Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  22

  Meanwhile...in Argentina

  by OrphanCrow in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.criba.com.ar/en/works/116-asociacion-de-los-testigos-de-jehova.

  project detail.

  type: special projects.

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  Half banana

  God's own Property Investment Company.
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  9

  "The little one becomes a thousand" The "ingthering" is speeding up!

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  heya all!.

  over the last few months i've been doing a lot more support work with people who are waking up and exiting the "truth" .

  i'm part of a team that receives on average 10 new emails, messages or contact through various means, from ones who have just awoken to the realisation that they have been in a cult!.

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  Half banana

  Just terrific Stuck! Tell us more, how awakened people are directed to your team and what are you called etc? Don't reveal your location if that's not wise but perhaps your group/system could be extended elsewhere?
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  24

  March broadcast - Tightpants Tony wants to be filmed in action

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  did anyone else notice this?.

  tony tightpants has the "morning worship" featurette in the march jw broadcast.. he appears to be hoping that someone will be videotaping the slaughter of 7 billion men, women, and children at armageddon.. quote is something like "we have some really good videographers here at bethel, but i don't think even they could capture what will happen.

  still, all things are possible with god..." (not exact, but that is the gist).. and of course morris imagines himself as one of the "anointed", who will be the ones, per wt doctrine, to conduct the slaughter.. it takes a special kind of hubris, arrogance, and sadism to wish that you yourself could be filmed in the act of slaughtering billions of people.. i've encountered a lot of jws with "dark souls", but based on his public comments, i'd say morris has teh blackest one i've seen.. if he says stuff like this for broadcast to 8 million + jws, what does he say in private?

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  Half banana

  It is conceivable that he doesn't actually believe it himself--but adores being in control.
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  20

  Fearmongering : The greatest ploy the Watchtower Society uses against its faithful members

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  "shortly, within our twentieth century*, the "battle in the day of jehovah" will begin against the modern antitype of jerusalem, christendom.

  " (the nations shall know that i am jehovah; 1971; 2nd ed.

  fearmongering or scaremongering is the spreading of frightening and exaggerated rumors of impending danger or the habit or tactic of purposely and needlessly arousing public fear about an issue.

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  Half banana

  You took the words from my mouth Blondie, carrot and stick. It is the only means by which a cult can manipulate its followers.

  However to threaten exclusion and death for those who do not conform is called emotional abuse.
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  11

  Terry's Recipe of the Day : Vegetarian Pancakes

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  terry's recipe of the daybreakfast: vegetarian pancakes!.

  1. free range banana (sliced)2. a euthanized egg white (no embryo)3. kosher pancake mix4.

  hard cold water from freshly wiped faucet5.

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  Half banana

  Aah! The lovely and erudite Victorian pun: I have Sindh! I think it was a telegram actually.
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  13

  Meaning of Luke 9:49,50

  by truthlover123 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  these two verses indicate that "others" were preaching in jesus' name and when the apostles reported it to him, he said "let him alone for he who is with us is not against us".... since the wtbts states they are the only way to salvation, what does this scripture mean?

  others have the right to salvation as well - straight from jesus' mouth- as long as they preach ( in the verse it says expel demons as well) using jesus name?

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  Half banana

  Mithraism was indeed a christ cult. The cult of the christ existed before Jesus and the earliest christian literature of the first and second century never mentions him and only uses the term "the lord". Mithra was clearly a god-man figure and saviour as was Jesus. He was shown as a handsome beardless youth wearing a Phrygian cap, depicted with a lamb around his shoulders and known as "The good shepherd". He was associated with the act of killing bulls for the redemptive value of their blood. The rituals and beliefs of Mithraism were critical in developing synchretic Roman Christianity since the religion had great influence in Rome especially in the important quarter of the military. Much "christian doctrine" came from this source including the Papacy and sacrificial death of the christ Mithra and the symbolic bread and wine as well as heaven and hell and Biblical eschatology.The trope of the god-man saviour was a well established expectation among temple worshippers with a pedigree going back many centuries before Jesus.

  Orphism too has many resonances with the dying and rising God Dyonisus, another christ figure. Orpheus himself like Jesus going down to Hades for three days and arising again.

  It is very popular to dismiss the parallels of the ancient christs because primarily it is uncomfortable information at least as far as traditional Christianity views it. Secondly there is little remaining literature and much of the connecting information has been gleaned through sculptural artefacts and yet a convincing path of ancient belief can be deduced including from the written Classical sources which promote the idea of the saviour, born of a virgin whose life was sacrificed at Easter to redeem believing mankind.
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  24

  Question? How Many Hours of Field Service Does it Take

  by new boy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  currently, to create one new jehovah's witness convert?.

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  Half banana

  The issue is how much JW time is spent preaching and to what effect in terms of new recruits.

  The 2017 figure from JW statistics is 13,880 hours spent in the field for one new baptism. (Thank you Giordano) That includes time spent on Bible studies with JW sprogs born in captivity--who are now something like an 80% majority with 20% of baptisms being new converts. Even this might be over optimistic, it may be a 90%10% split.

  The "born-ins" will receive around say seven years indoctrination at one hour per week. This amounts to an average of around a mere 350 hours of preaching as a lifetime total Bible study for JW offspring who get to be baptised.

  Relatively speaking it doesn't then take that many hours for a "born in" Bible study to get to the baptism stage as already mentioned so if the average hours preaching before one new baptism is 13,880 that must mean that for the remaining 20% converts, those figures are immensely more than the already high average of 13,880. I'm guessing 25,000/30,000 hours-- just for one convert!

  From a practical aspect it would be cheaper for JW HQ to pay people to become one of Jehovah's Witnesses!

  From a field service point of view, it is no longer worth going from door to door, it's nigh on a complete a waste of time. Who on earth spends this amount of effort for such dismal returns?

  Perhaps this is why eventually most cults don't proselytise but just plod on in cloaked obscurity, breeding new recruits within their families, fighting invisible foes but smug with the feeling of certainty in their divine assumptions?
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  13

  Meaning of Luke 9:49,50

  by truthlover123 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  these two verses indicate that "others" were preaching in jesus' name and when the apostles reported it to him, he said "let him alone for he who is with us is not against us".... since the wtbts states they are the only way to salvation, what does this scripture mean?

  others have the right to salvation as well - straight from jesus' mouth- as long as they preach ( in the verse it says expel demons as well) using jesus name?

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  Half banana

  Truthlover, you are implying that all the Bible content has significant meaning for everyone. A better question to ask is "Why was this text included in the Bible?"

  In the first four centuries there were 'christ' cults galore in the Roman Empire. Mithraism, Orphism and Gnostics to mention a few. Many of of the newer sects became in competition with each other for dominance and authority. In the early fourth century, as a political manoeuvre it was Emperor Constantine's desire to unify all religious belief under the imperial umbrella and eventually all were forbidden except one; the cult of Jesus as interpreted by the Bishops of Rome. Constantine (a saint in the Eastern Church) was a ruthless and unconscionable human being but thought that his mother's religion could bring him luck in battle, so he favoured the sect she belonged to. Constantine made sure that the Bishops greatly modified the Jesus story to make its appeal universal and acceptable to all prevailing mainstream temple worshippers and then later, by imperial decree all opposing ideas and folk beliefs were outlawed and their literature destroyed. Thus began Christianity.

  With an understanding of the social and political history of the time and the recognition that the Bible is not "inspired of God", it is possible to read the early texts of Jesus-Christianity as competing sects who were defending their ideological 'turf'. This is why the issues of loyalty and heresy are clearly present in the NT. A good example is where Paul has one of his hissy fits recorded in Gal 1;6-8.
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  36

  Need Help - How do I refute this???

  by HappyBlessedFree in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so i was talking with my husband about all the things the organization is doing ie.

  hiding pedophiles, lying about what 1914 was etc.

  so his response was that the nation of israel had times when they weren’t doing the right thing, but it was still gods chosen organization.. another topic we were talking about was disfellowshipping.

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  Half banana

  Happy Blessed Free, you have been given here some good reasons for things to reply to your husband's arguments but I would like to suggest another approach which might be worth considering.

  All Jehovah's Witnesses have been radicalised. Their beliefs ARE their life.

  That means that logic is not their guiding force and however rational you are in answering criticisms, the mind of a radicalised person has been immunised against reason and the meaning of evidence.

  A radicalised person has decided that whatever the cost or consequences of their belief, as a matter of personal pride and achievement, they are sticking with it. They are hoping for the future benefits of their belief and will only look for confirmation in the words of the governing body and the apparently united beliefs and conduct of their fellow Witnesses.

  What is the antidote? Wouldn't we all like to know!-- but understanding why a person is leaning on whimsical beliefs as a substitute for a normal evidence based world view is a start.

  The average-- but by no means all JWs-- are humble people with poor education and little of the worlds wealth and means. This is of course the ideal follower mentality cultivated by the GB.

  SO, these things might work

  1 Get to know why his life is so emotionally or psychologically precarious that he resorts to JW fantasy teachings. For example, a fear of death is often an unspoken motive for religious belief.

  2 Demonstrate by your own considerate and thoughtful dealings with him so that he will recognise in time that he has a precious partner worth listening to and that the JW promises are not as good as his marriage.

  In other words refuting a wrong belief is not necessarily the way forward with a radicalised fundamentalist. To contradict their viewpoint is like telling them that their whole life is a waste of time.
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  11

  Terry's Recipe of the Day : Vegetarian Pancakes

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  terry's recipe of the daybreakfast: vegetarian pancakes!.

  1. free range banana (sliced)2. a euthanized egg white (no embryo)3. kosher pancake mix4.

  hard cold water from freshly wiped faucet5.

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  Half banana

  I have a couple of problems with this recipe, is that free range banana corn fed? More importantly, water from the faucet (or tap as we Brits would say) What! town water--as it comes, exposed to all the bugs and pollution man can muster? My paper thin sensitivities are somewhat abused by this when it is not difficult to double filter before use. I'll have you know my body is a temple.