If I believed in all that nonsense, I'd just say that the story was written from the perspective of the comforters, which believed that it was god that caused Job's suffering. The reality was that they were wrong, and it was all satan's fault.
OneEyedJoe
JoinedPosts by OneEyedJoe
-
12
God was the cause of the evil
by opusdei1972 inbart ehrman noticed, in his book "god's problem", the fact that god was responsible for job's pain.
to show it, bart quoted the following verse:.
and they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the lord had brought upon him.
-
-
-
43
2034 is going to be a huge letdown for the dubs
by wha happened? ini've seen a few postings of a possible "next date" for dubs of 2034. based on an article they published comparing the last days to the days of noah.
preaching for 120 years.
however, i noticed a little tidbit from wiki about age:.
-
-
OneEyedJoe
They would need to drop the "overlapping generation" teaching before they replace it with the Noah's flood generation.
I don't think so...they're all about "multiple lines of evidence" that point to the inexorable conclusion that the end of this system is going to come before xyz.
I do tend to agree on your second point - I think they almost need to have another great disappointment ala 1914 or 1975. That would allow them to shed the dead weight, monetize the newly empty KHs, and anyone who's currently on the fence but decides to stick around would have no choice but to double-down. I think the 1975 fiasco is a large part of why the current generation of JWs is so much more complacent than the previous one that lived through 1975. In order to stick around after they were exposed as false prophets, they had to really internalize the doctrine and convince themselves that they were more sure than ever before. Today's generation is able to just float along because they haven't made nearly as bold a (false) prediction since.
-
36
Devouring the Forbidden Fruit - Higher Education
by cappytan inwell, i told my wife over the weekend i was going to go back school to finish my degree.
she is 100% supportive of it!
apparently she doesn't think higher education is so evil either.. since my former major was computer programming and that was in the late 1990's, i was told i'd have to retake a bunch of classes since times have changed.
-
-
OneEyedJoe
I actually am not going to be shy about it. I'm going to mention in casual conversation things like, "The other day in _____ class we were discussing _________ and an interesting point was brought out."
I can't wait for my privileges to be taken away.
Considering that you're studying biology, I think it's inevitable that your privileges go away. Just mention evolution to an elder or two and that'll be that.
It might also help you casually bring up evolution with your wife, but with all the progress you've been making with her lately, she might be mentally out before you start classes.
-
43
2034 is going to be a huge letdown for the dubs
by wha happened? ini've seen a few postings of a possible "next date" for dubs of 2034. based on an article they published comparing the last days to the days of noah.
preaching for 120 years.
however, i noticed a little tidbit from wiki about age:.
-
-
OneEyedJoe
Wouldn't the date technically be 2039 since the major preaching work didn't start until 1919?
Not until 2034 comes and goes, then it'll be 2039.
Also, I'd just like to state that the (2 year old) comment above (about the only place people are talking about 2034 is on apostate web sites) is not entirely accurate. As far back as the 1990's (probably driven by the generation change) I'd heard 2034 suggested as the end date based on the 120 years of Noah. Now, these have all been idle musings by individual JWs - so, basically what happened in 1975 ;-)
-
36
Devouring the Forbidden Fruit - Higher Education
by cappytan inwell, i told my wife over the weekend i was going to go back school to finish my degree.
she is 100% supportive of it!
apparently she doesn't think higher education is so evil either.. since my former major was computer programming and that was in the late 1990's, i was told i'd have to retake a bunch of classes since times have changed.
-
-
OneEyedJoe
Awesome! That'll also give you a good excuse not to be given any "privileges" and help you miss the cult meetings. It's definitely never too late to go back to school.
Do you know what type of career you want to go into once you get the degree(s)?
-
7
What would you do with an abuse settlement?
by StarTrekAngel inwhat would you do if you were conti or lopez and had a large award?
sure, the options and the tastes are many but consider this.... i don't know if this has already been covered or mentioned but i think there would be no better investment of that money than to put into a non-profit.
on dedicated to seek out and bring forward more cases.
-
-
OneEyedJoe
I don't know if this has already been covered or mentioned but I think there would be no better investment of that money than to put into a non-profit. On dedicated to seek out and bring forward more cases. Use their own money against them. Conti, Lopez, all of them putting together a resource pool for that purpose.
That's exactly what I immediately thought when I read the thread title.
Whatever they do with it though, I hope it brings them some measure of peace.
-
20
What would happen if life was found elsewhere?
by HowTheBibleWasCreated insee jws have said time and again jesus died once for all time... a quote from hebrews.
okay rule out humn-like aliens what about animals plants and microbes... i once had a hot fight with an elder when i still believed that here was no reason to doubt alien animals etc.
yet not based on any wt article witnesses reject this often.. lets suppose say in a month microbes are found on ceres (i doubt it will happen but let's roll with it) they are living as much as our cells are and reporduce... okay what would mother say in the magazines when millions of jehovah's witnesses demand to know why jehovah created microbes on a dwarf planet?.
-
-
OneEyedJoe
My stock answer any time people talk about how the discovery of ET life would affect religion:
Religious people have been ignoring scientific evidence that contradicts their beliefs for centuries. What makes evidence of ET life special that it would suddenly change things?
-
2
Child sexual abuse and a loving God.
by Tenacious ini'm having a hard time reconciling how such a loving and merciful god would require someone as innocent and helpless as a child or an adult for that matter, in order to properly establish a claim sexual abuse, having the need to produce another witness that actually witnessed the abuse.
how ludicrous is this?
how can the holy bible, the divine word of god, make a requirement such as this?
-
-
OneEyedJoe
I don't think the bible actually indicates that this rule applies to sexual abuse. If I remember correctly, it was more for cases of fraud. There is a rule in the bible (which has it's own problems) that if a woman is raped and no one is around, the man who raped her has to take her as his wife. This indicates that her word that the man raped her would be sufficient in this case.
Honestly, though, there are so many other problems with the bible that don't rely upon subjective interpretation to see. There are a hundred reasons that show it's not the word of god before you get to the (mis)handling of child abuse cases as a result of (mis)interpretation of certain vague scriptural rules.
-
22
How do you respond to JW family?
by Laika infor those who have left and are still in contact with jw family, how do you usually respond when they bring up jw stuff, i.e.
start talking about the nearness of armageddon or things like that.. i usually say nothing and just let it pass but i'm considering changing tact to something more confrontational, less because i want to change their mind and more because i find it tiresome.
thoughts?
-
-
OneEyedJoe
Well I'm still in, but I think I'm in somewhat of a similar situation - I can't stand the constant JW talk. Depending on the topic being discussed I'll either ignore it entirely (sometimes I have to excuse myself to keep my sanity) or if I feel like I can say something to shut them down without it blowing back on me too much, I'll do it.
For example, the other day I was with some family and they were talking about my elderly grandfather and how he'll need to be put in a nursing home soon and someone brought up a recent WT study article (actually I think it was two in a row) about caring for the elderly and one said something like "Wasn't that such a great article!? It was so good because a lot of people just don't want to think about getting older so they don't prepare for it at all." I just said "I don't think it's that they don't want to think about it so much as it is that they've been told their entire lives that they would never get old." You shoulda seen how fast they changed the subject off the cult talk after that.
-
18
Definition of "Active Publisher" depends on the context
by Simon ini don't know what the current definitive rule is that determines whether someone is viewed as an "active publisher" or not.
i've seen comments suggesting that it is reporting a certain minimum number of hours per month which seems reasonable.. what is interesting is how they change the definition of what an active publisher is based on the context.
normally, you are never doing enough, however much you are doing, and too little or some missed reporting will get you a talking to.. but note how they class 'active' in one of the latest body of elders letters:.
-
-
OneEyedJoe
George said what I was going to - this has always been the definition of "active" as far back as I can remember. The point remains, though, that the WTS does seem to get a lot less strict about things when they're looking for cash. I'm sure they'd take money from the ghost of ray franz where he to offer it.
As for the idea of not reporting because of this, I say do the opposite - make up time for as long as you're forced to be in. The more "active" pubs there are that aren't donating, the greater the disparity between what they ask for and what a publisher is inclined to give will be and it might just make a few wake up. There's a limit to how much they're going to get no matter how much they ask for so I don't think there's any downside to reporting time from that perspective.