Posts by Half banana

11

Son of God

by Steel in

is this a title of diety or did god have a baby?

.

sorry for being so brief, typing on a phone.. i am kind of interested to see what you have to say.

A far reaching criticism of religiousness is that it deals with words that have left their normal usage and have become sacred. Then when comparing expressions, religious people have driven themselves mad trying to avoid hell and looking for the only path to heaven. A logical and coherent solution to all of the disparities of Biblical usage can never be found since in the first place they are based on myth and not fact.

So don't drive yourself mad; relax! Don't even try to reconcile the irreconcilable but do ask instead, why was this or that written?

The Bible deals with myth, imagery, hope and power-- it is not a collection of logical, factual texts. The sources of Biblical writings are submerged in folklore and astrology and the essence of the ideas of god, even in the Bible, can be traced from polytheism. The books attributed to Moses are all about the new fangled monolatry (worship of just one of the gods) and why you should ditch the others. After all the new national god YHVH will zapp you if you don't worship him.

Religion evolves, take the evolution of the Watchtower cult as a familiar example! But certainly the oldest forms of theism were built into the world view of the ancients who related the annual movements of the sun, moon and stars to their divinities. Before the "sacred texts" humans had the stars to tell them the nature of the divine and how to behave.

And the son of the Sun God was the exact representation of his very being as the sun rose every morning and was reflected in the waters of the Nile............the narrative remains but the application changes.

So don't take the Bible literally!

15

Randy Wall case linked to on JWdotORG

by neat blue dog in

under "breaking news" on jwdotorg, there is a link to a court case in canada that was just resolved on may 31st.. https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/17101/index.do.

it's in regard to him being disfellowshipped, and the court says they can't get involved.

jwdotorg gives this statement about their victory:.

Half banana

The moral of the story is never tangle with Jehovah's Witnesses.

At first you may be attracted to them because they seem like decent people but like all JWs you could end up wasting your life trapped under the 'bewitchment' of a dictatorial cult. Their power is real only as long as you believe it is.

In the real world regulated by enforceable law, the JW organisation for all its host of taboos and rulings, is a non runner.

36

I've graduated at last

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

after a bit of a kerfuffle over a procedural matter, my university has awarded me a degree.

(the procedural problem was caused by my independent selection of what i wanted to study).

award : bachelor of arts.

Half banana

Very well done FTS-- but I hope you realise that you have dashed your chances of becoming an elder now!

Which makes me think, outside of JWs, are there any other organisations where ignorance is demanded and rewarded ?

14

Would you?

by Half banana in

would you join a religion which punishes you if you later on change your mind and choose to leave it?.

would you join a religion which claims to be the only one guided by god and yet has always got their prophetic utterances entirely wrong?.

would you join a religion which changes its beliefs every few years?.

Half banana

Would you join a religion which punishes you if you later on change your mind and choose to leave it?

Would you join a religion which claims to be the only one guided by God and yet has always got their prophetic utterances entirely wrong?

Would you join a religion which changes its beliefs every few years?

Would you join a religion which teaches that all other religions are under the spell of Satan?

Would you join a religion which says that you must obey its ruling and deny yourself or your children blood transfusions which could save your life in a medical emergency?

Would you join a religion which claims to have the only way to get everlasting life?

Would you join a religion which claims that higher education is harmful and mocks critical thinking?

Would you join a religion which demands that obedience to its rulings is more important than the ties to your family?

Would you join a religion which rewrites its history to conceal its glaring mistakes?

Would you join a religion which uses Biblical precedents which allow pedophiles to go unchecked among its members?

I confess I did join but these things were not clearly explained before I joined. . .

12

God is going to kill all of his unbelieving children at Armageddon

by Half banana in

jws are taught to think in a childish, simplistic and paranoid way.. the ticket to paradise includes a gory bloodfest of unimaginable proportions.

and jws calmly and unquestioningly trust and even look forward to this happening.. what about the morality of this unprecedented solution to mankind’s problems?

(there is evidence in the earth’s crust that noah’s flood never happened so it doesn’t count as a precedent).. sweep all of your problems under the biblical carpet and you know that god will sort it all out by the ultimate act of near total genocide—or not!

Half banana

Yes sir82 It is possible to reduce most ideas to an absurdity which makes it seem trivial. However, religious faith is a demand for belief in the supernatural and people are lulled into compliance by a very long tradition and are held there by the social acceptability of identifying as a believer. Humans always want to do what they see others doing! It is acceptable to believe in idiotic teachings if they are justified in the Bible however unreasonable.

I offer my reductionist thought as an indictment against lazy complacency and misplaced trust, all believers alike should stop and think how ludicrous these Bible fairy tales are if taken literally.

How can JWs get exposure to logical thought?

How did we personally shake off stupid beliefs?

Isn't it the same process of growing up and realizing there is no Father Christmas?

12

God is going to kill all of his unbelieving children at Armageddon

by Half banana in

jws are taught to think in a childish, simplistic and paranoid way.. the ticket to paradise includes a gory bloodfest of unimaginable proportions.

and jws calmly and unquestioningly trust and even look forward to this happening.. what about the morality of this unprecedented solution to mankind’s problems?

(there is evidence in the earth’s crust that noah’s flood never happened so it doesn’t count as a precedent).. sweep all of your problems under the biblical carpet and you know that god will sort it all out by the ultimate act of near total genocide—or not!

Half banana

JWs are taught to think in a childish, simplistic and paranoid way.

The ticket to paradise includes a gory bloodfest of unimaginable proportions. . . and JWs calmly and unquestioningly trust and even look forward to this happening.

What about the morality of this unprecedented solution to mankind’s problems? (There is evidence in the earth’s crust that Noah’s flood never happened so it doesn’t count as a precedent).

Sweep all of your problems under the Biblical carpet and you know that God will sort it all out by the ultimate act of near total genocide—or not! Actually genocide refers to the death of a nation, this would be anthropocide, the virtual death of humanity as performed by a loving father, the supposed creator of humankind. Destruction will come like the visitation to earth of a wayward asteroid selectively destroying 99.9% of the planet’s inhabitants and leaving only those who listen to the governing body of an American religious corporation.

Have doomsday cults ever got it right?

Really is it likely to happen?

Firstly I want to say, like all reasonable parents, that I love my kids unconditionally. Two of my children are PIMI and one is POMO but with favorable words for the religion he no longer attends.

It crossed my mind to tell my two PIMI offspring that now that they have reached adulthood, as their loving father I have decided (like God!) to kill off all of my children who do not agree with me…………

Actually I won’t do this, it’s a bit melodramatic but really isn’t this what Jehovah’s Witnesses believe? Isn’t this what Armageddon is about?

26

Struggling to Live a Lie

by Addison0998 in

jw
friends

it’s been very difficult, much more than i first anticipated to live a lie, (be pimo and a regular active member) i still live with my parents but i plan on moving out at the end of the year, so i really need to keep it together.

but i think people are starting to get suspicious that something is up.

i’ve stopped commenting, going on service all the time, talking at the door, and occasionally voicing something, such as a question that no one has a good answer for, that makes people think, but ahah, thinking is dangerous and wrong so that is suspicious of course.

Half banana

We all feel for you Addison, what you are going through is what it must be like for thousands if not hundreds of thousands of JWs, rolling their eyes at meetings and impatiently waiting to escape. What a dire cult!

I'm with JW_Rogue here, while you still have to conform, ask simple but thought provoking questions when you encounter illogical statements as if you are puzzled-- it will get others to challenge the stupidity of JW teachings.

13

Bible Teach Book points the finger at JW's themselves!

by The Fall Guy in

one of my all-time favourite illustrations:.

bible teach, chap.

16 p. 154 pars.

Half banana

When you stop and consider the the reasons for using these illustrations, it is purely to put the wind up JWs who might start thinking for themselves. The Watchtower want zombies who are kept subservient through guilt and fear.

However, if a JW did give some thought to it. . .

1/JW org says that all other religions contaminate true worship. Is it not easy to spot that the illustration and its language is a crude fear mongering ploy to stop witnesses thinking and mixing with non JWs?

2/ With a bit of reasoning on provable fundamentals (which JWs are discouraged from at all costs) then it becomes apparent that "true religion" like its bedfellow "true worship" are baseless constructs employed by the JW org to frame the religious vision for their members. In the real world they do not exist! And who says humans need to worship anything ever? Only religious cults.

Worship is not precious, its an appalling waste of valuable time and it is JW org who contaminates people's minds not other religions.

51

Is there evidence about Jaracz?

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

read some reply's about jaracz being a child abuser.. is there any evidence about it?.

g..

Half banana

I was interrupted and didn't edit my last sentence--I meant to say that where an individual had committed a sin, confessed and then went on serving the org with blessings from God (how do you measure that?) then it was overlooked. Plenty of ambiguity here for high ranking sex abusers to remain anonymous I think.

Indeed there are rumours-- but sometimes it is possible to read between the lines. The ARC recognised that the JW org has an in-house system in place which purportedly deals with child abuse but conceals the identity of of the abusers and ignores the welfare of the victims.

Whoever instituted this arrangement (was Jaracz behind it?) must be culpable along with the governing body who willingly perpetuate it.

51

Is there evidence about Jaracz?

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

read some reply's about jaracz being a child abuser.. is there any evidence about it?.

g..

Half banana

Thank you for the clarification STADD.

@Simon, of course you are right, rumour is not evidence and should not be the basis for accusations. However we must investigate and put all the information into the open.

Regarding the woman who claimed to have been abused by Jaracz we are all in the same bind as JW org all too readily promotes that there needs to be a witness to the abuse which there never is. Without record of a forensic interview with the alleged victim, and with this distance in time, we will probably never know.

There remain the questions of why Jaracz was demoted and why was he the leading proponent of the unreasonable and hurtful cult protecting rule of "two witnesses". Only a person who has something to hide or who is totally insensitive to victims of the religion would do such a thing.

From his personality assessment it seems he was a company man through and through which means he would be useful to the org whatever he might have or not have done "two or three years before" and keep the approval of the remaining officers of HQ. (I refer here to the Watchtower around the same time introducing the new half hearted notion of forgiveness by means of appearing to have made a mistake but carrying on with evidence of Jehovah's blessing.)