the unknown writer of the gospel of john put the following words in jesus' mouth, "blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.".
persuading countless generations that it is a virtue to believe incredible things on insufficient evidence, is one of religion's cleverest tricks.. the more incredible the claim; the more flimsy the evidence; the stronger the belief; the greater the virtue.. this is the exact opposite of how we operate in every other aspect of our lives.. rational people must demand objective evidence for everything they are asked to believe.
"extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence".. leaving the dogmatic claims of the watchtower is only a first step.
Oubliette asks good questions.
Approaching the matter from a different direction, we all encounter uncertainty in our life. When faced with this, we make decision about what lies inside that uncertainty and proceed appropiately. Sometimes, it is easy to test our theories about what lies inside that area of uncertainty and make immediate course corrections if needed. Other times, we never completely resolve the uncertainty and are left hoping that we made a good decision.
the unknown writer of the gospel of john put the following words in jesus' mouth, "blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.".
persuading countless generations that it is a virtue to believe incredible things on insufficient evidence, is one of religion's cleverest tricks.. the more incredible the claim; the more flimsy the evidence; the stronger the belief; the greater the virtue.. this is the exact opposite of how we operate in every other aspect of our lives.. rational people must demand objective evidence for everything they are asked to believe.
"extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence".. leaving the dogmatic claims of the watchtower is only a first step.
I challenge the OP on a couple of different fronts.
(1) What is wrong with having faith in something that you may not be able to prove? Contrary to your assertion otherwise, I see nothing wrong with it if something good comes out of it. Now when it is twisted to serve the selfish ends of a few at the expense of others, it obviously has become a bad thing.
(2) Do you believe that there are natural forces in the universe that man still does not understand? If so, are you going to deride somebody for their (admittedly speculative) belief in what that force is?
An analogy. It is common for an engineer to encoutner solutions developed by non-degreed folk who provide an explanation absolutely lacking in solid physical principles. Consequently, the engineer decides that their explanation is foolish, ignores their solution, and screws up everything in the process. Who is more foolish? The people who developed a solution but did not understand how it worked, or the engineer who understood all the physics but undid a working solution?
i have a genuine question for the jw apologist.
.
what is your scriptural justification for your unquestioning obedience to the governing body and your unwillingness to question their intepretation of scripture?.
problemaddict,
I am not sure that I understand "What does them being appointed over domestics?" I am not sure that I understand the question.
Even if we concede that it is a prophecy for the sake of argument, how do they know that the Governing Board was appointed by God and Jesus? ...because the Governing Board told them so? That self-serving circular logic should make even the most unreasonable person's head hurt.
i have a genuine question for the jw apologist.
.
what is your scriptural justification for your unquestioning obedience to the governing body and your unwillingness to question their intepretation of scripture?.
How do you believe the Governing Bodys current role is granted to them scripturally?
Problemaddict... I like how your rephrased the question. So how do you believe the Governing Body's role is granted to them scripturally?
if this were the "organization" that jesus chose in 1914.. err 1919, wouldn't the principles that he laid out while on earth apply to this organization as well?.
matthew 5:42 "give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.".
so if jw's all asked for loans from the org, every now and then, it would be the orgs responsibility to grant those loans (interest free).
awatcher,
The WTBTS gives people the most precious gift that can be had: a chance to find and serve the true God, Jehovah.
If you were never able to figure this out, then you missed the whole point of being one of JW's.
...and Jesus and scripture teaches us the true way to serve...to give food and shelter to the widow...to help those in need...
Respectfully, you are missing the point of what God expects from us. Thank you for clearly demonstrating what is fundamentally wrong with the WTBTS. You can tell a tree by its fruit.
i am going to throw down the gaunlet.
those who know the truth but stay in anyways are complicit in actions of the jehovah witness organization.
while i am sympathetic to the very difficult choices that they have to make, their unwillingness to confront the jw enables the organization.. some of you may remember my story.
Good discussion. Thank you all who participated.
.. the new wbt$ donation arrangement/ jw kingdom hall bank account theft... is a very hot topic right now... the wbt$ is literally going to clean out kingdom hall bank accounts,filled with donations from jws... that theft is going to happen world wide..the wbt$ is going to steal from 7 million plus jw`s... .. we have jw elders here on jwn,that know whats going on... they "serve" in kingdom halls,they are "supposed" to be looking after the welfare of the average jw... they know there is a 4 page letter,only one page will be read to the congregation..the rest will be kept secret... they know the wbt$ is about to steal jw donations..on a world wide scale!!!...
.. i would like to know what you active jw elders are going to do about this??!!...
are you going to let "your" congregation know about the other 3 secret pages?...
Outlaw. You are focusing on the right thing. Watch the money trail. Cut off their supply.
i have a genuine question for the jw apologist.
.
what is your scriptural justification for your unquestioning obedience to the governing body and your unwillingness to question their intepretation of scripture?.
I have a genuine question for the JW apologist.
What is your scriptural justification for your unquestioning obedience to the governing body and your unwillingness to question their intepretation of scripture?
i wanted to give this very public shout-out and congratulations to alltimejeff, who i have come to find out had turned in his letter of da, twice, then was read out at the meeting recently.
for those not knowing, atf was a 2005 gilead graduate, bethelite, missionary.
they mean the leadership.
Excellent post. Worth bringing it front and center again.
I disagree with the need for specifics. If someone is ready to hear TATT, they will recognize this statement as true. If someone is not, no amount of reasoning will reach them.
to start off, i'm not saying this happens, or doesn't.
i'm just a bit confused on the subject, and what you guys are always talking about.
what exactly is it with the wt on the issue of child abuse?
I knew a victim of sexual abuse who was reprimanded for adultry when she came forward.
