Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  174

  The Bible is NOT Error-Free

  by FusionTheism in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  for many christians, the bible is viewed as the 100% error-free, perfect book straight from god, where every single word was carefully chosen by god for a reason.

  but, usually, when you have a discussion on the topic, these christians will end up saying that only the original copies written directly from the hands of the prophets and apostles were error-free, and all manuscript copies since then are subject to copyist mistakes and other errors.. since zero original copies are in existence, how do we know the originals were error-free?

  why should we think the originals should be error-free to begin with?

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  Half banana

  Would it not be more accurate to say that the Bible is not totally truth free?
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  10

  How long will it take?

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  at some point in the future, it has to finally dawn on people that something is seriously flawed about the idea of jesus coming in the clouds to save everyone who believes- and kill everyone who doesnt..

  will people still believe in jesus in another 1000 years?

  will people still be saying in the year 5015;.

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  Half banana

  Bemused, I just checked the decline of numbers of church-goers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Ten years ago the numbers were 6.3% with a projection of 4% by 2020. The average age being in the mid-fifties. (I would have thought older). Two thirds of British people are not affiliated to any religion and less than 20% nominally and historically associated with the Cof E.

  It is my expectation that JWs will decline in accord with the general avoidance of religion here. nevertheless there will always be a rump of desperadoes who cling tightly to their religious hope even if or when the Watchtower org collapses. It is the blind possesion of hope which triumphs over reason. The same for the numbers of those who believe Jesus to be coming... whether on clouds or apparent to all (it is highly ambiguous), the concept must sound more like a foolish fairy-tale to the more literate and educated people of today's world.
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  52

  Bethel Meeting at Regional Convention

  by MrTheocratic in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i decided to go to the bethel recruiting meeting yesterday to test out my theory that the organization is in decline.

  i assumed that if there is a general feeling of apathy by many in the org, then certainly it would be shown up by the lack of enthusiasm or zeal by many to sign up for bethel service.

  well let me say that based on what i observed, this organization is not going anywhere.

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  Half banana

  “Even the Bethel speaker was in amazement and said the future was in good hands”

  It sounds like the Bethel speaker was fully aware things are not hunky dory in Dubland and was amazed that so many idle conventioners should bother to turn up.

  Another thing; I thought there was to be no “future” to worry about since Armageddon is almost on top of us... why bother with Bethel! Whilst dictating to the faithful about the imminence of the end, the only future the org thinks of is in saving its own skin from financial extinction.
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  6

  The Governing Body was Appointed in 1971, NOT 1919

  by FusionTheism in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  statements from the watchtower publications show that the scriptural governing body did not exist until 1971!.

  watchtower, 01/15/01, pages 28-31:.

  these questions were answered at the annual meeting held on october 1, 1971. on that occasion, one of the speakers pointed out that the governing body of the faithful and discreet slave preceded the watch tower bible and tract society of pennsylvania by hundreds of years.

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  Half banana

  I'd love to see exactly how Jesus is supposed to appoint the gb members. Does an albino rook fly in through the open window and on to the governing body's meeting table with a burning twig in its beak, depositing it in front of the prospective new member? Does Jesus speak out loud to them or give them a handwritten note? Or is it a special handshake from a man wearing the Turin Shroud?

  Nah! It's the burning twig.
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  75

  Guns. Well said Mr President, if only your countrymen had the same courage to consider changing course.

  by nicolaou in

  1. social
  2. current

  ive 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.

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  Half banana

  Don't the tragic news reports show that the problem is not simply gun ownership but that the socially disaffected or mentally unstable have ready access to arms.

  As Jhine indicated that in Europe, apart from sport, the majority have little interest in firearms because the macho gun-culture is not there.

  Isn't the real issue the mass availability of weaponry permitting the reckless to massacre the innocent?

  How can it be stopped? Possibly by reducing the glamour and need for gun ownership by having in place welfare provisions which stop the vulnerable individuals feeling the need for revenge on society?

  I don't know the answer.
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  14

  WT April 15, 2015... Odd first paragraph

  by StarTrekAngel in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  flipping thru the pages of the april 15 wt study edition, i bumped into something that strikes me as odd.

  not that the wt never publishes odd things, but usually such comes in the form of misapplied scripture or hidden second meanings.

  i've never paid attention before but to me this is the first time i see a whole paragraph with no bible verses to read.. in the article tiled "always trust in jehovah!

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  Half banana

  It is worth noting that the word in Greek used by the Roman authorities as mentioned in Wikipedia in Fulltimestudent's quotation; is 'chrestian' and not 'christian'. This described the 'good ones' or cultists who claimed messianic prophecies and roamed the streets (as portrayed in that monument of christian satire The Life of Brian). The authorities would not be using the later cult word 'christian' meaning 'anointed ones' as yet, they woud be referring to the pre-jesus variety which had existed for centuries preaching the myth of the holy god-man saviour.

  At 65 CE The chrestians were present but their is little to no evidence of Jesus' followers being there.

  It is so easy to read history and make assumptions which will claim connections which never existed and to write in things later with a false memory.
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  75

  Guns. Well said Mr President, if only your countrymen had the same courage to consider changing course.

  by nicolaou in

  1. social
  2. current

  ive 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.

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  Half banana

  (I know I am idealistic...but what do you expect from a UK ex JW!)

  More seriously, two of my offspring have just returned from California after a few weeks visiting their uncle. Whilst there a close friend of his was murdered by gunshot. Having myself spent time in California when a JW, I was surprised at the frequency of stories people told of gun crimes, they or their relatives had experienced.

  However passionate Americans are about their national freedoms, surely the right to hold firearms is a stubborn blind spot in your democracy. More a liability than a liberty.
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  75

  Guns. Well said Mr President, if only your countrymen had the same courage to consider changing course.

  by nicolaou in

  1. social
  2. current

  ive 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.

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  Half banana

  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?
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  10

  The Governing Body and Modern Man's World How Do They Do It?

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i 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..

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  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!)
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  24

  David Splane address bethelites

  by rosesinbloom in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i did not write this piece.

  i enjoyed the simple and understandable reasoning.

  hope some of you enjoy it too.

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  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.