As someone I know often says: "I'm not greedy, I just want a lot."
Ténébreux
JoinedPosts by Ténébreux
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22
Finish the sentence, "I'm not greedy, I'm....
by jgnat init seems the wtbts is gearing up to blame nearly every failure by congregation members on greediness.
materialism is greed.
addiction to pornography is greed.
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WTBTS's Use of "Illustrations"
by Tashawaa inremember "illustrations"... the wtbts uses them to drive-home their points.
for example, i can't get the illustration of "good parents who allow their child to undergo a painful operation for its own good" (with picture of parents heartbroken, and crying, reaching child being wheeled into operating room).
this was suppose to help us "understand" why god allows the suffering today - for our future wellbeing.. well, what if the parents had the power to heal the child without surgery.
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Ténébreux
When explaining why they keep reversing their stance on various issues, they like to use the illustration of a sail boat "tacking" against the wind. The boat appears to be meandering left and right, but really it's being guided steadily forward.
What "wind" is God supposed to be struggling against that prevents him from revealing the truth the first time round, so that he must resort to this strategy?
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Ténébreux
The door-banging routine has to be the most inefficient, idiotic, waste of time and money ever employed by a religion.
You have to wonder why God hasn't yet switched to Plan B of having the stones cry out.
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beliefs I thought were unique to JWs because they had holy spirit
by demeter inthis forum rocks.
i like it very much.. i want to talk about something that i have noticed since leaving the jws.. i thought the ideas about the millenium, armeggedon, invisibility of christ's presence, etc were inspired as truths given only to the anointed to pass on to the faithful witnesses.
the parousia idea was an idea borrowed from a preacher named miller when one of his apocalyptic prophecies failed to come true.
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Ténébreux
When I've pointed out to them that there are other organizations who also follow almost any given JW teaching, I've found that the response is usually something like "Yes... but we're the only ones who do ALL of those things. Show me any other organization that preaches door-to-door AND doesn't go to war AND doesn't celebrate worldly holidays AND doesn't accept blood AND..." and so on.
And meanwhile, somewhere out there, there is another religious group saying "Yes, but show us anyone else who doesn't go to war AND doesn't celebrate Christmas AND denies the Trinity AND preaches door-to-door AND abstains from playing the banjo on Thursdays..."
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WHAT ARE SOME TITLES YOU COULD SEE IN THE WT?
by stillAwitness intitles you could see in a wt/awake magazine:
1. candy-can it detract us from true worship?
2. rape victims-you are now allowed to scream again!
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Ténébreux
"Questions Apostates Ask - Strawmen That Work."
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Embarrased that you were a JW?
by Lady Lee ini have finally started to read captive hearts, captive minds.. they say something that got me to thinking.. i used to feel embarassed to tell non-jws that i was a jw.
it was one thing to tell people at the doors.
it was totally another thing to tell other people.
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Ténébreux
I was a bit afraid to tell friends at school that I was a JW, in much the same way that Clark Kent was reluctant to reveal his true identity. JWs are special, we're better than everyone else, and everyone else knows it. If I tell anyone, they'll think I'm bragging. They're not ready for this, they'll feel unworthy to be in the presence of one of God's chosen people...
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Mene mene tekel parsin
by SixofNine in.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,7371,1563596,00.html
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Ténébreux
I always used to wonder what kind of oddball language would have a single word for "Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians". So many people must have been going around on a daily basis telling each other that their kingdoms had been divided and given to the Medes and Persians that someone said "You know, we really need a special word for this..."
(Yeah I know, the words just mean "counted, weighed, divided" in Aramaic.)
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There must be an "organization"
by sinis ini have not, nor will go back to "meetings" after finding out how i was spiritually mislead through the years.i have actually found more comfort in doing my own studying.
my wife still goes occassionaly and her sister and brother-in-law just started going back.
so we went over there house the other night and we got into a conversation in which he said they went to the meeting today (sunday).
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Ténébreux
38 John said to him: “Teacher, we saw a certain man expelling demons by the use of your name and we tried to prevent him, because he was not accompanying us.” 39 But Jesus said: “Do not try to prevent him, for there is no one that will do a powerful work on the basis of my name that will quickly be able to revile me; 40 for he that is not against us is for us."
I especially like the next part where he tells them that if anyone stumbles one of these little ones (referring to the man they had just been talking about) it would be better if he were thrown into the sea with a millstone around his neck. They love to quote that bit to show how bad "stumbling" is. And what do they mean by stumbling? Causing someone to turn away from the organization, that's what. So they manage to take a quote that's specifically talking about how unimportant it is to be with a particular group, and use it to explain the disastrous consequences of not being with the organization. Just brilliant.
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Thou Shalt Not Consume Peanut Butter Before Thy God!
by Swan inhere's what i don't get about some religions.
maybe someone could explain it to me.
okay, hypothetically, let's say you belong to a religion where one of the "rules" is that you shouldn't eat peanut butter.
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Ténébreux
I'm thinking maybe one reason for gathering scientific evidence of the evils of peanut butter would be to demonstrate how far ahead of their time the holy writings really were. When the prophet Thrashbarg decreed to the Sandwich Maker that peanut butter shall no longer be consumed, he could not possibly have known what science has only recently confirmed nearly four and a half thousand years later. Thus we can see that the holy writings are not of mere men, but inspired by the Lord Bob in his ineffable wisdom. Do we dare to question Bob's channel of communication today, presuming that we know better?
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Watchtower Words: The Governing Body condemns itself publicly (a pattern)
by Terry in*** watchtower 1956 feb 1 pp.88-89 cautious as serpents among wolves ***
45 we dare not lie against god's word, adding to it or taking away from it, reading into it what it does not say and denying, passing over or explaining away what it does truthfully say.
"every word of god is tried: .
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Ténébreux
You've brought up so many good points (as usual). Just a few comments:
"A new view of truth never can contradict a former truth."
When I show this WT quote to JWs, they point at the date it was written. So in the ultimate irony, a quote stating that new truths cannot contradict former truths is itself rejected as a superseded former truth.
"This might be compared to what is known in navigational circles as "tacking." By maneuvering the sails the sailors can cause a ship to go from right to left, back and forth..." ... "...in order that we should no longer be babes, tossed about as by waves and carried hither and thither by every wind of teaching by means of the trickery of men..."
Hahahaha...! Love it!
We should have confidence in the channel God is using.
That's right. If unsure about which one that is, just listen to God's channel in order to find out. You'll know you have the right one because God will be speaking through them. And you'll know for sure it's God's word because it's coming through the channel He is using.
(Does this remind anyone else of the "What Time is it, Eccles?" sketch from the Goon Show, or is it just me?)