Posts by Terry

41

How Do You Feel About All The Time You Wasted Being. A Jehovah's Witness?

by minimus in

jw
friends

all that i can say is....what a shame!

Terry

I find it best for my mental health to look at the collateral benefits rather than damage

I learned to come out of my extreme shyness and give public talks and knock on stranger's doors.

That's a biggie!

I learned to organize confusing material into a pithy speech and present it without soiling my underwear.

That's another biggie.

I gained confidence in my strength of character by going before F.B.I. interrogators, Draft Board questioners,,

a Federal Judge, jailers, prison guards, rapists, murderers, etc.

I discovered what I was made of and finally decided the building materials were deficient: I had to admit I had practically thrown my life away for utter nonsense!

I had to endure the opposition of my wife, the Kingdom Hall, and the judicial committee and feel what it meant to be persona non grata.

I experienced PTS, a nervous breakdown, disfellowship, divorce, the disintegration of my world view--BUT still keep moving forward.

I learned to love invisible persons, fear supernatural entities and discover they didn't really exist!

By the time I reached the age of 33, I had lived in two worlds and one of them was make-believe.

I've taken away from my JW experience a loathing of the smugness of self-convinced know-it-alls; after all, I was one.

I carry with me a deep and abiding sense of duty to keep plugging away in exposing malfeasance and moral fraudulence in the Watchtower world.

I no longer love my former best friend (who influenced me to become a JW) because he recently lied about me in a character assassination way. The final betrayal convinced me I've remained slightly delusional because I still considered him a 'friend.'

The benefits were unintentional, to be sure. But I acknowledge them for their positive effect.

146

Why I remain one of Jehovah's Witnesses

by Brother Jeramy in

allow me to begin with a clarification: when i say i am one of jehovah's witnesses, i don't mean that i am an advocate of the watchtower society or a devotee of some of its more controversial false teachings.

i mean that i am a christian, a disciple of jesus christ dedicated to jehovah god, and who remains in union with my brothers and sisters who make up the family of faith that globally refers to itself as jehovah's witnesses.

some totally understand the distinction between the family of brothers and sisters and the corporate organization known as the watchtower society (wts).

Terry

This is an obvious Troll.

No member of Jehovah's Witnesses is ever, under any circumstance, given the personal freedom to address a group of ex-JW's or apostates.

He knows that. He also knows the Watchtower is a corporation.

This is all a farce.

16

Better Bible Translation?

by Sofia Lose in

which bible translation is the best, according to biblical scholars, anybody knows?

please chime in.. i plan on getting it and doing comparison with the new world translation.

sl.

Terry

Almost every modern translation stems from one of two branches of manuscripts. The fork in the road where they branch out is the point of departure.

The Early Church fathers' own comments and commentary on early texts also serve to modify understanding of 'problem' texts.

Since there are absolutely no existing original manuscripts ALL translations are guesses made from multi-generation copies.

We may as well be discussing which counterfeit bills were made by the 'best' engraver.

When all is said and done--what do you have and what can you do to compare it with non-existing originals?

If any--that means 'none' may well be a choice too--if ANY versions are better than others, you have to ask "better in what way"? And the answer has to make sense as evidence.

Demonstrably--there is no 'there' there, it is all speculative.

24

Impossible conversation: Jesus and Nicodemus: YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN

by Terry in

i am a member on new testament scholar bart ehrman's blog, and the professor is currently outlining a new book he is writing about false memory and the life of jesus.. an interesting post occurred today in which he gives an example of a very famous scripture,.

example of a false memory of jesus teaching i turn to a famous passage in the gospel of john, jesus dialogue with nicodemus (john 3:1-15).

nicodemus is said to be a jewish leader who comes up to jesus and affirms that jesus must come from god because of the great things that he said to have done.

Terry

Clambake: what scares me about Ehrman about is he is very similar to the Watchtower, dealing more in conspiracies than probabilities

_______________________

Please give a couple of specific examples and define what you mean by "conspiracies," please.

What do you mean "scares me"?

40

What is the truth?

by hardtobeme in

jw
friends

that is what my professor of philosophy asked us last night at class.. he said that pontius pilate asked jesus that question and that it was a hard one that jesus couldn't answer.. what do you think about this question?

what is the truth?

does the gb has any truth?

Terry

We destroy our rational mind through the way we misuse language.

How? We lose track of what we are referring to and become tangled in subtext, fanciful metaphor, poetic digression, and 'spiritualizing' our imagination.

Is poison a good thing to drink? No. That is true because it is demonstrable.

It is a useful and practical thing to know. It is factual.

What about taking a slow poison? Doesn't it bring about eventual death?

A lifetime of exposure to a socially approved form of irrational non-fact cannot be healthy. It is slow poison.

Civilization has been held in thrall by superstition almost from the very beginning. Mankind staggers about drunk on non-fact because it is inebriated by religious poison.

What is true is demonstrable in a real way.

That other sort of 'true' is bullshit, no matter what the numinous source may be said to be.

Superstition makes claims, creates fear, makes murky what is plain, and otherwise disconnects us from everyday reality.

If you find yourself confused by some 'truth' you are told--maybe, just maybe it is superstition and mysticism instead of fact.

9

The change in the Memorial

by Doug Mason in

up until 1954, the watch tower society said that the symbolism of the memorial loaf included the little flock and that the wine represented their sharing in jesus death.

(one example: the loaf pictures not jesus fleshly body but his body members, the christian congregation.

the watchtower, march 15, 1954, page 174).

Terry

The questions never asked and never answered:

"How is it possible to channel information which is dead wrong and why does the passage of time make the changes possible?"

"Why would the Governing Body authorize publishing and teaching doctrine, interpretation, and 'truth' which is eventually seen to be nonsense?"

Where is there truth in anything needing revision to its own opposite?

This has never been addressed. Nobody asks.

What is celebrated is the point of change (called New Light) which--when seen another way--is the moment the error is revealed.

"Hooray--we screwed up, but this time we got it right."

Oh, really? How do you know inasmuch as you thought you knew before, but were wrong?

7

An earlier date when the "great multitude/crowd" was first named: "Jehovah's witnesses"

by Doug Mason in

unlike the fonz, i can and do get things wrong..

the 1946 book let god be true ascribed the name jehovahs witnesses to the great multitude:.

page 232 of the 1952 edition.

Terry

I think the actual phrase, "Jehovah's witness. . ." appeared in Studies in the Scripture attached to the Great Pyramid ramblings.

Something or other like. . ."The Great Pyramid is Jehovah's witness in stone. . ."

But the application to the Great Crowd is equally wrong-headed as well. That's 0 for 2 for the WTS.

113

Are you religious or are you spiritual? Wake up to what?

by Deltawave in

there is a huge difference between been religious and been spiritual.

been religious is about been superior to others in the sight of god.

however, been spiritual is about self awareness, inner peace and unity with the natural world.

Terry

I'm not in the "belief" business any longer. Been there / done that.

Hope is okay, but belief takes a holiday from reality. Hope says, "I'm optimistic, but I know things can go wrong."

Belief says, "This is how it's going to be and nothing will convince me otherwise."

The world has way too many stiff-neck, hard heads--I don't need to add myself as one more.

55

why did man go from living 900 years to 90?

by sowhatnow in

i cant recall the scripture, where it says than only a few men will he live to be 80 years or so, can anyone recall that?.

so then im wondering, if it is a fact that men lived long years 900 in some cases, for what reason would god limit our lifespan if our time is so short compared to his?.

how on earth does man go from living 8 and 9 hundred years down to 80 to 100 ?.

Terry

The simplest answer is being overlooked.

There is zero evidence for the Bible's use of extraordinary age as factual.

You could almost make a case for "months" instead of years--but not quite.

It is fabulous mythmaking.

33

Richard Ashe Court Deposition - " Let elders handle child abuse- don't talk about it "

by flipper in

as some of you know i was given pdf files of much of the conti and lopez child abuse court cases and asked from a friend to peruse through it and post some excerpts on the board here that may have been missed or not addressed in the pbs newshour report or the abc news nightline report.

so after going through this richard ashe testimony i feel i found something quite interesting that exposes the real attitudes of the wt society leaders towards child abuse and the attitudes wt leaders put into it's appointed men's minds as well.

the viewpoint that richard ashe displays is repeated in elders throughout thousands of jw congregations on this planet.

Terry

The nonsensical notion that Elders are "trained" to counsel people who have been molested is totally unsupported.

What medical, psychological, psychiatric, or legal expertise do window washers, janitors, plumbers and such actually possess for the position they hold?

Let's start with: NONE.