Would some of us be better off as Witnesses? (page 3)

mouthy

Hi Jerry.... OOps I hope you ducked from the pelting. I must agree with you.There are some who I wished had stayed in the Borg.. because now they left they killed themselves! thinking they were evil alive dog is better than a dead king)I must say the WT taught me much!!! to stop smoking!! swearing( I had a filthy mouth before I was one) to not bed hop,steal,etc:etc:I wasnt doing all that .But I must also add with all the GOOD things they taught -the evil that has come from that religion is bad.Parting families,teaching young boys that masturbating is the devils doings( one killed himself for that)teaching others that if you leave the order that person is influenced by the Devil.Telling folks to let your family die rather than have blood-no organ transplants( changed after many died)to squeal on your friends & relations-to neglect those in the family that are ill if they are "not going along with their beliefs... So I never contact a JW I always wait till they contact our group..Then it is up to those of us in it to help them see that they can have right morals apart from the Borg teaching .By the way you could help me if you will I was writing to James Aldridge for the longest time..He believed in Christ at that time-( before his brother was executed) I havent heard from him since he sent me a lovely card after my Melanie died....I heard via the grapevine your trying to get him out of execution....Hows that going -or can you say? I must add I was a JW for over 20 years. I never went of the rails--guess because still sure it was the truth.... But I love Jesus Christ have a relationship with him -but after going to Churches ( differant ones) for over 10 years I have given up I think it is THE HOLY SPIRIT that teaches man/woman/ right from wrong. So I dont go to any....( my two cent) Grace Gough

B

ChrisVance

No one would be better off as a dub. There are many who would benefit from some kind of therapy after leaving dubland because of all the damage they suffered there.

Jerry Bergman

Wow I never expected this much response. When I critique the Watchtower I get lambasted and when I indicate some positive points I get lambasted as well! This may say more about the responder than me.

meadow77

Is this a joke?

No seriously, Jerry, I am not gonna lambast you. I think you asked a good question. I am a christian, si I understand your intentions. But the real question is are you better being an athiests or serving God, not in spirit and truth, but in error and lies? Is there a difference?

larc

Jerry, don't be disheartened my friend. This is a very diverse community. Whatever position you take, there will be people who support you and those who will attack you. This is not a bad thing. People here are not shy and you will learn diverse opinions on your opinions. Take care my friend, and welcome to a new culture.

teenyuck

I am sure I would be better off.

1. I would not have an education....we know that education leads to the devil...Why you should know that, Doctor.

2. I would not have met, nor married, my husband....I really nice, kind, loving man....I am sure that there are many, many JW men who are hard working (and successful), kind, athletic, financially savvy, etc.

3. I would be in subjection. I love being in subjection. I love being told I am second class, have no rights and basically am to be a breeding machine....just don't breed too often, because we know that breeding too much leads to immoral thoughts.

I could go on and on. BEING A JEHOVAH'S WITNESS SUCKED. It was the worst part of my relatively short life.

Did I learn morals? Maybe, however, I would have learned morals at just about any Hindu, Buddist, Catholic, Jewish organization. Would that make me a better person? I don't think so. I am moral. Thinking God is looking down on me and disapproving has nothing to do with it. My mother is a brain dead dub. She is a unethical, immoral, liar. She manipulates people for her gain.

Is she better than me. NO, NO, NO and NOOO!!! She is the embodyment of all the negative things people say. And she is my mother. Hurray for me.

I am an atheist. I am not bitter. About what? Life? I am relatively healthy, I have a wonderful husband and great friends. I could care less about god and his supposed master plan. I live for today and the next 50 years I am alive.

Witch Child

I'm really glad someone spoke up and called that minister intolerant for refusing to marry persons who share the same address. What is that if not judgmental intolerance?

I sure am glad we went to the UUs first! The minister who married Sweet Vampire and I was just wonderful. She was completely open to my need to include some Earth-based religion and SW's need to keep it light on the religiousness. She asked if she could include the lighting of the UU chalice just before the ceremony got rolling. I was suprised and pleased when SW said; "sure." He is pretty wary of religion of any kind.

So us little same address folks got married. The minister made a brief statement that UUs have a tradition of lighting a chalice in their worship and she would now do this. We went through the things we wanted included. My reigion was brought in by my friend standing up and saying a special blessing that subtly called in the elements. Before we knew it, we were married.

What is the high crime in living together first? Is it a sin? Who says so? What makes him/her the arbiter of all rightness and truth? My first marriage was a joke! We didn't know each other well enough and it fell apart like a snowflake on a hot day... Sweet Vampire and I lived together for over 5 years before we married. We really know each other well and we reccognize each others flaws and love each other anyway. We know we can weather storms and hard times together.

I sure am glad we found an open-minded minister who woukd consent to marry us! Living apart would have been an ecconomic nightmare!

Goddess Bless,

Witch

Farkel

Jerry,

: Morals just are not taught in many churches, thus members end up with a large number of broken marriages and all kind of health problems.

See the "Slippery Slope" logical fallacy.

Farkel

gumby

: Morals just are not taught in many churches, thus members end up with a large number of broken marriages and all kind of health problems.

You know.....I think your right. Last time I went to church I remember the Pastor speaking very HIGHLY of screwing outside of marriage, gettin drunk, lying, and stealing. In fact he was inviting the congregation to go to reno, get a bottle of tequila, find some whores, take their money....then lie if asked about it.

Yes....churches certainly advocate living loosely with no moral resraint!

BTW...... Morals just are not taught in many churches.....which W.T. was this quoted from?????

Jerry Bergman

My concern is, is theism true? If so than maybe God expects us to do something (or not do certain things) as all major theistic religions teach (Christianity, Judaism, Islam). Is it not wise to at least explore that possibility? I don't mean a few conversations or personal thoughts or conclusions, but put some real effort to try to answer that question. I have for years done this through personal study and college coursework, and have come to the conclusion that the fundamentals of Christianity are true and that a God exists who has certain expectations of us. Yet when one expresses these conclusions he or she is condemned as intolerant, hateful, and narrow-minded as Sirona did. I am not condemning someone else's beliefs, only expressing my conclusions that I arrived at after decades of study and study of the scientific literature. Also as a result of my study at a medical college (10 years and three degrees so far beyond my second doctors and masters degrees) I have concluded from a review of the scientific research that relying on crystals for healing instead of modern medicine, and concluding new age ideas will cure one of disease, could do a great deal of harm (and can be lethal). Has anyone out there seen one die of diabetes when insulin could prolong their life for decades? It is not a pretty picture. If anyone knows of a scientific study that demonstrates scientifically that crystals can cure disease in a placebo controlled study, please let me know and I will take back my words. I am unaware of a single study (and I have looked in the scientific medical literature for one). Does anyone think that causing someone to believe that an unproven or worse treatment works and, as a result of following this advise they die, is moral behavior? I happen to believe it is not. I realize that I will be condemned by some as self-righteous for this conclusion, but this is my conclusion (and I believe to act otherwise would be wrong). Someone once said that 90% of our problems in life are caused by bad choices that result from lack of knowledge, bad advise or false conclusions. This may be true.

Would some of us be better off as Witnesses?

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