Village Idiot

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Posts by Village Idiot

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  27

  Evolution - Myths and Evidence

  by maksutov in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have nearly finished writing my 'apostate' book, which i will soon be publishing as a free e-book.

  here is an excerpt from it on the subject of evolution and the misconceptions about it held by jws.

  sorry it's a bit long, but i would appreciate any feedback.

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  Village Idiot

  It's way too long. For example, your section titled Evolution is 'only a theory' or a 'belief' or even 'requires faith'. is 817 words long. At one time it's length would have been ok but nowadays everyone has a short attention span. For example, your "Evolution is 'only a theory'" section could be condensed into this:

  A theory is a scientific explanation. It is called a theory regardless of whether it's proven or disproven. For example: Einstein's "theory of relativity" was proven over a hundred years ago but it's still referred to as a theory. Therefore the saying "it's only a theory" is meaningless since a theory can be called a theory long after it's been proven. The same applies to evolution.

  That's 66 words or 8 percent of the original. It may not include every detail or nuance that you want to get across but in in the real world it stands a better chance of being read.

  If you were to condense every section in a similar manner you may not have too much of a book - more like a booklet - but it would be more readable.
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  42

  Please Focus on the Bible

  by terrypike in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  hi people, may i firstly thank those who have responded to to my intro article, i am replying to you all as a new topic because the direct messaging is not working for me at the moment so i can clarify my perspective on bible study.

  yes there are many arguments that are put forward to demonstrate for example that the bible has been composed of numerous preexisting creation story's ect, my focus is to give the bible the same opportunity to defend itself as anyone reasonably expects if charged with some crime they are not guilty of.. i find for example the account of jesus response when questioned about the divorce certificate 'but it was not so in the beginning' confirms that moses allowed changes to be made to the original, that said consider also the religious traditions moses people had been exposed to, the story of the god enki who seduced even his own grandchildren and the well known incest of the egyptian royalty, given the genetic cost, are such practices any more right now than they were then?

  communities that practice close relative marriages today are well documented for there higher risk of numerous health problems so how would you find moses on that basis, guilty or not guilty as jesus did because he understood why moses took the creation story's of other cultures and gave his people there own creation story that taught them to avoid the general pagan practice of incest.before looking any deeper at moses creation story may i also ask the question why does jesus knowing that god promised he would never again destroy the world by a flood as he did in noah's day say 'as in the days of noah ..the flood came and took them all away' so what did jesus actually mean mt 24:.

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  Village Idiot

  "...I am concerned about how our future generations yours and mine will cope with the growing pressures on our religious heritage not least from the sharp increase in the Muslim community, Should we then continue to trample down the only real resisstance we have to being absorbed into Islam or any other religion..."

  Our religious heritage in the European continent consisted of multiple wars and witch-hunts (Inquisition). The Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all authoritarian religions which not only believe that their religion is the truth but condemn those who are not part of them to either genocide or a make believe inferno where everyone is tortured for all eternity.

  Then, in the United States we had the Puritans who executed those who were not of their religion. This included the famous Mary Dwyer who was hung from a tree by the Puritans for the high crime of being a Quaker. Such intolerance is built into the Bible both Old and New Testament.

  This Biblical attitude and the religions based on it does not make for a worthy "heritage".

  As for Islam, it is as incapable of converting large numbers of Christians as Christians are incapable of converting mass number of Muslims. There is an issue in Europe because of the large numbers of alienated and unemployed Muslim youths who are ripe for conversion to tyrannical versions of Islam but that can be handled by stopping immigration from those nations.
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  58

  A Question for Underground Apostates, How Many Are There?

  by Village Idiot in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when i first came to this forum i was of the belief that those of us who were still in due to family reasons were few in numbers perhaps one in a thousand in the jws.

  soon i came to the realization that there were many more.

  we have dozens of posters here who are mentally out but still in.

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  Village Idiot

  OneEyedJoe, Teenagers are their Achilles heel. They cannot perpetuate their organization with so many dropping out.

  Mad Sweeney, I also suspect that there might be at least one per congregation.

  DesirousOfChange, It definitely looks like a great crown with all the newbies coming in to this site at the rate of several per day.
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  58

  A Question for Underground Apostates, How Many Are There?

  by Village Idiot in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when i first came to this forum i was of the belief that those of us who were still in due to family reasons were few in numbers perhaps one in a thousand in the jws.

  soon i came to the realization that there were many more.

  we have dozens of posters here who are mentally out but still in.

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  Village Idiot

  When I first came to this forum I was of the belief that those of us who were still in due to family reasons were few in numbers perhaps one in a thousand in the Jws. Soon I came to the realization that there were many more. We have dozens of posters here who are mentally out but still in. So I then started thinking that perhaps 1% or so of a typical congregation were 'underground' apostates.

  So my first question is, how many on this board are still in?

  My second question, What percentage of the congregation know TTATT but are still in for whatever circumstances?

  Then there is the possibility that the numbers might exceed 1%, perhaps 2 or 3%. That would mean that there would be 2 perhaps more underground apostates in a congregation probably unknown to each other.

  My third question is, Do you know of any other underground apostate (not including your spouse or children)? Do you talk to each other about TTATT?
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  20

  Jw Business Cards??? Really???

  by Nosferatu in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i got one from my mother.

  when the hell did they start doing this???.

  i'm guessing this is the way they're going to do it eventually.

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  Village Idiot

  "A card is much cheaper to print than a magazine." But not necessarily cheaper than a tract. I can only see these cards used during informal witnessing where a witness could easily have some of those cards in his/her wallet instead of a tract.
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  9

  What Exactly are the Governing Body Members of the Jehovah's Witnesses trying to sell themselves As ?

  by Finkelstein in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the watchtower corporation has been in existence for over 100 years now, originally headed by presidents and slew of recognized executive directors known as governing body members.. in 1919 the then president of the wts j rutherford proclaimed that god has exclusively chosen him and the wts as its earthly chosen organization among all other christian based faiths.. was this just a calculated self marketing ploy to create validation and to draw attention to the wts published works ?

  the gb today still uses the assertion that god is backing this organization with that attaining exclusivity by god, jehovah blesses are work and jehovah had offered this, is constant reiterated in about every talk during most jws meetings.

  is this just intentional adverse brainwashing ?

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  Village Idiot

  They're trying to look modern, in tune with the times.
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  29

  The "preaching work" is just laughable!

  by cookiemaster in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the "preaching work" they're so eager to brag about is just laughable.

  they say their number is an indication of god's blessing.

  oh, please, give me a break!

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  Village Idiot

  "The "preaching work" JWs do is stupid and inefficient."

  Let's hope it stays that way.
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  15

  Sketches of Revelation, this and that

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i've been rummaging around on bart ehrman's blog and such and managed to distill six cogent views about.

  the book of revelation, i thought i share for whatever it is worth.

  1. parts of the book of revelation could scarcely be explained if it were written by jesus own disciple, john.

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  Village Idiot

  "It is between fifty and sixty years since I read it [the Book of Revelation], and I then considered it merely the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy nor capable of explanation than the incoherencies of our own nightly dreams ... I cannot so far respect them as to consider them as an allegorical narrative of events, past or subsequent. There is not enough coherence in them to countenance any suite of rational ideas.... What has no meaning admits no explanation. And pardon me if I say, with the candor of friendship, that I think your time too valuable, and your understanding of too high an order, to be wasted on these paralogisms. You will perceive, I hope, also that I do not consider them as reveladons of the supreme being, whom I would not so far blaspheme as to impute to him a pretension of revelation, couched at the same time in terms which, he would know, were never to be understood by those to whom they were addressed."

  Thomas Jefferson, letter to General Alexander Smyth, January 17, 1825
  
  
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  26

  What did you become after leaving Jehovah's Witnesses?

  by Garrett in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey guys,.

  so, since my leaving i have been doing so much research on so many topics that it's been extremely enlightening.

  not only have i learned a lot about the organization and what motivates it, but i have also learned a lot about the bible, god and most importantly, myself.. currently, i'm not quite sure where i stand, but i'm having some real issues with the bible and god.

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  Village Idiot

  A Carl Saganesque Non-Theist and cosmic Pantheist. The Universe is my goddess.
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  14

  Have you met people in the "world" who are more commited to their christian believes than JWs?

  by nevaagain in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i met a coworker at my work who was even more commited to his religion then almost anybody i had seen in the jw mids yet.

  whenever we went for lunch, he would do a little prayer first, he didnt care if anybody would take notice of him.

  he does not curse, never!

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  Village Idiot

  I know a lady from a non-descript evangelical church who runs a food give-away charity open to all people of any belief. I can't picture most JWs doing anything like that.