Yes that is a good scripture and it does puzzle me why Jesus would allow the demons to deceive so many otherwise sincere and good Christians earnestly seeking him. It seems a pretty mean thing & totally out of character for Jesus (based on what we read of him in the gospels) to let the demons be so thoroughly deceiving, as it were, because once someone has had such an experience there is nothing in the world would convince them their religion is false. So I will backtrack a bit on my earlier comment and admit I'm not thoroughly convinced it is from the demons...just highly suspicious it might be.
Must obey!
JoinedPosts by Must obey!
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The Gift of Speaking in Tongues?
by Maddie inwith the increase in evangelical churches there seems to be a lot more emphasis on the practise of "speaking in tongues".
i quite like the way these churches conduct services, with live music and great singing.
it is so different to the kh meetings and like fresh air.
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Questioning the question of God's existence
by DT ini don't know if there is a god.
if i knew for certain, this piece of knowledge could serve as a foundation for my world view.
some people are confident they know the answer (both theists and atheists) and their world view is based on this faith.
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Mmm...yeah but the analogy is still very weak because the Santa Claus myth today (the one who flies around in the sky on reindeer and puts pressies down ya chimney) has origins rooted in an actual historical figure. Perhaps an analogy with Zeus or some other ancient mythological god is better.
Whether its the Adonai, Allah, or Aliens doesn't matter to my way of thinking. What seems undeniable to me is that there is self-evidently some great intelligence, personality, mind, creative influence behind it all...an original cause. This requires a lot less faith to me than accepting it is all down to blind chance, random selection, basically nothing. Both require leaps of faith, it's just that deists see a lesser leap of faith than materialists. The fact that this mind or creative entity or whatever it is has not shown itself/themselves for aeons of time is entirely irrelevant really; I think this is where many atheists go wrong...they confuse the absence of a higher power for nonexistence.
Keep your mind open but not so open that everything falls out. Peace.
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Questioning the question of God's existence
by DT ini don't know if there is a god.
if i knew for certain, this piece of knowledge could serve as a foundation for my world view.
some people are confident they know the answer (both theists and atheists) and their world view is based on this faith.
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Must obey!
No problem Gopher. U're free to choose any definition you want. The analogy with Santa Claus is silly though. We know for a fact that Santa Claus is an entirely fictional character and does not exist. But of course some would debate otherwise, just as some assert the earth is still flat and that the holocaust did not happen. Whatever man...Peace.
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Questioning the question of God's existence
by DT ini don't know if there is a god.
if i knew for certain, this piece of knowledge could serve as a foundation for my world view.
some people are confident they know the answer (both theists and atheists) and their world view is based on this faith.
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Must obey!
5go it doesn't necessarily mean you are a deist at all. It can mean you believe that knowledge of whether God exists or not is not ascertainble, not necessarily that you already believe in a God but that knowledge of him is unknowable. There is a diff. Actually there are different meanings for agnosticism. Here's some:
- A word first used by Professor Huxley, to indicate one who believes nothing which cannot be demonstrated by the senses.
www.theosociety.org/pasadena/key/key-glos.htm- An Agnostic [1] [noun] [OW] embraces a worldview in which the existence of deity is unknown or unknowable. Derives from the Greek agnostos, a = without, gnostos = known or knowledge. ...
members.aol.com/porchnus/dict01.htm- One who holds the theory that God is unknown or unknowable
www.innvista.com/culture/religion/diction.htm- Someone who claims that they do not know or are unable to know whether God exists.
www.abdn.ac.uk/philosophy/guide/glossary.shtml- someone who is doubtful or noncommittal about something
- of or pertaining to an agnostic or agnosticism
- uncertain of all claims to knowledge
- a person who claims that they cannot have true knowledge about the existence of God (but does not deny that God might exist)
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn- Agnosticism (from the Greek a, meaning "without", and Gnosticism or gnosis, meaning knowledge) means unknowable, and is the philosophical view that the truth value of certain claims—particularly theological claims regarding metaphysics, afterlife or the existence of God, god(s), or deities ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic - A word first used by Professor Huxley, to indicate one who believes nothing which cannot be demonstrated by the senses.
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The end is so close...
by sspo inreceived email from a friend- enjoy it- the end is always around the corner.
a man is in the mountains, it's night time, he wanders off the road and .
falls off a cliff.
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JW's have to resort to ridiculous, childish stories and analogies like this for cheesy motivation to keep themselves convinced of their leaders own brainwashing propaganda bullshit. I guess it goes to show that more and more JW's in the Western world are feeling very discouraged at how long 'this old system' is taking to end and are at the point of wanting to just give it all up.
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The Gift of Speaking in Tongues?
by Maddie inwith the increase in evangelical churches there seems to be a lot more emphasis on the practise of "speaking in tongues".
i quite like the way these churches conduct services, with live music and great singing.
it is so different to the kh meetings and like fresh air.
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Must obey!
I'm havn't been a JW for years but I remain convinced that speaking in tongues is a deception from the spirit realm.
Once had a person on the doors speak to me in tongues when I asked him if he could do it at will. That was creepy!
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New Years Resolutions
by Bumble Bee ini haven't made any yet, not sure if i will or not.
i did make some resloutions last year and for the most part did stick with them.. i had this link sent to me on facebook, thought i'd share it here for those of you that did make resloutions and need help sticking with them.. .
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Stop wasting my precious time surfing bloody JW websites - FAILED ALREADY HAHA!
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Questioning the question of God's existence
by DT ini don't know if there is a god.
if i knew for certain, this piece of knowledge could serve as a foundation for my world view.
some people are confident they know the answer (both theists and atheists) and their world view is based on this faith.
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Must obey!
If you allow for the possibility of God's existence but feel belief in God is not warranted because you don't consider there is enough evidence, then strictly speaking you are an agnostic, not a 'weak atheist'. An atheist is, by definition, some who feels the evidence clearly shows there is no God.
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The WTS deprogramming
by greendawn indoes anyone have any interesting and helpful details regarding what this deprogramming involves?
we always here one should deprogram but what exactly does it involve what could be some useful tips to facilitate this process?
i was reading recently in the psychological studies of jung about the concept of the shadow the part of our mind that contains all the repressed and rejected material, some of it was rightly repressed (eg the desire to steal from, or otherwise harm innocent people) and some not.
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Wow, whatever you've been reading sounds fascinating Greendawn. I would really be interested to read it too. Jungian was a strange one alright but he had some great insights & theories. Could you tell me where I can find read what you've been reading or send me a pm.
I think the trick to deprogramming is to adopt and reinforce a healthy new belief system. I found a lot of relief from becoming convinced that if Jehovah is a God of love, then there is no way he will destroy for all eternity most of humankind at some horrible, holocaustic Armageddon slaughter and if that is what Jehovah is going to do then I simply don't want anything to do with worshipping such a God or associating with people who imagine that is who God is. I also found great relief in becoming convinced that JW's can be rejected simply by virtue of their rotten fruitage alone...all the child abuse scandals, blood policy sacrificial deaths, cruel shunning, etc. I was set free by the epiphany that this is not an organisation based on love but fear, and therefore a God of love would not be behind such an organisation.
Being mentally and paradigmally changed by those epiphanies then set me free to feel like a normal human being again and start loving and adjusting to normal life again...just as a member of the human family, not as a brainwashed, fearful Watchtowerite.
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Are we too cynical?
by Princess Daisy Boo inis it a good thing to look for fault in everything the borg does?
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are we clutching at straws sometimes in our efforts to strengthen our fight and fuel our anger?.
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Yeah I think so. Most are chucking the baby out with the bathwater cuz I reckon the JW's do teach some excellent doctrines. However, because the WBTS is upholding wicked policies that are ruining and killing babies and children (awful blood polic and despicable child abuse policy) it is justifiable to be quite harsh and cynical.