Do you know of any church that KNOWS God?

by the-MadJW 62 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  jhine

  Reasonfirst did you also read literature that presents the Christian perspective? We all tend to be guilty of conformation bias.

  Enough l don't know where you are in the world, are you American? You seem to have had contact with churches that are very dogmatic in their views.

  I'm a member of the Church of England ( l have never been a JW ) and l am perfectly free to say that l have a different idea about such and such .

  Yes in funerals , particularly those of people who never came to church when alive , sometimes the mourners are given comfort by the thought that their relatives are in a " better place " . It helps them in their grief.

  Yes we celebrate Christmas but what is sooo awful about that? It sounds like a case of taking the boy out of the WT etc .

  We all have different thoughts on some things but no one falls out and no one gets thrown out .

  Jan
• 

  BoogerMan

  @ the MadJW - Whatever suits one person may repel another. It's personal choice.

  Since ditching the multi-billion business of the WT, I've learned one major lesson: the vast majority of Christianity's sects/denominations (if not all!) have one common denominator - money!!!

  Filthy lucre is what unites them all on the Christianity gravy-train - followed by an elite hierarchy & paid clergy.

  Let me know if you find one which renounces such things.
• 

  punkofnice

  Hello, Madster.

  cofty Don't 'jump out of the frying pan into the fire'.

  This is wise. Because Watchtower Corporation(tm) conditions the mind with their 'all or nothing' panic, I often see JWs jump from the dangerous JW cult to another that's similar-ish. Comfort zone. Fear that god will lovingly murder you soon.

  Don't fall for these grifters, even if they do wear nice clothes, silly hats and use Latin or Old English. They go to the toilet (bathroom if you're over the Atlantic to me), like the rest of us. Merely men. They are prone to all the failings we are. They are not the voice of God, they are grifters.

  Take time to breathe. Just breathe.

  Don't rush into anything because the corrupt Corporation(tm) has made you think you need to.

  Learn some critical thinking skills.
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  the-MadJW

  Amazing! This is the VERY LAST PLACE I'd find something interesting!

  So- you overwhelming comments show me God is Unknowable?
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  punkofnice

  madster - show me God is Unknowable

  If there even is one.

  Apart from the one in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
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  enoughisenough

  the-mad JW-the video I posted by the Jewish Scholar about how people get it wrong about God is interesting in that we look to understand God from a human reference point. He isn't the same as us. Check out 1 Cor 2:14 and some references.
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  the-MadJW

  PunkON- the design in all living things is enough! Of course you have science, which teaches you endless accidents are responsible.
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  punkofnice

  madster - PunkON- the design in all living things is enough! Of course you have science, which teaches you endless accidents are responsible.

  I like the way the word 'design' is slipped in there.

  Not being a spoil sport, but I really don't care about God or no God anymore.

  Neither of the options makes life better or worse. There is no magic in the world.

  God is as useless existing or not. Does nothing and changes nothing.
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  Sea Breeze

  money is the answer for everything is in contrast to wisdom.

  @enough

  In the context of the book of eccliastes, money is the answer to everything "under the sun", just as "the dead know nothing" .... 'under the sun". This phrase appears more than two dozen times in the book so the reader will not mistake its contents for eternal truth.

  People prepare a meal for enjoyment, wine makes life joyful, and money is the answer to everything. - Eccl. 10: 19

  The book is written from a physical, carnal point of view; which is how most people live their lives. It is a point of view the author ultimately rejects as "vanity".

  But if Eccliastes is eternal truth ie. , If money is the answer to everything, they why did Jesus, on one journey, tell his followers not to take any of it with them on their journey? Why did Paul say, in 1Tim. 6:10 "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after".

  See, how it doesn't fit? The NT explains the OT , not the other way around. Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me".

  Jesus is the one who resurrected himslf and walked out of a tomb exactly like he said that he would. This is our gaurantee that he is the Truth, and not someone else. His words provide definition for everything else in the bible.

  Early Christians only regarded the NT as their guidebook for the Christian era. This hasn't changed.

  If the dead are conscious, then Satan told the truth and you never die-no worries, right?

  But, that is not what scripture says Satan claimed is it? He claimed that Eve's disobedience would not lead to death. He didn't claim that Eve's disobedience would lead to unconsciousness. The problem is you don't have a biblical definition of "death".
  

  And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin. - Gen. 35: 18

  If you let the bible define it's own terms, it keeps you on the right path. The scripture above gives the biblical definition of "death". Death occurs when your soul departs from your body. Nowhere is the soul said to be unconscious in scripture. In Ez. 18: 4 it states that the soul that is sinning will die. In other words, the sinning soul will be separated from its body.

  For the believer, "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" . This is NOT describing a resurrection like the WT claims. Biblical resurrection is the opposite of biblical death and happens when a person's spirit, soul and body are reunited.
  
  All people will be conscious in one state or another for eternity. This is how God made us... in his image, in his likeness. Again, the NT should clarify the OT... especially the words of Jesus.

  And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” - Matt. 25: 46

  
  

  Turns out that Jesus spoke of consciousness after death quite a bit. He described the wicked in the afterlife as weeping, and gnashing their teeth once the realization of what happened to them sinks in.

  The problem is that the wicked didn't believe the Word of God, and so they never accepted the "free gift of righteousness" which is "apart from works". This is what Christ offers to "whosoever". All a person has to do is receive the gift.
  
  
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  Rattigan350

  One of the things that annoys me about JWs is that they say they go in the ministry to teach people about Jehovah.

  Then I wonder: What is there to teach about Jehovah?

  He created the heavens and the earth and then neglected it.

  There are a bunch of details about what people think that God is pleased with or displeased with, but no one knows God.