Posts by Half banana

24

WT March 15, 2016 - Kids pressured toward baptism again

by Designer Stubble in

the study wt of march 2016 is up on jw.org and is the standard article around this time of year...pressuring young kids to dedicate their lives to the organization again.

this wt will be studied during may, so just in time to pressure them into baptism at the regional conventions this summer.such articles really upset me, as the realization of how many young promising lives will be destroyed.

how many families will be broken up, when the child who got baptized as a minor (ages 6 and up are mentioned in the literature) decides as a young adult that his/her conscience no longer allows him/her to be part of such a destructive cult.

Half banana

Baptism vows... interpreted for the practical meaning behind them.

Note to the all congregations; will the elders please make sure that baptism candidates are as young as possible, ideally before they have the slightest idea of the consequences of what they are committing themselves to.

The vows:

Do you give up your connections to the world outside of the congregation and henceforth put all your effort and money and time to be spent in furthering the property portfolio of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society?

Under penalty of death do you promise to be a servile worm and do everything you are instructed according to the edicts of the governing body of the JW organisation ahead of any personal or mere family interests?

Do you vow not to get an education which might expose the flaws in the Watchtower teachings and hereafter live in blind faith of the absolute truth of their current beliefs until they are changed for new beliefs which you will then defend with your life?

Do you vow forever to instantly cut off all ties with family members or friends who dare have religious thought at odds with the JW org.?

Can you say that the JW org. governing body is the exclusive channel which God is using today to build his property empire on Earth?

If your answer to these questions is in the affirmative... then gawd help you!

13

An intellectual feast - A Conference in honour of Prof Samuel N.C.Lieu on his Retirement-Don't read if you don't like ideas

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

i've been invited to attend this conference (limited attendance) and consider it an exciting privilege.

maybe for many it would be too boring, as a poster said on one of my threads, (my paraphrase) " who cares about the past?".

but, if i started my adult life as a brainwashed slave to yhwh/jesus (and, don't give me any shit about jw's ignoring jesus), i am finishing it as a (somewhat-grin) enlightened man who just may have some understanding of the development of world thought.

Half banana

FTS, enjoy your conference. Hearing the serious thinkers in the field of late classical knowledge is a joy. I heard a lecture last week from the academic Karen Armstrong, (she is extremely well informed and assiduous in presenting an accurate picture but still, I believe, leans towards a deist interpretation). I agree heartily on the matter of JW mistrust of proper disinterested scholars, they are the ones at the coal-face of reality not "Bible scholars" who have only one object in mind. To understand the true birth of christianity demands a knowledge of contemporary life and thought which involves knowledge of the many sects and pagan beliefs. Manicheanism was an important ingredient as was the big cover-up you mentioned once Roman Christianity had gained ascendancy. Have you early textual references for this (cover up)?

I will read up on Sam Lieu's work.

17

Little Thought for Lurkers, oringinal sin?

by Diogenesister in

just one little thought....adam & eve ate the fruit from the tree "of the knowledge of good & evil".

so..in other words, before they ate they did not know right from wrong...hmmmm so how can you blame someone who does not know right from wrong?.

for a crime to take place in human law you must have the act - 'actus reus' - and the guilty mind or 'mens rea' as it is termed.

Half banana

Diogenesister your reasoning is true. But would even a child listen to a talking snake...let alone believe it?

77

In The Name of Love, Need Your Opinion

by thankyou in

i'm non-jw.. been following this forum.

most of you folks have been through hell, but are still loving souls.

i'm reeeally impressed and glad to be here.. my question is at the end of this.

Half banana

Just don't get your hopes up until she realises what a sham and toxic religion she is in. Otherwise...

the disaster is not immediately apparent, it will come with children and she wants to return to the cult and you don't want to go there. It's hell on earth friend.

9

The Ages Of The Biblical Patriarchs

by JW_Rogue in

so i've been reading the imitate their faith book (because my wife wants to) and keep coming upon these ridiculous ages for the bible patriarchs.

now i know wt takes everything literally but there has got to be some explanation that makes more sense.

why would the bible writers create these obviously false ages?

Half banana

Hyperboleeeeee is more fun than realiteeeeee

7

1934 Yearbook

by why144000 in

jw
friends

i have a number of old books and am looking at selling a few.

in particular i have all the old yearbooks (from 1927?

) and i was looking at selling the 1934 yearbook.

Half banana

If I may advertise on your behalf the 1934 YB contains the classical Rutherford gem where he sucks up to Hitler and shares his condemnation of the Jews, isn't that right?

39

Reasons for doubting.

by New day in

somebody mentioned in a recent topic that they had a conversation with a former elder whose breaking point was when the overlapping generation was highlighted in recent times and how he would never serve again until somebody gave him a scriptural reason to believe it.

i am in a similar position.

i have gone in the last 18 months from taking the wt study, leading fs groups, and doing talks on the mtngs to doing almost nothing, as i resigned a little over a year ago as an elder due to a combination of family responsibilities and huge doubts.

Half banana

Congratulations New Day on being able to see the real light of day which does not shine on the Watchtower.

19

Yeah, my parents plan to will everything to this parasitic organization and forsake their seed

by Phaedra in

jw
friends

yeah, they'll leave it all, their home, savings, etc.. never mind helping out their struggling children who never had a chance.. fuck this organization and everything it stands for when its members think god will favor them more by willing everything to a corporation instead of their own struggling seed..

Half banana

How can people subscribe to a religion which places the commercial interests of the leadership above the welfare of the followers and their families?

We're with you Phaedra.

194

For the Supporters of Those Who Love Jehovah

by lovesjehovah in

jw
friends

i am jehovah's witness, despite some of the questionable teachings, crimes, and other outlandish behaviors of specific people affiliated with the religion.

i know that my relationship with jehovah is not influenced by any outside factors.

i do not condone any crime.

Half banana

Loves Jehovah, it's good of you to post and you certainly have a big response, annoyingly perhaps not from the segment of society you were fishing for but a response nevertheless. I'll admit it I am no longer interested in Jehovah but if I was gay and born into a cult which condemned homosexuality, I would feel persecuted and hard done by. I would think why should life be so unfair to me. I might compensate by becoming fixated on the object of my parents worship of Big J, I might shut out everything else and show them all what I am really made of by my zeal and heroic efforts to let people know who god is.

Please think again. You have a worthwhile life ahead of you. You are not condemned to suffer under JW religious bigotry. Jehovah I'm afraid is just a fantasy based on a pathetic Canaanite idol from the Bronze Age adopted by politically impotent Hebrew zealots in the Iron Age and their plight was written up in texts which formed part of the Bible.

You a not beholden to this fairy tale, you have a much more important life to lead... your own.

17

Seriously.... Something has to be done.

by DATA-DOG in

i am aware of the constant debate about whether or not to confront jws, because they will merely retreat behind their persecution complex.

well, i say, "bull shit!

religitards, as in the case of the recent paris attacks, ( yes, the jws are equal to those terrorists, is so much as they perpetuate lies that ultimately retard the progress of mankind), must be challenged without remorse, as their assertions are made without remorse for those who are forever scarred by their lies.

Half banana

You ar right Vidiot, the belief system is not understood by all, it doesn't make sense it is not coherent and for goodness sake it is ever changing! Why on earth don't they just wake up? (he said rhetorically)