Posts by humbled

57

Was the Biblical Canon Directed by God?

by Chris Tann in

this is a question a sincere christian may agonize over after learning that some books of the bible were rejected by certain early christian groups,while other books that did not make the canon were accepted.

also,when one realizes that so called inspired writers of the greek scriptures quote from apocrypha,that most christians reject today,one wonders if these writings that include these quotes should even be in the bible.. it is true that when it comes to the christian greek scriptures the canon has been closed for many centuries.

also, these books have been accepted by christians ever since the second,perhaps first,century.

humbled

Chris Tann,

It will always be a man's (or a woman's) opinion about God.

So what if you have a "true" canon, and a "true" translation--Who is there to tell you what it means?

A "true" interpretation is the next hurdle.

Tell me--How do you deal with the most stable of all the books of the bible--Genesis. And within that book the signature moment of Judaism, Christianity--even Islam: Genesis 22 the bloody scene where Abraham interprets God's desire for him to kill his son Isaac.

Can you believe this prevailing interpretation, namely this-- God shredded key teachings of His in order to test His friend's faith?

God doesn't lie

God doesn't test with evil

God calls human sacrifice evil

I call pull out the book, chapter and verse on these points but surely you know where to find them.

My point is this: we have to rely on the honesty and scholarship of others with the limitations of education and circumstance. We are only second hand believers. Others interpreted these stories for us--opinions all.

I interpreted the Genesis story differently and was kicked out of JW land. My view was that it is hard to understand God even if you are a friend of his.

Who are you going to believe, Chris Tann? In the end, if you decide you have the canon God wants you to have, you willstill only have the opinion of a man--yourself.

40

JW attitudes to women

by Frazzled UBM in

i would be very interested to hear from you ladies on this one.

i know that the society keeps women in subjugation through the headship cr@p but didn't ahve any sense about hoew prehistoric the attitudes are until the other day when we were driving out of the supermarket car park and my wife spotted a woman dressed in tight shorts (it has been very hot here) and she commented 'they say that women who dress like that dserve to be raped'.

i did a wtf and overreacted 'how can you blame the victim like that - such attitudes give men a lciense to commit rape and make women feel they are to balme if they get raped which in turn means that rape doesn't get reported and it gopes on with impunity.

humbled

The "transformation" referenced in that 1930 Golden Age might be a misappropriation of the eventual outcome of seeming female intersex persons born with indeterminant genitals. These individuals prove to be males when puberty resolves the physical confusion.

But condition this does not resolve the idiocy of the WT comments.

33

Have you investigated Gnostic Christianity?

by Gnostic Bishop in

have you investigated gnostic christianity?.

the gnostic wing of christianity, if it can even be called that today, has quite a few differences to christianity and catholicism.

if the old gnostic christians were here, they would hardly recognize what has happened to the original orthodox catholic church or its various offshoots in protestantism and islam.

humbled

I have read gnostic gospels.

Really, they have bishops? Overseers?

Hierarchies? Gnostic texts endorse this?

3

Interesting Iraqi Humor

by metatron in

jw
friends

http://www.latimes.com/world/great-reads/la-fg-c1-iraq-isis-tv-comedy-20141029-story.html#page=1.

crude and anti-semitic admittedly but effective.

if the muslim world can get away with lampooning these murderers, then it is a positive thing.

humbled

Ditto, Phizzy

and thanks, metatron for posting this--absolutely the best thing I have heard or seen to make hope rise for savvy, humane and brave in Muslims everywhere.

If Jon Stuart had produced this, it would never have had the potent effect as these guys can and have had. Stuart is in the U.S. and he is Jewish-- and this would have automatically discounted the impact. Not that Stuart wouldn't have included any allusion to Israeli political factors in the active ingredients that are stirring radical Islamic ideology--if the cutting wit of these comics cannot use all the truth to atack extremists then they are not credible even to myself---a western non-Muslim.

Brave brave brave.

I do believe that humor that is truthful is the most powerful force we have to infiltrate, warm and strengthen fear frozen minds.

51

New ExJW here for the first time.

by WideAwake7 in

i am here for the first time ...but have enjoyed reading others experiences that i feel i can relate too.

i used to be an elder for more than 20 years .

i have successfully faded with my wife and children.

humbled

Well, hello, WideAwake7.

Others may know what to expect--but the scenario you describe for this wedding is nothing I've dealt with-

Good work on your family fade!

59

My Relief

by Smart in

what a massive relief!

thank god i have just found this site the other day!

i don't know where to begin!

humbled

As for your identity--People here are respectful of your privacy. If you have nothing to lose as far as the JWs are concerned-- let 'er rip! But I find that though I have nobody in the Org. of my family, sometimes I converse on a thread that covers sensitive matters and then I have wished I had anonymity. Just my thoughts.

But this forum addresses issues of persons touched by the JW Org. You should be here.

Share carefully, thoughtfully, for your own sake. But welcome, smart. Welcome.

Maeve--whose Grandma Beatrice (nee Jones) was half Welsh

24

The Witness beliefs remind me of the Nazis and ISIS

by NAVYTOWN in

jw
friends

the nazi regime hated jews, gays, jws and other minorities.

so they solved the 'problem' by exterminating them.

the current isis group hates jews and christians and beheads those it considers 'enemies' and 'infidels'.

humbled

Would a JW kill if God demanded it?

The WT literature claims that God will do whatever he wants and it is alright if he has a change of his mind.

---They say it was fine for God to tell Abraham to kill his own son.

And Abraham was exemplary for trying to do it.

10

Morning Witness - Sowing the Seeds

by Frazzled UBM in

so i walked past a couple of young witnesses on the way to dropping my son off this morning and they were still there at the station when i came back to catch the train.

seeing them made me feel sad and think about all the stories of regret here on jwn so i figured what the hell i'll tell them.

so i approached them and asked how old they were.

humbled

I remember the two times when persons responded with simple gestures in my door-to-door work that made me question in a general way what I was doing. It troubled me to have people respond with an aversion so unmistakable and clear to my presence as a bearer of the "Good News". It did make me wonder what their experience had been.

It never hurts to chip away at the wall, FUBM.

27

What is LOVE?

by new hope and happiness in

...... .

.

humbled

I think it is both what Londo said and what you said: If you know what hurts you,then you do not want another to feel that same pain. So I think love is the desire to mitigate the pain of living and share the joy.

Now, are we talking about romantic love and having children? this topic could swarm....and I hope it does.

Love is wonderful.

12

Latest stage

by thedog1 in

jw
friends

i've posted on and off here over the past year, but not much recently.

anyone who read my previous posts will know that i started learning all sorts of surprising things about jehovah's witnesses about a year or so ago, well, surprising to me anyway.

i feel very sad now as it is getting harder and harder to go to meetings.

humbled

The part of your post that struck me as saddest is not being able to talk to your wife.

The irony of "the truth that makes you free" is that you can not freely speak. You cannot free her with the truth about the "Truth".

I hope you can soon. I knew people like her, women mostly, who seemed to be sickened by the burden that was not "light".