Posts by Half banana

15

Observations from an Ex-Elder Part 3 - Why not create multiple Adam & Eve's?

by doubtfull1799 in

i saw a post the other day on another forum (think it was reddit) that put forward the idea that god should have created multiple couples, not just adam and ever.

this idea was so simple and brilliantly logical, that i wish i'd thought of it, but i cannot claim credit!

but it really got me thinking of the practical implications and benefits.... if god had simply created multiple couples instead of one, he would in one foul swoop have solved the problem of incest, as well as have prevented 6 thousand years of human tragedy and a ransom sacrifice being needed etc.

Half banana

Doubtful1799, it takes a while to reconfigure the brain after being one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The old basis for belief was what the Society told us to believe, all of it was without a solid evidence base. One reason it is hard to stop being a JW is that we were running in comfortable well worn religious grooves in close company with others believing the same rubbish and never allowed a moment's reflection to question anything!

When we wake up we begin to see the logical fallacies of Biblical belief and learn about real life. For example anthropology museums abound with evidence for human activity going back hundreds of thousands of years. Stone tools go back millions of years. We have genome evidence of Neanderthal populations interbreeding with Homo sapiens before becoming extinct in the period just after forty thousand years ago. We have records in the archaeology of modern humans from around that same time enjoying a new and flourishing culture making art, paintings and sculpture, sewing, efficient hunting using spear throwers and boomerangs. They created sound dramas using the acoustics of the caves; they used torches and lamps to illuminate their wall paintings. I could go on but suffice to say, scientific knowledge has determined that Adam and Eve are nothing more than fable.

There is no evidence for Adam and Eve but there is a mountain of evidence for humans in prehistory not the least by their skeletal remains.

If Jesus came to buy back what Adam lost, what about those humans who lived before “Adam”? And if Adam and Eve didn't exist, then the fundamental Christian belief of the ransom makes no sense at all.

52

Convention program 2017 AM3

by George One Time in

https://www.jw.org/en/publications/books/convention-program-2017/friday/.

why would our beloved gb member be on the top picture of the program?.

any ideas?.

Half banana

Why a picture of King Morris the third; the next best thing to Jesus and it's hard to find of photo of him.

39

June 2017 Watchtower - Jehovah's Sovereignty is at stake if you disagree with us

by Listener in

four years ago the watchtower made the following demand.

all of us must be ready to obey any instructions we may receive, whether these appear sound from a strategic or human standpoint or not.

they are not content with obedience and in the upcoming june watchtower they have this to say -15. how does respect for theocratic headship reveal our love for jehovah’s way of ruling?15 what is our response to divinely authorized headship?

Half banana

Yes thanks Listener this is a meaty topic.

After admitting that they are not inspired; the GB say that the vindication of Jehovah’s name is paramount. Firstly if the GB is not inspired and liable to make mistaken organisational directives................ why then listen to the JW governing body at all?

Second, the idea that an omnipotent divinity needs to clear his name and show everyone he is sovereign and has the right to be ruler; smacks of human frailty. Why would an omnipotent being descend to vain human values of “I’ll show them who’s in charge?

The idea that God needs to vindicate his name is ridiculous.

It’s a lofty sounding slogan to appeal to the unthinking but it’s a distraction from the fact that the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses are not inspired and never will be. They have nothing to demonstrate any evidence of attracting divine attention, they have never got anything right throughout their whole history and virtually all of their doctrines are found elsewhere in other religions. The internationalism and internal cooperation can also be found elsewhere.

They now want to propagate the expression "respect for theocratic order." They mean; continue going to the meetings. They know they have been wrong but they demand respect. They don't deserve it!

Wakey wakey Jehovah's Witnesses!

39

June 2017 Watchtower - Jehovah's Sovereignty is at stake if you disagree with us

by Listener in

four years ago the watchtower made the following demand.

all of us must be ready to obey any instructions we may receive, whether these appear sound from a strategic or human standpoint or not.

they are not content with obedience and in the upcoming june watchtower they have this to say -15. how does respect for theocratic headship reveal our love for jehovah’s way of ruling?15 what is our response to divinely authorized headship?

Half banana

Can anyone here make a concrete distinction between the vindication of the name of Mickey Mouse and that of Jehovah?

30

ARC report released today.. and phew!

by zeb in

"the response of the jehovah’switnesses and watchtower bibleand tract society of australialtd to allegations of childsexual abuse".. this report is 110 pages.

it is imperative to look it up on the arc website each and every one of you.. http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/getattachment/c2d1f1f5-a1f2-4241-82fb-978d072734bd/report-of-case-study-no-29.

Half banana

Have you noticed that the GB response is not to say, "How can we help the abused and protect against further abuse happening? This would be the humane and compassionate response to a situation where the vulnerable were being exploited, wouldn't it?

Not so in the JW org, no siree! The response is to limit the financial damage to their golden egg laying operation at HQ and claim they are not to blame. Put the onus on local congregations, limit the liability of the Watchtower companies involvement and claim they were only acting in line with the scriptures. It is a living demonstration of how foolish it really is to pedantically use the Bible as a life guide, it is thousands of years out of date.

They have made the Watchtower in Australia a limited company which means it can only pay out what it owns and as I understand there is a sudden rush to make all congregations financially autonomous.

The fact is that as the courts have clearly recognized in cases such as the Conti trial, that the JW organisation however it morphs into various other legal companies or uses new labelling strategies, is now for all its bleating, considered to be a "hierarchical" religion, the people at the top take all the stick.

The paradox being that for years under Rutherford up until the 1980s, responsibility was held at local level but due to the worldly pride and lust for money and a desire for total control, JW HQ forced ownership of all Kingdom halls to be relinquished locally and to be thereafter owned by themselves. So nowadays the Watchtower is an "organised religion" like the Roman Catholic Church and likewise responsible for the consequences of all its policies and teachings which are disseminated from the top-downwards.

I noticed a contrast between the JW org and the Roman Catholic Church response to the abuse enquiry in that the latter have supplied all details and approach it wishing to resolve the matters in a spirit of cooperation. The GB are extremely defensive, uncooperative and imagine that quoting scriptures will get them off the hook.

65

My Introduction - An ex-elder's story of waking up later in life.

by doubtfull1799 in

background:.

my parents got the “truth” while i was in primary school.

i was baptised at 14. i loved school and was extremely studious.

Half banana

I want to say congratulations doubtful1799........you have escaped the brain washing!

There is still more work to do and you can take it slowly. Your wife will notice that you haven't become a drug addict or turned to satanism and I hope she will join you in the future.

It is a shock to realize you were conned, it is hurtful to know that the JW org continues to bamboozle their flock with unsubstantiated rhetoric demanding obedience but not worthy of it. As for eternal life in paradise........... was it not always too good to be true?

I hope your depression lifts and that your family accepts that you have a solid reason to leave the old religion. Well done for seeing the real light.

10

The Guardian: Australian Catholic church has paid $276m to abuse victims so far, inquiry shows

by AndersonsInfo in

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/16/australian-catholic-church-has-paid-276m-to-abuse-victims-so-far-inquiry-shows.

royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse releases data showing 4,445 have come forward.

australian associated press.

Half banana

It would be good if they have to sell off one of their new glossy properties such as the Walkill development to pay for their sins.

66

Was There ANYTHING Positive That You Experienced Because of Being a JW?

by minimus in

jw
friends

was there anything positive about your jehovah's witness experience?.

Half banana

I was always nervous of public speaking as a JW, partly because it was the speaker’s job to persuade the audience that the Watchtower was divinely inspired. (LOL!) Subconsciously I think my unease was because I had big reservations about the honesty of doing this.

When I woke up and left I was actually grateful for that particular JW experience and now I’m fairly confident speaking in public and I enjoy it. The reason is because now I choose to say what I know to be true from evidence. (Prehistory, horticulture, landscape design and art history-- offers welcome!)

In no way could any possible benefit justify belief in the paranoid false hopes and downright delusions of the JW organisation nor does it compensate for the lack of proper education, the years of wasted life, being emotionally and mentally constrained and in thrall to a worthless money grabbing cult. Pause for vomit...

And A Watcher you just wait until one of your “very close friends” also wakes up to TTATT and you too can learn just how conditional your very close friendship is then.

20

Round and round the not so marigoround

by Coded Logic in

i find most theist arguments to be either confused or dishonest at best.

and most of them i regard with mild annoyance.

but there is one track of thinking that is so stupid it really gets under my skin: when, in order to try and prop up "faith", people try and tear down reason and critical thinking.

Half banana

Why should anyone care what others believe SoCal101?

As the poet John Donne said, “No man is an island”, we are all in this business of life together, we depend on others and someone with dangerous beliefs can harm you or me.

Most modern terrorism is an expression of fundamentalist theism. Most of the wars today are in lands where belief in God is encouraged as a means of supporting a political agenda. Belief in God empowers the headstrong fanatics to oppose the more rational ‘ungodly’ world and brands them infidels as legitimate targets for destruction. There is no proof or evidence involved just blind prideful cultural belief.

It is always counter-productive for a human to hold on to beliefs for which there is no evidence. For religion to exist at all, it is a necessity.

31

I need some advice please

by JaMu in

i am a non-jw girl dating a jw man for almost 5 years now since end of high school.

most of the relationship has been long distance.

when we started dating, we wanted a serious long term relationship that would end in marriage one day.

Half banana

JaMu, the sensible response to your request for help is that you disentangle yourself from this relationship. To pursue it is to sow the seeds of unhappiness.

You are unaware how far reaching and disastrous the JW influence is on family life. You are unaware that the cult demands that a JW is required to put loyalty to its governing body above the value of life itself as demonstrated in their prohibition on blood transfusions to save life. This is a sobering thought that if you marry a JW they imagine that Biblical precedents determine what we should do today. The JW cult still lives with an Iron Age mentality. You are unaware of the fact that most families infected with the rules of this cult will be split apart at some future time with the loss of happiness and security which family life normally offers.

Finding a suitable life-long partner is hard enough without having the JW organisation muscling in on your relationship. Believe me you will not prosper with a JW in the long run.

On the plus side you have experienced a sort of relationship with one unsuitable individual, I really think you should spread your net a lot wider and find someone who will be happy to put your mutual interests ahead of Biblical dogma.

Life is hard enough without inviting this imbecilic religion into it.