john 3:16. i'll just say that the way i understand it is i am existing in it, it is not existing in me.. 166 (ai?nios) does not focus on the future per se, but rather on the quality of the age (165 /ai?n) it relates to.
thus believers live in "eternal (166 /ai?nios) life" right now, experiencing this quality of god's life now as a present possession.
(note the gk present tense of having eternal life in jn 3:36, 5:24, 6:47; cf.
I seem to remember some Bible translations rendering the term as "abundant life."
When I first entered into the JW Indoctrination Program that they like to call a "Free Home Bible Study", a Methodist Minister came around to try and talk some sense into me. One of the things he emphasized was this:
- upon "taking Jesus Christ into ones life", a person there and then receives abundant life.
Unfortunately for me, it was already to late to register!
Bill.
i found this site hoping to read topics submitted by jw's so i could learn more, but it just seems to be everyone else here except them.
just about every topic and member is just bashing jw's and their teachings.
this site should be renamed "jwbashertrolls.net".
Truthseeker,
From this discussion board, I have learned things about JWs that I never learned during the 28 years that I was with them;- many things that the JWs would like to either cover up, or just quietly forget about. (Yet nothing that can't be confirmed by simply reading the Watchtower Society's own publications).
Lies have been told alright - that part you did at least get correct - they just did not get told in quite the way in which you would have us believe!
You, too, can learn much about the JWs from this site;
- providing you approach it with an open mind; i.e. not automatically writing off as "lies" anything you would rather not hear!
Bill.
there were 11,202 partakers in 2010. and 11,824 partakers in 2011.. there was an increase of 622 or 5.5% in one year.. your thoughts?.
source: 2012 yearbook (in spanish).
From my experience of being married to one who believed she was of "the heavenly calling" (plus recent comments by the WTS to the same effect), I would offer the following explanation:
- during the 2011 service year, there were 622 more people experiencing psychiatric disorders than there were in 2010.
Bill.
what saying made it all around the country?.
the ones that were passed around, word of mouth.. for example.
"donations basis proves jehovah is behind the work!".
"Immature"
and
"Worldly"
- both are JW swearwords.
Bill.
(i posted this on another forum, but am reposting here to see what you all think!
thank you for bearing with me.
.... in one book, "the watchtower's coming crisis" by daniel rodriguez (amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/watchtowers-comin ... 606&sr=1-4 ).
When I first heard of the "Jonadab" mob, back in 1973, I tried to find out all I could about it.
Checking though all the WTS's publications, I could find not ONE mention of such a class of people;
- must just have been (one more) figment of J.F. Rutherford's whiskey sodden imagination!
Bill.
...and a big smile on his face... as if to say "i can finally shut you up".... rewinding a bit.... about 18 months ago, i read "gentile times reconsidered" and discovered this doctrine had more holes than swiss cheese.
but it didn't end there, i read several studies in the scriptures, the even tide by john aquila brown (not all of it) and then proceeded to write multiple letters to brooklyn, all of which were responded to by dodging simple questions such as: "if the 70 years ended in 537 and jeremiah says there would be 70 years of servitude, which babyonian king were the jews serving between 539 and 537?".
i showed all three of the society's responses to an elder in my congo (even though he received copies of these himself) and he could see that they were "canned" responses that in no way anwered my queries.
Talk about "if the facts don't support your theory, then just alter the facts"!
Bill.
with the latest wt`s hate sessions against so-called apostates,former members who have had serious doubts about the religions claims to being the "chosen" of almighty god to dispense food at the proper time to the faithfull,eg:" mentally diseased"contagiously diseased,dont go near them etc.and of course exposing their dismall record of ever getting anything right as far as expectations ,prophecy,correct understanding of scripture and it`s interpretation,the flip flop backtreading on certain scriptures,and god knows what else,its only a matter of time b4 some delusional" witness"gets it in their head to take matters in their own hands and do jehovahs work,get rid of, kill some apostates,even if it`s family members.. the wtb&ts seem to be putting more and more pressure on the faithfull to hate all opposers.
i dont think this is beyond the possabillity of reality given that a dis proportionate number of jw`s suffer some form of mental deficiency,whether this is why they become jw`s or whether this is something that develops after being in the religion for some extended time.
smiddy.
The signs have actually been there for as far back as I can remember:
-I actually knew one mentally ill JW, who took hatred of "Christendom" to mean license to go around the district burning down church buildings. (This person never went to prison, only because a consulting psychiatrist classed him as "unfit to plead.")
Exchange hatred towards "Christendom" for hatred of "apostates", and it is not hard to imagine someone similarly unbalanced interpreting this as license to physically attack "apostates."
Bill.
chronic fatigue syndrone, m e, yuppie flu.
.
i dont know if anyone else has noticed the alarming number of jws who claim to suffer from chronic fatigue syndrone,i mean hear in cornwall there tend to be several sufferers in every congregation,outside the jws out of the many people i know i dont know anyone,although there are obviosly many outside the jws who suffer this illness,percentage wise it seems that jws have a much,much larger occorance of the illness.. for example my brother in law has not worked and been living on invalidity benefits for more than 10 years since his mid twenties,his brother is also in the same boat, an m.e sufferer.. i wonder if anyone has looked into this a bit more?
While I was still "In", it was estimated that CFS sufferers made up five percent of the circuit.
These included several elders, and more than a few who had been pioneers. Sadly, a few were even still either children or else just into their teens.
By contrast, in the seventeen years since I broke with the JWs, I have not even heard of one person who was suffering from this complaint.
Bill.
my personal perception of my own would be that religion is an organized agreement.
to a set of lies, cultivated upon human ignorance, fear and superstitions, structured.
on a framework of power and control.
When I first began a "Bible Study" with the JWs, my father did warn me that, to quote, "Religion is like whisky and beer - you can do without it."
Unfortunately, I discovered the hard way that he was right!
Bill
i cannot get over the amount of arguements we get into about blood with my wife.
she is medically trained,.. but her thinking is now retarded by the watchtower mentality.
one thing recently i refused to do lately was print a magazine article for her which was about blood complications this was an article from the new scientist magazine.
Anony Mous,
My experiences have been similar.
Whatever the pseudo-science the GB / FDS / WTS or (whatever it is they preferred to be called) may quote about blood therapy, no doctor that I have ever dealt with has had any doubts about it.
When my children were still young, and I was still "in", the matter of blood alternatives was raised on several different occassions. Each time, the answer was pretty much the same:
i.e. The so-called "hazards" of blood therapy much exaggerated, and the effectiveness of blood alteratives very much exaggerated. As one doctor expressed it "You people scare me!"
Bill.
