Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  13

  Can a DFed person donate?

  by Lostandfound in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  rereading a post re the shunning wt in feb made me think, do the wt accept money from the dead?

  not inheritances but from the "living dead" as they perceive df and da people to be.. personally i think they accept or more correctly badger members who are really brain dead into giving.

  or do attendants guard contribution boxes to stop such non existent people from putting money in.

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  Half banana

  The very reason for the existence of of the JW org is to take money.

  How can they refuse it?
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  31

  Who has made an unforgivable sin against the holy spirit?

  by atomant in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  we all sin and some sins are worse than others but blasphemy against the holy spirit is said to be unforgivable.what is considered to be an unforgivable sin?

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  Half banana

  What a good wheeze to say that you can never be forgiven if you sin against the holy spirit?

  The cult leaders can apply this to anything to put fear in their followers. The hope of paradise and the fear of disobedience; walk the spritual tightrope which the cult supplies free of charge and you daren't look down or anywhere else.

  I'm waiting for the word that "disloyalty" to the GB is a sin against the holy spirit.
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  25

  The saga of Russell and Rutherford

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i think little charlie russell having been born after many miscarriages by his mother, was doted on and coddled beyond normal.

  his mother died of a fever epidemic when he was about 9 and he may have associated burning with fever with burning in hell.he seemed to be obsessed about hell for awhile even to the point of graffiti on sidewalks marking scriptures as warnings.he was privately tutored and brought into the men's clothing business and given and adult's responsibilities.

  although the family was presbyterian, there appears to be a streak of insubordination in the genes because they switched to a congregational church with an autonomy of leadership and no organizational oversight.why was this a big deal, do you think?

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  Half banana

  On reading lists of projects and businesses the entrepreneur CT Russell was involved in, it seems a wonder he had any time left for his religious marketing. The WTBTS frames his biography with the family drapers business being sold by him to support the Watchtower... but this is a wrong emphasis. As you say Terry he was a wealthy man and he worked very hard to make money all his life aside from the Watchtower.

  I read that his safe had more than $1,000,000 in it at the time of his death which would translate to around $18,000,000 today. He was a money driven man and I feel that his religion industry was just a part of his business empire rather the consuming whole.

  Nevertheless he had an inquiring mind but was limited academically and therefore subject to the hype of Biblical and esoteric writings and beliefs. I can't help thinking that the Masonic influence was present even though he publicly denied membership to them. There was something about his beliefs which fed the ideas of elitist knowledge given only to the privileged. Such being found in Paul's writing and therefore striking a correspondency in him as being God's channel, especially if he had narcissistic tendencies.

  All JW leaders except perhaps Knorr were/are narcissist, are they not?

  Russell had wealth and a business drive and also the religious conviction in finding the holy grail of getting the secretly coded date of the return of Christ: 1874. With Christ already ruling in 1878 as he thought, the next year he started the Watchtower and immediately made money from it.

  His ideas were totally wrong and a prophetic failure but the Watchtower was able, and nearly continues to be able, to propel the followers minds towards a fictional but money making doomsday.
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  17

  The JW org is a failed doomsday cult?

  by Half banana in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  by its own mandate in the founding of the watchtower magazine in 1879, it was set up to proclaim the arrival of jc in the heavens according to the then currently failed adventist claim for jesus' return the year 1874.. russell's catalyst for all that came afterwards was his pet claim (in so many words) "aha but jc did in fact come... but came invisibly!

  " he added without sound evidence that it took four years for jc to come to rule from the heavens after his arrival there and that then was said to be in 1878. .

  within forty biblical years from the arrival date, russell promised, with hopes even higher than his bank account, that god’s kingdom with christ at the helm would rule the earth in the absence of all worldly opposition.

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  Half banana

  Vidiot, yes surely a successful doomsday cult would get the dates right... but as we know doomsday cults like JWs are by nature perpetually "close to the end". That is tension which attracts new paying members to join isn't it?.

  It amazes me how anyone can trust anything they say when from the start everything they have taught has proved meaningless or wrong?
  

  What legitimate role are they able to play after failing in their main objective of end of world mega-death in the 20th century?
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  35

  After Being Out for 17 Years He is Back In again!!!

  by new boy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i called a guy i haven talked with for over two years yesterday.

  i met him at bethel back in the 1970's.

  david b was known as the g job king back then.

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  Half banana

  I guess that many of the returnees are those who didn't get the hang of TTATT.
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  16

  How much of the Society's publications just get stored away in the garage?

  by donny in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  almost a year ago i moved back to the dallas - fort worth area after spending 16 years in the northern california area.

  the area i live in has several nearby parks and walkways and these areas have several "share a book" pods mounted on a pole spaced about 1/2 mile from one another.

  people are encouraged to add books they no longer use to these pods and to take one if they are interested.. i have been diligent on removing watchtower publications from them and what has surprised me is how many old publications in pristine condition are added almost on a daily basis.

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  Half banana

  The pride of the Watchtower: the most distributed but the least read magazine in the world.

  What a diabolical waste of paper, and time, money, energy and hope... yes, firelighting is the only sound use for them!
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  13

  A Troubling Culture: JW Group Think vs. Individual Critical Thinking

  by MicaSmith in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i had no idea that the resistance, governance, and duplicity i am experiencing as a jehovah witness is actually part of a bigger behavioral issue that permeates the entire jehovah witness culture.. i was troubled by the fact that many persons who have been crushed by the unfair practices of jw leadership described themselves as former members of the jw cult, and, or, apostates.

  the latter bothered me to a greater degree because i felt the word apostate has been overused by jw's leadership and members.

  anyone who disagrees with anything the governing body does or says is assigned the label an apostate.

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  Half banana

  Well done Mica for your methodical researching on the subject and then producing the results for us all.

  I always say "cult" to label JWs since It cannot be denied that they tick all of the boxes in any survey on cultic behaviour.
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  17

  The JW org is a failed doomsday cult?

  by Half banana in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  by its own mandate in the founding of the watchtower magazine in 1879, it was set up to proclaim the arrival of jc in the heavens according to the then currently failed adventist claim for jesus' return the year 1874.. russell's catalyst for all that came afterwards was his pet claim (in so many words) "aha but jc did in fact come... but came invisibly!

  " he added without sound evidence that it took four years for jc to come to rule from the heavens after his arrival there and that then was said to be in 1878. .

  within forty biblical years from the arrival date, russell promised, with hopes even higher than his bank account, that god’s kingdom with christ at the helm would rule the earth in the absence of all worldly opposition.

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  Half banana

  My point is that as you say sir82 and others, that the failure of its primary intention to correctly announce the end of the world, despite its raging commercial success; means that it is now just a tax free business scam called JW org. It lacks all credibility and legitimacy.

  Therefore: JW org please pack your bags, sell up and remove your harmful cult OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH...
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  93

  Pshycos! - 2016 "Remain Loyal to Jehovah" Regional Convention Program

  by thedepressedsoul in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  wow this is interesting!

  i think how much emphasis this puts on "loyalty" shows their is an issue.

  they're trying to plug the wholes as much and quickly as possible.

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  Half banana

  This is intense bombardment of loyalty indoctrination. It is overkill ...and the JW will think the message means loyalty to the organisation first and foremost. After all Jehovah is now the same as the G.O.D.

  Why on earth should anyone want be loyal to the JW org? They have never said or done anything useful to anybody ever... Just a self interested bunch of money grabbing businessmen in a religion scam.

  Fortunately, some will attend and wake up to TTATT.
• 
  17

  The JW org is a failed doomsday cult?

  by Half banana in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  by its own mandate in the founding of the watchtower magazine in 1879, it was set up to proclaim the arrival of jc in the heavens according to the then currently failed adventist claim for jesus' return the year 1874.. russell's catalyst for all that came afterwards was his pet claim (in so many words) "aha but jc did in fact come... but came invisibly!

  " he added without sound evidence that it took four years for jc to come to rule from the heavens after his arrival there and that then was said to be in 1878. .

  within forty biblical years from the arrival date, russell promised, with hopes even higher than his bank account, that god’s kingdom with christ at the helm would rule the earth in the absence of all worldly opposition.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  By its own mandate in the founding of the Watchtower magazine in 1879, it was set up to proclaim the arrival of JC in the heavens according to the then currently failed Adventist claim for Jesus' return the year 1874.

  Russell's catalyst for all that came afterwards was his pet claim (in so many words) "aha but JC did in fact come... but came invisibly!" He added without sound evidence that it took four years for JC to come to rule from the heavens after his arrival there and that then was said to be in 1878.

  Within forty Biblical years from the arrival date, Russell promised, with hopes even higher than his bank account, that God’s kingdom with Christ at the helm would rule the Earth in the absence of all worldly opposition. Opposers would all be dead and destroyed by 1914, which would be the grand visible effect of the heavenly kingdom. Religious words and hope are proved to be cheap and cheerful... but worthless.

  The abject failure of this wild speculation did not stop the rot. The entrepreneur and showman Russell was personally distressed at first by his error but the WTBTS as we are all too well aware, kept postponing the crazy beliefs and pressing them before the hopeful readers. "It’s coming very soon!” was the doomdsay merchants street cry. But the business department noted that this baby was making a mint of Dollars so why stop while there are suckers who want it?

  I suggest that there is no evidence whatsoever that God’s spirit (a bizarre and unprovable concept in itself) could be upon the Watchtower organisation.

  If the Watchtower is God’s mouthpiece and the "end time" its key doctrine; how could Holy Spirit repeatedly get the dates and the events always wrong, resulting in total failure during the whole 136 years of its 'divine' prophesying?

  What conclusions can we draw?