The word "escape" pops up at this consideration.
Wresting yourself from the grip of a delusion involving the entire social group of which you are a part requires
courage, determination, subterfuge, and desperation.
We've all been there and done that.
How you are treated by your former "Brothers and Sisters" is abominable.
That "love" is like a light switch flipped to "off."
Strictly mechanical.
TerryWalstrom
JoinedPosts by TerryWalstrom
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3
Leah Remini: Scientology and Jehovah's Witnesses: "They have the same rhetoric" Newsweek article
by TerryWalstrom inhttps://www.newsweek.com/leah-remini-scientologists-jehovahs-witnesses-have-same-rhetoric-attacks-1267728?fbclid=iwar2myik_ojmxv66tzeu22ql5hnupir2ohgk9teucexkwa6ljcfzurbsih2g.
hey’re hoping that a&e will have enough pressure from disney, their parent company, [and] enough advertisers will pull out.
these are the tactics of scientology,” she added.. remini’s new season, unlike before, explored the jehovah’s witnesses in a two-hour special.
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TerryWalstrom
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6
The Space Alien is...JESUS!
by TerryWalstrom insilly obsessionsome groups of people in the world believe flying saucers and space aliens are secretly visiting our planet intervening in man’s affairs.
jehovah’s witnesses believe something very similar!
except, the space alien is jesus!throughout the history of christianity there has never been any confusion about what the phrase"the return of christ" actually means.
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TerryWalstrom
The impulse to quantify belief is a peculiar one, IMHO.
The particularity of the JW impulse centers around Chronology.
The Bible contains no dates. This doesn't stop the GB from superimposing dates over a background of scripture.
Every specific instance of "divine" provision of inside knowledge of dates has proved to be an error.
An honest believer would take the results of over a century of error as a reproof.
This consequently is a strong indicator of a neurotic need to be honored as specially chosen (even with a 100% shortfall of backup instantiation.) Is this malice or criminality?
I think we know the answer to that one. -
6
The Space Alien is...JESUS!
by TerryWalstrom insilly obsessionsome groups of people in the world believe flying saucers and space aliens are secretly visiting our planet intervening in man’s affairs.
jehovah’s witnesses believe something very similar!
except, the space alien is jesus!throughout the history of christianity there has never been any confusion about what the phrase"the return of christ" actually means.
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TerryWalstrom
Without facts at your disposal, how can you prove anything?
Here is a list of 18 Watchtower spirit-led facts published during the Judge Rutherford administration.
See for yourself the message that set Jehovah's Witnesses apart from all other religious groups.
1. Germs don't cause disease.
2. Aluminum cookware will poison you.
3. Prohibition laws against alcohol are the Devil's work
4. Olive oil will cure appendicitis
5. The prophecies of the Bible were written to point to Judge Rutherford and his corporation buddies as the fulfillment of end time predictions!
6. Black people can pray and change their color to white!
7. The Great Pyramid was built under God's direction.
8. The Great Pyramid was built by Satan.
9. The Book of Ruth is not prophetical.
10. The Book of Ruth is prophetical.
11. The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah: a.Will b.Won't c.Will d. Won't be resurrected
12. Reading the bible is not as good as reading Watchtower explanations of the bible.
13. The strong desire to worship God is due to the shape of the brain!
14. The shape of a man's head determines his thinking ability.
15. The Holy Spirit was taken away in 1918
16. The Holy Spirit was given in 1918
17. Vaccination never prevented any disease and never will
18. There is no such thing as rabiesThanks to the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses for channeling FOOD AT THE PROPER TIME.
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6
The Space Alien is...JESUS!
by TerryWalstrom insilly obsessionsome groups of people in the world believe flying saucers and space aliens are secretly visiting our planet intervening in man’s affairs.
jehovah’s witnesses believe something very similar!
except, the space alien is jesus!throughout the history of christianity there has never been any confusion about what the phrase"the return of christ" actually means.
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TerryWalstrom
SILLY OBSESSION
Some groups of people in the world believe Flying Saucers and space Aliens are secretly visiting our planet intervening in man’s affairs.
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe something very similar! Except, the space alien is JESUS!
Throughout the history of Christianity there has never been any confusion about what the phrase
"The Return of Christ" actually means. But, the doctrines of Jehovah's Witnesses seek to destroy and replace the obvious meaning with an unnecessarily complicated teaching.
Why?
Watchtower’s Corporation has always been run by persons who are into a Conspiracy Theory.
A conspiracy theory is an explanation of an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy without warrant, involving a harmful act carried out by some kind of government or other powerful actors.
For Jehovah’s Witnesses, a government has been set up in heaven and on Earth, invisible but detected by a special elite group (Governing Body) to warn of the powerful coming destruction by the ruler King Jesus Christ, hellbent on vengeance!
A cabal of specially selected minions are IN THE KNOW and the meeting quietly in closed rooms to plan the downfall of human institutions.
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The religious Doctrines of Watchtower are nothing more than dishonest efforts to prove they are right and everybody else is wrong, wrong, wrong!
Yes, while some crazy folks search for Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster, Jehovah’s Witnesses are the crazies who believe in an invisible Jesus who is about to murder every man, woman and child on earth.
For what reason?
For NOT BELIEVING the Watchtower’s doctrines!
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WARPING IDEAS through misuse of WORDS
If somebody in your home told you they were going away to Disneyland in Europe, but they were going to return later and take you with them next time, would you easily understand?
LEAVING: departing from your house
RETURNING: coming back to your house
Simple enough? Yes!
To LEAVE is to depart from a location by going elsewhere.
To RETURN is to come back to a location after having departed.
Simple enough? Yes!
___________________
Now let's go through this exercise using WATCHTOWER STYLE DEFINITION, shall we?
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From Watchtower reference book, REASONING FROM THE SCRIPTURES, page 340 under the heading: RETURN of CHRIST
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Quote:
"Before leaving the Earth, Jesus Christ promised to return."
________________
Is that it? Is that all? NOPE!
This Watchtower reference book is about to DEFLECT, CONFUSE, and REDEFINE the simple meaning of RETURN to fit pre-existing Watchtower Doctrine.
Let’s examine the text and see how they do it, shall we?
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Definition: "Before leaving the earth, Jesus Christ promised to return. (So far so good!)
Thrilling events in connection with God’s Kingdom are associated with
That promise. (Okay, thanks!) It should be noted that there is a difference between
coming and presence. (Hold on--so why bring that up?) Thus, while a person’s coming (associated with his arrival or return) occurs at a given time, his presence may thereafter
extend over a period of years . . . " (Oops--we just rolled off the runway into the weeds!)
__________STOP!______________
Notice above: Immediately a deflection has been introduced unnecessarily. We took the turnoff on the highway of understanding.
Watchtower publications sabotage the defining process by interrupting it and diverting attention to DOGMA instead. If you leave home for Disneyland and return to your home from Disneyland, does it matter how long your vacation lasted or what other words could mean an invisible vacation? Or is that a completely different and unnecessary bizarre subject?
__________CONTINUING from above:___________________
". . . In the Bible the Greek word er’kho-mai (“to come”) is also
used with reference to Jesus’ directing his attention to an important
Task at a specific time during his presence, namely, to his work as
Jehovah’s executioner at the war of the great day of God the Almighty.”
________STOP!____________
Did you notice?
A side argument is wedged inside our definition of RETURN-- now complicated by the introduction of a Greek term which itself has other meanings. Between the two pieces of bread (Leaving and Returning) a slice of baloney is inserted!
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NOW IT GETS TRICKY!
Remember, Jesus departed and promised to RETURN. When Jesus departed he was ON THE EARTH. Will the Watchtower publication tell us WHERE it is Jesus RETURNS to at his second coming? Ha ha ha--don’t be silly!
Throughout the history of Christianity there has never been any confusion about the meaning of “return” of Jesus.
What has confused people is the surrounding dogma concerning WHEN it occurs.
Doctrines of Jehovah's Witnesses seek to destroy and replace the obvious meaning with an unnecessarily complicated teaching about WHEN. They are very “date” oriented and obsessed!
Watchtower is obsessed with setting False Dates for the Return of Christ
1. Each of these dates were said to be the Return date for Jesus. Each was replaced. 1799, 1874 and later 1914, etc. followed by a second second coming later at Armageddon. (1914, 1925, 1975, etc.)
2. To cover up the failures of goofy prediction, a silly"invisible presence" argument was tacked on to save the day. Jesus “arrived” unseen, they say. Therefore our false date for his coming was a REAL date.
3. Once the Watchtower invented a Returned Christ--they had to explain why the End of the World didn’t happen! After all, what’s a king supposed to do, sit back silently, invisibly, watching others rule the world during his reign?
4. The preaching work and door to door ministry was invented to fill up the deafening silence and inactivity of a returned King Jesus, patiently tapping His foot while that work is carried out ineptly by a group of conspirators with a silly theory! Somehow, lazy Jesus simply whispered in the ears of Governing Body board members, egging them on to publish magazines and books and predicting false dates. What kind of King would reign in such a clumsy manner?
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The entire doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses rests on one tiny point. It is an extravagant effort, like any conspiracy theory or weird belief. The JW’s must explain why NOTHING happens at a time when EVERYTHING is supposed to come to an end.
Christians have expected “every eye shall see Him” when he comes back. Watchtower has to convince these same people “every eye shall NOT see Him.”
Wow! How will they pull that one off? Will it be by counterfeiting the words? Yes!
The Greek word "parousia" can mean either COMING or ARRIVAL, or PRESENCE depending on the CONTEXT.
Jehovah's Witnesses ignore context and insist on PRESENCE to foist the "invisible" rescue argument into it.
Why?
If Jesus did NOT return when they PREDICTED IT--they are obviously FALSE PROPHETS.
So, basically, they are saying, “Yes we are right, you are just too blind and stubborn to ‘see.’”
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Let us ask an important question here.
IN THE DAYS OF NOAH the flood was coming.
When the flood finally arrived (parousia) . . . WAS IT INVISIBLE WATER?
No.
With that understanding in mind, read this:
_______________________
MATTHEW 24:39
“And they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood
Came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming
Of the Son of Man.”
_____________________
The Watchtower religion is built entirely on an ERROR in predicting the 2nd COMING.
The doctrines are silly, contradictory, and illogical because they must bend everything to make that work.
__________________________
Watchtower is obsessed with false chronology and the Bible.
Watchtower can’t escape that obsession.
To obsess is: preoccupy or fill the mind of (someone) continually, intrusively, and to a troubling extent.
Think of the burden JW's must carry around lugging the heavy anchor of 607 B.C.E when it is easily refuted as a confirmed date in history with events which did not occur when they insist these events actually did occur!
607 "proves" 1914 or it refutes 1914.
The Watchtower has to insist, no matter what, this date is true.
______________
In the Bible, the SIGN of something comes BEFORE the event itself. That is common sense.
When you drive on the freeway, is the MAIN STREET EXIT sign before the exit or after?
Watchtower wrecks common sense by introducing reverse-definition in REASONING FROM THE SCRIPTURES. (See the book above?)
How?
Watchtower tells us that invisible Jesus returns AND THEN the sign of His return shows up!
WHY does the Watchtower put the SIGN of Jesus' return AFTER he arrives?
Because they have to cover up the fact JESUS DID NOT return in 1914.
____________
Dishonesty, corruption, false teaching, poor reasoning, and outright lying is at the bottom
of all DEFINITIONS given by this religion. This is what we mean by WATCHTOWER STYLE.
“Following Christ’s return, some persons show faith; they recognize the
Sign of his presence. Others reject the evidence, but when Christ goes
into action as God’s executioner of the wicked, even they will discern
From the manifestation of his power that the destruction is not from men
but from heaven. They will know what is happening because they were
Warned in advance. Because of what is overtaking them, they will ‘beat
themselves in grief.’”
__________________________
So this must be seen as hilarious! Everybody is looking for the MAIN STREET EXIT before the exit itself while Jehovah’s Witnesses insist we already got off on Main Street and the exit sign is in front of us “invisibly.”
Aren’t they telling us, “You stupid and stubborn people who don’t believe what we say are gonna be very sorry when Jesus kills you for not accepting our conspiracy theory.”
Yes. That’s the game Jehovah’s Witnesses play.
They try and scare everybody into believing in their silly obsession with false date setting!
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The next time Jehovah’s Witnesses come to your door, ask them why Jesus Returned and did NOT do any of the things JW’s said he would do--and continues to NOT do--for 102 years.
The JW’s will say, “He’s being merciful so you don’t have to die, we are warning you.”
So you reply, “When Jesus Returned, did he actually ‘return’ to Earth?”
The JW will reply, “He turned his attention to the Earth--but--He won’t actually come back until He kills your sorry ass at Armageddon.”
You will say, “Have you ever seen a psychiatrist, you goofy, self-absorbed lunatic?Stop wasting your time and mine with this silly obsession. Elvis is dead. Bigfoot was a man in a gorilla suit and your Governing Body think their farts don’t stink. Well, guess what? I can smell them on YOUR BREATH!”
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3
Leah Remini: Scientology and Jehovah's Witnesses: "They have the same rhetoric" Newsweek article
by TerryWalstrom inhttps://www.newsweek.com/leah-remini-scientologists-jehovahs-witnesses-have-same-rhetoric-attacks-1267728?fbclid=iwar2myik_ojmxv66tzeu22ql5hnupir2ohgk9teucexkwa6ljcfzurbsih2g.
hey’re hoping that a&e will have enough pressure from disney, their parent company, [and] enough advertisers will pull out.
these are the tactics of scientology,” she added.. remini’s new season, unlike before, explored the jehovah’s witnesses in a two-hour special.
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TerryWalstrom
https://www.newsweek.com/leah-remini-scientologists-jehovahs-witnesses-have-same-rhetoric-attacks-1267728?fbclid=IwAR2MyIK_OjMxV66TZEU22qL5HnUPIr2OHgK9teUCexKWA6ljcfZurBsIH2g
hey’re hoping that A&E will have enough pressure from Disney, their parent company, [and] enough advertisers will pull out. These are the tactics of Scientology,” she added.
Remini’s new season, unlike before, explored the Jehovah’s Witnesses in a two-hour special. She talked about the similarities between the Christian denomination and Scientology, claiming criticism is addressed in a similar way.
“They send out these attack dogs on social media,” she said. “Scientology hides behind the $3 billion they have with lawyers and social media. And they, too, are pretending they’re descenders of [the] first amendment, freedom of religion and freedom of speech. And yet, they attack viciously anyone speaking out against the policies.”
Remini continued, “It’s the same with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, except they’re a little bit different [because] you have the Governing Body putting out their videos saying, ‘Don’t listen to apostates.’ It’s very similar...They have the same rhetoric.’”
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7
What do you think about this?
by TerryWalstrom ini find the approach, the reasoning, the dialectic rather fascinating.https://www.jpost.com/opinion/op-ed-contributors/the-exodus-does-archaeology-have-a-say-348464a religion, basically, wrestles with science____did slaves build the pyramids?http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8451538.stm.
____the only reason i bring this up is because i have dear close evangelical friends who are--how shall i say it---.
rather opinionated beyond their pay grade :).
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TerryWalstrom
Try telling all this to an Evangelical, however.
Impervious.
The mind of a JW: sealed.
Ah, I was there. I know. So were we all--once.
Awful, isn't it? A clogged drain for a brain. -
3
Alone with God (and melted ice cream)
by TerryWalstrom inalone with god and melted ice cream--------dialectic.
what's so great about being great if you're the one telling yourself, "i'm so great"?.
god is that incredible cask of brandy in the cool, dark cellar...presumably getting better and better with the passing years.. .
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TerryWalstrom
A ROOM FULL OF GHOSTS
What the psychoanalysts offered us that no other school of psychology has given us is the following notion.
Human Beings are basically a loose collection of spirits.
You and me--we're like a ROOM FULL OF GHOSTS.
The YOU that you think you are is one ghost among all those ghosts (and it might even think that it is the "ghost in charge", but the probability of 'being in charge' is zero.This observation of human behavior reveals over time that we 'become a different person' when we are angry, a different person when we are afraid, you're a different person when you argue with someone you love, you're a different person when you're confused. You're a different person when you're egotistical, a different person when you're wrong.
Any coherence across those multiple "selves" requires intervention--by a psychoanalyst. The analyst sees those spirits/ identities, entities, (invisible to themselves) and seeks to co-ordinate across their clash of wills so what ever "YOU" are can function without being in a constant state of interior conflict--(war).
One of the most terrifying realizations the psychologist leads people to is that YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN YOUR HEAD.
The space the "you" inhabit is a shared space.Whatever your "Being" is--whatever "you" are--you're not alone in there.
It is difficult to conclude you are "Not the Captain of the ship."
Those aren't skeletons below deck. There are a host of other Captains (which can't see the others) struggling to emerge and steer.It isn't a case of self-discipline at all. It is a case of exterior management of that crew of Captains.
Victorians treated Sexuality as a demon.
Victorian Christian dogma enabled this view and tended to see the only remedy as interference, repression, and forbearance (self-control).
A happy Christian family inevitably sent generations of children out into the world totally unprepared for reality; for THE reality of the internal struggle to propagate an survive like any other beast with competing spirits in the driver's seat.
Demon possession would be the Christian diagnosis.Human nature was viewed as God's broken (by sin) masterpiece needing the glue and mending of the Gospel.
Psychoanalysis created an alternate methodology of dealing with such a Room Full of Ghosts.Fast Forward to present day.
What will a therapist do?
Your therapist is a veterinarian with a tranquilizer dart.
Drugs. Management through chemistry.It is an interesting world in which we live.
A false view of the world inevitably stems from a confused sense of Self.
So?
Who is the Captain du jour on your voyage today? -
3
Alone with God (and melted ice cream)
by TerryWalstrom inalone with god and melted ice cream--------dialectic.
what's so great about being great if you're the one telling yourself, "i'm so great"?.
god is that incredible cask of brandy in the cool, dark cellar...presumably getting better and better with the passing years.. .
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TerryWalstrom
ALONE with GOD and melted ice cream
--------Dialectic_____Once upon a time God was all alone. For a god, “alone” is a problem. What's so great about being great if you're the one telling yourself, "I'm so great"?God is that incredible cask of brandy in the cool, dark cellar...presumably getting better and better with the passing years.But, ALONE--means nobody drinks.Nobody drinks because nobody is there to drink. And nobody thinks the brandy is the best because--well--nobody drinks.That’s the problem of “alone.”Saying aloud: “GOD is everything” without demonstrating it can be hilarious.It’s like that joke about the fast-draw gunslinger who shows you how fast he is by just standing there for awhile until you grow impatient and then he says, “Wanna seem me do it again?”God's demonstration joke: invisible greatness!Hear that? It’s the sound of no hands clapping.Zen is the art of hearing one hand clapping.But God alone is the no-sound of no-hand not-clapping.Invisible is as invisible does.God once was alone.How long? Ummm…Psst--(there was no time)Oh dear!Being alone just hanging in the middle of a great dark nothing is a bore.Annihilation means everything is destroyed--right?Total annihilation and being alone and being God is awfully similar.All those exploded pieces could be reassembled if you’re God.But there weren’t any pieces of anything BEFORE pieces were “created.”(Psst, get to the part about ‘something out of nothing’. Go on--do it.)So, once upon a time an all alone God created something out of nothing.How?What do you care? You wouldn’t understand.Next question.Why create anything or anybody?Duh. Alone! Alone is awful.How do you know you’ll create something good and useful and perfect if you’ve never done it before?Oh, pleeeease! Don’t be an idiot. Just go along with it.Talent. Even genius! God wouldn’t be god otherwise.Okaaay.Why is everything such a big mess?Because God created ice cream. Ice cream melts. You have to eat it fast.WTF?You have to give a reason why things are awful.The best way to do that is to blame God. Blame the person who gave you the ice cream.ICE CREAM is wonderful...but if (psst) YOU don’t eat it fast...it melts. That is an awful mess. Now that’s on YOU.Get it?Nope.Try harder, because if you don’t get it you’ll fall into despair about melted ice cream and sadness and depression will pull you down.Why is this MY fault?It’s not. It’s your responsibility to prevent the mess by eating the ice cream in a timely fashion.Are you really going to pull that crap? The world is a big mess because all the billions of people aren’t eating their ice cream fast enough?Well, it’s an analogy.It sucks.Okay. One more.Would you prefer God remained alone...all alone...hanging in the cold, dark nothing for all Eternity (even though time didn’t exist)?Of course not. That’s reducing everything down to absurdity.Is it absurd? Why?Because a truly perfect God would create and MAINTAIN a perfect world of perfect people the way a gardener plants a garden and pulls up weeds and sprays for insects so the beautiful things flourish.Ha! You have forgotten about the (cough cough) GARDEN of pleasure? Eden?Don’t give me that fantasy myth as an explanation. I’m not a moron or a child.Well, I’m just sayin’...there was a wonderful garden. And the Master Gardener tossed out the weeds and stepped on the serpent. R-I-I-I-GHT?Bullshit.Why bullshit?I’ll tell you why. HUMAN NATURE.God invented it.The nature of god is entirely other than human.God isn’t hungry. God doesn’t have needs for tasty fruit.God is wisdom--doesn’t NEED to eat fruit to gain wisdom.God created INFERIOR creatures UNLIKE god-ness.That “human” nature is entirely enslaved to its “needs” for survival.Curiosity, hunger, thirst, lust, ambition, emotional instability...the list is endless.Go on--go on--don’t stop now.God devised something which looks an awful lot like a TRAP. “Here is your garden. Here are the fruit trees you can eat from. But...but…But do NOT eat from the one tree which will make you LIKE ME!Because if you are like me--you’ll know Good and Bad.So--you call that “bullshit”? Why?I’ll tell you why--it is a CATCH 22 trap. Human Nature.You don’t put person who doesn’t know good from bad on trial for doing “bad.” And look at the motive: wanting to be LIKE GOD, knowing good from bad. See how F-d up that is? Entrapment, pure and simple.Oh dear, what a silly argument. God gives you legs but you want wings too? You are missing the obvious aren’t you?Which is what? Do tell me.The term “unique” means nothing else is like it.God is the “most” and it logically follows anything and everything other than this unique “most” is “lesser than”.You call it “inferior” nature. But it’s unavoidable. God cannot be “most” and you be “most” also. It isn’t a question of inferiority because God gave guidance around the “less than most” problem. God gave specific instructions.Huh?You missed the most beautiful point of all. This is the BEST of all POSSIBLE worlds. But it is only good and not perfect in the way God is perfect. That is not a problem unless you fail to follow the easy instructions.What instructions?Follow my directions and you’ll have everything your nature requires.Fail to follow directions and your ice cream melts and you’ll spend your time mostly sopping up that mess and dealing with soiled laundry.So?So SHUT UP and eat your ice cream, you spoiled rotten kid!
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7
What do you think about this?
by TerryWalstrom ini find the approach, the reasoning, the dialectic rather fascinating.https://www.jpost.com/opinion/op-ed-contributors/the-exodus-does-archaeology-have-a-say-348464a religion, basically, wrestles with science____did slaves build the pyramids?http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8451538.stm.
____the only reason i bring this up is because i have dear close evangelical friends who are--how shall i say it---.
rather opinionated beyond their pay grade :).
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TerryWalstrom
I find the approach, the reasoning, the dialectic rather fascinating.
https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/The-Exodus-Does-archaeology-have-a-say-348464
A religion, basically, wrestles with Science
____
Did slaves build the pyramids?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8451538.stm____
The only reason I bring this up is because I have dear close evangelical friends who are--how shall I say it---rather opinionated beyond their pay grade :)
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11
How to remain with Jehovah's Witnesses even though you are Awake!
by TerryWalstrom inthinking is an active process.. evasion is avoiding that action of active thinking which would create a positive difference.
.realizing the truth about the truth.. thinking is the virtue* man prizes most.
all other virtues proceed from thinking.. evasion is the willful suspension of one's consciousness.
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TerryWalstrom
Jehovah's Witnesses STAY IN because they refuse to know any facts which disrupt belief. Wilful blindness.
(Is child molestation a problem? Not if you don't hear about it, read about it, or talk about it.JW thinking is an unstated premise that problems with the Truth will go away
if you "Wait on Jehovah" to flush his toilet.