Posts by anti-absolutism

16

Does anyone TRULY die?

by anti-absolutism in

jw
friends

i have been reading the book, "the power of positive thinking" by norman vincent peale.

he is/was a christian minister, but his thoughts on god are somewhat different than what i thought a minister's thoughts would be.

in the second last chapter he expresses an interesting viewpoint.

I have been reading the book, "The Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale. He is/was a Christian minister, but his thoughts on God are somewhat different than what I thought a minister's thoughts would be.

In the second last chapter he expresses an interesting viewpoint. I will quote him, from page 189.

"For my part, when I gained the unshakable belief that there is no death, that all life is indivisible, that the here and hereafter are one, that time and eternity are inseparable, that this is one unobstructed universe, then I found the most satisfying and convincing philosophy of my entire life."

What does anyone here think about that? How many agree or disagree on that philosophy?

Brad

31

Letter to my dad-----need feedback please!!!!!!!!!!!

by Jesika in

jw
friends

dear father,

i have written you letters so many times.

this letter i have to give you.

anti-absolutism

I agree wholeheartedly with Francois that it is for YOU. My wife was abused as a child, and she hasn't CONFRONTED the abuser yet. She said she doesn't want to ruin his life.

My very strong opinion, (from my own experience) is that confronting the abuser is a necessary first step. I tried to express to her that, while her intentions of not wanting to ruin his life, are VERY noble, that it still doesn't change the fact that when the abuser is not confronted, it upsets the law of relativity in the universe. When the VICTIM suffers, and the ABUSER doesn't, it takes all of the power and energy from the VICTIM and unfairly moves it over to the ABUSER. It is not natural or good for the victim to continue to suffer.

It is a very self-empowering thing that you are doing. I also agree, though that it shouldn't be in anger either and it doesn't seem as though it is.

Take care, Brad

10

Clarification sought

by donkey in

ok...as you know donkey's are dumb and i am no exception.. i am thinking about 1975 and how jw's got into that mess.. according to the calculated chronology at the time jw's thought that 1975 would be the end of the 6000th year of man's creation (also coinciding with the advent of armageddon).

is that correct?.

did they claim that there would be 1000 years of earthly rule to conclude the 7th creation day (god's rest day)?

anti-absolutism

I'm not sure how much the dates concern you, but here are some facts:

The JW's, through the chronolgy in Genesis chapter 5, (assuming that their way of figuring it out was correct) came to the conclusion that Adam was created in 4,026 BCE. And, like others have said, they believed that each creative day was 7,000 years.

In the old green Bibles, 1961 edition of the NWT, at the end of Revelation, there is a table showing the time period covered by each book. On that page, regarding Genesis, it states that the, "In the beginning" part of the Bible, or the first part of God's creation started in 46,026 BCE. Take the first six days X 7,000 years (42,000 years), and you get to Adam's creation in 4,026 BCE. Remembering that there was no 0 year, 1975 becomes the supposed 6,000th year of man's existence. (The new Bibles are changed, not mentioning a specific date)

So, the JW's believed (and I have heard on the net some of even Franz's explanation of this during a talk) that it 'would be entirely logical to conclude that the 1,000 year reign would coincide with the last 1,000 years of the seventh creative day'.

The amazing thing is that even though they wrote a lot about this chronology, and gave talks on it, and so on, they have the nerve to blame the people who slightly questioned ...."WHAT HAPPENED"?

I had an elder recently tell me that the Governing Body are such meek and humble men, especially since they are directly chosen from God!!!!!!

Hey, if you guys give me such reverence, I will talk really nice to you for the rest of my life too.

It amazes me that men who are so ignorant in their understanding of anything spiritual can also be so arrogant. It doesn't seem possible..

Brad

22

12th Planet: What if......

by blackguard in

jw
friends

what if.... the so-called tribulation means distress and is great only in the sense of duration, having ran uninterruptedly for nigh on 2000 years?.

what if....the so-called last days commenced at pentecost and has also been running uninterruptedly since?.

what if....the so-called signs of the last days are the very non-signs christ jesus warned not to be decieved by?.

anti-absolutism

Does everybody remember what happened when Orwell's "War of the World" was broadcast on the radio? Humans certainly do at least seem to be a little gullible, and they seem to like doom and bad news. Has anyone here ever passed a bad accident and NOT looked to see how BAD anybody got it?

Just my 2 cents... Brad

3

Do they imagine that they have some sort of special powers mandate ?

by A Paduan in

do elders, or other jws, convince themselves that they have some sort of divine mandate which allows them to walk over the top of people's rights ?

i know some jws who appear to simply do as they please, whether or not it infringes on anyone's privacy, or impacts on their lifestyle, or even their natural rights, and i've read posts here which would indicate that elders in particular may simply enter someone's home uninvited, and worse.

what's your experiences of this imaginary authority?

anti-absolutism

If all they did was come into my house, I wouldn't be so peeved. It's the fact that they got into my HEAD that is the most damaging thing.....

Brad

6

What are the baptism questions....

by starfish422 in

can someone point me to a website with the baptismal questions on them?

just the ones they ask you during the baptism talk.

:) thanks.. peace.

anti-absolutism

I was baptized in 1986, at 17 years of age. I guess that means I got the 1985 version. I certainly didn't take what I thought was faith in God lightly but I swear the real question(s) I was hearing during that talk were like this:

1) Do you realize that your two older sisters and your older brother have all gone on to pioneer by now and you haven't even taken the step of baptism yet?

2) Do you not realize that you will never get any respect from any of your peers in the organization until you follow exactly in their footsteps, and that first step is baptism?

To these questions I very Boldly answered "YES", and the rest, they say, is history. I guess when coming out it made it a little bit easier for me than actually answering the real questions.

Cheers, Brad

31

Six million people mislead?

by ikhandi in

i have done a little research since joining this board and honestly believe that jehovahs witnesses fit in the cult category.

however what i don't understand if this is not the so called true religion as most of you have expressed how do you figure six million were mislead into believing it is the only true religion?

i mean this is not like the heaven's gate cult or the infamous jonestown cult who had very little followers in comparison with jehovahs witnesses.

anti-absolutism

Hey, Scoob... now THAT was sarcasm..... LOL no offense

31

Six million people mislead?

by ikhandi in

i have done a little research since joining this board and honestly believe that jehovahs witnesses fit in the cult category.

however what i don't understand if this is not the so called true religion as most of you have expressed how do you figure six million were mislead into believing it is the only true religion?

i mean this is not like the heaven's gate cult or the infamous jonestown cult who had very little followers in comparison with jehovahs witnesses.

anti-absolutism

Scoob... to say that someone here will find quotes, take them out of context and that that would seem to suggest that it would be unfair to JW's is somewhat hypocritical. If you ever were a JW, whether it is said in their literature, (which it is, for all intents and purposes) or not, you have to admit that the VAST majority of JW's (including myself), certainly regarded the INCREASE in numbers to be PROOF of being under God's guidance.

Refiner's Fine..... you said, IMHO, the most realistic thing posted on this topic. How many times did we hear about WW1, being such OBVIOUS proof that it was the end of the Gentile Times. The evidence was not in any proof that Jesus appeared in heaven. It was the combination of a few things:

1) one occultic, freaked out , pyramidologist that had been predicting signs for years of the end of the world

2) a slightly bigger war than we had had in a long time (but not bigger in regards to percentage of people involved or of the death toll than other previous wars)

3) a bunch of people that felt enough insecurity within themselves that they needed to find peace for themselves from some channel other than their own psyches..(these people have been in abundance for milleniums, so not a 'hard to find' group)

Combine these things together and you have a perfect recipe for a new cult or religion or faith (you can choose which one you feel comfortable calling it).

By the way in lieu of the events in the Middle East, I have started a new religion. It is called "The Disorganization of Non-Denominational Bible Students". But in order to be able to preach the Word to as many people as possible, I am starting to take donations. Money is preferred and can be sent to my personal account (available upon request). If money is tight, then your time is welcome and just start going door to door asking for donations (a small printed item with some tangible value should be offered as that will enable people's psyche to comprehend that they are "getting" something for their donation.

Now can all who are eager please pray with me that George W. Bush blast the crap out of Saddam as that will have the greatest impact on the seemingly in-bred human desire to need to find "religion" in order to save their sorry asses!!!!! With all of the disgruntled religious people out there, I think the timing is perfect for our NEW FAITH.

Thank you in advance for your concern for the spiritual welfare of our world's people.

Brad

P.S. The biggest recriuter will be designated as my replacement.

P.P.S. If one of you is a judge and has intentions of taking over control of MY religion by some underhanded, YET LEGAL means, please do not join our ranks, as that would cause my name to be slandered to time eternal by anyone who is intelligent!!!!

Just in case you haven't figured it out, ScoobySnax, this is a joke. LOL..... Isn't life freaking hillarious!!!!!!! I hope everybody gets half of the enjoyment that I gave myself writing that one........woohoo

27

THE ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE

by Nowhere in

i found this in one of my course books.

it's quite interesting, added to a chapter dealing with dynamics of friedman-robertson-walker universes.

it looks to me like this man doesn't deny the possibility of a diety, and he is a respected scientist, no creation-pseudo-nonsens-scientist.

anti-absolutism

All this theory stuff. It's wonderful!!! Wouldn't life be so much more boring if we were perfect and knew all the answers?

OH WAIT A SECOND!!!!! I used to know everything and believed I was on the verge of perfection. It was called JWism. And jumping Jehosafat (purposely misspelled to ensure my perfectionistic needs are not fulfilled..... lol) my life is certainly a lot more enjoyable now that there are so many theories that I allow to enter my mind...

Brad

10

Why Do Jehovah's Witnesses View Disfellowshipping The Same As The Jews?

by minimus in

jw
friends

jw's are so fond of quoting the scripture about treating a sinner "just as a man of the nations and as a tax collector".

since this was clearly an unloving jewish practice, why does the society feel obliged to use this jewish practice in disfellowshipping??

?

anti-absolutism

I was df'd for having sex with my wife of 10 years. I was going to leave my comment like that, (with the misplaced modifier), and I thought it would be funny to have people wonder why THAT would get me df'd. Then I remembered about the stories in Crisis of Conscience about people ACTUALLY being df'd for that, (having certain sex with their spouse, only to have the WTBTS change their opinion a few years later, never having re-instated anybody they had wronged...GRRRRRR!!!) so I decided to leave that comment in for that reason, instead.

Truth is that it was sex before we were married.... OH!!!! for shame!!!!!! But the feeling of guilt for MY SIN did lead me into a marriage that was Hell for both of us. We are now happily getting divorced 10 years later... (please don't cry.... lol )

But, in regards to your comments, I have been reminded of that Gord-damn scripture relating to how ex-JW's are to be treated like tax collectors and it has frustrated me plenty!!!

Other than that one scripture,(which I couldn't even find), about how to apparently treat df'd or other ex-JW's , every other NWT indexed scripture for "tax collector" sheds them as being in a VERY positive light. Read some of those scriptures: Mt 11:19, 21:32; Mark 2:15; Luke 3:12; 15:1; 18:11; 19:2, and you will see how, completely contrary to how I and MANY others were treated, the SUPPOSED BAD-ASS tax collectors seemed to actually be treated like gods compared to the arrogant Pharisees.

Something to think about for sure.

On another topic, do you think the Jews were actually the chosen people...... absolutely no offense to the Jews of the world, but it seems like the Jews' god in the Old testament was a mean mother ....

Is it possible that they kicked the 'life' out of people, literally, only because they had the conviction that they were from the big guy? Their perception of superiority was possibly the over-riding factor.

Brad