If you go through with it be sure to answer their questions as U.S. Congressmen do.
Elder: Do you believe this is the one, true religion?
You: Brother, that information is a matter of public record.
thursday while i was at work, a new elder stopped by the house (almost 3 years after fading) to encourage us to go back to meetings.
said everyone misses us.
if you did, why not stop by and say hi every now and then?
If you go through with it be sure to answer their questions as U.S. Congressmen do.
Elder: Do you believe this is the one, true religion?
You: Brother, that information is a matter of public record.
bible teachings.
online lessons.
basic bible teachings.
According to Christian myth, God doesn't have to do anything. He is the sovereign over all the universe. He makes the rules and he punishes those according to his wants and desires if those roles are violated. It's all his choice.
This is why none of it makes sense. What exactly are the perimeters of this great experiment?
for a bit of back ground.
i’m a full blown pomo apostate.
nothing would please me more to see wt burn to the ground.
Here is my opinion on the topic of disassociation within the Jehovah's Witness religion - Don't do it!
When I stopped being one of Jehovah's Witnesses I was done with the practices and beliefs. Disassociation is a Jehovah's Witness practice. It is their game. It is their rules.
Don't play their game. Don't play by their rules. Disassociation is a form of acknowledging their religion and authority.
obviously, the older “ anointed ” from 1914 died.
and because they were anointed, they hopefully went to heaven.
in the first century though, a newer generation did not replace the old.
The Great Tribulation already happened. 70 C.E. was it. Nearly 2,000 years later and Jesus still hasn't returned. Probably because he never was going to return and the Apostles inserted that part in their new religion.
"This generation will by no means pass away..."
It passed away nearly 20 centuries ago.
2022-07-29-announcements--english.
2022-07-29-announcements-spanishpage 2, par.
3. on the other hand, some brothers and sisters—younger and in good health—have more favorable circumstances that may allow them to attend christian meetings regularly at the kingdom hall.
Translation: "You should be attended meetings in person...where there are conveniently located contribution boxes to the World Wide Work."
Zoom proved that you can have meetings, even question and answer parts, without physically being present.
atheists believe death is the end of personal existence.
but for those who believe there is life after death, what do you think is the nature of final punishment?
in other words do you agree with the atheists and the watchtower society or is there eternal ongoing conscious punishment awaiting the wicked.
Hell, or at least the concept of it is an instrument of social control to make the rich, richer and the poor, poorer.
That pretty much describes all theistic religion.
Door #1 - There is an all powerful being that punishes us after our body dies by sending our non-corporal self to a place of eternal damnation. So do what you are told or feel his wrath.
Door # 2 - Do what is both beneficial to yourself and to others because it creates peace and harmony. Failure to do so creates suffering and disharmony. The power is within you.
I'll gladly choose door number 2 as that is door to righteousness. Door number 1 is a door of coercion and self-servitude.
In order for a reward or a punishment to be eternal it must have no start or no end. By very definition anything eternal has no beginning or end. Nothing a person could ever do in a lifespan of 80 or 90 years would reasonably warrant being punished for all eternity. Any person who would do such a thing lacks wisdom and compassion.
atheists believe death is the end of personal existence.
but for those who believe there is life after death, what do you think is the nature of final punishment?
in other words do you agree with the atheists and the watchtower society or is there eternal ongoing conscious punishment awaiting the wicked.
I am an atheist. I do not believe that death is the end anymore than birth is the beginning.
Do some serious historical research on the origins of "hell". The Jews adopted the belief of the afterlife after being conquered by the Greeks. The church did not adopt the teaching of hellfire until some 500 years after its creation.
i look at tv and the media as all fiction.. i wonder if the media is now just a tool to cauterise the brain and zombify us?
i'm sure the uk's bbc does.
it seems to be a tool to brainwash people to buy into latest agenda or trend that must be followed.....or you're an outcast like a disfellowshipped one.
I agree with your hypothesis.
Television, radio, and web based/print news media is unbalanced and overly biased. It is creating echo chambers of confirmation bias. Gone are the days of every family tuning in for the five-o'clock news to watch the same news anchor read the news as it is. Gone are the days of reading the Sunday paper with well research articles that contain just the facts.
This is the paradox of news media -
You don't want government run media...
Private media is for profit and red turns to green.
thought experiment.
the big question inside research into a.i.. (artificial intelligence) is whether the state-of-the-art program.
lamda is .
Terry:
You have brought up the Zen Koan of Joshu's Dog -
A student once asked Master Joshu "Does a dog have buddha nature?"
Joshu replied "Mu!"
"Mu" is the Chinese word for "nothing" ("no-thing"). This is the Zen Buddhist idea of The Void or Emptiness. This is also known as non-duality.
Students are to meditate on this koan asking themselves "Who am I?" All answers of identity are melted away. The only correct answer is "I do not know." Even then the question is asked, "Who is this 'I' that does not know?"
the worst part of my experience of getting rid of the shackles of wt is not the shunning.
i can live with that.
if people don't want to talk to me, there are many more who do!
Joao:
Be kind. Be compassionate. Be happy.
The Watchtower teaches that non-Jehovah's Witnesses cannot do those things. Especially being happy. That is because the Watchtower ignorant of what happiness is and how it works.
Be a living, breathing proof that people can be good and not be a Jehovah's Witness. Concentrate on what you have going well for you in your life. Do not dwell on what you don't like.