venus

Joined

• started 58 topics
• posted 901 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by venus

• 
  35

  Either God’s non-existence or His majesty

  by venus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in natural calamities, everyone (despite one’s faith) is affected.

  when one denies god’s existence, he experiences no punishment from him.

  when one worships him, he receives no special favor from him.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  venus

  waton,

  You correctly read my mind
• 
  35

  Either God’s non-existence or His majesty

  by venus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in natural calamities, everyone (despite one’s faith) is affected.

  when one denies god’s existence, he experiences no punishment from him.

  when one worships him, he receives no special favor from him.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  venus

  In natural calamities, everyone (despite one’s faith) is affected. When one denies God’s existence, he experiences no punishment from Him. When one worships Him, he receives no special favor from Him. This is true even in the case of a nation which runs like a thread through the Bible.

  1) A tribal religion that was practicing idolatry (Joshua 24:2) somehow felt superior to others and sanctified this feeling by claiming that God had chosen it over others (something God would never do—Deuteronomy 10:17).

  2) Under this claim of special relationship with God, it evolved into a conquering nation (Numbers 31) while at times experiencing defeats also, and finally manages to establish a so-called ‘theocratic’ kingdom which lasted for some time.

  3) Then this ‘theocracy’ was overthrown by a pagan king who also burned its prestigious temple of worship which obviously caused a theological crisis (irony of theocracy being overpowered by pagans!!!???).

  4) Then a theology of a Messiah was evolved. It is taught that Messiah, as a Conqueror, would finally restore what has been lost (Isaiah 9:6-7), thus a long waiting for Messiah started.

  5) When Messiah did come, instead of Him conquering the pagans, he was killed (which was never foreseen—Mathew 21:33-39) again by pagans paving the way for further evolution.

  6) Messiah’s death was interpreted as God’s way of taking away of sin from the world (John 1:29), thus an incomprehensible teaching of ransom was evolved.

  7) Sin was not taken away, nor has the restoration taken place so far. Hence a teaching of second coming of the Messiah was evolved, and waiting continues ever after two thousand years.

  8) During this waiting period, a group somehow feels superior to others and sanctifies this feeling by claiming that God had chosen it over others (something God would never do—Deuteronomy 10:17) appointing them as the “faithful and discreet slave” class (Mathew 24:45) to distribute spiritual food at the proper time which was either revised or replaced several times from its inception from 1876 thus repudiating its own claim of being appointed by God.

  In all these religious evolution, God obviously plays no role. This could be interpreted as either proof of His non-existence or His majesty that comes from His policy of non-intervention.
• 
  2

  “Worldly” people also can teach spirituality

  by venus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was listening to an interview of a hollywood actress.

  when the interviewer brought to her attention a criticism somebody made against her, she replied in sheer dispassion: “he doesn’t need my permission to criticize me.”.

  i rated in my mind this as the height of spirituality because spirituality is egolessness.

  1. 
  2. 
• 

  venus

  wake me up before you jo-ho,

  I don't know the name, and interview had already been in progress when I switched on the TV and I missed much of the interview except this vital part.

  This one sentence changed my life for the better. It highlights the importance of acceptance which is the only thing we can do because others have their freedom to speak/act the way they like--why should it affect. Even God is least bothered what others speak about Him.
• 
  11

  Are JWs the most corporate religion?

  by cookiemaster in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i find it pretty shocking how corporate the jw religion is.

  i never saw it this way when i was in but now that i look at it from a different perspective, it seems quite clear.

  much of the terminology used by jws is corporate inspired.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  venus

  Corporate religions produce people of same mentality. The most fundamental error of all religions is that none of them was courageous enough to accept that there are things which we don’t know. They all pretended to know everything, they all pretended to know that they were all omniscient.... hence gave answers from their own minds. For example, Jesus linked diseases with evil-spirits. (Matt 12:22-28; Luke 13:16) He lamented on the behavior of other people (Mathew 11:21; 23:37), resorted to name-calling (Luke 13:32) ... etc., which are definitely not the evidence having divine/perfect knowledge of handling things effectively.

  Because religious leaders gave human answers there arose conflicted religions. What a chaos it could have cause if everyone followed same attitude—then we would have had an Islamic physics, a Hindu physics, a Christian physics …etc
• 
  22

  The Bible a wierd book.

  by James Mixon in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  some events in the bible can be questionable but there are some stories the rings of truth, and why do i say that because they are so descriptive.

  judges 3:22 "ehud an israelite judge, goes to the king of the moabites to pay annual tribute.

  instead, he pulls out a dagger and stabs the sh--t out of the king while he is bathing, he literal caused the sh--t to flow and the dagger disappeared in the folds of the king's skin.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  venus

  Many a time Bible is out of touch with reality. It describes the creation of man in one sentence, yet describes the menstruation of woman in great details.

  When it comes to the main theme of the Bible Paul obviously had a tunnel vision and ignored facts he could have known through even a cursory observation. Anyone can see a variety of people acting/reacting differently in same situation: Some do more righteous acts, some do more sinful acts, and others mix both the activities in varying degrees. And there are interesting contrasts too. For example, there are some very poor people who refuse to steal, yet there are very wealthy people who steal in various ways. It shows every act—whether sinful or righteous—is done out of choice! Hence there are all sorts of people from sinless to the sinful ones yet with the freedom existing for the sinless to commit sin and for the sinful to commit virtues and also with the freedom to mix both in varying degree because things change according to one’s desire which arise out of free-will. (James 1:15)
• 
  15

  Solomon's gold mines called a myth but there's one so-called prophecy that always makes me stop and think

  by Isambard Crater in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the authenticity of the old testament account of solomon is being called into question in the news media:.

  http://www.christianpost.com/news/king-solomons-fabulous-hidden-gold-mines-are-a-myth-historian-says-194663/.

  for the most-part, i don't really want to believe the bible as true, certainly not the j.w version including their stubbornness over 607 and 1914. but there's one prophecy that always makes me stop and wonder if maybe some of the bible was inspired by god, if he or she exists.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  venus

  Phizzy wrote: "I have yet to discover a Bible "prophecy" that was written before the event and was fulfilled in the exact terms of the prophecy."

  Even if you find a prophecy in the Bible in its true sense, still it won't prove divine authorship because when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuked during the last days of second World War in 1945 on August 6 and 9 respectively, Albert Einstein said, ' Though it's terribly painful, new lives and purposes will emerge from the ashes of two great cities and they'll become even greater.' And it came true!
• 
  2

  “Worldly” people also can teach spirituality

  by venus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was listening to an interview of a hollywood actress.

  when the interviewer brought to her attention a criticism somebody made against her, she replied in sheer dispassion: “he doesn’t need my permission to criticize me.”.

  i rated in my mind this as the height of spirituality because spirituality is egolessness.

  1. 
  2. 
• 

  venus

  I was listening to an interview of a Hollywood actress. When the interviewer brought to her attention a criticism somebody made against her, she replied in sheer dispassion: “He doesn’t need my permission to criticize me.”

  I rated in my mind this as the height of spirituality because spirituality is egolessness. Try this with an Elder, CO or even GB, or with their wives. He/she will be terribly upset and totally disturbed and would likely to respond like this:

  “When did he say that?

  “Who were the witnesses?

  “Has he told the same to anybody else? …

  I think enlightenment happens when we have gone through the journey of the range of experiences. Life experiences have the same value, whether we label them as “good / spiritual or bad/mundane.” What truly matters is the change of consciousness happening by going through the experiences, in our personal journey. Consciousness will change in our journey at some point in time. Experience is the true teacher.
• 
  11

  Are JWs the most corporate religion?

  by cookiemaster in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i find it pretty shocking how corporate the jw religion is.

  i never saw it this way when i was in but now that i look at it from a different perspective, it seems quite clear.

  much of the terminology used by jws is corporate inspired.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  venus

  corporate and individual mentality is same:

  Why do you live?
  To earn money.
  For what?

  So I can live better.
  What is better?
  To have things… and for that we need money…

  Corporates sell goods/service, religious corporates sell enlightenment!
• 
  15

  Solomon's gold mines called a myth but there's one so-called prophecy that always makes me stop and think

  by Isambard Crater in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the authenticity of the old testament account of solomon is being called into question in the news media:.

  http://www.christianpost.com/news/king-solomons-fabulous-hidden-gold-mines-are-a-myth-historian-says-194663/.

  for the most-part, i don't really want to believe the bible as true, certainly not the j.w version including their stubbornness over 607 and 1914. but there's one prophecy that always makes me stop and wonder if maybe some of the bible was inspired by god, if he or she exists.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  venus

  Halfbanana,

  Interesting explanation [“In it he portrayed man's history through an allegory of an image of different metals successively decreasing in worth from a fabled golden race down to powerful empires represented by iron”]

  You are right: There is no prophetic element in this image allegory because this is what we observe in history.
• 
  15

  Solomon's gold mines called a myth but there's one so-called prophecy that always makes me stop and think

  by Isambard Crater in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the authenticity of the old testament account of solomon is being called into question in the news media:.

  http://www.christianpost.com/news/king-solomons-fabulous-hidden-gold-mines-are-a-myth-historian-says-194663/.

  for the most-part, i don't really want to believe the bible as true, certainly not the j.w version including their stubbornness over 607 and 1914. but there's one prophecy that always makes me stop and wonder if maybe some of the bible was inspired by god, if he or she exists.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  venus

  deegee,
  

  Excellent information