Rituals within religion - why?

[nobspeople]

Face one direction to pray.
Wearing specific pieces of clothing at specific times.
Eating specific foods.
Not eating specific foods.
Killing of animals as offerings.
Adorning the blood of an innocent animal around a door.

The list is almost endless as, within many religions, there are certain 'things' people can do or don't do, often at specific times and or for specific reasons. Some seem odd, some ridiculously stupid and others just don't make any logical sense (such is religion - there's little logic within it). But people do them because 'they're supposed to' because they 'represent' this or that.

While rituals do tend to 'help' (be it the passing of time, a sense of belonging, synchronizing of heart rates, etc), when dealing with a supreme being, what benefit do they have for it?

Surely, said being knows all (even knowing things about you that are absent in your own consciousness), so what difference does it make, to this being, what you wear when, why you face this direction instead of that, blood of an innocent animal (which is highly barbaric)?

What point do these things serve to this being?

[JehovahsWitness]

He seems so set on demanding worship and sacrifices, and having his word spread around the world to ‘all men’, and yet his churches and their rituals appear to be dwindling in number and influence.

I believe HIS church (he only has one ) is doing just fine: membership is and always has steadily increased over the last century. That is however not the only indication of spiritual prosperity: God's true church also enjoy His blessings as evident in terms of peace, unity and spiritual enlightenment.



The Jehovah's Witness membership currently stands at 8,695,808.

False Christianity on the other hand has been taken a pummeling in recent decades and for the most part their numbers are indeed falling as many (at least in the developed world) abandon organised religion.

Has he given up?

God will never give up on those that love him!

To learn more please go to other posts related to...

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES , RELIGIOUS CONVENTIONS and ...MEMBERSHIP,

[JehovahsWitness]

I’ve probably got a few dozen more related questions, but appreciate that you might not have time to do them all justice in one sitting. Maybe just the first paragraph answered for now (above the asterisks) would be fine.

Thats okay, ask away! FYI : My INDEX and the RELATED POSTS and the "Go to.. " boxes at the end of most of my posts probably have the answers to the other questions you have.






JEHOVAH'S WITNESS



NOTE All posts I write represent my personal faith based beliefs as one of Jehovah's Witnesses

[Tcg]

I believe HIS church (he only has one ) is doing just fine:

You may believe he only has one, but reality argues against that belief. Your group's recent branch off of orthodox Christianity reveals only that your group has recently branched of from orthodox Christianity.



Your group doesn't even qualify as a major branch.


Tcg

[Diagoras]

Is this an ‘either/or situation? A person is either ‘one of his children’ or ‘wicked’?

Yes, biblically, one is either one or the other. No gray area, no fence to sit on.

I guess that makes me wicked then, by that criteria.

I believe everything applies to today except for the killing of incorrigibly wicked.

So God will disown me, not listen to prayers, but not kill me. Seems fairly innocuous - not the actions of an omnipotent deity that hates me.

If God judges them as incorrigibly so <wicked> , according to scripture, they simply remain dead (non-existent) forever.

That’s exactly what I expect to happen to me when I die, so no problem with that at all.

I believe HIS church (he only has one ) is doing just fine:
<snip>
The Jehovah's Witness membership currently stands at 8,695,808.

About 0.11% of the world’s population? So 99.89% of the world is wicked?

False Christianity on the other hand …

I’m not a Christian but find this rather insulting to those that identify as Christian themselves. I’d respectfully ask that you refrain from continuing that point.

God will never give up on those that love him!

But those that don’t? What’s he doing there?

[JoeyKnothead]

Surely, said being knows all (even knowing things about you that are absent in your own consciousness), so what difference does it make, to this being, what you wear when, why you face this direction instead of that, blood of an innocent animal (which is highly barbaric)?

What point do these things serve to this being?

The one I pray to, she says showing up at suppertime shows respect for her doing all that delicious cooking.

But can't for the life of her show why I gotta change out of my overalls to do it. Or how come I can't put me my feet up on the coffee table. Or how come I gotta throw the trash out when ya can still stuff an ice cream wrapper down in it. Or how come ya gotta run out ten dollars of gas to save a nickel a tank.

Some gods're just funny that way.

[JehovahsWitness]

False Christianity on the other hand …

I’m not a Christian but find this rather insulting to those that identify as Christian themselves. I’d respectfully ask that you refrain from continuing that point.

Lol... er ... no. The only people that risk being insulted are those that belong to a religion they themselves consider false and I dont believe any such people exist. I wont change my rhetoric for fictional characters who only exist in someone's imagination ; I respectfully ask you never to contradict me as I find your insinuating I am wrong insulting.


Thanks so much,



JW

[JoeyKnothead]

False Christianity on the other hand …

I’m not a Christian but find this rather insulting to those that identify as Christian themselves. I’d respectfully ask that you refrain from continuing that point.

Lol... er ... no. The only people that risk being insulted are those that belong to a religion they themselves consider false and I dont believe any such people exist. I wont change my rhetoric for fictional characters who only exist in someone's imagination ; I respectfully ask you never to contradict me as I find your insinuating I am wrong insulting.

Thanks so much,

JW

I thinks it's fair we might call ya wrong on an unidentified something, but note you so often provide biblical support for your biblical based beliefs.

So, based on my understanding, you're wrong to think a god exists (imagination), but I can't fuss me too much at ya for reading your bible, and coming you to the conclusions that ya do.

[Difflugia]

I find it entertaining that Anglicans and Anabaptists are distinct from "Protestantism" on this graph, but Protestant divisions at least as large and just as old like the Calvinists, Lutherans, and Presbyterians are not.

Based on that quirk, Jehovah's Witnesses are technically included in the "Anglicanism" branch. Charles Taze Russell was most recently an Adventist before he formed the Watch Tower Society. William Miller (the founder of the nineteenth-century Adventist movement) had been a Baptist. The Baptists are a seventeenth-century offshoot of the "English Dissenters," a group that disagreed primarily with the church-state entanglements inherent in the Church of England and which also gave rise to the Anabaptists.

[JehovahsWitness]

Charles Taze Russell was most recently an Adventist before he formed the Watch Tower Society.

WAS CHARLES TAZE RUSSELL EVER AN ADVENTIST?




No. Russell's parents where Presbyterians and prior to his forming a Bible Study group [...] he was a member of the Congregational Church in Allegheny, Pa. Russell made no secret that he was influenced by several different movements including former Millerites and Adventists and collaborated for a time with Aventist Nelson Barbour but he was never a member of any Adventist church or body. Commenting on Adventism Russell stated

"Adventism helped me to no single truth, it did help me greatly in the unlearning of errors, and thus prepared me for the Truth." - The Watchtower, July 15, 1906

RUSSELL, PASTOR--Re Membership in Nominal Churches. Q607:1 QUESTION (1911)--l--Did you ever belong to the Adventist church? Some say you did, and some say you left for a reason. If so, please say what.

ANSWER.--I never belonged to any church except the Lord's and the Congregationalists. ... I never was an Adventist--excepting that I believe in the advent of our Lord- -very glad to believe our Lord is to come again to receive the church to himself. But I never believed that about the world being burned up, nor any other things of that kind that constitute special features of the Adventist belief.

JW


FURTHER READING
http://pastorrussell.blogspot.fr/search?q=1914



RELATED POSTS

Did Charles Taze Russell agree with the Adventist view of Christs return?
viewtopic.php?p=891141#p891141

What is the Jehovahs Witness attitude to the teachings of Charles Russell ?
viewtopic.php?p=864789#p864789

Did Charles Taze Russell teach that man's reason has authority over Scripture?[by historia]
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 42#p778342

Was Charles Taze Russell ever an Adventist? [this post]
viewtopic.php?p=1043119#p1043119

To learn more please go to other posts related to...

JWs HISTORY , CHARLES TAZE RUSSELL and ...FAILED PREDICTIONS

[JoeyKnothead]

On today's episode of Christians say the darndest things...

...
I wont change my rhetoric for fictional characters who only exist in someone's imagination...

"I won't stop saying me stuff about the fictional characters of others, as I carry me on about my favored God, who totally ain't him a fictional character!"

I respectfully ask you never to contradict me as I find your insinuating I am wrong insulting.

Found Trump's account.