Posts by Mephis

52

New Field Service Report

by cognac in

jw
friends

has anyone seen this?

when did that happen?.

http://www.jw-archive.org/post/137681838624/new-service-report-jwinspirational.

Mephis

it can't be beyond the wit of man to create an app that *could* do this

Didn't the letter to elders, which announced the new report slip, also say not to bother telling branch what the video 'placements' were? Only the local elders and the CO will ever know that publishers are telling whoppers about how many people could be bothered standing there to watch a video. It's not as if HQ will be unaware of how many people are or are not using a page, so it avoids awkward questions about the numbers not squaring.

21

Dec 2016 study edition 'Setting your mind on the spirit.' WTF?

by Esse quam videri in

so the study article 'setting your mind on the spirit means life and peace.

' at paragraph 9 a little pictorial lecture for anyone setting their minds on the flesh.

brother fleshly minded talking about having a sailboat.

Mephis

"The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday – but never jam to-day."

24

WTS investment in Ford-Werke - 1943

by OrphanCrow in

*thanks to reddit poster ahilexxx for this information*.

the watchtower society was invested in the german branch of ford motor.

in 1943, their investment was worth $597,595 ($8,363,677.95 in today's value - over 8 million!)..

Mephis

The investment could date all the way back to 1903 according to the table. Think of it as assets of American companies held by Nazi Germany as of 1943.

24

WTS investment in Ford-Werke - 1943

by OrphanCrow in

*thanks to reddit poster ahilexxx for this information*.

the watchtower society was invested in the german branch of ford motor.

in 1943, their investment was worth $597,595 ($8,363,677.95 in today's value - over 8 million!)..

Mephis

GermanXJW is correct. The purpose of the list is to place Ford's German subsidiary (and investments into it) in the context of other American organisations of the same period.

13

Any Peugeot owners around here?

by Mandrake in

i was wondering since there are a lot of uk users (at first i didn't notice that) if there is some peugeot owners here, clearly not from the us, the brand and also citroën has no presence in north america... in my city (santiago) you can see almost every car brand from chinese to european... in my apartment's parking lot there are toyotas, hondas, a porsche (that is abandoned, a carrera 911 turbo from 1989), even an old lancia, alfa romeo, nissan, renault, citroën, a camaro, suzuki, sköda, bmw, an old mecerdes, daewoos, kias, hyundais, an old vw beetle and a scirocco, few chinese, an audi, a dodge ram.

even a maserati in a house two blocks away etc etc.. and my 307 :)

Mephis

Peugeot 505 estates for field service. I still have nightmares.

21

Evolution vs Creation.

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

looking at the board, i see so many long threads on " evoultion vs creation " ect, ect.. therefore if " your" qualifications are only those of " an" uneducated j.w, may i ask one question?.

q) what makes you feel you are now qualified to comment with absolute ,authority on any discussion?.

i ask the above question because for most of us " ex-witnesses " logic is still words written in the pages of an awake" magazine.

Mephis

Fun part about evolutionary science is that you can go out and get some of the finest education from some of the finest minds on the planet absolutely free via an online course (my specialisms are in the arts, so I took that route for some anthropology courses with John Hawks), or you can go to a library and get out a book by an 'authority', or you can take a module or some classes on it at a bricks and mortar educational establishment.

It's not really like religion where someone speaks ex cathedra and that's all there is to it. If you bring the evidence, you get to have a debate.

Fun part of being a creationist seems to be not having anything like that and just needing to say 'I believe'.

52

People hate God?

by looter in

jw
friends

it is a pain that certain individuals pride themselves on hating god, who created everything.

like it's understandable that you choose to not believe in him because of your selfishness or thinking skills but to hate him is forcing it a bit.

i'm very thankful that those such as myself have the courage to believe in the lord.

Mephis

Shall we Stephen Fry? Yes, let's Stephen Fry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-suvkwNYSQo

61

Did the flood happen?

by BlackWolf in

so we were talking about noah for our family worship tonight and it ended with a little debate between me and my parents about how the flood was possible.

you know, where did the water come from, how did all the animals fit, etc.

of course it led nowhere and my parents came up with some strange theories like that there was "an expanse of water in the sky" and that's where all the water came from.

Mephis

There's a rational wiki article which covers some of the historical, geological and more general scientific objections to the idea that Noah had a global flood: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Global_flood

Of course, the entire problem with taking this approach is that believers suspend all their rational thinking powers and make problems go away with 'God magic'.

'The air pressure on earth being under so much water in the sky would be the same as living at the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean - how did Noah live like that?'

'God did it so your factually based objection is irrelevant'.

7

The charity Commission has refused charity status to another religion in the recent past

by Truthexplorer in

thought this was interesting.

see link below.

http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/charity-commission-reasons-refusing-charitable-status-plymouth-brethren-included-doctrine-separation/governance/article/1165267.

Mephis

The commission has a number of powers over charities, so it's more likely we'll see those used first to put effective safeguarding policies into place rather than the commission opening a nasty political row over religious charities. Trustees, under British law, have a duty to the charity's interests over any religious ideology and that would seem a much easier (and already proven) way to achieve the fundamental aim of ensuring adequate policies are in place to protect children and vulnerable adults.

13

JW claims of having the most accurate translation of bible

by StarTrekAngel in

is is true at all?

if so, are there any independent sources who have asserted this claim?

who did the translation?.

Mephis

'Most accurate' is pretty much meaningless as a description of a translation really - what measures that? For the bible, it tends to be how well the translation fits a church's own doctrinal preferences...

It reads well as an 'Englished' modern translation of ancient Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic texts. It has some serious issues with (deliberately) obscuring major contradictions in the text (eg who caused David to make a census?) which are acknowledged by almost every serious translation. It also plays fast and loose with choosing how it translates certain passages - their version of John 1:1 being one which most bible scholars and translators would reject for a number of reasons as implausible.