Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  22

  A film about Jonah

  by Sergey Antonov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  who has any thoughts about the new film about the prophet jonah?

  how could they divide the entire period into days, if the bible does not say so?

  the king ordered them to fast 20 days before the destruction ???!

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  Half banana

  But a fairytale with brass knobs.

  The trope of "three days dead" was a signifyer for a Sun God in ancient literature, later applied to any hero who descends to hell and returns, think Ulysses, three days dead, and Orpheus going to see Eurydice in Hades for example.

  Since the sun metaphorically dies for three and a half days at the winter solstice and metaphorically comes back to life again by virtue of the points at which the sun rises and sets having stopped for this period of time, on Christmas day start moving north again on the east horizon (the rebirth of the Sun God)

  To attribute this "three days dead" experience to Jesus was to award him the mantle of divine glory as a super-hero. This was a necessary move on the part of the Jesus cult to have this included in scripture because earlier "Christ" literature gave no personal name, just the title; The Christ.

  But hey! the more ancient fables which are retold by JW org as if they were true, the more JWs there will be who will wake up, join us and leave the cult to stew in it own ignorant juice. How anyone can see a divine hand at work in last years story of Lot and his daughters, beats me.
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  22

  A film about Jonah

  by Sergey Antonov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  who has any thoughts about the new film about the prophet jonah?

  how could they divide the entire period into days, if the bible does not say so?

  the king ordered them to fast 20 days before the destruction ???!

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  Half banana

  Fairytale!
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  17

  The Trinity explained from the Whiteboard

  by JW Answers in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a lot of people are confused over the teaching of the trinity, some doubt it, some outright deny it, where some can't get their head around it.

  the bible supports it through scriptural evidence.

  this video explains from the whiteboard the difference between the god of the watchtower to the god in the bible.

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  Half banana

  Tedious and irrelevant to real life!

  To discuss the "truth" of the trinity is precisely as useful and practical as to whether Guy the gorilla was the same person as his father. Nothing useful comes from such debates. It is merely a historical facet of ancient religious belief.
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  5

  any fruits from Theocratic victories should go to Jehovah’s honor, and not to the exaltation of any ... organization.

  by LaFrancia in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  very interesting w 50 6/15 pp.

  the general principle shown is that any fruits from theocratic victories should go to jehovah’s honor, and not to the exaltation of any individual or organization.

  the israelites stripped the midianites of their fine raiment and jewelry; so the truth declared against the world leaders, whether religious or political, commercial or military, strips them of the “higher powers” claim in which they clothe themselves, removes them from their exalted position, plunders the prestige and adoration they once enjoyed, and they lose the flattering titles that allowed them to glitter and shine.

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  Half banana

  Theocratic victories? This is cult talk!

  Theocracies don't have a good track record. ISIS being an example, they have proved to be the most inhuman and blood-thirsty type of regime denying their subject's natural rights to self determination and effectively enslavement to their leaders who are entrusted to interpret "God's will". Theocracy is dystopian.

  If God was truly leading JWs then he surely would have not mangled his timing promise. . . and there would only have been one of them!

  How then could anyone today claim a theocratic victory? The Watchtower during the course of the 20th century, led by the religious 'certainties' from the mouth and pen of Fred Franz, appeared back then to have a direction and a goal. However with the debacles of 1975 and the "generation of 1914" all of the pronouncements and the hope and religious conviction which went with them lie self evidently disproved and useless.

  Jehovah's Witnesses have never had a visible or provable victory except the highly questionable triumph of belief over reason, demanding and getting blind faith from their flock in spite of the availability of factual information and knowledge of the Watchtower's history of total failure.
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  4

  Old Magazine, New Perspective

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  going through old junk and came across a 22 year old study watchtower, february 1996. looking at all my underlining and marking it was just nauseating how meaningless it all was.

  this "study" wasn't study at all, just a by rote exercise, an old jw custom one of the primary motivations of which is to stop others from judging you as "weak" if they don't see it all desecrated, which must surely indicate a vigorous study session.

  moving on to other articles i was confronted with more evidence of a cult that i was blind to the first time around, including an article praising those who died for refusing blood such as a pregnant mother and a boy pictured here.. .

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  Half banana

  Thank you for this insight by looking back at Watchtower material neat blue dog.

  "Praising those who died" for compliance to the demands of the cult. No compassion ever from the JW organisation, more a celebration that it has the power over the life and death of its flock.

  The post JW perspective is with eyes wide open.
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  12

  Update Please on Reasons for KH Sales

  by snugglebunny in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i've been out of the loop somewhere along the line.

  the wt is trying to raise money i guess.

  is this in anticipation of major pay-outs to child abuse victims?

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  Half banana

  You're right Beth Sarim, it is a cash and grab racket.

  First they got the bros. to use only Watchtower funded insurance for each KH back in the early eighties, making it easier to get hold of the deeds or titles to all of the properties, which they did a bit later. By about 1986 they claimed ownership of all the KHs (and by so doing became a hierarchical religion or "organised religion" with centralised governance and ownership of all the assets--a thing they had railed against for decades in other organised religions). Then they announced their magnanimity in relieving the congregations of their mortgages to the society but demanded the same amount of payment in perpetuity. This situation then left the congregations with a permanent debt for the amount of their old mortgage even if they had just about paid it off-- plus the likelyhood of having the KH sold without either a say in the matter or any financial compensation. Aah but it's for the Kingdom............... or is it?

  Now we are seeing the grab, selling off kingdom halls which they cunningly levered off the old congregations and creaming off the profits.

  It a masterpiece of stealthy accounting tricks courtesy of the JW governing body.
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  12

  Update Please on Reasons for KH Sales

  by snugglebunny in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i've been out of the loop somewhere along the line.

  the wt is trying to raise money i guess.

  is this in anticipation of major pay-outs to child abuse victims?

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  Half banana

  When an organisation sells of its assets just to maintain its already reduced commitments, you know that something is seriously wrong with the financial health of that organisation.

  What is at the heart of the JW delusion? It is a business at heart and that heart is dying.

  It is inevitable that the negativity created by this situation will feed down from HQ to the rank and file and will greatly increase the number of leavers which in turn amplifies the problems.
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  8

  Most recent JW statistics

  by Half banana in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  has anyone come across detailed 2017 jw org statistics so we can compare them to previous years?

  or are they now obscured in a soapy film of praise to the demi-gods at warwick to disguise the decline?.

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  Half banana

  Yes Steve-- slimmed down, like everything in JW land except the waist bands of the cult leaders. Mmmm, now why would that be?

  Paradise will be slimmed down to mean the "spiritual paradise" only. The faithful will enjoy slimmed down truths and slimmed down information. All you have to do to get saved is believe every word on JWTV. Meetings will be limited to annual assemblies (for the purpose of finding breeding partners to keep the cult going). An elder will come to your house and baptise you with a jug of water (c'mon, total immersion is still only a symbol!)The slimmed down equivalent to meetings will be watching broadcasts from HQ at home since all KH's are to be sold. HQ Big brother will be watching you watch the screen and logging your reactions. Faith will be determined by the amount of time the individual spends there watching the Guardians Of Doctrines on JWTV............I get carried away.

  Anyway it used to be easy to make a comparison of stats but now you have to be determined and waste a lot of time trying to find out.
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  25

  1 Timothy 2:11-15...Woman and silence in the congreagation

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  1 timothy 2:11-15let a woman learn in silence with full submissiveness.

  i do not permit a woman to teach, or to exercise authority over a man, but to be in silence.

  for adam was formed first, then eve.

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  Half banana

  As the early Christ cults battled for market domination, one of the leading movements was that of the Gnostics. These were not literalists and like other contemporary Christ followers were not patriarchal but allowed women as leaders within the group.

  It's worth remembering that the Bible or rather a Bible with an orthodox canon did not exist until the first quarter of the fourth century.

  It was the right wing literalist interpreters of christian writings who eventually won out when the Roman powers forced a fusion of beliefs creating the Catholic Church and gave its assent to the Pauline texts (whoever wrote them) with its support of male authority reflecting the military ethos of the empire.
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  52

  Stats just out: JWs in Wales decline (-3.4%) - COs primed for zero baptisms!

  by Darth FayDehr in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  figures from that latest 2-weekend convention in caridff (wales) reveal jw “growth” now in decline.

  baptisms are discouragingly low (21, combined), and circuit overseers have been primed to deal with assemblies where there are no baptisms; see these leaked 2018 instructions:.

  pdf summary: https://1drv.ms/b/s!arekzxkzlp8ybsl45pov7y6k26a.

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  Half banana

  Excellent! and didn't someone post that the figure for Scotland was 26?