peacefulpete

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Posts by peacefulpete

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  12

  What do Jehovah`s Witnesses beleive that can be linked to Pagan practices , anyone ?

  by smiddy3 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a previous thread has inspired me to post this ,thanks guys .. { i`ve been out for so long i may have missed something }.

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  peacefulpete

  Carla...they did briefly have their own calendar. I had one many years ago. I had a huge bonfire before I learned how much that crap sells for.
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  29

  Why Not Celebrate Christmas?

  by Mum in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so, jw's don't celebrate christmas or other holidays.

  as bill cetnar once said, there are two reasons for everything: the reason they tell you, and the real reason.

  they will tell you it's because christmas is "pagan" and can lead to all sorts of licentious conduct (like drinking too much macallan scotch?)..

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  peacefulpete

  Enough... absolutely nothing. Those things are about celebrating life and new beginnings. Most Christians feel combing the two is just fine.
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  3

  I feel really sorry for them.

  by Lost in the fog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  personally i feel really sorry for these people.

  free to do anything they want now because of changed circumstances they are deluded to waste more of their time and (no doubt) money putting in more time to this religious cult.. it breaks my heart reading their story.. https://www.thecharlottepost.com/news/2022/12/15/life-and-religion/living-the-balanced-and-more-focused-simple-life/.

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  peacefulpete

  Noticed the plug for the JW website. lol. He probably didn't know what else to do. Figured he would be living in paradise before he'd retire.
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  50

  Are the teachings of JW—consistent?

  by Fisherman in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i would belief so but if you can point something out, it can be discussed.. i don’t mean what jw taught in the past that they later realized was not correct and amended.

  —unless you think and can show something like that is relevant.. i’ve spoken to a lot of believers from different religions.

  i don’t want to bash any religion here under this topic but their beliefs are inconsistent and their reasons are sophistry and made up and grounded on circular reasoning.

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  peacefulpete

  Catholicism is generally internally logical, Lutheranism, Calvinism etc....

  That's what makes them "religions".

  Objections are whether they represent reality or are healthful belief systems, not whether they can tell a good story.
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  16

  Our First Christmas Tree

  by Queequeg in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  early on, after we left jw land, my wife said to me, “i hope you don’t care, but i don’t ever see myself doing any christmas stuff.

  i don’t really understand why some ex jws decide to do that crap.” we agreed that parties were a little different because of the social aspects, but other wise i didn’t care.

  now… there’s a 16’ douglas fir with ornaments and lights in our living room.

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  peacefulpete

  Queequeg...Wonderful story. We too owe a lot to a wonderful couple and the circle of friends they introduced us to. We were building our house and hadn't installed a furnace or much of anything other than bare floors and insulation. We spent the night there to get as much done as possible sleeping on the floor on a pile of blankets. That couple came over and gave us our first Xmas tree, a 2 foot tall prewired little thing. We still have it and use it every year tho I've rewired it a few years ago. We also have a 6ft tree, I got one this year from the woods behind my grandfather's old cabin, with permission from the present owner of course. Every year my wife and I get a new special ornament. Friends have been giving us ornaments to the point we now have a couple boxes full. Never too late to start new traditions or make new friends.
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  50

  Are the teachings of JW—consistent?

  by Fisherman in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i would belief so but if you can point something out, it can be discussed.. i don’t mean what jw taught in the past that they later realized was not correct and amended.

  —unless you think and can show something like that is relevant.. i’ve spoken to a lot of believers from different religions.

  i don’t want to bash any religion here under this topic but their beliefs are inconsistent and their reasons are sophistry and made up and grounded on circular reasoning.

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  peacefulpete

  ...consistent, and” jive” like the 4 gospels, logical, reasonable, plausible and just make sense and appeal to the mind...

  I'm guessing you never read the Gospels?
  
  
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  27

  Watchtower Study : Jehovah Is Helping You To Succeed

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the watchtower—study edition | january 2023. study article 3. jehovah is helping you to succeed.

  how jehovah makes you successful.

  13. does jehovah intervene in every situation we face?

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  peacefulpete

  Some of your comments might lead a reader to think you believe JWs are incapable of loving each other. Surely we all mourned for lost JW friends who passed. We all saw JWs helping other JWs when they saw a need to. We all visited sick friends in the hospital.

  Sure the church was negligent in caring for physical needs in any organized manner and yes love was complicated by the environment of sectarian isolation, but JWs are still people who love and are loved.

  I remember, and always will, when an elderly lady in our congo had her house (shack on stilts) collapse I organized a day to have it put back up. I had JW volunteers from villages far away that I didn't even know.

  When a 5 year old boy was killed in a car accident we had a funeral wherein every eye was crying, even the speaker kept breaking down.

  I'm quite certain that most of us still grieve to some extent over the loss of companionship and family of those who shun us. And I'm sure it is true the other way around, they grieve for us.

  I'm not defending the church, I'm defending the victims in it.
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  89

  Myth of 1914

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the wt engages in history revisionism when insisting the world changed overnight in 1914. in fact the european power struggles that came to a head were centuries old.

  millions of lives had been lost in the wars of the 19th century, with the world a powder keg the years prior to the assassination of franz ferdinand in june 1914 which is often said, albeit rather arbitrarily, as the start of the war that escalated over the next 4 years into the great war.

  take a look at these two pages and ask if the wt's interpretation of history seems accurate to you.

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  peacefulpete

  Fish...take some time reviewing the SDA solution. They clung to 1833 and 1844 and still do but they invented a new period of judgement to fill the void. The still hold the judgment began in 1844 and that those that were alive then have been irrevocably judged. They simply say the judgement period continues on till closed at some point in near future. They decoupled the mini apocalypse of the Gospels from their Daniel and Revelation interpretations. Dates are not that important , it just takes some creativity to move forward after failure. It's an interesting sociological study learning how churches have adapted from their own short sighted beginnings.
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  89

  Myth of 1914

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the wt engages in history revisionism when insisting the world changed overnight in 1914. in fact the european power struggles that came to a head were centuries old.

  millions of lives had been lost in the wars of the 19th century, with the world a powder keg the years prior to the assassination of franz ferdinand in june 1914 which is often said, albeit rather arbitrarily, as the start of the war that escalated over the next 4 years into the great war.

  take a look at these two pages and ask if the wt's interpretation of history seems accurate to you.

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  peacefulpete

  OK, the comments I made a few posts before should be clarified for the sake of accuracy. I had too many tabs open and conflated some of what I was reading. i guess the SDA have dropped the whole sign of the end thing and see it as referring to only Jerusalem. according to this article,

  (https://adventist.news/news/expert-explains-about-plagues-armageddon-and-jesus-return?searchsite=www.adventist.org&ref=on-site-search&searchterm=matthew+24%3A34&_gl=1*n7mx5y*_ga*MjA0Nzk1ODA2MS4xNjcxMTMxMjA5*_ga_2VBYH6KEBQ*MTY3MTEzMTIwOC4xLjEuMTY3MTEzMTg4My4wLjAuMA..&_ga=2.135503864.855966133.1671131210-2047958061.1671131209)

  they see only the sign of the son of man as the sole sign of the end days. That makes the 'generation' declaration seem as fulfilled in entirety. A tidy solution.
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  27

  Watchtower Study : Jehovah Is Helping You To Succeed

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the watchtower—study edition | january 2023. study article 3. jehovah is helping you to succeed.

  how jehovah makes you successful.

  13. does jehovah intervene in every situation we face?

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  peacefulpete

  I can see Jehovah’s loving hand throughout my son’s illness

  That is actually a profoundly truthful statement. Religious belief is the ability to see God's hand in anything, even tragedy. It is a perceptional lens that, when working, is unfalsifiable.
  When we were on a missionary trip we saw God's hand in the availability of a house for us to stay in. Later that house turned out to be flood prone and underwater half the year, we saw it as a test that God helped us over come rather than reconsider our initial conclusion.