Posts by A Paduan

16

Two Elders at the door today; I wonder what they want?

by MinisterAmos in

i partook last night at my new congo and get the two elder visit today from my former congo.

actually it still might be my current one as jehovah is in the process of "re-arranging" the bros. and i'm pretty sure the change is not yet "official".

i didn't answer the door and already left orders at the gate that no freaking jws are to be admitted under any circumstances unless the homeowner specifically requests so.. anyone want to guess why they need me?

A Paduan

They're needing a "spirit directed" inquiry to find out how they should treat you

20

JWs claim disfellowshipping is biblical!

by greendawn in

regarding disfellowshipping the jws claim it is a policy necessary to keep their organisation spiritually and morally clean so that they won't lose the grace of the holy spirit and run further risks with dangerous influences.

they even say if the disfellowshipped want they can always repent and will be gladly reaccepted into communion with jw brotherhood so it's up to them to remove any anguishing shunning.

though this may appear to be a reasonable belief it is not quite as straight forward as it seems.

A Paduan

As the Lord said: "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector."

I suppose it depends on how you treat gentiles and tax collectors - it appears people differ from the jws in this respect

81

If you had to, what religion would you choose to be?

by Crumpet in

you can answer this as seriously (lt) or as inanely (buttlight) as you like!

i was reflecting having read someone's thread about blowing off non jw family that actually it would have been so much better if i had a larger family, preferably not completely jw saturated and this random train of thought led me to thinking that if i could choose i would be catholic, because then i would have a huge family, go to really nice gothic churches with lots of candles and tortured saints and be able to go to confession (instead of lt's mobile).

also the colours of the whore of babylon always were a lot more enticing to me than the mild blues and undistracting beiges of the khs.. i think we all have religions which would suit our personalities so much better.

A Paduan

Surfing

we go out early to worship and participate
many try to encourage the weak ones
the liturgy is a cleansing experience
after the cleansing we can have a burnt sacrifice at the barbeque; typically the male presides
keeping holy the sabbath is highly encouraged - we have other holydays as well
the church is worldwide, and the news is spread in action as much as word

I could go on

6

The WTBTS... A FALSE PROPHET?

by Honesty in

see for yourself:.

http://www.uq.net.au/~zzmstefa/wt97-8.htm.

A Paduan

The pope - a catholic ?

24

Is it just because i was raised a JW?

by helncon in

yesterday (sunday) we went to our daughters church for family service as they have these at the end of each term for the kids club (sunday school) and if you don't know about my beliefs that i don't have any and i am one not wanting to have anything to do with any religion.. anyway there are a few things that caught my attention during this service as i normally tune out but they were talking about how jesus was telling a parragul (sp?

) about sowing the seeds and then it all came flooding back of the memories about how the jw used this, and you know it was strange as this church was saying things almost identical to what the jw would say.. this is not what i was wanting to mention but i thought this was interesting.. so after all the service they have a morning tea for everyone afterward and i got talking to the minister/father/pastor (don't know what the head person called) wife and the subject come about christmas and i told her that this was not as important as when jesus died and that he wasn't even born on 25th december she was taken back that he was not born on this day as i told her he was born earlier in the year and i explained how this is the reason, she was gob smacked!.

i thought this was common knowledge so i wonder if she will go back to her husband and ask questions if this is true.. so i ask the question is it common knowledge that jesus was not born on this day and it is a pagan holiday or is it a jw thing.

A Paduan

i told her that this was not as important as when Jesus died and that he wasn't even born on 25th december she was taken back that he was not born on this day as i told her he was born earlier in the year and i explained how this is the reason, she was gob smacked!

Are you sure about why she was gob smacked ?

So i ask the question is it common knowledge that Jesus was not born on this day and it is a pagan holiday or is it a JW thing

It's common knowledge - outside fundamentalist literalism at least

22

What does it mean to be saved?

by tan in

is it biblical?

i was told that salvation was believing in christ, but shouldn't there be something else to do?

thank you.

A Paduan

to know him

24

If WTS said 1+1=3 would JW's accept it, would you have? (mind control ?)

by jwfacts in

a phenomenon of cult mind control is that followers are not to qustion what the leaders say, regardless of how unrealistic or contary to human experience.

consider the following watchtower concepts that jws accept without question.

these are common concepts that any jw could (but does not) prove to be either wrong or straight out lies.. there was a huge increase in earthquakes in the 20th centuryjehovah will kill billions of people because he is a god of lovethe wts correctly foretold the events of 1914the watchtower never suggested 1975lions used to be vegetarian before the flood and will be in the new systemso if the watchtower wrote that 1+1=3 would you have believed it.

A Paduan

What the wts actually teaches is that 1 + 1 + 1 = 2, or should I say 'one and a half'

24

The CATHOLIC doctrine of the Faithful and Discreet Slave??? Yes!!

by Terry in

majesterium (sacred tradition) is a technical theological term used in some christian traditions, primarily in the roman catholic and eastern orthodox traditions, to refer to the fundamental basis of church dogma.

the term refers to the "deposit of faith" that these churches hold was communicated by jesus christ to his first followers, and which they hold has been passed down (latin tradere, to hand over or hand down) through succeeding generations.

the church as a community, therefore, was the initial receiver, and has remained the guardian and codifier, of sacred tradition.

A Paduan

History proves how the Catholic church used every method within its powerful authority to subject people and to repress knowledge of the Bible.

They knew what many people did with it - post reformation examples abound, eg. jwism - I'm not defending catholic dogmas, but they did understand what some people would do when they got hold of it, and I don't mean "be a better christian"

This abuse of its authority and its claim of exclusiveness as God's organization is what we see as a similarity between the Catholic church and the Watchtower Society.

The similarities are like the catholic church of a bygone era - it's a comparison with different cultures in time.

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As a result the Catholic Church suffers the same cognitive dissonance as do JWs, claiming an infallible Pope who most obviously is far from infallible. I found the following quote in an article from the Cath Encylopedia about Magisterium that is very similar to the Watchtower doctrine of "the light gets brighter", a necessary but senseless doctrine to explain away ongoing errors and changes.

"not everything in a conciliar or papal pronouncement, in which some doctrine is defined, is to be treated as definitive and infallible"

The infallibility spoken of refers only to ex-cathedra teaching on faith and morals

24

The CATHOLIC doctrine of the Faithful and Discreet Slave??? Yes!!

by Terry in

majesterium (sacred tradition) is a technical theological term used in some christian traditions, primarily in the roman catholic and eastern orthodox traditions, to refer to the fundamental basis of church dogma.

the term refers to the "deposit of faith" that these churches hold was communicated by jesus christ to his first followers, and which they hold has been passed down (latin tradere, to hand over or hand down) through succeeding generations.

the church as a community, therefore, was the initial receiver, and has remained the guardian and codifier, of sacred tradition.

A Paduan

Protestants use the bible alone (sola scriptura) while the Catholic church maintains God uses them by imparting authority to speak (majesterium) through one channel only!

This appears to be a subjective extrapolation at the start of your postulation - a jw method in itself

It doesn't take a genius to see the Watchtower Society uses the identical argument for its own authority that the Catholic church has used for hundreds of years!

It is quite different - the watchtower society in recent history simply thought up some strange theological reasons to support their imaginings of superiority, and their subsequent faith in their way of thinking. The catholic church has had tradition passed down for not just hundreds but now thousands of years, and since the earliest formations of christianty. They have kept and reproduced (after selecting, and by hand writing) the scriptures that intermittent sects such as the jws accuse them of "not knowing" and so on. I can only imagine what it would be like for a monk to be accused by a religious sectarian of having no bible knowledge, afer having written one.

41

JW are total Bullies

by sandy in

my grandmother passed away the other night.

it was expected; she's been sick in/out of the hospital for a while now.

most of us are more relieved than anything else because she has been so miserable these last six months or longer.

A Paduan

I'd just straight out abuse him in front of other family - plainly accuse him of shunning his niece in support of a cult that is known to lie - and when he asks "what lies" - simply say that they are known liars.