Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  475

  What is the alternative to JW?

  by Formerbrother in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i mean this with all due respect, i would like to hear from genuine people who think jw have it wrong and then what is the truth?.

  im not talking about silly little quibbles here and there.. is jehovah real?

  the the bible is word?

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  Half banana

  There are no records of God ever intervening in crises and he never will. A real loving father would not drown most of his children in a flood or shake millions to death in an earthquake would he?

  Instead he is a psychological projection of idealized fatherhood, a 'rescuer' patterned on a universal family childhood experience, a hope, a comfort blanket for the desperate... but not a concrete reality.

  He only ever exists in people's imagination.

  The Bible was made not by a divine hand but it is drawn from the culling of near eastern literature, notably from Egypt, Persia and Babylon, which were the political masters of Israel. Its application was re-written to feed the emotional and nationalistic needs of the benighted peasants of the highlands of Canaan. It incorporates its neighbour's wood and stone idols such as the god Yahweh the son of El. Most of the Bible is borrowed from other sources, it is rarely original. it often espouses the very worst aspects humanity and of political enforcement, male chauvinism, turbo-charged religious chauvinism, homophobia, genocide and mega-death.

  The Bible is a nasty piece of literature to base your life on.
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  475

  What is the alternative to JW?

  by Formerbrother in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i mean this with all due respect, i would like to hear from genuine people who think jw have it wrong and then what is the truth?.

  im not talking about silly little quibbles here and there.. is jehovah real?

  the the bible is word?

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  Half banana

  Mr Acty, I’m not sure we have vitriol here, just an argument. As an ex JW I have a hyper-allergenic reaction to the word "ministries". That may just be me but I have learned my lesson.

  Many on this site have come to realise that the reason why JWs are wrong is the same reason which disqualifies all theism and belief in a spirit world; it is fable.

  How can you with any experience of modern education believe that a supernatural being which is undetectable by the five senses, has done this or that and wants everyone to believe in him and if you don’t believe he exists, or do what he says... you get murdered by him?

  How on earth could anyone believe such rubbish and claim it to be sacred?

  There is the same degree of evidence for this as for fairies at the bottom of the garden.
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  22

  We may have interbred with Neanderthals earlier than previously thought.

  by cappytan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it is now thought that we have been interbreeding with neanderthals as early as 100,000 years ago.. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35595661.

  craziest thing i just realized: some women still breed with neanderthals up to this day.

  rihanna and chris brown anyone?.

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  Half banana

  Anders, one possible teensy mistake in your Awake article...shouldn't the last line have read; " And again true science shows the Bible to be correct"?
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  22

  We may have interbred with Neanderthals earlier than previously thought.

  by cappytan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it is now thought that we have been interbreeding with neanderthals as early as 100,000 years ago.. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35595661.

  craziest thing i just realized: some women still breed with neanderthals up to this day.

  rihanna and chris brown anyone?.

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  Half banana

  Mephis, I think your article excellent. The 'muddy delta' and 'braided river' are a very good visual analogies of the back-crossing of species in evolution. Repeated hybridization would allow for the best traits to be put to use for survival. There is no reason to single out the genus Homo for this treatment, for it must hold true for all living things.

  The revelation of genome details cannot possibly be explained by creation.

  The problem which Linnaeus and others were stuck with was the misleading rigid Biblical notion of distinct "kinds". Linnaeus nevertheless had to work within his limited scientific means yet did an invaluable service to the life-sciences in creating a very workable labeling system. Perhaps this too will be replaced by a genomic definition in the near future?

  Anders, faux Watchtower drivel at its finest!
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  41

  Toasting is Pagan - How many contradictions can fit in 2 pages, I found 5?

  by jwfacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the watchtower 2007 feb 15 pp.30-31 explains why jehovah's witnesses are not to toast.

  what is astounding is that for each point they then go on an explain why the point is irrelevant, yet still conclude toasting is wrong.

  what did people think when reading this?

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  Half banana

  Any Christian religion which decries paganism is in ignorance or denial.

  At least Pope Leo 10th had the audacity and honesty to mention with smug satisfaction to his colleagues at a famous dinner, "How well we know what a profitable superstition this fable of Christ has been for us."

  The governing body of Jehovah's Witnesses are still struggling to match their worldly glory.

  Christianity is simply paganism which had been officially sanitized by the Roman Catholic Church... the cult from which all other forms of Jesus-Christianity including JWs have descended. These pagan beliefs includes its key player Jesus who is nothing more than a literary incarnation of earlier dying-and-rising solar gods focusing on Spring sacrifice and the annual re-birth of the sun . The themes of the Bible from the beginning of Genesis to end of Revelation are thoroughly pagan.

  Nothing is really sacred!

  Jehovah's witnesses imagine that by avoiding a few cultural gestures, birthdays and toasting, they are pleasing God... it is trifling and silly... and shows facets of their mind bending demands for total obedience from a controlling cult leadership.

  The idea of God itself is a pre-eminent pagan concept. The primitive folk explanation for the reason for the world's being is that a god made it and us.

  As for pinatas they too seem to belong to the pagan world and so the GB are indeed hypocrites but we all knew that anyway. A little research on the net shows it was possibly connected to a spring ritual originating in China. So keep the Hispanic brothers on board and putting cash into the Watchtower coffers.

  Perhaps we are going to see a number of changes in favour of religious tolerance from the JWorg, where to do so brings in more of the moolah?
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  13

  Would you ever......?

  by ctrwtf in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  list as an accomplishment on a resume, "i escaped from a mind control doomsday cult?".

  sometimes when i reflect on it, the magnitude of this accomplishment amazes me..

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  Half banana

  Good on you Kate!
• 
  475

  What is the alternative to JW?

  by Formerbrother in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i mean this with all due respect, i would like to hear from genuine people who think jw have it wrong and then what is the truth?.

  im not talking about silly little quibbles here and there.. is jehovah real?

  the the bible is word?

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  2. 
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  Half banana

  Acty person let me make a point. I mentioned climate history to clarify and illustrate what a fact is. We can only find out what anthropogenic, i.e. humanly induced, climate change is by having a researched and analysed understanding of the normative factors in climate behaviour over geological time.

  This modern and necessary approach is the only way to find resolutions to difficult problems. But by enormous and striking contrast; the carrying forward of the obsolete pattern of faith and belief in spirits is a colossal waste of human energy, time, manpower, money and direction.

  The world has changed and sorry to say you have not spotted it.

  No longer can religious belief mobilize people to improve humanity, that day has passed. We can now be grateful to the human intellect for the comfort, health and longevity we now enjoy through scientific method and application. In this new technologically based world we have the time and health to help our families to improve their lot...not prepare them for the fulfilments of stale ancient fables or pervert their minds with ludicrous and dark tales of devils and divine wrath.

  Belief in gods and devils was an idea from the nursery of mankind. It reached its zenith in the dark ages when the church ruled the peasants in abject fear. My goodness it’s a much happier prospect without those grim fantasies.

  Please recognise that the basis for faith is found in the emotions not in facts... there is no solid ground for belief in belief. It may make you happy... but it never delivers.

  However if you have evidence for what you are saying is true, let us know.
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  13

  Would you ever......?

  by ctrwtf in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  list as an accomplishment on a resume, "i escaped from a mind control doomsday cult?".

  sometimes when i reflect on it, the magnitude of this accomplishment amazes me..

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  Half banana

  I agree with the consensus. To publicly admit you were a JW is like partially undressing at an interview to show your prospective employer a vast and hideous surgery wound, you may be able to cope with life but what would he or she think of you? Surely it's better simply to take justifiable but private pride in having escaped.
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  70

  Freddy Franz, One of the smartest men of his day????

  by DwainBowman in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  back in my teen years this story swept through jw land, that according to, the guinness book of records , freddy franz, was listed as one of the seven, most intelligent , men in the world.

  dose anyone else remember this?

  i remember trying to look it up, but never found anything in print, and ii point that out once or twice , and was told a co, had told about it, and he wouldn't lie!

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  Half banana

  To me Fred Franz was the last true JW Adventist preacher. He retained the reedy declamatory tones which could have been heard at the end of the nineteenth century. He was fixated on his own interpretation of the outplaying of “end times” events and I’m pretty sure he saw his role as the final instrument which Big J was using to declare it. It must have come as a great surprise for him to find himself alive in the year 1976 without Armageddon.

  Most JW leaders were narcissist, egoist, sociopaths or a mixture of these. From listening to Fred Franz close up, I got the impression of a personable individual, benign in intent, self deprecating but perhaps fixated to a psychotic degree. Barbara obviously has been able to give a more considered appraisal, and indeed the journalist may have even got to the heart of the matter!

  I heard him declare at the UK Bethel extension opening in 1984 wistfully saying how in the future we may be able look back and find out just how the year 1975 fitted into the scheme of things. He could not let go of his supreme error or admit it to be wrong. I’m sure he felt it was to have been his glorious swan song. The Watchtower however never apologises for error since it would appear as if God was not leading them.

  Imagine how much of the thinking and life decisions of JWs throughout much of the twentieth century had been determined by this one man Fred Franz. He had persuaded not only the rest of the hierarchy of his eschatology but all of the readers of the Tower. Like all his predecessors he just cried wolf when there was no wolf...he had no divine inspiration and nor has any JW ever given the slightest demonstration of divine insight...not even a scrap!

  Just think though; how many millions of lives have been miss-spent on the strength of the words of this lunatic Fred Franz?

  He may have had some education but in this regard he was only a one eyed man in the land of the blind.

  JWs will believe anything if it is written in the Watchtower or if it enhanced the power and glory of their leaders...what a futile life it is to be a Jehovah’s Witness?
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  25

  Is a piano inevitable?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. social
  2. current

  i was at a concert last night and the presence and stature of the piano struck me.

  and i thought: if the piano wasn't invented when it was, would it have been invented by someone else instead?

  or if there was a world the same as our, except with a different history, would it have pianos now too or would it be modern world, similar in many respects, only without pianos?

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  Half banana

  The essence of evolutionary change must be the chance of new environments opening up in which organisms and sometimes newly evolved organisms can thrive. This does not make any animal or plant inevitable as a distinct genome. Not that you suggested a parallel of nature with the development of the piano but do so would not be fair since the comparison with human cultural artefacts i.e. musical instruments or poetry are not like with like.

  Evolution has no evidence of being ‘driven’ but the design of musical instruments does.

  The former is random, the latter culturally engineered. Pianos exist because they are or refinement of earlier less tractable instruments. You could then argue that with the tendency towards mankind improving his own world, the clavicembalos of JS Bach would inevitably be supplanted by an improved form, an evolved and better-suited-to-its-purpose form.

  As Atomant has noted above; the electronic organ has partially replaced the piano...was that "inevitable"?