Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  4

  Child Baptism

  by konceptual99 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the latest round of changes to the magazines are yet further confirmation that the wts has lost it's way with the preaching work.

  imho this is driven by the incessant prioritisation of fiscal goals but also by the fact the gb don't have a clue what is happening in the world and how it really relates to their traditional eschatology.. what they have turned to is child baptism.

  i know the wts says it does not baptise infants but the drive to encourage children to get baptised at earlier and earlier ages knows no bounds.

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  Half banana

  Steve, you are right,the Biblical ideal of responding to the Kingdom message was to accept it intellectually and get baptized.

  However the JW org as it fails to make headway it is heartened by any apparent success it has and the one area which gives them some comfort is the unbiblical practice of infant baptism or at least baptism of those too young to realize the full consequences of what they are doing.

  To paraphrase JW spin I read here very recently were the words spoken by a Circuit overseer, "You want to know something wonderful? Our youths are getting baptised". (Big applause)

  Scraping the barrel and trying to see the bright side is what is really going on. The fact is one of membership stagnation which will lead to irreversible decline.
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  20

  January 2018 Watchtower

  by Listener in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the cover page shows a photo jws loading a small plane with watchtower literature to take to a remote area in bolivia.the first study article introduces the 2018 year text isa.

  40:31 "those hoping in jehovah will regain power".

  according to them, you may leave home to do field service or attend a meeting feeling exhausted but you return home refreshed and 'jesus' yoke is kindly indeed!

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  Half banana

  Next years chosen year text "Those hoping in Jehovah will regain power" (Isa 40;31) could be read in the sense of wishful thinking by the organisation which has already lost power and hope to regain it . . . they won't.
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  72

  What was the biggest thing that convinced you that

  by Ponyo in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  .....the truth was not the truth... ?

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  Half banana

  Not one but at least four main things Ponyo:

  The improbable and mythical nature of the Bible content and the absence of concrete evidence for it.

  The repressive nature of the organisation and the stifling of personal growth in myself and other members.

  The sudden realisation that the GB are planning on governing my life forever!

  The theatricality of the role of the devil which I then extended to the case for God and realized that he too was a human fabrication as well.

  What a beautiful relief it was to wake up to reality and shake off the JW shackles!
  
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  15

  Everlasting life on a stick

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i think the watchtower is the only organization that can promise a product (everlasting life) and never deliver it.. what fools we've been to believe this nonsense..

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  Half banana

  A man or woman comes to your door offering you to join the religion and avoid death.

  Could there ever be a more blatant piece of snake oil salesmanship?

  How stupid for anyone not to see the trap..................
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  74

  The Watchtower's Real Crisis

  by JeffT in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when discussing the watchtowers financial problems, i've generally been of the opinion that they probably are not in a real financial crisis.

  i've come to believe that money may be something of an issue, but its wrapped up in a much larger problem.

  this came to me this morning when reading about the annual meeting.. i think the society's leadership is just plain out of ideas.

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  Half banana

  Gorby I think you have well illustrated the situation with the end of the USSR. It would be great to think that there is someone on the GB of the calibre and courage of Gorbatchov to recognize the reality of the situation and plan for the termination of the party.

  I feel the present crew are hamstrung, no individual being able to come forward to be the first to admit the total failure of the organisation to fulfil their self mandated purpose of announcing the arrival of the Kingdom based on 1914.

  Yet surely some or most of the GB are fully awake but each is fearful to be the first to admit it?

  Perhaps though, at their lakeside retreat with the encrimsoned sun setting over the calm water they have already discussed the futility of continuing to run the org.....................
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  74

  The Watchtower's Real Crisis

  by JeffT in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when discussing the watchtowers financial problems, i've generally been of the opinion that they probably are not in a real financial crisis.

  i've come to believe that money may be something of an issue, but its wrapped up in a much larger problem.

  this came to me this morning when reading about the annual meeting.. i think the society's leadership is just plain out of ideas.

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  Half banana

  Yes Jeff, I think that the heart of the JW religion is undergoing necrosis (word of the day!)

  It is absolutely true that the propaganda is on sausage machine mode, same old drivel, all rehashed and the reason is that there is nothing new to say! What further can you add when you have been crying wolf for 138 years? What drives any new material now is rear guard action to keep the faithful from backsliding or daring to look outside of the org.

  Nowadays the JW social club activities are far more important than doctrines and you can actually speak with your friends and go out on the town with them. Dogma is for dogs.

  In all seriousness, I feel they have reached an impasse, possibly the end of the line. The death of the 1914 generation has left the GB with egg on their collective face with no credible alternative vision and even if the faithful sheep don't understand the enormity of the "generation" teaching failure; the GB most certainly do. Compounding this with adverse publicity, the financial burden of potential mass litigation and membership stagnation; it is not surprising that the heart of the organisation is dying.
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  12

  Recent JW Literature Trolley Experience

  by Athanasius in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  the j ws have set up a literature trolley in one of our local shopping centers.

  since the goodwill thrift store at the center has an excellent selection of second hand books, i stop by twice a month and buy a book or two that catches my interest.

  as a result i've become friendly with the j ws who mind the trolley.. usually the minders are two 70 something j w ladies.

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  Half banana

  I agree Tiki, it's a religion driven by emotional spin and dreams. There are many suffering JWs with all sorts of conditions mental and physical who hold on with grim determination to their promises of hope for relief from their disability. The JW promise is as the Irish used to say; a fairy gift fading away, never to be realised.

  The greater tragedy for disabled people is that to wake up and lose the hope could be worse than having no hope at all.

  Yet "waking up" for any JW has a big price to pay emotionally.
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  6

  $66 Million Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Jehovah's Witnesses in Canada

  by Alfred in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  not sure if this was posted or not, but here it is.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ewsigoad1g.

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  Half banana

  Should the legal action proceed, it might be cheaper for the JW org to pay up in one lump sum rather than respond to thousands of individual cases dragging on for years and costing more than the Class action would.

  But imagine-- this is only Canada! What could the cost be if multiplied by the demands of each country throughout the Western world?

  Question for GB members: Are you sleeping well in your beds at night in the new HQ?
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  32

  Interesting conversation with JW friend

  by Jules Saturn in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i was withh a friend of mine who is a jw still and for whatever reason we started talking the bible.

  i asked him about lazarus and how is that when he died he paid the price of sin, but then jesus resurrected him.

  and i asked him "where is lazarus today?

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  Half banana

  Without wishing to discourage your good conversations with JWs Jules, it is worth reminding ourselves the origins of the Bible. When discussing scriptures it makes no sense to infer anything of importance from it.

  The fact is that the Bible is mainly borrowed from earlier pagan sources just as the account of the resurrection of Lazarus was. What a coincidence that the Egyptian Christ Horus also resurrected "his friend" Lazarus thousands of years before 'Jesus' did.

  Truly no one is ever brought back from the dead, these are just religious stories, they were never meant to be truthful accounts.

  If you read a book which tells of dead people living again, animals which speak human languages and of impossible magic events, then we know for sure we are reading fantasy literature and not fact.
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  14

  October 1, 1914 -- October 1, 2017

  by Alfred in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  “october 1, 1914, on taking his place at the breakfast table in the brooklyn bethel dining-room, he in a strong voice denoting conviction announced: “the gentile times have ended!” “ – watchtower july 15, 1950 page 216 paragraph 1. .

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  Half banana

  Fudging the dates, deception, moving the goal posts and grandiose proclamations are all par for the course in a doomsday cult.