Everyone's comments on this thread are great. The article on the "Catholic Church - No Meat on Fridays" was classic anti-Catholic propaganda. It was a great illustration, JT. And dead on too!
One point I would like to make though is that the "No meat on Fridays" rule was never a "dogma". It was a "discipline". In the Catholic Church dogmas can never be discarded. But disciplines can be adjusted according to the times. But the way the Watchtower presents it is so far from reality. It really is propaganda at its best. Geared toward making uninformed people lean in a certain direction, acting like they have done the research and are to be trusted, trying to manipulate the emotions, bring out anger, etc.
The main reason why I knew FOR SURE that God doesn't and never has backed the Watchtower is because they LIE. PURE UNADULTERATED DECEITFUL CUNNING. Once they got caught in the first lie - the Trinity brochure - that was it. Why should I believe in anything further?
So when people like YoYoMama post or write things which are geared toward the emotions, and they send e-mails full of cut and paste from the Insight on the Scriptures, then you can just say to yourself, "Consider the Source." That's why credibility is so important. That is why non-believers like my mom who come here and read trip out on people like YoYo and YouKnow. Because they know the Watchtower lies but they continue to use their literature as if it were some sort of authority. It's rediculous. It's like taking Clinton's word for it that he didn't have sex with Monica.
God is credible. The Watchtower is not credible. BOTTOM LINE
Maybe someone like AlanF doesn't have all the answers to *your* life. Maybe it's up to YOU to find your own answers. But how can you find any answers when you stop the search? How can you again believe in something that you have already seen is full of lies? And if they have "more truth" than any other religion, then why are they afraid of their followers reading any literature from any other religion? If no other religious beliefs make any sense, then who cares? Let the person conduct a search. If you know the logical answers point in your direction, then what is there to fear?
Lastly, if I were in your shoes, I would ask myself what my goal in life is. There are the movers and the shakers and then there are the ones that just lie down and play dead. If truth means something to you -- anything at all -- then GO FOR IT. If truth is not that important and all you want is to lie dead and pretend you don't know what you know, then that's your choice.
Either way, you will find people here and on other boards who will be there when you decide you can't live with yourself. I think the best thing that can happen to someone like YoYo is that he gets reinstated and moves all the way up to elder. That he lives up to all the pressure and pioneers for 20 years, goes to Bethel or to where "the need is great" and really give his WHOLE SOUL to the organization. Anyone who can see the lies and yet continue deserves nothing more and nothing less than to live it to the fullest potential.
Now all you have to do is decide who you are.
