Do You Believe Any of "The Truth"? (page 4)

Carmel

Aha! Now isn't it strange that there is so much confusion over what "God's word" means? Whom do you suppose has the divine authority to intrepret the meaning of biblical text? Doesn't Revelations indicate that the books will be "sealed" until the "one like unto the son of Man" (or was it God) unseals them? Seems to me that when that person appears (and remember, He's supposed to come "down from heaven" just like He did two thousand years ago, i.e. through the womb of an earthly woman) He will have the authority to "unseal" (explain the meaning) the book. (Bible)

So beating each other up about whether God is one or three or three in one, la de da, is rather a waste of time. More productive to find the person with the spiritual authority.

caveman

DanTheMan

that savage, predatory, anthropomorphic tribal God

Good description Frank.

All the time we heard about how loving, merciful, long-suffering, etc. Jah is, but supposedly this same God is just itching to destroy the 99.99% of the earth's population that is not JW, including all of my never-JW's family. I never felt any sort of closeness to or love for this Jehovah that the Witnesses worship. I felt so guilty all the time, because I didn't "love Jehovah". The Jehovah of the JW's is largely J. Rutherford's invention. And from what I can gather, Rutherford must have had one hell of a dysfunctional upbringing, I think you could pin on him just about every disorder listed in the diagnostic manual that mental health professionals use. I think his concept of God reflected his bizzarre and often drunken mind.

The one thing that still pushes my "maybe they're right" button is conditions in the world. But, was there ever a time when the world was peaceful and ideal, unlike today? I was watching a PBS documentary about the American Civil War last night. A complete bloodbath, and this was before the supposed last days began. And how about all those crazy invasions and massive human slaughters that happened in China through the ages? And how about all those dreadful diseases that people used to die from that science has since cured and created vaccinations for? Life at this time in history is certainly difficult, but I'm not sure that things were so great in centuries past either. I would not rather live at any other time period than today.

Edited by - dantheman on 26 September 2002 19:29:4

Double Edge

For example, marshaling numerous scriptures to disprove a doctrine such as the trinity does not help one to come to know God does it? The same is true for soul, hell and most any other you might name. Rather to read the scriptures in their context and ask yourself, what is being said, who is being addressed, why is this included in scripture and possibly what do these people commonly believe is so much more beneficial if we are seeking the truths revealed by scripture.

Welcome BigRed....excellent post. It's refreshing to hear from someone new with a voice of reason.

Makena1

Welcome X and Bigred - great thread everyone.

Bigred wrote: My answer might seem generic and it is but at the same time it addresses the question: how deeply will you go for the truth? So many witnesses I have known either want simple answers to their questions or simply trust the judgement of others. That is, I don't know the answer but I know people who do and I think they are really smart. Which is how witnesses basically view the GB

Those last two sentences really hit home for me. Of my 40plus years as a witness - I would say that the first 20 were years where I had time to study and was up on "present truth". After that, business, married life, serving in the congregation really took it's toll - and what I did take in was swallowed whole without time for digestion. For instance, somehow, I totally fogged out on the extended discussion of why Jesus is not the mediator for the rank and file witness - the generations teaching, while mildly disturbing at the time, was just accepted because I was too busy, or could not take the time to research.

Where am I now? I believe there is a God, but am no longer sure of what he wants of me. I have respect for the Bible as a work of literature and source for some good - but do I believe it should NOT be used by men to predict the future, judge fellow humans as sinful and deserving of eternal death - NO WAY.

Bottom line, I am taking some needed time off from all religious thought - finding spirituality in the beauty around me.

Best wishes in your journey!

Mak

Edited by - Makena1 on 26 September 2002 20:2:50

Princess

To isolate scriptures that focus on your ideas is to ignore the context and obscure what is really being said.

Very well put Dad.

Welcome! It's becoming a family thing.

Rachel

crownboy

Do You Believe Any of "The Truth"?

Though we'll never agree on political issues, I'm with Francois on this one.

I don't believe in a hell fire after death. I also don't believe the god of the bible is real; he's just too vengeful to be loving IMO.

Masterji

Dave,

It's good to see that you have become a student of the Bible.

M

COMF

Hiya, X! Glad to have you join us. In answer to your question: when you die, you're dead. They had that much right.

Stick around! We're a fun bunch.

footprints

bigred

You didn't write anything about beer, mama or pickup trucks. :-)

Actually what you wrote was right on. Once a person reads and thinks about the Bible, it becomes obvious that the GB is WRONG WRONG WRONG. They are hurting lots of people with their lies.

Swan

Welcome XBE!

That 2 witness rule does not apply in cases of child molestation period! Under that circumstance, love for the victim should overide what the scripture states just as Jesus eased up while the pharisees would not under certain circumstances. I thought how disgusting that Elders would chose to ignore and send home victims to abusive households because the child was the only witness. The society has recently changed policy so that if more than one victim of a accused molester comes forward, even though they are still the only witnesses to the act of their own molestation, then they can proceed with a judicial hearing. But how does this help if no one else comes forward? Still flawed. As you can see I am deeply disturbed by this issue.

That is well reasoned. The elders are just following the rules laid down (mostly verbally, so there is no record) by the Society. But there are elders who do question the process. They are some of our lamb's best supporters and a good many of them will be at the march tomorrow. These are men who are as deeply disturbed by this whole mess as you are. It would never have happened if the Society wasn't more concerned about process and procedure than about the love and compassion that Jesus showed.

As for your question, Do You Believe Any of "The Truth"?, I can say that I believe in the ideals of love based on principal that Jesus taught. I think the Society followed many of those ideals many many years ago. I remember as a child it was a much different time then. It was still dysfunctional, but it didn't have the mean and cruel spirit it has now. Now it "feels" more like a big faceless box, run as a corporation by lawyers and business moguls, than the family it used to be. Maybe that is partly because I was younger then and shielded from a lot more. Others I have talked to have noticed that the Society has drastically changed around the 1970s, however, so maybe it isn't just me.

Anyway, welcome and hope you find what you need here.

Tammy

Do You Believe Any of "The Truth"?

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