Posts by venus

27

Contradictions!

by Freedom rocks in

quite regularly at meetings jws mocked worldly people and apostates(anyone who had left the "truth") for saying the bible contradicts itself when it is in complete harmony from beginning to end apparently.

can anyone point out some of the contradictions they know of?

they used to laugh at the fact people on the doors would say the bible contradicts itself and when they asked the householder to show them where, they couldn't..

venus

When many persons write contradictions can happen. But here is one which is contradiction in itself like we say ‘square circle’ or ‘married husbands.’ Verse is found in the gospel of John: "No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.”—John 3:13

It means only Jesus who descended from heaven has gone into heaven, no one else has gone into heaven! Jesus ascended into heaven at the end of his ministry, after his death. Hence how could he say he has ascended into heaven at the start of his ministry?

Answer is simple. Teaching of ransom sacrifice is a later adoption, hence the Writer was creating a scene with Jesus having conversation with Nicodemus to introduce the subject of ransom—something Jesus (Mathew 21:37) nor Father had never even thought of. (Jeremiah 7:31)

20

Is Jesus the Alpha + Omega?

by JW Answers in

is jesus the alpha and omega?

the watchtower make a bold brass article on their own website claiming that jesus is not the alpha and omega, yet however, god's word explains in clear detail that he is the alpha and omega... do we therefore trust what the watchtower says?

or do we trust what god says?.

venus

Yet what Jesus said came true in my life.

It was when I made practical application of what I earned in Particle Physics which better enabled me to understand CONSCIOUSNESS as a deeper reality than my body, like the silence state we occasionally experience in which states such as waking, sleeping and deep sleep are held, a deeper reality on which my physical body appears, remains and disappears later only to continue to exists somewhere else in some other form. It did remind me of what Jesus said: “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31) Yes, I did become free from all human dogmas.

20

Is Jesus the Alpha + Omega?

by JW Answers in

is jesus the alpha and omega?

the watchtower make a bold brass article on their own website claiming that jesus is not the alpha and omega, yet however, god's word explains in clear detail that he is the alpha and omega... do we therefore trust what the watchtower says?

or do we trust what god says?.

venus

This problem exists in John's gospel also:

In one place Jesus declares a bold sentence which only God Almighty can make: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

In another place, he retracts: "But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me" (John 8:16, 28)

In another place He asks us to believe Father: "Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life" (John 5:24)

In another place, he again retracts: "You believe in God[a]; believe also in me." (John 14:1)

He looks as though his intention itself is to confuse (of course, he would not, but writers created all those confusions which would not be settle in yet another 2000 years)

32

Apostate - what does the word mean to you?

by Tallon in

over a period of time i got to thinking - what does the word 'apostate' mean to me.

having given it some thought, this is my view;.

the org has given the word its own definition and basically use it to demonise people and consider them pariahs.. however, the jw meaning of 'apostate' is a mere word and only has power if recognised as such.

venus

Etymologically, it is simply a negative prefix "a" + "postate" (like the word amoral) meaning to stand away. Stand away from (truth) is an added connotation. Away from what? Anything under the sun!

15

Independent reading of Bible results in better understanding

by Ireneus in

in guided reading, you tend to get the understanding of the guide.

what if guide is blind?

religious leaders who understand ‘one innocent man should be killed to atone the sins of others are in bondage to darkness, hence there is nothing good to be expected from them.

venus

I like your understanding on the question: “What does this have to do with me?” Something to be thought about!

17

Water on Mars (Possibly life)

by pleaseresearch in

this has been an interesting story in the news recently.. just thinking, if in a few years time they drill down and discover water on mars and also some form of life.

does that for you destroy the bible in anyway?.

venus

Just because water is found in Mars, it doesn’t mean it becomes favorable for variety of life forms as found on earth. Even when earth is favorable for variety of life forms, still “more than 99 percent of all species, amounting to over five billion species, that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct. Estimates on the number of Earth's current species range from 10 million to 14 million, of which about 1.2 million have been documented and over 86 percent have not yet been described.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction)

Even if life may have been seeded there on Mars by some aliens (as documented in the film Expelled, Richard Dawkins, or as implied by panspermia proposed by Francis Crick and Leslie Orgel) who will create provisions for sustaining those lives?

What Isaiah wrote still holds weight: "God Himself that formed the earth and made it .... He formed it to be inhabited" (Isaiah 45:18)"

6

The Samuel Herd story may 8 wt mag

by waton in

i talked to this simple man once in florida, where racial tension linger.

i can see why a sympathetic worker with a proven record as pioneer would end up in the top ranks, the hope being, that his effectiveness would rub off on the enterprise.

it shows that whoever runs wt does not count on the governing body to really run the enterprise.

venus

waton,

This is equally true of women from Black Community. For example, Look at Condoleezza Rice who evaluated her own life: “I've been in enough positions to respect people with different views”—a very matured view JW GB is yet to cultivate.

7

Christianity - God and the Scientists

by Brokeback Watchtower in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucz44kqphlo.

venus

The narrator in the video laments in the end saying future of Christianity is bleak as the science progresses further and further.

But this may not be the case because it is true that Science can overthrow religions which misrepresent God, but cannot overthrow the belief in God because “science offers a surer path to God than does religion” (God and the New Physics, Paul Davis). If science analyses a flower chemically it may miss the more important point because looking at the same flower some scientists may be inspired by the contemplation of God’s beauty in Nature. It is deduction, a different faculty of understanding, from the intellect which often read between lines, as the etymology of the word intelligence suggests (from from Latin intellegēns, “discerning”, inter (“between”) + legō (“read”).

The mere data such as the composition of Periodic Table, DNA, Universe … havn’t any meaning for some whereas such knowledge generates some reaction in some scientists on a feeling level. That is because, unlike knowledge, understanding is born of the feeling awakened in us, a sense of awe, in response to mere data: “The most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is good as dead.”—Albert Einstein.

6

The Samuel Herd story may 8 wt mag

by waton in

i talked to this simple man once in florida, where racial tension linger.

i can see why a sympathetic worker with a proven record as pioneer would end up in the top ranks, the hope being, that his effectiveness would rub off on the enterprise.

it shows that whoever runs wt does not count on the governing body to really run the enterprise.

venus

waton

It has nothing to do with someone “with a proven record as pioneer ending up in the top ranks.” If this was really the case, there were many from the Black Community equally good from their very inception, and none of them were inducted into GB. GB was taken by surprise and utter shame when Kofi Atta Annan [from the Black Community] was elected as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1996. Obviously with much reluctance, after three years GB was forced to bring Samuel F. Herd (from the black community) in the year 1999.

16

Jehovah`s Witnesses Do Not Have a Clergy Class.

by smiddy3 in

no , they have the governing body { some would say the popes of the religion }.

and you do not under any circumstance go against what they say./ .

they also have branch overseers , district overseers .circuit overseers , and elders in a congregation .. they are all up and above the rank and file of the average ordinary jehovah`s witness and they are looked upon as such by the rank and file member as equivalent to a clergy class.. oh and lets not forget the legal department that has a lot to say in how the jehovah`s witness organization responds to allegations of child sexual abuse around the world.. and when an allegation arises about child sexual abuse the w.t.

venus

In form, they are not clergy; but

in function they are clergy.

People can see something not in order when others are doing it. For example, JWs and Pentacostals accuse of Cathoics having Mother Mary as the Mediatrix, yet they have Elders offering prayers on behalf of their members.