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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
JoinedPosts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite
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36
New Member Story
by No Retreat No Surrender inwhen i found out "ttat" i felt like muhammad ali when joe frazer knocked him down in their first fight in the 15th round.
the ref came over grab my gloves and looked me in the eyes and asked me "are you ok, can you continue" and then gave me the standing 8 count.
no it didn't knock me out but it staggered me.
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54
Tower of Babel built by Babies!
by Billy the Ex-Bethelite inthe weekly tms bible reading assignment is not read, or not carefully read, by most of the sheeples.
it doesn't really matter, because the consideration of the bible reading material is one of the shortest parts on the meeting with a limited number of comments, and those comments are restricted to less than 30 seconds or you will get counselled.
over and over, the dubs are told to read the bible, yet the organization gives no real encouragement to read the bible by keeping everyone busy in the recruiting work and using relatively few scriptures in their "talks".. why?
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
In the rate of growth you're using, the numbers are not sustainable. I don't exactly understand your math, but I tried to use your population basis out to 50 years as a sample. I used years and each generation. By year 50 the population profile (adults are over 16, children under 16) would be:
Generation 1: 6 adults
Generation 2: 102 adults 18 children
Generation 3: 270 adults 690 children
Generation 4: 3 adults 987 children
Generation 5: 6 children
This gives you a population profile of about 381 adults to 1698 children. 4.5:1 ratio of kids to adults. So the agressive population approach you've used does have a steep increase; however, that population growth strongly favors the infants. At this point, granny of generation 1 is still dealing with her own 10 year-old 40th child, so don't expect her to help with your 16 kids between the ages of 16 to newborn. She spent her first 40 years popping out a baby every year, so she's already sick of looking at kids. Just imagine the first 8 adults (if we include Mr. and Mrs. Noah) living in the post-flood wasteland with 48 kids age 16 to infant. In a world of this kind of population growth, dad isn't going to have time to get together with the guys to build a tower.
That was why WT set a Towertime population of over 4,000 adult males.
I think I mentioned it earlier in this thread, but the bible doesn't really support aggressive population growth. Where families are named, only 4 or 5 sons are mentioned. Maybe there really were 20 sons for each instead of just the few? That's not what the bible says. It would have been easy to name the prominent ones and say "18 other sons". Instead, the bible sounds rather clear that it was naming them all. From the account, it sounds like Noah left the ark with some few remarks afterward about the few kids/grandkids. Then the story picks up shortly later with the world completely repopulated seemingly to pre-flood levels. Even the Nephilim are spoken of in Numbers. When you look at the example of Abraham and Isaac, fertility wasn't high. Jacob had a large brood... which was 12 sons... by 4 different women.
Sure, math can be used to propose a huge population. But it doesn't fit with the story. Similarly, as mentioned in this thread, the account of the Hebrew population growth in Egypt doesn't work. Conversely, in the story of Solomon's Temple, it goes to the other extreme. Where the Tower of Babel says nothing of the numbers involved and the math comes up small, the account of the temple uses astronomically large numbers for the amount of gold, number of cattle and sheep slaughtered, etc. Just evaluating the number of cattle compared to the small size of Jerusalem, and you realize... that's a lot of bull$h!t.
But I've gotten off-topic of my own thread. For more interesting analysis, read The Atheists Book of Bible Stories. If you don't have your copy, hopefully the link on this thread is working.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/154236/4/The-Atheists-Book-of-Bible-Stories#.U7CSG7HDuSo -
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Changes to Watchtower publication pictures
by rory-ks in.
are there any more examples like this?
pictures changed because a person was disfellowshipped?.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
"Do the models ever get "famous" in JW circles?"
It's a category of JW fame.
I know that WT has gotten letters from the lovelorn wanting to meet some of the good-looking picture dwellers.
I didn't get all the details and I was deep 'in' so would have tried to forget the matter, but WT got a lot of letters because of one cover, I think of an Awake! that had a beautiful woman and a baby. A fantastic picture... that WT had purchased rights to use, rather than it being their own. Again, I'm not sure but I think the picture was already know in some areas for another advertisement. It must have been something, because the response caused quite a stir.
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From Noah's Ark to Australia - Awake! Jan. 8, 1969 pp. 5-8
by Billy the Ex-Bethelite inso, how did the kangaroos get from noah's ark to australia?
i'd never found any references in watchtower litteratrash, until i stumbled upon this farticle "from noah's ark to australia" in the 1969 awake bound volume.
most of it is wordy and rather pointless, so i only typed two middle subheadings for consideration:.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
This instructional video is very informative:
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54
Tower of Babel built by Babies!
by Billy the Ex-Bethelite inthe weekly tms bible reading assignment is not read, or not carefully read, by most of the sheeples.
it doesn't really matter, because the consideration of the bible reading material is one of the shortest parts on the meeting with a limited number of comments, and those comments are restricted to less than 30 seconds or you will get counselled.
over and over, the dubs are told to read the bible, yet the organization gives no real encouragement to read the bible by keeping everyone busy in the recruiting work and using relatively few scriptures in their "talks".. why?
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
I found this instructional video very insightful on this biblical subject:
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JW Lady Witnesses to me in My Truck While Trying to get a Nap !
by flipper inincredible.
absolutely incredible.
so i asked, " isn't it 100 years since 1914 ?
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
That was a fantasitic anti-Witness!
"but you know the elders are imperfect and they make mistakes, Jehovah uses imperfect men."
That's the excuse every church uses. JWs really are no better than the rest of the pack. It's the old, "We're imperfect and get caught sinning and lying, but you better treat us like we're divine prophets and the only way to salvation.
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She is Going to Talk to the Elders About My Questions...What Should I Expect?
by HeyThere inso one of my in-laws, a born in dub, started asking me questions about the issues i am having with the religion.
so i told her, rather carefully, how i discovered all the child pedophile cases, went over some of the case details, explained it is occurring all over the world, so isn't just some random misunderstanding, but is widespread hiding of child sex u all abuse.
she was horrified.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
"I am an unbaptized publisher."
This puts the elders in a tight spot. They can't disfellowship you, but they can try to pin the "apostate" label on you.
"She suggested I talk to the elders, I told her I was not comfortable doing that."
I'd suggest going to the elders and telling them that this in-law has serious concerns about things she'd heard about the WT pedo cases and that she's very disturbed about the new donation arrangement. Perhaps say that you really didn't want to be involved with this, but she was very insistant on talking to you about it and then suggested that you talk to the elders about it for her.
Man, that would make a sticky mess. I understand if you didn't do it, but it's interesting to wonder how it would play out.
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International Convention...Same Message, Same Emotional Manipulation
by HeyThere inwell, of course nothing else would be expected, but it passes me off.. for example, they show this short video that shows a child dying, shows her father crying as he visits her grave...and then she is reunited with her family in "the new system" and then it shows a handicapped girl who is sad she can't ice skate with friends...fast forward to tns, she can skate!!!
then an elderly couple is shown happily young again.... .
and of course the end is "so close!
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
"Its no different to the way kids are told stories about "Santa bringing toys, or Easter bunny bringing eggs, or the stork bringing babies""
There is one significant difference: The kids get toys, candy, and baby siblings. They just don't get the truth of where these things come from for a few years.
For JWs there are no toys, candy, and many of us were deceived into not having children. Oh, those things are promised, but the WT 'carrot' is never delivered. Many go their entire lives without getting the truth about "the truth"... all the way to their pathetic JW funerals.
{in an assembly chairman voice with reverb} "Friends, aren't we happified to enjoy this spiritual truthiness feast here on JWN?!?" {cue applause}
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"Get Christie Love!" is on tonight. Makes me sad.
by Billy the Ex-Bethelite interesa graves was a beautiful, talented actress and singer.
she was deceived by wt false prophecies and worthless teachings.
she threw away a very promising career to become a jw.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
I hope she didn't come back as the child of a JW family. She deserves better.
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Stupid paragraph in this weekends wt study
by stuckinarut2 inhow's these comments in this weeks study?.
i understood that i had neglected my children when they most needed my guidance and affection, admits eduardo.
i had not been there to read them bible stories, to pray with them, to cuddle them, and to play with them.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
"my meager income did not always cover expenses, and I was physically tired.... The hand of Jehovah is not short."
Sounds like the hand of Jehovah is short. What expenses were they not always able to cover. Healthcare? Heat? Rent?
Was there no mention of assistance from their fellow believers? Were these JWs going to the food pantry in the Methodist Church in order to feed the kids?