Posts by Thomas Poole

So how does one remove this bondage, this burden of control that threatens with eternal death if you leave Gods people? How does one overcome the fears and jump the psychological barriers that prevent your escape over to the world of critical thinking. Even thereafter, when one has escaped, how does one gird their loins into a new day; a new world less restricting, less spiritual, less moral, requiring another mindset that can help the person onto their new journey out into the world, a world that belongs to Satan. You are thrust out into enemy territory without knowing about the spiritual suit armour of Christ. Satan roars and you're a sittin duck.

Every Christian not knowing who they are in Christ is a sitting duck. You don't know where the enemy is. You cannot even recognize him. You have been kept in the third grade for your whole Watchtower journey, full of misinformation called truth. You're left without real understanding or wisdom. You only know Jehovah. Your relationship with Christ is obscure, and the Comforter is vague at most.

You soon realize you need to discover now your relationship with Christ--the one the WT never let you have. Where is Christ? How do I find him? Who am I now?? Right now, I'm just glad I feel peace.

Edited by - Thomas Poole on 28 July 2002 0:53:36

Edited by - Thomas Poole on 28 July 2002 0:59:45

31

JW girlfriend

by JohnZogby in

jw
friends

hello, i am new to this site, and i am dating a jw.

however, my experience has been quite different from that of others doing the same thing.

unlike other posts that i have read, her parents (we are both 18) are supportive of her relationship with me, she is quite open minded when it comes to social activities, she has both jw and non-jw friends, and is a totally "normal" 18 year old girl.

Thomas Poole

Note that when she talks about the Bible, it will be about the WT, elders, and things JW related. It will not be about her personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

You can recognize unhealthy control upon someone when religious tradition comes between the Christian and his/her relationship with Jesus Christ.

The religion becomes more important than the persons conscience, intuition, and personal communion with the Heavenly Father. The mind, will, and emotion becomes subordinate to the dictates of the religious organization, rather than the leading of the Holy Spirit.

34

If God Is Love...

by Windchaser in

and love is not jealous, and god is a jealous god, how can he be love?

Thomas Poole

Well, there's good jelly and there's bad jelly. However, it's the toast that really counts. Common sense.

Edited by - Thomas Poole on 11 July 2002 0:12:16

5

Need Help with a Debate

by editor in

i am the editor of an online christian magazine.. i have a j.w.

friend that was participating in a debate with a baptist seminary student regarding the divinity/nature of jesus christ.

unfortunately, due to a death in his family, he could not continue.. is there anyone here who could fill in for him?.

Thomas Poole

Good response Allen. I think you not far from Wisdom.

Consider please that trinity is not divine. It bogs us down in controversy when we do not simply let the scriptures explain the three, individually and together. Perhaps it was a noble attempt to explain God, his Son, and the Holy Spirit, but the way it was formulated creates non-scriptural suppositions from the reader. This causes people to try to match the scriptures to the un-divine doctrine rather than comparing the doctrine to the scriptures. Even to do the latter, we cannot justify plausible conclusions because we do not know what the context of their expressions were back then. Actually if one views the trinity as a philosophical statement, contemporary to their time, within a religio-politcal area; it becomes more palatable. That way we can all conjecture and not be bound by what they might have meant.

For example, the sentence: "There is no division of substance." Well what do they mean by substance. What is the context of the word in their little minds; perhaps some similar common-characteristic of spiritual substance? The closest commonality I find here is that they all are not material in their nature. If one takes the view that the three are "the" same substance "by location and totality of existing essence," this would not be true. They are not the same by absolute location, ever.

The scriptures will show that in regard to one another, in relational substance by location; they are always with, from, or to one another. In their existing presence, they are never a same, exact, no-division-of-substance single entity.

A further thought is that the trinity doctrine is just another bondage upon men not-informed by the scriptures. It is tradition that divides the body of Christ. It is from the un-inspired heart of men.

Edited by - Thomas Poole on 10 July 2002 15:55:41

Edited by - Thomas Poole on 10 July 2002 16:0:53

Edited by - Thomas Poole on 10 July 2002 16:16:58

6

How do I know when God is helping me?

by Tin Man in

i have needed his help for a long time but i do not seem to comprehend anymore when he is helping me or even if he is, cause i have been through too much emotional upsets for too long.. tin man

Thomas Poole

Dear Tin Man, perhaps this will give you an idea of your confusion as to whether God is helping. You said,

I have needed his help for a long time but I do not seem to comprehend anymore when he is helping me or even if he is, cause I have been through too much emotional upsets for too long.

We are composed of a a spirit, a soul, a body.

1. The spirit is not the holy spirit, but the spirit-of-God which God breathed into us at Gen. 2:7. This "spirit" has two meanings, one being that we have been given a human spirit. It is this human spirit with which God's Holy Spirit works. The two mixing help a person know that he is saved.
2. Next we have a soul, composed of the mind, the will, the emotions. These, making up the soul, are our basic personality.
- The mind is the reasoning element of the soul.
- The will is the motivation element of the soul.
- The emotions are the feeling elements of the soul.
3. The next is the body, the containment vessel for the spirit and the soul.

In a man, where his human spirit and God's Holy Spirit are controlling / dominating the soul (mind, will, and emotions), the Christian is spiritually healthy.

Know please, that there is a constant battle going on where this soul, including the body, is under attack by

(1)the influences of this satanic world,
(2)the demonic spirits looking for someone to devour, and
(3)the Adamic inherit imperfection within the man himself.

The purpose of [Satan] is to steal, kill, and destroy the Christian. The best defense for this is a Christian's knowing who he is in Christ, and keeping his protective suit-of-armor in good condition. Learn and study these parts.

Getting more to your circumstances,

when a Christian is beaten down, he can sometimes no longer tell which has greater influence in his life, God's Holy Spirit with his human spirit, or his own soul components.

Before the fall of man, the human spirit--with help from the Holy Spirit--was dominate over the soul. Now, however, the conflict is ongoing, where the soul tends to rule the human spirit with it's relationship with the Holy Spirit.

So, dear Christian, I recommend your drawing close to God, his Son, and the Holy Spirit, as best you can, in ways that you recognize need to be done.

Listen to the Counselor within your thoughts: you know, the ones that are directing you properly, by the awareness of your conscience.

Know that God forgives when you ask. Accept his forgivness and forgive yourself, and then go forth and do the things that the God's gift within you allows.

All Christians have a gift. Think of yours and use it please, knowing that you are a member of the Body of Christ and you are loved.

8

Whether you stay or leave...

by AGuest in

jw
friends

whether you do or don't believe.... whether you post merely 'fluff'.... or long essays and/or other 'intellectual' stuff.... i beg you: learn from the "body" of christ... which is made up of many members... but together... make up one body.

all are not hands, are they?

all are not feet and all are not legs.

Thomas Poole

Yes, the body of Christ is within this group in various places.

Interesting how leaving the WT makes some loose faith in the Bible. Of course when you leave a cult you leave their version of the Bible. You leave their Jesus Christ, their Holy Spirit, their Father.

I guess some can now see all that falseness and now cannot begin to search for the real. Is this a dependency problem where they need a high-control relationship, and without it they have not the nature to gird their loins and search anew?

The newperson in Christ is not found by needing to be dependent upon organizations and denominations, but rather by reaching out more and better towards God.

Cult dependency is a real hang-over.

21

? about the Lords's Prayer and JWs

by rekless in

jw
friends

i was in the org.

for 35 years, and it never once occurred to me why we never taught our children the lord's pray.. our father who art in heaven hollow be thy name..... anybody have any reason for our ignoring the most perfect prayer offered up by god's son.. my fiance' ask me this tonight i can't explain it except that it would have turned into a repetitive expression like all our prayers were anyway... hell is truth seen too late.

h.g.adams

Thomas Poole

I never recall being told NOT to say this prayer. Perhaps it sounded too churchy, since the Catholics would call it the "Our Father" prayer.

Also, they like to make Christians into two classes: anointed and great crowd. So if we all had prayed it together, we would seem to be as one class. Also, to give prayer, you had to be qualified, right? I can see it now....Those of you not qualified cannot participate!

25

Divorce and Separation-2/8/02 Awake!

by Mister Biggs in

in the past, didn't the society always say that under .

they always cited the scripture that god is hating a .

divorce.. read the imformation above carefully.

Thomas Poole

Note all the jacking-around this article provides.

It gives many ways out of marriage, almost encouraging divorce; then it says you are bound to lonelyness for the rest of your life.

Where one person might not believe in the WT cult; often this spiel is used to separate families and ruin lives, and divorce is surreptitiously encouraged.

Further it allows no grounds for anyone to come to peace or to find forgiveness.

It lacks love and kindness for those that are hurting.
It has no depth and breath of empathy and gentle expressions of understanding for those involved.
It gives no hope afterwards, but rather a life of doom.

Any of you who have taken time to really scripturally study the idea of divorce will find that the tone and context of this WT article is twisted.

One can certainly detect the lack of Holy Spirit in this writing. To the extent that it is factual, it is heartless and mechanically quoted.

Sensitive persons reading this might feel hopelessness and desperation, even to the point of suicide, rather than Christian guidance. This type article can kill.

IF YOU CAN READ BETWEEN THE LINES, YOU CAN SEE NO LOVE. THERE ARE MERELY COLD MECHANICAL EXPRESSIONS OF RULES

These are not the expressions of the Holy Spirit.