slimboyfat

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Posts by slimboyfat

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  44

  Dawkins on Jehovah's Witnesses' "Creation" book

  by slimboyfat in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  has anyone read dawkins new book the god delusion yet?

  he discusses the creation book on pages 119-121. he says that he discusses this particular tract only because it has had such a wide circulation - no fewer than 6 of which have been sent to him personally.

  well i think he has at least 7 copies by now because i personally know one witness who sent him one following his recent the roof of all evil?

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  slimboyfat

  Has Dawkins fully recovered? I think he had a stroke a while back.
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  44

  Dawkins on Jehovah's Witnesses' "Creation" book

  by slimboyfat in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  has anyone read dawkins new book the god delusion yet?

  he discusses the creation book on pages 119-121. he says that he discusses this particular tract only because it has had such a wide circulation - no fewer than 6 of which have been sent to him personally.

  well i think he has at least 7 copies by now because i personally know one witness who sent him one following his recent the roof of all evil?

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  slimboyfat

  Yep that’s right - slimboyfat promoting Dawkins since before other posters were even invented.
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  7

  Colwell’s Rule must die!

  by Wonderment in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  colwell, a trinitarian methodist, was apparently affected by various translators of his time and before, that were translating john 1:1 differently from the norm: "the word was god.

  " you had moffatt’s version saying "the word was divine" (1922); a french bible, "a divine being" (1928); belsham, "a god" (1808); benjamin wilson: "a god" (1864); robert young: "a god" in his commentary of 1985. colwell likely knew that various french and german bibles were being published challenging the traditional rendering "god" of john 1:1 as well.. so he set out to prove them wrong.

  he began by formulating a "rule" regarding predicate nouns and the greek article, whether they occurred after or before the verb.

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  slimboyfat

  Worth also mentioning the article by Philip Harner, an evangelical who acknowledged the problems with Colwell’s rule, but argued for a qualitative sense of “God” in John 1:1c in line with Trinitarian theology: an admission that the traditional Trinitarian defence of John 1:1 was defective.

  Harner, P. B. (1973). Qualitative anarthrous predicate nouns: Mark 15: 39 and John 1: 1. Journal of Biblical Literature, 92(1), 75-87.
  

  And also worth mentioning is the Coptic version of John 1:1 that includes the indefinite article at John 1:1c.
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  110

  If you're expecting a mass exodus anytime soon, FORGET ABOUT IT!

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have to make a token appearance at the k.h.

  once a month or so and this week went to a different hall.

  and believe me they are all still totally oblivious to all the negative news about the pedophiles and shunning that have come under scrutiny by the media and other governments.

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  slimboyfat

  Doubting Bro, I explained earlier in the thread what I meant by collapse, using comparisons with other religious groups. Collpase could proceed along a path similar to the Methodists in England. They grew until the middle of the 20th century when they had nearly 1 million members. They began steep decline in the 1950s and now there are very few left. It has been predicted the church will close altogether by around 2035. See the chart of their decline which is about one third of the way down this page:

  https://peopleneedjesus.net/2015/07/06/seven-principles-for-another-methodist-turn-around/

  On this path JWs are around about where the Methodists were in 1950. So in that scenario decline would be steep and they could disappear altogether within 80 years or so.

  Or collapse could be quicker than that. More along the lines of the Worldwide Church of God. Numbers are more difficult to chart in this case than the Methodists, but indications are that the decline was even more dramatic. In the 1980s circulation of The Plain Truth was greater than the Watchtower and it was a worldwide church. Then the founder died, they had scandals and financial crisis, and the church splintered and reformed. There is barely anything of this church left. People who say the Worldwide Church of God still exists - I wonder if they’ve ever been to any of their services, or spoken to any of their members? I have. There are hardly any of them left, they are all older people, and there is no sense in which this church has any future at all. In Scotland there was once hundreds of members in lots of churches. Now they have a handful of churches left with a handful of people in each. We’re talking about a reduction from probably over 1000 members to less then 50 within a couple of decades. If that isn’t collpase then I don’t know what is. I noticed similar figures and a reduction of around 90% in census data recently too. That’s the sort if scenario I’m talking about. People who say “the Worldwide Church of God” is still around don’t really know what they’re talking about, in my opinion. There may be traces of the church left at this stage, that is all.

  Morph, how can you say JWs are still growing when census figures show they are in decline? You cite growth in Watchtower publisher numbers, but it’s worth noting that this growth is contradicted by the census numbers in Canada and Australia. It’s also worth noting that Watchtower doesn’t even release average publisher numbers any more. Instead they publish peak numbers, which we know is generally the August figure where elders report everyone in the congregation, and sometimes put in double reports. So getting an accurate picture from the peak figure is doubtful, and the average figure is no longer available. Plus even the reported peak numbers are down in Europe. And number of congregations is down in the United States, Germany, Japan and elsewhere.
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  110

  If you're expecting a mass exodus anytime soon, FORGET ABOUT IT!

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have to make a token appearance at the k.h.

  once a month or so and this week went to a different hall.

  and believe me they are all still totally oblivious to all the negative news about the pedophiles and shunning that have come under scrutiny by the media and other governments.

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  slimboyfat

  I don’t consider this “going to war” we’re just having a discussion. And I’m curious how Morph will react in the months and years to come as the organisation continues to disintegrate. Probably say that’s what he expected all along!
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  51

  Is there evidence about Jaracz?

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  read some reply's about jaracz being a child abuser.. is there any evidence about it?.

  g..

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  slimboyfat

  If he married? That’s not usually a requirement is it? Is that an indication of the reason he was removed from the Australian branch?

  But I thought I read, in other onl8ne rumours, that Melita followed Jaracz to Australia to pursue him.
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  110

  If you're expecting a mass exodus anytime soon, FORGET ABOUT IT!

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have to make a token appearance at the k.h.

  once a month or so and this week went to a different hall.

  and believe me they are all still totally oblivious to all the negative news about the pedophiles and shunning that have come under scrutiny by the media and other governments.

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  slimboyfat

  How did I miss this collapse denier thread? Actually I think just now is exactly the time to expect a mass exodus. We are at a major turning point.
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  31

  A non-Witnes who accepts 607 BC?

  by careful in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  an eyebrow raiser to be sure.

  i can understand the clergyman being so baptist that he'd still use the name jehovah since it was popular in english and german churches for a long time during and after the reformation, but 607?.

  see ¶ 6 under the heading "the historicity of the book of daniel".

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  slimboyfat

  Thanks Earnest, that’s the one!
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  51

  Is there evidence about Jaracz?

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  read some reply's about jaracz being a child abuser.. is there any evidence about it?.

  g..

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  slimboyfat

  If Jaracz was really removed as branch overseer in Australia, there must still be some people around who remember why. That would be the place to start. Other things may not be verifiable, but that seems achievable to find out.
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  97

  Material such as the film at the end of this years convention confirms that I was right to take my kids out the religion

  by jambon1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it’s quite affirming to see the horrific material that they’re serving up at the convention this year.

  aside from blatant homophobia, the scenes at the end of the convention that are discussed on another thread stoop to new levels of fear mongering.

  it seems to occur to nobody inside the organisation that this kind of material could trigger fear, deprsssion, anxiety, stress.

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  slimboyfat

  Well they don’t ask for relgion in the US census. It’s mainly commonwealth countries (former British Empire) and Latin American countries that have good census data for relgion, and they’re mostly conducted every ten years, 2011 being the latest.