Seriously? 2,000 years of continuously diverging opinion about "interpretation" isn't enough time to sort it out?

by suavojr 11 Replies latest jw friends

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  suavojr

  The current JW's who are inside (The Conscience Class) will have to endure another year of JW's pretending to please Jesus with their bad imitation of ‘The Lord’s Supper’

  But seriously? 2000 years of people who could never be sure they had "The Truth." What are the chances it'll come out in the next 2000?

  Christians have been debating doctrinal differences for centuries without ever coming to a consensus on them. Scientists, on the other hand, will eventually come to a consensus on the right theory that works based on observable evidence. You could argue that Christianity plus all other religions have had plenty of time to resolve these issues (which they clearly haven't).

  But evolution, for example, has many arguments (selfish gene, epigenetics, cis-regulatory elements, the role of junk DNA, etc) that are currently ongoing. No reputable scientist disputes that evolution is true, but how it exactly works in all situations is hotly debated and continues (for over 100 years). You can say that the underlying fact of evolution is not under debate, just the particulars, but that is what many apologists argue about their beliefs.

  So when you have to either sit in the boring JW memorial, harassed by so called Sheppard’s (elders) and by family members to attend the memorial this year because it might be the last.

  Just ask them, why you believe what you do if it isn't because of the accidents of birth? Move on and stay firm on your journey to freedom!
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  Make Lemonade

  Two months ago I visited my parents. Also my two sisters and brother in law. Our family was close, but the fact that I was a JW and they were not put a strain in our relationship. My Mom and one sister are going to church. The rest are not interested in church and perhaps lean toward being agnostic. Well I made a joke during dinner. I found a church that I want to join: It is the church of "I DO NOT KNOW AND WANT TO FIND OUT". The agnostics laughed out loud, and the rest gave an aknowledging smile.

  At this point I can see so much to read and explore. That is an adventure to me. I cannot say where that adventure will leed me, but I sure want to enjoy it.

  Your statements about evolution theory intrigues me. I am lacking the knowledge to engage in those questions. Looking forward to exploring though.
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  smiddy

  And I would hazard a guess that jehovahs witnesses have made more changes in 130 years , than all of Christendom has done in the past 2000 years , to doctrine , core beleifs , understanding of scripture , observing and practising beleifs and procedures that have no basis in scripture , and even adopting as new light they rejected as old light decades before , just to name a few,

  smiddy
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  AndDontCallMeShirley

  Good point, Smiddy. In many cases "Christendom" had the correct understanding all along while WT, "god's sole channel of communication on earth", couldn't think their way out of a wet doctrinal bag. Eventually WT stumbled on the correct understanding....what the "spiritually blind" saw clearly all along.
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  snare&racket

  I remember my 'did a god really use THIS crappy method of communication?' Why not have it written into the rock of the earth in a single language we all know, an un changeable, infinite lasting rock..... But nah.... lets use dumb humans to pass the message on by oral story for thousands of years then write hundreds of scrolls and then let the catholic church choose an official collection of these stories.
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  DJS

  Snare,

  IMHO this is a better support for evolution!!! To think that an all powerful, knowing god capable of creating the universe and all that is in it is only capable of speaking to his 'most' important creation through a few old men over a thousand or two years and in such a ridiculous, confusing, meaningless manner chock full of riddles as the bible???? I mean really, is this the BEST she can do? And what about all of those poor humans who lived before she had this mish mash written down? Unimportant? Or maybe god really is a guy and he has a double Y chromosome pattern which impacts his ability to communicate.

  ANY theist who would give this seriousl thought for a few minutes would become an atheist (yes Kate I'm talking to you!).
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  Xanthippe

  To think that an all powerful, knowing god capable of creating the universe and all that is in it is only capable of speaking to his 'most' important creation through a few old men over a thousand or two years and in such a ridiculous, confusing, meaningless manner chock full of riddles as the bible???? I mean really, is this the BEST she can do? - DJS

  Yes DJS and from this muddle of interpretations and Chinese whispers comes the idea that truth is difficult to find and life is all a test, god is testing us and our determination to find where he's hiding, Keep on knocking etc etc. Better to keep on reading and thinking.
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  snare&racket

  DJS, i know what you mean, but evolution is just the study of how an animal changes over time, but sure it instantly rules out a biblical god or Quranic god.
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  DJS

  Snare and Xanthippe,

  One of the primary reasons theism was so easy for us to accept (in addition to our family/culture) is that the bible's 'chronology' of the creation of Adam, which is a story that we thought fact, leads quite direclty and promptly to Abraham and others who have some historicity behind them. A logical leap, when we were Dubs, is that such a short span - of a few thousand years - for human existence readily explained how and why god communicated with us. We may have questioned it a bit, but the sequential linearity of it all kinda sorta made sense. When we were ignorant.

  Since the Adam/Eve story is nothing but pure BS, one would think that the average ex-JW (yes I'm talking to you Kate) would put 2 and 2 together and realize that humans have been around in essentially our current form for at least 100,000 years and likely much, much longer. Where the eff was god for all those in the far distant past when they needed her? And considering how very very difficult it was to be a human on this inhospitable planet they certainly needed her, from a theist perspective.

  IMHO, to continue to place unquestioning belief in such a deity, based on nothing more than the bible really, is delusional. And absent the bible, sentient beings (some of which are actually members of this site), should demand a lot more about such a god than simply 'believing.' Remove the bible and that is all that is left. Other than their mantras. Which nauseate me.
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  designs

  suavojr- There is so much divergence on what the Lord's Supper means and how it is practiced among the Christian Denominations its a joke.