Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  19

  Bible Group in Boston

  by Agape.Love in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  happy easter!

  my husband and i who are former jws are starting a new bible discussion group on sundays @1pm, south of boston.

  we will begin the group on sunday may 3rd.

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  Half banana

  Agape, if you want to study the Bible texts, unlike the Watchtower you must think about why the particular piece was written, who wrote it, where, when and for what purpose? Just one example:

  Why was the early Christ sect discussing the problems of feeding the followers from which later readers interpret a faithful and discreet slave as being a ”class” by divine appointment? By looking at what religions did at that time it is found that they supplied meals for the members, who would contribute money for the common pool if they could, to fund such activities. The presbyteroi (elders) who might have collected the money and given it to the episcopoi (bishops) would have been troubled by those who just came for a free lunch... and the church then was predominantly for the poor. The poor, being canny, would go to any and every cult providing meals so the episcopoi would have asked the rhetorical question “Who is the faithful and discreet slave which his master gave over all his belongings” to get the attendees to imagine that the poser of the question belonged to the ones chosen by God. Cult loyalty was everything.

  The Greek scriptures are about the struggles of the Pauline-Jesus religion jockeying for market dominance. They have no prophetic meaning at all but the language and talk is “cultic” and apocalyptic which is why the WTBTS still use that old discussion to further their own influence and membership numbers today.

  Most of the Bible is borrowed from paganism... around eighty three per cent is neither original text nor original story. Jesus is not original. The story of a fictional character exactly fulfilling the role ascribed to Jesus began many centuries if not millennia before the start of our calendar.

  One of the best ways to determine historical truth is to see what people were doing, saying and believing at the time period in question, the science of this aspect of history is sociology.

  Someone who took this (sociological) viewpoint and the end of the nineteenth century was JM Robertson and one of his books which should be read by all Bible students is A Short History of Christianity. Another relevant book, of which there are many titles on the same theme is Christianity Before Christ by John G Jackson (ISBN: 9870910309202) AAPress.

  I wish you well with your Bible studies.
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  13

  The "great crowd" before 1935 and since

  by Doug Mason in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what was the seismic shift in thinking that rutherford required when he created the great multitude in 1935?

  when did the great multitude, or the great crowd as it is now known, become jehovahs witnesses?.

  http://www.jwstudies.com/the_great_crowd_before_1935_and_since.pdf.

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  Half banana

  Thank you Doug for trawling through the archives for our benefit.

  Doesn’t the record of Watchtower doctrine expose the ad hoc decisions they have constantly made to assert whatever is most convenient at the time. Each change of belief is based on what GB members had wrongly assumed to be plausible perhaps only a year or two previously. They are not dealing with divine truth...far from it; they are dealing with the flimsy whims of the imagination but claiming it to be from God.

  A good example of this is the notion that “the great multitude” were not Jehovah’s Witnesses, only the “anointed” were...until 1948! The Watchtower only speaks garbage, none of their pontifications are true and testable.

  How can any edifice (and especially a tower) be built on shifting sands...?
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  33

  Evidence for an Egyptian Presence In Early PalestineEgyptian Artifacts Salvaged from Robbed Tomb in Israel

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  i've posted evidence elsewhere indicating that ancient israel was at times part of the egyptian empire.

  that means that the exodus documents incorporated into the old testament, is a mythical story.

  the israelites did not leave egypt.

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  Half banana

  Hoser, they never left Egypt because they never went there. If the Bible were true, it would be like saying that that Mexico went to the USA. Because Egypt was infinitely more powerful than Judah, individuals were continuously attracted there for work and trading.

  The story of the Exodus from Egypt was not a historical reality but a metaphor of their collective desire to be freed from the influence of their Egyptian overlords.
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  33

  Evidence for an Egyptian Presence In Early PalestineEgyptian Artifacts Salvaged from Robbed Tomb in Israel

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  i've posted evidence elsewhere indicating that ancient israel was at times part of the egyptian empire.

  that means that the exodus documents incorporated into the old testament, is a mythical story.

  the israelites did not leave egypt.

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  Half banana

  Thanks for information Fulltime, the evidence goes toward confirming that the Hebrew writings are the nationalistic bluster and imaginings of a small tribe conscious of their poverty and political impotence.
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  17

  Why only 7 or 8 members on the Governing Body?

  by Gilgamesh in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  now and then someone hears a rumor that the gb might go with 12 members instead of the 8 (or now 7) they currently have.

  the value of 12 is understandable, which might even drive the rumors every time they plan to add another 4 or 5 new persons to the gb helpers list.

  of course, a rumor that steals their thunder may also promote a delay, even if true.. i'm sure this quote from the watchtower was previously commented upon as a good explanation for the watch tower's best reason to leave the number at 7 or 8:.

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  Half banana

  Probably can’t afford more than seven now and as you say Village idiot, it must be hard to find heaven- hopers who aren’t already condemned as suspect or mad...
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  65

  Will this Memorial be our last?

  by pixel in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  they just put up the march km 2014 on the private website.

  most of it is same-old-same-old, with info here and there about the memorial.. somebody here might post the march km for all to see, i wont.. i just wanted to share the paragraph from page 2 q&a anticle: will you seize the opportunity?

  upcoming memorial enables us to show gratitude .

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  Half banana

  Not only are the leaders of the JW org always wrong but they base their emotional lather on false premises.

  Jesus never said anything. He is a literary fiction.

  There is no evidence for his existence as a literal man outside of the texts made holy by the Catholic Church in the fourth century.

  There is a precedence for the god-man character portrayed in the Bible in older religions but Mithras is first attributed with the statement “Whoever does not eat my flesh or drink my blood, the same will not be with me in paradise”. Since this was known centuries before Jesus was conjured up, Jesus is therefore a mere copy, a cut and paste version and not the real article (as if there ever was one).

  It’s all a theatrical drama to give the humble and poor something to hope for in the absence of worldly satisfaction.

  Avoid the memorial...unless you go as part of fading strategy!
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  39

  Petition to Revoke Scientology's Tax Exempt Status

  by ABibleStudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  fyi, if you feel that scientology's tax-exempt status should be revoked, you can sign a white house petition to revoke its tax-exempt status at https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/revoke-scientologys-tax-exempt-status.. i signed the petition even though i have mixed feelings about this petition.

  i would prefer that dangerous cults like scientology be reformed by suspending its tax-exempt status until it makes needed changes and i do not like targeting a specific organization when the whole system should be changed.

  on the other hand this type of action may help to promote debate about revising the tax codes in the us.. i do prefer revising the tax code like i wrote about in revise tax code to protect children from sexual abuse .. peace be with you and everyone, who you love,.

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  Half banana

  Robert, why try to reform something (Scientology) which is useless? The WTBTS is another useless enterprise which only fleeces its flock for the perpetuation of its privileged leadership.

  Why not make it a condition for a "charity" to demonstrate that it has material benefits to give to society at large. Not contributions by their own description such as the Borg would claim like "teaching the Bible" but be able to demonstrate practical and financial input to the community's needs, before being classed as a charity. The tax free status should not be granted by an organisation simply calling itself "a religion".

  How can a money grabbing cults like Jehovah's Witnesses claim they are pursuing anything other than their own self-interest?
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  4

  Spiritual manifestations after 1881?

  by Splash in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  wt dec 1880 (no.

  6) p. 5 "false christs".

  "we have reason for believing that after 1881, there will be wonderful spiritual manifestations.

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  Half banana

  There can be few organisations which can pride themselves with an unbroken record of 100% failure rate in prediction of events in over one hundred and thirty five years.

  I wonder if this accolade should be publicised in the Guinness Book of Records?
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  11

  If the Jehovah's Witnesses were really the Faithful & Discrete Slave active today, they wouldn't be full of Bullshit

  by Finkelstein in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  if the watchtower corporation and the jehovah's witnesses were really the faithful & discrete slave active today, they wouldn't be full of bullshit .. this is a logical statement given the history of this religious institute / publishing house.

  i said it before and i'll say it again, that the majority of the doctrines created by the wts were intensionally focused toward enhancing the proliferation of the wts own publications.

  this has been a constant underlining agenda for the wts all throughout the last century, the end of the 19th century and still to this day.

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  Half banana

  Quite right Finklestein.

  If there was a God and if that god had need for humans to mediate between him and humankind and had he foretold that there would be such a group of humans who would represent the mind and wishes of an almighty god, if, if, if... then the WTBTS have done a rotten job doing it. When we consider they have got every last prediction absolutely wrong and have never said anything useful throughout all their existence.

  On the other hand if there was a Devil who would misrepresent God by getting all his statements wrong... then the WTBTS have a good case for being led by the Devil.

  But religion is the politics of fairyland where only the imagination rules. The JW org is just interested in saving its own skin.
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  13

  Has Eternal Life become a carrot?

  by I_love_Jeff in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in the insight on the scriptures volume 2 pages 248-249 the society says, "so with obedient mankind, when man's last enemy, death, is brought to nothing, there will be no sin working in their bodies to bring death.

  to time indefinite they will not need to die.

  the insight on the scriptures vol 2, page 1102 -what time indefinite can mean, "however, the hebrew expression 'ohlam' does not in itself mean "forever".

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  Half banana

  When the carrot goes mouldy all the GB can do is beat the donkey harder.