Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  26

  Jephthah's Daughter

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i have noticed that the foolishness of jephthah's vow to sacrifice his daughter gets bandied around a lot as somehow approved of by god.

  i never could understand how people could come to this conclusion.

  if i wrote about something terrible that my son had done, that doesn't mean that i am for that thing.

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  Half banana

  Stories including those which later became sacralised in the Bible were all written by humans, there cannot possibly be evidence that it was otherwise.

  The plot line of a story reflects and reveals a society and its values. From reading ancient literature and plays today, we are conscious even now of reacting to the high drama of moral dilemmas, they give the tale its interest and the reason for our emotional engagement. No doubt the silly story of a man who promises his god a sacrifice of the first person who comes to greet him, was a literary chestnut from early times. Only a reckless idiot/murderer would think literally of doing this but set in the context of child sacrifice familiar to the readers (or more likely presented to the audience as a play) it would make for a gripping presentation.

  The Hebrews were part of the Canaanite culture, their language originated with the Phoenicians and its alphabet is shared with early Hebrew and Samaritan. The Israelites also inherited religious cues and values from them.The Phoenicians were famous for their tophets or places for child sacrifice and the inhabitants of the Levant as with many of the those dwelling on the Mediterranean coast, followed the same practice.

  Biblical accounts do naturally reflect the great shifts in religious horizons and as the Hebrews learned from their Egyptian overlords they adopted a form of montheism (actually henotheism) centering on YHVH who was one of the the sons of the Phoenician's God El. Much of the ranting and threats by Jehovah in the OT is about this new concept namely exclusively worshipping only one of the many gods. It was to put an end to polytheism. The story of the human sacrifice of Abraham's son Isaac originally had Isaac killed but the "new light" was that no longer is human sacrifice a good idea, so in the retelling of the ancient story, the one included in the sacred texts, Isaac is spared and the message is that animal sacrifices will do the job.
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  14

  Kingdom Hall Scheduler

  by Thetruthhurts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'm sure there's already topics on this but i couldn't find one so i'm starting my own.

  is the kingdom hall scheduling program new?

  is this where they are entering all of the members data now?

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  Half banana

  Possibly they're moving into market information on 8 million consumers with the idea of doing mass communication media when the religious part of the organisation fails.....
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  7

  Could Boris "save the NHS & lives" by BANNING Covid 19?

  by BoogerMan in

  1. social
  2. current

  obviously not, but he could do so by banning an even greater killer - tobacco.

  smoking has been identified as the single greatest cause of preventable illness and premature death in all 4 nations of the u.k. .

  annually, in scotland approximately 10,000 die, in wales, 5000, and in n.i.

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  Half banana

  I have noticed three entrenched things which exist contrary to logic and which are rooted in hard to shift, socio-historical precedents: private handgun ownership, religious belief and tobacco use.
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  15

  People in England were easiy convinced to believe....

  by BoogerMan in

  1. social
  2. current

  ....that a mass killer was roaming their streets.

  .

  now theyre struggling to believe the grim reaper is not so grim and it's safe to go outside again.. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-52669441.

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  Half banana

  I agree that the excess deaths figure is alarming. An elderly relative in a care home in the midlands (with no excess deaths), mentioned to me that in his neighbouring care home for those with dementia and with one hundred occupants, at the last count 18 had died. Eight of them within 36 hours around the middle of last month. Since most of the staff have had to be isolated it puts enormous stress on the remaining few. Crisis times for the bereaved and those at the work-face of the pandemic.
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  17

  1 Corinthians 15:26

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  you will die.

  i will die.

  those who have gone before us, the great and the small, the powerful and the weak, have shared the common fate of dying.

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  Half banana

  In the past people never woke up to this reality that death is the end of us. Or does everyone see a death as a child and wonders, "Is that it?" Then we find a religion?

  Religion explained away this hard fact, softening the blow and by doing so it gained massive support. How religions have prospered from this human conceit that we live after we die?
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  19

  Ancient Hebrews Got Away With So Much

  by Tim207 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  why wasn’t judah punished for sleeping withtamar?

  even though she had the legal right to an offspring by his family he still thought he was sleeping with a prostitute.

  if it is wrong to even think of having relations with a woman similar to the “sin” of watching pornography why wouldn’t what judah did be wrong?

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  Half banana

  You have to remember that the Bible is mainly fiction. Moses, Abraham Isaac and Jacob did not exist, they are fiction.The twelve tribes did not exist, Most of Genesis is complete fiction. The Exodus is fiction. The conquering of Canaan is fiction. The early kings are fiction, historical kings begin with Hezekiah but the Bible's accounts of historical people are not necessarily true even then.

  The mistake is to imagine that the Bible is the infallible word of God. It is not, it's just a story book.
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  15

  What do you make of this recent article regarding the United Nations stance towards overriding religions of the world on certain matters?

  by devout_no_more in

  1. social
  2. current

  first of all, this is my first post here on the forums even though i have been registered now for some time.

  i have been faded from the jehovah's witness religion for many years now, but only recently within the past year or so gotten quite serious about it - crisis of conscience by ramond franz really kicked things off for me personally.. anyway, my wife, parents, step-sister and her husband and my half-brother are all still active jw's, so i am still exposed to them, and this is also the reason why i'm still "faded".

  frankly i'd probably just as soon disassociate myself without the threat of being shunned.

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  Half banana

  What we are talking about is a modern myth conjured up by the Watchtower religion.

  The JW leaders know instinctively that religion is parasitical on society and that the UN is therefore likely to curb its worst excesses. So the WT claims an attack is coming because it wants to chalk up prophetic brownie points when the UN prevents them from doing what they want to do. Much of the later books of the NT are built around themes of coming persecution which would have looked like divinely inspired warning to the humble converts back in those days.

  As if God's enemy is the UN? By being driven by Satan it substitutes for the Kingdom of God mentioned in the Bible so they say. (There is no possible tangible connection, the NT was written nearly 2000 years ago) The JW version of the kingdom teaching is a rather dodgy invisible date shifting non-entity which nobody can pin down as a reality.

  However, and it's a very big however, since the Watchtower religion (using their own terms of reference) had joined the UN as a political 'paramour', God has now permanently disqualified it from the running as his chosen channel.................

  Sorry Watchtower you have spoiled your copy book and are out in the cold. No sorry it's too late! Protest all you like but you, the Watchtower religion lusted after the UN wild beast and you have got your just deserts! You were busted by the Guardian Newspaper, talk about embarrassment! God is now no longer interested in you. Plead all you like but there are plenty of other religions with much greater integrity which can pick up the threads. . .
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  15

  Dutch judge rules that elders are not entitled to hide behind clergy-penitent privilege

  by Anders Andersen in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  today a dutch judge ruled that jw elders and the jw branch cannot invoke clergy-penitent privilege when it comes to information used in a judicial committee.. jw had filed a complaint with the courts because the branch office, two kingdom halls and a few elders' homes were raided by police almost 2 years ago in search of evidence related to child abuse issues.. jw argued that the information that was taken by police is protected by clergy-penitent privilege.

  today the judge ruled that 1) an organization doesn't haven't such a privilege, 2) jw elders don't always act as spiritual counselors.

  their actions as judges in judicial committees aren't protected by privilege, and 3) conversations jw have with their elders are often not confidential at all (as per jw policy) so jw elders can't rightfully invoke clergy-penitent privilege to maintain absolute confidentiality, because there isn't absolute confidentiality in the first place.. jw are thinking about appealing the verdict..

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  Half banana

  Well done common sense and pragmatic Netherlands!

  "Clergy penitent privilege" is the sort of thing the Watchtower would have mocked the Catholic Church for in the past. However if it helps the WT get out of a legal fix, then like a flash, they are all for it.

  The governing body of the JW organisation are hypocrites and pushing their luck.

  WT leaders, why not be honorable men and say you were very wrong and admit that your rulings hurt people? We are not talking about slight hurt, it is often grievous life-long psychological problems burdening vulnerable members.

  Do something different JW organisation! Admit you were at fault -- not hide behind Christendom's antique get out clauses. Shame on you. Your actions publicly demonstrate that you actually do not care about the welfare of your flock.
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  38

  My latest letter to WT demanding correction from their side

  by Kosonen in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  brothers and sisters associated with the watchtower society may 9, 2020. i have tried to inform you of the necessary adjustments you ought to take in order to truly be in the truth.

  but my efforts have remained fruitless.

  you well know the biblical procedure.

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  Half banana

  Herra Kosonen, how do you feel when people tell you that you are entirely mistaken in your beliefs? Then you can understand exactly how the Bethel feels about your suggestions to them.

  The JW organisation is so wrong on everything that it's not worth trying to correct.
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  6

  This is not even close to the cult I grew up in

  by phoenixrising in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was watching some of the may jw cult broadcast.

  this push to be a movie studio and other things makes this cult seem like something else entirely from what i grew up in.

  they really are trying to use anything they can to hook suckers into being cult members.

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  Half banana

  sp false kingdom promise