Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  7

  Why God is an untenable concept

  by Half banana in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  around three thousand two hundred years ago a tiny tribe of desert pastoralists were called israelites for the first time.

  by assuming this name it acknowledged, as was the custom, the name of a god el..

  el was a chief sort of god and he had a fabled number of seventy sons including yahweh.

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  Half banana

  Once we distance ourselves from the Borg many of us look for a succinct description of the great hoax we lived under and I admit I’m in that category! Fukitol, you have arrived at a pretty good one there; a ”pious fraud by a priestcraft.”

  “Prologos , yes BS is most appropriate for a bovine idol...hadn’t thought of that!

  James T, indeed the immense “disconnect”.

  I would be most interested to hear any JW defend this indefensible chasm which exists between the partisan folk origins of Big J and the prevailing perception.

  My take on the implications is that it demonstrates the nature of the Biblical texts that they are merely the religio – political adulation of their divine mascot. Israel being a tiny province with a small population (don’t believe what the Bible boasts on this point) with limited natural resources, surrounded by very powerful neighbours. Their only escape was in the hope of their puny God defeating the more powerful Gods. The power of Egypt’s Gods were feared because the empire was so strong, the Gods of the weak tribes being regarded as impotent. Yahweh was a lesser God and hence the naive god competition in 1Kings 18. (Elijah, Jah and Baal)

  This did not prevent the underdogs from imagining some celestial victory in their favour and the hope beyond hope of rhetorical bluster is the basis for much of the Hebrew writings.

  But to believe it today and base your very life on it... is...like Jehovah... absurd.
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  7

  Why God is an untenable concept

  by Half banana in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  around three thousand two hundred years ago a tiny tribe of desert pastoralists were called israelites for the first time.

  by assuming this name it acknowledged, as was the custom, the name of a god el..

  el was a chief sort of god and he had a fabled number of seventy sons including yahweh.

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  Half banana

  Around three thousand two hundred years ago a tiny tribe of desert pastoralists were called Israelites for the first time. By assuming this name it acknowledged, as was the custom, the name of a god “El”.
  

  El was a chief sort of god and he had a fabled number of seventy sons including Yahweh. Yahweh would probably have been a wooden idol and from stone reliefs of the time we know he sat with his consort Ashera and was depicted with crescent shaped horns. I suggest from the relief and other evidence that these horns were those of the extinct giant ox called aurochs. They are shown as fitted to a band which was then attached to the idol’s head. In silhouette they look like the crescent of a new moon which indicated he was a moon god. Male Moon gods are much rarer than female but were found in Egypt,the Levant and also in India.

  Behold the first Jehovah an ox headed wooden idol!

  The Bible makes great theatre with its story of disobedient sons of Israel casting a golden bovine Jehovah in the myth of law making after the Exodus. This never happened as far as anyone knows but is a didactic tale to reinforce the development of hating all other gods and elevating the idea of an invisible divinity. The new idea on the block is not monotheism but monolatry or henotheism; the recognition that there are other gods but the worship of only one in particular.

  From this position eventually the Jewish God and his attributes, ever evolving, became adopted by the early Christ cults of the early centuries of the Common Era.

  My point is this: how could it be that a local tribal cult idol becomes the almighty creator god of the universe?
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  12

  Preparing for Life in the New World

  by cappytan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  shouldda, wouldda, couldda...but didn't.. .

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  Half banana

  Steve, I had a similar awakening; everything in the garden was going to be lovely then I suddenly realised that it was to be forever under the thumb of a bunch of narcissist tyrant princes.That completely destroyed the dream for me.
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  19

  "I cant wait to meet Abraham!"

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  "i can't wait to meet abraham" was the eager comment made by a young 7 year old witness girl.. when asked why, she said "because he was jehovahs friend, and he was even willing to kill his own son!".

  this comment was said with joy and excitement!

  she can't see the obvious issues with this?.

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  Half banana

  Captain Schmideo, these celebs are not worth it, give me a bunch of lepers anyday.
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  58

  Questions about the Flood for Brother Jeramy

  by cappytan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  how long did the flood last?how long can land vegetation survive submerged in seawater?how long can freshwater fish survive in saltwater?how old is human civilization?

  what is the oldest settlement in south america?

  how did those people get there from the middle east after the flood wiped out everything on the earth?.

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  Half banana

  cancel- wrong post
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  35

  Kingdom Hall Money Grab Was for Child Abuse – It’s Completely Clear

  by thedepressedsoul in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  if youve followed the news lately there are more and more child abuse cases popping up.

  one lawyer said he has over 28 cases in the pipeline that are going to be coming out soon.

  on december 1 st a new one just popped up.

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  Half banana

  Yes Fink, they are still very rich but hungrier than ever. Also overly optimistic not recognising that they are now no longer as popular as they once were.

  Apart from having been badly burned in an investment crash a while back, it seems from the UK accounts at least, that they manage money quite prudently and make a very good amount of interest from their current investments, at something like 5%.

  There is a general idea that the poor foot soldiers in the theocratic army would shun the very notion of playing the stock market on spiritual grounds...even if they had the money. Not so the swanky GB whose money handlers meet annually in the UK with the biggest and best in the financial world with their vast income and be courted by the best brokers in the business.

  But of course the GB are self appointed demi-gods now and they do what they want.
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  19

  "I cant wait to meet Abraham!"

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  "i can't wait to meet abraham" was the eager comment made by a young 7 year old witness girl.. when asked why, she said "because he was jehovahs friend, and he was even willing to kill his own son!".

  this comment was said with joy and excitement!

  she can't see the obvious issues with this?.

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  Half banana

  It’s just as well most people have advanced socially and mentally since this Bronze Age Bible nonsense. It is chilling to hear a seven year old stuck in this appalling mindset and going through life believing this was a good move. What a dreadful standard of morality the Bible teaches...no wonder there are so many sad and deranged JWs in the world.
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  18

  Young baptism a double standard with marriage?

  by thedepressedsoul in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i remember tons of young ones getting counseled for being too young to date and for marriage.

  the elders said, "marriage is the 2nd biggest dedication of your life (baptism being 1st), at 20 you still don't know who you are or what you want.

  you can't possibly make a decision like that, that young!

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  Half banana

  The Watchtower Organisation encouraging young or even young teen JW children to get baptised should be recognised for what it is: "abuse".
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  24

  Impossible conversation: Jesus and Nicodemus: YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am a member on new testament scholar bart ehrman's blog, and the professor is currently outlining a new book he is writing about false memory and the life of jesus.. an interesting post occurred today in which he gives an example of a very famous scripture,.

  example of a false memory of jesus teaching i turn to a famous passage in the gospel of john, jesus dialogue with nicodemus (john 3:1-15).

  nicodemus is said to be a jewish leader who comes up to jesus and affirms that jesus must come from god because of the great things that he said to have done.

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  Half banana

  The very fact that the Greek pun of “born from above” and simultaneously “born again” is included in the Received Text indicates the source material being Greek and not Aramaic which as said indicates it could not be not verbatim or an historically truthful conversation.

  It also demonstrates the very good chance of early Christian writings being altered at will to conform to higher literary taste and for greater religious impact. Hand written text was ever susceptible to corrupt transmission. Compound this with the impossibility of the words being actually remembered by anyone (let alone false memories) shows that like most of the so called sacred scriptures, they are essentially a literary work, mainly fiction, drawing on older folk tales written by educated scribes in the employ of religious leaders or by those cult leaders themselves.

  Thank you for your input Terry.
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  146

  Why I remain one of Jehovah's Witnesses

  by Brother Jeramy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  allow me to begin with a clarification: when i say i am one of jehovah's witnesses, i don't mean that i am an advocate of the watchtower society or a devotee of some of its more controversial false teachings.

  i mean that i am a christian, a disciple of jesus christ dedicated to jehovah god, and who remains in union with my brothers and sisters who make up the family of faith that globally refers to itself as jehovah's witnesses.

  some totally understand the distinction between the family of brothers and sisters and the corporate organization known as the watchtower society (wts).

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  Half banana

  Bro J, I understand your accommodation of conflicts by existing under the Watchtower roof but agreeing to disagree with their authoritarian culture and errors. This tension, as you put it, must nevertheless make your life difficult yet for the moment you are prepared to carry this burden.

  To an outsider, there is another, what shall I say... incongruity... that you identify with the Watchtower “family” but not what we might call the ‘paternity’ of that family. Again for the moment you are reconciled to this oddity.

  As we grow mentally which happens all the way through our lives, as time goes on we are able to see things more clearly, as we mature and have more experience of being alive, we are exposed to more information, more stimuli and more ideas. Unless that is, one is stuck inside a cult which deliberately curbs the information its followers receive and demands a narrow conservative view of life to be seen only through the viewfinder of Watchtower dogma. The family you refer to are in this latter camp, whether they support the HQ or just enjoy the social JW company with its requirements of going through the motions.

  I understand your desire for good but the basis for your religion is nevertheless faulty Watchtower fundamentalism.

  My thought may sound crude but since most of us have been there including me; we were infantilised by this cult and to remain there is to remain stunted in our natural growth. To be a mature human is to experience the pleasure and satisfaction of self determination and to be beholden to none other than ourselves and our closest loved ones. The Watchtower Society deprives all its flock of this birthright.