I just watched the ID video. It blows my mind that a bunch of ignorant non-scientists think they know more about evolution than people who have studied it for a lifetime. It reminds me of how the janitors and window washers of the JWs think they can handle child molestation cases.
B_Deserter
JoinedPosts by B_Deserter
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Society's latest stance on Evolution in Jan 1, 2008 WT (bonus quote mining)
by marmot inmy parents gave me the latest "public edition" watchtower and it has 4-page festival of circular logic and hypocritical quote-mining entitled "is evolution compatible with the bible?
the opening salvo is golden, because they go and shoot themselves in the foot with it later on: "is it possible that god used evolution to create men from beasts?
did god direct bacteria to develop into fish and then to continue developing through reptiles and mammals, so that finally a race of apes became humans?
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A well intentioned atheiest response...
by changeling inyikes!!!!
after reading all the atheists on board i need to apologize !!!!
no wonder so many were angry at my prayers on here .
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B_Deserter
As an atheist, I don't think that Christmas has to be a religious holiday. It originally started as a celebration of the winter solstice, and then later a pagan holiday. Bottom line, the holiday of the solstice is universal in almost all cultures of the earth. You don't have to believe in God to get together with friends and family, exchange gifts (or help out a charitable organization instead), hope for peace on earth, or just throw a great party.
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Show me your Armageddon year Calculation
by JH inhere is mine:.
1975 + 33 years = 2008. the end was supposed to be in 1975 + jesus lived 33 years = 2008. this makes no sense hey.... .
*burp* .
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B_Deserter
Basically the same as the Watchtower calculation (607 BCE, 2520 days, day for a year means 2520 years). But I add the scripture where it says that 1,000 years are but a day to God. So actually, it's 2520 milleniums. Therefore, according to my calculations, the gentile times will end sometime in October, 2,519,393 C.E.
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WHOA, MORE evidence for evolution? Whale 'missing link' discovered.
by serotonin_wraith inexamples like this just keep on piling up.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7150627.stm?lsm.
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B_Deserter
For those who refuse to believe evolution, there will never be enough evidence for it. Arguing the point is a waste of time. To creationist dogma, the conclusion is already determined. Any evidence that contradicts that conclusion they see as either misinterpreted, wrong, or a forgery.
Creation = conclusion is pre-determined (God did it), all evidence that does not conform to the conclusion will be discarded.
Evolution = conclusion is variable and changes are dictated by new evidence. All evidence is studied and considered, continually shaping and refining the theory. -
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The disfellowshipping of Walter Salter
by onacruse inon a recent thread farkel provided a transcript of a letter written by walter salter in 1937:.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/149105/2710321/post.ashx#2710321.
in all my years i have never seen the wts respond as vigorously and openly as it did to this event...not even ray franz got this much attention.. as an opener, here is the initial response printed in the wt (this is also a transcript, but .pdf's of the original can be provided as needed):.
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B_Deserter
You know the society likes to point out that Apostates "beat their former associates." What does this libelous "beating" of Salter tell you about them?
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What I'm going to tell my parents
by B_Deserter inif my fade ever comes to a head, and my parents demand i explain myself, i now know exactly what i'm going to say.
you believe that the watchtower society is the only channel to god.
i know you realize they're imperfect men, but i also know that if they ordered you all to go on a killing rampage of your non-witness family, there would be people that would be willing to go, and maybe even you would kill me.
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B_Deserter
If my fade ever comes to a head, and my parents demand I explain myself, I now know exactly what I'm going to say.
You believe that the Watchtower Society is the only channel to God. I know you realize they're imperfect men, but I also know that if they ordered you all to go on a killing rampage of your non-witness family, there would be people that would be willing to go, and maybe even you would kill me. I know you're probably going to say "the Society would NEVER say that!" but think about all the talks on how absolute obedience to God's organization is the only way to get into the new system. Doesn't it seem like they're preparing everyone to do something that may be really hard to do? Now, a kill order is an extreme example, and is definitely against the word of God, but because of the "new light" teaching, anything can change, can't it? Since you admit the organization is imperfect, what if a sociopath gets in control? What way is there to tell if a teaching of the society isn't in line with the Bible? If you were to disagree you'd be considered an apostate! (someone please give me a citation for that article, early 80's i believe after the ray franz crackdown). Since the September 2007 KM, they're even discouraging people from studying Hebrew and Greek to check the New World Translation's accuracy. Doesn't that go against the account of the faithful Boreans who thoroughly researched everything they were told? If the NWT is an accurate Bible, shouldn't it stand up to scrutiny?
I don't want to be a witness because the society does not allow for any questioning of their scriptural interpretations, and there are lines that my morals do not allow me to cross. I will not harm myself or others for God, period. If the society mandates something that I feel is against scripture, then I cannot in good conscience do it. I cannot teach something that I think is a lie while I "wait on Jehovah."
I also don't want to be a witness because I don't believe they accurately represent first century Christianity. Did any of the first century Christians have to go through a series of questions in order to be baptized? If so, then why was the Ethiopian eunich baptized immediately? Why do we have to wear dress clothes to teach in the Kingdom Hall? Did Jesus have to wear special synagogue clothes when he read the scriptures? The bible doesn't say. Where in the Bible does it say we have to pray before we eat? Why do we need to report time when neither Jesus, nor any of the early Christians ever mention such a practice? Hours and statistics weren't important to them, preaching the message was, that's it. This feels to me more like a 1950's business than a life Jesus would want us to live. He wasn't worried about wearing a fancy sash to impress the people he was preaching to. No one in the bible ever mandated three meetings a week, either, nor a certain amount of hours in the ministry every month. In fact, no one but the apostles and those who were invited by them ever preached door-to-door in the Bible, and they were traveling ministers. They did it full-time. The first century congregation didn't have pioneers or publishers. They also didn't place literature, they preached directly from the Bible. In fact, if I can think of one religion that is the most UNLIKE first-century Christianity, it's Jehovah's Witnesses. -
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Whats the worst thing you have heard from the stage???
by karter inat a circuit assembly the co stopped his talk and asked the attendants to remove a crying baby and his mother .. she go up walked out the back started crying as she was studying she never came back.. saved by the co i say..
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B_Deserter
One of the other brothers talked about tube steak (apparently, it's what old-timers call hot dogs) in his talk. For one with a dirty mind, it was hillarious. "Now, I just looooooooooove tube steak. It's delicious! I just can't get enough tube steak!"
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Ex-witnesses you could get in touch with, but don't really want to
by B_Deserter inanybody run into this?
1. my older brother.
he got disfellowshipped but all of us still talk to him.
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B_Deserter
Anybody run into this? I have a few.
1. My older brother. He got disfellowshipped but all of us still talk to him. My mom refuses to follow the mandate of cutting off family members totally if they don't live with you. I called him when I first wanted to leave the religion, and he was understandably supportive. He's what can impolitely be described as a religious nut. Joined up with a Pentecostal church, then a few others, now just kind of invented his own religion which is a mix of Watchtower teachings with more traditional views. He believes the trinity is a body of authority like the Supreme Court. Jehovah, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are separate from each other, but they act as one authority and can be addressed in singular form, such as when someone "addresses the court." I know nothing about the trinity other than watchtower sources (which I'm SURE are really fair about describing it). Anyway, I'm Atheist and this isn't the stuff that bothers me. What's really annoying is the fact that he tried to get me to move to Cambodia with him to set up a biodiesel farm, build schools, and teach people and whatnot. The whole intensity of it I just can't handle at this point.
2. My aunt. She is very likely certifiably insane. She wrote a letter to the government accusing my mother of abusing my grandfather because she wouldn't let him take his cancer medication, which is utter baloney because my mother DRIVES HIM TO THE FREAKING HOSPITAL FOR CHEMO! Every conversation with my aunt is all about who is out to scam her. It's all about her, and it's all negative, all the time. She doesn't even know I'm not a witness anymore. The last time I heard from her she called me and said that I must be shunning her and that what my mom is saying about her is all a lie. My aunt is now a mormon.
3. A friend of mine that ended up moving out of state and executing a successful fade. Her and I were pretty close, and I had a thing for her. If you think my previous <a href="http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/7/148934/1.ashx">girl story </a>is embarrassing, this one is far, far worse. I did things that were so humiliating I'll never tell another human being. Anyway, I hounded her like I did the other girl. Then I found her myspace page and freaked. She belonged to this anonymous sex club. I called her mom (yeah, I know, PSYCHO. I can only plead Watchtower insanity) and gave her the address. I truly feel bad now because I actually ruined her fade. Everyone back home knows every bit of her dirty laundry so now she can't show her face back up here again without the elders probably hounding her. I suspect she wanted to leave the religion for quite a while. Anyway, I'd love to see her personality from a non-crazy, non-watchtower-slanted point of view, but other than that I have no desire to really talk to her at all. She's the barfly type, which I don't really have a lot in common with anyway. If it weren't for the witnesses, we wouldn't be friends. -
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Discovery Chanel special on Freemasons
by feenx inhey everybody :)
did anybody happen to catch the discovery chanel special on saturday night about the freemasons?
it was pretty interesting.
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B_Deserter
I'm surprised they didn't take the conspiracy theorists more seriously. Usually those History Channel programs are awful and end up taking the side of the nutjob conspiracy, especially with all the Nostradamus specials they like to parade around.
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The Watchtower's depiction of "bad people"
by B_Deserter ini find it absolutely hillarious how "bad people" (i.e.
gang members, prisoners, thieves, etc.
) are depicted on the cover of a watchtower.
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B_Deserter
I find it absolutely hillarious how "bad people" (i.e. gang members, prisoners, thieves, etc.) are depicted on the cover of a Watchtower. You can really tell it's obvious that they took a JW, mussed up their hair and clothes a little bit, added some fake tattoos, and viola! Genuine hoodlum. I remember specifically the "street gangs" Awake where it had a group of so-called gang members in khaki pants, button-up dress shirts (they were...OPENED UP!!!), and slightly mussed-up side-parted hair. What a joke.