Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  14

  Mark 13: 1-8 ...Not a composite sign/ two-fold prophecy scripture

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this brother starts off with reading the following scriptures from the book of mark 13:1-8.

  3 while he was sitting on the mount of olives across from the temple, peter, james, john, and andrew asked him privately, 4 “tell us, when will these things happen?

  and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?”.

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  Half banana

  There are two primary false assumptions made by the Watchtower:

  One is that the Bible contains the thoughts and demands of a supreme god.

  The second is that only the Watchtower/JW org leadership have the exclusive spin rights on how to interpret it.

  Therefore the GB think that all they need for any situation is to find a scripture relevant in content to the problem at hand and that will suffice-- so forget the original context or meaning. Trotting out scriptures regardless of meaning keeps up their reputation as a Bible quoting religion. The JW governing body are world leaders in "post truth" thinking!

  This matter is so clear when reading the gospels about the prevailing anxieties by Jews and the end of their system. As crazyguy mentions these were written close to the time of the sack of Jerusalem in 70 AD under Vespasian. The so called Third temple only recently built was destroyed and broke the power of the Jewish leaders and closed the Sanhedrin.

  The Greek scriptures were written for a new Christ cult which was growing at the time but were relatively few in number and mainly Jews. As yet they were not centrally organised apart from holding meetings in the manner of prevailing Greek and Roman cults, from which they derived their heirarchical orders; bishops, prebyters and deacons --still in use by JWs in modern translation.

  The words of the gospels are categorically not those of Jesus of Nazareth.

  Nazareth did not exist when Jesus was supposed to have been born! No one ever took down verbatim what Jesus said, mainly because nobody known to history actually knew him or reported his words or activities first hand.The gospels are the fabrications of the leaders of a new christ in a historical background of many christ cults which preached destruction of the world and salvation by belief in a resurrected christ figure--which was an evolving twist on an ancient story.

  My favourite which says it all is Mark 9;1.
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  11

  Warwick and Similar Properties

  by Lost in the fog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a comment from a friend's page.

  "why does a heavenly organisation need earthly headquarters buildings?

  surely jesus said that god is a spirit and should be worshipped in spirit and truth?

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  Half banana

  Dreary, the point is that if a heavenly organisation existed and functioned by communicating with people on Earth then there would be no need for an Earthly one as well.

  There is no evidence whatsoever for any heavenly organisation, it is purely a construct of the human imagination of religious leaders.
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  9

  Comparison of Jan 14 and 15 days texts

  by helpmeout in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i couldn’t help but notice the juxtaposition of the day text for jan 14 and 15. the first is about following the disfellowshipping decree, the second is about showing compassion.

  i ask you, “if an active jw were to miss following both of these texts, which one would they most likely be counseled on?”.

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  Half banana

  That's right Steve, compassion my foot. In JW land it's obey! or we'll apply psychological torture to you.
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  10

  When Israel was living under a Theocracy ,was it a Paradise ?

  by smiddy3 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the bible books that speak of a time when the israelite`s were enjoying jehovah`s blessings , isnt it true they were still dying from old age ,sickness , and death ?

  didn`t they have a leper colony in their midst ?....yes.

  didn`t they still have the poor among them ?

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  Half banana

  Smiddy, you write as if these Jewish things really existed! The founders of Judaism, Abraham and Moses are fictional characters-- they never lived, they could never make contracts with God or anyone-- it's all storybook narrative. Theocracies are fiction, the Jews never had one. God never shows himself to anyone so theocracy is the work of men claiming to do God's rule. There never was a Jewish paradise nor Adam and Eve. Some claim that the Mosaic law was never actually implemented as written.

  But you're dead right there is no basis for thinking that the Jewish god YHVH or his consort Ashera or his father El (all of which Israel borrowed from the Phoenicians) have any interest in making an Earthly paradise. It's an empty promise. Better to get on with real things.......
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  23

  Reflecting On Death

  by Charles Gillette in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  reflecting on death.

  i can't remember, maybe steve jobs before he died.i thought i would share it with you and see what you think about it, and i'm quoting i think from his book.. "i'm about fifty-fifty on believing in god.

  for most of my life, i've felt that there must be more to our own existence than meets the eye.. i might be overestimating the odds 50/50 out of a desire to believe in an afterlife.

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  Half banana

  So sorry for your loss Old Navy.

  Although I would disagree with the likelihood of life after death, as free agents we all have choice in what we want to believe (except for JWs!) However "belief" has no connection necessarily with what is true.

  Doesn't this thread bring home that the greatest tragedy everyone experiences is death. It is hardly surprising that humanity has developed social convention and indeed institutions such as organised faith, aka religion, which attempt to lessen this unavoidable hardship?
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  23

  Reflecting On Death

  by Charles Gillette in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  reflecting on death.

  i can't remember, maybe steve jobs before he died.i thought i would share it with you and see what you think about it, and i'm quoting i think from his book.. "i'm about fifty-fifty on believing in god.

  for most of my life, i've felt that there must be more to our own existence than meets the eye.. i might be overestimating the odds 50/50 out of a desire to believe in an afterlife.

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  Half banana

  CG you voice a popular opinion on death. We value ourselves enough to think that surely there is more to it than this? We were handed this down from those who lived before us but death is the norm and rationally there is no alternative.

  I remember at the age of four and visiting friends with my parents where a car accident in the street had recently killed a five year old, a neighbour of our host. The sadness generated in this discussion taught me the finality of death. A dozen years later I had adopted the JW viewpoint and all the baggage which goes with it.Twenty seven years afterwards I escaped and thought OK we die but it was unreasonable to ever have thought otherwise.

  It has been and continues to be the most exiting thing ever possible to live and control our life for the time we have it, we can only make the best of the experience and not waste it on religion. But I seem to be an extremist here!

  One response to the shortness of life is art. We have enjoyed or rather endured the religious take on mortality, why not and reflect on what poets and writers have said about the value of our lives:

  This Quiet Dust was Gentlemen and Ladies

  This quiet dust was gentlemen and ladies
  And lads and girls;
  Was laughter and ability and sighing,
  And frocks and curls;
  
  This passive place a summer's nimble mansion,
  Where bloom and bees
  Fulfilled their oriental circuit,
  Then ceased like these.

  Emily Dickinson

  Who pondered deeply on matters existential. Thanks for reminding me Saethydd
  
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  68

  The paranormal.

  by Lost in the fog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i know that a lot of the people on here have turned their backs on the idea of a deity deciding that god does not exist.

  but what about the unseen spirit world generally such as poltergeists, jinns, voodoo, etc.

  if you have become agnostic, atheist, or just don't care since leaving, do you think that there are spirits out there or have you decided that is also hokum?

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  Half banana

  Remember all human experience, every event, every situation, everything seen heard smelled or felt is mediated through our infinitely complex electro-physiological human brain

  ---and we have a great capacity for imagination and self delusion.
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  21

  Is the org. Laying the groundwork for no earthly paradise?

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in stephen letts annual meeting talk he spent about 15min.

  talking about how the garden of eden compares to our spiritual paradise that we are currently inhabiting.

  he didn't mention the earthly paradise until the very last sentence.

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  Half banana

  Cults are run by the leaders and for the leaders, they are the beneficiaries not the drones who do the work and devote their lives to their master's dream. The leaders control the discourse and they manipulate the minds of the workforce. No disagreement with doctrine is possible so the drones keep their heads down and feel in solidarity with their comrades.

  The scene has changed however and it is no longer possible to kid the eight and a half million people that Armageddon is perpetually just round the corner. Today the internet and people like us have a customer record of what the downsides of the religion are, shunning, waste of time, waste of life, low self esteem etc.

  Now the GB are in deep doo doo, big drop in income, big rise in expenditure and few new members to pay for anything. There is no expansion only contraction, selling off the infrastructure for maintaining normal running expenses. This will suffocate any business.

  The GB will have to rationalise their lack of progress and failures. They most reluctantly and grudgingly did so about five years after the 1975 fiasco and effectively said in the Watchtower; stop complaining, we still have our friends don't we? --pathetic. They could do the same with the idea that although the paradise will come we just gotta keep at it; more drudgery, more obedience, less hope. And they, the GB, with less money and diminishing likelihood of success have got to work increasingly harder keep the drones on board.

  I don't think they will ultimately have success, they may push the spiritual paradise to the hilt but it won't convince everyone. Their days of glory are gone forever.
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  21

  Is the org. Laying the groundwork for no earthly paradise?

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in stephen letts annual meeting talk he spent about 15min.

  talking about how the garden of eden compares to our spiritual paradise that we are currently inhabiting.

  he didn't mention the earthly paradise until the very last sentence.

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  Half banana

  Good point nowhat? I have felt for some years that they might end up doing this very thing saying that the paradise is really the 'spiritual paradise' among the brothers (some paradise!)

  The Sunday Watchtower study will say: Brothers you may be forgiven for being so worldly in hoping for a material paradise but you are forgiven! It would be the excuse, yes excuse that the JW promises of a literal paradise were so very wrong and misleading but new light cannot be ignored. (vomit)

  However only the most deluded-- and by George there are many delusional Jehovah's Witnesses-- will actually lap it up. The rest, the majority would leave. End of cult.
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  26

  Elders encouraging young ones to live in a fairy tale

  by Addison0998 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so one of the elders at the meeting tonight addressed to parents in his talk, “if your child wants to flip burgers for the rest of their life, because that’s is the only job that will allow them to have a schedule for full time service, you would want to support them the best you can.” he has also said told parents that if their children already have plans to go to college, even in the near future, they should try to do everything to stop them.

  there’s so much ranting i could do about that alone, but to make matters worse, this is a considerably well off man.

  he has his own buisness, a nice house with an additional room he added on last year, and him and his wife just took a lavish european trip.

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  Half banana

  Phoebe notice how it was those who were conscientious JWs who have come off the worst............

  Those halfhearted ones who hedged their bets and got educated and a good job or a pension were ok.

  Of course the governing body have all they need in this life and as my non-JW mother used to say sardonically when in a good situation, "all this and heaven too!"

  The GB have a lot to answer for -- don't ever listen to them.