Re: Catholic Church admits Bible is BS
 

No mate I think you need to simplify when you are being clever. I did not know what proselytise means so I googled it and it says

"convert or attempt to convert (someone) from one religion, belief, or opinion to another."

So to this point it is a no because our brothers and sisters have already made their choice so no need to change them

"advocate or promote (a belief or course of action)."

This also has to be a no because it is not advertised again only really those of us who already made the choice know about it. If we were pushing for recognition in what we did then you would see a lot more press on it

The way we preach is door to door spreading the message of the Kingdom or since Covid by letter writing spreading the same message

---------- Post added at 22:11 ---------- Previous post was at 22:09 ----------

you are not putting your boot into an organisation though as they are not here only I am. In fact you are doing exactly what Hugh say we do and you are proselytising trying to convert me

Re: Catholic Church admits Bible is BS
 

No, mate, you need to read your own links…

https://thecounter.org/churches-usda...rch-and-state/

This may come as a shock to you (as you didn’t know what "proselytising" meant), but going door-to-door and writing letters is proselytism, as you are trying to persuade someone to change their religious beliefs or way of living to your own.

You may find this helpful.

https://www.yourdictionary.com/proselytize

Re: Catholic Church admits Bible is BS
 

The Watchtower Society doesn’t have to be here for me to put the boot into them. The Watchtower Society is a cult that only lets its members read material it has directly approved and claims only it can interpret the Bible. My desire is that nobody be a member of it and that nobody think this is what being a disciple of Jesus looks like.

Real Christianity is an evangelistic faith - this should come as no surprise. It is however also driven by God’s compassion for the poor and oppressed and Christian mission societies do not typically put faith-oriented preconditions before helping those in material need. That is what Hugh pointed out: not that those ensnared in the Watchtower cult proselytise, which many faiths do, but that even when the lives of non-members are in peril, aid is conditional on engagement with cultic activities.

Re: Catholic Church admits Bible is BS
 

you both really have no idea what it is like to be a Witness. I tell ya it is an awesome life. Really should never have engaged in this thread that is my mistake. Still I must say to be honest I have found I have a thicker skin than I thought I did. I feel I have done well in how I taken all this and how I have posted without rising to the bait. You pair not so much in my opinion

Re: Catholic Church admits Bible is BS
 

I think you should all sacrifice a goat and hurl it's entrails at a wall to see who's right;)

Re: Catholic Church admits Bible is BS
 

Yes, but my church believes that the pancreas is the most important organ while that load of heretics down the street think it’s all about the spleen. What happens if both spleen and pancreas end up wrapped around the picture rail? Who’s right and what does it all mean?

Re: Catholic Church admits Bible is BS
 

I have nothing but respect for you Chris. I have always found you very sage, but those two words make me frown.

As I have stated on here many times I was brought up Roman Catholic, but I am now non-religious.

I have a JW Kingdom Hall, not far from me and they, as they do, call round and as I’m polite I engage with then and they leave the two standard publications. My favourite item was always “was it designed or was it luck”. Or something like that, as they failed to grasp what evolutionary theory was. They have their view on the story of Christ that may not chime with your view, but it’s their view.

But my ire with your comment is the inflection that my Christianity is better that your Christianity. We have the same god but you’re not doing it right. You’re not real.

In how many other areas in society, can that, and is that accusation often made?

That’s not “real” socialism, that’s not “real” communism, that’s not real Islam…. examples in point.

Those arguments can lead to extremism.

That very notion is the reason I’m non-religious.

This will be my first and only post in this thread.

Re: Catholic Church admits Bible is BS
 

Fair point, however I’m not appealing simply to what goes on in my own church on a Sunday morning here. I’m talking about orthodox Christianity that rests on the Nicene-Constantinople Creed, which is the refined, finally-agreed form of essential Christian belief that all Christian churches agree with. It has existed in its final form since the 4th century AD (though it reflects the teachings of the church fathers back to the first generation church) and has survived schism, reformation and all manner of conflict.

With a Catholic upbringing you may remember it; it begins “I believe in One God, the Father almighty”. Real Christianity, regardless of denomination, is in agreement with that creed. From time to time, throughout history, movements have occasionally sprung up that reject the creed. Most often they reject the Trinitarian parts, which confess that God is eternally Father, Son and Spirit, three and yet also one. Whatever disagreements different denominations have had, they have always agreed that the creed is a basis for agreement of what Christianity actually is.

I make no apology for asserting that a church that is in agreement with the creed is a Christian church, while an organisation that calls itself the only true church yet is not in agreement with the creed is, well, not.

The Watchtower Society is not a Christian organisation. Kingdom Halls are not Christian churches. Mormons are not Christians and their temples are not places of Christian worship. Unitarian churches, which historically have been the more common form of trinity-denying organisation in the UK, are not Christian churches.

You will find possibly quite surprising levels of cooperation between churches in British towns and cities these days, even amongst Protestant and Catholic, but wherever you find a “churches together” movement you will find that those churches associate on the basis of essential credal belief that necessarily excludes Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Unitarians, Christian Scientists, Spiritualists, and any other organisation that denies those basic beliefs.

Re: Catholic Church admits Bible is BS
 

So along the years a group of imperfect men have decided what a true Christian is? Only opinion I am bothered about in the long run is Gods. He will judge me on my heart and decide if I will live or cease to exist. The God I pray to has no intention of anyone suffering for eternity

Re: Catholic Church admits Bible is BS
 

So ... the opinion of a mythical super being ?
So how excatly do you know what that opinion is ?

Oh, and "no intention of anyone suffering for eternity" ?
Did your particular god not invent a hell then ?

Re: Catholic Church admits Bible is BS
 

Hell is not mentioned in the bible. Hades and Gehena are but no hell

Re: Catholic Church admits Bible is BS
 

Denying the possibility of existence outside of God’s presence is another characteristic Watchtower teaching.

The Bible has a number of words which are all translated ‘hell’ in English, and while the English translation may lack nuance on occasion, the translation is more than adequate to convey the idea that in eternity, it is possible to exist either in God’s presence or banished from it. We typically describe these states as ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’.

Saying that the Bible never talks about hell is like saying Eskimos never talk about snow, just because they don’t have one catch-all word for it. However, the Bible absolutely does not talk about ceasing to exist, despite the ramblings of Charles Taze Russell, who the Watchtower Society regards as its founder . Where the Bible talks about death, it is always talking about separation, first the soul from the body and later, the ‘second death’ which is separation from God’s presence.

---------- Post added at 09:18 ---------- Previous post was at 09:16 ----------

Also Sheol and Tartarus.

What does the Watchtower Society claim these four words mean?

Re: Catholic Church admits Bible is BS
 

So you are content as a REAL Christian following the man who ended Mosaic Law and bought in the laws based on love to believe the God you follow is A. Going to allow Satan to survive? and B. Damn humans to eternal pain and suffering???

Re: Catholic Church admits Bible is BS
 

You must have very long arms with all this patting yourself on the back…

Proverbs 27:2 :“May a stranger, and not your own mouth, praise you; may a foreigner, and not your own lips, do so.”

Matthew 23:12 "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Re: Catholic Church admits Bible is BS
 

I am an imperfect human and make mistakes.

Well done Hugh for doing some bible reading. Something good has come from all this :)