Thanks for posting the link to the article Island Man.
Truly fascinating what one misses when reading with Watchtower (doomsday cult) goggles on.
Interesting too that the Message Bible shares this perspective. Thanks JeffT.
Fernando
JoinedPosts by Fernando
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23
Have JWs and other Christians completely missed the point of Matthew 24:4-8?
by Island Man inmany people think those verses are suggesting that the wars, earthquakes, food shortages, etc are all a sign that the end is imminent.
however, a careful examination of the context seems to suggest that jesus was actually forewarning his followers not to draw such a conclusion from such events.
see this interesting article on the subject:.
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Did we get RTD's ("Religiously Transmitted Diseases") from the Watchtower?
by Fernando inhaving just started to read the book "pharisectomy" i decided to google the book's concept of "religiously transmitted diseases".. there were more than 44,000 hits for this phrase.. looking back i can see several spiritual and psychological illnesses, or rtd's, that i contracted from the watchtower organisation.. having rejected this organisation mid-2009 as just another "snare and a racket", i have found considerable healing.. i feel i have become much, much less judgmental, bigoted, supremacist, elitist, dogmatic, territorial, ignorant, legalistic, moralistic, ethnocentric, materialistic and closed-minded.. i feel i am more liberal, compassionate and connected with others regardless of differences.. i am not troubled if we do not share the same beliefs, nationality, race, social status or sexual orientation.. the only people i really struggle with, are the very, very small handful i know of who are genuinely and rabidly pharisaical, evil, toxic, destructive or combative.. what are your views and experience?.
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Fernando
@ Island Man. I loved the way you powerfully explained and brought to light this "hidden" fact:
"The very term 'worldly' is analogous to the Pharisees perjoratively referring to the common people as am ha arets."
Too true.
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Did we get RTD's ("Religiously Transmitted Diseases") from the Watchtower?
by Fernando inhaving just started to read the book "pharisectomy" i decided to google the book's concept of "religiously transmitted diseases".. there were more than 44,000 hits for this phrase.. looking back i can see several spiritual and psychological illnesses, or rtd's, that i contracted from the watchtower organisation.. having rejected this organisation mid-2009 as just another "snare and a racket", i have found considerable healing.. i feel i have become much, much less judgmental, bigoted, supremacist, elitist, dogmatic, territorial, ignorant, legalistic, moralistic, ethnocentric, materialistic and closed-minded.. i feel i am more liberal, compassionate and connected with others regardless of differences.. i am not troubled if we do not share the same beliefs, nationality, race, social status or sexual orientation.. the only people i really struggle with, are the very, very small handful i know of who are genuinely and rabidly pharisaical, evil, toxic, destructive or combative.. what are your views and experience?.
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Fernando
Having just started to read the book "Pharisectomy" I decided to Google the book's concept of "Religiously Transmitted Diseases".
There were more than 44,000 hits for this phrase.
Looking back I can see several spiritual and psychological illnesses, or RTD's, that I contracted from the Watchtower organisation.
Having rejected this organisation mid-2009 as just another "snare and a racket", I have found considerable healing.
I feel I have become much, much less judgmental, bigoted, supremacist, elitist, dogmatic, territorial, ignorant, legalistic, moralistic, ethnocentric, materialistic and closed-minded.
I feel I am more liberal, compassionate and connected with others regardless of differences.
I am not troubled if we do not share the same beliefs, nationality, race, social status or sexual orientation.
The only people I really struggle with, are the very, very small handful I know of who are genuinely and rabidly Pharisaical, evil, toxic, destructive or combative.
What are your views and experience?
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On a Scale of 1 to 10---How Devoted Were You To Being One of Jehovah's Witnesses?
by minimus inas i grew up in the religion, i was a 10. i wanted to be made a "servant" because that was instilled in me from infancy.
i diligently studied ever piece of watchtower literature and defended my religion intensely.. when i got into my 30's, i started to see little cracks in the watchtower's surface but decided to "wait on jehovah".
then i started to research a little more critically and realized i couldn't defend the prophecies, the treatment of people and the hypocrisy that was becoming more obvious, that especially an elder can see.. it was a gradual thing---from a 10 to a zero!.
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Fernando
Devoted - 8.
Deceived - 8.
Blinded - 8.
Ignorant - 8.
Conflicted - from 2 in the beginning to 10 in the end.
Captive of a Concept - from 9 in the beginning to 0 in the end.
Liberated - from 2 in the beginning to 10 in the end.
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Jehovah's Witnesses Say They Are The Most Educated In The World. How Would You Prove Otherwise?
by minimus inthey claim their schools, literature and teaching are far more superior than any "worldly" education.
how would you counter that belief?.
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Fernando
Ask them to contrast and explain:
- faith vs works
- law vs grace
- faith vs belief
- faith vs religion
- spirituality vs religiosity
- works-righteousness vs self-righteousness
- the gospel vs religion
- Jesus vs religion
- God vs religion
- The God of Abraham vs the god of religion
- education vs propaganda
- Abrahamic Covenant vs Mosaic Covenant vs New Covenant vs Next Covenant
- Mosaic Law vs Law of Faith
- one hope vs two hopes
- "the anointed" vs "ho Kristos" (in the New Covenant scriptures)
Their score should be close to zero both before and after consulting their publications.
Even if you let them pick any two of the above...
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Jehovah's Witnesses Say They Are The Most Educated In The World. How Would You Prove Otherwise?
by minimus inthey claim their schools, literature and teaching are far more superior than any "worldly" education.
how would you counter that belief?.
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Fernando
Ask them to define:
- faith
- spirituality
- religiosity
- legalism
- ethnocentrism
- moralism
- apostasy
- justification
- sanctification
- the gospel
- the Good News
- the evangel
- mysterion
- evangelion
- euaggelion
- evangelium
- injeel/injil
- bissar
- prophecy
- prophet
- angel
- 5 solas
Their score should be close to zero both before and after consulting their publications.
Even if you let them pick any two of the above...
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Christians, Christians where is the Love?
by jam inthousands of muslims left bangui in a massive convey friday that was .
jeered by crowds of christians.
one muslim who fell off a truck was.
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24
Watchtower Changes. Why
by new hope and happiness infollowing on from a recent post that asked for a list of the watchtower changers since you left, it would be intetesting to compile the list with why the changes were made.. .
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Fernando
When someone catches them in the act with their pants down they go into cover-up mode, which often necessitates a few changes, including "killing" any witnesses to their deeds, and printing more spin.
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Counteract jw.org August 2014 Campaign!
by jw07 inthere was a letter read at the last meeting indicating a push to advertise jw.org door to door in august 2014.. http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/273040/1/four-boe-letters#.uv8l4vldv1e.
many of those who the witnesses prey upon will no doubt search for additional information on the internet.. let us use the extra attention against the watchtower!.
- there are many of us on active on this site.. - most of the widley used search engines (google, yahoo, bing etc) show autocomplete results.. .
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Fernando
Why does it take around 100 years of 10 hours per month of door knocking to create one brand new follower of the Watchtower religion and its OctoPopes?
I was wondering if the WBTS has far more detractors than ambassadors thanks to the efforts of thousands of ordinary persons who took the time to articulate exactly what is wrong with the Watchtower.
Maybe by a single question, in a conversation, a phone call, an email, a blog post, a forum post, a video, a bumper sticker, a newspaper article, a television interview, a book or a website.
Persons like Ray Franz (CoC, ISoCF), Barbara Anderson, Paul Grundy (JWFacts.com), Randall Watters (freeminds.org), Simon Green (JWN), Jim Penton (Apocalypse Delayed), Don Cameron (Captives of a Concept), Bill Bowen (Silent Lambs), "John Cedars" (JWSurvey), and the good folks behind sites like Perimeno.ca and JWstruggle.com, and so on...
None of us are perfect. We have all stumbled and fumbled at some point on the journey.
I thank God for each and every person's efforts, no matter how big or small.
I thank God for their courage.
I thank God for what I have learnt from each person I have come across.
I thank God they exist, and chose to make a difference.
Without them I would have been alone, without anyone to affirm my rather weird experiences.
They were a big part of my recovery from Watchtower imposed voicelessness.
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Arrested by French authorities for wanting to perform Female Genital Mutilation
by Syme inhere's the story, from guardian:.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/10/france-tough-stance-female-genital-mutilation-fgm.
these are very interesting news.
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Fernando
I have wondered if the Watchtower's anti oral sex orientation, and missionary position only stance, could be regarded as a subtle form of FGM as the outcome in many cases could be the same: no female orgasm permitted.
Dim-witted misogynists...