New living translation
Posts by Laika
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96
Is the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses really an inferior form of Christianity?
by nicolaou inseems to be quite a few posters recently pulling down the beliefs of jw's as not biblical or truly christian.
maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong, i really don't care.. in some important ways though mainstream christians often behave better than jehovah's witnesses; most don't practice shunning or impose lethal medical prohibitions on their members.
many are far more tolerant of the lgbt community and a few even make the awkward attempt to square the fact of evolution with their faith.. please note that i'm saying some, not all.. so i suppose it's fair to say that differing forms of christianity can be better or worse for individuals, families and the wider community.
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Laika
In James Fowler's book 'Stages of Faith' he describes spiritual development in a set of 6 stages.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stages_of_faith_development
JWs are required to get stuck at somewhere around stage 2 and 3, accepting 'us vs them' paradigms and avoiding paradox. Maturing beyond that is seen as 'falling away' or worse 'apostasy'. This is of course very common in many religious institutions, but there is, I believe, a more mature way to practice Christian faith, away from the dogmatism and dualism of JWism and similar churches towards contemplation and compassion. -
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Who is your favourite thinker?
by The Rebel inhaving recently read orwells 1984, i was impressed with how he understood that both politicians and people abuse language.
this further confirmed to me how the w.t had deceived me by using words to distort reality.
the book 1984, also contains many other great thoughts of george orwell.. of course there have been many other great thinkers, buddah, darwin, freud, einstein and marx come to mind.
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Laika
Rene Girard
Richard Rohr
Stanley Hauerwas
St. Paul
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91
Is the Watchtower organisation facing the biggest crisis of its history?
by slimboyfat inrecent developments make me think they might be.
the problems they are facing are not just lack of funds but also draining authority, and the two could be a heady and explosive mix.
one of the best analyses ever written of the watchtower was a book called "trumpet of prophecy" by sociologist james beckford in the 1970s.
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Laika
Hi Phizzy: "In my day we used to pay, via the Worldwide Work box, as JW's, for all Literature we gave away, has something changed?"
This would be done at a JWs discretion, and in my experience as accounts servant most JWs don't put in enough to cover the costs. I doubt they would have reduced the size of the magazines if they were contributing enough. -
91
Is the Watchtower organisation facing the biggest crisis of its history?
by slimboyfat inrecent developments make me think they might be.
the problems they are facing are not just lack of funds but also draining authority, and the two could be a heady and explosive mix.
one of the best analyses ever written of the watchtower was a book called "trumpet of prophecy" by sociologist james beckford in the 1970s.
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Laika
They have some interesting challenges for sure. The preaching work must be a major drain on their resources, since it involves giving away a huge amount of free literature, but any attempts to scale that down would cause far more doubts then 100 changes to the generation doctrine.
I've also read on here that there are concerns about them finding enough 'appointed men' to run their congregations, if this becomes a big problem they might have to scale back on activity but constant activity is an important part of keeping JWs going. -
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Ex JW's - Which Christian denomination are you with now and why?
by Truthexplorer inthis is a question for ex jw's who have joined another christian faith group.
the purpose of my question iis to find out which christian faith group you chose after leaving watchtower and what convinced you to travel this new spiritual path you are on.
i am interested to know because i personally would like to find a genuine faith group where i can feel true christian liberty as i initially thought i had with the witnesses.
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Laika
Strange responses on this thread...
Anglican, because I like their theological flexibility. They've got calvinists to wesleyans, catholics to charismatics and everything in between (at least in the UK).
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What are the economics of cart witnessing?
by slimboyfat inon another thread shepherdless sketched out the past business model of jws and its demise.
until 1990 they were a straightforward publishing business with the tremendous advantage of free labour in production and free distribution agents.
since then they've been relying on donations for literature to keep the old model going.
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Laika
The JW who I spoke to on the cart with katewild on Sunday wanted me to take a bible teach book, and the ones who called on me yesterday wanted me to take one too. They don't seem worried about the cost.
Whatever profit they make on the carts is surely lost on literature.
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240 'Lands'
by Jeffro injehovah's witnesses are purportedly 'active' in 240 'lands', quite a remarkable feat for a planet with only about 200 sovereign states (206 if you count all that are recognised by at least one un member, of which jws are present in 166).
more than half of all jws worldwide are in just 10 countries.
over 90% are in 45 countries.. to achieve this mathematical miracle, various places that are not separate countries are counted as 'lands'.. tahiti is counted as a separate 'land' though it is part of the society islands, which is part of french polynesia, which is part of... france.
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Laika
Did they use to count the channel islands as separate lands? When did they stop? -
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The positive achievements of Science and Religion in 2015. How do they compare?
by nicolaou inscience.. landed a probe on a comet, found liquid water on mars and successfully completed a ten year mission to pluto.. developed the first successful vaccine against ebola, discovered another human species in homo naledi, developed cancer killing molecules and high intensity ultrasound therapies which avoid surgery and leave healthy cells alone.
successfully mapped the human epigenome and developed the gene editing tool crispr, it's potential for medical and agricultural advance is staggering!.
found a way to produce graphene for a 1000th of the previous cost, developed cheap and sustainable methods to supply clean drinking water where water borne infections have been killing thousands, scaled up production of clean, renewable energy.. there's loads more, please feel free to add to the list.. .
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Laika
The religion where I meet uses it's meeting place to provide shelter, meals and community to homeless people each week. That's a tangible benefit religion makes to about 40 people.
To me personally my religion has continued to form me 'spiritually', helping me with practices that make me calmer, more content, and generally less anxious/afraid. -
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What was your ''the last straw that broke the camels back'' moment
by RULES & REGULATIONS inthere is a limit to how much straw (long yellow grass) a camel can carry on its back.
if you keep putting more straw on top, it will finally break the camel's back.
when you are at the last straw you are finally angry and will not take any more.. my moment (to stop attending all watchtower meetings) was after the harsh treatment from the elders and fellow congregation members of my second cousin who was disfellowhipped as a teenager.
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Laika
An elder at a circuit assembly giving a talk on wisdom. He told a story about a girl who got raped walking home late at night, the point was about how she apparently showed a lack of wisdom. When I complained later nearly everyone defended him, I realised then my worldview was fundamentally different and I just couldn't fit anymore.