Posts by rocketman

51

Do YOU Consider Persons Who Fornicate As Being "Immoral"?

by minimus in

jw
friends

if we were to accept the bible's view, anyone having sex with someone other than their spouse would be considered "immoral".

do you still accept that point of view?.

rocketman

I generally don't consider persons who fornicate to be immoral because society (much of it anyway) seems to have evolved in that direction. No one is really shocked any more that umarried people sleep together. It's become the norm.

That said, if one wants to be strict or technical about it and bring the Bible into it, then sex outside of marriage does fall short of the Biblical ideal. Then again, we fall short of that ideal in many ways.

I think a happy compromise would be to replace "marriage" with "committed relationship", which is pretty much what many religions have done.

32

Dating in the Real World...

by darkl1ght3r in

...or, love stinks.

i am so unprepared for this.

i feel like a kid just walking into willy wonka's chocolate factory.

rocketman

Obviously, a 20 year-old was not the best measuring-stick in terms of what real-world dating is like. If you get out, and maybe use an online dating service, you should begin to meet more mature women.

As far as the JW dating experience goes, your post was actually very close to the truth. You also allude to what I consider to be the greatest Catch-22 that JW life has to offer: What to do with those biological urges in light of the fact that getting married when young is generally a very bad idea.

Of course, what to do is the JW version of Don't Ask Don't Tell - everybody knows that jw youth are sexually active, but as long as it doesn't 'come to light', nobody really asks said youth what they're up to.

66

This Bible passage has always bothered me.......

by palmtree67 in

this is one of 2 bible passages that have always bothered me.. its from judges 19: (the entire chapter, so i will paraphrase.).

a levite marries himself a concubine.

she's unfaithful and goes back home.

rocketman

Cameo asked "If sending the pieces of her body out to the 12 tribes was meant to be a message....what exactly was the message supposed to be?"

The message was that free shipping was available during the time of the Judges.

66

This Bible passage has always bothered me.......

by palmtree67 in

this is one of 2 bible passages that have always bothered me.. its from judges 19: (the entire chapter, so i will paraphrase.).

a levite marries himself a concubine.

she's unfaithful and goes back home.

rocketman

Farkel mentioned Numbers 31 and wrote:

"What possible reason would Moses (through the wishes of Jehovah) want to do this? So the Israelite men could have tiny little sex slaves in their possession, that's why. Otherwise, Moses wouldn't have been so crystal clear just what kind of little girls to save and what kind to slaughter."

The reasoning (not that I agree) was that, since it was Midianite women who played the major role in seducing Israelite men, they were to be killed, along with men (who would of course be engaged in battle) and boys (who might eventually want to avenge the loss of their parents).

Moses was ticked off because, initially, the Israelite men spared the Midianite women, who were considered as much a future danger (through seduction of apparently spirtually spineless Israelite men) as Midianite men (via war) would be. The younger virgin women, on the other hand, were evidently more malleable and easily subjugated.

66

This Bible passage has always bothered me.......

by palmtree67 in

this is one of 2 bible passages that have always bothered me.. its from judges 19: (the entire chapter, so i will paraphrase.).

a levite marries himself a concubine.

she's unfaithful and goes back home.

rocketman

It is a troubling account (whether one considers it as actual history or not). It should be noted that the actions of the offending men were not taken lightly. Verse 3 of CH 20 calls it an "awful thing". In verse 7 it's called a "lewd and disgraceful act". Verse 30 of CH 19 says that 'such a thing has not been seen or done since Israel came out of Egypt'.

It certainly is not a sugar-coated story. A lot of people end up looking really bad, and one does wonder how God could look down upon it all.

73

Clever ploy to get sisters to monitor husband's internet use in today's WT

by Mickey mouse in

in today's study watchtower there was, yet again, more demonization of the internet.

although the paragraph purported to be about guarding against pornography, it struck me that they are attempting to kill two birds with one stone here, without mentioning one of the birds by name.

here's a scan, check out paragraph 15:.

rocketman

Many religions, not just the WT, strongly condemn pornography. And this is just one example of a "brother" who saw fit to have his wife on hand to be sure he didn't feed his little addiction.

Yes, it's one more example of control, but I'm not inclined to make too big a deal about it. And let's face it, a lot of women, religious or not, do not want their significant other to be checking out porn.

43

WT Society Makes JW's Feel Bad about Themselves - No Self Worth

by flipper in

jw
friends

i have noticed this a lot in attitudes of witness relatives i've talked with over the last few years , as well as other former witness friends i have talked to.

many witnesses feel bad about themselves due to having it drilled into them that we are all " sinners " who allegedly inherited " sin and imperfection " from adam and eve .

that essentially humans are " born dead " or in a " dying " condition due to alleged " inherited sin " .

rocketman

JWs are conditioned to believe that they need to be at meetings and in field service consistently and constantly so as to avoid falling into sinful conduct. They believe that, on their own, they are capable of little - especially in terms of understanding the Bible. They depend on the Organization for most, if not all, of their self-worth. They depend on the favorable opinion of elders. If the elders think they're doing well, then by george, they are. If the elders think they are lacking, they must be lacking.

30

WHY ALL THE QUESTIONS ?

by iknowall558 in

" acts 22 : 16. what are you waiting for.........?

the ethiopian eunuch had this attitude when peter preached jesus to him.

he immediately requested and received baptism.

rocketman

There are likely legal reasons why they take such a cautious approach. Once you're baptized, you can be df'd. They don't want disfellowshiped people pleading ignorance and/or possibly suing.

Also, they don't want people bearing the name of "Jehovah's Witness" while still steeped in some practices that are going to bring "reproach" upon the Organization.

Their approach is overly-cautious and tedious, but just going ahead and baptizing people would be a major headache for them, even if it's more in tune with what the 1st Century Christians did.

36

If there was no global flood - does this mean that the Bible is not inspired?

by Olin Moyles Ghost in

do you agree that if there was no global flood, then the bible is not inspired?

here are my thoughts.. it is pretty obvious that there was no global flood 4,000 years ago.

) that there were one or more large local floods in mesopotamia around the time of noah.

rocketman

Could the story of the global flood be, well, nothing more but a story, told to drive home a point, much like Jesus' story of the Good Smaritan? If Jesus repeatedly used parables to teach, would God have used them to teach as well?

13

Why do women...

by LouBelle in

jw
friends

tend to put their lives on hold when they are with a new man.

they tend to make this new guy their all.

they leave their girlfriends in the dust and spend every waking minute with him and when he is with his friends they still sit at home and wait.

rocketman

As much as men need women, women do seem to have a certain "need" for a man that sometimes goes beyond reason or at least beyond what might be considered practical in terms of what the man actually gives back. I think that contributes to the appearance that some women are dropping all else to focus on this guy.

I think also that women are under more societal and perhaps family pressure to land a steady man. The independent woman who stands on her own and is her own person is a notion that is gaining ground, but I think a lot of people still buy into the notion that she's not "complete" without a guy.