That illustration is an insult! It implies that the anointed are inherently better people than the other sheep. I doubt that illustration would have been approved by Watchtower. I believe the outline gives the speaker the freedom to use his own illustration based on local culture. This speaker's choice of illustration was thoughtless.
Island Man
JoinedPosts by Island Man
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15
You are tomato sauce...
by rrb2016 inthe wife and i went to the memorial strictly out of respect for my mother-in-law last night.
luckily our 20 month-old grand-baby was restless and making noise, so i quickly volunteered to take him in the back.
so i didn't have to listen to the presentation.
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23
Why did Jesus have to suffer?? Something I never thought about.
by ttdtt insomething dawned on me last night.
jesus was suposed to be a corresponding sacrifice for adam right?.
a perfect life for a perfect life.
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Island Man
I think the explanation for why Jesus had to suffer is that Jesus served in a role similar to Job in that he proved it is possible for a human to remain faithful to God even under great trial and suffering. So they say that Jesus' faithful endurance of suffering proved false Satan's charge that humans only serve God in favorable circumstance and abandon him when things get bad. But there's another side to the subject of human integrity that neither Job or Jesus answered and that has never be tested and it's this:
Do humans serve God because they truly love him, or because of the promise of a future reward for the faithful and destruction for the unfaithful?
This is the more important test of integrity that the bible does not address. As long as there is a reward for obedience and punishment for disobedience, it cannot be demonstrated that human's obedience to God is borne of pure love untainted by selfish motives.
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Island Man
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1
The Kindness of an Atheist
by undercover ina song lyric i heard the other day, paraphrased:.
nothing is as good as the kindness from an atheistan act of selflessness that never has to be repaid.
interesting thought.
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Island Man
Jesus is quoting as saying: "Happy is he that believes without seeing". I say: "Righteous is he that does good without believing. For if you do good expecting to be rewarded by God, or for fear of punishment, of what credit is it to you? Do not sinners also do good with the expectation of a reward, or to avoid punishment?"
You know that point JWs make about God allowing Job's integrity to be tested, so it can be seen if Job only served God because things were going well with him? Well I believe the point you're making actually raises an even bigger question about worshipers motives in serving God. How is it that Satan never challenged man's integrity on the grounds that humans are only obedient because they look forward to a future reward from God and/or to avoid future punishment/destruction? Isn't that a far bigger and more pertinent issue when it comes to human integrity. You would think that Satan would have addressed that first because the story of Job does not address it, for even while Job was suffering he was still looking forward to future reward for his faithfulness - the resurrection. (See Job 14)
The bible does not in any way address this issue. So what if a rebel accuses God of bribing and scaring humans to be good by promising them future reward or future destruction? How is god going to handle that issue transparently for all creation to see that such accusations are false? I think this is a major moral issue that the bible and JWs have overlooked.
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Sweet 16 - Happy Birthday to Us !
by Simon init's the forum's 16th birthday today!.
amazing that not only have we lasted so long but we're still thriving and growing.. thanks to all the people and often colorful characters who've contributed to the site over the years.
some are still here with us, some have since moved on, but all have touched each others lives in some way along our different journeys.. .
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Island Man
Simon's first OP - as far as I can tell - from16 years ago:
Welcome to the newest Jehovah's Witness discussion forum on the Net.
Please register so that you can post to the forum and turn this into a welcoming place for other brothers and sisters online
A little further down the thread Simon writes:
Hi ManofTrueGod
We've had a few introductions from people (on another topic somewhere) but I'm hoping it won't need to become as formal and intimidating to register with as some of the other forums.
It does mean that we only know about people what they will tell us. I think it's more important to go off what people say than who they say they are (after all, imposters will tell us that they are JWs the same as genuine ones will so how can we tell if not by what they say)Wow! Simon was a died in the wool JW, paranoid about apostates and all! LOL. It's amazing how much we can change in life once we practice intellectual honesty and follow the evidence no matter where it leads.
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Evolution is a Fact #31 - Ten Questions for Creationists
by cofty ini thought this would be a good time to pose some questions based on the series so far.. if creationism is true these should be easy.
answers that don't involve copy-paste would be really interesting to read.. ... .
1. since some proteins can be assembled in more ways than there are atoms in the universe why do the sequences of amino acids and bases vary between species in exactly the way evolution predicts?
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Island Man
"In answer to all your questions: We do not have all the answers at this time. Perhaps Jehovah will fill us in on the details in the New System. We just need to wait on Jehovah and put faith in what bible says and not be swayed by the satanic propaganda being spouted by worldly scientists."
LOL.
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Is this a site controlled by atheists?
by The Rebel inunder the exterior of being an ex- witness site, is this site simply converting atheism?.
i pose the question, because many come here in distress and insecurity with the realization that the w.t is wrong but still retain a belief in god.
my personal opinion is the threads on god are not challenged by an atheists personal animosity to believers, they are challenged and become confrontational because the atheist wants an elaboration and factual proof to a believers faith.. is this unreasonable?
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Island Man
Simon is an atheist, so yeah, this site is controlled by atheists. Atheists rule! Yeah!!
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6
The Original Sin - Emperor’s New Suit
by learnaway inintroduction: most religions based on the bible, have been teaching paul’s propagated doctrine for thousands of years which claims that human beings are born with the original sin, inherited from adam, thereby redemption is required.
it is not enough to be described with a few lines of explanation that paul’s doctrine is false, because this examination goes against the faith of the redemption doctrine, which cultivated by tertullian, augustine, calvin; and gave a source of power and enormous wealth for the church for many millennia.
however, hopefully readers could grasp the undeniable truth regarding original sin and redemption..
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Island Man
According to the Genesis account, Satan never lied to mankind. Their eyes opened just like he said it would. And they did not die in the very day of eating it - just like satan said they would not - contrary to God's claim that they would. Also, because of eating of the fruit, man has the opportunity to go to heaven and live like a god with God, forever! Would man have had that glorious opportunity had Adam and Eve not eaten of the fruit? So Satan's claims turn out to be spot on! It is God's claim that they will die in the very day of eating the fruit, that turned out to be a lie.
I don't believe the writer of Genesis 3 was attempting to portray Satan as a liar. In fact I don't believe the writer of Genesis 3 was even knew about Satan! The first 3 chapters is obviously an ancient creation myth in the tradition of "Just So" fables designed to provide answers to such questions as:
Where did the world and all humans and animals come from?
Why are people ashamed to be naked?
Why do women have painful childbirth?
Why do men have one shorter rib than women?
Why do men dominate women?
Why do we have to work so hard to live?
Why do we die?
Why do serpents not have legs?
The chapters were later coopted and reinterpreted as having deeper symbolic meaning and that's how the serpent came to regarded as being satan or satan's puppet. There is nothing in the text itself to indicate the snake is being manipulated by satan, In fact, the text itself explains the serpent's conversation with Eve by saying that serpents are by nature very wise/crafty. So not only does the writer not give any indication of the snake being manipulated by a higher power, he also give the impression that the snake is acting that way because of its own inherent nature!
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15
Which delusion will you choose?
by JW_Rogue init occurred to me while at today's wt study that over 100 people were wasting an hour of their life studiously examining the differences between two delusions, paradise earth and the heavenly hope.
everyone made it sound so serious when in reality it means nothing at all.
either choice is wrong and foolish nonsense.. it was mentioned that mark sanderson found his heavenly calling at very young age.
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Island Man
Did you notice the way paragraph 10 twisted the meaning of that text from 1 John 2:27? Their explanation of that text is a blatant lie as the words of the text and the context shows. So paragraph 10 is a lie within a delusion. -
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"Don't make mountains out of molehills"
by stephanie61092 induring the talk today, the speaker said, in reference to apostates, "don't make mountains out of molehills" and "all those who are do good to look up isaiah 43:18.
" to save you trouble, it says: "do not remember the former things, and do not dwell on the past.".
i'd like to see him read that scripture to the victims of the hundreds and hundreds of abuse cases the arc has unveiled from over the past 50 years.
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Island Man
When defending their position that theirs is the only true religion, JWs make mountains out of the molehill differences between their religion and other religions very similar to their own. But when called out on their own false teachings and wrongs, JWs turn around and make molehills out of their own mountainous wrongs. They are hypocrites.