Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  29

  Tuxedo

  by Phoebe in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  do you think the gb live in big, posh houses??.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4diruxmqh4.

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  Half banana

  Thanks Phoebe, very interesting. It's called feathering your nest. . . but don't let the rank and file know about it.
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  23

  Why the meetings are boring and uninspiring

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  each individual may have their own views as to why they feel the meetings are boring and uninspiring.

  in my case i find the midweek meeting so, because of the constant emphasis on pitching watchtower literature.

  its just monotonous and one big yawn.. i watch other christian faiths where they open up a chapter of the bible and discuss it's contents.

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  Half banana

  Beautifully put Freddo
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  19

  CL&M part Jan 4 - annual meeting service report - our outstanding experiences

  by loneranger in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this was the first part in the "living as christians" section of the meeting tonight.

  speaker had two pioneers on the stage to relate their outstanding experiences for 2017. we have 23 pioneers and over 160 publishers in the hall.

  our territory is densely populated with single family houses, apartments and condominiums.

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  Half banana

  What upbuilding experiences! How Jerhoova is blessing his people!

  It's no wonder they are leaving the org............get out while you still have a functioning brain.
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  66

  Since leaving the JW Organization, who is believing?

  by Issa in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i left the jw organization last year during summer.

  maybe some of you can relate.

  who of you are agnostic or an atheist?

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  Half banana

  Not a believer here because I am without evidence for an almighty creator spirit.

  Just one point to make; when quasars (quasi stellar objects) were discovered in astronomy they were found to be ultra powerful energy and light sources about 10 to 14 billion light years distance from Earth (nearer ones have been found since) each one despatching energy of unimaginable potency.They are galactic cores fed by super-massive black holes. One light year, bye the way, is 5.88 trillion miles distance and a trillion has12 zeros.

  It is laughable to imagine that the ox headed idol of the Hebrews called Yahweh (later Anglicised as Jehovah) could have the slightest connection with quasars.
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  13

  Would you sacrifice yourself?

  by Half banana in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  under roman rule, which covered a large part of the civilized world around the mediterranean, to be a trouble maker or a magician or an insurrectionist was a capital offence.. to live back then in a civilised society was a boon.

  naturally for the sake of law and order certain compliances had to be met to as part of the social bargain to be a roman citizen.

  among them were included the requirement to respect the “genius” or spirit of the emperor, not to be an atheist and to respect the roman gods.

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  Half banana

  Yes Xanthippe, we humans do things because we see some benefit in doing them. We might help a friend or family members but what's the point of literally sacrificing yourself? I have been asking myself what is the motivation for martyrdom? Why did they go so willingly to their deaths?

  In the first place they were convinced by a story and saw others happily living by the hope it generated.

  But is there some perverse node in our psyche or even in the cerebrum which gets turned on by certain types of religious thinking? I reason that the idea of belief in a certainty of religious hope is made 'real' to believers by others demonstrating it by laying their down lives --and taking pleasure in doing so.

  Marcus Aurelius saw those happy delusional faces willingly go to their deaths and called them exhibitionists, and perhaps that is closer to the fact of the matter?
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  13

  Would you sacrifice yourself?

  by Half banana in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  under roman rule, which covered a large part of the civilized world around the mediterranean, to be a trouble maker or a magician or an insurrectionist was a capital offence.. to live back then in a civilised society was a boon.

  naturally for the sake of law and order certain compliances had to be met to as part of the social bargain to be a roman citizen.

  among them were included the requirement to respect the “genius” or spirit of the emperor, not to be an atheist and to respect the roman gods.

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  Half banana

  I was in St Albans today. After a lunch at the Fighting Cocks pub (twelfth century) I went into the cathedral, which began in the eleventh century in the Norman style. It houses the shrine of the first British martyr Alban, probably a third or early fourth century victim of the Church. He sheltered a proselytising priest fleeing persecution and whilst housing him for a few days got infected with Christianity-- and pretty soon had his head severed from the rest of him for pretending to be the priest to save him from execution. A week before he was not a Christian and could have kept his head on his shoulders. Moral: never house fugitive priests.

  The early Christian cult was as Marcus Aurelius said, full of morbid and misguided exhibitionists. Christianity was all about Jesus dying painfully and the religion promoted the notion that followers would do well to imitate him literally.

  At least half of the "patrists" or Church Fathers were executed, some like Ignatius happily looked forward to being torn to death by animals in the public arena. The effect of all this courageous--or was it foolhardy? martyrdom was profound and in no small measure propelled the credibility of orthodox Christianity eventually towards Imperial approval.

  Ultimately insofar as JW doctrine is built on Roman Church doctrine, dying a martyr's death in imitation of Christ, was part of the success (if you can call it that) of Christianity. Let's hope martyrdom never goes mainstream again.
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  48

  Evolution doesn't happen today...WRONG...

  by HowTheBibleWasCreated in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  last year i had a brother tell me that one proof evolution is false is that he doesn't see it happening today... i was going to bring of viruses evolving so fast that new vaccines must be developed each year but felt he was too closed minded to receive it.

  today i was listening to the audio book of 'an ancestors tale- richard dawkins' and noted oe point that shined through.. here is evolution happening>>>.

  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/05/2/l_052_05.html.

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  Half banana

  The interesting element of the ring spp of salamanders in California is the scientific 'luxury' of having the variants still living to observe the evolution. This data is not usually available to palaeontologists.
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  36

  What could be other alternative names for the Jehovah's Witnesses ?

  by Finkelstein in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  how about .... the international brotherhood of stupidity.. the righteous zombies club .

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  Half banana

  God's codpiece (as opposed to mouthpiece)
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  4

  "We are confident Jehovah will bless this new arrangement and provision!"

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so let me get this straight, emphasis on cart witnessing and jw.org website with their flashy videos and such has brought in about 680 new publishers in the united states?

  out of which 600 are probably children?!

  well that certainly speaks for itself!

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  Half banana

  Big J has never helped them get their prophecies right, why should he make TV evangelising and cart witnessing work. Hang on a mo JW TV is not for the public anyway, so you cannot call it evangelising, it's good old Watchtower style indoctrination for believers who are already committed to the cult.

  JWs In USA are clearly waking up to the fantasy beliefs of their religion. The governing body have used this expression (Confident Jah will bless this provision) on previous occasions--they are fantasists
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  13

  Would you sacrifice yourself?

  by Half banana in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  under roman rule, which covered a large part of the civilized world around the mediterranean, to be a trouble maker or a magician or an insurrectionist was a capital offence.. to live back then in a civilised society was a boon.

  naturally for the sake of law and order certain compliances had to be met to as part of the social bargain to be a roman citizen.

  among them were included the requirement to respect the “genius” or spirit of the emperor, not to be an atheist and to respect the roman gods.

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• 

  Half banana

  Under Roman rule, which covered a large part of the civilized world around The Mediterranean, to be a trouble maker or a magician or an insurrectionist was a capital offence.

  To live back then in a civilised society was a boon. Naturally for the sake of law and order certain compliances had to be met to as part of the social bargain to be a Roman citizen. Among them were included the requirement to respect the “genius” or spirit of the emperor, not to be an atheist and to respect the Roman gods. It was deemed that those who were not for the Emperor were against him.

  There is a price to pay for every benefit. When Christianity started to grow in the second century, because of its subversive nature as far as the state was concerned, a number of successive Emperors proscribed membership under penalty of death. According to the Christian belief, Jesus had been crucified because of scripture and could redeem mankind from death, to the Romans such a man would have appeared a magician, saboteur and insurrectionist.

  Those who became infused with this idea could easily be executed for holding the belief as exemplified by Justin later called Justin Martyr. He told the authorities that it was likely he would be betrayed by his opponents and he would be executed for it, and indeed he was around 165 CE along with many of his students. The elderly Polycarp was executed the same year by being burned alive burning in the arena.

  What was noticeable and looking back still remains a conspicuous detail of Christian martyrdom is the unthinking commitment with which church members apparently approached their deaths. Sometimes they used their execution to cheerfully celebrate the opportunity to “be with Christ”.

  Incidentally Christianity was not a coherent or monopolistic cult at this time, there were many strands of belief from the Gnostic or spiritual ‘left’ and the bishop driven ‘right’ with many variants. Believers from all parties looked forward to glorying in death but others also reasoned that their saviour (whichever one it was ) came to give his life for them and they were not going to throw their life away on a whim.

  The early Church made the greatest capital out of martyrdom along with miracles-- (read up on the martyr Blandina if you have the stomach for it) but looking back do you really believe any of them personally actually benefited from their loss of life?

  JWs are sometimes compelled by “belief” to literally sacrifice themselves by rejecting blood transfusions (in Greek martyr means simply "witness") and in a less dramatic way, all JWs are willing to throw away their logical reasoning and their right to self determination and live a life of obligation to the JW governing body.

  So I wonder what is it in the human psyche by which without good evidence, people will find pleasure in defying reason and common sense and happily forfeit their lives? Would you?