OneEyedJoe

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Posts by OneEyedJoe

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  57

  Are atheists more likely to be morally good than Christians?

  by FusionTheism in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have no problem saying atheists and christians are equal.. but some people seem to have the belief that atheists are more likely to be morally good, or more likely to change the world for good, than christians and theists.. but what evidence do you have to support this claim?.

  if atheism is what causes people to do great positive things for the world, then why weren't martin luther king, jr., william wilberforce, isaac newton, francis collins, barack obama, mother theresa, abraham lincoln, or john f. kennedy atheists?.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Part of the problem is defining what "morally good" means. Perhaps atheists are more likely to act on thier homosexualality or have multiple (consenting) sexual partners. I would argue that this does not affect whether or not they're "morally good" people, but I'm sure many theists would disagree.

  I think in the end, though, it really boils down to the well known quote (too lazy to look up the source...) that goes something like: "there will always be good people doing good things and bad people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things - that takes religion." When you've got a god telling you to do evil things, even an otherwise moral person may give in. When someone is their own highest moral authority, at least good people will always do good things.
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  24

  Why are Battle Against Faith

  by Jonathan Drake in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  if any are willing, share your fact based reasons for viewing faith as dangerous.

  viewing faith as dangerous is the reason for almost all of my posts recently.

  what seems constant is that theists are too focused on there own little world to realize how and why faith is so damaging to society.

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  OneEyedJoe

  This says it all:

  
  

  In case it disappears again: http://ajwrb.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/may26-94-aw.jpg
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  46

  We are slowly moving away from that kind of preaching work

  by oppostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  john hoyle--jws go knocking on strangers doors and try to get inside homes to preach.. wt rep--we are slowly moving away from that kind of preaching work, we do more preaching by using literature carts and personal telephone calls.. .

  the above quote is from john hoyle's website:http://insidethewatchtower.com/doctrine/phone-calls-to-bethel-jw-org-email-and-contacts/.

  it's interesting, isn't it?

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  OneEyedJoe

  Hmmm...I seem to remember that every part about informal/street/phone/whatever witnessing s always had the disclaimer "while our house-to-house work will always be our primary means of contacting interested ones..." What happened to that? I wonder if this statement is more of a PR thing to explain why JWs are less present these days (couldn't possibly be declining numbers or apathy!). Something tells me that a r/f jw would still claim the d2d work as the primary preaching work - my wife certainly would.
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  20

  Last night's bible highlights: David was wrong to greive for his son!

  by purrpurr in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  last night's bible highlights was really eyebrow raising!

  the brother pointed out at lenght about how david had wept when his son absalom was killed.

  but that because absalom was killed while opposing jehovah that means that david was wrong and weak to greive for him.. it was applied to today by saying that if our children are df'd when they die then we should not grieve for them either!.

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  OneEyedJoe

  You should've raised your hand to give a comment and started reading the scripture about the lack of natural affection in the world being a sign of the end then said "wait, I think I'm on the wrong page..." and just given the mic back.

  Current new light, as far as I know, is that it's good for Witnesses to privately grieve and to pray for their Disfellowshipped family members as long as they aren't flagrant apostates.
  Also, publications say that Jehovah grieves for Disfellowshipped prodigals and He desires they return to Him.

  False. There was a recent WT (think it was November 2014) where they essentially likened DF'd ones to people who were killed by Jehovah in the OT and their families were ordered not to grieve their loss. Of course they don't come right out and say it, but it's heavily implied that DF'd ones should not be missed. This is just another part of the E in BITE (and in some ways the T) - they're trying to control the emotions of their followers to keep their control in place.
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  9

  Is 2 feet + 3 meters= 5 meters? Jehovah's witnesses say yes it is!

  by quincemyles in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  have you noticed that adding 607 b.c.e roman/gregorian years to 2520 jewish biblical/prophetic years to get 1914 roman/gregorian years c.e is like adding 2 feet + 3 meters= 5 meters?.

  the insights volume ii under heading year, mentions that a bible or prophetic year is reckoned to have 360 days.

  many other publications indicate that a prophetic year is 360 days long.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I've commented on this very thing as well (and I'm sure I wasn't the first to notice it). Just like essentially everything about the cult - it works just so long as you don't look too closely at it.
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  31

  Why do you still give talks?

  by 1tMakesNoSence in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  assuming you are still sitting there because of circumstances.

  why do you still give/don't give talks?i ask this because i have to give talk no.

  3: love and obedience bring happinessnwt p. 26 4-6 (5 min.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I vote for going ultra-hardline, but back everything up with references to the WT. If you give a talk that your conscience is OK with, then you would only be serving to soften the face of the cult to anyone there who assumes you're a JW (i.e. everyone). You never know who in the audience might have a problem with something in the cult (in this case, perhaps the call for obedience even if it doesn't make sense) and if you soften the blow you might serve to keep them in the cult longer.

  That or spin things such that you're directly condemning the cult in some way without saying it. My favorite talk ever was the one about 8 months ago where I got up there and talked about how we would never want to be a part of any religious organization that had ties to the UN. It was hilarious and sad at the same time to see all the nodding heads.

  Anyway, you're never going to reform the cult. Certainly not by giving softened talks that could pass for legitimate christian sermons. I think the only way to help is for anyone who's still in to point out the flaws by making them obvious, either by citing inconvenient scripture or by going ultra-hardline. A talk about obedience seems like a great time to do the latter.
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  23

  Governing Body Mandating That Parents Shun DF'd Preteens Baptized Children Will Hurt Them Big Time In The Courts

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  as the bad conduct of the governing body becomes widely known to both judge and jury i expect that will make lawsuits more profitable against them and easier wins against them and more plentiful.. i think probably one of the most damming videos out there on the net is the one where the parents show their loyalty to the wt corporation and shun their own flesh and blood in obedience to it cruel directives.

  this video truely shows that the governing body don't give a shit about the children who symbolize their dedication to the corporation or their parents.. such a self serving corporation that uses it members for profits only and offer nothing in return no matter how much how much they claim otherwise.

  they can't hide this it is plain as day so no matter how much they claim they are concerned about the youth in the organization their action thunder loudly and can not be hiden under a basket.

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  OneEyedJoe

  In a related topic - My brother (a JW) and his wife (a non-JW) were trying to adopt. They were turned down a number of times because the case worker determined that (a) having a mixed-belief marriage with a high-control religion creates a harmful environment and (b) the dangers of the JW doctrines (e.g. Blood Issue, Shunning) would be a potential harm to the child.
  

  It's always nice to hear when the system actually works as it should.
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  26

  I want serious answers from WT leaders, possible?

  by Powermetal4ever in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what would happen if i would write a physical letter to, for example, the branch office.

  and ask questions about scandals like the ngo thing and other stuff?

  or ask questions about wtbs economy, or ask for a annual report, which is something i would really like to read.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I'm pretty sure they'll refuse to respond unless you give your name and congregation, in which case they'll respond to the BOE. Depending on what you write, they may send a response to the BOE that they'll read to you with additional information for the BOE to read only that they won't tell you about.

  I doubt they'll give you anything good - probably just a bunch of crap about being humble laced with lots of out of context or misapplied scriptures.
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  75

  What was your eye opening moment?

  by WasOnceBlind in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  if you had to pinpoint the time or experience that finally made you open your eyes, what would it be?.

  i think for me it was the time i saw my dad shun his brother who he had not seen in decades just because he was a da'ed jw.

  i thought to my self "no way jesus would do that.

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  OneEyedJoe

  The misquotes in the creation book was the moment where everything flipped upside down for me.
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  60

  Why don’t we have a better story?

  by iconoclastic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  1. some say we are all gods, and god is omnipresent..

  2. some say: god created his children who later challenged his sovereignty, who in turn asked his eldest son: go down to the world, do not resist the wicked, but be murdered by them, the value of which will be used to atone the sins of the world..

  3. universe arose out of a big bang.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Please educate yourself on evolution. You're making yourself look silly.