Browsed by
Category: Spiritual

Another JW Death – No Blood Transfusion

Another JW Death – No Blood Transfusion

Comments 33 comments

Jean-Claude Lavoie, 26, is another victim of the Watchtower interpretation of the biblical command to abstain from blood. He died in late December after refusing a blood transfusion while being treated for an intestinal tumor. His (former Jehovah’s Witness) brother, Jonathan Lavoie, has launched an Internet petition calling on the Canadian federal government to make it illegal for a person to refuse treatment on religious grounds. His father stated that the death was “unfortunate, but it came to that. It’s…

Read More Read More

Breaking down a Watchtower message to the Great Crowd

Breaking down a Watchtower message to the Great Crowd

Comments 17 comments

When my friend Janet sent me a link to this piece from a very recent talk (given by James Rayford at a Kingdom Hall in Houston Texas), I actually forced myself to listen to it. I’m going to comment below, so that you can begin to understand what happens to the self-identified “Great Crowd” (who believe they will inherit a paradise earth after Armageddon) in all those hours of listening at the Kingdom Hall. This is why they can feel…

Read More Read More

Resonance

Resonance

Comments 0 Comment

The Death of God: A Belated Personal Postscript (James W. Woefel, Christian Century, December 29, 1976, pp. 1175-1178) 1976? This was written in 1976? I am stunned. This is worth a read. No “woeful” jokes, please! (grin) Here’s my favorite bit: One of my cardinal beliefs of long standing which I see no reason to give up is a strong suspicion that the reality of both ourselves and the cosmic context in which we find ourselves is far richer than…

Read More Read More

Least Immoral Choice in Iraq

Least Immoral Choice in Iraq

Comments 1 comment

We still haven’t heard an answer to the basic question: for what “noble cause” have we invaded Iraq? Are we in Iraq just to secure the oil for the energy companies that get so much support of every kind from the US government? Not to be a party pooper or anything, but what about the death and pain and chaos and suffering? What is the reason for the sacrifices of U.S. and other allied soldiers? What is the justification for…

Read More Read More

Rambling post on Suicide and Jehovah’s Witnesses

Rambling post on Suicide and Jehovah’s Witnesses

Comments 3 comments

Christian Peper has made a good start in thinking about suicide and Jehovah’s Witnesses, and it’s worth a read. I’m just using his post as a starting point to bounce some ideas around. Suicide isn’t really any kind of sure way for JWs to hedge their bets. The position on suicide was one of their rare agreements with the Catholic Church. JWs don’t believe in hell, but they used to say that suicides could not be resurrected because it was…

Read More Read More

To a Recovering Jehovah’s Witness

To a Recovering Jehovah’s Witness

Comments 0 Comment

Dear C – As always, take what is helpful to you and reject what doesn’t ring true to your inner self… If there is a spirit of the cosmos, and if that spirit is what we mean when we talk about “God”, then I have to believe that the spirit is a spirit of Love that holds everything together and makes everything related and connected in a million, mysterious ways. All our words about God are simply ways to place…

Read More Read More