THE GLADIATOR

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Posts by THE GLADIATOR

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  2596

  The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

  by cofty in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

  we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

  they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

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  THE GLADIATOR

  He ALREADY acted. From the start... before any of this even happened, and He knows what the end IS. Just because He has not acted as you demand that He act in order to conform to your idea of what God should be, means what?

  You expect that as God He should know how to act... and then fail to grasp that He does and has.

  Tammy, Tammy, Tammy, I know how much you want to believe that the world is beautiful and overseen by a bloving

  Tec/ Tammy "He ALREADY acted. From the start... before any of this even happened, and He knows what the end IS. Just because He has not acted as you demand that He act in order to conform to your idea of what God should be, means what?"

  You expect that as God He should know how to act... and then fail to grasp that He does and has.

  Tammy, I know how much you want to believe that the world is beautiful and overseen by a loving God who will make everything work out in the end; that this life is just temporary, and the real life is yet to be realized. Unfortunately, reality is a stubborn intruder.

  Here on this hostile planet we have to deal with reality. The reality of natural disasters, disease and death. We would all like things to be different and science work towards that end. It is difficult to believe that there is a God who with the power to act, who has done nothing for millennia.
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  2596

  The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

  by cofty in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

  we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

  they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

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  THE GLADIATOR

  Kate, belief in a god or gods is much the same deal whatever religion you attach yourself to. You are in the process of escaping from a prison, otherwise known as the Watchtower Society. Please take care not to repeat the same costly mistake you have already made.

  Freedom is truth. Digging through a prison wall, only to find yourself in the next cell, will not make you an expert on escapology.
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  37

  Do you think JWs know what apostates really are?

  by KateWild in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  my friend was slagging off one of my other friends saying they have been known to say apotate things.

  she does apostate things herself without realising it.

  she meant well because she fears the word apostate as i once did, but she openly says to me my jc was lacking in holy spirit.. she doesn't have a clue what apostacy really is she just wants me not to mix with ones who have been known said "apostate things".

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  THE GLADIATOR

  "Mummy, Mummy, can I have a spoon."

  "why?"

  "An apostate's been sick, and he has eaten all the big pieces."
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  37

  Do you think JWs know what apostates really are?

  by KateWild in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  my friend was slagging off one of my other friends saying they have been known to say apotate things.

  she does apostate things herself without realising it.

  she meant well because she fears the word apostate as i once did, but she openly says to me my jc was lacking in holy spirit.. she doesn't have a clue what apostacy really is she just wants me not to mix with ones who have been known said "apostate things".

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  THE GLADIATOR

  Taken from, Can Jehovah's Witnesses Survive? by Trevor Willis (Formating not preserved)

  How can we protect ourselves against false teachers? The Bible's counsel regarding how to deal with them is clear. (Read Romans 16:17; 2 John 9-11.) ‘Avoid them,’ says God's Word. Other translations render that phrase ‘turn away from them,’ ‘keep away from them,’ and ‘stay away from them!’ There is nothing ambiguous about that inspired counsel. Suppose that a doctor told you to avoid contact with someone who is infected with a contagious, deadly disease. You would know what the doctor means, and you would strictly heed his warning. Well, apostates are ‘mentally diseased,’ and they seek to infect others with their disloyal teachings. (1 Tim. 6:3) Will you heed Jehovah's warnings? The Watchtower - 15 July 2011

  The notion that members who leave are mentally diseased was based on a scripture, from their own translation:

  If any man teaches other doctrine and does not assent to healthful words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, nor to the teaching that accords with godly devotion, he is puffed up [with pride] not understanding anything, but being mentally diseased over questionings and debates about words. 1 Timothy 6:3, 4 - New World Translation

  Other translations use terms such as: morbid interest, unhealthy interest, unhealthy craving
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  22

  TheGreat Tribulation was in the 1st century

  by maccauk11 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  "then there will be a great tribulation, not seen since the beginning of time nor will everoccure again.

  im saying,christ was talking about the comingdestruction of jerusalem in the 1st century and not the end of the world but the end of the jewish system of things.

  there is no end of the world.

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  THE GLADIATOR

  The Importance of 1914

  As Jesus was said to have begun his Kingdom reign in 1914, how much longer could the New World be in coming? The hopes of the Jehovah's Witnesses still hung on a statement made by Jesus. Having condemned the Scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy and treatment of the prophets, Jesus went on to speak of the destruction of Jerusalem. He was talking to the Scribes and Pharisees and telling them they would pay for the wrong they had done with their lives:

  Truly I say to you. All these things will come upon this generation. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the killer of the prophets… Matthew 23:36, 37 - New World Translation

  Jesus then left them and was approached by his disciples who asked him to look at the temple buildings with them. Jesus was asked by them when the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of their temple would be. He then gave a detailed description of the events leading up to this. Jesus then repeated his statement concerning the generation then living to his disciples:

  I tell you this: this present generation will live to see it all. Matthew24:34- The New English Bible

  Truly I say to you that this generation will by no means pass away until all things occur. Matthew 24:34 - New World Translation

  (Taken from, Can Jehovah’s Witnesses Survive? By Trevor Willis)
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  37

  Do you think JWs know what apostates really are?

  by KateWild in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  my friend was slagging off one of my other friends saying they have been known to say apotate things.

  she does apostate things herself without realising it.

  she meant well because she fears the word apostate as i once did, but she openly says to me my jc was lacking in holy spirit.. she doesn't have a clue what apostacy really is she just wants me not to mix with ones who have been known said "apostate things".

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  THE GLADIATOR

  Apparently, an apostate is a dog that has returned to its own vomit. Not nice!
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  2596

  The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

  by cofty in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

  we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

  they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  THE GLADIATOR

  humbled Gladiator--A quote similar to the one you gave "Fortune favours the brave" is one from Terence McKenna "Nature loves courage".

  An excellent post - I have been humbled.
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  2596

  The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

  by cofty in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

  we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

  they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  THE GLADIATOR

  caliber And while happily blaming God for the hundreds of thousands that have died...

  I get what you’re saying. It’s not fair to blame a god for natural disasters or failing to save humans.

  Personally, I don’t blame a god. I don’t believe in gods, fairies, pixies, elf’s, goblins, Santa clause, demons, mystical dragons, unicorns, or any of the other figments of the imagination that bring both comfort and horror to the human mind.

  We live in a cruel world, and some humans are the cruellest creatures alive. If a man is cruel, I blame the man because he is aware of what he is doing. If a lion savagely kills and eats a Zebra there is no blame. That is nature and the survival of the fittest at work. If every meat eating animal became a vegetarian the balance of nature would collapse; not enough grassland and too many animals due to no natural predators.

  Nature worked very well for millions of years until humans became too abundant. So, god is off the hook. Natural disasters are simply a part of living in a hostile planet; part of the lottery of life.

  Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat

  Fortune favours the brave

  * Well done Cofty - the forum’s voice of reason.
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  47

  The most disturbing Watchtower quote in 2013.

  by never a jw in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am trying to put together the worst of 2013. the first quote that comes to mind is possibly your "favorite" too.

  do you have any other disturbing quotes from the publications in the wt?.

  elders who are reading this article can draw some useful conclusions from the account we have just considered: (1) the most practical step that we can take to prepare for the coming attack of the assyrian is that of strengthening our faith in god and helping our brothers to do the same.

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  THE GLADIATOR

  The Watchtower Society have claimed to be responsible for the personal beliefs of the membership for more than 100 years. They have always said they speak for Jehovah. Take a look at this quote from 1952. Nothing has changed:

  We should meekly go along with the Lord’s theocratic organization and wait for further clarification, rather than baulk at the first mention of a thought unpalatable to us and proceed to quibble and mouth our criticisms and opinions as though they were worth more than the slave’s provision of spiritual food. Theocratic ones will appreciate the Lord’s visible organization and not be so foolish as to pit against Jehovah’s channel their own human reasoning and sentiment and personal feelings. The Watchtower 2 January 1952 - page 8
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  33

  33 percent of Americans reject evolution

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57616373-71/33-percent-of-americans-reject-evolution/.

  that seems to be a disturbingly high number for a western / educated / developed nation.. does this have anything at all to do with america slipping behind in the sciences?

  it seems hard to imagine they could not not be linked somehow.. no surprise that the jesus party (republicans) reject evolution the most.

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  THE GLADIATOR

  I have heard a rumour that Richard Dawkins is to be the next UK prime minister.