One of the things that made me more open to analyzing "apostate" views was realizing how many verses in the NWT were twisted to fit our doctrine, so thx again Perry.
If there is a hell, I'm pretty sure we'll find F. Franz in there.
jesus taught that we must die unto ourselves, and allow the holy spirit to take up residence within us.
some people get saved by simply inviting jesus into their hearts, to be the lord of their life.
this serves as a countering force within the born-again christian to counterbalance the will of the flesh, which is still unsaved in this life and destined for destruction in imitation of our lord himself.. attempting to live the christian life without having this spirit within you is a waste of time at the minimum, and dangerous on the downside.
One of the things that made me more open to analyzing "apostate" views was realizing how many verses in the NWT were twisted to fit our doctrine, so thx again Perry.
If there is a hell, I'm pretty sure we'll find F. Franz in there.
jesus taught that we must die unto ourselves, and allow the holy spirit to take up residence within us.
some people get saved by simply inviting jesus into their hearts, to be the lord of their life.
this serves as a countering force within the born-again christian to counterbalance the will of the flesh, which is still unsaved in this life and destined for destruction in imitation of our lord himself.. attempting to live the christian life without having this spirit within you is a waste of time at the minimum, and dangerous on the downside.
Excellent analysis Perry. Thank you for it.
warning of a long boring post ahead.
i feel like i need to vent my story out, as i feel quite helpless at the moment.. i'm 31 year old, married, father of toddler with another one on the way, due later this month.
i've been serving as elder for about 4 years now in a south florida congregation.
Hi friends,
So, as I mentioned in a reply above, i was successfully able to help my wife see the light. All of the advice I received here was invaluable and I'm greatly thankful for the warm embrace i received from all of you.
We have stopped going to all mtgs and do not preach at all either. As to the rest of my family, they are showing signs of pre-shunning us, and this is incredibly painful for us, but we are grateful that at least we are not completely cutoff. We intend to one day move to another town with the hopes of making it harder for elders to follow up on us, given that we can't wait to celebrate our first Christmas...😂
Timebandit:. Thx for the words my friend. I know elders have a bad rap around here and of course there are always a few bad apples, but many are genuinely just trying to do this really difficult task as best they can.
Thanks fire the words Edenone
i know that some people on the board have experience of being mormons, so i would be interested in your feedback.
at church this afternoon it was an uncanny experience.
in the past i've read a lot about mormons, so i thought i was prepared in general for what it would be like.
..to each their own. At the end of the day, we must all follow the path that makes us happy.
I hope you find your path slimboy.
why in this 21st century are we still cow towing to religions that are based in the distant past, of thousands of years ago , whether it be christian islam or whatever.?
and not to restrict it to just those two , but all ancient religions.. all of them are hypocritical , on the one hand rejecting modern day society and it`s technology and on the other hand embracing it for their own advantage .. when is the human race ever going to rid itself of pie in the sky beliefs.?.
smiddy.
the internet is doing a good job of ridding us of superstition and bad religions. Be patient, it's a slow process. But it is certainly moving in the right direction at speeds never seen before. Forums like this show the vulnerability and weaknesses of religion.
I agree. The market of ideas sometimes works slowly, but it gets there. Bottom line is: you cannot legislate faith away from ppl without creating a tyranny. It has been tried in the past with terrible results for basic human rights.
Besides that, (and I stress this is only my opinion) all religion is not completely bad for progress as most progressives claim. The belief in the freedom of the individual to seek happiness as a right handed to them by their creator, (see US constitution) has created systems that has allowed for more progress and advancement in the last few centuries than in all of human history combined. (compared to centralized ruling of monarchies and/or leftist/communist movements)
two days ago a new book was released for download, called "ever-changing teachings of jehovah's witnesses".
it was originally written by a polish jw scholar (who never was a jw himself) włodzimierz bednarski, with a help from szymon matusiak, who was a jw and an elder, and is a result of years of labourious work to compile quotes regarding every single doctrine the book describes.
it covers the most important changes in years 1879—2015.
Simply amazing work. Thank you guys!!!
the following is a brief examination of one disturbing paragraph in the august 2016 study watchtower - "do you see the need to make spiritual progress?"11.
what spiritual qualities can we work to develop, and why are they important?
11 develop spiritual qualities.
read the news here.
the jehovah's witnesses lost their appeal to the supreme court of russia.
bethel to be liquidated.. i bet the gb saw this coming ... here comes the persecution complex paranoia.
..having said that, we are not getting anywhere. Let's agree to disagree in what stance governments should have against JWs, and I'll end it with something I'm sure we will have in common: Lets hope as many JWs as possible, worldwide, find ttatt and leave quickly.
read the news here.
the jehovah's witnesses lost their appeal to the supreme court of russia.
bethel to be liquidated.. i bet the gb saw this coming ... here comes the persecution complex paranoia.
And therein lies the problem. The organization known as the Watchtower Society, which oversees the organization known as the JWs, is not a collection of individuals acting collectively.
Crow, you missed the main point of my argument. The point I was trying to make is that individuals will suffer pain. Real flesh and blood people. Not just numbers in some organization. These ppl could be your brother, your sister, your cousin, individuals that very well might end up in jail for not wanting to violate their conscience, as has happened to so many JWs throughout their history, and continues to happen (see reports south korea)
read the news here.
the jehovah's witnesses lost their appeal to the supreme court of russia.
bethel to be liquidated.. i bet the gb saw this coming ... here comes the persecution complex paranoia.
DJS, you are so deluded, arrogant and ignorant that I don't even know where to begin debating the non-sense that you just wrote. I'll try to put it in real simple terms for you to see if I can slip some common sense into that head of yours:
A) Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Yemen are great examples of the role of government and the respect of human rights (.. right! good going there)
B) "The organization is a different matter. Why are you having so much trouble separating these?" Are you kidding me? You have demonstrated zero ability to think beyond the capacity of a child. An organization consist of members, as individuals acting collectively. When a JW goes to jail in Russia or another oppressive regime, they are suffering as individuals.
C) JW in no shape, manner or form resemble in nature, intent or extremes white separatist groups intent in causing violence. You cannot compare JWs to such violent groups as Jihadist Terrorists or White extremists.
Other than that the rest of the drivel you spewed is not even worth touching.