Posts by Half banana

6

Seed of mind-control could be seen in the word Amen

by venus in

just like naming of days of the week and months are of astrological/pagan origin, the widely used word amen too is pagan, and has contributed to mind-control.. each time we say “amen” at the end of prayer we may think that we mean only "verily" and "truly".

unfortunately, we overlook something very important.

amen, amen-ra is the "most high" egyptian solar archetype [egyptian sun god, known as amun/amin/amen ra, meaning "the hidden god" and thus, the phrase "amen" would originally mean "let it remain hidden/secret."].

Half banana

Venus and Diog, I find the connection of world myth and astrology compelling. Much information seems to be in the hands of occult literature but without the reasoning behind it. Argument for the astronomical connections are viewed by the churches as paganism and therefore dismissed out of hand. When researching on the internet, most of the encounters linking paganism and the Christ story are from Christian sources defending their holy corner.

With complete or perhaps willful ignorance of the role of mythology, the Christian is blighted by literalism and the usual grounds for being dismissive is the fact that the parallels of the Christ story are distorted which indeed they are, for that is the nature of myth.

A good source which is backed by academic research, is the that of the late DM Murdock; look up her astrotheology site (Astrotheology of the Ancients).

I too have found the amen Amun question dismissed on the internet but am inclined to think Christians would find it offensive and so would want to deny the connection.

8

WTBTS of Britain - in the deepest of holes!

by Nicholaus Kopernicus in

the britain branch of jw’s has been afforded significant but involuntary exposure in the media recently.

this is principally because of the investigation of the charities commission in a congregation in the suburbs of manchester as well as an investigation into the britain branch of jw’s itself.

if a job is being done well, it normally withstands scrutiny.

Half banana

That lack of cooperation with the authorities is significant despite their own routine preaching of Rom 13:1,2.

This demonstrates the glib way they quote scriptures like a knee jerk but don't actually believe it unless it suits their cultic purpose.

I commented recently on exactly the same point Nicholas, unlike the contrite churches of 'Babylon' they don't and won't apologise for the thoughtless way they have handled child abuse cases and there are two reasons.

1 they imagine they are a special religion above the law (absurd)

2 they say they are being Biblical in demanding "two witnesses" (stupid, out of date and harmful)

Both of these reasons inform the proper authorities that they are putting their own dogma above human values to the detriment of the very lives of their members.

One further point; Jehovah's Witnesses are in a real sense themselves abused by their leaders, they have to conform or be punished, they have no freewill to determine how they live.The point I am stressing is that abused people are groomed to be compliant to the people who control them. The GB through the Watchtower groom them on a weekly basis.

The governing body of Jehovah's Witnesses have a lot to answer for and let's hope the Charities Commission and the BBC make some big waves.

26

This convention talk offended me

by Isambard Crater in

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.

Half banana

I does seem that Jehovah is in his dotage, never seems to get any prophecies right.

26

This convention talk offended me

by Isambard Crater in

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.

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?

332

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

by slimboyfat in

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.

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!

332

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

by slimboyfat in

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.

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.

332

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

by slimboyfat in

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.

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.

51

What are your beliefs now, religious/non religious?

by Jules Saturn in

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?

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.

64

My jaw dropping OMG moment at the end of the convention

by UnshackleTheChains in

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.

Half banana

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

Ambiguities

by Half banana in

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.

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.