...hope to enjoy everlasting life and witness the resurrection, things unseen by the world.
like the philosophers of paul’s day who called him an ignorant “chatterer,” most people today think that the hope we preach is sheer nonsense.
(acts 17:18) .
...hope to enjoy everlasting life and witness the resurrection, things unseen by the world. Like the philosophers of Paul’s day who called him an ignorant “chatterer,” most people today think that the hope we preach is sheer nonsense. (Acts 17:18)
"sheer nonsense".. lol.
i was asked to view the video “dear believer, why do you believe?” i said i would and i would publish my comments about it.
so here are my comments.
after my post, i hope other believers will post theirs comments about it.
There is no evidence at all that god exists.
..If by god you mean some vague notion of a disinterested higher power then I agree. We can no more prove that sort of god doesn't exist..
I think there's a bit of a contradiction here Cofty :) (I'm teasing you, please don't write me an entire article reply on the scientific method)
Anyways, my two cents..as an agnostic: live and let live. It goes for both sides. It does seem to me that a few voices here have become quite loud lately within some threads as to anything God related, and you know, that's quite sad to me.
Remember that our shared goal within this community is to help as many exJWs feel free enough to transition away from that cult as possible. The great majority of the ones wondering around here that are still "in" I'm sure still believe in God and the Bible (I know I did for quite sometime). I fear of the feeling of nonacceptance they might have from seeing the general vitriol displayed by a few voices here against anyone that still wants to make sense of spiritual matters. I'm not against putting up proof or evidence for or against evolution / religion, but I wish we would do so in a way that respects the dignity of everyone.
Please, I urge you all to remember this, lets talk to eachother as we would in person, with respect and dignity. We are all victims of a shared common pain.
it seems britain has voted to leave the eu in a move of total madness!
the markets are already in free fall and the moronic bigots who campaigned for this are celebrating the demise of our country .. i can't see how a 49-51% split can be democratic?
there is still the postal vote to come in, maybe there's hope in that?
I'm confused wasn't the UK a power for years before they joined the EU. What makes people now think that they will suddenly fall apart?
I ask myself the same thing.
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.
