Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  13

  A Troubling Culture: JW Group Think vs. Individual Critical Thinking

  by MicaSmith in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i had no idea that the resistance, governance, and duplicity i am experiencing as a jehovah witness is actually part of a bigger behavioral issue that permeates the entire jehovah witness culture.. i was troubled by the fact that many persons who have been crushed by the unfair practices of jw leadership described themselves as former members of the jw cult, and, or, apostates.

  the latter bothered me to a greater degree because i felt the word apostate has been overused by jw's leadership and members.

  anyone who disagrees with anything the governing body does or says is assigned the label an apostate.

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  Half banana

  Well done Mica for your methodical researching on the subject and then producing the results for us all.

  I always say "cult" to label JWs since It cannot be denied that they tick all of the boxes in any survey on cultic behaviour.
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  17

  The JW org is a failed doomsday cult?

  by Half banana in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  by its own mandate in the founding of the watchtower magazine in 1879, it was set up to proclaim the arrival of jc in the heavens according to the then currently failed adventist claim for jesus' return the year 1874.. russell's catalyst for all that came afterwards was his pet claim (in so many words) "aha but jc did in fact come... but came invisibly!

  " he added without sound evidence that it took four years for jc to come to rule from the heavens after his arrival there and that then was said to be in 1878. .

  within forty biblical years from the arrival date, russell promised, with hopes even higher than his bank account, that god’s kingdom with christ at the helm would rule the earth in the absence of all worldly opposition.

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  Half banana

  My point is that as you say sir82 and others, that the failure of its primary intention to correctly announce the end of the world, despite its raging commercial success; means that it is now just a tax free business scam called JW org. It lacks all credibility and legitimacy.

  Therefore: JW org please pack your bags, sell up and remove your harmful cult OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH...
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  93

  Pshycos! - 2016 "Remain Loyal to Jehovah" Regional Convention Program

  by thedepressedsoul in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  wow this is interesting!

  i think how much emphasis this puts on "loyalty" shows their is an issue.

  they're trying to plug the wholes as much and quickly as possible.

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  Half banana

  This is intense bombardment of loyalty indoctrination. It is overkill ...and the JW will think the message means loyalty to the organisation first and foremost. After all Jehovah is now the same as the G.O.D.

  Why on earth should anyone want be loyal to the JW org? They have never said or done anything useful to anybody ever... Just a self interested bunch of money grabbing businessmen in a religion scam.

  Fortunately, some will attend and wake up to TTATT.
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  17

  The JW org is a failed doomsday cult?

  by Half banana in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  by its own mandate in the founding of the watchtower magazine in 1879, it was set up to proclaim the arrival of jc in the heavens according to the then currently failed adventist claim for jesus' return the year 1874.. russell's catalyst for all that came afterwards was his pet claim (in so many words) "aha but jc did in fact come... but came invisibly!

  " he added without sound evidence that it took four years for jc to come to rule from the heavens after his arrival there and that then was said to be in 1878. .

  within forty biblical years from the arrival date, russell promised, with hopes even higher than his bank account, that god’s kingdom with christ at the helm would rule the earth in the absence of all worldly opposition.

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  Half banana

  By its own mandate in the founding of the Watchtower magazine in 1879, it was set up to proclaim the arrival of JC in the heavens according to the then currently failed Adventist claim for Jesus' return the year 1874.

  Russell's catalyst for all that came afterwards was his pet claim (in so many words) "aha but JC did in fact come... but came invisibly!" He added without sound evidence that it took four years for JC to come to rule from the heavens after his arrival there and that then was said to be in 1878.

  Within forty Biblical years from the arrival date, Russell promised, with hopes even higher than his bank account, that God’s kingdom with Christ at the helm would rule the Earth in the absence of all worldly opposition. Opposers would all be dead and destroyed by 1914, which would be the grand visible effect of the heavenly kingdom. Religious words and hope are proved to be cheap and cheerful... but worthless.

  The abject failure of this wild speculation did not stop the rot. The entrepreneur and showman Russell was personally distressed at first by his error but the WTBTS as we are all too well aware, kept postponing the crazy beliefs and pressing them before the hopeful readers. "It’s coming very soon!” was the doomdsay merchants street cry. But the business department noted that this baby was making a mint of Dollars so why stop while there are suckers who want it?

  I suggest that there is no evidence whatsoever that God’s spirit (a bizarre and unprovable concept in itself) could be upon the Watchtower organisation.

  If the Watchtower is God’s mouthpiece and the "end time" its key doctrine; how could Holy Spirit repeatedly get the dates and the events always wrong, resulting in total failure during the whole 136 years of its 'divine' prophesying?

  What conclusions can we draw?
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  18

  We can now donate by credit card in canada on jw.org

  by hoser in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what a fine privelege to support jehovah with our valuable things.

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  Half banana

  What a fine privilege it is to use our money wisely and instead of letting our families use it let us send it to the JW org to further the worldly ambitions of the governing body.
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  18

  We can now donate by credit card in canada on jw.org

  by hoser in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what a fine privelege to support jehovah with our valuable things.

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  Half banana

  Russell at least saw the possibility of ending the religion he started.

  Why don't the GB take the hint that the time is now to close its doors and re-distribute its assets?

  It is after all like early Christianity, a completely failed doomsday cult.
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  29

  Is this a site controlled by atheists?

  by The Rebel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  under the exterior of being an ex- witness site, is this site simply converting atheism?.

  i pose the question, because many come here in distress and insecurity with the realization that the w.t is wrong but still retain a belief in god.

  my personal opinion is the threads on god are not challenged by an atheists personal animosity to believers, they are challenged and become confrontational because the atheist wants an elaboration and factual proof to a believers faith.. is this unreasonable?

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  Half banana

  The normal route an ex-JW takes is to wake up to TTATT; that the org is deficient and wrong and just another religion.

  The idea that “Jehovah is God” nevertheless remains a while for probably the majority of us. Those needy of supernatural help remain believers and about one third of ex-JWs, so I understand, keep a faith in the regular Christian doctrines outside of Witnessdom.

  After a while of having left the JW community and indoctrination and having seen the cultic nature and mental slavery to naive ideas, many of us also have come to realize that the focus of Jehovah and Jesus are also lacking a solid basis outside of the mind.

  I imagine this is the norm (corrections and refinements welcome) and personally I warmly welcome all ex-JWs irrespective of my own present thinking. We were all damaged by this cult and many need a refuge like this site with helpful words from our fellow escapees.
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  3

  Evolution of theology

  by elbib in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when jerusalem was captured and its temple was burned by pagan king in 586 bce (or 607?

  ), it was a theological crisis for the jews.

  then a concept of messiah (king-priest) who will restore everything was evolved.

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  Half banana

  I agree strongly with the idea that religious belief evolves according to events. It might be true to say that all things change over time.

  Some things in real life do not change or change at a rate too slow to observe such as the sequence and structure of geological formations. Gemstones must be an exception to the rule of all things changing. Contrast this with the ever changing nature of ideas and beliefs.

  Most certainly Jewish defeats galvanized the desire for a heroic redeemer especially in the book Isaiah, where driven by loss and impotence, the writer imagines the arrival of a glorious all conquering saviour.

  The Bible from start to finish is a reflection of the thinking and beliefs of people at all the evolving stages of their cultures and ideas over time. Starting with offering the gods blood sacrifice and developing from polytheism through henolatry (worshipping one particular god) finishing in Revelation in a riot of visionary monotheism jam packed with Greek and not so philosophical mumbo-jumbo.
  

  So we need to be mindful of language too and note that it also evolves, such as seen in the contempt put into the word pagan by the Roman church to distance itself from the true folk origins of Christianity. (Pagan simply meaning "of the village people" in Latin and by inference "the uneducated").

  A significant mistake would be to imagine that the career of the Jews has any special meaning to it. The Bible is just their dreams writ large.
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  23

  My Personal Invitation to the Celebration of the Lord's Evening Meal

  by TMS in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  by no means is this a heartwarming "experience" illustrating how an ex-jw skillfully "reached the heart" of a current jw, moving them to re-examine their belief system.

  that won't be my take on my half hour visit with an elder's wife last sunday.

  no one scored points here as is almost always the case in these interactions.. we live at the extreme southern tip of texas, on the u.s.-mexico border in a city of about 200,000. twenty years ago there were 20 spanish language congregations, 2 english.

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  Half banana

  TMS, as Freddo has just said, I think your neutrally delivered account of the gross injustice with God's favouritism of David in the Bathsheba affair, could well have pierced her JW "force field".

  These Bible stories create the mind set for the GB... it seems that God does not care about children all that much, they are like non-believers: expendable.
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  21

  Why dont you go to the memorial?

  by atomant in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  l guess we all have our own reasons and thought it would give insight to others considering going to reconsider and not go.

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  Half banana

  Although this information had been systematically hidden by the Roman Church for obvious reasons, Jesus was simply the name applied to long succession of half-human half-god saviour figures or "christs" who would save people from death by their own sacrificial death.

  These primitive god-man cults should have been consigned to history where they belong.

  In the second century these words were attributed to the "christ" called Jesus:

  "There are some of those standing here who will not taste death before they have seen the kingdom of God already come in power." Mark 9;1 NEB

  Jesus got it wrong. No subsequent events could ever make the statement true. Christianity and all religion is a misdirection and a colossal waste of time.

  The memorial supper at the spring equinox with symbols of blood and flesh of the saviour was copied by Jesus christianity from the cult of Mithra (the "good shepherd") where it had been a principal ritual since about 390BCE.

  And anyway, human sacrifice is not my cup of tea.