How about this for a deal: swop the right to private gun ownership (hunters excepted) with the right of universal health-care free at the point of delivery?
Half banana
JoinedPosts by Half banana
-
75
Guns. Well said Mr President, if only your countrymen had the same courage to consider changing course.
by nicolaou inive had to make statements like this too many times.
communities like this have had to endure tragedies like this too many times.
once again, communities [were harmed] because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no problem getting their hands on a gun.. lets be clear: at some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries.
-
-
-
10
The Governing Body and Modern Man's World How Do They Do It?
by Brokeback Watchtower ini mean how can these guys run a corporation and make good policies when they are so deluded and hide the fact from themselves and their readers?.
ok sure they got a legal department but they are all brain washed just like the gb, and these guys think that every decision they make is jehovah's come on they are so out of touch with reality how can they every make good policy that is truley good?
even when they are deceiving and coniving they are making blunder all over the place because they are old and deluded and full of shit..
-
-
Half banana
The JW org is like an old fashioned steam roller. It puffs and clanks along squashing the life and worldly ambitions out of its masochistic devotees and they pay the price for the privilege.
It is the inertial force in a social context. The Watchtower cult has fed its own community with impossible-to-realise hope for 136 years. The end is forever declared to be imminent and to leave the lumbering organisation would be to miss out on the joys of Armageddon. So it’s a great unsavoury pudding of hope and promises enjoyed with a few million like-minded suckers and an illusory anchor for the soul. The price you pay is with your freedom ... your whole life’s endeavour is to be given over in favour of the WTBTS. The leadership get reflected glory from their delusional role as “God’s appointed” and receive the funds from the stock exchange and the punter’s family inheritances.
It is almost impossible to stop a steam roller...unless you are in the driving seat. (Nevertheless they cannot cope with driving into sink holes!)
-
24
David Splane address bethelites
by rosesinbloom ini did not write this piece.
i enjoyed the simple and understandable reasoning.
hope some of you enjoy it too.
-
-
Half banana
It is interesting to find a common focus for interpreting information such as this. It all depends on one’s partisan viewpoint. In the briefest possible way I would like to get to the bottom of all the problems arising from Splane’s assertions that there were no appointed representatives of God up to 1900 or later.
If you govern a religion then you require some credence from the Bible to justify your existence. The Catholic Church for example claims its descent from Jesus’ appointee Peter, the Watchtower claims appointment by holy spirit in 1919. The ever changing perception of the FDS is their attempt to justify their bedrock teaching by perpetually directing the faithful to be mindful of their leadership. It is group narcissism. If they are wrong about the Watchtower in-house myth of 1919, then there can be no basis for following this religion, they should admit it and pack their bags.
My solution to this is simple. The fundamental manifestation of God is “holy spirit”. It has no basis in reality, it is unknowable by the human senses...so if you have your head secured to your neck you are advised to not believe infantile stories such as ”holy spirit”. If you believe in magic fairy dust otherwise called “holiness” then you will continue to struggle with reality. If you believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God you will forever be mired in delusions and mysteries.
Since the Greek scriptures are a fusion of all politically important religious beliefs of the fourth century, they are an attempt at harmonising the disparate superstitions of that era. It was inevitable they would not all gel together...but with magic ”holy spirit”, all things can be made to appear in union. Bear in mind the target audience back then lived in a pre-scientific, pre- literate superstitious world populated with gods and demons... And people want to base their life on this today?
Ok most of us here don’t like the Watchtower organisation but some, like Melete Vivlon take as their starting point that the Bible is to be respected as sacred.
Here lies the fundamental problem for all who try to give any interpretation of the Bible, be it JW or other religious persuasions; you can contrive endless dogma and doctrine from it according to your disposition. There can never be a coherent, water-tight interpretation of the Bible. It is a will o’ the wisp, a dream. The reason for this is that much of the Bible is a fusion of pagan folk myth masquerading as divine truth.
"Holiness" is a confidence trick, give it up.
-
49
this weeks bible highlights: Jehovah slaughters his own people to teach David a lesson
by nowwhat? infrom 2 samuel 24. i am so mad at myself for not making a comment how could anyone explain this away?
then after he slaughters 70,000 he then feels regret?
-
-
Half banana
The theme of God's power in destroying his enemies is so very Bronze Age. It is only non-entities like Jehovah who could have attributed to them the idea that “if you don’t believe in him he will destroy you”. This is the infantile prattle of 5 year olds. For adults to believe it and teach it: it is humiliating for them.
Sir82, the very concept of holiness is a most interesting phenomenon, it's rubbish of course but how it skews the minds and hearts of those susceptible to its false charm! As if in the absence of joy in real life, holiness finds an alternative world where humans can meet and see evidence of the divine and gain some comfort in it. It is false comfort and it is addictive since the idea can be shared with like minded believers who by their parallel enthusiasm give the illusion that the holiness is real. It's what the God Club enjoy! Seeing other believers believe and it is "holiness" which is the ticket to this delusion.
-
52
Very Offensive Statement Directed To JW Parents-Watchtower 4/15/2015 Page 11 Paragraph 9
by JW GoneBad inwt is insinuating, worse yet, blaming senior jw parents for there not being more younger brothers reaching out to be ministerial servants and elders.
page 11 paragraph 9 reads as follows: .
"elders in affluent lands may face an added challenge: how to motivate baptized brothers in their 20s or 30s to get involved in congregation activities.
-
-
Half banana
And a big thank you to the brothers who can see that taking on responsibilities in the JWorg only leads to trouble and disappointment. -
38
ARE WATCHTOWER SOCIETY STATISTICS REALLY TRUSTWORTHY?
by TerryWalstrom inof these, over 2,000 were admitted to concentration camps.
1,000 died in prison and concentration camps.
another 1,000 of jehovah's witnesses died in prisons and concentration camps.".
-
-
Half banana
To add in connection with the original question; from the perspective of the Watchtower, the accuracy of the numbers has only small relevance. It’s the power impression given by simply wielding them. -
38
ARE WATCHTOWER SOCIETY STATISTICS REALLY TRUSTWORTHY?
by TerryWalstrom inof these, over 2,000 were admitted to concentration camps.
1,000 died in prison and concentration camps.
another 1,000 of jehovah's witnesses died in prisons and concentration camps.".
-
-
Half banana
Having just read the thread may I introduce a thought that the obsession of the JW org with numbers has to do with a need for validation. It was brought to my attention by reading the works of anthropologist Weston La Barre. He suggested that the individual psychotic is not able to support his delusion on his own. If however he can get another individual to believe with him, that his mother was the Virgin Mary for example, then it is called a folie a deux. (delusion of two) Now how would it be if he got one hundred people or ten thousand to believe this psychosis? The large numbers alone would appear to validate the belief.
Since the Watchtower ticks all the boxes for “cult” everything it does is an attempt to validate its authority as a religion and it naively uses anything respectable to hand, like numbers, which might give it more credibility.
-
31
The Devouring Mother Archetype(jungian) And the Watchtower Corporation's Self Identification As Mother And Jehovah As Father
by Brokeback Watchtower inthe devouring mother must be always listen to and obeyed it is the negative side of the anima image and it rules over the watchtower corporation.
jehovah(corporation's imaginary sock puppet) is the father figure with his masculine macho swagger he gains victory over every detractor and his huge narcissistic personality demands exclusive devotion from everyone or it's the death penalty, he suffers from an inflated ego and has a very dark and evil shadow due to denial of his dark nature/satan(scape goat).
the children or rank and file pee on dedicated members of the corporation must now engage in worthless pursuits to satisfy a mood swinging domineering mother and a murderous self righteous father all the while being shown a very contemptible form of conditional love, accompanied with constant death threat reminders and a carrot on a sting to keep them focused on such and busy with worthless pursuits for a hopeless cause.
-
-
Half banana
Brokeback, I’ll settle for the archetype of the ’terrible devouring mother’ figure of the JW org leadership. I'm certain they feel a warm glow as they congratulate themselves in their self attribution as the "mother organisation." How far this is from the reality!
In practice it insists on 'grooming' and demanding absolute unthinking obedience of its putative children but its motive is not maternal in the human sense of devoted care. It is the reverse; it is to profit from its would-be offspring, to maintain a stranglehold and to keep their charges in an infantilised state to feed off them... Nice!
-
9
Jehovah's Witnesses in deep denial
by Half banana inthere can be no more profound form of ignorance than one which prohibits knowledge.
the watchtower organisation is one of the last remaining dinosaurs to do this.
instead of considering the biological and ecological complexity of life it gazes into its own oily navel and says with open-mouthed disneyfied wonderment, how marvellous nature is, how sacred jehovah is, how wonderful the governing body are!.
-
-
Half banana
Adjusted, my point was that there are not many large organisations such as the JW org with 8 million followers who condemn education. There are of course billions of uneducated and poor who still look to religion for some hope in life.
-
9
Jehovah's Witnesses in deep denial
by Half banana inthere can be no more profound form of ignorance than one which prohibits knowledge.
the watchtower organisation is one of the last remaining dinosaurs to do this.
instead of considering the biological and ecological complexity of life it gazes into its own oily navel and says with open-mouthed disneyfied wonderment, how marvellous nature is, how sacred jehovah is, how wonderful the governing body are!.
-
-
Half banana
There can be no more profound form of ignorance than one which prohibits knowledge. The Watchtower organisation is one of the last remaining dinosaurs to do this. Instead of considering the biological and ecological complexity of life it gazes into its own oily navel and says with open-mouthed ‘Disneyfied’ wonderment, ”How marvellous nature is, how sacred Jehovah is, how wonderful the governing body are!”
With deliberate avoidance of learning about the origins of the Bible; it praises its holiness. Without thinking that Jehovah began as a cow headed idol in a minor pagan cult; it worships this god. Everything they hold is without thinking, without investigation and without examination! They confuse and conflate knowledge of the Bible with reality.
How can anyone understand the Bible without looking at the history of the texts they were formed from? How can the source ideas be understood without knowing the religious and political climate in which they were written... and when and where those ideas were first recorded... and by whom...and for whom...and for what purpose they were borrowed and copied and included in the canon?
The JW org make the astounding claim that they alone know the intentions of God’s mind, they say that you only need to listen to them for all instruction in life...preposterous! They think they know everything and they try to prevent external information getting to their flock they even cut out information about their earlier history. All this and yet they have never got any one thing right in their whole history. Mistakes being eclipsed by magic "new light."
They have now invested their corporate hope in the JW mass media propaganda machine. However through the internet, the world is already seeing that this cult religion with its “Bible based beliefs” is looking distinctly out of step with modern life which increasingly offers compassionate, tolerant, science based progress. In turn they are trying to compensate with a squeaky clean ‘televangelist’ image whilst trampling on education, promoting homophobia, shunning family members, stifling personal growth and relishing the claim that their God says he will destroy those who don’t believe in him.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are in deep psychological denial, what hope is there of them coming clean and admitting the fact?