Half banana

Joined

• started 79 topics
• posted 3,096 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Half banana

• 
  50

  Overwhelmed

  by Freedom rocks in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  does anyone else feel overwhelmed on what to believe?.

  i've been doing lots of research on beliefs, evolution, creationism but i feel no further forward about what i truly believe.

  for example i looked at the fossil record and tiktaalic and thought great it proves a lot but then i've seen counter arguments on youtube of people basically saying its a load of rubbish and doesn't prove anything.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  A fascinating experience you have had Caves and I concur with your conclusion as to where to start. The safest way not to be misled is to stick with things which are provable and not the speculative or dreamy religious hype material.
• 
  113

  EU Court Ruling Against WT on Data-Protection

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  today's london times reports on the july ruling of the eu court that forces the organisation country to comply with data protection.. the action originated in finland but the ruling will affect every eu country.

  the cult tried unsuccessfully to argue that the notes taken by jws in the door-to-door work were personal and not accessed by the congregation.

  the court ruled that they are acting under the auspices of the congregation and therefore they must comply with data-protection laws.. keeping lists of do-not-calls also falls under this ruling.. why does the cult always feel that it is above the law?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  It could be suggested that publishers make a private note on a scrap of paper seen only by themselves and return an other time. But hell who are we to tell JWs how to waste their time more effectively!

  Going door to door is only a JW custom, hardly anyone in the Western World responds anymore, except the desparate, friendless and mentally unstable. The real reason for going door to door is no longer to find the mythical sheep but is to comply with HQ's demand that you obediently spend a certain time performing this particular ritual.

  Get a proper life JWs!
• 
  44

  Study Watchtower confirms shunning spiritually weak. How nice!

  by Isambard Crater in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it really hurt to hear brothers and sisters commenting about this at the meeting yesterday.. "as in solomon’s case, one of the greatest threats to spirituality is friendship with those who do not understand or respect jehovah’s standards.

  some may be associated with the congregation but may be spiritually weak.

  others could be relatives, neighbors, coworkers, or schoolmates who are not worshippers of jehovah.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  This is going to backfire. The GB are looking for scapegoats to blame their decline on. "Why? It is all those weak ones who just attend meetings and don't contribute anything who are the problem".

  The fact of the matter is that many JWs are held captive and stuck there by the cult's own threats of dividing the family.

  This directive will sadden more people than it encourages. I hope it will be the last straw for those whose family or marriage is under strain from the instructions of the cult leaders. The doctrines are looking less and less likely to ever come true anyway, so why not leave now!
• 
  50

  Overwhelmed

  by Freedom rocks in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  does anyone else feel overwhelmed on what to believe?.

  i've been doing lots of research on beliefs, evolution, creationism but i feel no further forward about what i truly believe.

  for example i looked at the fossil record and tiktaalic and thought great it proves a lot but then i've seen counter arguments on youtube of people basically saying its a load of rubbish and doesn't prove anything.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  Freedom rocks, your situation is very familiar to all those of us who have left the JW cult. There is anxiety that all our precious foundational religious beliefs are being dispensed with and we are left with a void.

  As JWs we were robbed! Robbed of our human right to know and understand according to factual evidence. Instead our whole life was the product of what we let the Watchtower impose on our minds and hearts as to what reality was. They were so very wrong-- and we were led up the garden path.

  I think then that the first determination we should make is to be able to assess is whether a belief is based on a stories or based on fact and evidence. There are other things going on in our minds as we get rid of JW nonsense but from the point of getting a proper grip on reality we have to start somewhere and this is it.

  Understand what is "belief" and what is testable fact and be ruthless about it. Understand the difference.

  For example although many people have forever believed in a spirit world there is no concrete evidence for things which are invisible and cannot be measured in any way. Their existence is only in people's minds as the result of wishing to believe.This is the essence of belief.

  Humans are however not logic machines we have a strong emotional component, it created our many cultures and is drawn from our earliest experiences in life, the warmth and security of being cared for as an infant. . . but don't get snagged in this mode because the normal human grows up (not JWs!) and works things out for him or herself.

  As we work things out after JW life we must ask a new set of questions. Not "Does the religion approve?" but "Is this or that idea based on solid evidence?". Evolution for example is based on solid evidence but if you live in the United States there exists a movement to stem the loss of Biblical authority and is creating its own defensive culture to support the indefensible claim that God created the world. Look at the evidence. You looked at the internet and heard "others" said there were arguments against evolution. Look at the evidence for yourself.
• 
  5

  An interesting explanation for the sale of India Branch property

  by Ireneus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  yesterday i was talking to a witness who has some connections with witnesses in india.

  when i mentioned about the plan of selling the branch property, he was saying ‘this is a clever move as they fear a ban in that country as recently happened in russia.’.

  this shows what type of trust they have in jehovah!.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  Fear works wonders in religious circles.
• 
  61

  Simple introduction to the theory of evolution

  by Diogenesister in

  1. forum
  2. links

  hi new folks, lurkers and trolls.

  i thought i would post this simple but interesting video which shows how scientists bring multiple lines of evidence together to prove evolution is true; for example:.

  comparative anatomy.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  Thanks Diogenesister for posting this, like Cofty's brilliant examples on the subject the video is simple clear and factual. Once you are out of the religious mindset you can get a much better handle on the workings of the living world.

  If you believe in the Bible instead of science you are bemired in a pit in a fog at night..............

  Yeah but I like being bemired in a pit in the fog at night with my other dinosaur friends!
• 
  23

  Anyone know the significance of the three days and nights Jesus is dead?

  by Crazyguy in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  in my studies i’ve come to realize that most dying and rising gods such as inanna, jesus and others all were dead three days and nights.

  the moon is dead as far as man not being able to see it in the sky three days and nights but many of these gods are not associated with the moon, osiris maybe being the only exception.

  have any of you in your research come up with a plausible idea on why there all dead just threes days and three nights?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  @WTWizard, I agree with you about the perception of the Sun 'dying' at the winter solstice but it is the son of the sun god who dies on the 'cross' at the spring equinox. In the Mithraic cult at least four hundred years before Jesus, the saviour Mithra (or Mithras in the Latin tongue) was crucified at Easter because that was the time of "the cross" i.e when the sun appears to cross the equator relative to the plane of the earth's travel around the sun (the ecliptic) on its journey northwards, which culminates in high summer for the northern hemisphere. It is the earth always being at an angle of 23.5 degrees from the vertical in its solar orbit that gives us the seasonal variations. The calendar of the ancients was marked by the birth, rising strength and decline of the sun which in turn was relative to its sunrise and sunset locations on the local horizon.

  I will be studying the groundwork for some of these things starting in two weeks time in the context of the British Neolithic on a course at Oxford University.
• 
  34

  WT Recruiting JW Solicitors (Lawyers)

  by AverageJoe1 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  we all know how much the watchtower abhors "higher education" and that apparently jehovah thinks it is a big waste of time.

  at least that is their official stance.

  it might come as a shock to you that this month they have started a campaign drive to actually recruit jws who have higher education, specifically those who have legal training.. with all the law suits against them for creating an environment that is friendly to paedophiles, it is thus no wonder that they are in need of solicitors, especially those who are sympathetic towards the cult.. talk about hypocrisy!.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  I love the optimism: the names of barristers serving as pioneers!
• 
  25

  Has God preserved His word today?

  by JW Answers in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  has god preserved his word today?

  many people attack, doubt and fault god's word.

  yet god has made several promises in his word.he promised to preserve his word unto every generation,he promised that every word would be truth,he promised that we can rely and depend on his every word.satan wants nothing more than to dismiss, and cast doubt on god's word... so the question today is... do we have god's preserved word today?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  So did an ox headed idol called Yahweh in the Phoenician pantheon create the world and all that was in it? Did this idol from the days of polytheism ever speak or write? Then did he inspire imperial Rome to assemble borrowed and selectively altered texts drawn from pagan and exotic sources to represent his thoughts? And then demand its subjects to regard these writing as the unassailable and sacred word of God and by the fifth century punish you by death if you didn't believe? Are Gods a projection of the concept of fatherhood invested with power by common acceptance as a last ditch safety net to ward off existential anxiety?

  You have to sort out these incongruities before being able to ask whether an unprovable, unknowable, untestable, uncommunicative invisible spirits even exist let alone being capable of creating things or writing books.
• 
  81

  How Long Before They Introduce Tithing?

  by pale.emperor in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when i was a full-on believing jw i had an obsessive fascination with mormonism.

  i read, studied and watched their propaganda with strange interest as well as their apostate mormon books.

  i have to say, they have a good scam going claiming that "the lord reintroduced tithing" in the modern age.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Half banana

  If they did introduce tithing, like everything to do with the JW organisation, it would be a disaster.

  Firstly the majority of JWs are poor and would greatly resent a compulsory tithe; it would drive out all those looking for an excuse to leave--which could amount to millions of them?

  Secondly the other church members who pay a tithe such as Mormons and Seventh Day Adventists get a lot back from the payment as it goes into funds which in turn yield social security and recreational benefits for the congregants.

  The GB have no stomach for social support for their devotees, their response to those hurt by sexual abuse amply demonstrates that they don't care a fig about the psychological and earthly needs of their members. Their mythical heavenly kingdom is supposed to do the social welfare part, which leaves the role of the GB as takers and not givers...........

  However I do hope they have to resort to tithing as it will be a sign of final desperation and it will hasten the end of their nasty cult. Yipee!