Posts by Paralipomenon

this is true of buddhists, wiccans, jews, muslims, communists and even christians.. inside your family there are beliefs accepted by respectable parents, grandparents and sibling.

Paralipomenon

I really do try to be open to any possibility or viewpoint.

In a biography of Albert Einstein, it was remarked that almost all the great breakthroughs in physics occured in people that were under the age of 40. Upon reflection, it wasn't the mental capacity past 40 that made new breakthroughs difficult, but the mind's willingness to continue challenging what you already considered "facts".

In my personal reflections I think humans are very much herd creatures. For the most part, we follow in the footsteps of those that went in front of us. The accepted trend is we start out a student and keep learning until the point where we feel we have enough knowledge to teach the students younger than us. I think that is the trap. At whatever age, the point we stop being students ourselves is where it gets harder to keep challenging and learning. We focus more on teaching and refining what we know. The more we teach and refine, the more difficult it becomes to challenge it and break new ground.

115

Frederick Franz, "Bible Scholar"

by Quendi in

as some of you know by now, i spent sunday, 7 august, renewing ties with a dear friend.

we're both disfellowshipped, the difference between us being he is seeking reinstatement and i am not.

we got into some very spirited discussions on different bible topics and one of them was the value of the new world translation itself.

Paralipomenon

In my research I found that most reviews of the NWT didn't have so much issue with the qualifications of the translators, but that many of the passages reflected bias toward witness teachings.

I can't remember where, but I recall that Knorr and Franz hired an expert (non-witness) to assist the translation. He was a chain smoker and had to completely leave the premesis to have a smoke. He would translate it directly into english and the WT group would "modernize" the broken translation into conversational english. After the work was released the translator was annoyed that the finished product came out quite slanted.

I believe this accounts for critical review praising the accuracy of a direct translation of the old texts but condemns the translation for the obvious bias it holds in some passages.

23

What if Christainty is right?

by mankkeli in

jw
friends

i was just wondering, what if afterall, christainity is right, what if there would be a ressurection, what if the heavenly hope is a valid aspiration god has set in place for faithful servants, what would be the hope of about 1.3million apostate dissidents who turned their back on the jw brand of christainity, where would they be?, some here seems to represent the anti-christ depicted in the bible, but what would be their hope, would god out of his abundant mercy shield us somehow and what would be the rationale behind his protection?.

life as we presently live it is confusing, the future as perceived is unpredictable, we may think our corpses are deemed to serve as manure, but whereas what if there is really life after death.

how would god judge those who seem to have spat on his face?, would he view us as mere victims of abundant hypocrisy in a confused world?.

Paralipomenon

This has all the markings of apologist troll account.

66

That C word CULT

by Lady Lee in

dear lee week 64 friday.

this is my blog today for freeminds.

thaoulgt i would post it here for you too.. .

Paralipomenon

Since I resumed posting on JWD, I've tried to stay out of lengthly debates so I'll just clarify my post and leave it at that.

In your opening line you wrote:

In one way this amazes me. That people are so afraid of labelling the Watchtower Society and Jehovah’s Witnesses as a cult.

As one of the people that doesn't label them as a cult, I wanted to give my reasonings why. At least in my case, it's not fear that keeps me from calling them a cult, I just don't use blanket labels for people or groups. I truly don't expect anyone to read my post here and go "Wow, this guy makes sense, I'll stop calling them a cult right now" but it provides a glimpse into the counter point to this post.

The key thing I took away from my leaving the witnesses, is to always at least look at the other side's argument, if, for nothing else will let you understand why they think the way they do.

While it still might amaze you that I don't consider them a cult, at least I hope you can understand that in every case, it's not fear.

66

That C word CULT

by Lady Lee in

dear lee week 64 friday.

this is my blog today for freeminds.

thaoulgt i would post it here for you too.. .

Paralipomenon

Interesting. You provided criteria that you felt made Witnesses a cult. My point was, the same criteria, applied to every other religion proves the same point.

Maybe I erred by selecting a specific example but I think the argument is valid.

For outlaw, the watchtower also likes to attack the source rather than the argument.

I'll take the "Catholic" aspect out and repeat my summary of the example:

I'd actually be hard pressed to find a single religion, large or small that doesn't fit the B.I.T.E model in some form.

81

NEW RUMOR: WT ALLOWS BIRTHDAYS

by J.R.R.Watchtower in

i've just read at a spanish forum for ex-jw that the wt has cooked a new light article series about social celebrations, including birthdays and aniversaries.

according to a member of this forum 'in short' the wt will let witnesses to decide by 'their bible trained conscience' either they celebrate birthdays or not.

is this rumor based in some real facts or it's just bullshit?.

Paralipomenon

Birthdays, all fun and games until someone loses a head.

66

That C word CULT

by Lady Lee in

dear lee week 64 friday.

this is my blog today for freeminds.

thaoulgt i would post it here for you too.. .

Paralipomenon

Then wouldn't you agree that the Catholic Church is a far more dangerous cult than the Witnesses?

The crusades where they killed entire villages for not believing

They tortured and killed tens of thousands for not believing

The ban on condoms that caused the spread of AIDs in Africa

Delivering sermons in latin so that the common people couldn't understand

Banning translation of the bible into english so people couldn't read it for themselves

Pedophiles were covered up and moved to other congregations

Girls who got pregnant out of wedlock were kicked out of their homes and excommunicated

Shaming members with the passing of a collection plate to intimidate them into paying

Moral support of Hitler and the Nazi party

Reverance to a man, the Pope who lives in complete luxury

Confessing even minor sins to the local priest

I could go on and on as well, yet people are afraid to label the Catholic Church as a cult. Why do you think that is? If being evil and oppressive is the criteria for a cult, the Catholic church is a much larger target.

I'd actually be hard pressed to find a single religion, large or small that doesn't fit the B.I.T.E model in some form. At some point the word 'cult' just becomes a slur.

66

That C word CULT

by Lady Lee in

dear lee week 64 friday.

this is my blog today for freeminds.

thaoulgt i would post it here for you too.. .

Paralipomenon

I see no contradiction. Military institutions have Chaplains that give mass, the catholic church covered up child abuse by ministers. Should we label the Catholic church as a cult?

Some ex-witnesses have had more severe experiences than others, but the average story is that of annoyance that they believed it for so long and wasted their time.

Part of my own exit was researching cult recovery groups and participating in them. It's hard to bitch and moan about going out in service on saturday when you hear stories of the leaders stealing a man's wife and daughter for their personal harem, or being physically beaten for questioning the leader or members who lost their homes, savings, car but being thankful that they are now out.

People joke here about passing out the Koolaid, but how many really think that if the GB actually got each congregation to pass out laced Koolaid as their solution to survive Armagedon, that the majority would actually take it? Brooklyn doesn't have THAT much control over witnesses lives. Hell, many congregation can barely get enough donations to keep their congregations running on a monthly basis. It's an extremely selfish religion.

A case in point for how it get blurred is a comment from your original post:

That people are so afraid of labelling the Watchtower Society and Jehovah’s Witnesses as a cult.

vs.

Jehovah's Witnesses are victims of a cult.

All the malice you draw up toward the Witnesses, there is no disclaimer, there is no mention of victims, there is no mention of innocents, just a statement that they are a cult and all the negative imagery from cults that are much worse is painted over the whole membership.

That's why I don't label them, or any group, with a blanket negative term. I prefer to view them as misguided and potential ex-witnesses.