know where in the bible will you find christian religions being condemned for teaching the trinity or hell fire doctrines, but you will find jesus condemning those that come as messiah's or christs (both mean anointed) and declaring 'the time is near'.
you will also find paul cursing anyone that preaches a gospel different then the apostles preached as well as cursing those that change or add to the bible.
oh darn jw's thats you, you fit the bill in all of these!!!!!!
I loved the facial expressions on a couple of witnesses when they asked ME questions about traditional Christianity and I responded "they didn't put my picture in your Bible?... that's strange, it should be next to James 3:1."
After they looked it up and we had our laugh, I got serious and asked if everyone in their denomination had to "teach" from door to door.
I listened as they danced uncomfortably through the semantics.
many said how they removed the bracketed words, etc.
here is an example, an older bible in exodus 18:16 would say this....."i must make known the decisions of the [true] god and his laws.".
the word "true" is not in the original manuscripts, it's inserted, hence the [ ].
Didn't someone say that the Interlinear was available as a parallel? If that's the case, haven't they just screwed themselves by removing the brackets?
Which would hold the greater weight - the Interlinear or the RNWT?
the jws stopped by my house a couple weeks ago on a saturday morning.
i knew that with others most likely waiting for them out in the car they probably did not then have much time to engage in any serious conversation.
so i let them talk while i feigned interest in what they had to say.
Definitely will use this!
i know that this has been discussed in the past but i wanted to get some fresh opinions.
there are many out there that recognize the "rot" that is in watchtower but still feel that there is a "wholesome" side to it and are trying to bring about change or reform from within.. in 2002 when the rose colored glasses came off for me and i truly started to understand ttatt, i still felt that there was some redemable aspects of the organization.. i felt that russell had some doctrinal things right.
i don't feel like that anymore.
I'm an outsider so take what I saw with a grain of salt. I'm only going by that which I understand. I hold myself responsible for my own theological interpretations and pray for the Holy Spirit to guide me.
That said, to me, you're asking if something that started off as a corporation that used religion to make money can become a religion.
IMHO, no.
It's a corporation leveraging religion to make money. The acquistion of the product is POST-mortem so they can claim any craziness they want to keep a person trapped in their insanity.
There's no such thing as a post-mortem money back guarantee and dead people cannot sue for false claims.
What a safety net, huh.
an average of five kingdom halls being constructed daily, almost 8 million brothers and sisters, dissemination of bible literature in 595 languages, 111,795 congregations worldwide, distribution of 179 million bibles available in 116 languages, 239 countries where jehovah's witnesses have a presence, etc.. need i go on?.
on the other hand........... crisis of conscience, freeminds, the awaa, jw.net, ummmmmm........hmmm........idk six screens or something?
not exactly working out for you guys.
SFPW, I've glanced at some of the responses and started thinking about the OP.
You really ARE comparing apples to... was it cats?
If you want to do a comparison that makes sense, compare the pain, isolation, confusion, fear and anguish on THIS forum to the pain, isolation, confusion, fear and anguish on an ex-traditional Christian forum like an ex-catholic forum. I've seen more suggestions of suicide (and one actual suicide), grief and sadness than I thought could be possible in one place that speaks of God. I have no idea how active JWs can be so smug while inflicting so much harm. It's appalling.
That comparison speaks VOLUMES to non-jws.
an average of five kingdom halls being constructed daily, almost 8 million brothers and sisters, dissemination of bible literature in 595 languages, 111,795 congregations worldwide, distribution of 179 million bibles available in 116 languages, 239 countries where jehovah's witnesses have a presence, etc.. need i go on?.
on the other hand........... crisis of conscience, freeminds, the awaa, jw.net, ummmmmm........hmmm........idk six screens or something?
not exactly working out for you guys.
Pentacostals have 100 million members and started around the same time as JWs. Sounds like some serious fail to me.
A respectful correction (I only know this because a dear friend pointed this out):
According to Pew Research there are 279 Million adherents*. They began in the early 1900's.
...and have I mentioned that not one has ever knocked on my door trying to get me to find salvation through their organization? Wonder what technique THEY use? Seems to be more effective than door-knocking.
*http://www.pewforum.org/files/2011/12/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf
my struggle- my journey finding salvationoctober 16, 2013 at 8:03pm"anyone who believes in the son of god has this testimony: god has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son.
he who has the son has life; he who does not have the son of god does not have life.
i write these things to you who believe in the name of the son of god so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Apognophos - I saw that interview. So much for the script they gave her to be angry about right before the interview. Her brain was incapable of processing what he was saying and as a result of her sticking to the talking point given to her, she ended up looking foolish. ...poor thing.
Junebuggie- Welcome. :) I am a non JW. I'm nearing 50 and my exposure to JWism was only to understand a couple of JW friends I really care about.
In being exposed to other faiths/denominations you lose sight of differences and start to see strong similarities instead. Sadly, given what I've seen in JWism, the limited exposure and constant railing against all others has done them a great disservice. It breaks my heart. My friends are knocking on doors of the uninterested with their chests poked out while variant churches and synagogues are finding common goals that contribute heavily to the improvement of humanity through charity despite doctrinal differences.
As for finding peace in Christ/God, I completely understand. You walk with a different kind of confidence, don't you? :) Once Jeremiah 31:33 and Acts 15:10 become real, things are different. Fortunately, I've never known a faith that is overbearing.
wait... does a request to fry chicken for 3 hours for the homeless count? I make LOUSY fried chicken. *giggling*
All I know is, if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed (John 8:36). :)
Now... I'm off to try and witness with your new points to think about.
Thanks for the post!
after some considerable thought i have decided that i will no longer post on this forum because i want to return to jehovah.
thank you for all the kindness and many interesting discussions over the years.
i wish you all well in the future and the decisions you make.
Oubliette, thanks for posting that. Looking at his Day 1 would make me less trustful of his loyalty. I'm sure he's not a bad kid... Only on his 30's but definitely conflicted. Poor kid.
after some considerable thought i have decided that i will no longer post on this forum because i want to return to jehovah.
thank you for all the kindness and many interesting discussions over the years.
i wish you all well in the future and the decisions you make.
SBF,
You will be missed. Hopefully the love you find there is as genuine as the love many of us have for you here.
after some considerable thought i have decided that i will no longer post on this forum because i want to return to jehovah.
thank you for all the kindness and many interesting discussions over the years.
i wish you all well in the future and the decisions you make.
Wow... I so don't get this.
These posts aren't very common - at least since I've been around.
I've never known an entity to require a total rejection of all previous experiences to be accepted.
This is so foreign.
