Posts by Shining One

34

Meddling mother

by meems1000 in

i've posted a few times on this site but really just like to read the posts.. i wanted to know if anyone can tell me about a book for teens that the dubs have.

my mother gave it to my 13 year old son and i'm really angry.

i have made it very clear i want nothing to do with those people and do not want my children exposed to it.

Shining One

Oh man, I love your sense of humor: crosses and priests!
Rex

15

PLEASE HELP ME

by helpme222 in

i am 16 years old and i was raised as a jehovah's witness, but i want out.

the whole society is based on brainwashing, propaganda and greed.

my parents are so brainwashed about it that when i told her thnta i didn't want to be part of this religion anymore, she cried.

First you should cry out to God to demonstrate His presence to you and your situation. After you pray this pay very close attention to anyone who comes into your life or any event that shows God heard your cry. I did this and He was very quick about reveaing Himself but do keep up the prayer. I have been there and I know. Do not do anything to alienate your parents as it will backfire. If you come at them like some of the people do here you will just prove the Watchtower was 'right'. To get relatives and friends out you need prayer, patience and guidance. Feel free to send me a IM here anytime.
I don't at all recommend this site. What you have here is a bunch of malcontents that will do their best to remove any belief in God that you have left. Find some Christian friends, and I mean 'born again, Bible believing' people that you can talk to about this. You no doubt know some. I am praying for you now. God bless.
Rex

39

A Case FOR Evolution?

by pmouse in

.

and the official wts response?

new light, silence, imperfect man or imperfect bird?.

Shining One

Ha ha ha. That is micro-evolution which is not in debate. Speciation has not been proven nor has it been demonstratedm, which is one reason that evolution is a THEORY. It will be trashed for good when the present generation of tenured professors and researchers die off. Evolution is in big trouble all over the world be cause the more (unbiased) research that is done, the shakier the theory becomes. Irreducible complexities are the biggest reason evolutionary belief is unreasonable.
Rex

25

"My Apostate Brother"

by scout575 in

"i was put up against a wall the last years of my life, always depressed, hopeless and miserable.

even though i was married and had a family i was alone, no one to confide in, no one to turn to, always in fear that my doubt would be discovered and i would become an outcast ( more so ).

i was lucky enough to have my apostate brother refer me to this site.

Shining One

What you are doing with these posts is not what you think you are doing. What you have is another cult victim or someone who was never a believer, a 'professed Christian'. There are no victims in Christianity. In fact, you cannot even have true apostates (as we often define them) because those who are born again are not held to their belief by themselves or any church body. (Romans 8 has a lot of this as do the epistles. I recommend Charles Stanley's book, "Eternal Security" for a detailed rebuttal for any notion that salvation is not eternal.)
They are held by the Holy Spirit and will persevere in the faith eternally. The people posting on this site were never believers to begin with, "They had a form of godly devotion but lacked it's power", "they were not of us or they would not have left".
There are a few professed Christians here who actually do not believe what the Bible teaches. So, you have a prime example every time you want to see this demonstrated. The problem is, unless you pursue a Biblical study and make a surrender to Christ you will never have a understanding of what the Bible teaches.
Rex

21

JW's vs United Church of God

by lisavegas420 in

two months ago, i wrote the wbts and requested a 'what does the bible really teach'.

well it hasn't shown up.

but at the same time, i ordered a "what does the bible really teach' from the united church of god.

Shining One

Those are leftover cultists from Ted Armstrong. The Worldwide Church of God repented and went Biblical about 15 years ago.
Rex

8

Scriptures You Will Not Hear at the 16-07-06 Church Sermon

by scout575 in

"for the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man.

neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.

" ( 1 corinthians 11:8,9 ).

Shining One

I've heard all of those scriptures preached and I have taught them...in their correct context. That is something that many ex-JW, especially the unbelievers, can't understand.
Rex

39

Perfect, Nearly Perfect, and Mostly Perfect....Religion

by jgnat in

kero-kero's goodbye post brought me to mind a common complaint amongst jw apologists, that all we do is bring up the bad stuff and old history.

after all, "nobody's perfect".

well, that would be fine and dandy if the wtbts hadn't set themselves up as the sole mouthpiece for jehovah in these 'last days'.

Shining One

LT,

>Rex to jgnat: You admitted that you do not believe that Jesus is the only way to the Father.

Can you supply the reference for that, please? >I'm being genuine, as I would agree with you on the point that scripture is clear that Jesus is the only way to the Father. However I would also agree with CS Lewis and Karl Barth that while an individual comes to God through Christ, it might be possible that they didn't not know that it was through Christ they came. John Calvin even concluded that Election is a secret.

my reply:

Election IS a secret from us and who can know the complete providential will of God? As Christians, we can only attempt to understand the more complex things. However, the gospel itself is simple and a person can come to Christ no matter the limitations. Many Christians in the world do not have a copy of scripture. They have very limited understanding and teaching. Some have come to know God without any missionary contact until afterward! That is not our situation. We are held accountable for what we know and the most vital Christian doctrines can become a very serious dividing line.

Here is the link:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/115459/2030218/post.ashx#2030218

The text from a reply to Sad Emo of a question:

Jignat: Thank you for your contribution, Sad-Emo (Others, too, but my typing fingers are getting tired).

Sad Emo: Jesus said 'No-one comes to the Father except through me' BUT is 'mainstream' Christianity (I use that term loosely!) and the Bible the ONLY way to come to Christ?

Jignat: I THINK NOT (My capitalization). Paul said that creation shouts of the existence of God. People can see it if they are looking. Acts 17.

Jesus is the only way to God. If she mean't the above as some compromise to the 'politically correct' idea that 'all roads lead to God, or a few roads lead to God'. Thanks for the conversation and the link you provided. People misunderstand me because I take the call to reconciliation seriously. After my initial conversion to Christianity I did sometimes press to hard in sharing my faith. I learned that is counter-productive. I still believe that so much of what people call 'Christian' is actually 'religion'. Religion will not save anyone, only a personal relationship of Jesus Christ will do that. The conversion results in being born of the Spirit. Othodoxy is founded on the teachings and life of Jesus as the cornerstone and the foundational teachings of the apostles. They warned against compromise with the world and the Lord very much warned us that morality and authoritive teaching is essential to those who believe.
I have learned the orthodox teachings directly through my doubts. Would you believe that the chain of events resulting in my salvation hinged on my attempt to 'prove' the tri-unity teaching as false? I had cried out to God for Him to reveal Himself after I finally realized that the Watchotower was so bogus. "Jehovah, I don't know what truth is: everything I have been taught is false. If you exist and are there I need you to show me. I need to see you and have no doubt that you are answering me!" When I finally realized that Jesus was God, early Christians had indeed worshipped Him and He claimed to be God, the rest of the teachings came very easy.

Rex

2

Why Liberal Christianity is often heretical

by Shining One in

this is from the republican and democrats conservative blog: july 01, 2006 .

politics and progressive religion .

barak obama made an incredibly smart speech the other day.

Shining One

This is from the Republican and Democrats Conservative blog: July 01, 2006
Politics and Progressive Religion
Barak Obama made an incredibly smart speech the other day. He ‘chastised’ Democrats for making religion into a boogeyman to be hunted down and killed where ever it appears in public. Obama’s warning is smart for the simple fact that it is true. Democrats have positioned themselves as the party of anti-religion. Still, despite Obama’s speech I don’t think this will change anytime soon.
So let's talk about the politics of anti-religion in America. Evangelical Christians are demonized routinely in the press and by a broad spectrum of liberal voices. The imagined march to theocracy is a frequent theme. The re-election of Bush in 2004 was even characterized (with the standard snarl of disgust) as being due to the horrible Christian-ness of, "JesusLand." Thus Obama's apparent suggestion is a radical departure from the Democratic party line.
At the same time, he said, "Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering the public square."
As a result, "I think we make a mistake when we fail to acknowledge the power of faith in the lives of the American people and join a serious debate about how to reconcile faith with our modern, pluralistic democracy." ~WashingtonPost.com
So the admonition of a liberal Senator urging Democrats to, "court evangelicals," is significant. Even though, one could look at this call with advanced scepticism, or as watchblog contributor, Scottie, puts it, "Barack Obama Fakes Interest in Evangelicals."
I agree with Scottie. I think that the view that Obama holds is colored by a significant amount of disinformation. He has one thing right though-- democrats have largely abandoned the field of religious discourse... except to demonize.
What Obama is missing is that the problem comes when they start telling evangelicals what they stand for. Even when, --well, actually scratch that-- especially when the left isreligious and attempts to argue leftist policies from a moral-religious perspective, there is such a dichotomy between what evangelicals believe and what 'progressive christians' believe that the gulf seems even wider from that perspective than it does from a merely political one.
Let me explain. 'Progressive christians' are more likely to deny the divinity of Christ, to deny the accuracy and 'truthiness' of the Bible, and to contradict the morality of many of the 'myths' contained therein. In short, they largely do not even look like Christians to Evangelicals to whom many of these kinds of 'innovations' are either heresy or border on apostasy. Case in point (a mild case at that), is this story from the LA Times about Presbyterian's renaming the trinity in order to correct 'patriarchal distortions'.
When referring to the Trinity, most Christians are likely to say "Father, Son and the Holy Spirit."
But leaders of the Presbyterian Church (USA) are suggesting some additional designations: "Compassionate Mother, Beloved Child and Life-giving Womb," or perhaps "Overflowing Font, Living Water, Flowing River."
Then there's "Rock, Cornerstone and Temple" and "Rainbow of Promise, Ark of Salvation and Dove of Peace."
...Written by a diverse panel of working pastors and theologians, the report noted that the traditional language of the Trinity portrays God as male and implies men are superior to women.
"For this and other distortions of Trinitarian doctrine we repent," the report said. ~LATimes.com
Religious conservatives are precisely that. They want to conserve traditional values. They are not interested in the kind of ecumenical progress that devolves into a repudiation of (literally) all that is holy.
With this in mind, I wanted to do some research on Barak Obama's faith. Is he a 'progressive christian' or more mainstream? I wanted to know a little more. The Associated Press article mentioned Obama's church as being the Trinity United Church of Christ on the Southside of Chicago. So I looked for their website. I found it, but I'm not sure what to think. Their About Page makes me scratch my head.
This isn't supposed to be a trashing of Barak Obama's beliefs or religion. It is meant to highlight the real differences between the two religious groups.
More on the Political
Obama made his speech at a conference for the organization, Sojourners/Call to Renewal, whose tagline is, "A faith-based movement to overcome poverty." I very much doubt that there were any conservative evangelicals in attendence. On their website is a call to, "take action," against Bush's Budget:
Budgets are moral documents. They give a very real picture of what our nation's priorities and values are. Cuts to low- and middle-income families who are empowered by programs such as food stamps, Medicaid, housing assistance for low-income seniors and persons with disabilities, and cuts to community social service programs - while at the same time increasing the deficit by slashing taxes for people who make more than $1 million per year by $600 billion - are out of touch with my values. I hope they are out of touch with your values, too. ~sojo.net
Obviously, I shouldn't have to point out that budgets are not moral documents in the sense that the mission statements of Churches are. But the bigger point of contention is that the religious right does not believe that the U.S. government is the proper vehicle for Christian work. (I don't care what the leftist propagandists may tell you about the goals of our theocracy.)
Claiming that the Federal government is the proper instrument to implement your Christian charity is actually the definition of theocracy. There can be no clearer violation of the concept of Separation of Church and State than to say that it's budget priorities must conform to a religious purpose.
And this is where the problem exists for the left. Liberalism itself is a religion by this definition. The Democratic Party is in fact a faith-based organization promoting it's morality. Or how many times have I been told, in essence, that Republicans are immoral for having the wrong political view?
Postscript Blessing
May the Rainbow of Promise, Overflowing Font, and Life-giving womb bless you, and the patriarchal homophobic sexist theocracy of America as well.
Posted by Eric Simonson at July 1, 2006 10:37 AM
Rex

39

Perfect, Nearly Perfect, and Mostly Perfect....Religion

by jgnat in

kero-kero's goodbye post brought me to mind a common complaint amongst jw apologists, that all we do is bring up the bad stuff and old history.

after all, "nobody's perfect".

well, that would be fine and dandy if the wtbts hadn't set themselves up as the sole mouthpiece for jehovah in these 'last days'.

Shining One

>All you gave us back was Moody and Finney
LT, you forgot Billy Graham and Billy Sunday.....
Rex

39

Perfect, Nearly Perfect, and Mostly Perfect....Religion

by jgnat in

kero-kero's goodbye post brought me to mind a common complaint amongst jw apologists, that all we do is bring up the bad stuff and old history.

after all, "nobody's perfect".

well, that would be fine and dandy if the wtbts hadn't set themselves up as the sole mouthpiece for jehovah in these 'last days'.

Shining One

Jgnat,
No Christian one has to have the 'whole truth' down pat. That is NOT my contention and you know it. Clear scriptural principles are just that. You know full well I am not talking about any 'grey areas', nor am I talking about protestant and catholic disagreements. (The basic contention is not anti-Americanism either.) You refuse to accept clear scriptural principles that are obvious. You admitted that you do not believe that Jesus is the only way to the Father. Is that what your headlong rush in trying to be 'tolerant' and PC has led you into? Your hypocrisy has no end to it. You have no guidline other than some loosely defined, 'Law of Love' that you claim is the basis for your arguments. You are dead wrong, backed into a corner of your own making from your foolish pride.
Rex