Quote Originally Posted by murktinez
I know talking about this with the closed-minded is a lost cause. Fear and pride prevent this from ever becoming anything other than an argument.
You're absolutely right, so we should both end this argument right here... not just me.

Quote Originally Posted by murktinez
I dare you to learn where and how your religion came to be. I had a mentor that was a JW. While I did not believe everything, he did teach me alot about where Christianity came from. I took it further and researched on my own. This is where I stand now.
You dare me? You honestly think I haven't dedicated much time and thought to my religion, and theology in general? I took nearly 50 hours worth of theology courses in college, and was an agnostic for most of my life. I've spent plenty of time thinking about it, studying it, and trying to understand it.

So, how did a Jehovah's Witness teach you so much about Christianity? They teach a perversion of my religion, and not the religion itself. The New World Translation directly mistranslates original scripture to correlate with their twisted Christian ideals. Frederick Franz, George Gangas, Milton Henschel, Karl Klein, Nathan Knorr, and Albert Schroeder - the original translation committee for the 'Watchtower Society' - barely even spoke biblical Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic... and were definitely far from fluent in them. So, how then were they the ones chosen to revise the New Testament? Biblical scholars and translators have always been well-versed in these three languages, which were pretty much a prerequisite to be added to any translation committee. Yet, the people chosen for the JW committee knew practically nothing of these biblical languages. And if you compare a NWT bible and a KJV side-by-side, the glaring contradictions are perfectly clear.

So, you may have done your own research on the subjects, but so have I. And this is where I stand on Jehovah's Witnesses and their doctrines. I'm not going to attempt to shove my religion down your throat, because as a former agnostic, I know how irritating that can be. But, it would be extremely respectful of you NOT to shove your 'realism' down anyone else's throat, either. Unless they specifically ask for it. I've seen several attacks on Christianity coming from you in your short tenure here. If you'd like for me to point them out, I can. I'd prefer not to, and civilly reach an agreement with you: We can agree to disagree, it happens all the time around here, but we shouldn't attack each other... because then you'd be correct, our closed-mindedness would get in the way of us ever reaching any kind of understanding.