape from the coming judgment. I at one time thought that I was smart enough, and slick enough to pull it off and have my cake and eat it too. I was wrong and the Lord meant what he said:
For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. - Luke 12:52
Eventually, everyone must take a public stand, regardless of price. If a person really believes that Jesus' blood is sufficient all by itself to cover their sin, they WILL escape judgment; just as the Israelites escaped judgment at the Passover of the angel in Egypt when he saw the Lambs' blood on the door header and posts.
ONLY those under the blood will be pardoned for their sin.
And just for the record, salvation does not save us from destruction at Armageddon, it saves us from a personal judgment AFTER we die:
it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment - Hebrews 9: 27
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it...And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. ... And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. - Rev. 20
Faith in the blood of Jesus ALONE saves us from being judged by our works - him being judged in our place and having paid the debt we owe for our wicked works.
This is what the New Covenant offers - "forgiveness of sins" (not government positions for the 144K)
And taking a cup, he offered thanks and gave it to them, saying: “Drink out of it, all of you, for this means my ‘blood of the covenant', which is to be poured out in behalf of many for forgiveness of sins. (NWT) Mt. 26. 27-28
Jehovah's Witnesses have no idea what they are doing when they allow themselves to be lead into rejecting a personal membership into the New Covenant each Memorial.
There will be a very high price to be paid for faith in a church or your works, or any combination of the two. Jehovah is a God exacting exclusive devotion. Any devotion to anything other than the blood of Christ will be rejected as idolatry, regardless of how religious it may seem.
