Drearyweather

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Posts by Drearyweather

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  26

  Is there anything good JWs taught you still benefit from?

  by venus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some years ago, i attended a jw wedding.

  marriage speaker said something which changed my life for the better, and it helps me even now.

  he told the couple: “the very make up of man and woman is such that conflicts can often arise between you.

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  Drearyweather

  If you go to college, by the way, you learn public speaking as well.

  But many who never had the opportunity to go to college learned it as JW's. For e.g. My parents
  
  
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  19

  Debating a Christian at work.

  by pseudoxristos in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  a christian at work has been after me for more than a year to go to his church and be saved.

  i like the guy and consider him a friend and have been politely trying to avoid the subject.

  i have recently decided that enough is enough and i told him i would discuss religion with him.

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  Drearyweather

  Finally the Sun is created on the fourth day!

  The issue here is most Christians believe that all planets, sun, moon, stars etc were created on the frist day itself. Gen 1:1: God created the heavens and the earth. Everything else apart from the earth can be included in the term heavens.

  Gen 1:3: Light from the already existing sun now penetrated to the earth through the cloud layers, even though the source of this light was not seen. Mostly like opening the window curtains and letting the light from the sun come in.

  Gen 1:14-16, Here the hebrew word ʽa·sahʹ is used which means 'make' and not create ('bara'). So God did not create the sun and the moon, but rather made them discernible to humans from the earth in a way that they could observe their movements and understand climatic patterns.
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  28

  Special event this weekend

  by TweetieBird in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  was talking with a family member today and they said that there is something special going on at the kh this weekend.

  any idea what it is?

  they said that some kind of broadcast from bethel for everyone..

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  Drearyweather

  It is special because it also will host the dedication of the new world headquarters.
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  9

  Illogicality of preaching

  by venus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  not all scripture is god-breathed.

  there are verses that also dishonor god.

  for example, subject of preaching seems to be too illogical even though it is the very basis of many sects [especially of jw organization which defines itself as the preaching organization].

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  Drearyweather

  God-breathed scriptures are those which are prima facie true—like Mathew 5:44-48. They need no interpretation like saying ‘the whole is greater than its part”

  But that doesn’t work that way. If we don’t understand something, we dig deeper, we don’t discard it as unreasonable. This is true in all walks of life.

  Fear evoked in verses such as Mathew 10:28, 33; Ezekiel 3:18 is morbid fear, not healthy fear as you feel.

  Ez 3:18: The scriptures are warnings. The impact is though morbid. Warning someone that he will be charred to death if he touches the electricity wire is not invoking morbid fear. I’m still not sure how Mathew 10:28,33 invokes morbid fear.

  Governments asking for valid documents is not a valid comparison with Mathew 10:32, 33.

  The whole crux of Christianity is following Jesus. The whole crux of being a citizen is to follow the rules of the government. The whole crux of being a human being is to not harm others and be human. If you decide to believe the Bible then you follow Jesus. Bible is not an academic book, it’s a religious book that dictates a law that is a constitution to its believers. Dissecting a constitution leads nowhere. You either follow it or you don't. And you are clearly made aware of its consequences.

  If one knows what to do, then it is up to him—he may or may not do it. Others have nothing to do with his decision.

  A sane human knows that killing others is wrong. But if he still does it, someone needs to stop him. That is why we have the whole concept of rehab centres. And that’s why we have the police force to stop people in doing what is wrong.

  “No one has ascended into heaven except him.”How can he say this in the beginning of his ministry—he ascended into heaven in the end of his ministry.

  Remember that the Bible says the Jesus was an angel in heaven in his pre-form. Like all other angels, Jesus too came on earth to give messages. As a human now, only Jesus was the one who had in his earlier days, ascended and descended to heaven. No other human had had an angelic form earlier and had ascended to heaven and had a glimpse of God or communicated with God. Neither did any other angel came down to earth and lived as a human from its birth like Jesus. Only Jesus fits that category. Only he was the human being who was also an angel earlier and had the work of ascending and descending into heaven.

  Try this verse as a sample, and you will find many verses falling into this category.

  This whole idea is known as isolating verses without understanding its context.

  Chopping someone’s hand is wrong and a crime. But a doctor amputating a gangrene infected hand is not wrong. He is not contradicting reasonable human laws.

  The law of gravity states that every object in air falls down to the earth. However, a child’s helium balloon going up in the air is not contradicting the idea of gravity. More understating of science is behind it.

  Two ideas that seems contradictory prima facie need not be contradictory. Hence, there is a need to understand the context of the scripture.
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  9

  Illogicality of preaching

  by venus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  not all scripture is god-breathed.

  there are verses that also dishonor god.

  for example, subject of preaching seems to be too illogical even though it is the very basis of many sects [especially of jw organization which defines itself as the preaching organization].

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  Drearyweather

  Not all Scripture is God-breathed.

  Since you say "Not All", do you have a list or do you know which scriptures are God breathed?
  

  because what is done out of fear is mechanical and is also as good as nothing being done.

  Do you believe in the concept of healthy fear? i.e. fear of being killed if you drink and drive, fear of losing your child to bad influences if not trained properly? Do you believe that the word 'fear' is always wrong?

  ‘If you do this we will do that for you’ which is a worldly attitude

  Is asking someone to do something for something in return wrong? For e.g. to stay as a resident, you need to have all valid documents. Is the government wrong in demanding this? Is a Father wrong in telling his son, "If you need to stay in this house, you need to stop using drugs"

  Result-wise too preaching is unnecessary as it accomplishes nothing because everyone already knows what is right and wrong. For example, people are quick to notice the wrong when it is committed by others

  Is knowing what is right and what is wrong enough? or doing what is right and not doing what is wrong the main thing?

  all of which are obviously the product of human thinking
  

  Scriptures are from God, its incorrect interpretation is a product of human thinking.
  
  
  
  
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  37

  Grocery Store conversation with an elder

  by problemaddict 2 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i'm inactive here to the local jw's as i have faded.

  i've been slandered and all that, shunned by some but not all, but the elders basically leave me alone.

  i still run into to people all over though.

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  Drearyweather

  problemaddict2

  Nice reply.

  However the strange thing here is before getting baptized we ourselves agree not to celebrate birthdays and also agree to the fact that elders will question us if we are found disobeying the WT rules!

  So this was just a case of an elder doing his job; as technically you are still a JW on their list
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  26

  When is the last time you saw an educated middle class family become Jehovah's Witnesses?

  by xjwsrock in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  we know from casual observation that if anybody does respond to their preaching/recruiting work it is usually someone that is a social misfit in some way or a person that was indoctrinated early in life.. think about all the nicer neighborhoods witnesses preach in.

  if a family of four with a father that is an engineer and a mother who is a medical professional ever walked into a kingdom hall for the first time and said they were studying, people would faint.

  lol.... this of course isn't what you would expect from a religion backed by the ultimate intelligent creator.

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  Drearyweather

  In all seriousness, though, have you ever seen an educated middle or upper middle class person or family join this religion?
  

  See what the Bible says at 1 Cor. 1:26-28

  Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called.Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,
  
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  20

  Getting your WT files deleted (UK)

  by Splash in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the uk are tightening up their data protection laws to make it easier for individuals to get hold of the information organisations hold on them and to get it deleted.. i think paul grundy (jwfacts) went through this with wt once and found it very time consuming and difficult.. will wt now abide by the law and hand over or permanently delete the records it keeps when requested?it would mean every uk exjw could have their report card info, personal file with age, sex, baptism date, judicial information, appointment/deletion/disfellowshipping dates, letters of disassociation, letters of recommendation when you move, phone number and address permanently removed.

  anyone acting for the wt (elders) who retain this information, eg your phone number in their phone or the secretary keeping your historical monthly report details, will be in violation.

  failure to comply will incur a fine.. expect a letter to all boe's any time soon explaining why this does not apply to them.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40826062.

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  Drearyweather

  AverageJoe1, In such cases, a person who does not tell his former congregation's name or tries to falsify his identity, puts himself in a sticky position. No one would appreciate a fraud in their congregation.

  There are many who get disfellowshipped for Child Abuse, rape, money swindling and other heinous wrongdoings. Would you appreciate if such ones move to other congregations and try to hide their identity in the guise of the Data Protection Act? Should the WT simply delete all such information about such people?

  WT did not have child abuse protection policies in place. However, many convictions have happened lately because of such information held by the branch and the local elders.
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  20

  Why should WE be the bloodguilty ones??

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it struck me just how odd and weird it is that jws are told that if they do not preach, they are "bloodguilty" for failing to warn people of the upcoming destruction at armageddon.. hang on a minute now, hang on!.

  why should a mere human be made to feel "bloodguilty" and "responsible" for "failing to warn someone" of gods wrath??.

  these average people are not the ones who are about to unleash a genocidal massacre on 99% of humanity (including babies born to non-witnesses).

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  Drearyweather

  Why should a mere human be made to feel "bloodguilty" and "responsible" for "failing to warn someone" of Gods wrath??

  Because, such humans themselves promise to God and the WT during their baptism that they would preach and are ready to be held accountable for not participating in this life saving work.

  See Question No 21 on the Part 3 of the Baptism Questions in the OD book.

  If you don't want to be held accountable, don't agree to it in the first place!

  
  
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  20

  Getting your WT files deleted (UK)

  by Splash in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the uk are tightening up their data protection laws to make it easier for individuals to get hold of the information organisations hold on them and to get it deleted.. i think paul grundy (jwfacts) went through this with wt once and found it very time consuming and difficult.. will wt now abide by the law and hand over or permanently delete the records it keeps when requested?it would mean every uk exjw could have their report card info, personal file with age, sex, baptism date, judicial information, appointment/deletion/disfellowshipping dates, letters of disassociation, letters of recommendation when you move, phone number and address permanently removed.

  anyone acting for the wt (elders) who retain this information, eg your phone number in their phone or the secretary keeping your historical monthly report details, will be in violation.

  failure to comply will incur a fine.. expect a letter to all boe's any time soon explaining why this does not apply to them.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40826062.

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  Drearyweather

  They would have to say that the branch informed them

  When you move congregations, your new cong gets your personal data from your previous congs' elders, not the branch, through a letter of introduction.