Half banana

Joined

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

Posts by Half banana

• 
  138

  Jehovah God is Real

  by TakeOffTheCrown in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  there are many on this site that do not believe that jehovah truly exists; that he is not a real being.

  but, he is as real as next breath you draw into your nostrils.. some of you say that there is no evidence that he exists.

  yet, none of you can prove that he does not exits.. cofty, (you come to mind), i appreciate that you have stated, without reservation, that you do not believe that god exists.. yet, you cannot prove it.. hope in jehovah..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  You're welcome here TotC!

  Yahweh, the Canaanite deity, had sixty nine brother gods who were the sons of El. El's female consort was Ashera. The Bible records some of the pantheon of brothers; notably Chemosh... (Now for goodness sake, why not worship him instead?) Later Ashera became associated with Yahweh as his consort as well but in myth this sort of migration of identity is the norm because we are dealing with stories not reality.

  In fact it is a test for determining myth to observe whether the characters are transfigured from one person to another. Real people never become other people! The local horned deity Yahweh could not become the almighty creator.

  So there Yahweh sat, hands on the top of the knees, fingers pointing straight forward, a bovine headed idol with impressive curved horns, carved in wood in imitation of the gods of their overlords the Egyptians.

  Then about the sixth century BCE, influenced by the emerging Classical world it was realized that the stylish Egyptian gods were just expressions of the personality of the nameless almighty God who is ineffable, omnipotent and NAMELESS (as they were led to believe). So the Israelite priestly elite got the local peasants to destroy their handmade idols and follow the new game in town of ‘invisible’ gods.

  For the Jews this involved death and worse for those who didn’t agree with their tribal deity, who they stressed, was much given to defending the “new light” of monolatry. Isa 13,16

  Please note it was monolatry, the worship of one particular god, which arrived in Israel at this time, monotheism came many centuries later. The death dealing rhetoric of the early part of the OT is driven by this revolutionary change of viewpoint from pantheism to monolatry.

  Since there is no concrete evidence for any god having ever lived, Jehovah is only as real as non-inquisitive, uninformed and easily led people want him to exist.

  It's not a sound idea to base your life on invisible non-entities.
• 
  29

  Dr Monica Applewhite's evidence rejected by Australian Child Abuse Royal Commission

  by jwleaks in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  australian child abuse royal commission rejects dr monica applewhite's evidence and testimony.. [quote] dr applewhite acknowledged that her report did not identify the basis on which she had formed her opinions.657 she accepted that her report failed to identify the ‘current standards’ of other religious organisations658 or which ‘religious organisations’ she referred to in writing her report.659 dr applewhite told the royal commission that her understanding of material provided to parents and families about sexual development in children by other faith-based organisations was ‘anecdotal’.660.

  dr applewhite accepted that it would be difficult for the royal commission to accept the opinions expressed in paragraphs 36, 45, and 46 of her report because her report did not identify the basis on which those opinions were formed.661.

  we do not consider that dr applewhite’s report and the opinions expressed therein assist the royal commission in its inquiry for the following reasons:.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  I agree steve2, Monica Applewhite must have tarnished her credibility as an expert in her own field of social problems and sexual abuse cases. Also it must call into question the integrity of the company she works for Park Dietz and Associates of Los Angeles who call themselves “forensic lawyers”.

  Applewhite’s blurb on the Park Dietz website says she is an expert in “root causes” of sexual abuse and has studied 1800 cases. The questions arise as to why she jeopardised her otherwise impeccable credentials for this particular client the Watchtower? Was she bamboozled by their charm or taken in by highly detailed in-house documents specially prepared for her?

  The issue under investigation was not the causes of sexual abuse but the way the WT org handled the incidents. Perhaps she was not well equipped for this aspect of the hearing and therefore the wrong lawyer to defend the religion...but then she was the choice of the WT or the company who supplied her services?

  Any individual or company who is asked to defend the JW org could learn a lesson from this that it will not turn out well for them.
• 
  16

  I've been embarrassed so many times!

  by stillin in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i was kind of proud to go out in field service, most of the time.

  important message, straight from god to their doors, right?.

  but if you met with the group and didn't have previous arrangements, you could end up with the village idiot for a companion.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  Any group of humans will have "fringe" people but the JW org is a magnet for them.

  I remember how a young man with autism would usually be put out in the field service with an older single sister who would quietly mumble an incoherent message to the householder. I used to ponder what picture of JWs they must have given. Both of them were complete innocents but had borderline communication skills.

  They would never make an impact in preaching but a charitable view would be that they gained satisfaction in acting like the others in the looney Watchtower social club.
• 
  16

  The Metropolitan Museum Oasis Bible Tours in NYC

  by Beachlover in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just came home from a day in nyc and was taken to the met for the the woman and her offspring tour i went to keep peace and just enjoy my family.

  i've been to the metrpolitan museum of art on many occasions and have enjoyed spending time wandering thru the exhibits appreciating the art and history.

  since all family members wanted to do the tour by the wts entitled a woman and her offspring, i thought i could just follow along and just enjoy the art and exhibits.. in all honesty, i'm still amazed at this whole tour.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  Darkspilver, thanks for info. I am a frequent visitor at the BM and the incident I reported would have been a midweek visit. I never normally go on Saturday which is when they must mainly be operating.

  It is a clearly defined method which the GB use to immerse their flock in a state of permanent idolisation of the Watchtower and the Bible. Don't let the flock use their brains for even one moment in case they see the hideous flaws in the indoctrination.
• 
  16

  The Metropolitan Museum Oasis Bible Tours in NYC

  by Beachlover in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just came home from a day in nyc and was taken to the met for the the woman and her offspring tour i went to keep peace and just enjoy my family.

  i've been to the metrpolitan museum of art on many occasions and have enjoyed spending time wandering thru the exhibits appreciating the art and history.

  since all family members wanted to do the tour by the wts entitled a woman and her offspring, i thought i could just follow along and just enjoy the art and exhibits.. in all honesty, i'm still amazed at this whole tour.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  Beachlover, well done for keeping your cool. The JW org is just a delusion based on the ignorant belief that the Bible (and GB) alone hold vital truth for mankind.

  About four years ago I was in the British museum and came across such a group as you attended held in the hearing of passing visitors and tourists. I believe that the tour guides were pioneers getting in their field service time and hence it was a public "witness" as well.

  But oh! what irredeemable drivel...there he stood, the enlightened one, in a temple of tangible evidence and human learning, holding aloft the NWT, telling the world and his wife that whatever you see in the museum is only of secondary importance to what it says in the Bible.

  I wanted to vomit over him as I walked by but decided otherwise. They seem to have stopped these ridiculous indoctrination sessions at the British Museum.
• 
  63

  "Just around the corner." The dumbest song that I have ever heard..

  by DATA-DOG in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'm at my quasi-thanksgiving dinner with relatives.

  i hear a haunting sound from another room.

  "is that a children's song?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  Now sing-along with the GB:

  "Paradise is forever round the corner........."
• 
  41

  That One Defining Moment That Changed Your Life.

  by new boy in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  it seems that many times in life there is a moment or an action that changes your whole world.

  it could be just a look that someone gives you.. many times it can be something rather small.

  something hardly noticeable by anyone but you.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  There was a lead up to the one defining moment. About three or four years before I left I was discussing with one of my closest JW friends and we agreed that there was no proper evidence for anything which the org taught. All of it was asserted without evidence!

  Later I spoke to a local and elderly bro who by his age was one who naturally took the emblems at the memorial. In fact he had been a secretary for Rutherford in the late 1920s but by now (late 1980s) was regarded as an eccentric oddity. A single man who gave his life to the org and could have done with some help but JW charity hardly came his way. Nevertheless I informed him of my doubts and he, obviously taking his own counsel which was skeptical of the Watchtower, suggested, confidentially that I take my own.

  I had started to read philosophy; Pascal, Nietzsche and the deist Kierkegaard. I had as a pioneer never believed in a literal devil and reading Kierkegaard on Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac was the defining moment. Early one sunny afternoon standing by the window in my office at home, I realised that God too was a fabrication of the human imagination.

  If a voice from God told me to sacrifice my son I would not and could not do it. God is a psychopath and the bible is full of psychopaths! It’s a work of deranged and totally human thinking. Goodbye God and the Bible!

  
  I went to the meeting and squirmed in my seat as I saw the brothers haplessly parroting the praises of the GB and "God’s organisation", so blind, so indoctrinated, unthinking, misled. I could endure it no longer and had to leave during the meeting... perhaps no one noticed but for me it was an immensely liberating gesture to leave and to know that I would never attend again. I had been a Watchtower zombie and now I was to become myself, what freedom and hope there was!

  Once you understand why the JW org is so very wrong; you can never return.
  
• 
  46

  New Resolution?

  by NikL in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  had our midweek meeting last night.

  they had a resolution to send an extra (i wanna say $1100 but i only remember it was at least $1000) per month to forward the kingdom preaching work etc.. you know how they work in the kh...no one votes against anything.

  i abstained as i almost have always done.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  The nauseating illustration of the elderly woman witness is just a prelude to the idea of her starving to death soon and leaving all her money to the WTBTS (forget the family, in JW morality the ravenous financial needs of the org always comes first).

  The JW org does nothing useful for anyone... its principal objective it seems now is to soak up other people's money.

  Wakey wakey JWs
• 
  19

  Copy of Crisis of Conscience for Sale

  by Village Idiot in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i’ve run into hard financial times and have decided to sell my second copy of coc for a fair price.

  you’ll find them on amazon for ridiculous prices starting from $59.84 for a beat up used one to $294.96 and up for a new condition copy.

  i’m selling mine in new condition for $50.00 plus shipping which should not be more than $5.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  Terrific algorithm Tepid
• 
  25

  The true sign of a Cult-Like group is:

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just thought we could have a concise thread listing the signs of a high control, or cult-like group:.

  feel free to add to the list:.

  the true sign of a cult-like group is:.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  You are allowed to ridicule anything outside of the cult but you must never joke about the leaders or you will be punished.