I'll respond to AlanF's last post tomorrow.
No doubt you will merely address his (IMO justified) critique of your obfuscated style. The viewers would all much prefer to see you respond to the points in Alan's first post.
does freedom of thought really obtain in this forum?
are those who have left god's organization and jehovah god himself actually now more open-minded and unbiased?
if those who espouse atheistic thoughts or those who believe every vile utterance spoken against jehovah's people think they are now speaking from some olympian perspective, i beg to differ.
I'll respond to AlanF's last post tomorrow.
No doubt you will merely address his (IMO justified) critique of your obfuscated style. The viewers would all much prefer to see you respond to the points in Alan's first post.
does freedom of thought really obtain in this forum?
are those who have left god's organization and jehovah god himself actually now more open-minded and unbiased?
if those who espouse atheistic thoughts or those who believe every vile utterance spoken against jehovah's people think they are now speaking from some olympian perspective, i beg to differ.
On matters involving life and death, I can only say that God does not allow any evil occurrence that cannot be rectified in God's own due time.
Does this mean that I can beat the shit out of my wife as long as I also take her to the hospital?
1) I think that clear biblical teachings should be "enforced," as you say. But we must also allow room for the "fact" that certain forms of conduct that are evidently undesirable from God's standpoint, are not explicitly disallowed in Scripture.
How do you determine what these forms of conduct are? This sort of reasoning basically gives the "ecclesia" carte blanche ability to enforce any rule they decide to make up. Perfect for high control groups like the Watchtower..
For example, I do not believe that Christians should smoke cigarettes. There seem to be a number of Bible principles that indicate true Christians should refrain from this practice. I am also of the mindset that the Christian ecclesia should discipline toward who smoke.
Didn't someone say "all things are lawful but not all things are beneficial?".. so why talk about enforcing and dicscipline ?
does freedom of thought really obtain in this forum?
are those who have left god's organization and jehovah god himself actually now more open-minded and unbiased?
if those who espouse atheistic thoughts or those who believe every vile utterance spoken against jehovah's people think they are now speaking from some olympian perspective, i beg to differ.
bump
Has anyone considered the possibility that this Dunce cap 'person' is just here to provide JW lurkers someone to cheer for? I mean when Bethel looks into a forum like this and sees the discussions with the heavy-hitting likes of Farkel, AlanF, faraon, maximus (et al , too many to name ), and on the JW side there is You Know and Fred Hall and GodRules. They have got to be worry that Joe Witness logs in and sees how ignorant the JWs look. It's like watching a bunch of kids arguing with grownups about whether Santa exists.
So maybe they form a committee to come on here and post as an educated/enlightened JW, giving the JW lurkers the ability to say to themselves, "well Duncecap is really smart (after all lookee thar at them big words and book larnin he gots) and he believes the 'truth', so I can just disregard the arguments of AlanF and Farkel (as Duns seems to have done).."
what do you think? just a theory
thanks for your most recent e-mail.
will try again later.. briefly, i do disagree on some points (i am not violent though), agree on some others.
some i would prefer to discuss privately for sake of my own conscience.
As for the Hitler danger reference, if you had been born in Germany you would have been shirking your duty if you did not try to put the world under Hitler.
It's a bit like saying:
claim: Parents should love their children.
response: Yeah, well some children (teens) have killed their parents! If you were those parents you would have loved your own murderer!
Anyway I would say it is perfectly moral to defend our country (or ally, or neighborhood, or family, or self) from attack. This does not mean support your government no matter what.
thanks for your most recent e-mail.
will try again later.. briefly, i do disagree on some points (i am not violent though), agree on some others.
some i would prefer to discuss privately for sake of my own conscience.
Neutrality - JW's stand out here too in not killing their fellow man.
Not many people would say that war is a good thing, but sometimes it is a necessary evil. I would say rather that JWs are shirking their duty to the country they live in. I am thankful for the men who have gone to war and fought for our way of life; otherwise the world might be run by someone like Hitler right now.
I don't know how to make this an actual link
http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news0800/biblequiz.html
http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news0601/biblepunishment.html
There are two glorious parts!
atheist and bear .
an atheist was taking a walk through the woods, admiring all that the "accident of evolution" had created.. "what majestic trees!
what powerful rivers!
A Christian died and saw a white light. He went toward the light and eventually arrived at the pearly gates.. God appeared and was about to speak when all of a sudden everything went black. Consciousness ceased. Back in the operating room the doctors noticed a brief spike of brain activity before the line went flat.
"Time of death was 6:13".
Approximately 10e17 years later the universe experienced heat death by reaching maximum entropy.
"...everyone in america should take pleasure in displaying the american flag.
" wt 5/15/1917 p. 6086.
"since the bethel home was established, in one end of the drawing room there has been kept a small bust of abraham lincoln with two american flags displayed about the bust.
Thank you for that lengthy great review of WTS history ... I found it faith strengthening.
If you find blatant false prophesy strengthens your faith in this false messiah cult you have got serious problems.
sometimes change takes place over many years, in such a subtle.
and quiet way that those involved may not even discern that a. trend is forming.
as with social security and retirement issues,.
Used to be that celebrating a birthday was a disfellowshipping offense; now it's only a sign of "immaturity".
Did I miss something? I have friends and family active in the org and I never heard anything like this..
my wife and i have been discussing the probability of the upcoming dateline program and the impact it will have on the org.
its obvious to us now that the retirement of the gb some time ago (all of their pr bs aside) was predicated by their awareness that this situation was developing, or something similar to it.
seems logical, yes?
"The Society is right, I don't care what happened, it's all lies by opposers or maybe just a few rotten apples"
My gut feeling tells me that my family (still dubs) and others I care about in the org will be saying the above. The society has too solid of a grip on the rank and file; 90% will never question them no matter what. Aside from hidden camera video of GB sessions where horrible things take place (non-blood related child sacrifice perhaps), nothing is going to break thru the wall of WTBTS=God most JWs have.