"The form alright is a one-word spelling of the phrase all right. Alright is commonly used in written dialogue and informal writing, but all right is the only acceptable form in edited writing. Basically, it is not all right to use alright in place of all rightin standard English.Feb 18, 2015"
Posts by Terry
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20Article: "JWs door to door pamphlets are actually alright." Journalist's mistakes corrected in Comments by XJWs. Read his reaction.
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.the-newshub.com/general/jehovahs-witness-door-to-door-pamphlets-are-actually-alright#comment-section.
jehovah's witness door to door pamphlets are actually alright.
and their religion isn't that bad either.
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Is a piano inevitable?
by slimboyfat ini was at a concert last night and the presence and stature of the piano struck me.
and i thought: if the piano wasn't invented when it was, would it have been invented by someone else instead?
or if there was a world the same as our, except with a different history, would it have pianos now too or would it be modern world, similar in many respects, only without pianos?
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Terry
As a writer, I'm very interested in words for a number of reasons, so it shouldn't surprise anybody that I
have a love-hate relationship with the word "inevitable."
The concept itself of inevitability is problematic for me. How is it testable, verifiable, falsifiable?
It's a lot like saying, "Only possible things happen." This statement means impossibility is only conceivable theoretically since things we "think" to be impossible have happened all through history.
Back to the inevitability of the piano. . .
I own a 2004 Yamaha Motif ES keyboard which can reproduce any sound which exits as well as those which never before existed. By shaping sound files, I can bring into being not only musical sounds, but non-musical as well. The reason I raise this instance will soon become apparent.
When every sound is possible, are all sounds inevitable? Let's ask it mathematically.
Let's ask it mathematically and switch to the game of CHESS.
There are over 9 million different possible positions after three moves each. There are over 288 billion different possible positions after four moves each. The number of distinct 40-move games is far greater than the number of electrons in the observable universe.
QUESTION:
Are all games of chess inevitable?
At this point I'm going to answer practically and pragmatically: NO.
Why?
I think what humans invent and discover over the span of their existence is limiting to "necessities" first, and curiosities second.
Even if scientific and technological machines were invented which could, in turn, invent still other things--who would have the time to test and review them, and toward what profitable end?
The piano is an equal-tempered instrument which makes it an artificial compromise in tuning that Western ears have adjusted to over time. It is by no means a natural consequence of tuning based on relative pitches from lowest to highest.
My Yamaha keyboard can sound like a Bosendorfer grand or a Honky Tonk saloon instrument, or a combination of so many other kinds of piano--but--in the final analysis, who gives a shit? :)
There is so much "music" hanging in the air already--it's like street signs, billboards, and advertising--too much is way more than enough already.
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Are You No Longer Interested in the Arts?
by compound complex ingreetings, new friends and old:.
i've been here some nine years now and have learned a lot.
made many dear friends.
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Terry
The idea of JDubs as artistic intellectuals is mind-boggling.
I've known smart ones but seldom was their artistic side reflected in conversancy with Art or Literature.
Mostly it devolved down to Stephen King novels and movies.
I've not ever seen a real piece of Art in the house or apartment of a Dub.
Perhaps this is reflected in the economic status of Dubs, in general--dunno.
Dubs only have strong opinions when they are backed up by the Borg.
Criticism is of a certain bent and seldom is it directed toward any purpose other than to decry
how un-Theocratic something is.
We use to have Philosophy Topics here about a decade ago.
I brought Ayn Rand a few times and was pounced on by persons who didn't care to
talk about her ideas, only her personality and private life.
Several Topics concerning movies have passed through here. I like those discussions. Rarely are Art films the topic. Let's face it, most theaters can't afford to take up space with poorly attended flicks.
I think sales of Classical music are so few (in comparison with Popular music) there will soon be generations of young folks who know absolutely less than nothing about Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Stravinsky, Schuman, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, etc.
The wonderful popular music of the 30's (Gershwin, Cole Porter, etc) was quite artistic--but--once again, what Youth of today (unless they are "Hipster") talks about it on an Ex-JDub site?
I guess it's up to us, Coco.
Alas!
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A POP QUIZ about the origin of "NEW LIGHT"
by Terry injehovah's witnesses claim to have special access--exclusive truth.. this is a pop quiz.
origins of christmas as pagan.
may 15th, 1995, watchtower magazine carried a two-part study article: in this article the claim is made as to why and how jehovah's witnesses received new light about celebrating christmas.. here"new understanding" of its pagan origins was revealed:.
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Terry
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES claim to have special access--exclusive Truth.
This is a POP QUIZ
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ORIGINS OF CHRISTMAS AS PAGAN
May 15th, 1995, Watchtower magazine carried a two-part study article: iN THIS ARTICLE the claim is made as to why and how Jehovah's Witnesses received New Light about celebrating Christmas.
Here"new understanding" of its pagan origins was revealed:
“Shortly thereafter**, a flash of light caused the Bible Students to stop celebrating Christmas. Before that time, Christmas had always been celebrated by the Bible Students worldwide, and its celebration at Brooklyn headquarters was a very festive occasion. But then it was discerned that the observance of December 25 was actually pagan and was chosen by apostate Christendom to make it easier to convert pagans.”
“Shortly thereafter” is in reference to the year 1926**.
______________________________
POP QUIZ: THE SOURCE OF NEW LIGHT ABOUT CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS ORIGINATED WITH:
A. JEHOVAH'S anointed remnant or
B. A crackpot historian who had died the year the Civil War ended.
Answer: B
___________________________
Alexander Hislop published a peculiar book first as a pamphlet in 1853, The Two Babylons, a whopping 75 years prior to the time the Bible Students suddenly flashed on the truth about Christmas,
Three-quarters of a century delay? How embarrassing!
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NEW LIGHT about the Pagan origins of THE CROSS
________________________
What else did this 1995 Watchtower article identify as New Light channeled through Jehovah's especially "selected channel"?
“For many years, the Bible Students made the cross prominent as a symbol of Christianity. They even had a “cross-and-crown” pin… For decades, this symbol also appeared on the cover of the Watch Tower magazine. The book Riches, published by the Society in 1936, made clear that Jesus Christ was executed, not on a cross, but on an upright pole, or stake.”
_______________________
POP QUIZ:
This flash of New Light about the Cross came from:
A. Jehovah's Anointed
B. A crackpot historian 78 years earlier
Answer: B
___________________
1858 Alexander Hislop used the same reasoning and examples to put forward the same conclusions as the "New Light" of 1936 in the Watchtower. Why fail to credit Hislop's jump start on this conclusion?
Why did the Watchtower claim it as their special revelation directly from Jehovah because THEY ALONE were his chosen true religious organization?
The plot thickens,
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NEW LIGHT correcting OLD New Light which made OLD LIGHT "Truth" and New Light wrong!
“A bright flash of light was seen in 1962 in connection with Romans 13:1…The early Bible Students understood that “the higher powers” mentioned there referred to worldly authorities. They took this scripture to mean that if a Christian was drafted in wartime, he would be obligated to put on a uniform, shoulder a gun, and go to the front, to the trenches. It was felt that since a Christian could not kill a fellow human, he would be compelled to fire his gun into the air if worst came to worst. The Watchtower of November 15 and of December 1, 1962, shed clear light on the subject…”
This correction corrected WHO?
_____________________
POP QUIZ:
A. False religious teachings of early Bible Students who had betrayed Jehovah's anointed
B. The Watchtower's own President and governing body leader
Answer: B
This 1962 flash of light corrected--not the Bible Students understanding--but, the wacky false New Light by Watchtower Society's President J.F.Rutherford!
In the July 1st, 1931, Watchtower, Rutherford said:
“Until quite recently God’s people understood…that this scripture has reference to worldly ruling powers. Those who have withdrawn from the Society still hold this wrongful view. Now, however, the faithful remnant clearly see that this scripture has no reference to any part of Satan’s organization but does apply exclusively to God’s arrangement in his organization for his own people. Those who refuse to see this truth and who oppose the statement of The Watch Tower concerning it have seized upon such as an excuse and have dropped out and have gone into the dark.”
_______________________________
Wow! A double error by the True religion!
_______________________________
Let's review another instance of real foot-dragging coming to a flash of New Light.
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NEW LIGHT ABOUT SMOKING
Until 1973, Bethel did not prohibit smokers from becoming baptized Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Watchtower’s flash of New Light classified casual smokers in the same category as practicing fornicators, greedy persons, idolaters, revilers, drunkards, and extortioners, which were the sorts of persons the inspired apostle said, should be removed from the congregation.
Who received this "Light" first?
________________________
POP QUIZ:
A. A cult leader of the Mormon church
B. Jehovah's anointed
Answer: B
The Mormon leader Brigham Young, however, beat Jehovah's Anointed channel to this New Light in 1833's Words of Wisdom revealed by the Lord Himself!
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Stealing 2nd Adventist's beliefs + fanciful crackpot ideas of others
Pastor Charles T. Russell adopted 2nd Adventist's peculiar theories that Jesus
had already returned invisibly and Pyramidologist's crackpot ideas about the Great Pyramid revealing 1914 as the Armageddon of the bible!
__________________________
POP QUIZ:
In view of the above can we say with confidence
A. Jehovah's anointed "Faithful and Discreet Slave gave "food at the proper time". . .
B. Jehovah's claims about the Slave Class are without merit, exaggerated and preposterous
Answer: B Duh!
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Aspeger's syndrome, ASD and Autism - How do you know if you have it?
by KateWild inon another thread i was asked by fadetoblack about my asd.
sorry ftb i didn't respond, but here is your post again and i will respond on this new thread.. i'm curious to know how you know you were born with asperger's syndrome.
it seems to be extremely hard to clinically diagnose, but popular to self-diagnose.
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Terry
A question though, if I may? Are people displaying symptoms of Aspergers Syndrome defective or is the society that wants everyone to exhibit a certain behavior at fault? I think in more tolerant societies it would not be a problem (maybe it would, I don't know). Modern, western societies seem to expect everyone to conform to a limited range of behaviors. If you don' fit in that range, medication is required.
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If the numerical majority are blind--the one-eyed man (who might, in a two-eyed society be considered handicapped) would be King!
Meaning what?
Meaning context determines who is and is not viewed by others a certain way, plus (+) or (-) minus.There is no absolute.
There is a consensus.America is evenly divided into CONSERVATIVE and LIBERAL. Half hold strong views and beliefs the other half finds repugnant. (Finger-pointing, mockery, and political machinations bring to light this polarization.)
Getting a Republican to "tolerate" a Liberal or the other way round, is laughable.Political elections are not a search for the correct or best person to take power. It is a flat out mechanism for determining present consensus of raw number majority.
Why did I mention that? Read on!
"Normal" is a construct by a consensus. The "odd" ones can be genius or sociopath or both simultaneously.
How is being TOLERANT going to handle those manifestations?
Every person is unique--just like everybody else :)
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Aspeger's syndrome, ASD and Autism - How do you know if you have it?
by KateWild inon another thread i was asked by fadetoblack about my asd.
sorry ftb i didn't respond, but here is your post again and i will respond on this new thread.. i'm curious to know how you know you were born with asperger's syndrome.
it seems to be extremely hard to clinically diagnose, but popular to self-diagnose.
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Terry
Think of it like the weather.
A large city might have a forecast of RAIN but 70% of the territory doesn't get any precipitation.
The FORECAST is like a DIAGNOSIS.
Humans are complex organisms. It is possible to experience "weather" of the mind. Some days, some situations are filled with varying kinds of "weather."
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Our well-being is part of a factory in the brain (and body) manufacturing chemicals and a nervous system transmitting electrical signals.
It really doesn't take much to throw that into a nightmare scenario.We are fragile.
We are really all quite susceptible to many malfunctions.
I've struggled with what used to be called Aspergers all my life, NOT knowing what was wrong with me until the same things began happening to my small son. I looked at the questionnaire the physician and therapists gave Nicholas, and I started seeing MY situation reflected there! What a huge relief!
____________Having Autism Spectrum disorder is a Grayscale.
If you are compulsive about issues of control and you're fascinated by numbers AND you work as a CPA, your "disorders" perfectly match your job and you'll do well.
If not--the same manifestations will work against you.
LIFE IS ABOUT ADAPTING TO ENVIRONMENTS WHICH CHANGE.
Asperger's is a kind of DESCRIPTION of SYMPTOMS.
The parts we worry over are the parts described as DISORDERS.
IF YOU CAN'T ADAPT to your surroundings and you exhibit SYMPTOMS which single you out with behaviors
working against you--you have "suffered."
What is the difference between FUNCTIONING and NON-functioning Asperger's people?
What's the difference between a flashlight with fresh batteries and one with weak batteries?
You understand?
The neural pathways and chemistry of your brain are physical realities.
We are not all born with fully functioning flashlight batteries, but with ones which may not fully charge.
Some people can learn to work around these problems with proper balances of medication over a period of time. it requires adjustments, patience, and a vigilant physician.
It took my son, Nicholas, almost 21 years to find exactly the right balance of medication. When it finally happened, it was a miraculous transformation from a sullen, petulant, control-freak with no sense of humor into a lovely, gregarious human being with laughter and compassion.
What went wrong and what went right?
Batteries in the flashlight.
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Bible code
by Carol1111 inwhat do you think of this?.
http://www.biblecode.com/struct.html.
genuine question.
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Terry
http://skepdic.com/bibcode.html
Bible Code
The Bible Code is the title of a book by Michael Drosnin in which he claims that there is a code embedded in the Bible by Abraham's god (AG). The code is revealed by searching for equidistant letter sequences (ELS). The code is called the Bible Code or the Torah Code. For example, start with any letter ("L") and read every nth letter ("N") thereafter in the book, not counting spaces. If an entire book such as Genesis is searched, the result is a long string of letters. Using different values for L and N, one can generate many strings of letters. Imagine wrapping the string of letters around a cylinder in such a way that all the letters can be displayed. Flatten the cylinder to reveal several rows with columns of equal length, except perhaps the last column, which might be shorter than all the rest. Now search for meaningful names in proximity to dates. Search horizontally, vertically, diagonally, any which way. A group of Israeli mathematicians did just this and claimed that when they searched for names in close proximity to birth or death dates (as published in the Encyclopedia of Great Men in Israel) they found many matches, for example, the date of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin was in close proximity to letters spelling out his name. Doron Witztum, Eliyahu Rips, and Yoav Rosenberg (1994) published their findings under the title of "On Equidistant Letter Sequences in the Book of Genesis." The editor of the journal commented:
When the authors used a randomization test to see how rarely the patterns they found might arise by chance alone they obtained a highly significant result, with the probability p=0.000016. Our referees were baffled: their prior beliefs made them think the Book of Genesis could not possibly contain meaningful references to modern-day individuals, yet when the authors carried out additional analyses and checks the effect persisted.
That is, the probability of getting the results they did was 16 out of one million or 1 out of 62,500. The authors state: "Randomization analysis shows that the effect is significant at the level of 0.00002 [and] the proximity of ELS's with related meanings in the Book of Genesis is not due to chance." Harold Gans, a former cryptologist at the US Defense Department, replicated the work of the Israeli team and agreed with their conclusion. Witztum later claimed that, according to one measure, the probability of getting these results by chance is 1 in 4 million. He has apparently changed his mind and now claims that the probability p = 0.00000019 (1 out of 5.3 million).
As further evidence of the statistical significance of their results, the Israeli team analyzed the Hebrew version of the Book of Isaiah and the first 78,064 characters of a Hebrew translation of Tolstoy's War and Peace. They found many names in close proximity to birth or death dates, but the results were statistically insignificant. (The book of Genesis used in their study, the Koren version, has 78,064 characters.)
What does this all mean? To some it means that the patterns inGenesis are intentional and that AG is the ultimate author of the code. If so, should the Book of Isaiah, and any other book in the Bible that fails the ELS test, be dumped? Should we conclude that these statistics verify the claim that the Jews are the chosen people of AG, or that no more names should be added to list of Great Men in Israel unless they pass the ELS test? Unless other religions can duplicate such statistically improbable results, the mathematically minded supernaturalist might well consider them to be imposters. Should we translate all the sacred books of all the religions of the world into Hebrew and see how many great men of Israel are encoded there?
Can a computer really read the mind of AG? Apparently. For on this theory AG dictated in his favorite language, Hebrew, a set of words that are more or less intelligible if taken at face value, containing stories of creation, floods, fratricide, wars, miracles, and so on, with many moral messages. But this Hebrew god chose his words carefully, encoding the Bible with prophecies and messages of absolutely no religious value.
Many, however, are not at a loss at all. Some Christian "creation scientists" claim the Bible Code provides scientific proof of AG's existence. If they are right, they should convert to Judaism. Doron Witztum can't do that, since he is already a Jew. But he has taken the work done on Genesis a bit further than his colleagues. Witztum went on Israeli television and claimed that the names of the sub-camps on a map of Auschwitz appeared remarkably close to the phrase "in Auschwitz." The odds of such occurring, he said, are "one in a million." Some of his students did the math and claim their mentor was off by "a factor of 289,149." Witztum's math may not be as good as his intentions, but it is difficult to see what those intentions might be. Was AG revealing in an odd way that the sub-camps of Auschwitz are in Auschwitz?
Michael Drosnin has written a book based on the ELS study. He claims in The Bible Code (1997) that decoding the Bible leads to the discovery of prophecies and profound truths of a secular nature, not all of which are related to the Jews. Drosnin claims that the Bible is the only text in which these encoded phrases are found in a statistically significant pattern, and that the chance of this being a random phenomenon is unlikely. Using the ELS method, Drosnin claims that the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin was foretold in the Bible. He also claims that the assassinations of Anwar Sadat and the Kennedy brothers are encoded in biblical ELS.
Not everybody agrees with the Drosnin hypothesis, including Harold Gans, a retired Defense Department cryptologist who corroborated the work of Witztum, Rips, and Rosenberg. Gans says that the
...book states that the codes in the Torah can be used to predict future events. This is absolutely unfounded. There is no scientific or mathematical basis for such a statement, and the reasoning used to come to such a conclusion in the book is logically flawed. While it is true that some historical events have been shown to be encoded in the Book of Genesis in certain configurations, it is absolutely not true that every similar configuration of "encoded" words necessarily represents a potential historical event. In fact, quite the opposite is true: most such configurations will be quite random and are expected to occur in any text of sufficient length. Mr. Drosnin states that his "prediction" of the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin is "proof" that the "Bible Code" can be used to predict the future. A single success, regardless of how spectacular, or even several such "successful" predictions proves absolutely nothing unless the predictions are made and evaluated under carefully controlled conditions. Any respectable scientist knows that "anecdotal" evidence never proves anything.*
Dr. Eliyahu Rips, one of the authors of the study that started the Bible Code craze, has also made a public statement regarding Drosnin'sBible Code.
I do not support Mr. Drosnin's work on the Codes, nor the conclusions he derives....All attempts to extract messages from Torah codes, or to make predictions based on them, are futile and are of no value. This is not only my own opinion, but the opinion of every scientist who has been involved in serious Codes research.
Professor Menachem Cohen, a celebrated Bible scholar at Bar-Ilan University, has criticized Witztum et al. on two counts: (1) there are several other Hebrew versions of Genesis for which ELS does not produce statistically significant results; and (2) the appellations given to the Great Men in Israel was inconsistent and arbitrary. Other critics, such as Brendan McKay, have done their own analysis ofWar and Peace with remarkably different results than those reported by Witztum et al. Many critics, however, have done little more than use ELS to find names, dates, and so on in various books, a feat already known by even the weakest of statisticians to be unremarkable. Drosnin once said, "When my critics find a message about the assassination of a prime minister encrypted in Moby-Dick, I'll believe them." McKay promptly produced an ELS analysis ofMoby-Dick predicting not only Indira Ghandi's assassination, but the assassinations of Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, and Yitzhak Rabin, as well as the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Mathematician David Thomas did an ELS on Genesisand found the words "code" and "bogus" close together not once but 60 times. What are the odds of that happening? Thomas also did an ELS analysis on Drosnin's Bible Code II: The Countdown (2002) and found the message "The Bible Code is a silly, dumb, fake, false, evil, nasty, dismal fraud and snake-oil hoax."* Does this mean that AG put in a code to reveal that there is no code?
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whats so bad about believing people go to heaven?
by sowhatnow init occurred to me today, that so often, my mother will make the comment that .
"those false religions teach that everyone is going to heaven when they die, oh sure, .
all you have to do is be a good person, and off you go to heaven.
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Terry
My grandmother was the only religious influence I had until I was a teen.
She was reared as Catholic. She introduced me to the concept of heaven.
I never once understood it.
I still don't.
Too weird.
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What are the biggest holes in evolution?
by shadow inhow honest are the proponents of evolution?
idk but curious to see what type of response there is on a topic like this or does their study only seek to confirm their preconceptions and ignore uncomfortable facts?
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Terry
EVOLUTION is a "result" and not a Plan.
RELIGION is a plan with many implied personal results.
Unless you can straddle both worlds without bias, it is impossible to be fully neutral in your thinking about Evolution.
______________________________Science is about numbers and measurements while Religion is about words and language.
Separating the emotion content out of language is almost impossible.
Language isn't scientific. Language is filled with many pitfalls, traps, analogies, and emotional blockades!
The source of meaning is emotional even though thousands of denominations are examining basic texts shared by all.
Science relies on numbers, measurements, inquiry and end results.
Religion relies on emotions, interpretations, promises and fallback positions.
RELIGION is all about non-questioning acceptance.
SCIENCE is dispassionate. Science is Take it or Leave it.
SCIENCE is a methodology of testing in order to disprove itself.___________________
Cognition is recognition.
None of us come out of the womb KNOWING.Patterns are introduced into our thinking which we associate with "meanings" directly impacting our pain and pleasure.
The source of almost all of our thinking for the first decade of life is SELF oriented interpretations of everything.
UNLESS we disconnect our intellect from our emotions at some point, we are fated to filter phenomena through a lens of "HOW DOES THIS HELP / HURT ME?"
_________________
EVOLUTION is the same body of facts everywhere on the planet as a result of
the application of combined intellects probing, testing and shaping the numbers.CHRISTIANITY is not the same anywhere but is a fractured set of impressions, opinions, and bodies of Dogma filtered into 40 thousand denominations.
Which bookkeeping firm would you hire to manage your finances? -
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CONSPIRACY THEORISTS at your door
by Terry inisn’t the watchtower society valuable because it gets people talking about important issues in our world?.
hell no!.
this argument presupposes that jehovah’s witnesses are ethically neutral–that if the core doctrine (the truth) is not true, its untruth is harmless, but if (by wild coincidence) the governing body of this organization happen to aim a wayward arrow at some real-world issue that needs addressing, the watchtower is a net positive because it directed, at least, some energy toward addressing essential issues of life.
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Terry
The 'interesting' phenomenon of the entire Watchtower religion's success rests on the shoulders of two men, Russell and F.Franz, who were highly skilled and prolific at creating a weird buffet table of other people's ideas, distilling them into a package of razzle-dazzle.
The inventor of SCIENTOLOGY, L.Ron Hubbard, did the same thing--except, he had a terrific imagination until his mind deteriorated.
Watchtower Theology is so-o-o-o unimaginative, dull, exasperatingly convoluted and anti-social. The engine driving the Org is paranoia, mind control, and fear.