Hi all!
Thanks for your comments!! It is soooo ironic that "apostates" are actually such loving people!! Just look at yourselves!! People helping a total stranger like me... we have all been hurt by the WT, it is an awesome thing that this forum exists!
@Problemaddict:
The reason I want to tell the TATT is that I really feel a horrible guilt, a horrible shame and like you said, a "fire" inside me that just wants to scream WAKE UP PEOPLE!! I truly feel for the people whose lives are affected by it, going from the worst effects such as death from the blood issue, to relatively minor such as passing some embarrasment because of preaching. Shunning, the blood issue, restricting who you marry, restricting higher education, I think those are some of the more life-altering doctrines of JW's. I know that I am getting it all wrong (trying in the wrong ways to help people I love see TTATT), I have just realized how strong the mind control is, and it is absolutely scary to see people act like zombies... hard proof does not really dissuade them (they are stunned, they think for a nanosecond, and then they stop thinking). The one who I really want to "save" is my father. My mother is totally lost, she is insanely hardcore JW...
1. I just thought that one of the best ways to persuade a JW was by showing them that the NT has been changed, that in essence the JW's state they do not believe in the NT because all the manuscripts are corrupt... you would think that at least this would make them think since most JW's and most Christians respect the Bible and (should, at least) believe that not a word should be added or removed, no matter if it is YHWH. I truly believe that reading the NT without all the 237 times "Jehovah" appears leads you to a totally different "Lord Jesus"... and here is where I get stuck with JW's because I am attacking a MAJOR doctrine of anti-trinity or anti-binitarianism.
2. The blood doctrine was the hardest thing for my father to accept. He spent years studying and would not come in because he feared having to face a decision of the blood doctrine. Now, however, he accepts it entirely. I think this would be an easier angle of attack, since, like you said, there is way more ammo for this one.
3. I know, who cares but JW's? However, there is much evidence that Jesus in fact died on a T-shaped cross, including my favorite which is the "Staurogram", it appears in the oldest manuscripts (p45, p66, p75) as a "Nomina Sacra"... if "stauros" starts with an S and ends with an S, logically an abbreviation such as the "Nomina Sacra" would be something like SS... but it is a T with the ρ (rho) on top... looking very much like a body on a cross... anyways, the reason for it being "an angle to use against JW's" is that it is in a manuscript, at some point the NWT committe must have seen this, but for obvious reasons never told the R&F. It's very damning of that doctrine.
4. With regards to the nature of Jesus/God, it really doesn't matter since I do not believe fully in the Bible anyways (agnostic like I said), all that I am saying is that a plain, simple reading of the NT without "Jehovah" inserted here and there will more likely end you with the conclusion "Jesus is God" than the conclusion "Jesus is NOT God"... that's the way I see it.
5. Agreed... the only "harmonization" of the texts is to say that both are needed. However, it is a pretty strong contradiction in my books. Romans 3 vs James 2
6. Dozens of them... the craziest ones are in Chronicles/Kings...
7. Only if I want to cast doubt on the Bible, yes...
I know that I cannot take all with me... It's a shame, a sadness, but it is something that I must come to terms with. I have found that I should place the burden of proof on THEM and not just spew out conclusions that I have reached with months of research. It will take massive doses of self-control. Can you give me samples of questions I should ask?
THANKS VERY MUCH!
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To the rest... I will try to answer tomorrow. I am tired now...
