Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  52

  1914—The Turning Point in History - Really?

  by berrygerry in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  1914the turning point in history.

  30 from the human standpoint, the world troubles and global wars foretold in the bible were far from the thinking of the pre-1914 world.

  german statesman konrad adenauer said: thoughts and pictures come to my mind, .

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  Half banana

  Here are three other matters to factor in, firstly the validity of the pre WW1 publicity on peace. We have to look at the nature of public statements at the time. Since when were such pronouncements not political spin?

  Second; it would be possible to quote from a range of opinions and select the ones which support your argument. Propaganda merchants such as the WTBTS never do anything else; they have absolutely no sense of honest objectivity.

  Yes there was a spirit of optimism before the First World War because of scientific discoveries such as pasteurisation, anaesthetics etc serious diseases such as syphilis had just been understood and modernism in art, think of Picasso, Marcel Duchamp. These were among reasons to see progress and a brighter future.The assassain's bullet in Sarajevo was the catalyst to mobilise existing tensions to war but afterwards the world and it's hope in humanity and with tangible progress in civilisation, continued with setbacks as it does today.

  Thirdly the Watchtower in its tradition of narcissist leadership, expressed the personal and normative interpretations of its chief theologian Frederick Franz. After Russell’s prophetic disaster and seeing his own life figuring in the imaginary unfolding of God’s plan, the self-obsessed Franz projected his own experience centring on the year of his own baptism 1914. It was a turning point for him...and therefore the world.

  This could well account for the WT mantra of “the generation of 1914.”

  Let’s not forget regarding the year 1914 Russell got it entirely wrong, he had foretold world peace and the death of all the 'ungodly' by then.
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  44

  Why do people follow demonstrably False Prophets?

  by WireRider in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  why does everyone just turn a blind eye to the false teachings of the watchtower?

  the bible warns us many times and in many ways not to follow false prophets - including the lake of fire.

  fundamentally why do the followers of the watchtower just ignore the very bible they claim to live by?.

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  Half banana

  Wire rider, sticking purely to the rationale of your OP, I agree with you.

  Why the hell should anyone believe the Watchtower when its raison d'etre was to predict the end of the world by 1914. Every subsequent attempt at postponement has pathetically failed. With such a track record; why should anybody believe anything the WTBTS has to say? They don't deserve a second glance.
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  35

  83,000 theocratic facilites?

  by average joe in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  a bethelite was telling me that there are 83,000 theocratic facilities world wide.

  he compared that to 35,000 mcdonalds and 21,000 starbucks roughly to show the size of the theocratic organization.

  i am not sure where the 83,000 comes from what would he be counting?

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  Half banana

  You can go to a cafe with a good conscience and enjoy the refreshment and probably good company. You can go to a Kingdom Hell and have your delusions reinforced...we have a choice.
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  12

  Achilles heel of Watchtower publications

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the wts has published over it's existence during the years a flood of books and magazines.

  many of the content of this publications includes topics about the medical, social, history field and also counsel about life style.. the achilles heel of all these publications is, that they are written mainly by amateurs, without verification and validation.

  most of it is worthless.

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  Half banana

  Watchtower publications: written by idiots and read by idiots.
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  63

  Raining before the Flood?

  by GrownMidget in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i remember at my teen years when i was studying with a brother that he said to me that there was no rain before the flood.

  instead there was this mist that you have.

  never before or after this have i heard something like this.

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  Half banana

  If you read a book where there is a speaking snake; you know immediately that the story is myth or magic. If you are a young child you might expect stories to be like this... but for an adult it usually registers as some sort of fairy tale. If you think otherwise...think again or get a proper education.

  So the flood story in the Bible is entirely in the spirit of a myth since the events tell of a physically impossible event (there was not enough water to cover the highest mountains) and this is not surprising since the story was borrowed, like most of the Biblical “sacred writings” from much older mythology, in this case from the earliest writings known to mankind, from Mesopotamia where writing was first developed and can therefore be called the beginning of the “historic period” as opposed to pre-history.

  What the flood myths encapsulate is the re-working of a prehistoric folk memory of climate change.

  There was indeed a time when rain was scarce during the last ice age which ended as recently as 12,000 years ago. The arctic cold spell had peaked around eighteen thousand years before the present when much of the Northern hemisphere was covered in ice. In Europe that meant glaciers coming as far south as the British Isles and tundra or steppe conditions down to the shores of the Mediterranean with woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros and reindeer flourishing in those regions which were characterised by a particular low and sparse vegetation (called mammoth steppe).

  This climate situation recurs over geological time and has done so for about twenty times in the last 2.3 million years. The key features are the tremendous drop in sea water levels and a corresponding colossal build up of Arctic and Antarctic ice during the coldest periods. This meant that in the latitudes just south of the Mediterranean there was hardly any rainfall with most of the free moisture bound up in the ice. In fact lakes were significantly higher where it was not frozen and indeed a mist or dew watered the plants as it does today in places like Namibia or at the driest place on Earth in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. At that time, as the archeology and earth- scientists record that the Sahara was greener then, not everywhere was dry. As evidence of cold resulting in drought; look at the Arctic today which remains a dry desert.

  The flood myths generally and there are very many of them, as in the Genesis account do contrast the former drought with the later deluge. So the melting of the ice caps at the end of the ice age, over a period of some four thousand years created a “pluvial” episode or ultra rainy period which would induce many localised floods.

  Of course the Bible uses “stories” often greatly embellished or exaggerated to teach morality lessons such as if you do not worship God you will be punished... and basically that is why the borrowed flood myth was used by the Hebrews in Genesis.
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  36

  Hi noobie here.

  by Grags in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  hi my name is graham (but i much prefer to be called grags), i'm a 38 year old married man from the uk and have been studying with the witnesses for about 3 months.

  i do a study every saturday and love every minute.

  in john 6: 16-24 jesus's disciples get onto a boat without jesus and set off.

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  Half banana

  Hi Grags and welcome to the site. Your question about the boat incident is easily explained.

  The Bible includes some of the variable writings found in many contemporary handwritten documents which were circulating in the early centuries of our calendar. Many of them refer to a particular but fictitious event. These documents were in the nature of stories to teach a moral tale or illustrate the miraculous power of the hero in question. Remember that Dionysus (who was crucified and turned water into wine) and Mithra (the Great Shepherd) were also "christs" with each cult lauding their own 'saviour'.

  The earliest Christian writings did not contain the name Jesus such as in the Shepherd of Hermas which was the most popular Christian text for two centuries but never got put into the Bible canon (the approved books). The Bible books were only later selected by the Roman Church mainly around the early fourth century but the canon was not determined for at least another century and even today it is not universal.

  Do ask your study conductor what happens to a JW who has got baptised and then changes his mind about his choice of religion.

  Out of genuine regard for your peace of mind, please believe me when I say that membership to Jehovah's Witnesses in about 50% of cases brings about appalling family rifts and turmoil. Unfortunately I know from personal experience.
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  5

  The truth shall set us free!

  by Wonderment in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the words below are taken from a post i submitted elsewhere.

  i decided to present it here as well.. it is a challenge for us all to stay objective in religious matters.

  there is so much faulty information circling us everywhere that the truth often is not so plain.. many christian followers would love to believe that simple answers can be found from one single religious group as a source.

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  Half banana

  The fairy tale told in the book of Matthew was religious fodder for the oppressed. A gleam of messianic hope for Jews under Roman occupation. It was a pick-me-up before there was democracy, social networking and coffee.
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  23

  What I would like to see soon!

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i would like to see one or better two members of the governing body get disfellowshipped and they both go off to write books like ray franz exposing the cult to all the sexual scandals, the hidden agendas with the stock market investments, the lawsuits, the laying of long time bethel workers, hidden sins by the higher ups and all the other nasty skeletons in the watchtower closet..

  what would be different today compared to rays time is that we now live in a social media world..

  they would be invited to talk in the oprah winfrey show, ellen degeneres show, the view, dateline.

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  Half banana

  Avatars? How about a posh watch for Jackson and the head of a blow-up sex doll for Lett?
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  121

  No more printing of WT and Awake in my country.. Shit just got real

  by cognitivedizzy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  guys .

  a letter was just read in out kh stating that all printing of wt and awake is ceased for the coming year and we will just place tracts on fs, countries which were cared by our branch will be cared by other countries...along with this they read the new fs form and stuff about reporting links of videos wtf..lol.

  i can't tell which country perhaps that will give away a lot, any one with a similar information.

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  Half banana

  Wow! folks will have to start buying toilet paper again.
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  56

  Is it true? Heard a rumor WT postphones Disfellowshipping until further notice!!??

  by Olivia Wilde in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am not sure if it's true but i heard from a good source that wt has given instructions to elders to postponed disfellowshipping members from wrong doing/gross sin until further instructions given by headquarters.

  i heard some jws were just reproved either privately or publically.

  has anyone else heard anything like this recently?

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  Half banana

  Alanv and Vidiot: which confirms that the Watchtower religion is all about "appearances."