The Most Important Question of Your Life

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

ah. ok. hmmm. never would have guessed he was a Witness. but then, most people would have never guessed i'm Mormon. :D

[Princess 35]

No, Tsl's a regular ol' Christian.

Hall_Marnari aka James Lightsword aka Ben is a Witness.

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I didn't know that. I know that Makia is also

[Andy 60]

Aww pooey, Prin beat me to it. :p

[Chickenman 9]

Okay, what I said was not intended to be hateful, though I guess that's how it came out to some people. I apologize if I offended anyone. I'm just not too keen on some religeon's views on things. Including mine. Especially mine. *shrugs*

Well, sorry, but aren't the boards for discussing your views?

As long as you arn't flaming.

[[Master_Revan] 0]

Okay, what I said was not intended to be hateful, though I guess that's how it came out to some people. I apologize if I offended anyone. I'm just not too keen on some religeon's views on things. Including mine. Especially mine. *shrugs*

Well, sorry, but aren't the boards for discussing your views?

As long as you arn't flaming.

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I did apologise if i had caused any offence, because i wasn't flaming, just making my point, as per the point of the boards, as you did.

[Hall_Marnari 0]

I know this discussion happened a long time ago, but I finally read it, lol

I'm quite used to people opposing my views either in a nice way or landblasting them. It really doesn't bother me, never did. I understand people have their views much the same way that I have mine.

No, we do not accept blood transfusions. Blood is the most sacred fluid that exists, it is the motivator of us all. Our view of not taking transfusions comes directly from the book of Acts...and you'll have to excuse me. I'm without my sword, aka Bible, at this moment so I cannot find the exact Scripture(and for this I am ashamed), but it says to "Abstain from blood."

It is a conscience matter if we except fractions or synthetic treatments. Personally, I'm not sure if I would accept fractions. There's also the procedure of using one's own blood in a continuous loop if possible, and I'm all for that if blood is absolutely necessary. Use of someone elses blood, however? Never.

And we do not "sell" our beliefs, preaching is done on a voluntary, non-paid basis. We charge nothing for our literature and time. If we ask for a donation it never goes into our pockets. Some people would consider us "pushing" our beliefs or "stuffing them down" one's throat. We are not trying to convert, merely offer the message and hope that we ourselves have found and are instructed to tell people.

Any questions can be answered with research, too, if you wish to at www.watchtower.org or by asking any one of Jehovah's Witnesses that happen to come to your house or you talk to any other place.

Sorry about the length, but I had some catching up to do, lol

[GI_Admiral 2]

I'd disagree with your "Selling" part.

The church is as commercial as everything else in this world. They sell their product, which happens to be the word of god. If we look in the past, they used "redemption" as a way to gain money "Pay us, and you'll be cleansed of your sins". These days, they are publishing bibles for money, they have converted bibles to DVDs, to Audio/Casettes, to CDs, and are selling them. Furthermore, I am not attacking your religion, but just as a general observation, in a mass of people, corruption is inevetible. May nto be the highest rank, but somewhere down the chain, there will be underhanded stuff.

Anyways, that's juts my belief about the "selling" part.

[Andy 60]

Yeah, now I'm not trying to bash anyone's relgion here, so don't take this the wrong way, please.

If the Jehovah's Witnesses are not trying to 'stuff it down our throats', why do they never take "I'm not interested" as an answer?

In the past, we have had to shut the door on them to get them to go away. I haven't seen them round here for a while. Probably cos most people don't bother opening the door to them any more.

Plus, on a side note, don't Jehovah's Witnesses believe that only 144,000 people can get into Heaven? In which case, nobody living today can possibly get in.

[Hall_Marnari 0]

To answer GI:

There is no selling involved at all. All monetary tributes are just that: tributes and strictly voluntary. We had troubles with that in the 1920's in Europe when one of the higher people started in like Jim Baker, but we've rooted that out. Everything is strictly voluntary. Even in services, no collection plate is passed, nobody saying "Oh, you have to contribute money." Everyone gives according to his will. If someone has not the means to give anything then that is perfectly fine. All of our literature is free, all of our DVDs, cassete tapes, audio disks, everything is free. If you wish to contribute it is appreciated, but it's not like you have to. If we ask for a donation you can always say no.

To answer Beeurd:

I'll give an illustration. Let's say we all live at the base of Mount Ranier or Mount Vesuvius and all the warning signs were there that it was going to erupt soon and kill thousands of people. But somebody gives you the formula on how to make a vehicle that would get you away from that imminent danger. It's now urgent to get everyone away from danger and you have the answer! You go around to everyone's house and say, "I have the answer to get away from thsi place. The volcano is about to erupt!" The person says they are not interested, even some family members, people you hold dear to your heart. I'd imagine you'd be hurt, so you feel you have to explain further why they need to get away. We feel similarly about our message and why most of us do not take "I'm not interested for an answer." I hope that helped.

And about the 144,000. This is true, we do believe that only 144,000 will go to heaven, HOWEVER, it is often confused that we mean the rest of mankind is damned. That part is untrue. The 144,000 that go to heaven will rule with Christ over those that...[drumroll]...dwell on a paradise Earth. Pslam 37: 29, "The righteous themselves will possess the Earth, and they will reside forever upon it." These are the righteous that are deemed worthy at Armaggedon, Revelation refers to them as "the Great Crowd," and those who are resurrected at a later time.

I hoped this helped, guys.

[Chickenman 9]

To answer GI:

There is no selling involved at all. All monetary tributes are just that: tributes and strictly voluntary. We had troubles with that in the 1920's in Europe when one of the higher people started in like Jim Baker, but we've rooted that out. Everything is strictly voluntary. Even in services, no collection plate is passed, nobody saying "Oh, you have to contribute money." Everyone gives according to his will. If someone has not the means to give anything then that is perfectly fine. All of our literature is free, all of our DVDs, cassete tapes, audio disks, everything is free. If you wish to contribute it is appreciated, but it's not like you have to. If we ask for a donation you can always say no.

There are more ways of selling that just products for money.

I'll give an illustration. Let's say we all live at the base of Mount Ranier or Mount Vesuvius and all the warning signs were there that it was going to erupt soon and kill thousands of people. But somebody gives you the formula on how to make a vehicle that would get you away from that imminent danger. It's now urgent to get everyone away from danger and you have the answer! You go around to everyone's house and say, "I have the answer to get away from thsi place. The volcano is about to erupt!" The person says they are not interested, even some family members, people you hold dear to your heart. I'd imagine you'd be hurt, so you feel you have to explain further why they need to get away. We feel similarly about our message and why most of us do not take "I'm not interested for an answer." I hope that helped.

I don't see the correllation between Mount Vesuvius and God. I'm not sure it's a quality analogy, it seems more like apples and oranges to me. In one, you're saving people from iminent destruction at the hands of molten hot magma. In the other, you're trying to save people by getting them to believe in God and live in the way that your religion suggests that they do. I can see where you're coming from, I think, but I just don't know if the analogy works.

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

that would depend on your beliefs as well. i see the analogy, because to a degree, i believe it as well. i would sure rather be on the right side of Armaggeddon than the wrong side. and you can be sure there will be more than volcanoes errupting then. ;)

[Princess 35]

Yeah there's gonna be a killer asteroid coming towards earth and some oil drillers are gonna land on it and some of em are gonna die but in the end they succeed and we get a cool new Aerosmith song outta it.

Oh crap. Wrong Armegeddon :p

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

lol

[Hall_Marnari 0]

lol

[Link 3]

that was great prin! kudos!

[Princess 35]

*bows*

[Andy 60]

To answer Beeurd:

I'll give an illustration. Let's say we all live at the base of Mount Ranier or Mount Vesuvius and all the warning signs were there that it was going to erupt soon and kill thousands of people. But somebody gives you the formula on how to make a vehicle that would get you away from that imminent danger. It's now urgent to get everyone away from danger and you have the answer! You go around to everyone's house and say, "I have the answer to get away from thsi place. The volcano is about to erupt!" The person says they are not interested, even some family members, people you hold dear to your heart. I'd imagine you'd be hurt, so you feel you have to explain further why they need to get away. We feel similarly about our message and why most of us do not take "I'm not interested for an answer." I hope that helped.

And about the 144,000. This is true, we do believe that only 144,000 will go to heaven, HOWEVER, it is often confused that we mean the rest of mankind is damned. That part is untrue. The 144,000 that go to heaven will rule with Christ over those that...[drumroll]...dwell on a paradise Earth. Pslam 37: 29, "The righteous themselves will possess the Earth, and they will reside forever upon it." These are the righteous that are deemed worthy at Armaggedon, Revelation refers to them as "the Great Crowd," and those who are resurrected at a later time.

Hmm... Second point, fair enough. I guess I never looked into that too closely.

As for the first point... I understand where you are coming from, but it's still a matter of belief. Any fool could see the signs that indicated that the volcano would erupt, but the difficulty with religion is that many people do not believe in the same thing. Hmm its difficult, yeah. lol

By the way, what is the Jehovah's Witnesses view of other religions, such as Catholicism, Islam, Hindu, etc.?

Do you respect the path that other individuals have chosen to find God, or would you still seek to 'convert' them?

[Tsl 7]

He hasn't converted me yet.

Though I've been thinking that out of the interest of broadening my horizens and educating meself, I may pick up the Witnesses version of the Bible and the Book of Mormon, just to see what there is to see. I already have a KJV, an NIV and a "Catholic Bible" (and the Divinci Code :p ) so why not? :p

[Link 3]

and you'll know if i decide to go back to church... either me or the church... not sure which yet... but one of us WILL spontaneously combust.

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

it's been my experience that most religious texts are not light reading. Tsl, i think it's really awesome that you're wanting to learn more about other faiths and read their literature, but just be ready for some serious thinking and pondering.

and maybe i misread your post, but the JWs have a version of the BoM? hmmm....interetsting. but if you want to read it, i'd recommend the Mormon version first. ;)

[Tsl 7]

No, I meant the JW version of the bible (I forget the name of the translation) AND the Book of Mormon. Two separate entities, lol.

But only if I can get free copies :p

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

talk to some Mormon missionaries, and they'll give you a BoM for free. ;)

[Andy 60]

My cousin has read a lot of religious books, including the satanists bibley thingy.

I dunno why, cos he isn't even a religious person. Not sure really what his view is but I was always pretty sure he was athiest.

[Tsl 7]

I'm assuming for the same reason I think it would be good to read other religious works. How can one truly claim to believe anything, including being an athiest, if one has done no looking into the matter?

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

*applauds*

i wish more people thought like that. the world would be a much nicer, friendlier place.