Half banana

Joined

• started 79 topics
• posted 3,096 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Half banana

• 
  53

  Are the J.W's reaching a "Tipping point"?

  by karter in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i haven't been to a meeting in 15 years but my mother and sister are hard as j.w's.

  the brothers they are appointing elders are at best suspect like one guy from my old hall made elder,big time drug used before becoming a j.w his talks are all over the place and would have struggled to make m,s years ago but with at least 60 to 70 % of young ones leaving the pool to pick from is at best reduced.. 2 other recent elders both young and zero life experience both on benefits one not well at all falls asleep all the time.. the decent,kind elders mostly older and are decent people with alot of life experience are burning out fast as there are so few of them left like 3 per congro of 100 publishers.. then you have the rich elders who wouldn't ever think of inviting some poor older or mis-fit person out to the expensive placers they go to as they couldn't afford to go so they are above the r&f and the r&f get pissed off with them.

  then we have the ones who have "put the kingdom 1st" who are now old worn out and barely getting by from welfare cheque to welfare cheque that are saying "the system should have been over many years ago" it's still here and they are struggling everyday.. then there are the pioneers who have a low payed reduced hour job that seem to think anyone who has anything is totally materialistic and looks down on anyone getting a new car buying a house ect.. along with the child abuse issues,the generation change,access to information the the g.b don't want anyone to know ,not to mention the issues around blood.. is there a tipping point coming????

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  Religion is a drug, cocaine is not very good for you but it's very popular.

  A tipping point coming? Let's hope so.
• 
  21

  Sheep who mate in front of stripey trees will produce stripey offspring

  by purrpurr in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  genesis 30:37 leaving aside the whole "joseph cheats laham out of his flock" issue.

  one passage of scripture that i've missed until now is 30:37 where it says how joseph got all the sheep to be stripey etc ( btw have you ever seen a stripey sheep?

  cos i certainly haven't!).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  No, it's true Purrpurr...I tried this and I've got stripey children now.
• 
  39

  The only way to know God exists!

  by iconoclastic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  do everything as god would do if he were present here.

  this will attract his attention, and you will experience his invisible hands blessing everything you do, giving you results more than what you sowed.. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

  hence put to the test the above, and then you can make really authentic comments!.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  Iconoclastic by name but most definitely not by practise... You make wildly disjointed assertions hardly any of which can be supported in the tangible world. The problem lies in that you speak the language of “belief” where anything is possible and which requires no facts or evidence just hope. Nothing useful can come from this.

  
  

  
  

  
  
• 
  24

  If they go bankrupt, so what?

  by maksutov in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it seems likely that the watchtower is worried about its finances, given the downsizing, property schemes, and money-grabs we have been seeing over the last few years.

  perhaps they suffered badly from the financial crisis.

  for sure, there will be more expenses to come from child abuse payouts.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  If they went bankrupt they will have been very foolish with their funds...but if they did, they may not even tell the bros. They have vast assets which they can use as collateral to borrow money and if that does not work out they can sell off property to reduce or pay off debts. The key thing for them is to keep the faithful in the fold and paying money into the coffers but even here many will suspect what would be going on and pull away.

  The trend in religious membership is to be “spiritual”. This late 20th century phenomenon is part of the personal and self regarding approach to faith which disregards authoritarian dogma. It is in evidence here on this site where believers report that they go along to the meetings but do not accept the Borg mentality and regulations... and it probably is part of the reason why WTBTS funds are dropping.

  The beliefs could well remain if the org collapses. Already the doctrines of JWs are evident outside of the WTBTS, especially in Africa, (BK is JWism on steroids) they will splinter more rapidly if the money fails and the centre does not hold so the fear and threats from the anxious GB would increase, losing many believers in the process and the remaining flock would have to adopt a siege mentality... very unhealthy!

  Well that’s one scenario!
• 
  24

  If they go bankrupt, so what?

  by maksutov in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it seems likely that the watchtower is worried about its finances, given the downsizing, property schemes, and money-grabs we have been seeing over the last few years.

  perhaps they suffered badly from the financial crisis.

  for sure, there will be more expenses to come from child abuse payouts.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  Mak, they have ab initio equated their income with divine blessing. This notion is built into the governing body DNA.

  Due to the world market decline from 2008, possibly by bad investments, bad publicity and potentially crippling court cases; the income has dropped. It is probably significant that the regular contributions from the rank and file have diminished greatly due not only to the aforementioned troubles but also from a new wave of scepticism from within the congregations. I see this as an automatic response to doubting the authority of the leadership...withholding contributions to an already very rich religious organisation with Armageddon after all “just around the corner”...why would they need so much money? Rank and file drop in contributions must signal alarm to the GB.

  Nevertheless after a very cursory investigation on this site, it looks like the JW org annual income is around 1.5 to 2 billion Dollars. Such an amount would give a lot of creditworthiness with any bank and therefore flexibility in difficult times.

  Let’s hope the punters keep reducing the contributions and the expenditures rapidly increase! The scenario will be played out as a sign of the imminence of the end as encouraged by Brooklyn... but where can they go when this stunt is also proved to be false? Only if they have squillions of Dollars in property and in the bank, and with an effective propaganda machine, can they live to fool the flock again...and hence I think the reason for their ruthless money grabbing.

  
  

  
  
• 
  9

  Knowing good and bad and being judged for it...

  by purrpurr in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the belief is that god created the tree of the knowledge of good and bad right?

  but then forbid adam and eve to eat from it because if they did they would understand good and bad.... the belief also is that either at death or armageddon we will be judged as to whether we have been good or bad.... so it seems that god did not want humans to have the knowledge of how to be good or bad in the first place but still wants to judge them on it?!?.

  i always thought when reading that part of the bible " what would have been so wrong for humans to have that knowledge in the beginning?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  Iconoclastic, Adam and Eve could never had existed, they are a creation myth, a tale of "explanation" for the illiterate.

  Are you recently out of the JW org or do you just enjoy meaningless assertions?
• 
  27

  Who am I to screw up their happiness?

  by Crazyguy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  that was the question to me tonight.

  because of their beliefs they have a moral compass, a net work of friends and a support group.

  they have what they believe is a loving god.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  OP Crazyguy, perhaps firstly because their happiness is delusional i.e. their hopes will never be realised... and secondly they practise their delusions at the cost of the happiness of others.

  ...and good on you Clarity!
• 
  39

  The only way to know God exists!

  by iconoclastic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  do everything as god would do if he were present here.

  this will attract his attention, and you will experience his invisible hands blessing everything you do, giving you results more than what you sowed.. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

  hence put to the test the above, and then you can make really authentic comments!.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  Iconoclast, try a bit of intellectual iconoclasm for a change...it is the only way to determine what is not true. To be sceptical and tear down entrenched belief and know what is not true is the best knowledge we can have. This is how philosophy works. Let me suggest: there is no evidence for god; belief in helpful spirit beings is a traditional human conceit and comfort, it is unsupported by evidence, therefore nothing; no ideas, no principle, no rules or consequences can be can be built upon the premise that a god exists.

  I say this because you genuinely seem to be trying to draw logical conclusions from information you have but it is failing to make sense. Perhaps you have a hidden agenda such as BK?
• 
  7

  Oliver Sacks on Humans and Myth-making

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4anuxddg2ii

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  Thanks Brokeback, I have read many of his books including Uncle Tungsten, The Island of the Colour-blind and more recently a terrific one on Hallucinations. They are never judgemental, always full of compassion and have a profound understanding of what it is to be human. Oliver Sacks embodied a clear humanist voice and shows how a serious study of neuroscience is revelatory, fascinating and useful.
• 
  17

  Photosynthesis and the problem with the creation story

  by purrpurr in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i just noticed in the bible that on day three, god created the plants and trees on the earth.... day four, god created the sun, moon and stars!

  so that means that the vegetation that is by its very nature dependant upon light to grow and photosynthesise was created a day before the sun that it needs to live!???.

  this gets even more strange when you factor in the jw exhuse that a day to god is like a thousand years.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  Thanks for that George, it just goes to show that the JW religion produces information by idiots and for idiots.