one thing i regret, is not listening to the questions in my head whilst a jw.
one i didn't ask until years after leaving was....who designed disease?
of course the first thing to realise is the complexity of disease, the histology, pathology and aetiology.
If all explanation fails, go default - Satan.
Afterall, demonz and cheif demon Satan can create living reproductive bodies (remember them horny bastards turning up like men to take the daughters of men).
I can see a creationist failing for the argument...
by this point in the year the yearbook has usually been seen by someone and the partakers figure is known.
has anyone set eyes on it yet?.
Another very important (and encouraging) set of numbers is the total hours preached, total number baptized and the derivative hrs. preaching per convert.
It ain't looking rosey. Respectively, the numbers are:
2010 - 1,604,764,248 (hrs preaching); 294,368 (baptized); 5,452 (hrs of preaching to baptize one)
2011 - 1,707,094,710 (hrs preaching); 263,131 (baptized); 6,487 (hrs of preaching to baptize one)
So, not only there are ~11% less baptized, but the JWs had to work ~6% harder to get it done for a combined 18% decrease in efficiency!
If the sales numbers are off by 18%, you better believe that any business would immediately recognize there is trouble. The WTBTS, being one, has undoubtedly already seen that.....
Let me throw few more numbers:
Branches have decreased from 116 to 98, with the same 236 lands reporting. Hmmm, what happened to the 18 "missing" branches, their assets, buildings, accounts, etc..we all know.
And the over 100 million hours increase in total hours spent in the field..oh, my what a COLLOSAL waste of time... Can you imagine what 100 mil hours of REAL community service would do?
i'm an atheist but i've recently been curious enough to sit quietly on the hard wooden pews of a local and very simple english village church - it was sweet, humble and surprisingly calming.. now, how exactly is this monstrosity supposed to motivate anyone?!.
what does it tell us about the mentality of the religions leaders?
does this look like a place of worship?
BARF...
this is not my first time here.
i was a regular poster years ago, then got too busy to continue.. .
i couldn't remember my log in information and decided i'd rather have a new name anyway.. .
Yo!
full download is here.. jesus knew where absolute truth could be found.. that is why he said in prayer to his father the words of.
our year text for 2012: your word is truth.
(john 17:.
Oh, boy...
And on the opening page also:
"In fact, those who truly make the Bible their guide are
a minority—only about 0.1 percent of the earth’s
population."
What a self righteous Richards!
its not like he had access to oxygen, light, fresh water or food.
what about the digestive jucies in the belly?.
please correct me if i'm wrong, but surely this just can't be possible?.
If God's Son can be transferred to the womb of a virgin Israelite by means of God's Spirit, surely His Spirit could preserve Jonah in the belly of a fish.
While I may agree with the "muraculous" approach in explaining such events as alegories, there are practical considerations that completely obliterate the possibility of these things occuring in reality.
Jonah STILL needed oxygen, fresh water and protection from digestive acids.
Did the Holy Spirit create a physical barrier inside the whale?
Did the Holy Spirit create oxygen inside said physical barrier? How was the oxygen derived? For someone's life to be sustained for 3 days, X amount of oxygen is needed PERIOD.
Did the Holy Spirit use existing matter to break down and release oxygen, maybe some oxides. Was it an electrolysis using ocean water, if so what was the physical aparatus to achieve it?
I can go on and on.
I KNOW of at least a dozen reazons why this CAN'T be done.
If your answer in the inavoidability of physical limitations is that we, well, DON'T KNOW, then that's what it is.
WE DON'T KNOW.
Let's admit it and until WE KNOW, let's not just say WE KNOW because it's a MIRACLE.....Even miracles are confined within the laws of physics, termidynamics, etc, which make our very existense possible. These laws, whether instituted by God or not, are blind, impartial and unforgiving.
source here, page 19, par 20:.
"20 a north american brother writes:.
when my wife and i attended an assembly.
WT library CD research...Hmmmmm....
Ask a JW to help you out with this research (credit to Mad), now that they are officialy encouraged to do it.
i've taken a bit of a break recently from analysing the more recent articles.
i find it makes my head spin when i dwell for too long on all the lunacy, fear-mongering and paranoia - of which this month's issue is a classic example.
however, this time round i just couldn't help myself.. there were quite a few things that leapt out at me, but one of the funnier quotes was as follows (taken from page 19, paragraph 20):.
Cedars,
I started a similar topic this morning off the same quote; yours beats me not only in timing, but in depth. Cheers!
source here, page 19, par 20:.
"20 a north american brother writes:.
when my wife and i attended an assembly.
Had to add this one too:
page 26, par. 6
" THE GOOD OLD DAYS
6 One distinct danger is a distorted view of the good old days. Our memory is not always reliable.We may unwittingly minimize
the problems we had in the past and at the same time exaggerate the joys, making it seem that things were a lot better than they really were.
This distorted recollection can cause us to long for the good old days. But the Bible warns us: “Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these days?’ for
it is not wise to ask that.” (Eccl. 7:10, New English Translation)Why is this type of thinking so dangerous?"
Wait, aren't you a$$holes trumping exactly that? How things now are WAY worse than they were in "the good old days", how the world is getting wicked by the minute?
Is it your unreliable memory, or the deliberate amnesia you try to put your sheep in?
Heed your own advice : “Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these days?’
source here, page 19, par 20:.
"20 a north american brother writes:.
when my wife and i attended an assembly.
Source here, page 19, par 20:
"20 A North American brother writes:
“When my wife and I attended an assembly
in 2006, we had been baptized
for 30 years. While driving home after
the program, we discussed how we
could apply the counsel given on simplifying
our life. (Matt. 6:19-22)We owned
three homes, land, luxury cars, a boat,
and a motor home. Feeling that we must
have looked like foolish Christians (emphasys mine), we
decided to make the full-time ministry our goal."
Really?! "Foolish Cristians"!?
Yet, Mother can own over a Billion dollars worth in real estate and be perfectly fine. The balls these people have...
There are other gems in there for those interested....
