Posts by Jeffro

posted

113
So how do you explain this....
by loosie in
1. jw
2. experiences
i didn't want to hi jack this thread.. http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/95312/1.ashx.

but i wanted to open this up for discussion.

since being raised a jw, everything unexplainable has been attributed to demons.
Jeffro
Every now and then there turns up an eyewitness to supposed supernatural events which makes it *seem* that something supernatural does sometimes happen. There are several explanations to these kind of phenomena.
Shadowplay - supposed supernatural images or events based on partially real stimulus, such as a child seeing a 'monster' at their window instead of shadows of branches through a curtain.

Drug (or chemical imbalance) induced - persons on strong painkillers, other medications or hallucinogens, or suffering a variety of temporary or permanent mental illnesses may have false experiences that may or may not seem supernatural.

Other medical conditions - hearing voices, sensations of sinking into the bed, 'floating' above the body, or feeling 'hands' caress, pull or push the body can be symptoms of sleep paralysis. Feeling a weight pressing down on the body can also be a symptom of angina.

Stress - extreme mental and emotional stress may cause persons to manufacture fantasy situations.

Superstition - some who believe in supernatural events will readily interpret events as supernatural in nature before exploring any other possibilities.

Justifying behaviour - individuals may claim that their behaviour (perhaps abusive or violent) was caused, inspired, or intensified by supernatural forces.

This is not an exhaustive list.
26
The WT's muffled message: Where's the ``Good News of the Kingdom" in This?
by Room 215 in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
it's been commented on several times on this forum, but it would seem that the billions of hours lavished by jws in purportedly getting their message to the public has been a dismal failure, at least if measured by the extent to which they've been able get their core beliefs (i.e., god's kindom has been established invisibly in 1914 and you had better get with our program or face annihilation -- and soon) -- across to the public.

take a look at some of the front-page titles of this current year's magazines (especially the awake!

which most jws like to feature in preference to the wt) and ask yourselves: where the !#!%!
Jeffro

With all do respect if you believe in the Kingdom and wait for the blessings of it, are YOU announcing that?
Whether any non-JW believes in the Kingdom is not relevant. The point is that the Witnesses aren't really known for their 'kingdom message' nearly as much as they are for the other ancillary issues that have been mentioned in this thread.
If you can and be effective at it, Why dont you?
The 'kingdom message' as taught by the Witnesses is built upon untruths regarding such things as 1914, 1919 and 607, which can be disproved from the bible. It is empty, and there is nothing to teach.
If you already do, you are to be commended, if not, you have no right to criticize the efforts of others who do and at great cost to themselves at that.
Where there are laws of freedom of speech, people have a perfectly valid right to make fair comment. The 'great cost to themselves' that many Witnesses expend is often out of a sense of guilt or obligation rather than a 'sense of urgency' of getting the 'kingdom message' out.
58
Have you ever talked to a poster over the phone?
by ButtLight in
1. jw
2. friends
i talked to one, and man, the voice just didnt match up to the person i chat with online!!!

!
Jeffro

Haven't spoken to any posters over the phone... or the ones on the walls either. LOL
46
Need clarification on communication with a disfellowshipped person
by jostes in
1. social
2. family
was wondering the clarification of a relationship someone can have with their mother if they have been disfellowshipped and the daughter is in good standing with the congregation?

the daughter was baptised after the disfellowship.

does this mean the daughter is not to have a relationship with the mother.
Jeffro

If this is a cult why should they be considered a religion?
That sounds very reasonable, but the thing is that most governments recognize them as a 'religion'.
On a separate note, usually not long after one of their announcements to 'shun [name]', there is a 'local needs' talk 'reminding' the congregation of the 'importance' of even family members to avoid the person; and they explain how this is a 'loving arrangement'.
13
copyright law
by pepheuga in
1. watchtower
2. bible
first of all, a message for watchtower society monitors: hi guys, since i'm a little rebellious, and people offering advice to me on this thread are probably equally so, you may like to come here often to see what we're up to.

fine, but don't forget to check this out, because this is where you really should be.. now, to all,.

hi, it's been a while since i posted here, can anybody post a link to a site that deals well, in laymans' english, with copyright law, given that i am living in england and wanting to put wts publications up on my website.
Jeffro

The 'fair dealing' clause allows quoting works for the purpose of critical analysis and review, as well as for parody (using a work to mark fun of that work) and satire (using a work to make fun of something not directly related), though the boundaries can get blurry, and copyright laws vary in different countries.
763
Daniel's Prophecy, 605 BCE or 624 BCE?
by Little Bo Peep in
1. watchtower
2. bible
hello all, i've been reading your site for a couple of years now, and have found, for the most part, it to be very helpful.

i must say, at first i was very "scared" at what i might find, but contrary to what i grew up learning, there is a "wealth" of information outside of the watchtower organization.

i haven't attended meetings for about two years now, and like many i've read about, have spent many hours researching, telling myself "i'm not wrong for searching", and doing more research.
Jeffro

Another possible explanation imo would be to consider zeh as a demonstrative pronoun ("this one," i.e. "this period"), not adjective... but it is more dubious as the neuter would normally be expressed by the feminine; and it would not very different as to meaning and translation.
This suggests that it can mean "this (demonstrative pronoun) 70[of] (adjective) year (noun)", ('seventy years' forming a collective noun), meaning that the period does not essentially have to have ended.
Anyway, if you don't accept the above suggestions you still have to explain why zeh does not agree either with the plural of shiv`im or with the feminine of shanah...
The singular 'zeh' does seem consistent with a '70-year period' which functions as a collective noun (singular), though I can't comment on the specifics of the Hebrew.
In any case, since Zechariah chapter 1 is discussing a vision that Zechariah had, it is not necessary that the angel's words necessarily applied to Zechariah's present in Darius' 2nd year.
(Of course it would be completely meaningless both to have the vision, and for the angel to ask the question if the period had ended in the past).
49
Any "Miraculous" experience happen to you like the ones said at Conventions
by soundbox_guy in
1. jw
2. friends
i had to sit through those experiences at the convention, i was wondering, did any of you used to be one of those people on stage giving an experience about how something miraculously happened like getting the exact amount of money you needed to pay your rent on the day it was due?

i always hear the stories, but can anybody actually tell me something like this has happened to them when they were a good little witness?

and if it has, did these sort of "events" stop taking place after you left?
Jeffro

There are also the tales of Witnesses being beaten or tortured, where they have been reported to say that they didn't feel any pain, and felt a feeling of calm come over them.
They attribute these experiences to 'Jehovah's protection'. The actual cause of this phenomenon is shock, the body's natural reaction to the overload of sensory input.
24
Evidence for the Exodus?
by Cardinal Fang in
1. watchtower
2. bible
one for the historians here...

was round visiting my jw mother and bro (who stays with my folks when he's in the area working) the other night.

the conversation swung round to a documentary they'd been watching on video earlier that evening, supposedly putting forward all sorts of archaeological evidence for the exodus, including coral-encrusted remains of chariots at the bottom of the red sea, no less.
Jeffro

The Insight book explains the lack of evidence of Israel's presence in Egypt thusly:
Absence of information concerning Israel. This is not surprising, since the Egyptians not only refused to record matters uncomplimentary to themselves but also were not above effacing records of a previous monarch if the information in such records proved distasteful to the then reigning pharaoh. Thus, after the death of Queen Hatshepsut, Thutmose III had her name and representations chiseled out of the monumental reliefs. This practice doubtless explains why there is no known Egyptian record of the 215 years of Israelite residence in Egypt or of their Exodus.
Basically to demonstrate that Egyptians were good at effacing records, they tell us that Thutmose III had all record of Queen Hatshepsut erased. Apparently he didn't do a very good job <smirk>. I have read before (it was a while back and I don't have the source and can't attest to the accuracy), that much of the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt was actually borrowed from previous Ethiopian stories.
Incidentally, the Insight book also says that the discrepancy between the Society's dates and Egyptian history "narrows down to about 20 years by Pharaoh Necho’s time" (607) - what a surprise.
49
Any "Miraculous" experience happen to you like the ones said at Conventions
by soundbox_guy in
1. jw
2. friends
i had to sit through those experiences at the convention, i was wondering, did any of you used to be one of those people on stage giving an experience about how something miraculously happened like getting the exact amount of money you needed to pay your rent on the day it was due?

i always hear the stories, but can anybody actually tell me something like this has happened to them when they were a good little witness?

and if it has, did these sort of "events" stop taking place after you left?
Jeffro

These 'glurge' tales abound in and out of JWs. (Snopes.com (urban myths website) defines glurge as follows: "In ordinary language, glurge is the sending of inspirational (often supposedly "true") tales that conceal much darker meanings than the uplifting moral lessons they purport to offer, and that undermine their messages by fabricating and distorting historical fact in the guise of offering a "true story.")
When our new KH was being built a few years ago, at the dedication talk there were a few of these 'miracles' related...
That they were short of a few truckloads of cleanfill, and some trucks 'just happened' to drive by that had the exact amount needed
That the land was purchased for an amazingly low price
that the airconditioning system was much cheaper than it normally would have been because it had been over-ordered by a supermarket construction
that the city council said the placement of the hall had to move a metre or so to the north, which just happened to fix a problem with the position of the electrical distribution box that would otherwise have been in the middle of a doorway
that an 'error' in measuring the length of the building meant they didn't have to cut any bricks in half for the length of the wall