Posts by cofty

32

BRANCH OVERSEER : "Apostates are GOOD people !"

by Aleph in

this is quite incredible.during his talk, the branch overseer, made a special talk dedicated to the apostates.. he clearly emphasis his point, "apostates used to be between us, really you can talk with apostates, those people are good, of course their point of vue is different than ours now but they are mostly very nice poeple, and you shouldn't be afraid to talk with them.

"though as usual, the reaction of the brothers was quite the same, impassive, i was very surprise by this statement.i cannot assume if this is just a one man step ahead towards the apostates, or really a change in their policies, this came from the mouth of a branch overseer.of course, for obvious reason, i won't give the name of the brother, which is famous, but only here in an central european country.i would have expected him to quote more scriptures, but he didn't, he could have use the one for jesus himself :"you should love your enemies", as apostates were really the "enemies" for the wtbs for such a long time, maybe now that the king of the north is awaken, apostates are not so bad after all ?

just wondering....

cofty

He will have put himself under suspicion by saying that. It would be outstanding if a Branch Overseer was to make a stand against the cult.

20

Christian or Atheists?

by Skipper254 in

in my brief time on this site, i've come to realize that most people who have been shunned or stray away from the jehovah witnesses normally end up having no faith at all.

my curiosity has led me to the conclusion that the gb has created more atheists than believers...... .

cofty

JWs who research and reason their way out of the cult are uniquely well-informed. If you apply the same skills to all religious belief and superstitions that you did to the teachings of the cult it is likely you will end up with no belief in the god of christian theism.

Faith is not a way to determine what is true about the world. You need to choose between faith-based and evidence-based thinking.

8

Slavery - ancient

by joey jojo in

i have been listening to podcasts by dan carlin and his excellent series on persia and the spartans, called king of kings.. its a refreshing way to hear unbiased accounts of history, untainted by religious beliefs.. a part of the podcast dealt with the jews but it put into perspective their place in world history and events.

pretty much just another tribe- sometimes rebellious, allowed to exist under the rule of a major power, allowed to worship their own gods exactly like the other tribes around them.. another part that caught my interest was the account of slavery and it made me think about the way wt and other christian religions have tried to reconcile the idea that it was ok in those days for jews to own slaves because they had laws to protect the slaves.. the podcast made me realise a lot of apologists of slavery obviously forget how a person becomes a slave in the first place.

apologists like wt say it was ok because it was part of the economy and the way life was, which totally skips over the important part.. after a war, when most of the men were killed or wounded on the battlefield by the winning side, whoever was left, men, women and preferably young virgins, were taken back to the homeland of the victors and sold at the slave markets.

cofty

Christians always try to conflate the servitude of one Israelite to another and the enforced slavery of non-Israelites.

When they do that they are either revealing that they haven't read the bible or they are lying for Jesus.

The god of the OT approved of slavery of the very worst kind. Foreign slaves were the personal possessions of Israelites. They were inherited like any other chattel and the owner had the right to beat them to death 'for they are your possession'.

The god of the OT also approved of taking virgins as sex slaves on an industrial scale.

It would take any xtian 2 minutes to find the references and read them objectively. When we combine these facts with the way christians identify Jesus with the god of the OT we are left with the conclusion that 'gentle Jesus meek and mild' prescribed slavery, kidnap and rape.

Edited to add - I just read that link posted by Sea Breeze. The way it treats the biblical data on foreign slaves makes the 'overlapping generation' doctrine sound reasonable.

29

Terrorist Attacks in Sri Lanka

by cofty in

three christian churches and three luxury hotels have been attacked in sri lanka this morning resulting in more than 130 deaths.. buddhism is the state religion in sri lanka accounting for 70% of the population, hindus make up 12% with islam and christianity comprising 9% and 7% respectively.

no group has yet claimed responsibility.

a civil war between government forces and separatist tamil tigers ended in 2009. the war lasted 26 years and cost at least 70,000 lives.

cofty

A Islamist jihadist group known as the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) have claimed responsibility for the attacks. The death toll has risen to 310 with a further 500 injured.

29

Terrorist Attacks in Sri Lanka

by cofty in

three christian churches and three luxury hotels have been attacked in sri lanka this morning resulting in more than 130 deaths.. buddhism is the state religion in sri lanka accounting for 70% of the population, hindus make up 12% with islam and christianity comprising 9% and 7% respectively.

no group has yet claimed responsibility.

a civil war between government forces and separatist tamil tigers ended in 2009. the war lasted 26 years and cost at least 70,000 lives.

cofty

I don't think it's fear of terrorists. It's fear of a populist uprising against Muslims. It's not an unreasonable concern.

29

Terrorist Attacks in Sri Lanka

by cofty in

three christian churches and three luxury hotels have been attacked in sri lanka this morning resulting in more than 130 deaths.. buddhism is the state religion in sri lanka accounting for 70% of the population, hindus make up 12% with islam and christianity comprising 9% and 7% respectively.

no group has yet claimed responsibility.

a civil war between government forces and separatist tamil tigers ended in 2009. the war lasted 26 years and cost at least 70,000 lives.

cofty

Why???

We will know that when we know who.

29

Terrorist Attacks in Sri Lanka

by cofty in

three christian churches and three luxury hotels have been attacked in sri lanka this morning resulting in more than 130 deaths.. buddhism is the state religion in sri lanka accounting for 70% of the population, hindus make up 12% with islam and christianity comprising 9% and 7% respectively.

no group has yet claimed responsibility.

a civil war between government forces and separatist tamil tigers ended in 2009. the war lasted 26 years and cost at least 70,000 lives.

cofty

Three Christian churches and three luxury hotels have been attacked in Sri Lanka this morning resulting in more than 130 deaths.

Buddhism is the state religion in Sri Lanka accounting for 70% of the population, Hindus make up 12% with Islam and Christianity comprising 9% and 7% respectively. No group has yet claimed responsibility.

A civil war between government forces and separatist Tamil Tigers ended in 2009. The war lasted 26 years and cost at least 70,000 lives. There were some attacks on mosques last year by Buddhists but that would not account for this Easter day attack on Christians.

So far every commentator on the news channels is carefully avoiding blaming the 'religion of peace'.

12

Near Death Experiences Studied By Neurophysiologist And Neuropsychiatrist

by Brokeback Watchtower in

this guy studied what happens with the human end of life phenomena and offers some interesting insights.

talks about alternate realities, and cultural effects on ones experience.

i think some might enjoy the way the whole matter is discussed.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78sktuk8zd4.

cofty

Waton - there was zero neuron activity. It was nothing more than an experiment in slowing down the degradation of cells. It told us absolutely nothing new about brain function.

62

Enjoyed the Memorial

by ScottyRex in

probably not a popular opinion on here....and haven't been actively attending meetings since 1988....(i know i know a submarine attender) however thoroughly enjoyed attending this evening...was good to see lots of people i remember whilst growing up in this faith, they were genuine and the whole atmosphere was one of love.

sure if i suddenly wanted to become active again and didn't change my lifestyle they would drop me like a bomb.....however i haven't and won't and they didn't and don't.

this works for me.. i cannot demonize the witnesses on what i have seen tonight.

cofty

I did feel closer to Jehovah tonight right there in that Kingdom Hall

Why would you take comfort from feeling closer to a moral monster?

12

Near Death Experiences Studied By Neurophysiologist And Neuropsychiatrist

by Brokeback Watchtower in

this guy studied what happens with the human end of life phenomena and offers some interesting insights.

talks about alternate realities, and cultural effects on ones experience.

i think some might enjoy the way the whole matter is discussed.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78sktuk8zd4.

cofty

The micro-tubal structures within the brain act as a quantum mechanical computer

I don't believe a word of it.