Posts by tornapart

45

Starting from a false Premise.

by Phizzy in

we often see "starting from a false premise" enacted on here.

believers will start from the basis that there is a god.. bible believers will start from the basis that it is the word of god in some measure, and worse are jw apologists, they pre-suppose that the first two are a given, and that their beloved property company posing as a religion is god's organization.. none of those premises have been proven, some have been disproven, but we are supposed to go along with them.. now, you may be happy to debate on that basis, in fact it is probably good "exercise", but in the end i find their arrogant, unproven assertions begin to really annoy me, and then i stick in what is known on here as a "cofty", which is a short, succinct comment that points out the big hole in their presentation.. the only thing you find then is, either the apologist cuts and runs, or totally ignores your "cofty".. i think, even if we enjoy debating for a while with such people, at a certain point we need to call them out on their false premise, or premises, otherwise a j.w lurking here may simply accept the words of the apologist and gain nothing in the way of truth..

tornapart

I've stayed a christian even though I've dumped all the JW doctrines. For me christianity is a simple belief with no trying to shove it down other people's throats. I've enjoyed being able to look at things from all angles and understand the reasons why people choose not to believe in God or come to the conclusions they don't really know one way or the other.

The important thing for me is to enjoy what life is all about. My family, my friends, all my hobbies, travel, nature and all the other wonderful things there are. If it really does turn out that there's no God then what have I lost? Whereas if there is a God (and I truly belive there is) then anything after I die is a bonus

45

I am having trouble believing in God...

by thedepressedsoul in

i was raised a jw and i am still one but recently i have been having trouble believing in a god.

this is not meant to offend anyone who does, i am just curious to see if i am the only one who thinks this..... to start, i am a very black and white person.

if 1+1=2 it makes sense to me and i can agree with it.

tornapart

I've not read everyone's comments on this, so sorry if I say something someone else has said. This is how I see it. I've had lots of questions and doubts about things and trying to make sense of it all. I still believe in God and still believe in Christ but the idea that God has written a book full of laws that have no use, can be interpreted so many different ways that it's impossible for anyone to see it the same way and expect by some miracle that only a few will get it right, is absurd.

The laws God set out for mankind were to show that they couldn't, no matter how hard they tried, keep them all. When Christ came he gave us new laws, in fact only two. To love God and to love our neighbour. That's it. Salvation isn't dependent on understanding every tiny doctrine in the bible, it's not putting faith in any religion, church or organisation. It's simply putting faith in Christ. That's it.

If you still want to believe in God, I would suggest you read some books by a christian writer called Philip Yancey. He came out of a legalistic religion and became agnostic for a while before regaining his faith in God. He makes some really good arguements.

If not, there are plenty of others on here that can make a case for atheism.

58

What are you reading right now??

by DATA-DOG in

jw
friends

i am reading "stranger in a strange land" by robert a. heinlein.

i read it over 20 years ago.

now i am reading it from a completely different perspective.

tornapart

I've just finished a book called 'Tired of Trying to Measure Up'. A good book for anyone trapped in an a abusive realtionship, whether it be personal, religious or whatever. Especially good for christians trapped in an abusive religion.

203

My Explanation of Why They Got it Wrong About Blood Using Only the NWT

by cofty in

10 " any israelite or any alien living among them who eats any bloodi will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people.

12 therefore i say to the israelites, "none of you may eat blood, nor may an alien living among you eat blood.

15 'anyone, whether native-born or alien, who eats anything found dead or torn by wild animals must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be ceremonially unclean till evening; then he will be clean.

tornapart

Great arguement Cofty. As a JW I was scared silly that I might have to have a blood transfusion one day and how I would react. Would I break God's law and have one? Would I refuse one and die. What about my kids? I feel so angry now that it was all for nothing!

When I woke up to TATT I could see clearly that the bible was not saying what the WT says it does. In Genesis it clearly says that a life is for a life. If a man kills another man then his own life is to be taken. However if a man kills an animal, then he doesn't forfeit his own life but the blood goes back to God, respecting that animal's life as belonging to God. It has nothing to do with blood transfusions! No one has died to give blood. In fact that blood can save another's life! The WT teaching is so screwed!

42

UN vs. The Vatican - Ex-JWs, are you sure?

by gold_C in

so about a few years ago, thanks to this site i became convinced that everything that the jws have been saying is a bunch of nonsense and that i shouldn't worry about it.

it gave me some comfort, since there are several things i disagree with when it comes to the way one has to live in order to be a witness.

however, this business with the un attacking the vatican seems a little too much like what the witnesses have been preaching about to simply ignore:.

tornapart

If the UN is the 'wild beast' of Revelation, it's s beast without any teeth....

4

"New Light" for Care-giving and Concern For Family, Parents and Friends.

by RottenRiley in

am i the only one who has noticed the new push by jw autority figures that we should not pull missionaries out of the field to help with care-giving for parents or children who are not functioning well?.

we are told "the government has programs that provide excellent care-giving and might be a better choice than pulling a pioneer or missionary from the field".

can somebody else verify if you are hearing this nonsense, anti-christian message broadcasted by the watchtower organization?

tornapart

Sounds like it comes from March 15th study WT page 22.

84

Witnesses: Why The 1/19/14 WT Lesson Is Dangerous

by Apognophos in

today's watchtower lesson touched on the history of hezekiah's reign, and then made a surprising modern-day application.

having used my time before the meeting to research the underlying material instead of highlighting my magazine, i personally found this to be an upsetting study, and decided to put this warning here in the hopes that some active witnesses read it.. the most important thing i want to say to you is that the actual flow of events in this bible account were severely misrepresented, and that there are some disturbing implications in the distortions that were made.

1. hezekiah's father ahaz makes himself a vassal to assyria out of fear of their overwhelming might (2 kings 16:7, 8).. 2. upon becoming king, hezekiah rebels against assyria (2 kings 18:7).

tornapart

Excellent post Apognophos. I have to admit to only skimming this article, deciding I couldn't stomach the meeting and letting my hubby know what I thought of it, manipulating and mind controlling. That didn't go down too well!

I never knew any of those things about Hezekiah, apart from showing the king of Babylon his wealth. It was a brilliant peice of sleuthing on your part! Just shows the lengths those '8 dukes' in Brooklyn will go to, to keep the R&F under control.

22

The only thing in this world we have complete unquestionable control over is our own mind, and our own thoughts, and how we choose to frame (or think about) things.

by RunAsFastAsYouCan in

jw
friends

the only thing in this world we have complete unquestionable control over is our own mind, and our own thoughts, and how we choose to frame (or think about) things.. and when you throw away all of the layers of constructs.

religious mores,.

agendas,.

tornapart

I'm reading an interesting but fun book atm called 'A mind of it's own', written by a psychologist called Cordelia Fine. She gives a lot of examples of experiments done that show our mind is not really being controlled by us, it really does have 'a mind of it's own'. It's really quite scary! And quite amusing when you find yourself doing the very same things you tell yourself you'll never do again having just read about it!

57

This photo woke me up

by krejames in

.

i was already on my way to my second fade when i went to the wildlife photographer of the year 2012 exhibition, but this photo made me lose faith in the idea of a loving creator......(the gazelle has been injured by the mother cheetah so she can use it to train her cubs to hunt).

tornapart

So are we humans any less loving? I'm thinking here, ham sandwich, roast beef, chicken Mcnugget.... we eat animals all the time (unless we're vegetarian). Unlike carnivores, we can live without meat, but we still kill animals to eat. We wipe out animals to extinction. Atm I'm watching a programme about some beautiful wild cats that are being slaughtered for their fur.

Nature is nature. It works in perfect balance. When something changes it causes serious problems.

17

This will be fun. What is your generation count?

by Defianttruth in

the wbts teaches a overlapping (generation) will not pass away since 1914 right?.

what is your personal genealogy.

(1) my great grand father was born in 1901. he became active with the bible students around 1910. .

tornapart

Grandparents 1890's/1900's (not JWs)

Parents 1930's (1st gen)

Me 1950's (2nd gen)

Children 1980's (3rd gen)

Grandchildren recently (4th gen?)

My children overlapped with one of their greatgrandparents... does that count as one generation???