tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682689764476812265.post6724327963998108013..comments2023-12-08T08:52:02.346-08:00Comments on You, Me & Religion: Ed GraingerYou, Me & Religionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11182081644024956860noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682689764476812265.post-22418195567468523592013-06-18T12:57:57.121-07:002013-06-18T12:57:57.121-07:00Hi Danny,
I don't think that numbers is an is...Hi Danny,<br /><br />I don't think that numbers is an issue with the Jehovah's Witnesses. If it was the fastest growing religion on the planet it would be reason for concern for them. (See scripture below). They are genuine people with a strong devotion to their beliefs. Unfortunately they are also inclined to be closed minded and are taught not to question or challenge the religions teachings.<br /><br />Matthew 7:13 "Enter through the narrow gate.<br /><br />For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and ... the<br />road is spacious which leads to destruction, and many are those who are going<br />in it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682689764476812265.post-78668769861653224742013-06-17T14:22:10.048-07:002013-06-17T14:22:10.048-07:00When we look at some of the teachings of the Old T...When we look at some of the teachings of the Old Testament, it is hard to believe that intelligent individuals would believe that these stories were actual historic events. <br />Take the flood of Noah for example. How can anyone believe that all of the earths creatures could be contained on a boat? Yes it makes for a very good story that a pair of each and every living creature was taken on board the ark and thereby survived a worldwide cleansing deluge, but could this have actually happened? The Jehovah's Witnesses along with many other religions believe this to be the case. <br />'Science Daily' gives the following approximation of the number of species that we are dealing with.<br /><br />"That is a new, estimated total number of species on Earth -- the most precise calculation ever offered -- with 6.5 million species found on land and 2.2 million (about 25 percent of the total) dwelling in the ocean depths."<br /><br />6.5million multiplied by two gives us 13 million insect, plant and animal species that Noah had to locate, get on board the ark and then take care of. It might be argued that plant species could survive outside the ark just like the water creatures such as fish. If we keep in mind that the bible says that the entire surface of the earth was covered with water, where would the plants and trees have survived? In some cases, water born seeds would probably have survived along with many species of water creatures but it is the length of time that the earth was covered with water that would have been the issue for many other species. The rain lasted for forty days but the surface of the earth was covered with water for at least a period of six months. Noah and his family with all earths creatures, were evidently in the ark for a period of just over a year. It is just not possible that a small group of humans could have looked after and fed millions of earths creatures for a period of a year in the confinement of a relatively small boat. The food requirements would alone have needed a hundred arks and a large team of very specialized people to carry out the task of feeding and looking after these creatures. At the end of six months under water, the earths surface would have looked something like the surface of the moon. Devoid of life.<br />Of course there are many other aspects such as the fresh water and salt water creatures all being in one large body of water. Many fresh water species are completely intolerant of salt and many salt water creatures cannot live in fresh water.<br />I was amused with an article that I read recently were the scribe insisted that dinosaurs were on the ark. Yes he was serious. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682689764476812265.post-11183005295216530342013-06-16T14:59:54.638-07:002013-06-16T14:59:54.638-07:00Does God exist or did we evolve from microbes whic...Does God exist or did we evolve from microbes which came into existence entirely by chance?<br />The Bible doesn't give us much detail on creation. In fact the account in Genesis is an over simplified version of the scientific marvels of creation. One thing is clear however. The creation process took place over millions, if not billions of years. The fossil records have proved that less than a fraction of a percent of creatures that have lived on the earth are still alive today. We could say that the modern day creatures that share our planet with us are the result of millions of years of divine intervention of the evolutionary process. We are designed to evolve and change with the planets changing conditions. Unlike Darwin's findings, without divine intervention, the planet would not be a beautiful place. Living creatures do not need beauty to survive. Everything could be brown and ugly, we could get by with a very reduced number of living things. Fruits could have been edible without having any taste. Let your imagination go wild. The planet with its diversity was obviously created for our pleasure and enjoyment. Evolution without guidance would have led to chaos.<br />How do we know that God exists? For me, the only proof that we are not alone as the only form of life, comes from spirit mediums. The uncanny ability of these mediums to make contact with those that have died is beyond the realm of trickery. Some say that the ability to make contact with spirits that have crossed over to the other side is the work of the Devil. I personally don't believe this to be the case but even if that were true, it still proves that there is a devil and therefore there has to be a God. If we have determined that there is a God, many other questions arise.<br />Why has everything that he has created and planned gone awry? <br />If he is this almighty, all knowing, all loving being, why was he not able to predict that he was creating creatures as his work force that would turn on him. When he created the angels, they were created as his loyal servants. Firstly one of his most powerful angels being Satan the Devil turned on him and decided to become a villain. Then amazingly, one third of the Angels chose to follow the Devil over God. We as insignificant humans have never met God or his son Jesus but we are expected to love him and dedicate our lives to him. One third of the heavenly angels who were created by god and lived with him in the heavens chose not to do this but directed their loyalties to Satan the Devil. How is this possible?<br />God went on to create man in his likeness. The very first humans that he created were influenced by the devil and sinned. Could God not have foreseen this?<br />Things got so bad from this point that he decided to wipe out all humans from the planet by means of a global flood. The only human survivors of this flood were Noah and his family. <br />There turned out to be no point to this destructive act against mankind as sin very soon returned. Here we are now at a time which many say is near to judgement day. Once again God is preparing to judge mankind by his deeds. Will he once again destroy those who he judges to be wicked. What would be so different this time that mankind doesn't return to his sinful ways?<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682689764476812265.post-68378662343798246512013-06-16T13:30:35.996-07:002013-06-16T13:30:35.996-07:00Ed Grainger seems to believe that The Jehovah'...Ed Grainger seems to believe that The Jehovah's Witnesses might actually have the right beliefs but feels that he can not live up to the required standards.<br />Remember that if you believe what the JW's teach, every other religious organization forms part of 'false religion' and those practicing in these religions are condemned to death as they are of the Devil. This would include every one of the hundreds of thousands of different religious beliefs and sects that we have today.<br />How are they able to declare their beliefs as being correct and all others as being false?<br />Anyone wanting to discover the truth has got a huge problem. In fact several problems.<br />With the religious turmoil of today, it is impossible to investigate all possible religious beliefs and decide which is the right one. It would be like trying to study for an exam on which your life depends and having thousands of different text books to choose from. Each text book is different from the other and interpretations of the same events are depicted differently.<br />It would be absolutely impossible to pass this exam. <br />Does this sound like something that a God of love would want for us? Absolutely not, but It would most definitely suit the plans of Satan the Devil. Many will find what they believe to be the true religion and devote their lives to following the cultures and beliefs of that religion. Not all will be so arrogant as to condemn all other beliefs but clearly some will.<br />Once you have joined the religion by dedicating your life through babtism, as Ed Grainger discovered, there is no easy way out. Anyone within the organization finding fault with the beliefs or asking the wrong questions will be found guilty of Apostasy and will more than likely be 'disfellowshiped' or 'cast out' from the organization.<br />How is it possible to evaluate the beliefs of a religion?<br />There is much that we don't know but God has given us a brain and he expects us to use common sense along with prayerful guidance. To simply believe that Christ is our savior is not enough. When certain fundamental beliefs are incorrect, what does that say for the rest of the teachings of a particular religion? <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682689764476812265.post-34937187681810035742013-06-15T14:43:24.092-07:002013-06-15T14:43:24.092-07:00Having studied the religion to some extent, there ...Having studied the religion to some extent, there are several issues that concern me.<br />The first being that they believe that those found to be righteous will survive an event which they call Armageddon, and will live for all eternity in our fleshly human form, right here on earth.<br />There is no scientist in the world that will consider this as being a possibility.<br />In the first place, not even the earth is going to be here for all eternity. The sun is a star which will ultimately 'burn out' like all stars do. Obviously no sun means no Earth. <br />God created everything to have a certain life span. This includes animals, insects, trees and everything else on the planet. Why would he now change this and have humans living forever while everything else carries on with its natural life cycle. These life cycles are the foundation for the survival of every living thing on the planet. One of the greatest joys is having children and watching them grow up. To avoid over population, this would very soon have to come to an end if nobody is dying.<br />Raise this topic with any Jehovah's Witness and they will probably reply that Jehovah has many surprise in store for us and the possibility of populating other planets is a very real one. <br />My personal opinion is that humans are mortal according to Gods plan and always will be.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682689764476812265.post-52256501149892879662012-04-02T10:22:19.727-07:002012-04-02T10:22:19.727-07:00sounds like there is no room to breathe in that re...sounds like there is no room to breathe in that religion. no wonder people are fearful all the time. afraid to turn left or right without someone telling them where to turn..mollyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16735125308751012847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682689764476812265.post-35266194766284889362012-04-01T14:15:12.443-07:002012-04-01T14:15:12.443-07:00Jehovah's Witnesses reject Birthdays all holid...Jehovah's Witnesses reject Birthdays all holidays,Thanksgiving even benign Mother's day. <br /> The Watchtower leaders want to be 'different' for the sake of being different.Jehovah's Witnesses are a dysfunctional group from the get-go . <br />Christmas-Jesus was not born on exactly Dec 25th,but he also did not have his *invisible* second coming in the month of October 1914,a falsehood that is the core doctrine of the Watchtower religion.<br /> --<br />*tell the truth don't be afraid*--Danny HaszardDanny Haszardhttp://www.dannyhaszard.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1682689764476812265.post-66151568423694792122012-03-31T11:09:02.042-07:002012-03-31T11:09:02.042-07:00The big difference between Jehovah's Witnesses...The big difference between Jehovah's Witnesses and Christians is that the Watchtower Society's central core creed proclaims Jesus second coming in October 1914.<br />They sometimes try to obscure this today and say that he came *invisibly*.Yes,all other Christains are awaiting Jesus return,the JW say he ALREADY came in 1914. <br />Watchtower society membership data is compiled by them,there is no way to verify.Interesting that they have recently admitted to losses in almost all industrialized countries.<br />Reports from TIME Magazine-*An even more extreme example of what might be called *masked churn* is the relatively tiny Jehovah's Witnesses, with a turnover rate of about two-thirds*.<br />That means that two-thirds of the people who were raised Jehovah's Witnesses no longer are.<br /> Jehovah's Witnesses are the highest loss of any religion.<br />--<br />*tell the truth don't be afraid*--Danny HaszardDanny Haszardhttp://www.dannyhaszard.comnoreply@blogger.com