Then you can ask, what advantage does the UN have by banning religion? Even if they wanted full control of the world as a one world government, they would be better off leaving religion alone.
Robert7
JoinedPosts by Robert7
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The UN is on the verge of banning religion - JWs favorite rumor
by VM44 inthe un is on the verge of banning religion.. why is this rumor constantly being brought up by the jws?.
the un does not have the power to ban religion, such an act would go against its very charter and its declaration of human rights.. many of the member nations are islamic and would never vote to ban religion as it would undermine their own very existence.. so the idea that the un would or could ban or even consider banning religion is unrealistic.
never going to happen.. but the jws have been whispering that "the un is going to ban religion" for decades....why?
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Premonitions and Prayer - Explained!
by Seeker4 inyesterday and today i had a couple of things happen to me that i think tie in well with why many people believe in the supernatural, or in their ability to foresee events.
yesterday, i had to travel a few hundred miles to do an interview for a magazine article, and i knew stormy weather was coming here in vermont.
i had a bad feeling about the trip and the possible weather complications, so much so that i actually called my insurance company and checked on my coverage.
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Robert7
I love these prayer discussions... Even as an active Witness when I believed in prayer, I felt that many people would give more credit to prayer/god than deserved.
The good things that happen, it's selective memory, attributing random luck to god. Really impossible things that have no other explanation is a 'real proof' that it was god/angels, and couldn't have been just a great coincidence. People can survive miracuously from extreme near-death experiences simply out of chance. If 99% of people die from some extreme condition (falling from a great height, getting shot, etc) the 1% of surviviors may feel like god saved them, and not realize they were just lucky bastards. Really, if God saved you, why did he let the other 99% die?
I think you that anyone who has seen personal proof/experience of god/angels answering prayers were just very very lucky, but feel like they need some supernatural explanation for being lucky.
When bad things happen, it's god's will. He chooses to not answer a prayer. Or 'time and unforseen occurance' or some other explanation.
When you want to believe, you can make yourself believe anything. -
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Drinking & Jehovah's Witnesses
by minimus inyou know, i knew a lot of bethelites and every one of them loved their booze.
as an elder, i would entertain alot of the cos, dos and bethelites and their wives.
it was not unusual for the wives to get loaded while they were at my house!
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Robert7
Plus there is SUCH a gray area with drinking. You cannot get drunk, but you can "get a good buzz". Well, that is very subjective. I've been drunk a number of times, and everyone believed I was just buzzed.
As long as you don't act stupid or throw up while 'strongly buzzed' or drunk, no one knows you are, so it's easy to get away with. And it's fun :) -
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What was it that "clicked" w/ you that this wasn't the "true religion"?
by cognac infor me, it was not being able to prove that people were going to be resurrected to earth... i'm still not sure of the answer, but for some reason that just started this huge, fast snowball of different things that i couldn't prove... .
this lightbulb just went off in my head... .
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Robert7
The requirement for exclusive devotion to a man-made religion that is falliable. More talk about the 'faithful slave' and 'Jehovah's organization' than God and Jesus themselves. Made me realize this wasn't a 'channel' but another entity that wanted worship.
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Those REVELATION BOOK changes in full
by AlphaOmega ina recent thread ( http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/11/139118/1.ashx ) raised the issue of charles taze russell not being the first president of the watchtower... it appears to be an argument of semantics because the society had a different name (as one poster pointed out in the thread).
the watchtower society obviously has some embarassment over this issue because the amendments to the revelation book dealt with this :.
full size scans here :.
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Robert7
This is great.. Here are some of my observations:
- Paragraph 700 - "The judgment began in 1918" changed to "The judgment evidently began in 1918" - "Evidently" means this is a non-bible-based guess
- Paragraph 824 - Toned down the apocolyptic "n uclear war is virtually certain to take place within the next 25 years" to " possibility of an accidental nuclear war"
- Paragraph 1145 - " Watch Tower Society's second president, J. F. Rutherford" now is "Bible Students"
- Paragraph 1895 - They pulled "The Russian Bear" from the list of national symbols. Another false
prophesyguessParagraph 2446 - Whoah! Changing the "Peace and security" doctrine from a "cry before destruction" to basically "we have no idea and will know after the fact so wait and see "
Paragraph 2924 - Changing view on anointed from "those still alive" to "IF any of the anointed is still alive" after armageddon
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Premonitions and Prayer - Explained!
by Seeker4 inyesterday and today i had a couple of things happen to me that i think tie in well with why many people believe in the supernatural, or in their ability to foresee events.
yesterday, i had to travel a few hundred miles to do an interview for a magazine article, and i knew stormy weather was coming here in vermont.
i had a bad feeling about the trip and the possible weather complications, so much so that i actually called my insurance company and checked on my coverage.
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Robert7
Absolutely, selective memory. I've met people who think God controls their everyday lives, and pray for everything. It's easy to attribute everything that happens to God. And even funnier to attribute things that aren't answered to God choosing to not answer them.
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Robert7
It was the talks about Jehovah's organization. Whole-souled loyalty to the organization, and no questioning the organization. There were a large number of parts that kept talking about the organization to the point that they seemed to devote as much devotion as Jesus or God.
They are supposed to be a 'channel' providing food, and not accepting any devotion. -
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ANNOUNCEMENT: My website is now up!
by B_Deserter inif you'd like, head on over to http://skepticsannotatedwatchtower.org to check out my new website chronicling the logical flaws in watchtower literature.
i plan to do this with multiple books.
as always, comments and critique are welcome!
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Robert7
Good stuff! I will be reading updates regularly!
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Jehovah's Witnesses Are NOT Conscientious & They Don't Really Care!
by minimus inwitnesses try to make it sound as though they are very very conscientious people.
they care about you, your spiritual welfare, your everlasting welfare....but nothing could be further from the truth!
if they truly cared, they would see to it that they reached people to give them the lifesaving truth.
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Robert7
For a lifesaving work, isn't 3% growth something to be ashamed of? Is 6 million (versus the whole world population) VERY tiny? If these are people's LIVES on the line, there should be MUCH higher growth in order to be excited. Yet they constantly rave about the 6 million number, the miserable 3% growth. Just shows how people will believe what they are told.
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Are Prayers For Real?
by WTWizard inyou hear about prayers all the time in most religions, including jehovah's witlesses.
and they point to scriptures about how god answered specific prayers as evidence that he is ready to answer your prayers.
there will be a study article in the february 2008 kool-aid for those who have to attend the boasting session (and a comments you will not hear for those who don't).. now, i am going to analyze what this has to do with your prayers.
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Robert7
My personal opinion (being that I am currently Atheist) is that prayers are:
1) Meditation
2) Completely Psychological (the more you dwell on something, the more you believe it)
3) Selective memory (remembering the few things that coincidently happened to convince those that it was answered)
4) Comforting (helps you sleep at night, that you can talk to "god")