Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  25

  How much longer before the majority figure out the bible is not from God?

  by I believe in overlapping in

  1. social
  2. current

  in 1900 the estimated population of the world was 1,610,625,741.

  the population of christians worldwide was around 34.5% of world population..

  the population of atheist was -% or not even 1% of the world population.

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  Half banana

  jws said "You can't prove that Russell's tea-pot does not exist". Correct but Bertrand Russell surely intended the absurdity of finding a tea-pot orbiting Earth was by nature an extreme improbability. Isn't that as true for a creator god or the existence of any god? So improbable as not to be true.

  I find it interesting that in the USA the tendency of atheists is to want to form an anti-god community and be proud to wear the badge of an Atheist with a capital A. Perhaps in an essentially religious land this polarising is a natural consequence of waking up to the God delusion as Dawkins put it. It is a bit like us ex-JWs still harping on about the religion which trapped us and wasted our time.

  Humanism is a better alternative because it addresses limiting religious privilege and working for the interests of humanity. Capital A atheism simply points to the egos of the holders of the title-- but each to their own.

  When will the world wake up? Well in USA they are rapidly realising that the BIble is not divine instruction for mankind. Growth in Christianity is now mainly in the hands of the Charismatics and Evangelicals, historically conventional churches are declining.

  I was looking at demographic maps of believers in the UK (2014) --and it is the cities where immigrant Muslims live which are the remaining bastions of religious belief. So even if they are waking up from the Christian dream, it is the fused political, ethnic and religious obligation to worship and believe the Koran which is numerically supplanting and overtaking Christian belief.

  https://www.theguardian.com/cities/datablog/gallery/2014/jul/03/where-atheists-live-maps-uk-godless-cities-religion-census-data-viz
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  15

  07 21 2019 Blondie's First Thoughts (Study WT May 2019 pages 14-19) COMFORT FOR ABUSE VICTIMS?

  by blondie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  blondie’s first thoughts review 7-21-2019 wt study (may 2019, pages 14-19 (comfort abuse victims!?).

  https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/watchtower-study-may-2019/comfort-victims-of-abuse/.

  excellent general website: www.jwfacts.com .

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  Half banana

  Absolutely Blues Bro, the only qualification there is for being an elder is having blind faith in the Governing body. This has no bearing on being sensitive to the needs of the abused whatsoever.

  Reading your account Blondie, I realise the organisation has lost control.

  It has reluctantly responded to the government's demand for compliance to report abuse cases but dishes up to its flock the same old trite and useless information which has no serious or thoughtful, compassionate consideration for the victims. Instead it is more of the same vapid recourse to the Bible and the way JWs do things, i.e. assume everything is ok if you listen to the Watchtower. What a ludicrous assumption!

  This organisation is institutionally an emotional and religious abuser of children and adults, it is therefore hardly likely for it to be able to contribute to the well being of the sexually abused within its ranks.

  The victims of child abuse require professional help. You might get through it without such but would be much more likely to succeed by forgetting the JW org altogether and receive proper help.
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  11

  Will Watchtower ever allow Jehovah's Witnesses women equality? Jimmy Carter's thoughts.

  by Balaamsass2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ran across this interesting read today penned by former us president jimmy carter.

  he is "losing his religion" over it.

  he makes reference to historical evidence that women played a much bigger role in early christianity.

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  Half banana

  I agree with your post Balaam's ass, and Jimmy Carter gives an insightful comment recognising that earlier forms of Christianity (and there were many) did not prevent women from officiating. It is worth understanding that Christian cults were mainly the domain of the poor and powerless which included women who by gender alone, were considered to be of low status. Therefore for women to be given a voice within the church was a big plus; a rise in status.

  It was the principle in Imperial Rome which asserted its power over so much of Late Classical Europe and the Near East which demanded male dominance as an expression of Imperial function. As the Roman world came severely under threat from outsiders, it was politically expedient to fuse the various Christ cults and form a new State religion-- and assert the Roman male dominance principle and determine the selection of "Christian" texts in line with Imperial thinking. Earlier the image of the "manly God of war" in the Hebrew scriptures was simply echoing the long held patriarchal principle.

  Divergent cultures over time and in different locations have produced social systems, some with matrilineal property inheritance and other important rights for women but there are no cases known to anthropology with exclusively female control.

  We might construe this was due to the child bearing and nurturing role of women contrasted with the apparent need for males to excel at arms and defend their people.

  Let's face it, this gender division and male authority drawn from it, no longer holds true in the advanced societies today. The inflexible governing body are very unlikely to modernise unless there is money in it for them.
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  21

  Were is Tony Morris?

  by asp59 in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  anyone seen tony morris giving talks in assembly or broadcast lately?

  he seems to be in hiding or vanishe.

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  Half banana

  He's out of action secretly having a liver transplant.
• 
  32

  Is there such a thing as true religion?

  by Half banana in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  “it is the only religion which doesn’t go to war.

  we have friends in every country on earth and we all think alike---we have the true understanding of the bible.

  we are the true religion which god approves………..” says the jw.. to put jws in the context of the question of true religion, we first have to get an insight into how a jw thinks and these points above are the selected criteria chosen by jws to judge themselves.

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  Half banana

  @Litfog,this is interesting because it summarises the JW viewpoint. I'm glad it concludes with the dismissal of their claims being merely subjective.

  As I said in my intro these are the criteria selected by themselves and therefore point to themselves. It is the classic JW trait of taking at face value only those specifics relevant to their cause and ignoring other possibilities

  JWs are forced see the world through the distorting lens of the Watchtower and it threats and promises.
• 
  2

  Demolition of one UK Kingdom Hall.

  by Lost in the fog in

  1. social
  2. current

  among all this architect's plans is listed the demolition of a kingdom hall near bishop's stortford in england.

  another one bites the dust.

  https://www.businessleader.co.uk/manchester-architects-to-open-london-office/70907/.

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  Half banana

  Isn't it possible they could build another hall elsewhere in the town? A population of 40,000 is, or at least was, just about the threshold for an individual JW congregation but with the decline perhaps this is no longer the case.

  I looked on the internet and saw the Bishops Stortford Congregation charity registration. Apart from the excess of spending slightly above its income, it also has the claim that its work is:

  Distributing Bibles and other religious literature; also giving pastoral assistance to the congregation and the wider community.

  Who the charity helps

  • Other charities or voluntary bodies
  • The general public/mankind.

  (end of quotation from Charity details declaration of Bishops Stortford Congregation)

  This is plainly dishonest! The JW org helps no one in any practical sense, not even its own members (with the exception of token work for salvaging its own property in disaster relief which is disproportionately reported to form PR publicity).

  The word "pastoral" is a priestly word from the established church, here borrowed for the purpose of sounding like a bona fide charity. Since when does the JW org break with its principles and use Christendom's language? answer, When money is involved!

  What the JW org actually does is pronounce ever shifting dogma as if from God's mouth and then demand blind obedience to its rulings. The JW org ultimately just looks after the interests of the leaders of the JW org.

  Gis' another swig Tony!
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  20

  Jehovah will put it in their hearts to destroy all religion--I Don't think so!

  by I believe in overlapping in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the watchtower has recently been reminding the sheeple that humanity is on the threshold of the cry for peace and security which will signal the destruction of all false religion.

  president trump just released a live streaming message that religious freedom will always be number one priority for the united states and the united nations.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvflqinrs6u.

  wrong again watchtower..

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  Half banana

  The GB are aware that there are agencies building cases to limit the power of the JW organisation. The ARC has already shown that this has had the effect of making the Witnesses revoke their rigid Bible based, "two witnesses" dogma. This is clear evidence that they are losing their authority. The consequence of it is to infer an increase in this activity and set up the secular authorities as an enemy of JWdom and threatening a more fully developed onslaught on them in the future.
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  15

  The mind conditioning techniques used by Jehovah's Witness leaders to keep members loyal

  by Tenacious in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  words can be incredibly powerful when used on people to persuade them to think a certain way.

  it becomes considerably worse when people don't even know it's being used on them.

  take for example, obama's speeches (just an example, not injecting politics into the discussion).

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  Half banana

  The language of the governing body is a loaded gun
• 
  32

  Is there such a thing as true religion?

  by Half banana in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  “it is the only religion which doesn’t go to war.

  we have friends in every country on earth and we all think alike---we have the true understanding of the bible.

  we are the true religion which god approves………..” says the jw.. to put jws in the context of the question of true religion, we first have to get an insight into how a jw thinks and these points above are the selected criteria chosen by jws to judge themselves.

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  Half banana

  Yes Phizzy and here is the problem: it is so respectable to base your life on irrational religious beliefs--but stupid.

  In no field of human endeavour , outside of faith systems, does religious dogma play any part, it is a historical relic and should only be seen in museums.
• 
  25

  If You Could Invite Any 3 people

  by new boy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  to dinner living or dead..... who would the be?.

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  Half banana

  My great grand father, his grandfather and his great great grandfather. It would enable me to see the roots of my family and flesh out details in the family tree as well as give me a first person account of history as they saw it. It would also yield a sample of linguistic mannerisms and change in the English language. Some of my male forebears were sea captains in the East India Company.