one of the heresies of the wt is denying the divinity of christ.
during this "memorial season" they say that jehovah (god the father?
) resurrected jesus.
Avoid conformism at all costs. One of the plus points of this site is the introduction of new and differing viewpoints.
I agree it is possible to compare religious views, whether believer or not, and determine connections to Biblical lore and note consistencies or otherwise. Plenty are prepared to do so and that is their right. I feel it is mainly an exercise in furthering the religious spell I wish to remove.
However the OP here has asked a thought provoking question.
one of the heresies of the wt is denying the divinity of christ.
during this "memorial season" they say that jehovah (god the father?
) resurrected jesus.
Cofty I did not misunderstand your point and neither did I say that God isn't real, just that it is impossible to argue logically within mythology. But there is something more at stake considering the power and influence of religious stories. Of course it can be tedious to bring into question the fundamentals in which a religious argument is embedded yet religious axioms are mere baseless assumptions and have dominated the thinking of the masses for millennia. Should they go unchallenged?
In view of the enormity of this imbalance; the momentum of religious influence over logic, it is not reasonable to remind the reader of the OP that they are fruitlessly attempting to apply critical thinking to a fantasy?
one of the heresies of the wt is denying the divinity of christ.
during this "memorial season" they say that jehovah (god the father?
) resurrected jesus.
Tedious or not Cofty we play the game based on evidence. Evidence is called for in science but but how can one use facts to prosecute a case based on mythology?
hey, did anyone notice this point from the wt study article for this past weekend (paragraph 2):.
certainly, jehovah is pleased to see that so many attend the memorial.
(luke 22:19) however, jehovah is not primarily concerned with the number of people who come.
The task HQ now have is to manage the decline of the organisation with the least amount of egg on their face.
The removal of the yearbook and the emphasis away from traditional crowing about numbers would all be in accord with this.
Any 'information' from the JW org is totally one sided, they have the whip hand so they can -- and always do -- interpret the situation to put themselves in the best light. The time will come when the reduction in membership will be hailed as evidence for the imminence of big A.
for many who have left jw.org, there is still a spiritual need and faith in the bible.
beroean pickets is one group/website where serious bible research and commentary, weekly critical reviews of wt studies, as well expose's of flawed wt opinion/doctrine- all backed by the bible- can be considered.
this vast amount of work and research is all done by just a small group of our volunteer brothers and sisters.
But they fall into the trap believing that it is possible to find a universally coherent doctrine of the Bible. It aint possible!
so in sociology we divide organizations up into three categories or types, you got utilitarian, voluntary, and coercive.
utilitarian means people join to accomplish some purpose like selling food or making furniture, voluntary means they join up just for fun or to hang out with people like the freemasons or a lot of churches, and coercive means they don't really want to be there but they gotta because someone will punish them if they leave, so labor camps, armies, or prisons.. in a paper i wrote for a class a while back i argued that jehovah's witnesses should be seen as a coercive organization.
yeah, people join up and they do leave, nobody beats you up if you stop attending or preaching, nobody imprisons you, shoots your dog, kills your kids that kind of thing, and nobody makes you join up either.
Since Mar 2015 in the UK, repeated abusive or coercive behaviour has been a punishable offence. This was introduced primarily to protect the vulnerable within an abusive relationship, Nevertheless it does apply outside of the narrow interpretation to include children or even vulnerable parents or those who are victims of honour bound violence (HBV) for example.
Without a doubt for a member of the JW religion after committing themselves to the organisation are obliged to remain within the ranks by social pressures to conform even against their will or better judgement. The source of coercion comes from the leadership who repeatedly threaten punishment for those who do not conform. The threat is social death (excommunication) followed by literal death at God's hand. When this message is demanded of children within a JW family, it creates enormous psychological stress and developmental problems because it is emotional abuse. Shunning too is blatantly coercive.
This JW practice of coercion is delivered without regard for the individual's feelings with the threat presented as an unarguable and blanket judgement on them should they choose to disagree or leave the organisation.
How long will it take before the law recognises that the JW organisation and other groups are institutionally fostering coercive behaviour?
question: have any of you that are now exjws had a parent leave the religion before you, and you shunned them because of that?
if so—and while you were still in the cult—what, if anything, could your parent have done to reach your heart and begin a reconciliation?
it’s been almost ten years since i left the religion and my two sons continue to shun me and rebuff all efforts i make to reconcile.
Six weeks after I left the meetings an elder called on me to check whether to have me disfellowshipped as an apostate or to be disassociated. I told him that after a lot of thought, the religion was simply not for me and so it was announced at the meeting that Half banana was no longer one of Js Ws. This curt announcement implied to my old friends and family that I had gone over to the devil and that I was to be avoided like the plague.
I really sympathise jp1692, one of my three children is still an ardent witness. The main thing, as l learned from the experience of criticising the JW org with my then-in daughter, is that it takes about ten years to heal the wounds inflicted by such adverse comments. I have been careful never to mention the religion with my still-in son (mid thirties) but recently he has voluntarily now sought my company after long years of avoiding me. Whether he leaves the cult or not-- I have my son back. I just hope that common sense will eventually kick in with him and I hope the same will happen with your sons as well.
Perhaps the best we can do is never criticise their beliefs instead find reasons to praise our offspring for things they do which are not connected with the religion. This last point seemed to work in my situation.
here is a you tube video made by a ex-lds member.. the comment made at the 5:48 min mark i found very interesting.. https://youtu.be/hjw4nazuzzy.
This reversal of allegiance has a strong resonance with the political ambitions of the GB in the 1980s and early 90s back in the day when they had a good income and confident outlook. Then they cosied up to the UN to clear the path for their expansion in eastern Europe after generations of condemning the institution they called the counterfeit kingdom of God . Formerly the LDS had officially called the Catholic Church "the church of Satan".
How will the LDS reconcile it? With charitable money perhaps. The uncharitable GB have failed in their ambitions and want to hide their embarrassing foray into world politics. The LDS will survive and the JW org will decline and shuffle off into obscurity.
if there is a god, we have no idea of his power and if he created the universe or merely biological lifeforms on earth, etc.
but see a correlation with evolution and computer technology.
computer's began very basic, and as new coding is developed and new technologies created from the previous computers, the generation of computers, smartphones, technology, etc keeps evolving into more advanced life forms.
Without a doubt animals including humans are very good at pattern recognition.This ability is essential in our efforts to protect ourselves from things which would harm us or kill us for food, However the pattern recognition can easily get out of hand-- both animals and humans can easily be spooked or deceived by a false reading or a false pattern.
We constantly search out patterns and sometimes see images based on internally held fixtures for example seeing a face in a rock or cloud, this is called pareidolia. Science and the development of technology crucially depend on the ability to see useful correlations.
The big mistake is to imagine that all previously learned, or long held patterns either of physical things or beliefs are absolute or unchangeable. The human brain, as opposed to those of many animals, is very flexible and we learn, build and consolidate information both individually and collectively and pass it down through the generations, getting rid of the dross as new evidence arises.
There is indeed a superficial comparison of scientific progress with evolution namely a development from one state to another by degrees of favourable change (a word describing how this works is "exaptation") but it can have nothing to do with gods which are the product of the human imagination and not factual evidence. God is after all patterned on an ideal of having a supercharged infallible male parent.
The first picture of the orchestra, even though it's not a JW symbol is a metaphor for any totalitarian organisation. No individual choice allowed just total cooperation under the direction of the conductor Kim Jong Un or the governing body in the case of JWs.
The NK pictures, just like JW official artwork represent the ideal society living in apparent harmony but as we know with both the Kim cult and the Watchtower it's just a facade with the members suffering anxieties due to the economic hardships and mental stress caused by official policies.
Totalitarian societies empower the leaders and take from the subjects. Disagree and you're dead.
