Originally posted by robbie carrobieI've touched a nerve, obviously.
Sorry i have no idea what you are slobbering about. compactness and exceptionalism? Sounds like a loaded question dressed up in unadulterated flowery verbosity. Perhaps a more pertinent question would be, do you ever ask honest questions, ones that don't contain loaded values or an agenda?
I see you as a kind of forum vampire sent here to suck ...[text shortened]... ople with your pronged fangs, shrouded in darkness and using cheap tricks to beguile the unwary.
Originally posted by robbie carrobieYou said this: "You don't tell someone to be a Jehovahs Witnesses any more than you tell them to be a white water canoeist, they have to want to be one."
Perhaps a more pertinent question would be, do you ever ask honest questions, ones that don't contain loaded values or an agenda?
And my [slightly modified] question in reply to that is as follows:
Do you think that the children of JWs might come under psychological pressure from their families and their "elders", to join the church? Or do you think this doesn't happen much?
Originally posted by FMFI know what I said, I wrote it and read it and submitted it. I don't know if they get psychologically pressured or not. They seem for the most part to be happy and balanced kids to me.
You said this: "You don't tell someone to be a Jehovahs Witnesses any more than you tell them to be a white water canoeist, they have to want to be one."
And my [slightly modified] question in reply to that is as follows:
Do you think that the children of JWs might come under psychological pressure from their families and their "elders", to join the church? Or do you think this doesn't happen much?
Originally posted by robbie carrobieAre there any adverse consequences for the children of JWs who decline to join the organization? Do they ever get ostracized? Does your organization counsel its members not to ostracize their children if they choose not to become JWs like their parents?
I know what I said, I wrote it and read it and submitted it. I don't know if they get psychologically pressured or not. They seem for the most part to be happy and balanced kids to me.
Originally posted by FMFYes there can be quite dire consequences, their kids can get involved with drugs and with gangs, sometimes they contract STD's. Once they cast off the wholesomeness of Christian living and get consumed in hedonism they like it for a while and then find out its not all cracked up to be. Many return to the congregation where they feel loved and help others to free themselves of these ills through the application of Bible principles. Many former gang members and drug users have become Witnesses. One can only be ostracised if one is a baptised and dedicated Witness, commits wrong acts and is unrepentant not if you simply don't want to be a witness and have no intention of adopting the lifestyle and even then its only no spiritual fellowship.
Are there any adverse consequences for the children of JWs who decline to join the organization? Do they ever get ostracized? Does your organization counsel its members not to ostracize their children if they choose not to become JWs like their parents?
Originally posted by robbie carrobieAre there any adverse consequences for the children of JWs who decline to join the organization but become members of other Christian churches or denominations instead?
Yes there can be quite dire consequences, their kids can get involved with drugs and with gangs, sometimes they contract STD's. Once they cast off the wholesomeness of Christian living and get consumed in hedonism they like it for a while and then find out its not all cracked up to be.
09 Mar 17
Originally posted by FMFNo. I was 6 when my mom started studying and no I never once felt like I had to join or be one of the JW's.
Do you think that, given the compactness and sense of exceptionalism evident in your church, that the children of JWs might often come under psychological pressure from their families and their "elders", to join the church?
That being said as all parents are usually learning to be parents themselves many times and as a parent I sure made plenty of mistakes with my children. I knew the parents of many young ones my age and up that because of making mistakes in raising their children and I knew of some parents that did wrong in pushing their children to be a JW just as I know that happens in almost any church in the world.
So for ones who say they were forced to "join" no doubt they were. But it is not from the Watchtower Society that that forcing is ever done. If it's not in your hearts and you have other interest, the world is yours.
09 Mar 17
Originally posted by FMFOK......
Maybe interest in the Bible has cooled because good, honest, thoughtful, spiritual people think stuff about "the end of the system, before Armageddon" is pessimistic, misanthropic, groupist nonsense propagated by people with a basically arbitrary obsession with ancient Hebrew mythology, and. if so, the notion that the Bible is said to have predicted its own diminishing relevance and credibility is simply a blend of coincidence and irony.
09 Mar 17
Originally posted by galveston75Do you think it's a good thing for young people to aspire to and strive towards going to university if they so wish?
Ecclesiastes 12:12
12 As for anything besides these, my son, be warned: To the making of many books there is no end, and much devotion to them is wearisome to the flesh.
09 Mar 17
Originally posted by FMFAmen.
My money would be on him having a text ~ called "So Many Opinions" or some such ~ from The Watchtower or Awake he wants to copy paste. galveston75 has form in this area. I cannot recall him ever starting a thread because he was genuinely interested in engaging opinions that deviated from his own.
09 Mar 17
Originally posted by galveston75Opinions:
Opinions run out of control and one has to be careful in their reading of them. One needs to learn of the world but has to use caution.
Did you read the Australian Royal Commission's report into your church?
Not bring that sordid topic itself into this thread, just want a yes or a no on where you exposed yourself to the opinions of the report.