nelim

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Posts by nelim

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  8

  MY Bethel Experience Part 17

  by new boy in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  more "odds and ends".

  i liked lyman swingle (governing body member)......he was from alabama, he knew how to curse at the right time.

  i think, that’s why i went to him, when i was having so much trouble with my future wife’s parents.

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  nelim

  "...without brains..."? Almost at the end.
  

  But...but... Mr Jackson said the GB likes to have input for them! How is this possible? ;)
  
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  5

  Addressing life's big questions

  by nelim in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  something else i noticed in the awake 2016.2 magazine: very interesting that on page 6 and 7 "life's big questions" they basically pose two:1. science ... cannot define sexual morality.2.

  science ... cannot make moral decisions on the embryo’s right to life.but actually, science can: it's called ethics, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ethics.

  kant introduced some interesting concepts how to think about what should be morally right, see deontology.more interesting though for me here is why these two?

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  nelim

  Something else I noticed in the Awake 2016.2 magazine: very interesting that on page 6 and 7 "Life's big questions" they basically pose two:
  
  1. SCIENCE ... cannot define sexual morality.
  2. SCIENCE ... cannot make moral decisions on the embryo’s right to life.
  
  But actually, science can: it's called Ethics, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics. Kant introduced some interesting concepts how to think about what should be morally right, see Deontology.
  
  More interesting though for me here is why these two? It seems to me that these two are among the most controversial of JWs versus the rest of the world, so to speak.
  
  1. RELIGION ... wants control over intimate relationships
  2. RELIGION ... wants as many members as possible.
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  22

  Awake 2016.2 experience

  by nelim in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  hi all, what do you think about the experience on page 4 of 2016.2 awake?.

  maria, who is one of jehovah’s witnesses, was publicly insulted by a prejudiced woman, who caused quite a commotion.

  but instead of retaliating, maria calmly continued on her way.

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  nelim

  Hi all, what do you think about the experience on page 4 of 2016.2 awake?

  Maria, who is one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, was publicly insulted by a prejudiced woman, who caused quite a commotion. But instead of retaliating, Maria calmly continued on her way. The other woman then felt bad about her behavior and sought out the Witnesses. About a month later, when she finally saw Maria again, ....
  

  What are the odds for this woman to "seek" out the Witnesses specifically? Wouldn't she look for Maria only, and then still, would she look for her at all? What are the odds of meeting again anyway? And did she know that Maria was a JW? It says "Maria ... continued on her way" so it was not the literature stand situation for example. Maybe in field service, but that's not often a "public insult" kind of situation. More at someone's door. But then she wouldn't see Maria again one month later (or this territory has really high rate of turnover).
  

  But after this it becomes even funny:

  Moreover, she correctly discerned that Maria’s mildness and self-control reflected
  her religious beliefs.
  

  Would anyone really "correctly discern" that religious beliefs motivates such "self-control"?
  

  The result? The once prejudiced woman and five members of her family decided to study the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses.
  

  And of course, a new bible study. Is it really Bible wisdom that one shouldn't start shouting back when insulted? Keeping one's dignity is hardly biblical wisdom.

  Or am I making more of this than it is?
  
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  13

  The book of Ruth... destroys the bible

  by HowTheBibleWasCreated in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  lets pretend two things:.

  1. god (yhwh) exists.

  2. the bible is his word.. now we follow genesis to judges ok... judges resets at chaper 17-21 but for the purposes od this posts lets ignore that.... ruth we are told lives in the time of the judges... ok no problem/ until the end.

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  nelim

  I'd say the ancestry of Matthew destroys the bible.... 3 * 13 generations? (Adam -> Abraham -> David -> Jesus). Very nice "coincidence", 13 generations each, and the last jump is like 1000 years, very very unlikely; that results in too high average age for all those mothers. There are more problems.
  
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  6

  My Bethel Experience Part 9

  by new boy in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  the worst thing, someone could call you at bethel, was a "jack.

  " as in "that guy is a real jack, he doesn't work at all".

  the other term not used very much anymore, was "pot licker" used basically the same way.

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  nelim

  Would it happen that if someone had a grudge against another, they would slip some porn magazines or so into their rooms? Or am I thinking too evil here?
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  33

  Elder continues serving as elder after his daughter got disfellowshipped!

  by hardtobeme in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  this is what is happening in a spanish congregation in our area.

  this happened 3 weeks ago.

  this brother conducted the school and after the school was over, another elder gave the announcement: "( name of the person) is not longer a jehovah's witness".

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  nelim

  Why would you want him to be dropped? For this reason? The daughter has her own life and choices, and the father might be serving the congregation well. Why care so much about it? Shouldn't there much more fuss about this daughter's life possibly being ruined? Depending on how many friends she has outside JW, her life could be very hard for quite a while. And in terrible circumstances, even 6 months seems like an eternity!
  
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  91

  Is the Watchtower organisation facing the biggest crisis of its history?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  recent developments make me think they might be.

  the problems they are facing are not just lack of funds but also draining authority, and the two could be a heady and explosive mix.

  one of the best analyses ever written of the watchtower was a book called "trumpet of prophecy" by sociologist james beckford in the 1970s.

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  nelim

  It just seems to me that gentle decline will be hard for JWs to pull off.

  Why? I'm not so sure they are so dependent on prosperous growth. Growth has been declining for years, and even JWs realize that in developed countries (outside USA perhaps), "native" JW has already been declining for many years. Most of the new people are refugees and children only.

  As happened with the Worldwide Church of God. Their crisis was also prompted by money problems.

  The article you link to says that after the death of Armstrong, the church changed their doctrines and that was the cause of the splintering. So not per se any money problems (as far as I read the article).

  It's well possible to put a spin on the slow decline too. "In the times of the end, Satan will try to lure people away from the truth." etc... "Be steadfast!" Gult tripping and fear mongering continues to work.

  Besides, a lot of JWs will need serious help and feel lost if the organization would really implode. Who hasn't heard of the "where should I go?" argument (in case JW isn't the truth).
  
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  4

  An other perception of JW Broadcasting

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  "the governing body thanks you so much for the 16 percent increase of donations in june and july.

  you know, the israelites had one project, we have thousands!

  so, these are not a two month project!.

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  nelim

  Are things going okay, brother Lett?
  
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  35

  Lurkers: A truth is either true, or it isn't. There is no in between.

  by cappytan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  truth is absolute.

  there is no such thing as 2=1 or 1=2.. if one starts out with the equation 2=1, one has already failed.. truth = truth.

  you cannot change whether something is truth or not.. when the organization teaches one thing as a truth (ex.

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  nelim

  Indeed. JWs regularly use the term "being in the truth". To the lurkers: think about this for a while, don't you agree it sounds silly? Yet this phrase is so engrained in the mind it's hard to get rid of. Takes a long time. The word "truth" is so emotionally overloaded... Actually within context of the organisation it doesn't really have any meaning. It just means you agree with and follow the Watchtower's lead.
  
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  15

  A Linguistic Argument for the Existence of God

  by konceptual99 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.etsjets.org/files/jets-pdfs/58/58-4/jets_58-4_771-86_baumgardner&lyon.pdf.

  my favourite "logical" progression.... we demonstrated that because meaning is non-material, linguistic expressions likewise must be non-material.

  we further showed that there is no indication that matter can generate non-material meaning-bearing linguistic expressions.

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  nelim

  There is also a sort-of contradiction in this text. This:

  We further showed that there is no indication that matter can generate non-material meaning-bearing linguistic expressions. Why should we expect that even to be possible, given that matter and meaning are in separate ontological realms?

  and this:

  It seems indisputable that the source of our thoughts and other language expressions is our mind.

  Creating a fake paradox, and then the conclusion sounds to me like: "it seems like I have contradicted myself here, so therefore DNA origin must be God." LOL