Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  4

  Interview with an Apostate: Syme

  by Syme in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i was born in a south european country 35 years ago; stopped being a jw a few years ago, and now pursuit an academic career.

  my parents are still in.

  i was never married, but am now in a loving relationship.

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  Half banana

  Great stuff Syme! and well done for sticking to education, it really is the ticket to get out of the Watchtower swamp.

  Thanks for taking the time to tell us your story.
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  34

  Yesterday's WT slip up

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when the israelites left egypt in 1513 b.c.e., they may have numbered more than three million.

  spanning three or even four generations.

  🤭.

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  Half banana

  The absolute folly is to take literally what the Bible says as being true.

  To recapitulate the argument:

  "Moses" complete with an Egyptian name was a fiction -- based on Akhenaten the reforming monotheist Egyptian ruler (actually henotheist) -- but re-written for a Semitic audience.

  So Moses never existed as the Bible portrays him, he is an elaborated cut and paste job from a real person.

  According to modern Israeli archaeologists, the Israelites were never in Egypt en masse.
  

  And because there are no Egyptian records to substantiate the captivity of Israel en masse in Egypt so there could never be an exodus.

  There is no evidence from other texts or archaeology to defend or prove an exodus from Egypt.

  Three million Israelites at 1513 BCE is laughable, when they never existed at all then (as I mentioned before on this thread, the first mention of Israel is 1200 BCE)

  -----------

  The real gods of the world are writers -- I think that's the subtext of Jostien Gaarder's book Sophie's World.

  The writer has the power to expose the reader to ideas which might eloquently express the human condition and which some may want to take further and believe they are fundamental truths. The fools are those who take the written word literally or imagine it is sacred and then try endlessly to argue the details attempting to build a coherent picture from a fiction which does not exist in reality.
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  51

  They would Stone us if the law would allow

  by ElderEtta in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  several years ago unless i was dreaming i read a watchtower quotation that effectively said that they would execute us as disfellowshipped individuals if the law would allow.. was i dreaming?.

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  Half banana

  Thank you Fall Guy for that great dollop of Watchtower vomit!

  How clever and cunning the JW org is in convincing its flock to obey only those Biblical rules which favour the advancement, isolation and protection of their cult.

  Remember: Jehovah's Witnesses actually do destroy families, they say the Bible sanctions it.

  If anyone reading this is interested in joining the religion, please bear this in mind.
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  9

  Thankful for our community of friends!

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just wanted to express a sincere thanks for the amazing community of friends we have built up thanks to sites like this.. the genuine people we can now call true friends is outstanding.. to all those who are newly awakening, or are just starting to contemplate a life outside of the jw bubble, please be reassured that you will indeed make good friends if you put yourself out there.. true,not every ex-jw will be an instant friend.

  you will not click with everyone.

  but as with life in general, if you put in the effort, a new circle of genuine friends exist out there!.

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  Half banana

  I have to agree stuck, what a joy to have sensible worldly friends and sensible and supportive posters on this site.

  The controversial ones are a good ingredient here also; to challenge our preconceptions--something never permitted in JW land.
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  51

  They would Stone us if the law would allow

  by ElderEtta in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  several years ago unless i was dreaming i read a watchtower quotation that effectively said that they would execute us as disfellowshipped individuals if the law would allow.. was i dreaming?.

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  Half banana

  Who on earth wants to worship a vengeful god in a vengeful religion which given the opportunity, would rather have you killed because you disagree with their governing body? Collectively, JWs are looking forward to the annihilation of all non-JWs.

  Underneath that smug delusion of divine blessing, what a dire cult Jehovah's Witnesses really are.

  And to think we once supported it . . . Please forgive us for our terrible mistake.
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  34

  Yesterday's WT slip up

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when the israelites left egypt in 1513 b.c.e., they may have numbered more than three million.

  spanning three or even four generations.

  🤭.

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  Half banana

  The Watchtower as always gets everything wrong. Since there were no Israelites in 1513 BCE we are off to a bad start but if we were to to go forward to the early Iron Age around 1100 BCE, I seem to remember the figure of around 40,000 for the highland population of Cannnan. So much for Biblical accuracy. Most of the archaeology of early Israel shows an impoverished and backward people with little in the way of material development.

  The Bible is full of gross exaggerations--it was the normal style of political bluster which the Israelites resorted to in an attempt to inflate their importance.
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  34

  Yesterday's WT slip up

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when the israelites left egypt in 1513 b.c.e., they may have numbered more than three million.

  spanning three or even four generations.

  🤭.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  The first historical mention of Israel is from the years around 1200 BCE. There is no Egyptian record of the Ebiru (Hebrew?) or Israelites captive in Egypt at any time. Had they been in Egypt en masse the Egyptians would most certainly have known about it and recorded it. The reverse is actually true; the Egyptians being situated next door so to speak and infinitely more powerful than Israel at any given time were in Canaan, the de facto rulers of the territory Israel occupied. Although absolutely central to the Jewish story justifying their claim to land in Palestine, captivity and exodus in Egypt is just another myth like much of the OT.
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  32

  Ridiculous Picture!

  by Iamallcool in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/watchtower-study-january-2019/do-not-be-anxious-i-am-your-god/.

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  Half banana

  You've all got it wrong, it's the Bethel police coming to empty the contributions box.
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  14

  "The sun will be darkened, & the moon will not give its light." How do events like this affect superstitious humans?

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the gospel of matthew's homily on the signs connected with the imagined return of christ, features an element of the sign that seems to really scare superstitious people.. matthew 24:29 reads: "immediately after the distress of those days "'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;".

  in the nineteenth century such an even occurred twice in the 19th century and apparently became part of charlie russell's conviction that the end of the world was nigh, charlie, of course, was a 'man of faith' accepting the bible as true and not willing to search for alternative explanation for such events.

  if charlie r. had been the sort of person that continually asks why, his life and ours may have taken a different course.. i cannot quote where in his mass of writings he cites those 19th c events (its a long time since i've bothered to be interested in his writings), but mention them he did, and saw these events as proof of the imminent return of jesus christ.. so let's look at these two 19th c.natural occurrences, and compare them to another occurrence some 1400 years ago.. the 19th c events occurred in 1814-16 and again circa, 1883. the reason for the sun and moon being darkened was volcanic activity, easy for us to appreciate, but more difficult for religiously superstitious people.. the wikipedia encyclopedia notes the 1814-16 event: quote.

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  Half banana

  Vidqun, I'm sorry but I think you have left planet Earth behind. Try a bar inhabited by hairy bikers who love conspiracy theories.
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  14

  "The sun will be darkened, & the moon will not give its light." How do events like this affect superstitious humans?

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the gospel of matthew's homily on the signs connected with the imagined return of christ, features an element of the sign that seems to really scare superstitious people.. matthew 24:29 reads: "immediately after the distress of those days "'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;".

  in the nineteenth century such an even occurred twice in the 19th century and apparently became part of charlie russell's conviction that the end of the world was nigh, charlie, of course, was a 'man of faith' accepting the bible as true and not willing to search for alternative explanation for such events.

  if charlie r. had been the sort of person that continually asks why, his life and ours may have taken a different course.. i cannot quote where in his mass of writings he cites those 19th c events (its a long time since i've bothered to be interested in his writings), but mention them he did, and saw these events as proof of the imminent return of jesus christ.. so let's look at these two 19th c.natural occurrences, and compare them to another occurrence some 1400 years ago.. the 19th c events occurred in 1814-16 and again circa, 1883. the reason for the sun and moon being darkened was volcanic activity, easy for us to appreciate, but more difficult for religiously superstitious people.. the wikipedia encyclopedia notes the 1814-16 event: quote.

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  Half banana

  " One should keep in mind that some Biblical prophecies could have a primary as well as a secondary fulfillment."

  More importantly one should keep in mind that the Bible is useless for prophecy.