Posts by fulltimestudent

33

Annointed 144k only male?

by JerryTX in

i was told there was new light by a former jw.

i wanted to verify if it was true.

the new light claims the annointed class/144k is always male.

John Aquila9 days ago

144k is always male.

Maybe he's gay and that's his view of heaven.

Geez, John - you are treading on quicksand, mate!

After the author of the Revelation, reveals the number of 144,000 who follow the lamb wherever he goes, we are thrilled (joke) to read in 19:7 (NIV) -

" Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready."

(Not sure if you'd like the honeymoon though, for as soon as Jesus the bridegroom has gotten married, he ups and shoots off to destroy untold millions).

But I digress, this text brings out the zaniness of so many"faithful" Chrstians who in their imagined "marriage" to Christ seem to reveal an underlying sexual attraction to Jesus. I have a copy of scholarly study on Chrstian writings on the subject and some of these Christians who imagine themselves as part of the "bride" class get very carried away. I'll save it all for another day, as I'm not prepared to send another day writing about it.

24

What percentage of the population are gay?

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

during the long debate on the question of gay marriage, there have been many competing answers to the question of, "how many people are gay?".

a very anti-gay christian minister in sydney, the reverend fred nile, (who is also a member of the state parliament) claims that the percentage is as low as 1%.. some university (u.of new south wales) research in sydney has suggested 5%, but the authors of the study cautioned that there was a problem in the fact that an unknown number of respondents would likely not admit to being gay.. there are other problems in asking the question.

for example, what does being gay mean?

fulltimestudent

During the long debate on the question of gay marriage, there have been many competing answers to the question of, "How many people are gay?"

A very anti-gay Christian minister in Sydney, the Reverend Fred Nile, (who is also a Member of the State parliament) claims that the percentage is as low as 1%.

Some University (U.of New South Wales) research in Sydney has suggested 5%, but the authors of the study cautioned that there was a problem in the fact that an unknown number of respondents would likely not admit to being gay.

There are other problems in asking the question. For example, what does being gay mean? Are we talking about actions or feelings? Some people with feelings of desire for the same sex, have never acted on their desire, and if they are married, as may well be the case, their only sexual experience may have been with the opposite sex. Should they be counted as gay?

A traditional figure (in the west) says about 10% of people have romantic or sexual inclinations toward the same sex, but Professor Gary Leupp, (Professor of History, Tufts University) claims that in 17th Century Japan, male to male sexual behaviour was 'normative,' a word which spears upward toward 50% of the population. That may well have been the case, as Francis Xavier, the first Jesuit missionary in East Asia says that he found the 'sin of Sodom,' was everywhere in Japan, and that the Japanese practised this 'sin' without shame.

It may yet be some time before the Christian inspired feelings of shame and hate die away and allow an honest assessment of the percentage of humans who are attracted (with or without activity) to the same sex.

But in the meantime, its is with interest that we can note the results of a survey,that concludes with a suggestion that the percentage is twenty percent. The Smithsonian magazine reports:

What percentage of the population considers themselves gay? This number has always been hard to pin down: sexuality is fluid, and plenty of people still feel pressured to hide their sexual orientation. But a new study has tried, and come up with a number that’s higher than most.
According to a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research, about 20 percent of the population is attracted to their own gender. That’s nearly double the usual estimates of about 10 percent. The authors explain that their methodology might have something to do with it.
Reference: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/what-percent-of-the-population-is-gay-more-than-you-think-5012467/

You can access the abstract of the study at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w19508

which also paradoxically reports higher percentages of hostility toward gay humans. From my own readings (for a research paper on 17th century Japan and actors in the early kabuki theatre who doubled as prostitutes) I suggest that the above studies finding of higher rates of hostility is tapping into the problem of self-hatred on the part of many same sex attracted people (aka, 'internalised' homophobia).

50

what an interesting find for me

by sowhatnow in

im sure to use this the next time i accidentally get sucked into an argument with someone.

im not ever understanding the idea behind any christian religion picking and choosing what they want to believe and follow, then have the nerve to claim they are right, when clearly this is obviously done.

here is a site that shows not only how bloodthirsty and evil the god of the hebrew bible was, but how more ridiculous it is for jws to follow one twisted 'commandment' about eating blood, not only reading it wrong, but then not to do all the other commandments, willingly , do they think they are ancient israelites ?

fulltimestudent

jonza: I see your points though, if you don't believe in God or that he is all knowing. If he didn't know those babies would grow up to be enemies and still present a threat to salvation then that god would be an evil tyrant. However, if he is all knowing, and just and had to do something to ensure we had salvation and that was the only option then it would be just.

What I see is, that because YOU want to believe, you'll grasp at any straw that enables you to hang on to your imagined beliefs.

50

what an interesting find for me

by sowhatnow in

im sure to use this the next time i accidentally get sucked into an argument with someone.

im not ever understanding the idea behind any christian religion picking and choosing what they want to believe and follow, then have the nerve to claim they are right, when clearly this is obviously done.

here is a site that shows not only how bloodthirsty and evil the god of the hebrew bible was, but how more ridiculous it is for jws to follow one twisted 'commandment' about eating blood, not only reading it wrong, but then not to do all the other commandments, willingly , do they think they are ancient israelites ?

fulltimestudent

eyeuse2badub2 days agoOne of my all time favorite bed time stories is how the Levites "lovingly" slaughtered about 150,000 animals during the inauguration of Solomon's temple. jehober, the loving god of the bible, must have been especially pleased. Wonder what they did with all the thousands of gallons of blood?

The blood should have been spilled on the ground. But the area was paved, and likely it would be uneven, so we can imagine puddles of blood through which you had to walk.

One of my Lecturer's painted a graphic word picture of the temple on a festival day. The anguished calls of the animals, the piles of guts and shit and the stink of it all, the piles of skins also stinking. and the smell of burnt meat, as some parts over-cooked. And all that described as a 'sweet odour' ascending to Jehovah.

A lot of bull-shit piled up in those biblical texts.

59

How are the JW's reacting to the new USA gay marriage laws?

by purrpurr in

jw
friends

personally i think this is wonderful.

i have nothing against gay people and wish them only the best.. but of course i'm in a minority of one, the jw's around me are posting away on fb the most homophobic vitriol imaginable.

a lot of them are even saying that it's the start to armageddon!!.

fulltimestudent

Clambake: You born in 1982 ?
You will figure it out go to collect a pension cheque that isn't there in 40 years because we didn't treat unions between men and women any different than any other union.

Different countries - different regulations, but here's a different story.

Australia doesn't permit gay marriage yet (but only because the very Catholic-and therefore religiously biased- PM wont permit a bill to come before the national parliament- which is not very democratic, because polling consistently indicates around 70% of ALL Australians are in FAVOUR of legalising gay relationships).

So on with the story - my longtime friend (another XJW) is gay, after being a JW for over 35 years, he was pursued by a young man (early 20s) and succumbed to the young man's charms, letting loose his long repressed same-sex desire and was DF'd.

Suddenly the imaginary world he had created as a Christian vanished - and his family. - resulting in deep psychological shock. He gave himself 6 months to change back to being a Str8 JW or he would kill himself. Six months went by and his same sex desires were still strong. He was on the verge of suicide when a met a 30 year old guy who made him laugh again - they have now been together for near 25 years.

Gay relationships were not officially recognised then, so when he got to his early 70's he decided to retire and take the old-age pension, which he was entitled to. A few years ago, after about 10 years on the pension, the then government (Rudd's for Aussie's information) changes the rules again. Gay relationships were recognised (but not called marriage) and my friend lost his right to the pension. Why? because his still-working partner earned too much money (and, also because they were thrifty and always saved money) so therefore, now counted as a couple he was no longer entitled to a pension.

So consider that case, Clambake.

Clambake:Marriage=families=future tax payers.
Now children aren't in the cards for everyone but that is the expection, not the rule.

I presume you meant to say, exception, not expectation.

The facts do not support your statement generally.It does not appear you have bothered to study demographic trends. In Australia, there are more and more DINKS, or at least one-child families. Without migration (mainly Indian and Chinese these days), the Australian population would be shrinking, as is the case with Japanese, Korean and Russian populations (which I study). Likely western European nations are also in this category.

The desire to use sex to procreate has lost ground to the idea of using sex for recreation. That can probably be attributed to the use of hormones (birth-control pill) to regulate fertility. My uncle had 16 kids, who would want that burden today. Women were just baby factories prior to birth-control, and had no room for anything else in their lives. Few women want that today!

So if, in a man/woman relationship, the couple decide they do not want kids, to be consistent you should advocate their de-licencing as a married couple. Is that your position also?

13

Jehovah's witnesses owe much to the catolic church

by TheWonderofYou in

jehovahs witness owe the bible to the catolic church,the church was the authority that put the bible together, and jehovahs witnesses owe the name jehovah a catolic monk.

jehovash witnesses owe the catolic church the sowing of the field where they are now preaching.. otherwise after leaving the jw i got a much better understanding of christianity and the cc..

fulltimestudent

TheWonderofYou: Jehovahs witness owe the Bible to the catolic church,the church was the authority that put the bible together.

What about the Orthodox church? Didn't it have something to do with the creation of Christianity?

59

How are the JW's reacting to the new USA gay marriage laws?

by purrpurr in

jw
friends

personally i think this is wonderful.

i have nothing against gay people and wish them only the best.. but of course i'm in a minority of one, the jw's around me are posting away on fb the most homophobic vitriol imaginable.

a lot of them are even saying that it's the start to armageddon!!.

fulltimestudent

cultBgone: Ahh, the uber moralistic witnesses. Meanwhile, the story of drunken Lot and his promiscuous daughters is swept under the rug

Haha! What silly buggers they are! (And we were once also)

But as well as the incestuous Lot and his daughters story, there are some male+male sexual stories in the Bible.

For example, check out 1 Kings 14:23.24.

23They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah* poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree.

24There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. (NIV)

*What this is telling is that Phallic symbols (representations of a penis) such as you can still see in Bhutan (where there are drawings of a penis on most houses) and Japan, were on every high hill and every large tree

** this tells us that male to male sexual activity was common place in the land among the people. We should ask a question, if there were many male prostitutes in Israel (and all this not so long after David and Solomon's wonderful rule), how many customers did they get? We have no way to answer that question, except that the inference of the text is that " the people (many) engaged in this sacred prostitution.

Note Neill, James (2008). The origins and role of same-sex relations in human societies. McFarland. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-7864-3513-5. In fact, the worship of Baal and Asherah persisted among the Israelites for over seven centuries, from the period after the conquest and settlement of Canaan- which most biblical scholars place at around 1400 B.C., to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the exile of the Israelites in Babylon in the 6th century B.C.

5

Yahweh's creation that wasn't good!

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

in genesis 1, describing the creative works of yahweh, it tells us in verses 24-28 that on the sixth creative day yahweh made both domestic animals and wild beasts.

one of those two categories must have included dogs.

so yahweh may lay claim to having created dogs.

fulltimestudent

Finkelstein: What about all the dinosaurs ?

haha! Finkelstein - we can only conclude that they must've been good!

7

Pope Condemns Weapons Industry and Those Who Make Weapons

by fulltimestudent in

the (almost) pacificism of the jws was one of the things that attracted me to the witnesses when young.

i wondered today, when i read this headline:.

pope francis suggests those in weapons industry can't call themselves christianat rally of young people in turin, francis issues his toughest condemnation to date of the weapons industry, criticising investors as well as workerspeople who manufacture weapons or invest in weapons industries are hypocrites if they call themselves christian, pope francis said on sunday.link: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/22/pope-francis-says-those-in-weapons-industry-cant-call-themselves-christian.

fulltimestudent

The (almost) pacificism of the JWs was one of the things that attracted me to the witnesses when young. I wondered today, when I read this headline:

Pope Francis suggests those in weapons industry can't call themselves Christian

At rally of young people in Turin, Francis issues his toughest condemnation to date of the weapons industry, criticising investors as well as workers
People who manufacture weapons or invest in weapons industries are hypocrites if they call themselves Christian, Pope Francis said on Sunday.
Link: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/22/pope-francis-says-those-in-weapons-industry-cant-call-themselves-christian

if I should become a Catholic?

5

Yahweh's creation that wasn't good!

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

in genesis 1, describing the creative works of yahweh, it tells us in verses 24-28 that on the sixth creative day yahweh made both domestic animals and wild beasts.

one of those two categories must have included dogs.

so yahweh may lay claim to having created dogs.

fulltimestudent

In Genesis 1, describing the creative works of Yahweh, it tells us in verses 24-28 that on the sixth creative day Yahweh made both domestic animals and wild beasts. One of those two categories must have included dogs. So Yahweh may lay claim to having created dogs.

Psalm 104, a hymn of praise to Yahweh (and, I guess also to Jesus - the logos - as co-creator in the Christian version of the Psalm's interpretation) that seems to review the Yahweh/Jesus co-creators program of creation, claims in verse 24:

How many are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.

The psalmist surely must have included dogs in that claim of Yahweh's creative wisdom. But that must surely be the only (and, its an indirect reference, at that) good reference to dogs. From most of the scriptural references to dogs, we can only conclude that the Yahweh/Jesus combo God dislikes dogs, and dislikes them intensely.

In Isaiah 56:10 there is a tirade against someone and the 'someone' is/are insulted by being compared to dumb dogs. The witness guru, Freddy Franz, managed to turn that into a rant against Christendom's clergy.

In 2 Peter 2: 22, drawing on a rant against foolish people in Proverbs 26:11, people who apostasize from "true" (whatever that is) Christianity, are described in these terms:

'Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,”'

And in Revelation 22:15 concluding a description of the joy and happiness of those who manage to survive into the NH & NE the author states categorically that outside the gates of the holy city, are wicked humans, and (surprise, surprise) DOGS.

So don't expect to have a pet Fido with you in Yahweh's vision of paradise.

Which is surprising isn't it, in view of the fact that humans,(made in Yahweh's image) mostly love dogs.

Its a very old bond, scientific research indicate the possibility that the bond between humans and dogs could be 27,000 years old.

See: " Dogs' special relationship to humans may go back 27,000 to 40,000 years." at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150521133626.htm

Dogs are included in many images of happy family life, because dogs have the ability to correctly interpret human feelings.

See: "Dogs know that Smile on Your face" at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150212131647.htm

Look into a dog's eyes, and you may experience a surge of oxytocin in your body, something like the surge that comes when you look into the eyes of your beloved.

See: Our Love of puppydog eyes explained by science. at http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/8ccee31f362f16c772e515a2db122e87.htm and

So why doesn't Yahweh tell us why he made dos "not good?" I cant tell you that, because Yahweh never admits or explains his mistakes.

But maybe, just maybe its because he's a jealous god and the Egyptian god Anubis must have loved dogs. A huge tomb near the former capital of Memphis contains the mummies of some eight million dogs. Imagine so many dead dogs in the Jerusalem temple- Yahweh may have died from the shock.

See, Huge Dog Tomb Unearthed in Egypt. at http://www.newhistorian.com/huge-dog-tomb-unearthed-in-egypt/4113/

fulltimestudent

Posts by fulltimestudent

John Aquila9 days ago

What about the Orthodox church? Didn't it have something to do with the creation of Christianity?

Haha! What silly buggers they are! (And we were once also)

But as well as the incestuous Lot and his daughters story, there are some male+male sexual stories in the Bible.

For example, check out 1 Kings 14:23.24.

24There were even male shrine prostitutes** in the land; the people** engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. (NIV)

*What this is telling is that Phallic symbols (representations of a penis) such as you can still see in Bhutan (where there are drawings of a penis on most houses) and Japan, were on every high hill and every large tree

haha! Finkelstein - we can only conclude that they must've been good!

24There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. (NIV)