Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  8

  Oil is solar

  by wolverines in

  1. social
  2. current

  oil and gas are from organisms plants and animal that used sunlight for food.

  so in essence we are all running solar.

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  Half banana

  Sun worship at least had a rational basis..... but why worship anything?
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  16

  Some notes on early Christianity - its evolution and "sacred text"

  by Half banana in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  in the scope of this site, it’s not possible to go too deeply into historical research in a single post but we can give the flavour of things formerly hidden from us when we were jws.. like most things, christianity evolved.. it has unseen roots but many visible branches, 40,000 is the often quoted number!

  there never was a moment when it arrived fully formed in the middle of the first century.

  its roots in folk mysteries were deliberately concealed by fourth and fifth century christian leaders.

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  Half banana

  In the scope of this site, it’s not possible to go too deeply into historical research in a single post but we can give the flavour of things formerly hidden from us when we were JWs.

  Like most things, Christianity evolved.

  It has unseen roots but many visible branches, 40,000 is the often quoted number! There never was a moment when it arrived fully formed in the middle of the first century. Its roots in folk mysteries were deliberately concealed by fourth and fifth century Christian leaders. The genuine Pauline scriptures (those actually written by Paul) from that first century, seemed not to know much about Jesus yet it was Paul, the Romanised Jew, convert, fanatic and visionary who got the christianity ball rolling. The Jesus story became central in the second century and Bible texts were compiled into the Catholic canon in the fourth. Thereafter it was continually edited, refined and altered by copyists and by rabid apologists like the fawning historian Eusebius right up to the time of the early medieval monastic scribes.

  Christianity was drawn from an existing folk tradition of semi divine saviours, all of whom were miraculous healers, teachers, and miracle workers. It is most telling from critical-textual examination that Jesus‘ name was a latecomer to the story, as indeed was the idea of “Christ” which in all the earliest copies of texts, later incorporated into the Bible, used instead the term chrest not christ which meant “good”. This was the traditional description for the god-man hero but later substituted by the Greek word christ meaning anointed. In the god-man tradition and in proto-christianity, the saviour figure was usually called ”the Lord.” (Do read The Shepherd of Hermas for a taste of of early christianity -- available on the internet, note the absence of "Jesus" and "Christ" in the text).

  The new cult of Christianity deliberately distanced itself from the older traditions. Tellingly it specially noted the time when it first used the name “Christian” (Acts 11;26) i.e. not chrest but Christ followers. It had borrowed the literary framework and the story lines from what was later condemned as paganism but had changed key words and names, therefore keeping the saviour myths alive but clothed anew and in a fresh binding as it were. There are Koine Greek Bible texts extant which show the spelling alterations from chrest to christ, these have been known for a couple of centuries but so far have received little publicity. What! show the Bible to be fallible. . .

  Unlike factual evidence, ideas and beliefs begin small like rivulets feeding into a stream, by popular consent they gain body and momentum, and eventually become a river. The wonder of written text meant being able to fix this flow of ideas and spoken word into a history for others to read. For the illiterate, hand written accounts read to them would have seemed, because of their exclusivity, to be almost sacred in nature -- and engraving words in stone would have been mystically potent! Sadly it took right up the period of the Enlightenment in late 18th century France to disabuse the masses of this notion.

  So just because something is written down or called "sacred" does not carry with it any proof whatsoever of its truthfulness.
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  10

  The Secret of Life

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my elementary school teacher, miss allen, gathered us in a circle just outside the classroom under overspreading limbs of a pecan tree.

  as she spoke, we all listened intently - the expression on her face seemed to say, "this is very important.".

  "sometimes life doesn't go so well and we feel afraid.

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  Half banana

  I reckon you had a good teacher in Miss Allen. I think she well knew what humans need to get through life is the confidence to overcome problems and move on. This aspect of life is rarely in the school curriculum but so necessary! Miss Allen's thoughts were a realistic alternative to the traditional hope in help from spirit beings.

  I had a similar experience where the teacher took our class out into the playing field so as not to be overheard, where we sat in the shade of a tree. In my case the teacher wanted to give us primary school kids the facts of life. I think like your teacher he too wanted to prepare young people with truthful information to help them in succeeding in life.

  Good teachers are a boon.
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  30

  How Could We Have Been So Heartless?

  by BluesBrother in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am addressing here those who, like me, spent decades in the organisation that we called “the truth”.

  perhaps like me you were brought up in it from an early age.

  looking back now i wonder that i could have been so heartless as to believe that the mass slaughter of billions of people was “good news”.

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  Half banana

  Anna, this scripture Matt 6:14,15 could be the basis for 'new light' justifying the removal of the shunning doctrine. Shunning says: "We don't forgive you".

  Could come in handy for the GB when membership numbers start to plummet.
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  24

  Bringing Reproach on Jehovah's Name

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  all my jw life i was reminded constantly about the importance of not bringing reproach on jehovah's name.

  decisions on whether or not to disfellowship an individual often turned, not on the seriousness of the sin, but on whether the incident was public knowledge and had resulted in bad publicity for the congregation.

  i recall a middle-aged lady being reported to the elders for shoplifting a sweet worth less than £1- and the elders' insistence that a judicial committee must be formed because the store manager and staff knew that she was a jw (i successfully argued that all she needed was support for her dreadful family life, but that's another story).

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  Half banana

  Agreed Vidiot, the GB are now into salvage work which means maintaining the illusion of divine blessing for those still emotionally dependant on the cult.
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  7

  Australian JW's and child abuse redress scheme

  by Tantalon in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  hi fellow apostates, here is a link about the redress scheme from the arc into child abuse and jws refusal to participate.

  enjoy; https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/01/six-groups-fail-to-join-australias-national-child-abuse-redress-scheme.

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  Half banana

  It makes me wonder whether the GB's digging their heels in attitude will be death of them?

  Instead of thinking of how they might help the abused young people their response is there must be "two witnesses" ....because that's what it says in the Bible.

  If this heartlessness is what it means to be a believer, should it not wake up all concerned, GB included, that something is seriously amiss with Jehovah's Witnesses?
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  28

  Rolf Furuli New Book

  by dozy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for those who haven't come across furuli before , he is a 77 year old norwegian professor and is ( or was ) one of the few "scholarly" jws used by the society and used as a source on various matters ( especially 607 bce ).. however recently he has fallen out with the gb and has published an interesting book - like many recent scholarly apologists , he seems to be going down the road of disagreeing with the authority of the gb but still holding that the jws is the one true religion.

  kind of "lions led by donkeys".

  whether this view will continue is anyones guess.

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  Half banana

  It is a good thing that Furuli has broken with the WT. This hurts them more than anyone else since there is now no boot licking academic to 'confirm' their fantasy historical dates!

  Another consequence of the downfall of Furuli will be the increased animosity towards academic sources by the governing body of Jehovah's Witnesses, the very source which normally arbitrates factual understanding in this IT driven world. It is quite possible that the gulf between JW Bible teachings and evidential reality will increase and I see them being proud to deny scholarly input.

  Furuli's opinions can hardly be of use to the rest of academia who would refute his assertions, assertions driven by faith in his beloved Watchtower religion.

  Perhaps his next book will be "Why there is no god"? But can the guy be trusted anymore than the JW org can? Better to ignore both parties, neither have anything useful to teach.
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  21

  Why do Jehovah's Witnesses avoid examining their own religion? An interesting read from Scientific American Magazine.

  by Balaamsass2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for a long time, i thought pimi (physically in, mentally in) jws were unique in their inability to simply type and read the latest "google" news results about "jehovah's witnesses " or "watchtower".

  however, it appears it is not uncommon for a large portion of the population purposefully to avoid facts...on purpose!

  "why do people avoid facts that could help them?.

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  Half banana

  I agree, I don't think JWs are stupid by nature, although poor education levels discourage inquiry.

  Having intelligence is not the same as using intelligence. Many JWs are capable like a computer is capable but it depends how you use it.

  To think like a JW is like having the wiring of the brain altered to admit only positive information on a subject. Like it would be possible to have the register of a computer modified only recognise things favourable to the JW belief system. Witnesses only regard favourable evidence for their version of WT "Truth" and ignore the overwhelming negative evidence which denies it.
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  77

  A question about the contemporary generation teaching following a conversation with a JW apologist

  by Giles Gray in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i would like to ask the ex-jws on this site to put their ‘apologists hat’ back on for a moment, so that i can go through the overlapping generation teaching in an attempt to make sense of it.

  i apologise if these points have already been addressed on this site.a quick background for the reason for my request… having never confronted a jw apologist on the topic, i recently engaged with a jw regarding the official understanding of a ‘generation’ and unfortunately he didn’t have an answer to the points i was making.

  i was left a little confused as to what the official jw response would/should be.so i was hoping that my thoughts below might be considered from an apologist’s perspective.the point in question relates to this section of the watchtower article below from 2008, as well as the jw.org video explanation of the overlapping generation:---:w08 2/15[box on page 25] can we calculate the length of “this generation”?the word “generation” usually refers to people of various ages whose lives overlap during a particular time period or event.

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  Half banana

  I find Splane’s explanation fantastical. The only persons who could believe that the Biblical word “generation” means “overlapping generations” would be brain dead zombie JWs who will die rather than disagree with the WT.

  There are two groups within this cult who refuse to think; there are the administrators of the religious racket whose existence depends on the mass of believers. They have gladly inherited their roles and job number one is to shore up their own rights to control the larger group. Their function is to make their religion credible and to retain the confidence of the followers. The second group who are duty bound not to think, are the true believers who are led by the GB. (Misled is probably a better word!)

  A common thread within the JW org is the normal and unquestioning practice of belief in fantasies.

  For example the stories about Biblical characters are dredged up in the Watchtower all the time as examples of faith. Who is there among JWs who would stop for a moment to consider whether these men and women were real? The WT gaily trots out names such as Noah, Adam and Eve, Abraham, Moses, Isaac and Jacob, etc, as if they lived! They are archetypes or mythical persons often borrowed from other cultures but given new Hebrew names -- they are all non-historical literary personages. Once a believer has swallowed the bait of Bible faith -- anything goes, anything is possible and anything can be believed.

  Once in the JW mindset, it is not difficult to shut down critical thinking, living for paradise is the goal and that means, at least in the mind of the true believer, obedience to who they are taught to respect as “God’s anointed”.

  Back on the theme of Biblical words, Jesus explained clearly and unambiguously how long a generation was: namely the lifetime of a group experiencing one event. Mark 8,38 - 9,1.

  Yes, as the outcome (or lack of outcome!) of these words show, the "JW generation" is just a fantasy built on top of another Bible fantasy.
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  8

  FATHER OF ABUSE VICTIM CONFRONTS WITNESSES

  by ThomasCovenant in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  i missed this when it first came out.

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  it's so sad to realize that i was part of the behaviour shown by the witnesses in the video.. this is my neck of the woods, and i recognize some of the yellow vested attendants that control the situation.i used to play football with the big french brother named guy.. if only they could see.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukiqqgfngxk.

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  Half banana

  The monster episode was interesting in its crude observance of symbols but not grasping the real issues..... both on the part of the org. which created it and the witness who was interviewed (if it wasn't acted).

  The bro, the psychiatric community nurse (who I knew well forty years ago!) spoke the legal viewpoint correctly. The organisation now indicate you should contact the police but JWs pride in their loyalty to this half baked religion will inhibit them from doing so.