Posts by Half banana

People imagine they will learn about the Bible when offered a Study with JWs. As you point out, "Bible study" is not what they get. What does transpire is a lure to come into the JW fold and false promise of a magic paradise on the basis of some of the contents of the Bible.

All they get is JW indoctrination which leads to split families, medication for the cognitive dissonance and a lifetime of delusion and disappointment.

Never accept the offer of a Bible study with Jehovah's Witnesses!

22

WT's expert on blood!

by Joyzabel in

the january 8, 2000 awake magazine published an article "the growing demand for bloodless medicine and surgery".

this article has been quoted extensively by jws as support for their "scientific" justification for refusing blood products.. a quote from that article that is familiar to most jws and exjws is this one:.

“all those dealing with blood and caring for surgical patients have to consider bloodless surgery.”—dr.

Half banana

Thank you Joyzabel for this info. What a crass, deceiving, self interested cult the JW org is!

150

Start A Butterfly Garden!

by Bonsai in

jw
friends

time to take a break from debating religion.

take in a breath of fresh air and be healed by the wonders of nature around you.. how many of you have a garden?

how many have a nice flower patch to go with your vegetable garden?

Half banana

Oh my, it's still cold here! A faint frost last night. We had a mild early winter with only two nights of hard frost but a cool early spring and it's still cold for the season. On the plus side my quince tree (variety 'Vranja) is in leaf, shining a silvery-sage green against the dark yew hedge and almost in flower, the same is happening on the golden leaved mock orange (Philadelphus coronarius 'Aureus'). Strangely the red-hot pokers are in evidence and about to flower about five weeks early.

This afternoon the bumble bees (they used to be called humble bees before the second world war) were busy pollinating my incredibly productive gooseberry (variety; 'Careless'). The pond has an unusual bumper crop of tadpoles this year, it looks like six trillion of them!

I have been harvesting rhubarb stalks to make a compote; just add a little water and a fair amount of sugar to the cut up stalks in a saucepan, then add some very thin slices of stem ginger with a bit of the syrup, boil first then simmer for a while, when reduced, serve with yoghourt or cream... a very satisfying dessert!

...............And talking of weasels, the cat has just brought in a weasel for the first time... although it only offered it as a gift bleeding on the kitchen floor since it didn't fancy eating it. The weasel, should you be interested, unlike the stoat which it greatly resembles, has not got a dark tip to its tail.

6

Fed up with Prince? try: Un petit blog de France

by Half banana in

i have just spent ten days working in france, i arrived late on friday night and the first thing saturday morning two visitors ominously strolled into my garden..

i was offered the flimsy awake which i opened and was immediately struck with a very false image.

the article gave the feel that the magazine was scientifically credible.

Half banana

I have just spent ten days working in France, I arrived late on Friday night and the first thing Saturday morning two visitors ominously strolled into my garden.

I was offered the flimsy Awake which I opened and was immediately struck with a very false image. The article gave the feel that the magazine was scientifically credible. It targeted young people; those who would recognise that an unduly cheerful and very young scientist peering down a microscope was what JW religion is all about. What deception! I struggled for half an hour in my less than perfect French and the couple wisely suggested they could send round someone who speaks English.

Early the next morning two enthusiastic JW men about fifty years old arrived who indeed spoke good English. I was not going to let their visit pass without some hard hitting exchanges. Now my old farmhouse is built from granite and I have got used to cutting this material to make alterations. To get a purchase on a granite surface you need to send shock waves into the stone with heavy hammer blows with the chisel at a steep angle to get started, then you progressively lower the angle and get the granite to flake off. With this as a metaphor, I politely but firmly approached the conversation.

I told them from the start that I was not a believer in the Bible because it was unscientific (being annoyed at the misleading impression the Awake had made) but that I would be prepared to listen to their argument. I asked, “Why should I believe the Bible?” The reply was feeble, just the old chestnut that the Bible recognised the sphere of the Earth. Hardly a reason to believe in the Bible and not impressive since the NWT only refers to the “circle of the Earth”, it could have been flat, and that Eratosthenes back in the Classical world already showed how to measure fairly accurately the circumference of the globe on which we live.

“So you believe in Adam and Eve?” “Yes”. “And Noah’s flood? “ “Yes.” These were the big hammer blows because I knew they could not support the ideas with evidence and I explained that I have for many years worked on archaeological sites and I am familiar with the relevant stratigraphy of the period in question.

“A global flood would leave evidence... and there - is - none - at - all.” I said.

So bamboozled and corrupted is the JW mindset that they imagine that centuries of careful recording and measuring by multitudes of scientists can be dismissed with an off-hand comment as long as it comes from the Bible. Earth sciences, archaeology and the continuous run of the written narrative of history do not allow for a global flood in the Biblical timescale. “The flood is a myth”, I said. “A myth is a story with a backbone which keeps an idea in shape even when re-told over time and geographical distance; but it is not a factual thing.” They went off on a tangent of backbones and skeletons but I drew them back to my argument.

“And what about Adam and Eve, where’s the evidence? “ I said. No evidence was offered. The conversation by the way was friendly and not hostile on either side but clearly I was leading the train of thoughts and they were listening and not preaching. “As it happens,” I said,” this local area of northern France contains a vast amount of evidence for two very long periods of Neanderthal occupation. In point of fact at one dig nearby, about 2000 Neanderthal artifacts turned up in one cubic meter of excavation. And yet Neanderthals moved out from here around sixty thousand years back and became extinct about forty thousand years ago!” I pointed out that If Adam and Eve were created by God how did Neanderthals get in on the act since outside of Africa we all carry a small percentage of their genes in us?

For the moment they actually became silent, thinking through the consequences; they had no answer. The slightly older man finally said in defence that he was not ashamed but proud to declare his belief in creation and in Adam and Eve. “Yes I think pride in one’s culture is normal” I said, “but believing in ideas with evidence to the contrary makes no sense for anyone...and that’s why JWs are going in reverse, where the rest of the world is going forward in knowledge”.

Therefore, they could not tempt me with their information.”How can JWs teach anything when they do not put up evidence first?” They have no credibility. I had to admit to them that I had been the one doing the preaching but stressed that JWs seem nice people yet sadly, although adult, still believe in childish fairy tales!

I’m sure they were not convinced (a JW never wants to escape from the mutual comfort blanket supplied by his religious club) and also because it takes time, a lot of reflection and evidence to learn TTATT. The JW sense of conviction appears to be hard as granite but ultimately it does yield to well directed blows. We left the confrontation amicably but I think they were aware they had some serious thinking to do.

7

I am pleased for the lucky bastards who have been spared my bible bashing.

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

i am seven months without bible bashing, without door-knocking, or standing by a trolley cart looking like a prat.

and i feel the real winners are the " lucky bastards" who haven't been told about jehvover.

furthermore they are spared super pious me telling them what they can and can't do.

Half banana

Well said Rebel!

42

Has Anybody Hear a Rumour That Prince Died?

by cofty in

why do people care so much about celebrities?

Half banana

No...

26

I think my Sunday speaker is awake

by Yondaime in

hi guys and gals,.

its been a long time since i've posted here, i've been caught up with school and work so i've never had the time to post on the forum, but i've still been reading through some articles on here.

now that finals are over i have some time to breath.

Half banana

Brilliant Yondaime, I agree, let's just hope it does happen more frequently in the future.

The speaker has a captive audience and a bethelite carries WT authority...more of this please!

33

Prince was on the board of directors for the WTS

by Barrold Bonds in

jw
friends

i was talking with a friend of mine who knows a few people in the home department at bethel.

apparently, prince was, as i noted in the title, on the board of directors.

he apparently was sort of a silent partner or advisor in the whole thing.

Half banana

I have it on good authority that Tony Morris 111, because of his poor showing on the JWTV ratings, was just about to be replaced by Prince as a new presenter.

13

JWs and "Simple Truths"

by JW_Rogue in

in public talks we would always hear about how we knew god's word was the truth because it was simple and clear.

how god revealed the real truth to uneducated and ordinary people.

the problem is that in reality something being simple or clear isn't an indicator of it's truthfulness at all.

Half banana

Further to that Millie, try explaining to anyone the simple cardinal truth that the WTBTS was appointed by Big J in 1919.

Even an idiot can do it...or do you have to be an idiot to understand it?