tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28227207.post8377414684575574928..comments2023-09-27T05:04:37.119-04:00Comments on THE APOLOGETIC FRONT: Shawn sheds some light on the issue.Mike Felkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01974482615713418707noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28227207.post-43245764446575305812008-10-01T23:58:00.000-04:002008-10-01T23:58:00.000-04:00My churches that I went to promoted Santa, They ha...My churches that I went to promoted Santa, They had plays with him in there.<BR/><BR/>My churches had Easter egg hunts. with Easter Bunny and all.<BR/><BR/>They had haunted houses at Halloween.<BR/><BR/>I apologize if you thought my comments before sounded hateful. It wasn't meant to.<BR/><BR/>Just study History is all I am saying to find out where all the holidays originate from. Paganism is what I found, even in the "World Book Encyclopedia".<BR/><BR/>Jesus said:<BR/><BR/>Matthew 15 (New American Standard Bible)<BR/>" 3And He answered and said to them, "Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?<BR/><BR/> 4"For God said, '(D)HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,' and, '(E)HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.'<BR/><BR/> 5"But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,"<BR/><BR/> 6he is not to honor his father or his mother[a].' And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.<BR/><BR/> 7"You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:<BR/> 8'(F)THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS,<BR/> BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.<BR/> 9'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME,<BR/> TEACHING AS (G)DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'"<BR/><BR/> 10After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, "Hear and understand.<BR/><BR/> 11"(H)It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.""<BR/><BR/>Jimjimfisher007https://www.blogger.com/profile/00941745120613321567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28227207.post-3866955910797325592008-09-22T16:04:00.000-04:002008-09-22T16:04:00.000-04:00Jim, how are your comments relevant to the issue a...Jim, how are your comments relevant to the issue at hand? And who is speaking in "hatred?" When did disagreeing with someone become synonymous with "hatred?" <BR/><BR/>And who in the Christian religion has mascots? I don't think i've actually ever encountered a church who endorses and promotes Santa. That's what shopping malls do, not churches. <BR/><BR/>And i'm not attacking Jehovah's Witnesses. I love them as people. But I disagree with their teaching. If that equals hate, then the Watchtower society clearly hates me in referring to my God as the "whore of Babylon." Can't say that's very loving is it?Mike Felkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01974482615713418707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28227207.post-86571994056811049152008-09-21T22:26:00.000-04:002008-09-21T22:26:00.000-04:00You who are without sin, cast the first stone.I su...You who are without sin, cast the first stone.<BR/><BR/>I suggest you should study Western Civilization History to find out why we have so many religions today.<BR/><BR/>Why is it that the Christian Religion need mascots to sell there stuff like Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and why one year out of the year party with Satan the Devil at Halloween, which most in Christendom do. Fun and lies for the kids. Islam does not have a Ramadon Roster, and the Jews do not have a Hanukkah Kangaroo. Sound like a lot of greed.<BR/><BR/>Such lies in the churches, (False Prophets), but you have attacked Jehovah's Witnesses who are doing the preaching work of Christ and His disciples, from house to house. Preaching the Good News of God's Kingdom like he taught us to pray for in the "Lord's Prayer", or have you forgotten with your hatred. Were is the Love?jimfisher007https://www.blogger.com/profile/00941745120613321567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28227207.post-86006208988358494572008-06-21T17:17:00.000-04:002008-06-21T17:17:00.000-04:00I sympathize with your situation. However, the nee...I sympathize with your situation. However, the need to keep the congregations of the Watchtower society free from outside influences is the cornerstone of their methods of retaining membership and keeping the rank and file focused on the preaching work. This method of policing the flock is typical of cult organizations. Cults claim an exclusive authority rather than recognizing that the belief system itself, not the organization is what really matters. This exclusivism is reinforced by ensuring that all members adhere to the society's understanding of scripture. To ensure adherence, the cult must police it's own members for those who commit the thought crime of critical thinking, which the society calls 'prideful'.<BR/><BR/>Proving that God is behind any organization is practically impossible. Proof requires physical evidence and since God is not part of the material world, no one can offer physical evidence for the backing of someone in the spirit realm. That said, we can look at what a given organization has produced and compare that with what is written in the Bible ( as opposed to the non-inspired writings of that organization ). Let's look at some of the things that the Watchtower society has produced. I mentioned that there were several predictions made about when Armageddon would arrive and compared that to Deut 18:22 in my second comment of the last blog post. That in itself should be enough to rule out the Watchtower society from having the backing of God, but there's actually a lot more. Early JW predictions about the year 1914 were made, not on interpretation of scripture, but on the length in inches of an exhaust vent in the great pyramid of Giza, which Russell called the second testament next to the Bible. Here's a scan of that chart. <BR/><BR/>http://www.jwfiles.com/scans/PyramidChart.htm<BR/><BR/>...along with a quote from Thy Kingdom Come 3,1916, (Studies in Scriptures), pg 342, Then measuring down the “Entrance Passage”....3457 inches symbolizing 3457 years ....This calculation shows A.D. 1915 as marking the beginning of trouble....the Pyramid witnesses that the close of 1914 was the chronological beginning of the times if trouble.... <BR/><BR/>It defies imagination why God would use the cruel, polytheistic (I'm ignoring the one monotheistic Pharaoh, Akhenaten ), persecutors of God's chosen people to build his 'second testament' next to the bible. It's shear nuttiness. Later, the Watchtower society looked for scriptural support for this pyramid-predicted year of 1914. The calculation of the end of the Gentile Times is not fully understood by many JWs, even those who have been witnesses for many years. The method used to arrive at 1914 however, is not as disturbing as the beginning date of 607 B.C.E. The calculation of the Gentile times hinges on the year 607 B.C.E as marking the first destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Daniel's prophesy of the "seventy weeks of years", according to the WTS, is 2520 years. 607 B.C.E + 2520 + 1 (plus one because there was no 'zero' year ) = 1914. That would be all well and good... except for the fact that the first destruction of the temple in Jerusalem happened in 587/6 B.C.E... twenty years later.<BR/><BR/>So there's two more instances of the lack of divine backing... pyramidology and gross historical inaccuracy. I could go on about the Watchtower society's endorsement of phrenology (reading the bumps on one's head to determine sicknesses and mental dispositions), their claim that aspirin causes heart disease, calling vaccination 'injecting pus into one's veins', but I'll save that for another long-winded comment. :)<BR/><BR/>So I cannot prove or disprove God's backing of the Watchtower society, but these erroneous predictions and unsound advice could not possibly originate with God.Shawnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00437198506245843845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28227207.post-78387727475197053692008-06-21T06:54:00.000-04:002008-06-21T06:54:00.000-04:00You have some really good information on here.I gu...You have some really good information on here.<BR/>I guess my final straw was a Elder creating a FALSE PROFILE on MySpace to Data-Mine those in the Congregation to say, "See here, This FRIEND has this Friend and 1 Cor 15:33 says Bad Associations spoils useful habits. In fact the gathered information was used even in judicial proceedings. State Cyber-Stalking laws weighed heavy against this Elder yet he thought he was at the Right Hand of God.<BR/>Had there been a problem, The Body should have had a Local Needs talk. But there are those that love to push ahead.<BR/><BR/>I was baptized in 1983, But I was upset to see that in 1985 they changed the Questions. At one time I was being baptized into my Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. Then in 1985 I was now being baptized into God's Theocratic Organization (Not Jesus) <BR/>I ask for PROOF that God is Indeed behind this organization and not site a few jerks being released from prison in 1918 as a SEE HERE type setting. All religions suffer persecution and its Members are in and out of jail.<BR/>Just because you use the name of Jehovah don't make you the Only one thats right, In Fact.... READ DEUT 18:20-24 Wait! If your a Witness your not allowed to read the bible and see for yourself what it says. You have to Wait on Jehovah to have the Watchtower bring it out as only THEY can understand the Bible and not YOU!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com