Posts by nicholas

18

Should JW's be trying to convert others to their faith?

by Rod P in

jw
friends

if you think about it, what happens if one of the persons in a marriage gets converted to the jw religion, while the other one chooses not to believe?

or the husband is at work, and the wife gets to meet the jw at the door, has bible studies with them, gets converted, and then the husband wakes up one day and finds he is living with a jw mate.

what happens if a jw couple is out in the field service, and one gets converted to another religion, precisely as a result of doing the kingdom field service work.. in all of these instances, it results in a religiously divided home.

nicholas

Well,

As far as proselytizing goes, it's true that the word of G-d through Y'shua had been said we are to spread His words throughout the world; but I have not yet recalled a time when He commanded the disciples/apostles/saints to create a specific grouping of people and have them abide under the rule of elders, etc. He did give His disciples authority over demons, to do healings, and even made mention of princes of the Gentiles to execute authority(Matthew 20:25-28)... authority under a specified creed however:

26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;

27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."

Didn't he try to get people to avoid the tradition of the elders?

Even when Y'shua had made mention of the "church" being built... Matthew 16: 18-19 "18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.", the reference is put into context of Heaven against hell... knowing that he must die and be resurrected, so that the world might be saved through Him.

The prophet Isaiah had wrote in chapter 66, verse 1-2 "1 Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.", the almost exact quoting was written in Acts 7: 47-51

"47 But Solomon built him an house.
48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did , so do ye."

Resisting the Holy Ghost!? What does the Holy Ghost have to do with it all... John 14:26 & Likewise Hebrews 10:15-18. All of which, under the circumstances, require our obedience to the same commandments Y'shua had given us to hang all the law and prophets on...

Matthew 22:37-40

John 14:26 "26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."

Hebrews 10:15-18 "15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin."

*Note: Please, if you really wanted to understand the completeness of that covenant... read through the rest of that Chapter in Hebrews.

53

If you won the Lottery big time, would you be happier?

by Rod P in

jw
friends

how many of us imagine winning the big one, and all our problems in life would be solved.

we could get whatever we wanted without worrying about money, could buy our way out of almost any situation (like the rich folks do), go on any vacation anywhere in the world, dress to the nines on a daily basis, and use our wealth to get others to do our bidding.. money = sex, power, influence, decadent luxury = happiness???.

rod p.

nicholas

No...

I know I wouldn't be happier, as a believer I've had the pleasure of knowing what it's like to have a great conscience... all that money and all those people who are in need of it...

Being someone who has had the opportunity to dwell in a moderate amount of authority, I can tell you that the burdens of power and conscience come into play immensely. You would like to think that money, power, or "freedom" as most people dictate it to be are quite disctinctive and fulfilling, however they're void of the essence of happiness and joy; and they're like a disease... each of which only provide a band-aid for whatever ails you, and then you have to fill that void again with more and more, you become deprived of who you are and fiendishly materialistic; it's a surprise that people don't often refer to the seemingly worldly quote: it's lonely at the top. You never really know who really likes you for who you are, or what you've become... what you own, or what owns you... you become someone who could be easily bought and paid for, as simply put: you whore yourself to whatever misery will have you buy into. Even if you were to ask a lot of the richest people in the world, if they would give up their wealth and materials for a taste of what joy and happiness is... they would hesitate and promptly tell you no, but the reason they hesitated is because, yes... yes they would. It's about respect and comfort, not wealth and materials... they'd just rather be respected out of vain words and comforted by the fall back on their "security" than end up being "known" as nothing...

52

New Pope!

by nicolaou in

josef ratzinger

nicholas

minimus!?

I'm not sure to whom you're referring to, but for hypothetical and tangible reasons... I'm not too keen on Catholicism, nor many other forms of doctrines which have the guise of Christianity; but in fact are hypocritical and demoralizing fashions of "truth"...

I do not promote the condemnation of these people, nor am I looking to entice any other to do so; however, as a believer I have the uttmost hope for all people to manuever their way back to YWVH; at the same time knowing that not everyone will make their way back. I believe in the ressurrection of both the just and unjust, the final judgement of categorizing anyone in the hands of YHS.

5

To be, or not to be... is that the question!?

by nicholas in

jw
friends

revelation 22: 11-14.

"11he that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

12and, behold, i come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

nicholas

The question, as I had hoped it would evidently appear, is are we Messiah-like or not? Hypocritical, or under Gods' grace and covenant...? Can you coincide with your enemies, or even just those who aren't like you... and still truly be peaceful?

From my understanding, there are far more hypocrisys' indoctrinating believers than not... yet, the basic principle of the Messiahs' issued commandments are given in Matthew 22: 37-40

" 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. "

52

New Pope!

by nicolaou in

josef ratzinger

nicholas

Before I heard of the election of Pope Benedictus XVI there had been many innuendos about the next pope being the "pope of the Anti-Christ"... from hear-say I had heard that Nostradamus had predicted that after the death of Pope John Paul II, there would be the rise of the last of three Anti-Christs' before the end-times...

This bein' said, after finding out who the new pope is/was... I had learned that this Pope was a Nazi at some point and needed to be reintroduced into society; which, naturally, required others to reprogram his mind...

Has anyone else heard of this?

14

what was the strangest or wierd thing that happen.......

by donald in

jw
friends

what was the strangest or wierd thing that happen to you in service...or funny....???.

mine was i went to a door and a very lovely young lady came to the door...nude....man you talk about a hard time giving the presetation....lol.

then there was the time we drove up to a drive...and this dog on a chain came running out to us full speed...untill he ran out of chain...he fliped head over heals....donald

nicholas

Hi all :)

Well, can't really think of a time when somethin' extremely funny happened... but, I can certainly think of many of things which have been out of the norm in my service(although, I'm not JW; nor have I ever been).

I've had the pleasure, indeed a pleasure, of encountering many apparitions; holy or unholy. A few of which have physically attacked my body, others only attempted to dominate my dreams... either way, they were not welcome nor stayed long; naturally, you hopefully would insinuate that those which attacked me had been the "unholy" beings...

The Angelic forces have done far too many dances for God to even begin to announce, but I have had a couple of very distinct encounters with either one specific member of the Holy Army and a general mass of the Army... with that in mind, I was on a mission and before I got the opportunity to get some rest I heard the most beautiful song, sung with words I had not heard before or yet again. Their praise is perfect, it was as though I was alone and afraid on this particular mission, it was/is a great comfort. The other distinct encounter involved another mission I had been on and upon returning I heard a hollow, yet never fading, resounding, sweet, Angelic voice... she was so holy, you could even hear her smile... it was as though the mere movement of her mouth presented the world with an anomoly... I like to this is of my Mothers' doing... Mary, if you will. I should probably mention that I'm not a Catholic person either... nor do I have any connection to the politics of "church", as I have been taken away from that setting at the tender age of 4-5 years of age...

Those, I suppose, could be classified as weird... at least, different.

5

To be, or not to be... is that the question!?

by nicholas in

jw
friends

revelation 22: 11-14.

"11he that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

12and, behold, i come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

nicholas

Revelation 22: 11-14

" 11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. "

Do we hate our enemies, those who are not like us, or do we know that God created both good and evil(Isaiah 45:7) in the efforts to set us apart from those who will simply in words love God, but in their hearts despise His commandments through disobedience(rebellion)[1 Samuel 15: 22-23]...

53

Did Jesus ever use the name Jehovah?

by LMS-Chef in

just wondering.

nicholas

It's to my understanding that Jesus(Yehovah), is the translation of Iesous(Greek), which had been translated from the Aramaic written word, as it couldn't actually be pronounced, YHS; which loosely translated is Yeshua, Y'shua, Yoshua... or Joshua.

22

what to say to when someone says happy bday?

by tsunami_rid3r in

jw
friends

whenever people tell me happy birthday tomorrow what do i say?

and the girl i took to prom well im still having some feelings for her and we seem to be getting along good.

id like to hang out with her because shes fun, but she has a bf now.

nicholas

Well...

In regards to Anniversaries, the most common denominator in this discussion would be the fact that not only does Y'shua("Jesus") state that in Matthew 19:4-6 " 4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. " but, that it's(being the expectation that a man will marry a woman) also stated in the book of Genesis... 2:24 " 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."; these things often regard the natural order in which God, even in various latter scriptures(Ephesians 5:28 " 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.", or 1 Corinthians 7:33 " 33 But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife."), expects us to obey if we are married.

I think, and I couldn't tell you for sure because I wasn't there, that in the time(s) when birthdays' and anniversaries' were first celebrated we'd definitely have to take a look at why they are celebrating these things and how they were celebrating it...

In my opinion, I'll reiterate myself, a true birthday is when a person is "born again"; that is, resurrected after the second coming. I'm not really sure that people even understand how to celebrate the birth and death of salvation... how can people be expected to compel one another to truly appreciate God, whether it's under sect influence or of their own accord, to the degrees which God really expects us to if we cannot radically exceed hypocritical standards in simple daily accordance; likewise how can people actually truly celebrate a birthday or an anniversary if in all actuality we ought to appreciate the day we're given anyway... Surely we can "love one another", and thank God for the blessings which are or were in our lives, but again I believe we can customarily appreciate and appropriately, morally, celebrate these days which people momentously mark so long as you recognize that God is the primary influence behind that marriage or birth... saying that, I'm not stating that you ought, therefore, to shun and hate any birth or marriage which isn't "sanctified" by God...

What really matters, as a Christian point-of-view, is that(in accordance to scripture(s)) people aren't given in marriage in the resurrection... and that our mind, as Christians, are focused on Christ and His doctrine.

Matthew 22:30 " 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven."

All of that, and the next few words will provide your "answer": Nothing's really wrong with birthdays or anniversaries, so long as we're attentative to how and why we're celebrating them.

22

what to say to when someone says happy bday?

by tsunami_rid3r in

jw
friends

whenever people tell me happy birthday tomorrow what do i say?

and the girl i took to prom well im still having some feelings for her and we seem to be getting along good.

id like to hang out with her because shes fun, but she has a bf now.

nicholas

Guideline 10 "Posting an off-topic comment."

The context which Java had taken my from my earlier statement obviously needs to be fully displayed, for some odd reason, again...

"So what do you say... Thanks :) but keep in your mind and heart that a better birthday could easily be yours... "

Wasn't the topic birthdays!? Isn't this a JW forum!? I thought JW celebrate Christianity... scriptures from the Christian doctrine could hardly be, in any context, an off-topic comment... I'm sure it could be relatively insulting for those who do not celebrate Christ as a part of their lives, and this could perhaps be, in some relative way, an example of "Inciting hatred on the basis of race, religion, ..." (Guideline 2) if the party, which is insulted or feels hatred is being incited on the basis of Guideline 2's policy, is so inclined to feel or think this way... but, on the other hand... wouldn't that be the very basis of hatred based on the fact that I'm a Christian and being that as it is, Christian doctrine is a heavy part of my life and opinion... implying that I'm "preaching" could be an example of inciting hatred towards my free-speech, as well as towards my religion...

But I digress... Birthdays :) Indeed, we ought to customarily apply ourselves.