you said you admire warner as a man of faith, implying you strive to be that way.
but like i said, there is no way someone who posts what you do on a consistent basis can even hint at the possibility of being religious is something to strive for.
not from you, pretty much anyone else besides you and total recall, unless you just do the conspiracy talk as a gimmick.
but like i said, there is no way someone who posts what you do on a consistent basis can even hint at the possibility of being religious is something to strive for.
not from you, pretty much anyone else besides you and total recall, unless you just do the conspiracy talk as a gimmick.
LOL.....Again...You assume that admiring a man of faith means one has to be religious....do you admire Mother Teresa? Do You Respect Archbishop Romero? I admired both of them growing up but for reasons that are not commonplace....but everyone on this board knows how I feel about the Vatican....
GTC...quit this one while you are ahead...don't make me reprimand you....lol
Well now we are getting specific....Modern Day Christianity does not resemble what is was Pre Gnosticism...and that is where I and Present Day Christians fall out.....The Jehovas are involved in something they do not entirely understand... but that can also be said for 90 percent of most people who deem themselves of any particular faith....
I agree with this post. There's certainly an honest perception by some Christians that their religion is being subjected to undue persecution within the USA, but at the end of the day, it's a pretty silly notion that's usually founded on simple ignorance of Constitutional law rather than on some actual conspiracy of non-Christians to harm Christians.
Jehovah's Witnesses are considered deviant from mainstream
Christianity mostly for the following reasons:
1. They deny that Jesus is God
2. They deny the doctrine of the trinity
3. They have their own translation of the Bible, distorted for their own
doctrines:
The Watchtower Society's New World Translation of the Bible has attracted criticism since its publication in 1961. The translation bears no translator's name and is presented as the anonymous work of the "New World Translation Committee". Raymond Franz, a former member of the Governing Body, has claimed that of the four men he says constituted the committee, only one – its principal translator, Fred Franz – had sufficient knowledge of biblical languages to have attempted the project.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference">[2]</sup> Frederick Franz had studied Greek for two years and was self-taught in Hebrew.<sup id="cite_ref-fred56_2-0" class="reference">[3]</sup>
Criticism of the translation has centered chiefly on two claims. One is that its insertion of the name Jehovah 237 times in the New Testament was done without any evidence that the name existed in the original Greek manuscripts.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference">[4]</sup> The other more-commonly cited criticism is that the translation of certain texts is biased towards specific Witness practices and doctrines.<sup id="cite_ref-pentonbible_4-0" class="reference">[5]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference">[6]</sup> These include the use of "torture stake" instead of "cross" throughout the New Testament;<sup id="cite_ref-pentonbible_4-1" class="reference">[5]</sup> the rendering of John 1:1, with the insertion of the indefinite article ("a") in its rendering to give "the Word was a god";<sup id="cite_ref-pentonbible_4-2" class="reference">[5]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference">[7]</sup> Romans 10:10, which uses the term "public declaration", which may reinforce the imperative to engage in public preaching;<sup id="cite_ref-pentonbible_4-3" class="reference">[5]</sup> John 17:3, which uses the term "taking in knowledge" rather than "know" to suggest that salvation is dependent on ongoing study,<sup id="cite_ref-pentonbible_4-4" class="reference">[5]</sup> and the placement of the comma in Luke 23:43, which affects the timing of the fulfillment of Jesus' promise to the thief at Calvary.<sup id="cite_ref-bottingbible_7-0" class="reference">[8]</sup>
4. Unfulfilled predictions of the JW Church:
Unfulfilled predictions
From the earliest writings of Watch Tower Society founder, Charles Taze Russell, in the mid-1870s, Watch Tower publications have asserted the reliability of their predictions, with emphatic language such as "established truth"<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference">[10]</sup> and "indisputable".<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference">[11]</sup> Predictions made in 1892 that Armageddon would take place in October 1914 asserted the date was "definitely marked in Scripture",<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference">[12]</sup> and Watch Tower editor Charles Taze Russell declared: "We see no reason for changing the figures – nor could we change them if we would. They are, we believe, God's dates, not ours."<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference">[13]</sup> Predictions about the arrival of Christ's thousand-year reign in 1925 were said to be "correct beyond a doubt",<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference">[14]</sup> "absolutely and unqualifiedly correct",<sup id="cite_ref-WTJuly15_14-0" class="reference">[15]</sup> "indisputable"<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference">[16]</sup> and bearing "the stamp of approval of Almighty God".<sup id="cite_ref-WTJuly15_14-1" class="reference">[15]</sup> Watch Tower publications have occsionally admitted to have "suggested dates that turned out to be incorrect" as a result of their "eagerness for Jesus’ second coming", adding that they had never claimed that the predictions were "the words of Jehovah."<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference">[17]</sup> The publications have at times simply dismissed their previous statements, instead asserting that members "read into the Watch Tower statements that were never intended",<sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference">[18]</sup> and that the beliefs of members were "based on wrong premises".<sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference">[19]</sup> Other failed predictions are ignored completely. One book, The Finished Mystery (1917), applied events to the years 1918-1925 that had earlier been scheduled for the years before 1914. When some of those events again failed to transpire, a later edition of the book (1926) altered the statements and removed the dates.<sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference">[20]</sup>
Predictions (by date of publication) include:
- 1877: Christ's kingdom would hold full sway over the earth in 1914; the Jews, as a people, would be restored to God's favour; the "saints" would be carried to heaven.<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference">[21]</sup>
- 1891: 1914 would be "the farthest limit of the rule of imperfect men."<sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference">[22]</sup>
- 1904: "World-wide anarchy" would follow the end of the Gentile Times in 1914.<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference">[23]</sup>
- 1916: World War I would terminate in Armageddon and the rapture of the "saints".<sup id="cite_ref-23" class="reference">[24]</sup>
- 1917: In 1918, Christendom would go down as a system to oblivion and be succeeded by revolutionary governments. God would "destroy the churches wholesale and the church members by the millions." Church members would "perish by the sword of war, revolution and anarchy". The dead would lie unburied. In 1920 all earthly governments would disappear, with worldwide anarchy prevailing.<sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference">[25]</sup>
- 1920: Messiah's kingdom would be established in 1925 and bring worldwide peace. God would begin restoring the earth. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and other faithful patriarchs would be resurrected to perfect human life and be made princes and rulers, the visible representatives of the New Order on earth. Those who showed themselves obedient to God would never die.<sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference">[26]</sup>
- 1922: The antitypical "jubilee" that would mark God's intervention in earthly affairs in 1925 would take place in "probably the fall" of that year.<sup id="cite_ref-26" class="reference">[27]</sup> The chronology was described as "correct beyond a doubt",<sup id="cite_ref-27" class="reference">[28]</sup> "absolutely and unqualifiedly correct",<sup id="cite_ref-WTJuly15_14-2" class="reference">[15]</sup> bearing "the stamp of approval of Almighty God"<sup id="cite_ref-WTJuly15_14-3" class="reference">[15]</sup> and "too sublime to be the result of chance or of human invention".<sup id="cite_ref-WTJuly15_14-4" class="reference">[15]</sup>
- 1924: God's restoration of the Earth would begin "shortly after" October 1, 1925. Jerusalem would be made the world's capital. Resurrected "princes" such as Abel, Noah, Moses and John the Baptist would give instructions to their subjects around the world by radio, and aeroplanes would transport people to and from Jerusalem from all parts of the globe in just "a few hours".<sup id="cite_ref-28" class="reference">[29]</sup>
- 1938: In 1938, Armaggedon was too close for marriage or child bearing.<sup id="cite_ref-29" class="reference">[30]</sup>
- 1941: There were only "months" remaining until Armageddon.<sup id="cite_ref-30" class="reference">[31]</sup>
- 1942: Armageddon was "immediately before us."<sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference">[32]</sup>
- 1966: It would be 6000 years since man's creation in the fall of 1975 and it would be "appropriate" for Christ's thousand-year reign to begin at that time.<sup id="cite_ref-32" class="reference">[33]</sup> Time was "running out, no question about that."<sup id="cite_ref-33" class="reference">[34]</sup> The "immediate future" was "certain to be filled with climactic events ... within a few years at most", the final parts of Bible prophecy relating to the "last days" would undergo fulfillment as Christ's reign began.
- 1968: No one could say "with certainty" that the battle of Armageddon would begin in 1975, but time was "running out rapidly" with "earth-shaking events" soon to take place.<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference">[35]</sup> In March 1968 there was a "short period of time left", with "only about ninety months left before 6000 years of man's existence on earth is completed".<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference">[36]</sup>
- 1969: Human existence would not last long enough for young people to grow old; the world system would end "in a few years". Young Witnesses were encouraged not to bother pursuing tertiary education for this reason.<sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference">[37]</sup>
- 1974: There was just a "short time remaining before the wicked world's end" and Witnesses were commended for selling their homes and property to "finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the pioneer service". <sup id="cite_ref-37" class="reference">[38]</sup>
- 1984: There were "many indications" that "the end" was closer than the end of the 20th century.<sup id="cite_ref-38" class="reference">[39]</sup>
Am I the only one here who thinks you just make this stuff up?
I live in the Deep South Bible Belt and in past 30 years of living in my own home encounter maybe three or four knocks on the door per year from any form of Christian outreach. And those have been 100% limited to Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses.
If you don't want people knocking on your door, buy a $5 sign to place beneath your doorbell advising religious folks to not bother you. You'll never be bothered again.
