Posts by RR

103

The "Ransom Sacrifice" short version.

by Norm in

jw
friends

in the christian part of the world not many of us have escaped the much hyped and published sacrifice christ supposedly made when the romans executed him.. i myself was going around for years parroting this strange concept without giving it much thought.

thinking and faith some times do not mix very well.. anyway, apparently god made a royal blunder when he created the first humans and they plunged mankind into death and despair first crack out of the box, while god stood by and watched helplessly.

then we are told that god for this reason, in his infinite wisdom took mankind for ransom for thousands of years.

RR

The problem with this thinking is ... it limited the power of God. The Watchtower under the leadership of Rutherford have long held that Jehovah's knowledge is limited, or rather he chooses it to be limited.

In other words, that God has an eternal purpose, as oppose to the biblical view that God has a Divine Plan.

A purpose requires nothing other then a beginning and an outcome. The JW's are taught that God did not know Adam would sin and bring condemnation into the world, so he had to think of a quick solution to rectify it, he thought up "plan a", but Satanm soon threw a wrench into it, so he had to think of "plan b" and so on.

Thus our existence is merely a "cat and mouse" game between the two great entities, a mere chess game between Jehovah and Satan.

In the biblical view of God having a Divine Plan, God in all his wisdom, KNEW, that in creating life as free moral agents, the possibility was that they could decide to sin, so he made a way out for them, through his Son.

So unlike the Watchtowres purpose, where God really has no control, just trying to keep up to Satan, the scriptures teach us that God is in complete control, and everything is going acording to his plans.

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Less Religion and more Jesus!

18

I see little good left in WTS

by Amazing in

jw
friends

you said, "so would it be wrong to accept the fact that the wts, despite its flaws, has many good scriptural truths to share.".

i think most of us accept that the wts has done some good, but as the years pass, i find that the good i thought they did is getting less and less, and more importantly, the harm caused is getting greater than i could possibly imagine.. you continued, "can we reject what they have pressed to the world: god has a name, his kingdom is to solve mans problems, the earth is to become a paradise as god purposed, man will live endlessly on earth as intended, those who died will return in a resurrection of the dead rather that burn in hell, and this good news is to be preached in all the earth.".

at this point in my life, after 25 years of being a jw and now an ex-jw, i find their message, its very root concepts, pure fantasy that may not necessarily god's will.

RR

Personally, I believe the Society started out with the Lord's best interest at heart. This can be seen from the early Russell era writings, where Christlikeness was stressed, where Jesus was given worship in both praise and song.

Somehow the Judge took over and decided to use the Society for his own personal gain, many left, and he took advantage of those "babes" left behind to convert them to his way of thinking, knowing no better they went along with the program and recruited more for the cause.

Today the Witnesses are a product of Rutherford and his way of thinking, that they are the one trure religion and all others are of the devil, isolating themselves from the outside world, they have sheltered themselves.

Yes, the Society has done a lot of good, but this good was meant for them, such as the supreme court decisions on freedom of worship amd speech, personally, I think the Lord used them [since they had the enegery, resources and will to fight], for the benefit of his people world wide, we know in times past Jehovah used unbelievers to accomplish his purpose for the cause.

Dos the Socxiety have Jehovahj's holy spirit? I think they are just riding on the waves of one hundred years ago, their spirit is running out, and they are just fighting to survive, I don't think it is a matter of trueth anymore, but a matter of survival. As I stated in another post, for the Society to make drastic changes and return to the scriptures, they will have to risk losing much in membership and finances, their not willing, they want their cake and be able to eat it to. They will lose, that will be their downfall!

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Less Religion and more Jesus!

8

The Trinity: Divine or Demonic?

by Agape in

as a non-x-witness, what do you folks think of the concept of one god in three persons?

some of you probably still have a hard time with it, as did raymmond franz, former governing body member.

nonetheless, the claims made by the bible itself seems conclusive enough upon close examination.. so why do recovering jws not question everything outright, rather than slowly, incrementally replacing doctrines.

RR

Having examined the claims of the trinity, I have found that the Bible itself does not support the doctrine, and that it is a man made doctrine. Realize of course that the doctrine itself differs from denomination to denomination!

The issue of a 'god-man' is so foreign to scripture, yes ... I believe it is a God dishonoring doctrine!

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Less Religion and more Jesus!

102

In there no good in the WTBTS??? or ourselves??

by jst2laws in

jw
friends

we hopefully all agree it is wrong to reject an entire race because we have found one of its member to be flawed, or to reject an entire concept an the basis of finding a flaw in its argument.

would not fair people look for a way to accept the good in the concept, modify the flawed portion and rejoice in what was gained from the refined concept?

it would also be wrong, as the wt does, to reject an entire institution because some of its precepts are flawed.

RR

Personally, I believe that most of the rank and file among the Jehovah's Witnesses are sincere, for that matter, I believe the rank and file within the Watchtower Society are sincere. However, as in most, there are some who are not sincere, who are power hungry.

I believe that at the rsik of losing much, the Society under its current administration will not change much.

It seems that too often they like to test the market, introduce a little chnage, make it unnoticeable and see if anyone bites, if the results are positivem then they proceed, negative, they stop.

Of course, too much change will cause a schism and I don't think the powers that be will want another Worldwide Church of God on their hands, where the powers that be made such drastic changes [embracing orthodoxy] that they lost more than 60 percent of their members, financially strapped, they had to sell buildings and universities.

Of course, such weeding out can cause good effects too, those who leave to continue the old ways, may cause those who left because of the "old ways" to return to the "new ways", making them stronger.

Personally, the Society could crumble and fall, and I could care less, my faith is in Jesus, not with man made organizations!

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Less Religion and more Jesus!

8

Watchtower Reorganizes

by RR in

jw
friends

and yet another reorganization and name change:.

.

less religion and more jesus!

RR

Actually, that's a real cartoon, I just added the text!

_______________
Less Religion and more Jesus!

8

Watchtower Reorganizes

by RR in

jw
friends

and yet another reorganization and name change:.

.

less religion and more jesus!

RR

who was jesus?

The only begotten Son of God!

and does he even HAVE a function with the jws?

Exclusively? no! Limitedly? maybe!

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Less Religion and more Jesus!

8

Watchtower Reorganizes

by RR in

jw
friends

and yet another reorganization and name change:.

.

less religion and more jesus!

RR

And yet another reorganization and name change:

_______________
Less Religion and more Jesus!

12

Did you know that George Benson is a JW?

by Kent in

jw
friends

did you know that the jass musican george benson is a jw?.

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis/web/vortex/display?slug=jazz25&date=20000825.

kent

RR

I met George Benson year agao when the Society purchased the Stanley Theater in Jersey City, New Jersey, we were cleaning the tiolets together.

Did you know that the Wayans Family are Jehovah's Witnesses, well except of course the "kids" Marlon, Keenan and Damon, who left to pursue their own careers.

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Less Religion and more Jesus!

4

C.T.RUSSEL/ELDERS/and the WTS

by MacHislopp in

jw
friends

i do have a problem...can you help me to harmonize these quotes?.

*** yb75 39 united states of america (part one) ***.

all congregation members voted congregationally on certain matters and also elected a board of elders, responsible for directing congregational matters.

RR

I agree Gianluca, it's "rubbish."

Fact of the matter is, ALL congregations were autonomous, meaning they were self-governing. ALL officers, [elders, deacons, etc.] were elected by the congregation.

In many instances, congregations elected Pastor Russell as an honorary elder in their classes, this simply meant that he was conferred upon in the event of problems. The Society itself simply operated as a publishing house, NOTHING MORE!

This seems to be a case of rewriting history, which the Society is often guilty of!

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Less Religion and more Jesus!

26

memorial: how do you feel?

by unanswered in

jw
friends

this question is mostly for those of you who still believe in the bible to some extent.

my mother-in-law called the other day to see if rileygurl and i were going to the memorial this year.

we told her that we wouldn't be attending.

RR

I don't attend JW memorials, but I do believe in the memorial, and believe it is Biblical. I do observe the memorial in the same way that the JW's do, only this time I partake!

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Less Religion and more Jesus!