Posts by Farkel

24

Has the WT ever apologized for changing their stance on something?

by Left in the Cold in

i'm in the middle of reading coc.

it's very eye opening.

but on thinking about how the gb finally changed their stance on allowing civil service instead of prison when a christian was face with military service, it makes me wonder if the wt ever apologizes for any reversal of beliefs it imposes?

Farkel

:Has the WT ever apologized for changing their stance on something?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Farkel

8

Prime Directive of Destructive Cults

by Farkel in

the prime directive of all destructive cults is to keep members absolutely convinced they are not involved in a destructive cult.

if that directive is not sustained the game is over for the leaders of the cult.. i thought about this because of an interesting experience i had not more than a half hour ago.

i wanted to call a childhood friend of mine; we had made contact a year or so ago after forty years.

Farkel

The Prime Directive of all destructive cults is to keep members absolutely convinced they are not involved in a destructive cult. If that directive is not sustained the game is over for the leaders of the cult.

I thought about this because of an interesting experience I had not more than a half hour ago. I wanted to call a childhood friend of mine; we had made contact a year or so ago after forty years. He left the dubs about twenty years ago.

I had accidentally deleted his phone number from my cell phone and his number is not in the book. Using 411 directory service I was able to gain contact with his uncle who is the brother of a now deceased GB member and still an active dub. I told him my situation and he said, "no, I don't have his number. We've been out-of-touch for many years." I thought to myself, "how absurd! My friend was never DFd and they only live a few miles from each other and his family was always very close." Then the old codger asked, "Who are you?" I gave him a fake name because he knows family members of mine who are still in.

Then he asked, "Are you a Jehovah's Witness?" I lied again. I said, "No, I know him from High School and just wanted to get back in touch."

Can you believe this shit? What person other than someone insane would ask some total stranger trying to locate their nephew what RELIGION the caller belong to? Had I actually been some "worldly" person trying to locate his nephew, what would I think of the Jehovah's Witness religion if another person wanted to know my religion before the call could continue?

This man in question is normally a very nice person. I knew him as a youth. Yet in all his 80-90+ years the Watchtower Prime Directive is still working on him.

Simply amazing.

Farkel

376

How is creationism DISPROVED?

by sabastious in

jw
friends

it is disproven.

but let's start another thread, because this one is being yanked off track again.

creationism/evolution always deserves its own thread.

Farkel

:How is creationism DISPROVED?

I confess. I haven't read a single word in this long thread and I don't need to read a single word in this long thread.

The burden of proof is ALWAYS on the one who makes the assertion. ALWAYS. One can attack the "proof" or evidence offered, but one would be an idiot to try to disprove a simple claim or assertion offered.

You've seen this stuff dozens of times in here. If I say, "God tells me that little angels live on Lily Pads between March and July and if I visit those Lily Pads those little angels will tell me what I need to know to please God," and then I say "prove me wrong," It cannot be done.

The burden of proof is always on the one making the claim and they cannot logically shift that burden of proof on anyone else.

Farkel

42

Are you a genius?

by jam in

in ten seconds count the f,s.

don,t cheat.. finished files are the re.

sult of years of scienti.

Farkel

This little nonsense in no ways tests whether one is a genius or not. The "v" sound in "of" is missed by many people, but just being able to spot it doesn't measure intelligence.

There are 3 people out of one hundred people who are "more intelligent" than I. There is one person out of one hundred who is as intelligent as I. There are 96 people out of one hundred people who are less intelligent than I. Who says this? A silly little test says this, and you know what? I don't believe a silly little test says much about anything. That IQ test might feed some egos, but it doesn't feed mine. My ego is safe and secure with or without that silly little test, thank you.

Farkel

20

The Best Fade Ever

by Farkel in

i noticed there are current topics on fading so i thought i would re-share my own fade.

i will be brief.. my straw that broke the camel's back was from an arrogant asshole circuit overseer while i was a ministerial servant and pioneer.

i will save you the details.

Farkel

I noticed there are current topics on fading so I thought I would re-share my own fade. I will be brief.

My straw that broke the camel's back was from an arrogant asshole Circuit Overseer while I was a ministerial servant and pioneer. I will save you the details. I've already shared them in here.

Anyway, I knew I was done, so I quit going to everything. My PO came over and said since I wasn't going to meetings or doing my job, he had to fire me. Yay! I was fired!

I was already planning to move from Los Angeles to (my beloved) San Diego, so he said to me, "here is your Publisher's Record Card (or whatever document that was a dub's "report card." He continued, "just give this to whatever congregation you choose in San Diego."

On my way from LA to San Diego, I tore up that document and threw it on the I-5 Freeway and NO congregation in San Diego ever knew who I was.

Now, THAT is the best fade ever! I never went back.

Farkel

28

Important Supreme Court Case on Monday

by Hortensia in

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/10/a-supreme-court-clash-could-change-what-ownership-means/.

could bring down ebay, and the selling of used books on amazon, and reselling goods on other sites.

book publishers who sell their textbooks for astronomical prices in the u.s. but much cheaper in other countries are suing entrepreneurs who import the cheaper but identical books and sell them for less.. at issue is whether you own the stuff you buy.

Farkel

I'm familiar with the case and it boils down to this: if you buy a thing, do you own it, or does the entity that produced it own it?

In my simple brain, I own it and since I own it, I can do whatever I want after I own it. I can give it away, I can sell it for 5 cents or I can sell it for 5 billion dollars if I have a buyer who will pay it.

That is the argument as I understand it. The creators of intellelctual property are rewarded for their efforts at point-of-sale. They get money. The customer gets a product. Should not the customer then have total control over that particular product they paid for? I don't mean they should be allowed to copy it and then sell the copies, I am just talking about the "it" they bought.

Did I miss something, some other nuance perhaps?

Farkel

49

My letter to elders. Just drafted... PLEASE tell me what you think... Greybeard

by Greybeard in

jw
friends

to: all elders in the grover beach congregation of jehovah witnesses, the watchtower corporation and governing body of "jehovah witnesses" .

from: gregg blasingame.

cc: watchtower inc.. dear brothers,.

Farkel

Greybeard,

You made the wrong choice. It might make you feel better, but it would only work if you were dealing with people of reason.

You are not dealing with people of reason, ergo, you made the wrong choice.

Farkel

25

One Silly Little Comma = WT Idiocy

by Farkel in

one would think that the god of gods, the creator of everything who wanted to give we puny little humans a handbook for salvation(tm), would make sure that handbook remained authentic.. one who thinks that way would be wrong.. since punctuation is critical to convey exact meanings, i find it strange that the god of gods would pick a written language for his handbook that has no punctuation!

oh, wait!

he also picked another language for that book that had no written vowels!

Farkel

bluesbrother,

: I love the contrast between the irreverent, witty approach of Farkel and the scholarly approach of Leolaia...

Yeah. On more than one occasion, Leolaia has "hijacked" my threads with her dry, scholarly approach. The best example I can relate is that she got most of the credit for my quintessential opus, namely, the Berta and Bonnie thread. By the time she did her dry scholarly and excellent work, the casual reader gave her all of the credit for the work. I guess that is okay because it actually wasn't her fault. She just added to the topic and in fairness she has always given me credit for starting it. Her research is so overwhelming sometimes that it tends to eclipse the original topic.

In this thread, I wrote what I thought was a clever little topic with, yeah, some wit, and she provided three books of scholarly and mostly boring evidence.

Killjoy. I was just trying to have some fun and my thread became drenched with stuff hardly anyone reads.

(Leo: I do love you. You should know tihis after all these years.)

Farkel

34

Who here watches Dexter?

by MrFreeze in

jw
friends

i love this show.

been hooked since the first episode.

for anyone who follows, i captured a bit of tonight's episode.

Farkel

For those who don't know, Dexter is a "good" serial killer who kills "bad" serial killers who aren't brought to justice or who have beat the judicial system.

The little voice that yaps in his head during the show is alone worth the price of admission to this most excellent series.

Farkel

25

One Silly Little Comma = WT Idiocy

by Farkel in

one would think that the god of gods, the creator of everything who wanted to give we puny little humans a handbook for salvation(tm), would make sure that handbook remained authentic.. one who thinks that way would be wrong.. since punctuation is critical to convey exact meanings, i find it strange that the god of gods would pick a written language for his handbook that has no punctuation!

oh, wait!

he also picked another language for that book that had no written vowels!

Farkel

One would think that the God of Gods, the Creator of everything who wanted to give we puny little humans a handbook for salvation(tm), would make sure that handbook remained authentic.

One who thinks that way would be wrong.

Since punctuation is critical to convey exact meanings, I find it strange that the God of Gods would pick a written language for His handbook that has No punctuation! Oh, wait! He also picked another language for that book that had no written vowels! Thus, we have this ancient problem about even trying to figure out God's name. Is it Yahweh, Yahwah, Yehwoh, Jehovah, or Sacajawea? Beats me.

Back to the language with no punctuation, namely Biblical Greek. At least that language had vowels when written, but it did not have periods, commas, quote marks, exclamation marks, or even smiley faces. Stupid language that.

"Truly I say to you today you will be with me in paradise(tm)"

That is what that verse looks like when not punctuated. (The "tm" was added later by scribes interested in royalties. The Watchtower Corporation picked it up centuries later and re-trademarked it and made a bloody FORTUNE from it!)

Now, a placement of a silly little comma can drastically change what that sentence means. Alert Bible readers know that Jesus said those words while dying on a cross (it wasn't really a cross, but a huge popsicle stick.) Jesus told this to a particularly nasty criminal who repented on his very own popsicle stick next to the popsicle stick Jesus was on. (Keep deathbed repentence in mind if you become a particularly nasty criminal and are about to be executed. It is a good escape hatch when all else fails.)

Traditional religions believe that all deserving people gain salvation upon death. Therefore, they punctuate the sentence in question like this:

"Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise."

This must have been great comfort for that particularly nasty criminal since it told him that although he would croak, upon croaking he would be playing a harp and singing hymns forever and ever and ever.

However, the WTS punctuation police had a very different use for that comma. They decided to render that sentence this way:

"Truly I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise."

Religious interpretations aside, that rendering is idiotic! It's like saying "Truly I'm telling you today, mind you I am not now telling you tomorrow and I am not now telling you next week and I am not now telling you yesterday, you will be with me in paradise." If Jesus was telling that guy something, at what other time than "today" would he be telling him that something?

This comma placement is used by the WTS to teach that Jesus was telling the particularly nasty criminal that sometime down the road he would be with Jesus in paradise.

As an aside, I'm not sure what the Watchtower Printing Corporation teaches about what that particularly nasty criminals'reward would actually be. Would he be of the Lion-Petting CLASS, or would he be of the Kings and Priest CLASS ruling with Jesus and the other wackos and nutjobs and particularly nasty criminals? The latter seems to be the logical choice because that particularly nasty criminal would be in like company with other particularly nasty criminals like Chuck Russell, Grudge Rutherford, Nathan Knorr, Freddie Franz, and all the wackos and nutjob "anointeds" we knew in our own Kingdom Halls and the worst wacko and nutjob on this planet, my own mother.

If the latter option is true, at what time did that particularly nasty criminal become "anointed" between his conversation with Jesus and death? It had to be a "quicky annointing" methinks.

In their placement of punctuation markes from Koine Greek into another language which uses punctuation, normal translators with any sense of decency attempt to punctuate sentences in accordance with the content and context of those sentences. In WatchtowerWorld(tm), the lone translator carefully chose punctuation to fit pre-conceived WatchtowerLand doctrine.

In his conversation with Jesus, Pontius Piglet aked "what is Truth?" If the same question is asked of WTS leaders, the answer would have to be, "whatever we say it is today, but we reserve the right to change our mind and our Bible translating as-the-need arises."

Farkel