Posts by EdenOne

23

3rd Gen DF'd finally writing

by AFreeBeliever in

i've been reading many of the postings on this forum for a couplefew years, finally joined today.

i think reading cappytan, and others like that, compelled me to share, it seems i might have a bit of a different outcome than many i have read, perhaps it will be hopeful/helpful to someone.. i was a born-in, 3rd gen jw, my entire family (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and most all of my childhood friends) were in.

some dropped by the wayside as the years went on, but many stayed in, and if they didn't, they still acted/talked as if they believed it was "the truth" and it was their weaknesses/failings that made them stop attending.

EdenOne

Welcome to the forum! Looking forward to your contributions.

Eden

41

YAWEHLAND - Imagine a country where Jehovah's Witnesses are the majority

by EdenOne in

jw
friends

in 2018, cyprus goes bankrupt (again).

many of its inhabitants, lacking jobs and prospectives of a better future, emigrate to more prosperous countries.

cyprus' society is on the brink of collapse.

EdenOne

In 2018, Cyprus goes bankrupt (again). Many of its inhabitants, lacking jobs and prospectives of a better future, emigrate to more prosperous countries. Cyprus' society is on the brink of collapse. In the meantime, in the US, child abuse lawsuits amount to thousands, and the JW's cry "persecution", as the US government is after the leadership's assets. The GB of the Jehovah's Witnesses seizes the opportunity to strike a blow of genius. They approach the government of Cyprus and offer to inject millions in the economy, paying off the country's foreign debt, in exchange of: relocating their headquarters to the island that belongs to the E.U.; citizenship for any JW from anywhere in the world that wishes to relocate in the country; full tax exemptions for their religious activities; free land for Kingdom Halls; Yahwist doctrine optional classes to be taught in public schools in Cyprus, replacing Catholic or Orthodox optional classes. Soon, over a million JW's start moving to Cyprus, and they become 64% of the total population of the island.

Now, imagine such a country (oh, the horror!) What would it be like in such a country dominated by Jehovah's Witnesses?

Eden

28

A Mind at War

by cappytan in

right now, i feel like my mind is at war with itself.. on the one side is reason, logic.. on the other is tradition, hope and fear.. reason and logic are challenging life-long beliefs.

they are telling me, "is this any more believable than the story of the lord of the rings?".

certain doctrines of my belief system are crumbling.. my mind still wants to hold on to the belief in a creator, his son jesus and the bible.

EdenOne

Cappytan,

This path will sooner or later lead you to question what you once thought was beyond questioning: Are the Jehovah's Witnesses wrong? Have they ever been God's chosen religion at all? Are they just another deluded religion? Have I been deceived when I thought I had the truth? What about the Bible - is it God's word or not? Was Jesus even real? How exactly Christianity came to exist? Is the Almighty creator God the Jehovah from the Bible? Is there a God, anyway?

Not long ago, I'm sure you didn't even dared to ask any of these questions even inside your mind. You would be afraid of commiting a sin by asking these questions, so you avoided them. Now, they lie in your path, and sooner or later you'll have to face them. Don't be scared, but don't rush either. Pick one at a time, find your answer, then let it sink on you. Then move on to the next. By the time you finish with it, you'll be surprised at how much your perspective has changed.

Eden

43

2015 Regional Convention Theme - unofficial-

by WatchTower87 in

news about 2015 regional convention theme?.

list of my preview:.

- the end is at hand.

EdenOne

"Be faithful to God's arrangements" - 1 Corinthians 4:2

"In this regard, what is expected of stewards is that they be found faithful."

Eden

38

Decided to sign up...

by campaign of hate in

so i decided to sign up after many years of lurking.

started researching after finding out about ray franz, which inevitably brought me to this site.. i'm still well and truly inn, but don't want to give any information out, i'm sure you guys know the reasons.. since "jay double you .

org" came online, there has been a definite sense of hysteria with everyone who is "inn", and i get a feeling it's going to get a whole lot crazier as the years press on.. one point i would like to raise is that i feel, without a doubt, that 2034 is going to be the new finish line.

EdenOne

Welcome CoH (interesting choice of username).

You may be onto something regarding the way the WTS will handle Bible chronology for the next decades to keep their game going. I hope you find yourself comfortable in this forum. Looking forward to your contributions.

Eden

33

Losing Faith

by cappytan in

i've always been a "spiritual" person.

i've been an avid bible reader since as early as i can remember.

i read the bible cover to cover for the first time when i was about 17 years old and have read it at least twice more since then.

EdenOne

The storyline of Christianity:

Mankind lost its way and strayed from God's righteous family, falling into sin, which brought death and misery; God made provisions to bring back faithful humans back to his family and ultimately either reward them with eternal life on earth or heaven [depending on your flavor]; for that purpose, his heavenly son became human, Jesus, miraculously being born of a faithful jew female; he became a role model of a pious life, taught mankind the way to live a godly life, and finally died a sacrificial death as ransom for our sins. God rose him from the dead, resurrecting him back into heavens, where he was crowned King of God's Kingdom, which will soon put an end to Satan's rule over mankind, and restoring mankind's perfect status for all eternity - amen!

------------------------

This is a wonderful storyline, one that's hard not to feel attracted to. We all yearn to see the end of injustices, we all ask where evil comes from and why does it exists, we all want to see better days, and who doesn't want to live forever young? Christianity provides an answer to those questions, or at least that's what we all used to think at some point.

The very sad reality is - it's just a really compelling story, but it doesn't adhere to reality. The historical Jesus, that man who walked the earth, that Jewish Rabbi whose interpretation of the law departed from that of the Pharisees and Saducees and attracted a devout following - his message was NOT what later generations of Christians made up about him. If the strain of followers [led by James, the Just] that adhered to his teachings more closely had won the theological war, Christianity would have never existed, and Jesus would have been yet another celebrated Rabbi of Judaism, and life would carry on undisturbed. Christianity, as we know it today, is based on an elaborate invention by the apostle Paul and his disciples, who took the original accounts about Jesus and shaped them into something that the Greek-Roman world could accept. (**)

The historical Jesus was never born to a virgin, never had a pre-human existence, was never the Son of God [unless in an adptionist kind of way, at best], his death never acquitted our sins, and he was never resurrected; quite possibly, like most male jews of his day and age, he was married; he never meant to form a new religion or break away from the Torah; his prophecies about a kingdom of God, to be established in Israel within the generation of his disciples, never materialized, thus making him a failed prophet.

THAT, my friend, is the truth about Christianity and Jesus and the Bible. A collection of man-made, highly adulterated and re-shaped, re-written, edited scriptures. I no longer subscribe that an all-powerful God would communicate with mankind through such a crooked book. I still want to believe that there is some kind of creative intelligence that drove the early stages of life, due to some evidence of design in certain features of life, but I find it hard to ever think again about God as a personal entity akin to a father who cares for us, his would-be children. Still, I don't find evidence that convinces me that God - if indeed exists - demands our worship or cares for our well-being.

Question is: Do you still want to remain a Christian in spite of Jesus' historical truths? That's your option. I see value in Christian ethics, but I'm at a loss as to why should I belong to any organized Christian religion (or any other, for that matter) because faith in Jesus dictates my salvation. I can never go back to that way of thinking. I've lost my faith. But I haven't lost my hope.

(**) On this subject, I strongly recommend that you read James Tabor's book Paul and Jesus - How the Apostle Transformed Christianity.

Eden

29

Conti Appeal Oral Arguments slated for 9 A.M., Jan. 14, 2014. Recap of Defendant Watchtower's Complaint of Errors for your info.

by AndersonsInfo in

conti appeal hearing-summary of watchtowers complaint of errors with plaintiff's reply.

the following statements were taken from the introduction of respondents brief a136641 -attorney richard simons' response for plaintiff.

defendants argue that the affirmative duty imposed by the trial court impinges on their religious freedom.

EdenOne

Thank you Barbara.

eden

35

2013 Publisher Statistics now available from 2014 Yearbook.

by jwfacts in

the 2014 yearbook is out, and i have scanned the publisher figures into a more readable format at 2013 service year report.

i have updated some of the graphs at http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php and will do the rest tonight.

there are no real surprises, with very similar results as during the last couple of years.

EdenOne

That's one brilliant reasoning, Bugbear !

Eden

245

Still pointing your Finger when having a Rafter in your eye?

by DocHouse in

yes- everyone has faults and makes mistakes; an organization even more so.. yet, you ignore all the fingers pointing at you.. many here have no faith.

many here go to churches who lie about everything biblical; look at x-mas!.

but at least we know god and christ and try to live up to their name!.

EdenOne

The point I'm making, DocHouse, is this:

BEFORE you even consider who has the truest interpretation of the Bible, who adheres to the teachings of Christ more closely, who best represents God on earth, you must FIRST consider carefully and unbiasedly if the collection of books that you build your entire belief upon is reliable, historical, factual, or simply a man-made collection of stories that came to be to fit a man-made religious agenda. It's really pointless to go any further unless you establish that first, in complete honesty - and by 'honesty' I don't mean 'sincerity'. I mean integrity, reliance in facts and not devotional readings. I suspect that you have so far treated that subject too lightly, otherwise you wouldn't be having these discussions in the first place. It's ok, I made that very same mistake. But you need to educate yourself a lot more if you want to be taken seriously.

Eden

245

Still pointing your Finger when having a Rafter in your eye?

by DocHouse in

yes- everyone has faults and makes mistakes; an organization even more so.. yet, you ignore all the fingers pointing at you.. many here have no faith.

many here go to churches who lie about everything biblical; look at x-mas!.

but at least we know god and christ and try to live up to their name!.

EdenOne

The four 'canonic' gospels + Acts as we know them today do not truly represent the core teachings and deeds of the historical Rabbi Jesus and his early disciples. They represent a later, highly fictionalized version of his life, including some snippets of somewhat unreliable historical events * and sayings transmitted via oral tradition across decades, then coupled with a lot of fiction, tailored to fit a conceptual religion invented by the apostle Paul, that departed from judaism ** into something that the intellectuals of the Roman-Greek world could accept. And it worked! Paul was genius. And it would be wonderful if it were true. It's a great story, but sadly it doesn't adhere to reality. Therefore, it rightfully deserves its place among mythology, where there are elements of historical truth [Jesus existed, was a gallilean, an itinerant teacher/preacher of the Law, had disciples, clashed with the establishment, was executed by the Romans], but in pretty much everything else he never intended to start a new religion, dismiss the Mosaic Law, had a pre-human existence, etc ...

[* For an example of this, consider that Jesus was never a contemporary of Herod, The Great. Herod died at least four years before Jesus was born. Luke got his timeline wrong.]

[** Hint: If you want a much closer version of what the historical Jesus really taught that managed to survive in the pages of the Bible, your best choice is the epistle of James. It's no surprise that it's so much at odds with the epistles attributed to Paul. James was a traditionalist, who kept circumcision, nazirite vows and going to the Temple, while Paul was "teaching an apostasy against Moses" (see Acts 21) If you want an example of that, just look at how different is Paul and James' theological stand regarding salvation: by faith alone vs. salvation by works.]

Eden