by The wanderer 17 Replies latest jw friends
Here's my answer without reading the other responses.
"Now what do you have to look forward to?" " You are back at square
one."
I have stopped believing that God is so cruel that he would destroy 99.9%
of mankind, the children and the innocent non-Witnesses. I look forward
to exploring what the actual truths in life are. I am back to square one instead
of on a false hope based on the decisions of a dozen men in Brooklyn.
Square one is better that OZ any day.
False hope is not hope.
Wanderer..Rejecting the Kingdom Message dosen`t take away something,that never exsisted..If something dosen`t exsist how can you lose it?..It`s just more WBT$ nonsense..Hopefully,you can help him think for himself at some point...OUTLAW
The Jews, who knew the Old Testament writings far betther than anyone today and actually SPOKE the
languages used to write such books, did not expect an earthly paradise like JW's have come to expect
since 1935. They beleived in "the last day" and left the working out of it up to God.
It was Jesus that spoke of heaven, and ONLY heaven, as what he came to give as a gift.
Zack---
Let me take a shot at this one, Wanderer.
How does this guy know he ever was at square one? Just believing some message or another does not automatically get you life. Obviously, the message has to be right - and in this case it better be righter than right!
In the words of the Nancy Sinatra song - "and they ain't been right yet".
My example is a faithful family that lived for years in Okla. City. The father died, a relatively young man just before Christmas 2006. The youngest son, a Down's Syndrome child, died the week after. It left the wife and other kids to fend for themselves. I just found out from somebody who knows them this week. I had known them from the first day at a KH back in about 1962.
I am sure your friend would say - see! They will get resureccted!
But here is the point...they didn't believe they would get resureccted. They believed with all their hearts, way back since the early 1960's, that the end would come and they would be transported over - all of the family intact and be made perfect. They believed it right on through the 1975, the 1995, and all the years in between and since. They believed it because that was what they were told. They made many family and financial sacrifices precisely because they believed this so much.
It didn't happen - and that is exactly the point. How can anybody believe this organization about anything anymore?
You know, I really doubt that the hope of "everlasting life" is really what keeps witnesses "in" anyway. Fear is really what it comes down to. If a witness could overcome the fear, by means of excercising rational thought, and thus prove the organization false, not having everlasting life would not be such a big deal. I know in my own experience I am able to appreciate life as it exists today, with its ups and downs, even knowing full well, that someday I'm going to die. Once the "wieght is lifted", (the WTS dogma of how everything in this system is SO BAD), it is much easier to just simply accept, that we are all someday going to die. Enjoy life while it's here...
j
Quote:
"You know, I really doubt that the hope of "everlasting life" is really what keeps witnesses "in" anyway. Fear is really what it comes down to." Touche', Done4Good!!! YOU ARE SO RIGHT... their ENTIRE EXISTANCE and BELIEF SYSTEM is built hook, line, and sinker upon FEAR.
Baba.
