One scripture the GB uses to support their mistakes is Acts 1:6 about the apostles: "So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"" The GB claims that the apostles made a mistake in believing, after having been with Jesus for 3 1/2 years, that the kingdom was going to be established then and there on earth. Over the years they have used this text as permission to keep falsely claiming when the end will come. But they fail to recognize that the apostles were merely asking Jesus a question about the end, they weren't calling themselves God's mouthpiece and preaching their mistake as new light, while threatening to shun anyone who disagreed with them. The GB fails to consider the next verse at Acts 1:7: "[God] said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority."
matt2414
JoinedPosts by matt2414
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Governing Body's Doctrinal Errors Vs. Jesus Apostles' so called errors under the guidance of the Holy Spirit?
by I_love_Jeff inif the apostles were guided by the holy spirit, how could they have made any doctrinal errors as mentioned by many jehovah's witnesses?
the governing body has admitted to making doctrinal errors and state that " you might as well condem jesus' apostles as well since they too had made errors.
i have read that the apostles had only made behavior mistakes not errors in doctrinal writings.. "the new testament makes it abundantly clear that doctrinal error can lead to eternal damnation.. didache is a noun found thirty times in the new testament to mean doctrine, teaching.
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Are there any Gilead or MTS graduates on this site? What helped you to see the light and leave?
by matt2414 ini was a faithful witness for years, even graduating from the ministerial training school.
so much of what i learned at the school has already changed.
if that was food at the proper time and, according to the latest teachings of the governing body, is now all wrong -- basically lies -- was it really spritual food from god?
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matt2414
Cedars, I sent you a PM.
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Are there any Gilead or MTS graduates on this site? What helped you to see the light and leave?
by matt2414 ini was a faithful witness for years, even graduating from the ministerial training school.
so much of what i learned at the school has already changed.
if that was food at the proper time and, according to the latest teachings of the governing body, is now all wrong -- basically lies -- was it really spritual food from god?
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matt2414
I was a faithful Witness for years, even graduating from the Ministerial Training School. So much of what I learned at the school has already changed. If that was food at the proper time and, according to the latest teachings of the Governing Body, is now all wrong -- basically lies -- was it really spritual food from God? Wouldn't that make it spritual junk food, even garbage? Paul wrote, "Let God be true and every man a liar" at Romans 3:4, so those teachings about the time of the end, 1914, the gentile times, generations, who the "faithful and discreet slave" is, who the Governing Body is, instructions on disfellowshippings, and so many other teachings that have been changed since I attended the MTS, couldn't have come from God because he would never feed us lies. According to Paul, the leaders of the Watchtower were and are liars because they are mere men, not God, who doesn't make such mistakes.
Yes, everyone errs once in a while, but at the rate the GB comes out with"new light," well, it's basically a stready stream of lies. Opening my eyes and coming to realize this was my turning point. It's as if God whispered in my ear to wake up, and all of a sudden everything was so crystal clear. This providential enlightenment also led me to the self-realization that I am gay, something I kept hidden and under wraps with all the lies from the Watchtower, which I piled on top with other lies I told myself to convince myself that I was straight so that God wouldn't murder me at Armageddon.
Is there anyone else who was in special full-time service that had a similar wake-up call? What opened your eyes? I'd be interested in hearing your story.
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I Used To Hate Gays!
by DubR ini remember i use to have a lot of hate in my heart when i was a jw.
i remember i used to hate gay people a lot!
when news reports came in about gays getting jumped in parks at night or killed.i would always smile inside.
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matt2414
DubR: Thank you so much for your kind words and expressions of enlightenment about gays.
Drewcoul: I realize it's hard to understand how a man can be attracted to another man, but ask yourself, How can a man be attracted to a woman? Think about it. As kids, boys don't want anything to do with girls. Boys and girls, men and women have very little in common, basically being raised in different cultures -- thus, the expression "Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars." Yet at some point during puberty, most develop an attraction to the other. The truth is, humans have very little control over whom we are attracted to. In tests, blindfolded straight men have become arroused after sniffing samples of women's pheromones, but feel nothing when sniffing the pheromones of men, even though they didn't know which was which. On the other hand, gay men felt nothing when sniffing pheromones of women, but became aroused with sniffing those of other men. They didn't choose to become aroused, gays, like straights, are just hard-wired that way, it was out of their control. Gay people accept the sexual relationships of opposite-sex couples because that is what we are exposed to and it's not considered taboo. We don't fantasize or obsess over the sexual activities of straight people. Gay people look forward to the day when homophobes stop obsessing over the sexual activities of homosexuals, and focus instead on the love and companionship such relationships provide.
mamochan13: You state that as a JW, you believed it was possible to cure gays. After all, you say, "the Bible says 'that's what some of you were.'" That text in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 has always confused me. It uses nouns when stating that fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, thieves, greedy persons, drunkards, revilers, extortioners would not inherit God’s kingdom. But instead of saying "homosexuals," it merely says "men who lie with men." The Governing Body uses the weak excuse that there was no word for homosexual in Greek in Paul's time. But Bible writers have been known to coin words or in the very least use words from other languages when necessary to explain themselves. So why is this an issue? Because that would mean he wasn't just directing his words to homosexuals. Recent and more accurate studies reveal that 3.5 percent of Americans are gay and lesbian. However, 10 percent of straight Americans admit they have had sexual relations with others of the same sex. This is probably similar in most other countries as well. In other words, there are more straight -- and often married -- people who are having same-sex relations than gays and lesbians. So was Paul speaking to gays or straights in 1 Cor. 6? This is important to know because you can't apply Paul's words in our time if you don't even know what or to whom he was referring to originally.
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I Used To Hate Gays!
by DubR ini remember i use to have a lot of hate in my heart when i was a jw.
i remember i used to hate gay people a lot!
when news reports came in about gays getting jumped in parks at night or killed.i would always smile inside.
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matt2414
I used to hate gays when I was a JW too. That was until I realized I was gay also. As a regular pioneer I actually used to spout the Governing Body's lies about how God disapproved of gays and how they were similar to alcoholics and could change. The fact that I could be gay and be anti-gay at the same time just proves how effective the JW's mind control techniques can be. Now I'm no longer a Witness, I'm proud to be gay and have a clearer understanding of scripture than the GB does. I'm also more accepting and welcoming of all peoples, unlike I was as a JW.
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Simple, yet telling explanation of why the Governing Body view themselves as ultimate. (With their own words)
by MC RubberMallet inin 1 corinthians 7, paul continuously makes plain that he was speaking his own opinion:.
(1corinthians7:12-16)12 but to the others i say, yes, i, not the lord: if any brother has an unbelieving wife, and yet she is agreeable to dwelling with him, let him not leave her; 13 and a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and yet he is agreeable to dwelling with her, let her not leave her husband.
14 for the unbelieving husband is sanctified in relation to [his] wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in relation to the brother; otherwise, your children would really be unclean, but now they are holy.
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matt2414
Paul gave his personal opinion as a spirit-filled apostle. His counsel, however, was “God-breathed” and so came to form part of the Sacred Scriptures, having equal authority with the rest of those Scriptures.
The Governing Body really stuck their foot into a huge pile of s*&t with their not very well thought out made-up doctrine in the Insight book. If Paul was "spirit-filled" and said he was giving his opinion, shouldn't we take him at his word? If he was saying that his thoughts were his own because there were no scriptures that he was basing them on, wouldn't he be going beyond what is written, thus making him a hypocrite for warning others about doing the same thing? If they were really God's thoughts but Paul was calling them his own "opinion," wouldn't he be taking credit for something that really belongs to God? If "all scripture is inspired by God," wouldn't Paul's statement that he was stating his opinion have been made under inspiration?
So basically the Governing Body is calling Paul a liar, while at the same time saying we should believe everything he writes. Wow! No wonder they are so clueless when it comes to understanding scripture. They've demonstrated that with their latest explanation of the faithful and discreet slave. They claim that God has been directing their understanding of the Bible, yet for more than 100 years they didn't even know that they exclusively are the faithful and discreet slave, if that new iteration can be believed. Just claiming that the Almighty is directing them makes their god seem so weak and impotent.
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Isn't it hypocritical for the Governing Body to feature a biochemist in Awake! magazine but at the same time condemn higher education?
by matt2414 inthe january awake!
has an entire article about a woman, a molecular biochemist, who became a witness, and yet the watchtower leaders condemn and blacklist any of their members who get a college education.
i couldn't stop thinking about this as i read the article.
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matt2414
The January Awake! has an entire article about a woman, a molecular biochemist, who became a Witness, and yet the Watchtower leaders condemn and blacklist any of their members who get a college education. I couldn't stop thinking about this as I read the article. The biochemist not only has a doctorate degree -- she's referred to as Dr. Paola Chiozzi in the article -- she apparently still works at a university and has done so for more than 20 years! The GB doesn't even allow Witnesses who go to college to have privileges in the congregation, so why would they feature and praise one in their journals? To be consistent with their man-made policies, shouldn't the Governing Body insist she give up her career in higher education and go into janitorial? Shouldn't she be pioneering instead of seeking riches?
For that matter, if the Governing Body really does have faith in God as they claim, shouldn't ALL the college-educated lawyers, doctors, nurses, architects, engineers, accountants, etc., at Bethel renounce their education and be sent out into the field as pioneers, while the uneducated members of the GB in Bethel rely on God to direct them through all their legal, medical and accounting problems? Of course, they would only do this if they didn't want to appear two-faced.
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How does the WT explain Luke 10:7?
by WildeLover inlooking thur wt cd i dont see any "decent" explanation of luke 10:7?.
(luke 10:1-7) 10 after these things the lord designated seventy others and sent them forth by twos in advance of him into every city and place to which he himself was going to come.
2 then he began to say to them: the harvest, indeed, is great, but the workers are few.
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matt2414
The JWs explain that it means the early followers of Christ were to rely on the hospitality of their Jewish neighbors while preaching. At that time, Jews customarily welcomed their blood brethren, who were traveling, into their homes, offering them food and lodging. So the disciples didn't need to become distracted by carrying a lot of personal belongings with them because those items wouldn't be needed. And because some of their visits would be more than a day's journey from their respective homes, they would have to stay the night. However, they were told to accept the offers of lodging gratefully and not to be transferring to other homes if they should receive what could be perceived as a "better offer" in larger or more opulent accommodations. Later on, as persecution of Christians increased, Jesus counseled his disciples to begin carrying a purse and food pouch because their neighbors would no longer be as hospitable toward them. As mentioned, this is how I've always heard the JWs explain these verses.
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How does the WT explain Luke 10:7?
by WildeLover inlooking thur wt cd i dont see any "decent" explanation of luke 10:7?.
(luke 10:1-7) 10 after these things the lord designated seventy others and sent them forth by twos in advance of him into every city and place to which he himself was going to come.
2 then he began to say to them: the harvest, indeed, is great, but the workers are few.
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matt2414
I'm not sure what exactly is your question? How does the preaching work contradict what?
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Birth Control
by turtleturtle ini have never understood why, according to the wt, jws are okay (conscience matter) with birth control methods like the pill, mini-pill, depo-provera, and iuds.
i am not trying to spark an abortion debate.
but i was actually angry at the wt when i started researching how the mini-pill prevented pregnancy.
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matt2414
If life begins at conception, as the JWs believe, does that mean that God is going to resurrect all the dead embryos -- whether they were aborted by accident or on purpose -- back to the earth as part of the Great Crowd? If they are "life," wouldn't God be obligated to bring them back in order to be consistent with the "life-at-conception" dogma? How would he do that since embryos can't survive outside their mothers' bodies? Would the mothers be resurrected pregnant? What if she had many embryos that were aborted? I'm just wondering.