Coded Logic

Joined

• started 181 topics
• posted 1,465 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Coded Logic

• 
  54

  The Watchtower is not invincible

  by Coded Logic in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  despite claims to the contrary, there's no guarantee the watchtower will be around in a few decades time.

  and it seems to me there's ever mounting evidence that the opposite may well be true.

  but it's not just that recruitment is down and their defectors are up.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Coded Logic

  It's true that "there are a lot of suckers out there" but that doesn't solve their problems for two reasons. The first is that they're going to start losing members faster than they can recruit them. Their entire model both financially and theologically is dependent upon upward growth.

  And the second problem is "suckers" don't have much money to give and don't make for good managers in congregations or circuits or branch offices. They really need people with good critical thinking and problem solving skills but instead they continue to alienate such people if not drive them away entirely.

  Yet 10 years ago who would have believed " The Watchtower" would have embraced the Internet, created its own tv channel, and have its own flag?
  -The Rebel

  And embracing such things has not managed to turn the ship around. They've engaged on a mass rebranding effort and that still hasn't helped their problems because they refuse to address their problems. You can put a fresh coat of paint on a sinking ship - which may well look nice - but it's not going to stop the ship from sinking.

  I believe that the JW.borg will be around in 10 years but as a much smaller group.
  Park Ave Boy

  I quite agree. I'm sure the Watchtower brand will be around for a long time. But it's the global corporation with infrastructure in almost every country that will disappear. And here in the US they'll go from having a couple kingdom halls in every town to only having a handful of kingdom halls in the entire state.

  Branches will continue to close. Printing press' will continue to be sold. Kingdom halls will start being put up for sale. Millennials will continue to bail. The older hardcore believers will continue to die off. And their number of recruits will continue to shrink.

  WIth the exception of KH sales, this has already been going on for a decade now. The writing's on the wall. The WTs in decline. And I'm not sure there's anything they can do to stop it.
• 
  54

  The Watchtower is not invincible

  by Coded Logic in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  despite claims to the contrary, there's no guarantee the watchtower will be around in a few decades time.

  and it seems to me there's ever mounting evidence that the opposite may well be true.

  but it's not just that recruitment is down and their defectors are up.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Coded Logic

  Despite claims to the contrary, there's no guarantee the Watchtower will be around in a few decades time. And it seems to me there's ever mounting evidence that the opposite may well be true. But it's not just that recruitment is down and their defectors are up. It's that they've lost almost all control over the Millennials (much less the Millennial's children). And now their mishandling of rape cases has given them an ever expanding legal, public relations, and financial problem.

  The next 24 months will be very telling. The ARC is going to make its recommendations and begin a process of remediation. The WT will, naturally, fight it and this will cause even more bad press for them. In the end they will fail and have to pay out a significant sum of money and change their policies.

  But that's not the "real" problem. There are two very large issues that I can see ahead for them.

  1.) Will other countries carry out similar investigations to the ARC? If they do, they will no doubt make similar findings and also require remediation for the victims in those countries. And with the comes an ever growing plethora of negative press.

  2.) All press at this point is bad press for the WT. They are so out of touch they have no way to communicate with people on the outside. And it is becoming harder and harder for them to hide their tribalistic, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, blood refusing, tight pants hating, us vs the whole damn world bigoted mentality.

  No amount of whitewashing history or self indoctrination is going to solve their problems. Because fooling yourself doesn't get you out of trouble. And it often get you into even worse set of circumstances even faster. You can't disarm a ticking time bomb by closing your eyes and plugging your ears.

  
  
• 
  26

  12/13/2015 Yahoo Article about sale of NY property up to 1B$

  by Aerodynamic in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i am just posting the article link because i saw it today trolling through yahoo.

  wow!

  a billion, with a "b" is a big chunk of change.. http://news.yahoo.com/jehovahs-witnesses-could-1-billion-nyc-properties-161102417.html.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Coded Logic

  I'm no financial expert, but as I understand it a multi-national corporation that is wishing to expand can burn through a billion dollars fairly quickly.

  Or, to put it another way, of the supposed 2,000 Kingdom Halls the society wants to build a billion dollars would only buy half of them.
• 
  10

  The scripture most taken out of context

  by Coded Logic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the scriptures we might have hope.- romans 15:4. ever consider that paul wasn't referencing his own letters to the congregations?

  and he certainly wasn't referring to the gospels which hadn't even been written yet.

  anybody else ever notice this?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Coded Logic

  I always loved reading the writings of Paul. They always seemed so logical and interesting. Now, I have to ask myself, "Was he really any different than Rutherford?" After all, he inserted his own thoughts into the mix, by his own admission. Then he would say, "Not I, but the Lord!"

  One crazy person begets another crazy person I guess. I think I would be slightly more impressed if Jesus had written his own books or letters and not left the whole thing to anonymous authors (the Gospels) or to Paul who never met Jesus except in a vision. I think it was Hume that pointed out revelation is necessarily first person and to everyone else it's hearsay.

  If you accept the words of Paul then one also has to accept the words of Muhammad and Joseph Smith.
• 
  10

  The scripture most taken out of context

  by Coded Logic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the scriptures we might have hope.- romans 15:4. ever consider that paul wasn't referencing his own letters to the congregations?

  and he certainly wasn't referring to the gospels which hadn't even been written yet.

  anybody else ever notice this?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Coded Logic

  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the scriptures we might have hope.
  - Romans 15:4

  Ever consider that Paul wasn't referencing his own letters to the congregations? And he certainly wasn't referring to the Gospels which hadn't even been written yet. Anybody else ever notice this?

  I think he's most likely referring to the Septuagint (the Old Testament that had been translated into Greek). The same goes with 2 Timothy 3:16:

  All Scripture is inspired of God+ and beneficial for teaching,+ for reproving, for setting things straight,* for disciplining in righteousness,+ 17 so that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.

  These letters were never meant to be self referencing. We know this because in the verse right before this one it says "from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures" (the Holy Scriptures existing prior to his writings). It's so odd that this realization never occurred to me while I was a JW. And that Elders will quote Paul and then cite another writing of Timothy or Paul for "setting things straight" or "disciplining" as though that's what Paul or Timothy were talking about.

  So weird! Paul claimed to have a revelation on the way to Damascus where he met ghost Jesus. But he never claimed that his writings were of divine inspiration.
• 
  20

  JW stand on Philosophy is inexcusable!

  by Pinku in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  paul knew that torah with all its rituals and sacrifices did not originate with god (jeremiah 7:22; 8:8), hence he warned christians to guard against deceptive philosophy that would take them back to torah.

  (colossians 2:8 compare 2:11, 16, 17) in view of the over-all view of the bible, there is no excuse to use the word philosophy with any negative connotation.

  jws built their stand on philosophy based on this wrong (negative) use of the word philosophy found in colossians 2:8.. the greek word philosophi a means love of wisdom.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Coded Logic

  I know that philosophy is a lot of things. But my go to answer for its value is that it helps us make sure that we're asking the right questions.

  Of course, in JW land - the questions are pre-supplied at the bottom of the page ...
• 
  22

  my 2 cents

  by SloppyMcFloppy in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  all religion is flawed because its led by man.

  jw is not bad religon if it changed some of its doctrines and thoughts.

  if it didnt "shun" members and "worldly people.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Coded Logic

  All religion is flawed because it's led by man.

  No, all religion is flawed because it claims to know things it can't possibly know and purports to have abilities it doesn't actually have. And this creates all kinds of mayhem for everyone on this planet because the actions of religious people have very real consequences - and if they don't have a good understanding of how reality works then they're going to make bad decisions.
• 
  50

  WT claims to have completed "Peak Construction Phase of New World Headquarters"

  by wifibandit in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  https://web.archive.org/web/20151210004420/http://www.jw.org/en/news/releases/by-region/united-states/jw-headquarters-peak-construction/.

  http://imgur.com/a/dbsqt.

  are they just moving the goal posts now that 2016 is almost upon us?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Coded Logic

  Why waste such a beautiful location on such dull, drab, and oppressive architecture? Who in their right mind signed off on this?

  .

  Even a completely generic office building would look better.

  

  But honestly, if you're going to invest this kind of money and also have most of the work done for free why not go with a nice modern aesthetic?

  
  

  Or why not capitalize on something that would really pop on the waterfront?

  
  

  Honestly, anything would be better than what they're building. Really disappointing. Oh well, the WT never misses an opportunity - to miss an opportunity.
• 
  10

  Another example of selfish wordly people..

  by defender of truth in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  storm desmond - how kindness is keeping cumbria afloat.

  read here:.

  today, we are grateful to receive warnings that help us not to have a selfish attitude like that of most in the world.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Coded Logic

  "Well they seem like a nice person but do they love you best friend?"

  "Well they seem like a nice person but do you love your mother?"

  What imbecilic nonsense! Alive, you make a great point, just because another person doesn't have the same exact affections as you do doesn't mean there's something wrong with them or that they are somehow untrustworthy.

  The JWs deep seeded tribalism and us versus them is such an insidious mentality. It allows them to dehumanise anyone who doesn't conform to their belief structure. I always had a problem with me and it never set well that I was just supposed to expect that everyone else was "bad".

  I really hope we see a serious decline in numbers amongst the JWs over the next couple of years. There are far too many genuinely good people trapped in that truly evil religion.
• 
  8

  Christopher Hitchens - Christianity is Immoral

  by Finkelstein in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  christopher hitchens has some insightful thoughts on judaism and christianity from a human sociological perspective .

  part 1 .

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyaqprzjl18.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Coded Logic

  Christopher Hitchens - as always - cuts through the total BS that is religion. He concedes it not greatness and no ethicacy.

  I am so glad that his word and thought - and his voice - has been immortalized in print and video and in the ever growing push back against organized religion.