Posts by Half banana

25

Watchtower Ironically Warns It's Memeber About "Propaganda" - Watchtower July 2017

by pale.emperor in

https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/watchtower-study-july-2017/propaganda-winning-battle-for-your-mind/.

in what is just the height of irony, watchtower warns us about propaganda, and accepting everything we hear/read.

yes, we should ignore those that try to stop us thinking critically as this watchtower article will now teach us.

Half banana

The message from fairy-land is beware of Satan!

In this childish melodrama we have have life reduced to a simple dichotomy of total good and total evil.

Life is a struggle for most people and the means of finding a happy niche eludes many. (Or am I just remembering my own teen years as a JW struggling to make sense of a world distorted by Watchtower values?) The JW solution to everything is so uncomplicated that any idiot could learn it or any troubled person might find solace in their simplistic resolution for all of life's problems: listen to the JW organisation and obey!

Jehovah's Witnesses are a dire, harmful and manipulative cult. They resolutely refuse to distinguish between education and propaganda because to elucidate would shatter the foundation of their cult.

Yes, thank you for warning your readers about propaganda JW org. . . but what gross hypocrisy to condemn "propaganda" when it is your primary tool to deceive people into the ranks and then hold them there as hostages to threats of shunning should they want to leave.

JW org= gross hypocrisy.

24

Seeking Riches That Are True

by NJ501 in

your thoughts on today's watchtower?.

can you explain?.

how can material possessions be used to strengthen our friendship with god?

Half banana

The other name for this is begging for money.

Firstly Jehovah's Witnesses's god is a genocidal maniac-- who wants friends like that in the first place?

And then again if you give your treasures to the org you get little gems back in the form of brilliant truths.......like give up education and a career and you won't regret it 'cos Armageddon is coming by ~~1914 1925 1975 1994.~~

Get a life people!

4

Anybody here a "bump on a log?"

by stillin in

a brother used this illustration throughout his talk recently.

of course, it was meant to cause guilt in people like me or anybody else who might be prone to feeling guilty anyhow.

i approached him afterwards and said that he was speaking disparagingly of god's arrangement.

Half banana

I can't imagine a less interesting illustration! Attending the KH must have all the excitement and passion of watching paint dry.

11

The Gentile Times Reconsidered Recommendation

by Jules Saturn in

i've been trying to get my hands on this book and read a review that i thought was interesting.

an anonymous person reviewed the book on barnes and noble and said .

"jonsson book deals with babylonian tablets.

Half banana

Jonsson's fourteen watertight arguments against 607 BCE as the date for the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar was so compelling that he was disfellowshipped for his scholarly pains!

Jules, one person's comment is an insufficient canvass of opinion and the Akkadian writings, particularly the relevant astronomical records in question, are accessible in translation today.

The other element of this matter is that all academic historians know that the date was 587 BCE but the GB think they know better. Not only do they believe in an inerrant Bible without evidence. . . but they believe their in-house, historically ordained and private mythology of 607 BCE, contrary to factual evidence. That's a cult for you!

31

August 31, 2017 BOE Re: Procedure for Handling Certain Cases of Wrongdoing

by wifibandit in

august 31, 2017 to all bodies of elders re: procedure for handling certain cases of wrongdoing.

Half banana

Yes Spiral it's like it is written by someone in the secret HQ bunker of a creepy cult whose overriding interest is to seek out and destroy the enemy within..........

65

Today's Text - Justifying The Increase Of Annointed Ones!

by Divergent in

jw
friends

thursday, august 31. jehovah knows those who belong to him.—2 tim.

2:19.. in recent years, we have seen an increase in the number of those partaking at the memorial of christ’s death.

that trend contrasts with the decrease in the number of partakers that we saw for many decades.

Half banana

@ Stealth, you said what I was going to say, the leadership are equally deluded into a belief of immortality, ruling the universe with Big J and Jesus. It's a kind of Napoleon complex where human deficiencies are compensated in the individual by them inhabiting the most glorious role possible.

JWs who join the cult (as opposed to born-ins) have already made the switch, by ditching reason as the basis for decision making, to faith. They now believe in a supernatural resolution to all of life's problems in a miraculous dream of paradise. This is how cults normally work.

The only significant JW membership increase is in the third world, in troubled places like the Congo. The newbies understand there are two classes; earthly and heavenly but have little idea of Watchtower history getting in the way of their destination choices. So it is not so far fetched for the newly converted (who probably thought they were going to heaven anyway) with poor education, poor reasoning skills and buckets of faith to see themselves as "super heroes" within the cult.

Just eat the cracker and drink the wine and know that you are special (just like the leaders!)

27

My Book With Bible Stories - 91 stories of murder and rape to be used as bedtime stories for your little children

by Anders Andersen in

"no honey, daddy doesn't like this book.

do you have a nice book we can read?.

as far as i know my wife and i agree this book would be off-limits.

Half banana

The only thing the Watchtower cult wants is to indoctrinate its membership to be loyal to them.

This is what all their literature and broadcasting is about. The Watchtower cult does not care a fig for the well being of its children for all they might protest the opposite in the patronizing and vacuous comments they say about children. A good demonstration of this is how they show no compassion or arrange for remedial help for the victims of child abuse in their ranks, the only thing that matters to the JW org is their attempt to maintain a squeaky clean reputation.

If they cared about children they would understand that young humans have certain criteria for proper development, as scientists such as Piaget and others determined.One developmental step at a time and in the right order, starting with the profound security of unconditional love from the parents. then building the child's confidence in negotiating the real physical world then language, numeracy and reasoning correctly, all done with the child's welfare in mind to enjoy living with others in the larger world outside the family.

The primitive JW approach of graphic moral tales to make the child fear God is probably the worst method for building an open confident and happy child, it does not lead to an independent and self confident adult. Add to this a doomsday mentality and the religious trap of never being good enough, what you get are grown up JWs with low self esteem, poor education and a warped view of reality.

The JW org is a toxic, self interested, self righteous cult which harms people, don't ever listen to any of their stupid stories!

27

My Book With Bible Stories - 91 stories of murder and rape to be used as bedtime stories for your little children

by Anders Andersen in

"no honey, daddy doesn't like this book.

do you have a nice book we can read?.

as far as i know my wife and i agree this book would be off-limits.

Half banana

The first film I saw at a cinema was Bambi. I was three and a half, I thought it was terrific-- until Bambi's mother was killed by a hunter then I thought this is just too sad, what! no! can't be, the mother gets killed?

Yes children's stories always used to be frightening, perhaps it taught children to be realistic about the fragility of life but really those horror tales for kids did not encourage growing up or teach how to become independent or how to deal with the world. The moral was usually to do what you are told or else you get punished!

Grimm and his brother encapsulated European folk tales which had deeper psychological insights drawn from the human consciousness and set in a timeless world of pre-scientific magic. It is part of our collective literary heritage.

I think that there was a threshold for nasty children's tales and that was the Second World War. As an example take the UK Rupert books. Before the war they presented sinister shadowy almost gothic tales, post war, with enough suffering and brutality recently on our doorsteps, the tone improved and the stories became lighter and more child oriented. I would go as far to say they were much 'happier'.

The Bible however relishes revenge, divine judgement, smashing children against walls if you disagree with God etc.Children, like women and wives were just the belongings of the husband to dispose of at will. How could the WT Society (as it was then known when they produced My Book of BS) how could they imagine that you can expose children to such outlandish material for their benefit?

Of course it wasn't for the benefit of the young, the only result would be indoctrination and stunting children's development, and that is what has happened. JWs become dependent on the JW org who in turn depend on the "absolute goodness" of the Bible and remain stuck in the cult like brainless limpets on a rock.

7

Todays Text - Classic example of how to twist scripture to your own ends

by doubtfull1799 in

you received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which spirit we cry out: “abba, father!”—rom.

those who have received this special invitation from god do not need another witness from any other source.

they do not need someone else to verify what has happened to them.

Half banana

The GB must think that logic is from the Devil, I expect they may start teaching this soon!

18

The true essence of the Bible—there is some problem with it?!

by venus in

in the famous aesop fable, we read about a fox who unsuccessfully tried to get some grapes, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: “i am sure they are sour.”.

someone made a second part to this story.

fox did some rehearsal in the night and came on to the scene next day, and jumped with difference and got the grapes from the vine tree, and he began to eat to his full capacity.

Half banana

Religions are castles of sand built on sand! Nearly all of the Bible is borrowed from earlier literature nearly always from other cultures. The sacrifice of Christ the son of the Sun God was a trope of the pagan saviour cults from Asia, North East Africa and the middle East.