Posts by DannyBloem

60

Great Educational Tool for those studying or thinking of studying with JWS

by sf in

i was doing some web surfing and catching up on my reading and came upon a post i hope may help some lurkers and seekers understand better what they are getting themselves into or may have already gotten into, by studying the bible with jws.. i surely hope it is not going against any rule to copy/paste this.

i will not include anything but the text.

i will say though that it is from a longstanding exjw support board that can be found here:.

DannyBloem

I have to agree with supersonic on this one.
Not everywhere is shunning of family members that strictly. It seems a lot worse in the united states of america. Here it is normal not to shun, however not too close a contact also. Some are more strict then others.

However, I think that studies do not realize what they are signing up for when the baptize. They know so little of the things that are not in the open. Every line of the study books is terrible colored, and sometimes untrue, written to put the mind of studies in a certain direction. This can only be described as dishonesty. They need good information to make a choice. If they want to study fine, but they must consider both sides of the coin right?

Danny B

38

Finally out of Hiding

by Shador in

well i finally came out and told my parents i did not believe in the wts doctrines.. for me the last straw was seeing honesty's simple clear proof of the wrongness of 607.

'course i couldn't remember all the refs last night but now i've printed them out.. told them about the ngo thing.

of course they said the "ebul 'postates" were twisting the whole thing.. my dad tried to "reason with me" thusly:.

DannyBloem

Hi and welkom shador,

Your dad, took the well pounderin reasoning, which seems very logical at first glans. Of course he means what he says, and probably thinks of your well being.

However there are so many unreasonable assumptions in every line.

"Do you believe in God?" (Y/N)

this is not so effident. That many honest seeking people come to the conclusion that there is none, says enough. I guess it is natural for people to want a nice future and believe that dead is not the end. This implies a god or something spiritual. So, the WT saying that people choice not to believe in God for selfish purposes is just 180 degrees wrong.

"What kind of god is he? (Evidence of his love in creation of the beautiful earth, etc.)

If you just look around you, then why would anybody think that God is love and caring? You have a lot of explanation to do. You have to make up some other character and accuse this carracter of all bad. The nature itself is not loving, it is efficient.

"So why does man live only 70 or 80 years, while some TREES can live 4000+? (Body renews self, science does not understand why it stops doing so, marvelous design of brain, etc = Man not intended to die)"

Would you rather be a tree? As explained earlier science does understand (although not fully) why we age.
In fact we just have enough time to make children and raise them. Evolution explains this perfectly.

"Wouldn't a loving God explain what went wrong (also, wouldn't he provide guidance for man)?" "Bible is the only book that explains why we die, ergo, bible is God's word."

yes, a loving God would explain it, and would solve it. (a long time ago)
you can ask, why does the bible not show very clearly that it is Gods book (that would be so easy. Just let a profet note the distance to of the earth to the sun, the moon etc)
If the bible is so from God, then why it is about war, slavery and all kind of ancient criminal stories?

"What is the only religion who's members show true love among themselves and refuse to go to war and kill other members of the same religion in other lands?"

true love is everywhere and also in the organisation.
the witnesses are very much in unity indeed. A good thing maybe, but it is only because there is totally no freedom of speech.

well, what is left of this reasoning? zip

Danny B

11

I want a Bible

by PrimateDave in

jw
friends

i want a bible that hasn't been written by or for 'apologists'.

i want a bible written in english that correctly translates 'yhwh' as 'yahve' or 'yahweh' and 'elohim' as 'gods' instead of 'god'.

a recent bit of study has shown that many modern english bibles commit pious fraud by translating words like 'asherah'(idol used in sex worship by the patriarchs) as 'grove' or 'tree' in order to cover up the true roots of ancient 'hebrew' worship.

DannyBloem

dave,

what you want is a bible that shows clearly the polytheistic roots of many verses etc.
i do not think it exists

.

I would be intesested also. But all translations make a lot of assumptions, IMHO

8

Jehovah's Witnesses in Science Fiction

by VM44 in

jw
friends

.

webpage on jehovah's witnesses in science fiction.

http://www.adherents.com/lit/sf_jw.html.

DannyBloem

In one of the works of sir arthur c clarke, (i think it is in fountains of paradise) he discribes (shorty) the end of religion.
The predict the sun to explode in 400 years or so.

The JW's are one of the view religions not falling apart (they just change and adapt doctrine a bit, so they can say: We told youi that)

p.s. I read that when still a full witness. Got a bit of a double feeling about it

Danny

45

Vegetarianism

by rezamichael in

why aren't witnesses vegetarians?

it's well known that adam and eve were vegetarian.

there was only ever a concession given by god to allow meat eating after the flood as there was no vegetation so it was forced and rather a temporary fix up rather than a new permanent diet.

DannyBloem

Welcom!

I was discussing the same thing a few weeks ago on the bookstudie.

anyway, they believe humans and even animals were vegetarian before. (which is of course silly) But after noah not any more. So, we live after noah, so there is no need to be vegetarian. It is clear that eating meat is allowed in the time of the law and in the time of jesus.

I know some brothers who are vegetarians, and of course they view it as a personal standpoint, but it is a bit frowned upon. The % vegetarians is probably a lot less under JW's because they society doesn't say it is needed, so they do not follow it (they do not know how to make dessisions for themselves)

Danny B

14

The number 40 - Is there a connection? Flood, Sinai, Wilderness, Jesus

by truthseeker in

i was just thinking today, that the number 40 also seems to hold significance in the bible.

i did some research and found this site.. .

maybe leolaia, narkissos or others can help here and explain if there was any symbolic value that the number 40 held.

DannyBloem

intresting topic.

I was wondering about this also.

Looks like that they usd the number 40 to symbolize something large. (like we use 100 or 1000 for that in fairytales ans stories)
it is matimatically obvious that those number 40 coincidences are made up. i.e. not represent actual history.

the number 7 in the bible is easily explained by the number of planets.
the number twelf (12 tribes) etc is the number of months in the the year ( a nature constant)

our number of 100 etc is easily explained by our base 10 system (ten fingers)

but then where does the 40 come from?

Since the babylonians used 60 base (or maybe better to say the used both 6 and 10 based)
(we still have 60 minutes etc, 360 degrees etc)
egyptians used 10 based, and as far as i know also the hebrews.

in earlier days the base system was more mixed. We see for example lot of vigesimal influences in european languages.

maybe it was just double 20, as representing some large number double that of 20?

209

OFFICIAL WORLD CUP THREAD! "here we go, here we go, here we go"!

by nicolaou in

less than 2 hours before it all starts and a quarter of the earth's population will be watching!

- c'mon you americans, get on board.

germany kick-off against costa rica at 5pm to be followed by poland v ecuador at 8pm (bst)

DannyBloem

Rooney: typical engishman

209

OFFICIAL WORLD CUP THREAD! "here we go, here we go, here we go"!

by nicolaou in

less than 2 hours before it all starts and a quarter of the earth's population will be watching!

- c'mon you americans, get on board.

germany kick-off against costa rica at 5pm to be followed by poland v ecuador at 8pm (bst)

DannyBloem

watched oz vs croatia.

Was on the hand of the australians (because of our coach and I like the sympatic australians)

what an exiting match:

oz should have had 3 penalties instead of just one. But then the 2nd goal was offside.
also it took 3 yellow cards to send some croatian guy of the field.

was a silly referee, should go back and lead schoolteam games, what is he doing here on the WC (worldcup)

17

Philippines JW SUPREME COURT SCANDAL

by DannyHaszard in

this you gotta see!

philippines jw cleared in supreme court of shacking up

supreme court says living-in not immoral

DannyBloem

If I understand correctly, Ms. Escritor was scripturally free to remarry but not legally free to do so under Philippine law. ; So the WTS allowed her to live as a common-law wife of Luciano Quilapio Jr. ; This to me sounds reasonable and just and must have seemed so as well to the Philippine Supreme Court. ; So what is the problem?

I do not think there is a problem. They are not just living ogether also, they do a bow of failtfullness in front of the elders. (not an official marriage) the elders are also normally allowed to perform marriages there.
So, you could say thay are married, only not legally.

It seems like the Branch (or maybe just the CO, initially) was actually sensible, in this case.

It is the official arrangement in the phil. Not just from the CO.

The wierd thing is how it's so inconsistent with the demands made on JWs in the West. ; I wonder if things will change in Britain, as the cohabitation laws are introduced?
Nawwwwww...

here, there are official cohabilitation laws. Living together with a contract and being married is not treated differntly for the law. Just only for JW law. something very illogical here....

17

Philippines JW SUPREME COURT SCANDAL

by DannyHaszard in

this you gotta see!

philippines jw cleared in supreme court of shacking up

supreme court says living-in not immoral

DannyBloem

Let me clarify, Here in the United States of America JW's are taught to obey the local authorities unless it goes against god's laws. I don't care how considerate you think the society is being,, it's still illegal. And guess what? In the philippines, though divorce is illegal there, you can still get an annullment if you have a legitimate reason that you can document.

Yes you are right, there is an annullment. However this is not always easy or possible to get. You have to document it (which is not always possible)
not that the society is always so considerate, but in this case I think they are right. Anyway, nowbody really cares too much about living together there, so there isn't really a big problem with illegal action. Like here 9and in the USA) there are some old laws that are more or less obsolete, but still official valid. Knowbody would care too much about them anymore. DB