binadub

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Posts by binadub

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  207

  Who Really is The Faithful and Discreet Slave?

  by Recovery in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  let's assume, as most of you probably believe, that the anointed christians are not the fds.

  if the anointed are not the fds, who are?.

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  binadub

  Hi Recovery:

  I haven't read all the responses to your good question, so I apologize if this has already been said.

  The answer is really simple. The Watchtower interprets Matt.24:45-51 as being a prophecy to be fulfilled. It is not a prophecy; it is a parable.
  A very similar parable follows in the very next chapter about a master who gives talents to slaves, and one invests wisely. Matt. 25:21 says: "Well done, good and trustworthy slave; ..." The Watchtower does not treat that parable as a prophecy.

  If you read the parable, it explains quite vividly that a faithful slave will be rewarded, but a slave that is not faithful will be severely punished.

  It's a parable about the wisdom of being faithful--for everyone. It's every Christian's responsibility to be faithful and discreet.

  ~Binadub
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  53

  Mexico. JWs up 42% in 10 Years

  by Joker10 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  according to the recent 2010 mexico census, people 5 and older who identified themselves as jehovah's witness grew by 42%.. .

  .

  year 20002010% total 1,057,7361,500,98441.9% population 84,794,454106,427,63625.5% ratio, one jw to:8071 .

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  binadub

  people 5 and older who identified themselves as Jehovah's Witness

  5 and older?-- in 10 years?

  Maybe they're having lots of babies--that could do it.
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  52

  Are you pro-activist, anti-activist, or passive?

  by cedars in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i ask this question because, having been on this forum for a year now, it's clear to me that there are many shades to so-called "apostasy", and this is particularly evident in the realm of anti-watchtower activism.. when i use the word "activism", likely picketing kingdom halls and conventions springs to mind.

  however, activism can be far more subtle than that.

  just having a website or a book that sheds light on the flaws of watchtower dogma is really a form of activism - arguably the most effective form at that.

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  binadub

  Activist

  ~Binadub
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  306

  I Believe Catholicism And Its Trappings Are Silly, Strange & Weird!!!

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my italian friend loves going to the "feasts" that occur in italy, boston or nyc.

  these feasts feature a "saint" with dollar bills pinned around her and they parade the saint in a long procession and chant "viva (whomever)".

  they are quite serious about this and are proud to talk about the past generations of observers who appreciated the events.

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  binadub

  RBIH:

  if all catholics/christians AREN'T the same, how is it that all atheists/pagans ARE the same?

  They're not.
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  306

  I Believe Catholicism And Its Trappings Are Silly, Strange & Weird!!!

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my italian friend loves going to the "feasts" that occur in italy, boston or nyc.

  these feasts feature a "saint" with dollar bills pinned around her and they parade the saint in a long procession and chant "viva (whomever)".

  they are quite serious about this and are proud to talk about the past generations of observers who appreciated the events.

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  binadub

  Hmm, obviously Berengaria thinks strictly in terms of winning debate. To your question:

  And what reason did they have for abolishing labor unions?

  Presumably they were anti-union.

  EP (or is it "Flash") :-))):

  I will give you a hint that you are not grasping that claiming atheism of the sort I practice is simply because I find no valid reason to beleive in God. The kind of state atheism you are referring to is to quash all competition to the state, to make people dependent on it, to make it their mother and manipulate and control them. It has nothing to do with "We don't beleive in God and if you do, we will kill you because we really hate Jesus."

  Atheism is a tool, in that sense, just like Jesus was on the flip side of the enslaving a murdering people. Atheism as a personal choice is not that at all.

  Don't get me wrong--I'm not arguing against atheism. As an aside, I do think not everyone who professes atheism on this forum is in tune with the way most mainstream (never-been-dubs) atheist people view it. There is atheist as an adjective or adverb, and then there is atheist as a noun as professed here (as in "I am an atheist" (noun) as an expression of specific belief rather than the mere absense of belief. But I digress . . .

  To address your comments:

  This is not about what kind of atheism you personally believe in--nothing to do with that whatsoever.

  For the point of discussion between you and me, it's been strictly about whether the USSR of Russia at one time killed people for having faith rather than professing atheism. You said it had nothing to do with atheism; I suggest you are wrong, irregardless of your personal beliefs or mine. When people are required to specifically profess atheism, that is about atheism. Now if the USSR mandate had been specifically to reject Christianity (as you imply it was about), that would be different. That you could say is not confined to being about atheism. But when the mandate is to profess atheism, that is about atheism, which I presume was not in fact limited to Christianity and Jesus, but was about rejecting faith in any power higher than the State of Russia at the time.

  I would agree with you that that is not what atheism is about generally speaking, when it is indeed a personal choice as it is with you. I have absolutely no problem with people choosing atheism as an informed choice. But when Russia demanded profession of atheism, it was not a personal choice, and in that arena, it was about atheism. It wasn't "deny Jesus or I will kill you," it was "profess atheism or I will kill you." Big difference.
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  306

  I Believe Catholicism And Its Trappings Are Silly, Strange & Weird!!!

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my italian friend loves going to the "feasts" that occur in italy, boston or nyc.

  these feasts feature a "saint" with dollar bills pinned around her and they parade the saint in a long procession and chant "viva (whomever)".

  they are quite serious about this and are proud to talk about the past generations of observers who appreciated the events.

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  binadub

  Berengaria:

  Because it had nothing to do with atheism. There is one simple reason that the governments mentioned demanded atheism. They also abolished labor unions. People gathering together for any reason is a source of strength, pure and simple.

  That doesn't seem to jive with the Wikipedia article clearly stating that Russia "... required individuals to profess atheism...".

  Understand, I have no personal belief investment in whether Russia persecuted religion or not, but to say it had nothing to do with atheism when people were required to profess atheism seems like it did as a matter of historical fact have something to do with atheism, pure and simple.
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  306

  I Believe Catholicism And Its Trappings Are Silly, Strange & Weird!!!

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my italian friend loves going to the "feasts" that occur in italy, boston or nyc.

  these feasts feature a "saint" with dollar bills pinned around her and they parade the saint in a long procession and chant "viva (whomever)".

  they are quite serious about this and are proud to talk about the past generations of observers who appreciated the events.

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  binadub

  Okay--don't have time like some here for this forum, so I guess I'll go with the secular evidence that indicates you're mistaken.
  According to Wikipedia, Russia did demand atheism, meaning the persecution did have to do with "atheism."
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  15

  GIVE IT women…

  by Marvin Shilmer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  give it women... .

  today i added a new article to my blog addressing the watchtower mindset regarding woman, and particularly of married women.

  pictures are telling!!!.

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  binadub

  Those impressions would have gone right over my independent bachlorette head at the time (I married later--"out of the Truth").
  My take on the first article, with either illustration, would have been that both married sexes were to please each other and the implication in the first illustration I would have missed. I am amazed that an illustration as provacative as the first would have been deemed suitable to the subject in a religious magazine--even now.

  I see the clear implication now in the second one (Women Were Made to Please), but a naive mind like I had then would have wondered if the phrase meant women were made to [be] please[d]--same with children. :-)))

  The Watchtower has mastered the art of vaguness so they can always claim it meant something else.

  But if you want to know something that actually blew my mind about the Watchtower teaching regarding the status of women, it was in the 1966 book "Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God" (the book that started the 1975 furvor), on pages 45-48, pp 22-25. While everyone else was focused on the 6000-year creative day due to end in 1975, it was that discussion that captured my attention. I thought someone had slipped that craziness by the GB while they must have been too busy to really grasp what was said (I didn't know Fred Franz had written it of course). I didn't discuss it with anyone, I just waited to see if the JWs would accept this as I understood it to be saying--they did! It was another validation added to my suspician that JWs went on blind faith. I was still trying to "wait on Jehovah."

  ~Binadub
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  306

  I Believe Catholicism And Its Trappings Are Silly, Strange & Weird!!!

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my italian friend loves going to the "feasts" that occur in italy, boston or nyc.

  these feasts feature a "saint" with dollar bills pinned around her and they parade the saint in a long procession and chant "viva (whomever)".

  they are quite serious about this and are proud to talk about the past generations of observers who appreciated the events.

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  binadub

  EP again (fwiw):

  I don't know if you place value on definitions in Wikipedia, but this from them on the term "State Atheism" (references omitted):

  State atheism may refer to a government's anti-clericalism, which opposes religious institutional power and influence in all aspects of public and political life, including the involvement of religion in the everyday life of the citizen. State promotion of atheism as a public norm was first practiced during a brief period in Revolutionary France. Since then, such a policy was repeated only in Revolutionary Mexico and some communist states. The Soviet Union had a long history of state atheism, in which social success largely required individuals to profess atheism, stay away from churches and even vandalize them; this attitude was especially militant during the middle Stalinist era from 1929-1939. The Soviet Union attempted to suppress public religious expression over wide areas of its influence, including places such as central Asia.

  (Underline mine).

  So I'm not sure why you say it had nothing to do with atheism.

  ~Binadub
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  306

  I Believe Catholicism And Its Trappings Are Silly, Strange & Weird!!!

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my italian friend loves going to the "feasts" that occur in italy, boston or nyc.

  these feasts feature a "saint" with dollar bills pinned around her and they parade the saint in a long procession and chant "viva (whomever)".

  they are quite serious about this and are proud to talk about the past generations of observers who appreciated the events.

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  binadub

  EP:

  Is it your view that faith in God or a supreme intelligent creator exists outside of religion?

  I am sure some people that are not part of an organized religion have faith in such things.

  So is it your view that only organized religion was banned in the countries that have been identified as atheist?
  (Which might be the case, I don't know.)