Hi JH
Well, I never've been a Witness, but in response to this:::
but on the other hand, I don't want to be a JW because of their man made laws, that has nothing to do with what Jesus said, and their lack of love, and the way they control and treat their own followers.
***I'm just wondering why I still believe in so much of what the JW's teach***, except for their false dates, and still I don't want to be one of them because their lack of love and justice ruins the good news of the Kingdom.
smellsgood: I think that probably part of it is that they do such a thorough job in not only dogmatising their own doctrines, but are emphatic and thorough in "disproving" on a continuous basis those beliefs that they have labeled as "un-Christian" "pagan" and the like. I believe the very fact that they are so dishonest in their methods of doing so should make one pause, because if it were so "sure" than certainly they wouldn't be so consistently so dishonestly to prove it.
I think it gets in your head, particularly if you are raised with it. Perhaps the thought stopping with regards to those things still plays a roll, even once someone has come to realise the WT is a cult.
Personally, it strikes me in thinking about it, that if you are to still believe in the Biblical figures, and believe that Jehovah is in reality today God, and has not abandoned his creation etc, and is still interested in the matters of men; how could the WT be wrong about his purpose, timing, about his will (blood transfusion) be completely wrong about what He will DO and then on the flipside, be right about HIM? How could an organization which misdirects, falsifies, lies outright, is in all ways devious and deluded be the bearers of the "correct" view of the Biblical God, when they are wrong about pretty much everything else? Why would a "living" God "reveal" himself and not his ways to an organization that has claimed to be His Mouthpiece?
It's just what I think about. Also, the living forever on earth I don't see why its relevant or such a big hammer point. Certainly I think the 144K and "anointed" is one of the silliest and convoluted beliefs I have ever come across if you want to see it from a Biblical or any other perspective really.
I think they are wrong on every single point if you are looking it from a Biblical, irreligious, other religious, humanistic, disinterested or any point of view. If Jehovah has the attributes that are described in the Bible, or generally understood, I can't see how He would operate in a way to mislead so thoroughly a group of people, but then to confuse things further, to have them have the "correct" view on his "person" :)
I read a JW's ramblings about the future on Paradise Earth, and it literally disturbed me like say a horror movie would. It sounds so unlike any conception of "afterlife" from any religious volume I have ever seen. To me, it sounded so manmade, like the concepts of the 72 virgins are so obviously manmade. It was written in a way to make it sound appealing, something to look forward too, but it just sounded like the world of today, with I guess less sex and less hunger?
Anyways, I do believe in the immortality of the soul. This is something I think everyone has a sense of, currently and historically, unless it is intellectually "repressed" as it were. You may disagree and that's fine. I change my mind about things all the time, its nice just to be able to explore the possibilities. But from my perspective, one thing that is not possible is the WT being right about anything whatsoever. I just can't see how such a repellant organization could point to a "true" God...
I can understand why you would retain those beliefs, and if you still believe in the bible, and the figures in it, and from perhaps your own study without the WT blinders on you have reached those beliefs, that's alright.
