Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  26

  This convention talk offended me

  by Isambard Crater in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  here are my notes from the r.c yesterday, the talk called "jehovah – the greatest example of endurance".

  many of you will understand why i found it offensive.. jehovah has taken the hard option of choosing to endure:.

  reproach to his holy name.

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  Half banana

  Beats me how these guys know the mind of Jerhoover so well. . . did Big J tell them he's tired and bit edgy at the moment?

  Could they just possibly be making this pathetic nonsense all up. Just possibly?
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  332

  The most successful teaching of Jehovah's Witnesses and an amazing new book on the divine name

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jehovah's witnesses have had to revise their chronology and various doctrinal interpretations due to events and scholarly corrections.

  but the one teaching where they have been consistently ahead of the curve is the importance of jehovah's name.. .

  i'm going to run through a (necessarily selective) timeline of jw events and scholarly publications that demonstrate the phenomenal success of this teaching in the last days.

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  Half banana

  Sbf, Notwithstanding my dismissal of the importance of how people should pronounce a name for any God since it is in the realms of superstition, I agreed that the matter would be of use in understanding the evolution of religious myth, and indeed it is, especially in the area of “onomastics” as your blurb quotations mention. (Oh, how recondite!).

  I agree, you might describe the book by Frank Shaw as “amazing” not because of its niche academic obscurity but by being conspicuously relevant to JWs as an adjunct to the proper understanding in the origins of one of the names of an ancient Canaanite god, one of which they (unthinkingly) promote as their partisan trade mark and talisman.

  The word under Shaw’s spotlight is not the tetragrammaton or Yahweh but “Iao,” once used much more informally it seems when referring to God. (Did Jews, Greeks or others ever translate it YH or “Yah”, do we know?) To understand and isolate any matter or artefact or item of language from the past, it is essential to understand it in its everyday social context including the prevailing perception of the numinous. The text has to reconcile the archaeology and sociology of a particular time and location. I do not know if Shaw does this?

  Reading only a scholarly review (!) Shaw’s text is a reworking of his PhD dissertation. I picked up the idea that the evidence leads to the earliest known references of “Iao” being without “apotropaic” use (i.e. talismanic). It was only in Gnostic and Christian times when it became mysticised whereas the tetragrammaton from early on (8th century BCE) had value as an amulet inscription (for good luck and warding off evil).

  The highlighting of Shaw’s text is an insight for those not familiar with what goes on in academic evidence based writing as opposed to ‘popular’ takes on a subject (you don’t have to agree but must give evidence and references for disagreeing) and this is reflected in the price of the book; cheap at 50 Euros. Probably not a big seller!
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  332

  The most successful teaching of Jehovah's Witnesses and an amazing new book on the divine name

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jehovah's witnesses have had to revise their chronology and various doctrinal interpretations due to events and scholarly corrections.

  but the one teaching where they have been consistently ahead of the curve is the importance of jehovah's name.. .

  i'm going to run through a (necessarily selective) timeline of jw events and scholarly publications that demonstrate the phenomenal success of this teaching in the last days.

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  Half banana

  Sbf I wish to dismantle your arguments by pointing out that the ”name of God” has no more relevance to real things as does giving serious thought to answering the question of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

  Why take the belief system of Iron Age Israel, one minor Levantine tribe with a theology borrowed from other more powerful nations, and who chose as their champion one of the seventy son gods of El in the Phoenician pantheon? (The Bible mentions other brother Gods of Jehovah and also his female consort Ashera).

  The only facts we might be able to deduce are the evolution of the change in Canaanite mythology, otherwise you are (if they represent your beliefs) completely in the territory of infantile superstition, sacralizing ancient tribal folk lore.
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  332

  The most successful teaching of Jehovah's Witnesses and an amazing new book on the divine name

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jehovah's witnesses have had to revise their chronology and various doctrinal interpretations due to events and scholarly corrections.

  but the one teaching where they have been consistently ahead of the curve is the importance of jehovah's name.. .

  i'm going to run through a (necessarily selective) timeline of jw events and scholarly publications that demonstrate the phenomenal success of this teaching in the last days.

  1. 
  2. 
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  Half banana

  Sbf I wish to dismantle your arguments by pointing out that the ”name of God” has no more relevance to real things as does giving serious thought to answering the question of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

  Why take the belief system of Iron Age Israel, one minor Levantine tribe with a theology borrowed from other more powerful nations, and who chose as their champion one of the seventy son gods of El in the Phoenician pantheon? (The Bible mentions other brother Gods of Jehovah and also his female consort Ashera).

  The only facts we might be able to deduce are the evolution of the change in Canaanite mythology, otherwise you are (if they represent your beliefs) completely in the territory of infantile superstition, sacralizing ancient tribal folk lore.
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  51

  What are your beliefs now, religious/non religious?

  by Jules Saturn in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  what are your convictions now that you are no longer one of jehovah's witnesses?

  are you a born again christian?

  have you joined another denomination of christianity?

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  Half banana

  I agree with both of your points Xanthippe. The feeding habits of the ichneumonidae leave a lot to be desired if God was to have an ounce of feeling. If there is a creator he also has to be responsible for ebola, sabre tooth tigers, parasites which live only in the human eye, black mamba snakes and a thousand other horrors as well. It is far easier to interpret the natural world as the result of evolutionary descent and therefore being quite indifferent to our feelings.

  Humans though prefer to add an emotional layer to their perception of the world and here lies the problem.

  The bottom line is that "beliefs"as guide to life are completely unreliable however much they may comfort us. But fear not! we have something much better than mere beliefs; it called knowledge and is securely based on evidence.
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  64

  My jaw dropping OMG moment at the end of the convention

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  yes folks.

  over the past few days i can honestly say the convention was relatively quite good.

  most of the talks, videos, symposiums were in line with scripture if you have faith in the bible.

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  Half banana

  Overall there is a joy in NOT referring to the Bible for any answers!
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  Ambiguities

  by Half banana in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just a thought, as the jw org declines in vigour there seem to be many puzzling stories and illustrations coming from the convention and kh platforms.

  at the moment we have a thread by fed up jw about the many spokes of the bicycle wheel leading to god but claiming there is only one way.

  a counter-productive illustration.

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  Half banana

  Just a thought, as the JW org declines in vigour there seem to be many puzzling stories and illustrations coming from the convention and KH platforms. At the moment we have a thread by Fed up JW about the many spokes of the bicycle wheel leading to God but claiming there is only one way. A counter-productive illustration.

  My thought is that the JW numbers are being artificially supported by threats of shunning which means that there are an increasing volume of non-believers in the ranks who feel unable at the moment to leave for social reasons. That includes elders who are ‘wide awake’ as we know from this site.

  Could it be that the ambiguous illustration choices might be evidence of either Freudian slips by fading elders or deliberately barbed points to wake up others up whilst still appearing to adhere to the party line?

  I reckon we should expect more in the future.
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  18

  honesty

  by midnight in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  regarding the recent 1975 video at the convention it hit me !.

  when reasoning with people about the inspiration of the bible we used the bible writers candor ie/ there honesty when recording bible accounts about there personal mistakes .. how come the governing body despite its claims to be spirit directed are not honest about there mistakes ?.

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  Half banana

  My request to the governing body is firstly a humble and honest an apology: to admit they have been wrong all along and that they are just a commercial enterprise. (Peddling in people's hopes and dreams)

  Secondly I am asking that they shut up shop and give their wealth to all of those they have deprived of an education and of their self esteem and especially give to those suffering in ill health and poverty in their old age through believing and supporting their wacky prophecies.

  But then it is a principle of confidence tricksters to maintain their mask of total innocence.
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  64

  My jaw dropping OMG moment at the end of the convention

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  yes folks.

  over the past few days i can honestly say the convention was relatively quite good.

  most of the talks, videos, symposiums were in line with scripture if you have faith in the bible.

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  Half banana

  Unshackle said:

  So, contrary to what the GB are telling us, all 18013 in 2016 did the right thing. They are all correctly partaking as Christians should. The so called mistakers are in fact bravely rejecting a man made teaching.

  The "right thing" Unshackle?

  If the JWs are puzzled by their memorial with symbolic consumption of the flesh and blood of their sacrificed saviour; it is because it is drawn from a long standing pagan ritual.

  Christianity is one almighty confidence trick in the first place. It has always been the role of the priests and cult leaders to claim that their dogma is the only "True" interpretation. Don't be conned!
  
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  7

  What I Noticed At An Event During This Week. . . . . .

  by HiddlesWife in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i attended an event this week with my usual closest relatives, which was inside a community center-ish venue with a backyard area.

  it was given by my cousin's best friend.

  she invited around 50 people of all age groups and racially-mixed.

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  Half banana

  
  

  What do you mean my piercing is inappropriate brother?