I cannot fathom that they studied this book like 5 times? I guess when Freddie bit the dust they have had a hard time coming up with equally bizarre material.
Posts by donny
-
10Not Thinking It Through part 2
by donny inrecently i was going through some of my old storage boxes and came across my 1988 copy of the watchtower issued book "revelation.
its grand climax at hand!".
as i flipped through its pages i was reminded how blinded i was in regards to rational thinking.
-
-
-
10
Not Thinking It Through part 2
by donny inrecently i was going through some of my old storage boxes and came across my 1988 copy of the watchtower issued book "revelation.
its grand climax at hand!".
as i flipped through its pages i was reminded how blinded i was in regards to rational thinking.
-
-
donny
You are welcome LostGeneration. You have a great user name!!
-
10
Not Thinking It Through part 2
by donny inrecently i was going through some of my old storage boxes and came across my 1988 copy of the watchtower issued book "revelation.
its grand climax at hand!".
as i flipped through its pages i was reminded how blinded i was in regards to rational thinking.
-
-
donny
Recently I was going through some of my old storage boxes and came across my 1988 copy of the Watchtower issued book "Revelation. Its Grand Climax At Hand!"
As I flipped through its pages I was reminded how blinded I was in regards to rational thinking. When I read this material now I have to laugh at the absurdity of it and still struggle with the fact that I actually believed some of it at one point in my life.
I mean some of it is just so damn stupid!!! For example the blowing of the 7 trumpets in Revelation chapter 8 corresponded to some "proclamations" of the Watchtowers second president Joseph "Judge" Rutherford. I must have been heavily sedated to believe that these verses were in reference to some blubbering statement uttered by this 20th century drunk cult leader!
Also, you have to laugh at how "Caucasian oriented" the Watchtower Society is. The crowd of angels standing before the throne of God on page 86 are all blond and blue eyed. Not one person of African, Latino or Asian decent is to be seen in this vast throng of angels. I guess Jesus was European after all.
I now laugh when I look at the the many colored highlighters I used and the scripture citations from several bible translations and other comments I scribbled along the edges of the pages.
However there was one thing in this publication that I really had an issue with and was one of the earliest statements that began my road to doubtsville. It was on page 105 in the box at the top of the page.
Next to a picture of Charles Russel looking down at a bible was this comment. "Providentially, those Bible Students had not realized that there is no zero year between 'B.C.' and 'A.D.' Later, when research made it necessary to to adjust B.C. 606 to 607 B.C.E., the zero year was also eliminated , so that the prediction held good at 'A.D. 1914."
That did not set well with me at all. That was way to much coincidence for my brain. You mean to tell me that when they realized that their date for the beginning of the "seven times" needed to be moved back a year, which would have made the gentile times ending in 1913, they also discovered that there was no year zero so 1914 was still valid?
Please!! This smacked so much of spiritual bullshit that I was never able to let it go. I remember bringing this to the attention of my then wife who told me to forget it about it and to leave the matter in Jehovah's hands.
But that never happened and it gnawed on me for the next several years and by the end of 1991 I knew that my days as one of Jehovah's Witnesses were numbered.
It was the 1988 summer District Convention "Divine Justice" where this Revelation book was released that began my serious doubts. It was the concluding symposium talk on Saturday titled "The Appointed Time Is Near" that gave me the heebie jeebies.
It was a piped in talk by a Governing Body Member John Barr. At one point in the talk he commented how those who follow "Christendom" (non-JW Christian religions) deserved execution at the hands of Jehovah and asked the audience for a shout of "aye" in agreement. To hear several thousand folks yell "aye" in unison regarding the murder of billions sent shivers down my spine. For the first time at a J.W. function, I felt that something was very wrong in the organization.
As time went on I began to question many other beliefs I had regarding the Witnesses and in due time I came to the decision that it was not the "truth" it claimed to be, but I felt so isolated because I could not share of discuss my feelings with my fellow congregational members for fear of being "turned in" to the Watchtower authorities.
Eventually my then-wife and I went our separate ways and in September 1992 I sent a letter of disassociation to elders in my congregation. In the course of one day I went from having several hundred friends and acquaintances to having only my non-J.W. mom and dad to talk to. It was a period of much solitude and loneliness that I had to endure for quite some time until I had again built up a circle of "worldly" folks.
This was just another example of me not thinking things through. Even when I had doubts about some of the statements made by the "faithful and discreet slave", I would just shelve them and hope the clarification would eventually be realized.
Of course that never happened because it was all pure unadulterated bovine excrement. Once I did unshackle my reasoning faculties the "truth" shone through and the "Grand Climax" was the Watchtower Society was shown to be the wolf in sheep's clothing that it really is.
I have been thinking logically again for almost 22 years and I do not have any regrets. I have since become part of the humanist society and have found great sites like Dogma Debate Radio with David Smalley and The Thinking Atheist with Seth Andrews and The Atheist Experience with Matt Dillahunty, Jeff Dee, Russell Glasser, and many others. I also have found great books by such authors as David Fitzgerald, Darrel Ray and Terry Edwin Walstrom.
So those of you who are still in the Jehovah's Witness organization, keep questioning and the truth will set you free!!!
Ray Reed aka the Annointed Atheist. So full of the spirit of the FSM that I have to "n's" in anointed.
-
16
Thinking it through and not liking the result.
by donny intoday at work a co-worker of mine and i were having lunch at a nearby establishment.
he is what you would call a c&e christian in that he basically attends church only for the christmas and easter services, though he definitely says he believes in god.. he said that he just recently caught an episode of a crime/forensic show that featured a man from new jersey named john list who was also known locally as the "bogeyman of westfield.
" list became infamous for murdering his entire family consisting of his wife, three children and his mother on november 9, 1971. see below link for more data.. on the tv show the narrator commented there were a few reasons why he did it.
-
-
donny
You all are correct. There is no making sense out of senselessness.
-
6
Do you have a right to your private thoughts?
by Terry indefine: privacy.
the state or condition of being free from being observed or disturbed by other people.. .
if your private thoughts were made public--and you knew they would be made public--.
-
-
donny
Wow Terry, you gave me a lot to think about there. You have a great mind.
-
29
Are you interested in dropping your southern accent?
by jam inwell you are in luck, oak ridge national laboratory in.
tn offered a class for their 4000 employees from 90. different countries, get this,a class that teaches how to.
minimice a southern accent.
-
-
donny
Well that was pert near the most intristin thang I has heards in a while.
-
16
Thinking it through and not liking the result.
by donny intoday at work a co-worker of mine and i were having lunch at a nearby establishment.
he is what you would call a c&e christian in that he basically attends church only for the christmas and easter services, though he definitely says he believes in god.. he said that he just recently caught an episode of a crime/forensic show that featured a man from new jersey named john list who was also known locally as the "bogeyman of westfield.
" list became infamous for murdering his entire family consisting of his wife, three children and his mother on november 9, 1971. see below link for more data.. on the tv show the narrator commented there were a few reasons why he did it.
-
-
donny
I think there may be hope for this person. He is quite a smart fellow and he was clearly disturbed by where this concept of thinking finally ended up. He seems to be fascinated with the fact that I was once a JW and am now a non-believer in any of it. He commented "Most folks I have known got more religious as they got older but you went the other way."
-
16
Thinking it through and not liking the result.
by donny intoday at work a co-worker of mine and i were having lunch at a nearby establishment.
he is what you would call a c&e christian in that he basically attends church only for the christmas and easter services, though he definitely says he believes in god.. he said that he just recently caught an episode of a crime/forensic show that featured a man from new jersey named john list who was also known locally as the "bogeyman of westfield.
" list became infamous for murdering his entire family consisting of his wife, three children and his mother on november 9, 1971. see below link for more data.. on the tv show the narrator commented there were a few reasons why he did it.
-
-
donny
Today at work a co-worker of mine and I were having lunch at a nearby establishment. He is what you would call a C&E Christian in that he basically attends church only for the Christmas and Easter services, though he definitely says he believes in God.
He said that he just recently caught an episode of a crime/forensic show that featured a man from New Jersey named John List who was also known locally as the "Bogeyman of Westfield." List became infamous for murdering his entire family consisting of his wife, three children and his mother on November 9, 1971. See below link for more data.
On the TV show the narrator commented there were a few reasons why he did it. He was unhappy with the way his life was heading, he was broke and recently unemployed, but what caught my coworkers attention was the reason he killed his children.
As a "devout" believer he reasoned that his children were still under the age of accountability and if he killed them they would be guaranteed a place in heaven. However if they continued gravitating toward the unholy lifestyle he thought they were heading to, then a trip to hell was a very likely possibility.
I reminded him that this was also the reasoning used by a deranged Andrea Yates when she drowned her five children in Texas on June 21, 2000. He said "oh yeah" and added her to his flurry of condemnations. He said he could not understand how anyone could get that screwed up in their thinking.
I agreed with him that it was a very evil thing they had done to their kids and as an unbeliever I faulted religion as the principal reason in those cases.
He said religion was not at fault here as far as he could surmise so I asked him this question. "Do you think the kids are in heaven?"
"Of course they are" he replied and then added "It wasn't the kids fault the parents were fucked up in the head!"
The conversation went on as follows.
Myself: "I agree that's it jacked up, but didn't they get the result they were shooting for?" (no pun intended)
Coworker: "What do you mean?"
Myself: "The kids received a guaranteed entrance into eternal life in heaven."
Coworker: "Yeah they did, but they should not have killed them to get that guarantee."
Myself: "I agree wholeheartedly. But if you accept the common belief that young ones who die before the age of accountability, whatever that is, then maybe the parents did them a favor."
Coworker: "That's fucked up thinking!"
Myself: "Again I agree, but look at it from their standpoint. They 'loved' their kids so much that they did not want to entertain the possibility that they could end up in the lake of fire for eternity so they played the 'get into heaven free' card by killing them before they got involved in anything that would keep them from attaining that prize."
Coworker: "I see what you are saying but that is totally fucked up! The poor kids didn't get a chance to enjoy like on earth."
Myself: "True, but according to them all of them are living forever in paradise now, whereas that may not have been the case if they had been allowed to make their own decisions as adults."
Coworker: "I don't know what to say to that. I understand your point but it is still so damned wrong. What is also messed up is he said the reason he didn't kill himself is because suicide would have barred him from heaven, but he could get forgiveness for killing his family."
Myself: "But that is what the majority of Christians believe. What they do not understand is they are essentially saying that they can alter "Gods plan" so that it suits themselves. I know you would not have ever considered doing such a hideous deed, but you can somewhat understand that convoluted thinking can't you?"
Coworker: "I suppose a little bit but I still find it gut-wrenching and fucked up to the max!"
Myself: "So do I, but there are several situations like that regarding religious beliefs where if you really think it all the way through to its conclusion, the results are horrifying."
Coworker: "Dammit Ray I am going to have to give this some deep thought and maybe ask my cousin who is a pastor of a church."
Myself: "I would be very interested in his viewpoint on this matter."
Coworker: "I can't parse this out at the moment so that it makes sense. On one hand you love your kids more than anything but if you saw one headed on the highway to hell, I could see a bit how a fucked up person could come to the conclusion that killing them now would be better for them in the long run."
Myself: "So what is worse? Killing them now so they can live forever or let them live out their life and let them spin the wheel of life knowing they may win an all expensed paid trip to hell where they will be tormented forever and forever."
Coworker: "Let's drop the subject for now as it is really jacking with my mind."
Myself: "Sure. Are your ready for football season now?"
I later sent him a link to Dogma Debate Radio with David Smalley and asked him to check out a few of the podcasts and let me know what he thinks.
-
40
Athiests: Do you ever wonder... what if?
by toweragent ini'll start by saying, i'm a ministerial servant who is trapped in the religion.
my wife is hardcore...but i've slowly been getting her to lighten up, so i'll take it!
all my friends and family are jw's, and i am employed by a jw (who is actually a great boss).
-
-
donny
I too was a ministerial servant when I began to fade from the organization. My atheism came many years later. You should not rush yourself in whatever change process you find yourself in. I can say that I am much happier now than when I was part of the borg. I cannot say for certain that there is nothing out there beyond the physical world, but until evidence is presented that proves it, I will be an atheist (without a god).
Donny
-
42
Is the Bible just as fake as the JW's
by BackSlider init seems that the more i research, the more i find that it's all just a big scam.
is there any evidence that even the bible isn't just another big religion/government scam?
would we listen to putin or obama if they told us they have verified new holy writings?
-
-
donny
The Bible is simply the stories and musings of some bronze-aged middle easterners who were trying to maintain some control over a band of desert dwellers and trying to make a nation out of them. It has no more and no less relevance than ancient Chinese or Egyptian stories.