Posts by rocketman

19

Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 04-22-2012 WT Study (POSITIVE)

by blondie in

jw
friends

a loving spirit in the congregation.

be zealous in the ministry.

9. how does our attitude toward the field ministry.

rocketman

A few days ago I attended a small church meeting at a school. They had two keyboards and a guitar and live playing during the songs. This small group of maybe 25 people, with two of them leading the singing on microphones, blew away anything thing I'd ever heard at a jw meeting in 30 years of attending. The spirit imbued by live instrumentation far outdoes any of the canned, pre-recorded sound at the KH. It promotes a spontaneity that I had never heard during jw worship.

Two decades ago at the KH, we had a sister who played piano and we sang to that. A CO came through, instructed the elders to remove her from playing, and instituted singing only to cassette tapes. One more evidence at that time of the complete squashing of anything spontaneous in favor of strict, top-down control.

11

This should be posted in Kingdom Hall libraries in a gold frame

by Terry in

.

rocketman

I agree Terry. Jehovah's Witnesses are so busy striving for virtual perfection - no, wait - expecting virtual perfection from others - that they often miss the point that it is Christ who makes up for our lack.

61

Is worship deserved?

by goddidit in

anyone know the jw explanation for this:.

so supposedly, god exists outside of space and time.

or, god wasn't created and didn't create itself, it just always was, or something.... ignoring any logical issues for a moment, if this is true, why does it deserve any worship for this?.

rocketman

Worship, at its root, means 'worth'; the person places a worth on something, hence he/she worships it. Adoration and veneration are distinguished by some religions (adoration given only to God, veneration being directed toward kings or other men or so-called "Saints").

So if a person believes that God is his/her Creator and is ultimately responsible for the fact that they are alive, yes, I'd surmise that the person will feel strongly that God deserves worship.

But the bigger question is why does God want worship? I'd surmise it's becasuse he knows he deserves it, much the way a marriage mate expects and deserves, and in fact insists upon, fidelity. If a marriage mate doesn't get that, he/she is understandably upset. So why wouldn't God be upset when he doesn't receive what is rightly due him?

God wants us to acknowledge via worship him and knows it is best for us to do so. As humans, we show an inclination to worship, or place worth upon, something, be it money, sex, idols, whatever. God reserves the right to become jealous, again much the same way a marriage mate does when something or someone else gets what should instead be reserved for them.

9

The problem with God.

by Fernando in

god waits until we are genuinely ready to face hard facts before he opens our minds to just how equally wrong, aberrant and dysfunctional we all are.

mostly we humans are only ready at the lowest point in our lives - often our deathbed.

hence all the suffering we ignorantly cause others and ourselves in the meantime.. this is the reason why (watchtower) religionists can read rom 3:22-23 without waking up to themselves and getting it: "for there is no distinction.

rocketman

Biblically speaking, Jesus, not religion, is the truth. There is no "true religion". The truth is personalized in Jesus Christ. The Watchtower Society, and other religions as well, are not in harmony with scripture by claiming religious exclusivity.

Jesus said "I am the way and the truth and the life" at John 14:6. It's pretty simple, really.

18

Is the beast hating on the harlot yet?

by irondork in

this forum would probably not be a good measuring stick for answering that question.

god is supposed to put it into the heart of the beast (u.n.) to hate the harlot (religion) and destroy her.

do you see this happening or is this another "we're seeing more earthquakes" thing?.

rocketman

I suspect that at some future date the Watchtower Society will change this doctrine. They'll come up with some 'new light', with some new 'understanding' in regard to the beast, the harlot or both.

23

How do you study the Bible? (for those that do)

by Silent_Scream in

what have you found is a productive way for you to study the bible?

do you have a group?

or a solitary preference?.

rocketman

I'll take a bible book (currently Isaiah) and read it through, one chapter at a time, using my NIV reference bible. After each chapter, I read all the footnote comments. I then consult online commentaries such as Coffman's (available at StudyLight.org) if I have further need of enlightenment or simply to get another viewpoint.

While I do this on my own, I have gone to a neighbor's home recently where a group meets for Bible discussion. Right now they're covering John Piper's book What Jesus Demands From The World and they read some Bible verses that the book includes or comments on. The jury is out for me as to whether going to this study is worth my time, though it's very casual and I like the idea of just popping over to my neighbor's house and not having to dress up to attend a simple bible study meeting.

17

Are Jehovah's Witnesses A Cult? A WT Apologist Says No

by Bangalore in

are jehovah's witnesses a cult?.

http://www.witnessoftruth.com/articles/questions/are-jehovahs-witnesses-a-cult.html.

bangalore.

rocketman

I find it interesting that this Witness of Truth site has no link of provision for Comments.

24

Serena Williams wants a man of her faith

by behemot in

jw
friends

http://www.s2smagazine.com/stories/2012/03/serena-williams-wants-man-her-faith.

serena williams wants a man of her faith start node-story.tpl.php serena: 'i think it's important when you marry to be evenly yoked'posted wed, 2012-03-28 17:32 by tracy scottlike most women, serena williams wants a man wholl adore her, respect her and be faithful, but she also has another requirement for any future love interest.

he must be a jehovahs witness.. i think its important when you marry to be evenly yoked, said serena, who is currently working toward becoming a member of that faith.. ive been studying to be a jehovahs witness, so i go to kingdom hall, she told s2s publisher jamie foster brown.

rocketman

Well, if she gives it to the elders like she gave it to the line judge at the 2009 U.S. Open - 'I'm going to shove this ball down your throat' - her becoming a full-fledged Witness could be a good thing.

100

CRAZINESS!!! I'M BEING 'MARKED' FOR GOING TO COLLEGE!!!

by MsGrowingGirl20 in

ohmygosh!!!

one of my friends who is a ms told me today that the elders have 'marked' me because i'm a reg.pioneer and i've decided to go to college next semester???!

he said he can't tell me anymore but to be careful---what the hell does 'mark' mean?

rocketman

It is one thing to delete you as a pioneer (bad enough), but they're taking a very hard line on the marking. As already pointed out, if you were in another congregation there's a good chance there would not be any marking.

What you may wish to do, should they question you, is tell them that you're pursuing higher education with the motive of trying to make more pay-per-hour of work so that you can continue to pioneer. That could sway them. That's if you want to play it their way.

I was an elder for a decade and we never marked anyone, despite plenty of stuff that went on in the congregation. Your elders are pulling out a trump card that is rarely used, at least in my experience.

35

Remarrying, then paradise =problem?

by Inisc in

this is a question i always wondered about and never got an answer to.. its also another reason why i'm finding it harder to believe in an 'afterlife'.. th idea that humans can live forever, now seems so scientificly impossible.. so i wanted to ask all the great minds on here,.

if someone's spouse dies, and then they remarry,then armageddon comes and goes then the deceased is resurrected,.

how,is that ever gonna work?

rocketman

It's always been a thorny question, and frankly, the answer Jesus gave does little to anwer it, unless one believes that Jesus is referring only to life in heaven:

24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

" 29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’ a ? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

It seems to me that those who asked the question were thinking of earth-related eventualities while Jesus seems to be speaking of heaven-related eventualities. Otherwise, his reply just doesn't make sense, unless, as some say (including the WTS), that earth-dwelling resurrected ones somehow become 'as angels' with no desire to marry. But even so, it's a problematic conclusion to reach, as some of the comments to this thread have already highlighted.