He ordered us to preach to the people and to give a thorough witness.—Acts 10:42

[**forum-decorum**]

He ordered us to preach to the people and to give a thorough witness.—Acts 10:42.All of us are subject to “the law of the Christ.” (Gal. 6:2) That law includes all that Jesus taught. Foremost among Jesus’ teachings is that his followers should display love. (John 13:35; Jas. 2:8) And one of the primary ways we show love for God, for Christ, and for our neighbor is by preaching the good news of the Kingdom. (John 15:10; Acts 1:8) Jesus commanded only a relatively small number of his followers—those to whom he appeared after his resurrection—to preach. (Acts 10:40-42; 1 Cor. 15:6) But all his faithful first-century disciples recognized that the command applied to them, even if they had not personally heard Jesus speak. (Acts 8:4; 1 Pet. 1:8) Likewise today, Jesus has not personally spoken to any of the eight million active Kingdom preachers. But all recognize their obligation to exercise faith in Christ and to express that faith by means of the witnessing work.—Jas. 2:18. w15 3/15 4:14, 15

[**forum-decorum**]

Jdlinklàter and astrologica .Xxxxx

I told you both I would try and read both books when I get the time. Well while away last week waiting for baby I did quite a bit of reading of both books.

I studied up on the evolution theory and natural selection, the big bang etc again too.

I have to admit both books were hard going, and after 3 - 4 chapters of each I decided that it was a pointless exercise to continue and finish, both books were just a collection of atheist opinions so obviously would be bias.

What I did read has convinced more that I have the truth.

[bankhaunter]

A short introduction which explains how we know evolution is true.

[bankhaunter]

As for Noah's Ark.

[evoman3957]

ALSO.........3 VERY crucial points:

1. He would have had problems sailing from Ramsgate ( what with all the bad feelings regarding live exports ).

2. I have my doubts as to whether his paperwork and Licence to transport livestock was in order.

and finally

I really don't think the coastguard would have let him put to sea, if the weather was THAT bad.

[lettie0261]

When I was growing up, I lived next door to a family of JW. They were the most miserable family that I have ever known. The 3 children that they had were never allowed out to play with the other kids, were home schooled and couldn't hold a conversation, were holed up in the house 24/7.

Quite often the kids would go with the parents door knocking to preach - that was their only trip out in to the outside world.

No Christmas, no birthdays, no joy of any description.

The wife always had bruises and the man forbid her to talk to anyone. They were not registered with a doctor.

Living next door to that poor family cemented my young mind in to believeing that there couldn't possibly be a 'god' and, if there was, then it was very cruel one that made people live such awful lives.

Years later I found out that the kids were removed from the family by social services and the 'parents' charged with child abuse and neglect. Their JW sect/cult stood up for them as exemplary parents and JW's.

Religion is such a cruel doctrine, invented to control the masses and make the leaders feared and rich.

To believe in a 'man in the sky' seems so immature - I don't need a so called 'god' telling me that I can ONLY live a good life if I believe in a thing that is so cruel.

My conscience is my guide - I need no more than that.

I view religion as a crutch, a means for a person to get away with murder, peadophilia - all in the name of a fantasy figure. A bit like fairies at the bottom of the garden. They do not exist.

Religion is the cause of most wars. If religion was so good why do people commit the attrocities that they do to prove it differently?

[jd.linklater]

---

@**forum-decorum** wrote:

Jdlinklàter and astrologica .Xxxxx

I told you both I would try and read both books when I get the time. Well while away last week waiting for baby I did quite a bit of reading of both books.

I studied up on the evolution theory and natural selection, the big bang etc again too.

I have to admit both books were hard going, and after 3 - 4 chapters of each I decided that it was a pointless exercise to continue and finish, both books were just a collection of atheist opinions so obviously would be bias.

What I did read has convinced more that I have the truth.

---

I thought you might find the Chris Hitchens book hard work but I'm sorry you neglected to finish it. Of course you would find bias in its pages as it is a contrasting viewpoint to your own, but I'm glad you took the trouble to at least give it a try.

Maybe I could interest you in Sapiens: A Brief History Of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. This isn't a rant against religion by any means and the author is no atheist.  It is purely an attempt to illustrate the mistakes human beings have made and are still making since we first set foot on the planet. Mistakes we have made not through lack of belief but purely out of greed and self interest. I found it quite an enlightening read.

It's important to stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone.

[lightblueberet]

"...My conscience is my guide..."

Well said, lettie...Well said ! ! !

[evoman3957]

Yes, quite right, because to have no conscience is to have no soul and to have no soul, is to be devoid of any substance, meaning, or purpose.

[**forum-decorum**]

---

@bankhaunter wrote:

A short introduction which explains how we know evolution is true.

---

No it doesn't, it gives a theory.  xx

[**forum-decorum**]

---

@bankhaunter wrote:

As for Noah's Ark.

---

Just another opinion.

As the people and their theories do not acknowledge a God. they have to find some way of trying to explain it away. So yet another theory.

[lettie0261]

The same as religion - religion is only a theory of a story passed down from before a time when things were written down.

Just like the Romans and Greeks favoured imaginary 'gods' up in the sky. Their level of knowledge and intelligence didn't allow them to know any different.

But man/the human race developed over the centuries and the stories of old were just that - HIStory. The stories became corrupted and repeated according to whatever the fear was of that time.

Religion - always the root of all evil 😞

[**forum-decorum**]

---

@jd.linklater wrote:

---

@**forum-decorum** wrote:

Jdlinklàter and astrologica .Xxxxx

I told you both I would try and read both books when I get the time. Well while away last week waiting for baby I did quite a bit of reading of both books.

I studied up on the evolution theory and natural selection, the big bang etc again too.

I have to admit both books were hard going, and after 3 - 4 chapters of each I decided that it was a pointless exercise to continue and finish, both books were just a collection of atheist opinions so obviously would be bias.

What I did read has convinced more that I have the truth.

---

I thought you might find the Chris Hitchens book hard work but I'm sorry you neglected to finish it. Of course you would find bias in its pages as it is a contrasting viewpoint to your own, but I'm glad you took the trouble to at least give it a try.

Maybe I could interest you in Sapiens: A Brief History Of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. This isn't a rant against religion by any means and the author is no atheist.  It is purely an attempt to illustrate the mistakes human beings have made and are still making since we first set foot on the planet. Mistakes we have made not through lack of belief but purely out of greed and self interest. I found it quite an enlightening read.

It's important to stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone.

---

JD, I dont class it a neglecting as such. I felt I was showing Jehovah disrespect by continuing to read. What I did read wasnt telling me anything different about the opositition to creation that I had already learnt about. I really dont think anything will change my mind.  Peoples on this forum seem to assume that I dont know much about science or biology, and that I have a blind faith. That isnt the case.

What I do have though, is an appreciation for a Grand Creator.  I hope very much I can have the courage of my convictions.

[lightblueberet]

"...I really dont think anything will change my mind..."

Who is asking you to do that, fd ? The real purpose here is not to change your mind, but to broaden it ! If you feel that just by reading the Scriptures, and that alone, is enough...so be it !

[**forum-decorum**]

---

@lettie0261 wrote:

When I was growing up, I lived next door to a family of JW. They were the most miserable family that I have ever known. The 3 children that they had were never allowed out to play with the other kids, were home schooled and couldn't hold a conversation, were holed up in the house 24/7.

Quite often the kids would go with the parents door knocking to preach - that was their only trip out in to the outside world.

No Christmas, no birthdays, no joy of any description.

The wife always had bruises and the man forbid her to talk to anyone. They were not registered with a doctor.

Living next door to that poor family cemented my young mind in to believeing that there couldn't possibly be a 'god' and, if there was, then it was very cruel one that made people live such awful lives.

Years later I found out that the kids were removed from the family by social services and the 'parents' charged with child abuse and neglect. Their JW sect/cult stood up for them as exemplary parents and JW's.

Religion is such a cruel doctrine, invented to control the masses and make the leaders feared and rich.

To believe in a 'man in the sky' seems so immature - I don't need a so called 'god' telling me that I can ONLY live a good life if I believe in a thing that is so cruel.

My conscience is my guide - I need no more than that.

I view religion as a crutch, a means for a person to get away with murder, peadophilia - all in the name of a fantasy figure. A bit like fairies at the bottom of the garden. They do not exist.

Religion is the cause of most wars. If religion was so good why do people commit the attrocities that they do to prove it differently?

---

I like your sig lettie xxxx I have hundreds of enemies.  xxxx

I can understand how you feel. 

Can I ask you how old were you at the time?  Did you have inside the congregation experience of what was supposedly going on?

How much of the standing up for them did you have first hand experience of, do you know all the underlying circumstances?

I doubt you know the whole truth.

I am not condoning any wrong doing by anyone.

I dont know this case either so cannot comment on it personally.

But you cannot blame God and/or his principals. It is down to the imperfect weak individuals not living up to his standards and yes some do hide behind the name. We have a sayin ....The Truth will out. 

Jehovah has clear rights and wrongs we have to live by, it is wrong to abuse anyone child or adult physically or mentally.

If they were genuinely guilty of such wrongs, how do you know they were not disciplined? just because it is not done how you feel it should be done, doesnt mean there is no punishment or discipline.Jehovah sees all, that means inside the congregation as well, if there is disciplining or punishment necassary then it will be carried out. We have to trust in Jehovah.

If I was found guilty of a serious crime I would be made to face up to my crime take responsibilty for it and take the punishment, the law of the Lands and if any given in the congregation.

what does happen many times though is the media and people outside the faith tend to report in a very negative way. Never in a supportive way. Bend the facts or omit or add some. That really is Satan at work.

Gods principals are good loving ones it's what false worldly religions have done in the name of God that is evil

Religion is the cause of most wars. If religion was so good why do people commit the attrocities that they do to prove it differently?

I agree with you on that, the trouble is that due to the lack of understandig Jehovahs Witnesses are being tarred with the same brush as all other false wicked religions.

The wickness is down to the ruler of this world being Satan, misleading the entire inhabited earth.

That is why we as JW's are going from door to door giving who ever will listen the truth about Jehovah and the promises he makes to rid this world of evil and wickeness. False religions will soon be stopped.

[lettie0261]

ALL  religions are false, every single one of them. You believe that yours is the only true one. So do all the others. Every single one of them. If it wasn't for religion there would be less hatred, less wars, less brainwashing. Religion causes all that and more.

Man is gullible, especially when they are at their weakest. Like when my daughter died. From nowhere came all these religious preachers. Every single one of them preaching at me as to why my daughter died. Only the JW BLAMED me though - told me that my daughter had died to punish me. That your so called 'god' wanted me to have everlasting pain for a 'sin' that I had obviously committed. At that point I spat in his face. He never knocked my door again.

As for the JW's I used to live next door to, it does not matter what age I was. I heard the kids crying, begging for the father to stop hitting the mam. He was hitting the mam because the kids had misbehaved. He punished the mam for every 'naughty' act that the kids did. When the mother 'misbehaved' he denied the kids food and water. 

When the kids were removed from the home, the other JW's were up in arms. Preaching that the father was acting on instructions from the 'congregation' and had done NOTHING wrong in their eyes.

What I do know is that the local people were disgusted with those JW's. They put their 'congregational rights' before the health and welfare of innocent children. 

That family, indeed none of the JW's, approved of having pets either. They poisoned the local cats under the pretence that there were rats in the area. They murdered my cat.

Absolutely NOTHING will ever convince me that any religion is 'good'. They only have one purpose - to rule the masses into unquestioning submissiveness. 

I am far too intelligent to believe any of that claptrap. And yes, I have read the bible. It was akin to a horror story.

[**forum-decorum**]

---

@lightblueberet wrote:

"...I really dont think anything will change my mind..."

Who is asking you to do that, fd ? The real purpose here is not to change your mind, but to broaden it ! If you feel that just by reading the Scriptures, and that alone, is enough...so be it !

---

mmmmm, point taken.

Broaden it though in what way?  I am not a young woman by any means, and lived a very varied life, at one time I would argue against the existance of God, I swore I would never become one of Jehovah's witnesses. lol, I grew up in a devided home with a  JW mother and a very opposed strict father. My father hardly ever at home and I was not allowed to celebrate birthdays etc. It sent me off the rails.

I have since come to my senses.  I learnt about the good, the kind, how to love and be patient. How to hate what is bad, how to be patient for Jehovah to step in. How to appreciate my life and what God has done for Mankind.

What else is there,? I am fed and clothed, I have a good home, gorgeouse loving respectful honest children. I look forward to a time when the world will be our oyster, who knows what is round the corner and what wonders will be experienced in a righteous, peaceful, wickness free world. xxx

We are required though to tell anyone that wants to hear about it, not to keep such wonderful prospects to ourselves.

Seriously, If you knew where you could get the waters from the fountain of youth. would you keep it hidden fron your aged parents your sick child your unhappy neighbours. No...you would want to share it!!!!!!   xxxxxx

[lettie0261]

**What else is there,? I am fed and clothed, I have a good home, gorgeouse loving respectful honest children. ***

I have all that and MORE, without the restrictions of religion and false theories.

🙂

[0125arwen]

When i see witnesses involved in so called holy wars then i will class them the same as the rest, until then i will not.

[lettie0261]

---

@0125arwen wrote:
When i see witnesses involved in so called holy wars then i will class them the same as the rest, until then i will not.

---

Nobody is asking you too......

Evilness is not always seen in physical actions - the silent evil is the very worse kind. It creeps up silently, invades the mind, brainwashes the senses. It pretends to care about YOU, but all it really cares about is dominance.

I prefer not to be involved with any of it.

[**forum-decorum**]

---

@lettie0261 wrote:

ALL  religions are false, every single one of them. You believe that yours is the only true one. So do all the others. Every single one of them. If it wasn't for religion there would be less hatred, less wars, less brainwashing. Religion causes all that and more.

Man is gullible, especially when they are at their weakest. Like when my daughter died. From nowhere came all these religious preachers. Every single one of them preaching at me as to why my daughter died. Only the JW BLAMED me though - told me that my daughter had died to punish me. That your so called 'god' wanted me to have everlasting pain for a 'sin' that I had obviously committed. At that point I spat in his face. He never knocked my door again.

As for the JW's I used to live next door to, it does not matter what age I was. I heard the kids crying, begging for the father to stop hitting the mam. He was hitting the mam because the kids had misbehaved. He punished the mam for every 'naughty' act that the kids did. When the mother 'misbehaved' he denied the kids food and water. 

When the kids were removed from the home, the other JW's were up in arms. Preaching that the father was acting on instructions from the 'congregation' and had done NOTHING wrong in their eyes.

What I do know is that the local people were disgusted with those JW's. They put their 'congregational rights' before the health and welfare of innocent children. 

That family, indeed none of the JW's, approved of having pets either. They poisoned the local cats under the pretence that there were rats in the area. They murdered my cat.

Absolutely NOTHING will ever convince me that any religion is 'good'. They only have one purpose - to rule the masses into unquestioning submissiveness. 

I am far too intelligent to believe any of that claptrap. And yes, I have read the bible. It was akin to a horror story.

---

Lettie xxx I am truly sorry xx

I wish you peace and happiness. Xxx