I liked this one:
simwitness
JoinedPosts by simwitness
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25
Who Told The First Lie: God or the Devil?
by Dutchie ingen 2:17 - god says: eat from the tree of knowledge of good and bad and you will absolutely die!.
gen 3:5 - satan says: god knows that in the very day of your eating from it your eyes are bound to be opened and you are bound to be like god knowing good and bad.. .
so what happen?.
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memorial
by daveyJones inremember me?
i posted once before in november of .
once a year, or should it be celebrated weekly, even daily, like some.
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simwitness
"keep doing this in rememberance of me..." I never took it to mean the simple wine/bread thing... I always thougt it applied to all things.
Gathering, conversing, eating, etc...
"All things to the glory of God."
The Church/Religions of the world however would have us believe it to be a ceremony of sorts, and perhaps that has it's place as well. But that also be what "empowers" them over the people, by making it a "holy event" that you can only do at "specified times" in "specified places", you take the true meaning of it away from the individuals.
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5
Hell........ just the GRAVE or ETERNAL FIRE?
by TheRecordCollector in"reasoning from the scriptures" book pg 170,. article: "does anyone ever get out of the bible hell".
which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of.
(14) "and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.. this is the second death.".
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simwitness
Eternal Reward - No longer worrying about eternal punishment.
Eternal Punishment - Always worrying about an eternal reward.
Peace in your heart, priceless.
I like the way Thomas Paine said it best:
"I consider myself in the hands of my Creator, and that he will dispose of me after this life consistently with His justice and goodness. I leave all these matters to Him, as my Creator and friend, and I hold it to be presumption in man to make an article of faith as to what the Creator will do with us hereafter."
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Important: The Nocebo Effect
by metatron incan a person make themselves sick by their beliefs?.
this is called the "nocebo" effect and it's getting some critical.
attention by researchers.. www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/a2709-2002apr29.html.
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simwitness
What is :
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis - whoa - AKA Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Anywhere to get basic info on this????
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28
I told my dad this morning.........
by lv4fer inhe asked if i was going to the circuit assembly this weekend.
he asked why.
i just said after a long pause, dad it's not the truth (you have to understand that i'm the one who preached to this man and got him in the truth) the conversation lasted about 5 minutes with him saying well who else teaches the right thing, you have to understand, jehovah has to have an organization.
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simwitness
lv4fer -
I am in the same basic spot you are, except that I have been out for a long time, but have recently begun again trying to explain to my dad (an elder) why the WTBS cannot be the "truth".
Many of his responses are very similar to the ones you mentioned.
I worry daily that I will end up alienating him, and have many times called him to make sure "we were ok". He has told me that he will not "shun" me reguardless of my beliefs, but I know that at some point he may feel he has to.
Keep it simple, ask him "why" god needs an organization on earth? If he is at all like my dad, it will be all about "the work".
I intend to use the Luke 21:8 reasoning to show him (my dad) that the WTBS cannot be the one... not sure when I will, we are supposed to go fishing next Friday... but I want to take a break from these conversations.
hang in there.
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22
Blood Policy
by cyrano ini think the old men at brooklyn are in a bind when it comes to the blood policy.
so many jws have lost their lives from this policy that if the borg suddenly did a 180 and allowed transfusions, there would be thousands of mad family members asking too many questions and probably too many law suits.. i think they know it's a dumb-ass policy but their overpaid lawyers are probably telling them to stick with it to avoid massive class-action suits.
like everything else in brooklyn, the all-mighty dollar has the final word.
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simwitness
FredHall,
Do you have anything of substance to add to this thread?
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49
I've been studying.........
by bchapp ini have been studying with the jw's for several years.
they have been pressuring me to become one of them, but something seems to be holding me back, instinct maybe?
i agree a lot of their teaching are good, and i'm sure are the truth but here are a few of the things that bother me: jw's use the scripture hebrews 10:25 not forsaking the gathering of yourselves together...... to justify their meetings.
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simwitness
My take on the "don't forsake gathering together" has allways been that this was written to believers at a time when gathering would alert the "local authorities" to the group, and folks were being imprisoned/punished/killed for the belief.
Getting together at that point would mean (potentially) the destruction of all "like minded" folks in one swoop.
Such is not the case today.
IMHO, it was never about the quantity of time, but the quality of the gathering.
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Blood Policy
by cyrano ini think the old men at brooklyn are in a bind when it comes to the blood policy.
so many jws have lost their lives from this policy that if the borg suddenly did a 180 and allowed transfusions, there would be thousands of mad family members asking too many questions and probably too many law suits.. i think they know it's a dumb-ass policy but their overpaid lawyers are probably telling them to stick with it to avoid massive class-action suits.
like everything else in brooklyn, the all-mighty dollar has the final word.
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simwitness
Mike:
Are you in a Posse?
No, I am not.For me, "nuf said" simply means that I have stated my argument/reasoning, and I have nothing further on it at that time. I rarely use it these days, but for some reason it seemed to fit, as I was arguing FredHall's statement.
So, for me, it was "letting go" and "chilling" on it. I am not sure why FredHall's statements triggered me either, they just did.
Thank you for the quote, I wasn't intending to question you or your intentions with my "disclaimer"...
--sim
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WT 15 June - Approves of Internet?
by Nemesis ini just noticed this in the latest mags (15 june, 2002, see picture below) on the top box: if we want .
a concordance to the bible, we can find no better than the internet.. im just wondering if this will lead more witnesses to indulge in some web surfing, with the inevitable consequences of them coming across some critical matter?
lets hope so!
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simwitness
First thought:
This is a "Reaction" article by the WTBS, they realize that they cannot stop the members from using the net, and since they (the members) are "bible students" it is only natural to use the technology at hand to do research.
So, the quote is loaded to say "yeah, you can find stuff, but to really understand it you have to hold the book in your hands".. and of course the primary version the members have is the NWT... surely you wouldn't want to compare the translations???
They then go on to discredit the "resources" by questioning the methodology of studying... as if the "bible were written by humans" instead of being "god breathed".... sheesh... again... the bible is a big mystery to all but the FD&S... those out there don't get that anymore.
What I think the fallout will be? Just like the WTBS has managed to "demonize" everything else, they are planting seeds of doubt that the "average" member will take to heart.
Reasonable people that have any inteligence what so ever will realize that in order to understand the writing, you MUST understand the language that it was written in.
In the end, this shows that the FD&S are grasping at straws to control the members access to the "truth"...
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Blood Policy
by cyrano ini think the old men at brooklyn are in a bind when it comes to the blood policy.
so many jws have lost their lives from this policy that if the borg suddenly did a 180 and allowed transfusions, there would be thousands of mad family members asking too many questions and probably too many law suits.. i think they know it's a dumb-ass policy but their overpaid lawyers are probably telling them to stick with it to avoid massive class-action suits.
like everything else in brooklyn, the all-mighty dollar has the final word.
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simwitness
MikeMusto, you quoted:
arly studies estimated the risk of erroneous administration of blood at 1 in 12,000 units, with resultant fatal AHTR at approximately 1 in 600,000 to 1 in 800,000 units transfused.6,7 According to a report from the New York State Department of Health (which requires reporting of transfusion errors), from 1990 to 1999, 1 in 19,000 RBC units were administered erroneously and 1 in 1,800,000 resulted in fatality.4
(I will take this quote at face value, since you did not quote the source)Now, If I read this correctly, the odds are pretty darn good that a blood transfusion, EVEN IF AN ERROR OCCURS, will NOT kill you.
Now, answer me this, those that believe that God "commands us" to abstain from blood upon penalty of death...
If you honestly believe that he has a hand in everyday affairs, would he ALLOW such success from it? If he truly wanted us to "abstain from blood" wouldn't it have been easier to allow medical science to fail each and every time they attempted to make it work?
IMHO, it is the simple fact that it succeeds so well that it must be a "miracle" (for lack of a better term) from God himself.
I think the WTBS already has an easy way out. All they have to do is A)some of the ideas that have already been posted
and/or
B)follow that "up to the individuals concience" stuff they post on their website.' nuf said.
Thanks to all.
(FredHall, still lookin in the mirror????)