Sounds like rich soil for the JW message: Desperation and complete lack of access to information. It won't bring in many donations, but can pad the growth numbers as "proof" of God's backing.
WontLeave
JoinedPosts by WontLeave
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10 Poorest Countries In The World 2011
by Bangalore in10 poorest countries in the world 2011.. http://www.therichest.org/world/poorest-countries-in-the-world/.
bangalore.
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Soooo... "Brother" Daniel and "Sister" Pat, Just Left...
by AGuest in(may you all have peace!)...
after a 25 minute "discussion"... that simply blew their minds.
so much stammering and stuttering.
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WontLeave
JWs believe that only other churches have "proof texts" that they focus on to the exclusion of the rest of Scripture. Over and over again, I have shoved Bible verses in their faces that - for some odd reason - they seem to have never seen before, even after insisting they have read the Bible from cover to cover many times. I even had one say they read the Bible once a year in their Bible reading. So as not to let on about my "wolf in sheep's clothing" status, I opted not to call him out on that little falsehood. 4 pages of the Bible a week hardly gets one through it in a year. Just like every church, JWs use the Bible as a prop and actually pay it little mind. The church leaders are the real creators of doctrine.
For a group who insisted "Religion is a snare and a racket!", they sure have become what they claimed to hate, quite nicely. They have a unique and mandatory doctrine, a power structure and methods for wielding that power, a complex and bloated hierarchy, vast financial holdings, even a symbol by which they are recognized (the Watchtower icon/idol). How exactly are they different?
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Get ready - the final end of everything October 21
by wannabefree inperhaps this has already been addressed, i looked ... i thought you might want to know, not much time left ..... harold camping .... some time after being released from a nursing home in june after suffering a stroke, camping, released an audio message on family radio's website saying, "we would have not been able to be used [by god] to bring about the tremendous event that occurred on may 21 of this year, which probably [will] be finished out on oct. 21 that's coming very shortly.
that looks like it will be ... the final end of everything.".
http://www.christianpost.com/news/harold-camping-update-rapture-will-probably-finish-oct-21-57197/.
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WontLeave
Sounds like the JWs who come to my door and invoke the proliferation of their message as proof of being the answer to Mat 24:14, and thus "God's true people". Step foot outside the US and nobody will have any clue who Harold Camping is or what his insane rantings are. Every cult thinks the whole world is watching them. Truth is, people only notice when they're acting out: Declaring end-of-the-world dates, taking on the National Guard, poisoning the members, thanking God for dead people, knocking on your door, etc. Any other time, the whole world is like "Who?" JWs have no clue the vast majority of the world has never heard of them. Of course, in a country where the cult was founded and about one out of every 300 people is in it. But, what about everywhere else? How many people in India you think know what a JW is? How about Cambodia or Bulgaria? And that's just places where they even post the statistics. The entire inhabited earth? Get over yourselves.
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Can we make a list? What does the WT really teach me about Jesus?
by Fernando injesus is not my mediator..
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WontLeave
Jesus has been fired by the WBTS for failing to follow orders from the Watchtower for the last 100 years. 7 old men now hold his job.
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Do you sense that the Watchtower will implode?
by AK - Jeff insince leaving the organization 8 years ago, there have been more significant changes in the actual, physical activities of the organization than occurred in all the 40 plus years i was 'in'.
bethel closings.
bethel layoffs.
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WontLeave
It did implode, invisibly; and by the end of a generation, it will be gone. Evidently, it's in its last days and we can be assured that shortly it will be no more. (random, unrelated scipture to make it "Bible-based")
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I really want to go JW but..
by fortbethel ini've studied with like 30 diff denominations.
i really feel jw is best for me.
i think it's the 144,000 part & the once a year get together when they pass around the sacrament that bothers me most.
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WontLeave
I think the unitarianism and rejection of Hellfire are what attract most people to the doctrine. The central doctrine of JWs though, is the "faithful and discreet slave", but they hide it. John shouted about Jesus for all to hear, yet JWs are ashamed of their idolatry and hide their worship of the Governing Body until much later. It's their "Xenu" or "holy underwear" doctrine. JWs lie, lie, then lie some more about their real beliefs until you're good and trapped in their cult. Only when they can ruin your life for not blindly obeying their human leaders, do they divulge this nasty reality: Jehovah's Witnesses worship a printing facility and 7 old men in NY.
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Today's Watchtower Study is SO dumb!!!
by TimothyT ini would like to think of myself as an academic.
im starting my second degree and i enjoy research.
when i see a statement backed up by references and support from a credible source, sometimes i get excited.
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WontLeave
Shameless plug, but on-topic:
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WontLeave
If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. - Exodus 21:22-25
Note to self:
Never attempt a rational conversation with Lady Viola, if this is any indication of her rationale.
And one might want to avoid getting logical arguments from illogical propaganda sources.
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Short video: "I Was A Deluded 9/11 Truther"
by bohm inhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuluqfeqfuu&feature=feedu.
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WontLeave
I'm keeping track of the names of people who comment here, so I know who never to have a logical conversation with, because they lack logic and reason.
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Watchtower admits Bible Teaches Trinity & hellfire!
by williamhconley inthe wathtower admits that by reading the bible alone without their help, people will believe in the trinity, hellfire, visible return of christ, heavenly hope for all christians etc etc.. here's the quote:.
"from time to time, there have arisen from among the ranks of jehovah's people those, who, like the original satan, have adopted an independent, faultfinding attitude... they say that it is sufficient to read the bible exclusively, either alone or in small groups at home.
but, strangely, through such 'bible reading,' they have reverted right back to the apostate doctrines that commentaries by christendom's clergy were teaching 100 years ago..." (watchtower, aug. 15, 1981, p. 29).. why would people revert back to christendoms doctrines unless the bible actually teaches them!.
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WontLeave
InterestedOne is right. The mainstream church teachings are so engrained in Western culture, they are impossible to avoid. Just telling a joke
So, this guy dies; he's standing at the pearly gates and St Peter says...
or watching a cartoon cat dying and floating to Heaven, playing a harp betrays how these beliefs are taken for granted. Just like JWs are told so often about a "Governing Body", they can actually read the Bible and come away with that; many mainstream churches come away from the Bible with Hellfire. Putting aside preconceptions and allowing God's Word to speak for itself requires effort the vast majority refuse to extend. An overwhelming percentage of churchgoers admit they've never read the Bible and JWs are no different. Most people read the "proof texts" their church tells them to and that's it. Once our minds are colored with those beliefs, it takes a conscious effort on our part to separate what the Bible says from what we've been told it says. I've watched many people - JW and non-JW - look right at a scripture and see something totally different than what it says, then fight tooth-and-nail over their faulty understanding, because their interpretation fits their belief while the text doesn't.
To the cognitive dissonance we must also add functional illiteracy. Many, many JWs and other churchgoers have very poor reading comprehension. Their grasp of the meaning of what they read is so tenuous, they butcher sentences they read, rearrange the words in their minds, and cobble together a total abomination of the text to fit what they think it's supposed to say. It's like rollerskating uphill, trying to reason with most religious people, because so incredibly many of them are astoundingly stupid. It's unfortunate, but many use religion as an excuse to take the easy way out of learning anything. Studying Evolution and theoretical physics with the goal of understanding them enough to make an educated and intelligent choice whether to adopt them is hard. Simply adopting the theory
A man in the sky made everything and I don't need to know anything else
is much easier; so the militantly ignorant and woefully stupid tend to gravitate to religion, where they can just believe what they're told. Don't get me wrong; there are plenty of stupid atheists, but stupid people are hyper-represented in religion and - in all honesty - they can't be trusted to understand what they read without reverting to what they're told to think it says.