the watchtower of january 1st, 2010 p. 22-23 pretends that "all who respond favorably to gods warning and bring their life into harmony with his righteous principles (meaning jehovah's witnesses) will be granted salvation and enjoy everlasting life on a paradise earth.".
but is it true?.
astrophysicists say that like other stars of its type, our sun will become a planet-engulfing red giant.
Many years ago when I asked my zealous grand mother, she told me that Jehovah is upholding the laws of nature, and can control them easily enough to sustain earth for an eternity. Wether this was her answer, or something she learned from WT I don't know. She's a smart woman, just to bad that the WTS has kept her in the dark her entire life. She once rethorically asked: "If humans evolved from apes, then why are there still apes?"
Matsimus
Not long ago I fount a picture taken by my great grandfather at a convention in New York around 56 i think (feel free to correct me if I am wrong about the year). The theme was of course how close the end of this system of things is. Makes me a bit sad thinking about that he devoted his entire life to the WTS, and believed he would never die, yet he did many years later. Still people think the end is any minute now, and have been for over a century.
as i turn things over in my mind, one jw lie stands out.. that god doesn't listen to all prayers.
unless i have it wrong, and i don't think i do, jw's believe, and have been endlessly, ruthlessly taught, that only those living by "jehovah's righteous standards"...that awful glib phrase again...will get their prayers listened to.
in other words, god looks at the number the person is calling from, so to speak, checks who it is, looks him up in his book of misdeeds, and angrily slams the phone down.. the jehovah god of the wt is petty and mean-minded.
Perhaps the organ transplant ban they had. Quite laughable that they taught to modern people that emotions are in the heart, nad a person would never be the same after a heart transplant. There more abyssmal part of it is that many died because of it, and just a few years later they changed the doctrine. How can that not be killing loyal followers?
since my awakening from the mind control of the wts, it has been an exciting also frigthening journey of exploration and free thinking.. i would say, today i try to be open to anything, i ll go whatever direction facts show.
while i`m no scientist, i think i have a glue about the scientific method.
i also agree with the statemant, that some extraordinary claim needs extraordinary proof.. so far, it is a difficult question whether god exists or not, and probably in my lifetime i will not get a conclusive answer.. however, my concerns are about evolution, since even a confirmation of evolution does not necessarily exclude the existence of a god, it just proivdes an alternative explanation, in case there is no god.. even though i did not really read a book yet about evolution, i read other books of people, whose reasoning i can agree to, and they believe in evolution.. .
NewChapter, good post. I do disagree with the term random, since natural selection is a system that is not random, but very selective. I once read that evolution being random is a myth, but can't remember where :s Also, the WT uses the term random all the time to attack the credibility of the theory/fact.
i was born as a third generation (perhaps even fourth gen. but my great great grandfather never got baptized) jw.
i remember that when i was young, perhaps about five years old, i would think about jehovah as this big black ghost with yellow eyes.
to me he was quite frightening, and i was constantly catious not to piss him off.
I was born as a third generation (perhaps even fourth gen. but my great great grandfather never got baptized) JW. I remember that when I was young, perhaps about five years old, I would think about Jehovah as this big black ghost with yellow eyes. To me he was quite frightening, and I was constantly catious not to piss him off. I remember once when the wind was howling outside at night, I asked my grandmother if it was Jehovah speaking. When I heard that Martin Luther was terrified of god when he was young, I remembered how scared I was as a kid.
So if there is a point to this post, it might be that perhaps what is said at KH is not always appropriate for kids? What do you think?
since my awakening from the mind control of the wts, it has been an exciting also frigthening journey of exploration and free thinking.. i would say, today i try to be open to anything, i ll go whatever direction facts show.
while i`m no scientist, i think i have a glue about the scientific method.
i also agree with the statemant, that some extraordinary claim needs extraordinary proof.. so far, it is a difficult question whether god exists or not, and probably in my lifetime i will not get a conclusive answer.. however, my concerns are about evolution, since even a confirmation of evolution does not necessarily exclude the existence of a god, it just proivdes an alternative explanation, in case there is no god.. even though i did not really read a book yet about evolution, i read other books of people, whose reasoning i can agree to, and they believe in evolution.. .
A couple of years ago I was still a believer of JW doctrine, with a big curiosity for what all the evolution crap was about, I read one of Richards Dawkins books called "the greatest show on earth". Not did I know that it would change my life forever. The book explains all the evidence for evolution without requiring you to be a professor in evolutionary biolgy. His statements were overwhelmingly logical to me, and everything felt like pieces being added to a big puzzle, while shredding my beliefs in jw doctrine where it was against evolution. As i read my comment now, it seems very easy, although it wasn't. I got terrified and read every WT literature about evolution, but it just did not add up in my mind. I highly reccomend that you read "the greatest show on earth".
Btw, still having trouble with the posts? I read in another thead that this one has got a few technical issues :p
since that great atheist heavy weight christopher hitchens left us.
it seems the british press have had their knifes out for richard dawkins.
mostly trying to discredit him and smear his name.. his exasperated "oh god!
Personally I am a big fan. I have read two of his books and I felt that they made me more down to earth and rational.
I think the fact that he is an atheist on a war path againts theism might be one of the reasons they are attacking him. If I remember correctly he wrote in his book "the god delusion" that the world would be a much better place without any religions and superstition. No wonder people get a bit upset. Religion has deep roots in the UK. By the way, I highly recommend reading "the blind watchmaker" and "the god delusion". Really good books :)
john 6:53-58 states:.
53 jesus said to them, very truly i tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
54 whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and i will raise them up at the last day.
Funny how strict they are about not partaking in pagan rituals. Yet we are not allowed to partake in eating Jesus' flesh and drinking his blood, which I once heard was a ritual for satanists rejecting Jesus. Now that I think of it, it would be fun to do some reading on the subject :)
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as im sure it is with most of us that were raised in the religion, our contact with wordly people was kept to a minimum.. my parents moved away from their non witness family, to a city about half an hour away.
Don't stop trying :) Eventually you will have wordly friends and see that you don't have to be a JW in order to be a great person. We all have flaws, even JWs.
i'm delighted to announce that the 2012 annual survey has now been launched and is ready to receive your votes!!.
please visit www.jwsurvey.org and give us your votes at the earliest opportunity.
this latest survey is obviously available to all those who voted in last year's survey, as well as to those who have never voted before.. so, what's different?.
Took the survey. Good one :)
