this post is necessarily lengthy, but my hope is that these 14 examples of wtbts dogma will be examined closely by those who either have something to gain by doing so, or those who can provide "new light" for any of the topics.. "however, you may say in your heart: “how will we know that jehovah has not spoken the word?” when the prophet speaks in the name of jehovah and the word is not....true, then jehovah did not speak that word.
you should not fear him.
" [the prophet] (deuteronomy 18:21-22) .
Oh looks like someone took all that "read the bible daily" stuff to heart.
Reminds me of when I was first waking up...
Thanks for sharing!
I wonder what would happen if this were printed up, sans the commentary just so none claims apostate ideas there, and left under each chair at jw meetings.. Or posted on the information board.
i just had a thought of clarity regarding the jw explanation for this doctrine.
they explain that satan challenged god regarding his right to rule.
god failed to prove his right to rule.
Nic. Generally I would agree with your definition if it was culturally relevant but it's not for those here. For those growing up where belief or ideas about deities is rare, sure then the person may never have even thought of a creator or deity in which case their being "without god" would simply be a natural state of being rather than a system of belief or even agnostic.
A lack of belief is not the same as belief of lack. atheist != agnostic.
Your getting upset about what you Believe is a false claim is a good piece of evidence.
Reading your first post on the old thread, I will disagree with your definition for reasons stated above as well as empirical evidence that by and large those identifying as atheists hold the positive belief that god does not exist rather than not holding a positive belief that god exists. And many of those atheists are quite vocal about their positive belief and how stupid religious people are.
Disagree? Tell it to the self proclaimed atheists who give your non positive belief holding self a bad rap then.
I have no stake in it and am emotionally detached from the issue so I'm just calling it as I see it.
Incidentally, there are quite a few good comments in that thread that indicate that your hardline definitions are too restrictive and force people to choose a side that really is not relevant for them nor reflective of their views. I recommend going back and reading them again.
thank you to those that have passed on "leaked" videos.
one point that i have not seen discussed is "why" apostates are getting these videos.. are videos getting out because of a lack of internal controls, or are there more than a few disloyal insiders that are more than happy to pass on inside information.
or, is there a strategic intent of releasing leaked videos?.
Fey dehr, your CO story begs the question...
How the heck did that come up in conversation w/o either of you being too worried that one would rat out the other?
Got any tips for approaching a potentially helpful CO?
https://1drv.ms/b/s!amcrvjcxi6m6gqzsthqdnca1bvxr.
i just had a thought of clarity regarding the jw explanation for this doctrine.
they explain that satan challenged god regarding his right to rule.
god failed to prove his right to rule.
Hey most people agree on some basics, even though they will go against them when it suits them better.
If you have to rely on someone else to make the laws for people en masse then you have governments and other groups of people that pop up to fill that void. If you want a god to fill that void then you may have to wait a while... Don't hold your breath though. If all you need is the idea of a god though, then join your preferred religion and the men there will happily tell you how to behave according to what god wants.
i just had a thought of clarity regarding the jw explanation for this doctrine.
they explain that satan challenged god regarding his right to rule.
god failed to prove his right to rule.
Nicoloau, atheism can certainly be a religion, I'm not sure I would call it "theology" though.
A-theism is w/o god(s) which really means that a person believes there is no god. an agnostic is admitting that they have no knowledge of god(s) but without specifically saying they know there is no god. See the difference?
The one claiming knowledge of things that they cannot personally verify is practicing a religion complete with belief systems and all, whereas someone claiming not to know things they could not know is simply being honest.
Lets be honest, atheism is a religion as much as Christianity and there's even that sort of self-righteous attitude that can creep into atheists just like other religions.
If you've read any of my other posts, you'll know that I'm not coming from a place of judgement or pro-god or pro-bible so please don't take my words here the wrong way. Lets all just be honest is all I'm saying.
i just had a thought of clarity regarding the jw explanation for this doctrine.
they explain that satan challenged god regarding his right to rule.
god failed to prove his right to rule.
Speaking of Job, he ascribed nothing bad to god.
Except the bad things he ascribed to god.
Maybe Job isn't the best example of God's existence.
there is little evidence to indicate that there were many christians in the first 2 or 3 centuries of its existence.
but after the conversion of constantine (or, at least his toleration of christianity) things changed.
with one notable exception all future emperors promoted christianity.
Perhaps there is something to be said about forced conversions but when people are unfulfilled in life they tend to look elsewhere - religion.
Incidentally, some recruiters understand this and so they target those folks. JWs are good for this, targeting those who recently lost a loved one in death or going through other negative life changing events. This leaves the victim vulnerable to attack by these vultures who thrive on the emptiness that accompanies those going through those though times.
did anyone else watch the bill nye versus ken ham debate?
it happened february 4, 2014 and just watched it a few months ago.
i thought it was interesting but must confess that i felt extremely embarrassed for ken ham.
I've seen Bill Nye lie about science when the facts were inconvenient. I'm not talking about opinion/belief differences, I mean flat out lies. Same goes for Neil deGrasse Tyson so I'll agree to the asshat assessment for both.
And Einstein.. He was more of a theorist than anything. Better than Nye for sure but still leaving much to be desired of a person to be called scientist. He appropriated much of others' work and still gets the credit to this day while still holding us back about a full century. At least he started to back-pedal on some of the nonsense in his later years but alas the damage is done.
Ahh the sad state of science. It would be funny if it weren't so truly awful.
this article is dated june 7, 2018 and is likely a lead up to the bear ripping the jw bible article.
http://www.newsweek.com/wives-jehovahs-witnesses-jailed-russia-send-letter-putin-adviser-begging-end-965516.
the wives of jehovah’s witnesses rounded up and imprisoned in russia have written an open letter to a top adviser of president vladimir putin, asking him to stop the campaign of terror against the religious group.“this open letter to you is a cry of desperation.
I feel for anyone in any place that suffers severe injustice.
Having said that, if JW members in Russia would simply follow the bible and the way 1st century Christians operated then they would be left alone.
Let me elaborate:
JWs meet together with banned material and even celebrate their history of smuggling literature.
1st century Christians did not need more than scripture to practice their faith and even then the bible doesn't mention each of the members having a copy.
1st century Christians met in homes but just as with the Jews, there is no scriptural mandate to gather for worship, it's just a tradition of men. Some will take exception to this and point out "let us never forsake the gathering...." but this is a superfluous rendering which deserves its own post.
So in short, of you're a Russian JW, stay home, worship with your family, chuck all the JW literature including the bible and get a commonly accepted translation for that country ( or does the bible say to use JW bible only? Did I miss that verse?)
lastly, never look back. Now you're on your way to being a real Christian and leaving the persecution behind.
