"Have dealings with the stupid and you will certainly fair badly." Prov 13:20
Been there and done that with the Watchtower organisation.
Half banana
JoinedPosts by Half banana
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Today's Text - Brainwash Your Children!
by Divergent inwith the increasing number of young ones leaving "the truth", it is critical to brainwash them regularly from young!.
monday, may 16. the one who has dealings with the stupid will fare badly.—prov.
13:20.. a child could drift away gradually on a spiritually dangerous path, being tempted by harmful association or degrading entertainment.
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40
New Article - Watchtower View of Homosexuality
by jwfacts ini have thought about writing this article for many years, and the awake!
2014 no.4 was the final straw.
there it states that jehovah's witnesses show no prejudice towards homosexuals, and "they neither mock nor mistreat people whose practices differ from their own.
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Half banana
I think that the Los Angeles Times science correspondents need to do some research to understand what they are reporting. The article on twins DNA whilst comparing results of different research, tends to assume that homosexuality must be epigenetic and its a matter of finding it. A genetic cause of homosexuality had been sought for a number of years since genes falsely appeared to be the answer to all biology questions.
Yet it would be with good reason, not to expect to find a specific 'homosexual' gene because exclusive homosexual activity so programmed in any species would soon render its bearer's lineage extinct. Which is another reason why at birth, sexual preference need not be differentiated, just the impulse for sexual activity must be latent in the newborn. This does not imply that same sex preference may indeed be found to be caused or influenced by epigenetic factors.
The other article from the same newspaper on a 4500 year old Ethiopian was all over the place and made little sense so it might be better to look to the scientific data in the first place rather than rough journalism.
@ Balaam's ass, funny how God is so obsessed with regulating human sex...
I have an idea that the gay Bethelite is often trying to resolve the terrible dilemma he suffers from by using the anti gay rhetoric to reinforce his determination to battle it out inside the organisation. I imagine most fail. It must be dreadful.
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40
New Article - Watchtower View of Homosexuality
by jwfacts ini have thought about writing this article for many years, and the awake!
2014 no.4 was the final straw.
there it states that jehovah's witnesses show no prejudice towards homosexuals, and "they neither mock nor mistreat people whose practices differ from their own.
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Half banana
I think that the Los Angeles Times science correspondents need to do some research to understand what they are reporting. The article on twins DNA whilst comparing results of different research, tends to assume that homosexuality must be genetic and its a matter of locating it. This had been the case for a number of years since genes falsely appeared to be the answer to all biology questions.
Yet it would be with good reason, not to expect to find a specific 'homosexual' gene because exclusive homosexual activity so programmed in any species would soon render its bearer's lineage extinct. Which is another reason why at birth, sexual preference need not be differentiated, just the impulse for sexual activity must be latent in the newborn. This does not imply that same sex preference may indeed be found to be caused by epigenetic factors.
The other article from the same newspaper on a 4500 year old Ethiopian was all over the place and made little sense so it might be better to look to the scientific data in the first place rather than rough journalism.
@ Balaam's ass, funny how God is so obsessed with regulating human sex...
I have an idea that the gay Bethelite is often trying to resolve the terrible dilemma he suffers from by using the anti gay rhetoric to reinforce his determination to battle it out inside the organisation. I imagine most fail. It must be dreadful.
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Start A Butterfly Garden!
by Bonsai intime to take a break from debating religion.
take in a breath of fresh air and be healed by the wonders of nature around you.. how many of you have a garden?
how many have a nice flower patch to go with your vegetable garden?
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Half banana
Xanthippe, virtually no pink at all in the apple blossom even in the bud! What variety is this? It normally it indicates the native wild apple of the hedgerow. A thing of beauty nevertheless.
Heaven, I have drunk dandelion 'coffee' which is made from the root but not yet eaten the flower. Would you recommend it? The French name for it is a bit off-putting!
Did you know that the dandelion reproduces asexually?
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Today's Text - Draw Close To God... (BUT HOW???)
by Divergent inhere's where i stand at the moment: i neither categorize myself as a theist, atheist, or agnostic.
i'm a freethinker and do not have a specific belief at the moment, unless something comes along which is 100% conclusive & convincing.
which brings us to tackling the elephant in the room, something that today's text has failed to do:.
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Half banana
Well said Spiral, a fumbling,casual, whimsical god who gives mixed messages and lives apparently with no tangible evidence for his existence. Worse still he claims to zap those who don't believe in him or misinterpret his message.
Truly I'm very glad there is no such thing as a god.
If there were... it would be hell on Earth if his Bible is anything to go by; being scrutinised for error, fearing punishment and lacking the freedom of humanity which has come through philosophical thinking, passing learning down the generations and democracy.
Thank goodness there is no god!
As a JW, I heard others talk about being so pleased that they had an intimate relationship with Big J, talking to him all the time and relying on him for everything...I felt deficient, just couldn't get the hang of it, I never felt close to a spirit Thing even as a pioneer. Yep it's insane!
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New Article - Watchtower View of Homosexuality
by jwfacts ini have thought about writing this article for many years, and the awake!
2014 no.4 was the final straw.
there it states that jehovah's witnesses show no prejudice towards homosexuals, and "they neither mock nor mistreat people whose practices differ from their own.
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Half banana
Just one point I would like to make, it's more of a technicality than anything else and may not appear to help the case but it is best to get things right if we can.
A person is born homosexual; it is not a choice
There is no evidence that the first part of this statement is true. From genetics we learn that at birth the individual's sexual proclivity is not differentiated or determined. There is no test which could determine that a baby is born homosexual or heterosexual.
Nevertheless the second part of the statement
It is not a choice
still holds true. Our sexual interest becomes apparent from an early age ( I remember at three years old being electrically attracted to the opposite sex) but it comes not through deliberate choice or external forces so far as anyone knows or can measure.
Life is so interesting!
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Challenging JWs at Cult Carts
by cofty inif i have time i always talk to jws when i see a cult cart.. they are in a public forum promoting a harmful ideology therefore they are fair game.
having said that, the individual jws on the trolley are not the enemy so i think it's better to keep it as friendly and non-confrontational as possible.. being realistic no jw is going to admit they are wrong because of something we say to them on the street but don't underestimate the long-term effect of doubts.. so what are your ideas for how to approach them?.
personally i like to use the literature on the cart.
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Half banana
JWs are out there, often literally in the market place, the place for bargaining. It is one of the few times and places where they can be openly exposed to unwitnessing and surely for the sake of the demise of the harmful cult we should take every opportunity to enlighten them.
I wonder how long it will be before the GB realize how vulnerable trolley people are, I have often reached the threshold with a JW, when they realize they have no defense and they interpret that moment to be the time to stop because their inquisitor is not a gullible sheepy person. Without doubt they are told that they are only looking for impressionable sheep, not arguments.
However most JWs actually take the bait and enjoy a discussion since it's much more interesting than public apathy, then in parting I always try to leave them with a thought festering in their mind which could make them wake up. For example; how could we ever know about things which live beyond our five senses?
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Why education is a killer for doomsday cults.
by Half banana inif you were to read the watchtower literature and you believed it to be the exclusive divinely inspired interpretation of the bible, i suggest that you would not be learning anything useful, instead you would simply be absorbing the indoctrination of the jw org..
what is the difference between indoctrination and education?.
take any passage from the watchtower this sentence for example which assumes significance in the end of six thousand years of human history in 1975: “how then does this fit in with god’s timetable?”.
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Half banana
Thanks Wifi, but sorry Mr Morris... you mean an institute of INDOCTRINATION. -
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Awake #4/2016: Homosexuality
by Designer Stubble inthe new awake is up on jw.orgwith the legalization of gay marriage in many countries, they decided it was time to show: "what does thebible say about homosexuality?
"does the bible promote prejudice?still, some people would say that the bible promotes prejudice against homosexuals and that those who adhere to itsmoral code are intolerant.
‘the bible was written at a time when people were narrow-minded,’ they claim.
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Half banana
The Watchtower stance is no different to the possibility where God says you must cast out heterosexuals as spiritually unclean. How many "strait" JWs would be prepared to abstain from sex or become homosexual just to please God or the JW org? -
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Why education is a killer for doomsday cults.
by Half banana inif you were to read the watchtower literature and you believed it to be the exclusive divinely inspired interpretation of the bible, i suggest that you would not be learning anything useful, instead you would simply be absorbing the indoctrination of the jw org..
what is the difference between indoctrination and education?.
take any passage from the watchtower this sentence for example which assumes significance in the end of six thousand years of human history in 1975: “how then does this fit in with god’s timetable?”.
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Half banana
If you were to read the Watchtower literature and you believed it to be the exclusive divinely inspired interpretation of the Bible, I suggest that you would not be learning anything useful, instead you would simply be absorbing the indoctrination of the JW org.
What is the difference between indoctrination and education?
Take any passage from the Watchtower, this sentence for example, which assumes significance in the end of six thousand years of human history in 1975: “How then does this fit in with God’s timetable?” It asks.
Let’s de-construct.
The question includes an assumption that God has a' time-table', is that normal for gods?... and for that to be possible there has to be the assumption that there is a God in the first place.
We need not go there for the moment but let us have a look at how ideas are embedded or nested in other broader cultural assumptions. The WT text speaks of six thousand years of human history recalling earlier assumptions that each Biblical day of creation was seven thousand years long, therefore with a millennium of kingdom rule still to go (according to WT doctrine) six thousand years from the creation of man would have significance. (Incidentally these notions like all of the early Watchtower teachings and most of the Bible; are borrowed beliefs).
To get at the truth we have to ask; who says that the world was created in six, seven thousand year “days”? Where is the evidence? Who says we are all descendants of Adam and Eve? Where is the evidence? What evidence is there for the divine origin of Bible texts? Why do the Bible texts conflict so much? Why were the Bible books selected from existing texts and put together by the Roman Catholic Church? Why should we trust the Bible as being true? etc.
Such assumed ideas as divine creation, divine retribution and salvation through sacrifice are repeated ad nauseum over time by preachers, it has been passed down from parents to their hapless offspring to create a respected mythical matrix in which all and any religious belief can flourish. Because of this JWs can rely on certain assumptions on which to build their particular doctrines, they can nest their own spin within an existing framework of unsubstantiated religious belief. Religion avoids scientific analysis, it relies instead on "holiness".
We might summarise indoctrination then as assumptions built upon assumptions repeatedly given to an audience already conditioned to receive it uncritically. This is very much at odds with education.
Education means not being told what to believe but ”to learn how to learn,” and that requires questioning the truthfulness of any statement or proposition offered. This requires using questions like how do we know this is true? Where is the evidence for this?
Assumptions are a total waste of time, a critical evaluation of all information is vital for truth to emerge.
The Watchtower since it start, has spewed out completely worthless twaddle, its vast catalogue of wrong conclusions have demonstrated its uselessness over time. One cannot logically use anything it has said as a foundation for further conclusions. Conversely educated reasoning can be built upon because critical analysis and fact is at its foundation.
Does your religion strongly discourage higher education? If the answer is yes, it must have something to hide. I think of the Watchtower like a nasty fungus which can only spread in the dark, it is the daylight of education which destroys it.