Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  35

  Noah’s flood

  by dothemath in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  a few years ago at one of the conventions, there was a talk on gods remarkable creation.

  one of the slides showed a giant sequoia tree, approximately 5000 years old!.

  later another talk was about noah etc.

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  Half banana

  There is no chance that Noah's flood took place.

  Like much of the Bible, it absolutely has to be a myth. Only in myth can impossible things happen like a global flood within the last four thousand four hundred years.

  There is however plenty of evidence that a global flood did not take place!

  The Biblical flood took place during the historic period yet no written record of it exists -- the BIble's account is not history and no documentary writing corroborates it. There are lots of flood myths but no history! The continuous record of literate civilisations such as the Egyptian, show that they carried on right through the Biblical flood time as if nothing happened, therefore nothing did happen!

  Fundamentalist religious people seem reluctant to consider the earth-science data, the efforts of countless thousands of researchers, which show very good continuous readings of climate, plant and animal activity in the last 11,700 years of the Holocene period. No global flood interrupted the annual lake deposits, no flood destroyed the polar ice-core sediment layers, no flood destroyed the plant life, no flood killed or changed the locations of animal or more obviously, human populations. An example: the people of Papua New-Guinea have been cultivating the same vegetable gardens continuously for eight thousand years!

  It is tiresome to argue with people who have chosen to deny the evidence.
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  3

  Process and Content

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  in a previous life, when we were teaching quality management business practices, we emphasised the need to differentiate "process" from "content".

  this required looking at how things were being done rather than any analysis of the internal data being processed.. it is possible to look at the processes involved with the creation, editing, and delivery of any sacred scriptures without having any need to accept or agree with the content of what the people were writing.. the judaeo/christian scriptures open to us the minds of peoples living long ago in cultures that are very different to ours.

  i actually hesitated when i wrote "judaeo/christian" because in reality we have the hebrew literature followed by jewish literature.. treating their writings as "literature" opens the field of enquiry, freshening the mind from having any need to become personally involved in its contents.. i am currently investigating second temple judaism, since that period created the foundations for judaism and for christianity.

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  Half banana

  I often want to say that the biggest mistake in reading 'sacred' writings is to imagine that they are sacred!

  Nothing is of itself is sacred.....it is never more than a cultural consensus.

  How the sacred element became to be applied is never a part of religious history. Religious leaders instead point to an interpretation of texts knowing the herd will respond with reverence and fear-- just as they have been taught to.

  As you point out Doug, process and content both need to be understood to take a dispassionate view.

  Especially "late second temple" is an important period in textual evidence to understand the origin of Christianity since it is firmly rooted in Jewish developments of the time. Would you say 175 BCE up to the cut off point in 70 CE? It is something which engages my thinking so I look forward to hearing more of your research on the matter.

  One hopeful development is to be found in your bibliography, the fact that the academics with Jewish origins, like modern Israeli archeologists are exposing the flaws in Biblical sanctity and not kowtowing.
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  9

  Jehovahs Dodge Claim

  by smiddy3 in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  "victims say cash moved offshore".

  i just thought you might be interested in how widespread this article has been taken up by the media in australia.. west australian newspaper , herald sun sunday victorian newspaper ,the daily telegraph n.s.w.

  newspaper,.

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  Half banana

  Excellent Smiddy, do keep us informed.

  With such bad publicity, how can the cult maintain credibility in Australia?
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  14

  terrified but waking up, child abuse, suicide etc.

  by anon1028 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  im new to this forum, i dont know where else to post my story, sorry if im wrong for posting this on this subject.

  as i begin to wake up from being in the org i thought id introduce myself to this forum with how i was raised in the org..., ive been beginning to look at everyones stories from being raised as one and how they left, and i find comfort in knowing im not alone, so maybe another young person like me will find the same comfort reading my story.

  as you can tell by my username, i am posting this on an anonymous account because of fear of what the elders would do to me and my parents if they found out who i was.

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  Half banana

  Hello Anon 1028 and welcome to this site. Yes we do understand you! Sorry you are suffering at the moment.

  It is clear that the JW organisation uses cruel methods to keep the membership locked down under its control. By using family loyalty as a weapon, it divides families and by using guilt and fear of death, it traps its members into a depressed and helpless state just as you are experiencing. But do not give up hope! You can overcome these problems like most of us here have done.

  What the organisation does to all its followers is rob them of their individuality and it steals their free time so that everything a JW does ultimately empowers the governing body. Do think about this. Is it fair? Is it reasonable that they should dictate as to who you are and how you must live your life? What do they know that you don't? Why listen to them?

  The governing body now admit they are not inspired by God and they acknowledge that they make mistakes, in fact we can ask, have they ever got anything right? No! they have never got any prophecy right, isn't it laughable that they claim that prophecies have happened by being fulfilled invisibly?... like God's Kingdom! What is the use of such teachings? It is just dry fodder for the cult donkeys to chew on, it is tasteless, useless and meaningless ......yet it is central to JW teaching.

  Let me reassure you there are much much better ways of living other than being a JW! One way is to be yourself, not a nodding puppet in a religious pantomime.

  May I suggest, plan your departure as you are already, save to get your own place where you can do as you want. Find some sensible friends, this is very important, then make up for lost education and get some certification from college, this will go a long way in getting more satisfying and better paying work. Already you write well and that is a good start (use paragraphs though!)

  Remember that statistically, over time, most people leave the organisation -- and your family will be encouraged to do so as you prosper and become a free, happy and a responsible adult.

  So don't be terrified, work towards your own goals.

  All the best to you and keep posting so we can help you.
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  24

  new situation in world helpful to org?

  by Magnum in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  sometimes new situations can provide cover for one’s mistakes or intentions.

  for example, suppose that i crack the windshield in my dad’s car one night.

  i go home, park the car in its usual spot in the yard, and go to bed without telling my dad because i’m scared and i’m trying to think of a way out of the situation.

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  Half banana

  Essentially the JW religion is a social club with paranoid beliefs as a ticket for membership. This community aspect would be more difficult to maintain as an e-religion.
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  15

  Hello everyone 😊

  by SuperMarioDiMaggio in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i was a jehovah's witnesses for 15 years (1983-1998) in pietermaritzburg and durban, south africa.

  i was baptised in 1985; appointed a ministerial servant in 1987 (aged 21); refused military service on religious grounds in 1989 (served a three year community service sentence) and was appointed an elder in 1993 (aged 26).

  i wrote to the governing body in brooklyn four times between 1992-97, respectfully questioning the nonsense they were publishing about science and evolution (you can see all my correspondence and their hilarious replies here: http://bit.ly/jw-md-letters ).

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  Half banana

  @Kosonen, it is not possible to to confirm a myth by physical evidence. The flood is just a story, it could not possibly have happened, it is made up by the human imagination the same imagination which will 'see' things falling into a pattern if the individual is primed to believe them.

  The fact that there are a multitude of flood myths from all over the world indicates an event experienced universally. I suggest that the written flood myths including the Biblical, encapsulate ancient folk tales resulting from events of the climate transition from the very dry late Ice-Age (before 11000 BCE) to the modern comparatively rainy period familiar to us all today.
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  15

  Hello everyone 😊

  by SuperMarioDiMaggio in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i was a jehovah's witnesses for 15 years (1983-1998) in pietermaritzburg and durban, south africa.

  i was baptised in 1985; appointed a ministerial servant in 1987 (aged 21); refused military service on religious grounds in 1989 (served a three year community service sentence) and was appointed an elder in 1993 (aged 26).

  i wrote to the governing body in brooklyn four times between 1992-97, respectfully questioning the nonsense they were publishing about science and evolution (you can see all my correspondence and their hilarious replies here: http://bit.ly/jw-md-letters ).

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  Half banana

  Hello Mario, welcome to the site and thanks for posting your letters to the GB.

  I can identify with your experience since I joined the cult when I was at school in the sixties and left about 1989. I also had curiosity for everything which became stifled by misplaced loyalty to the Watchtower.

  As soon as I left I went whole heartedly into making up for wasted time and went to Birkbeck College for a course on paleoanthropology. I read scientific works and joined a university archeological dig to see for myself what the genus Homo was doing in the Old Stone Age. I also joined the Open university and later did other courses at Oxford for mature learners.

  I don't know how well one can compensate for the utter waste of time and effort spent on this worthless religion? Your letters truly demonstrate that they have not got a clue as to an academic or scientific appraisal of knowledge. They are content quoting snippets of the Bible to 'prove' a point or to construct JW dogma, it is all so desperately superficial.

  This naivete cannot last in the 21st century environment of better education and the cult is in fact is declining in the Western World. For how much longer do we have to put up with it?

  (I loved the Mark Twain quote!)
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  22

  How many of you would actually believe a child abuser would let his crime be watched by minimum two witnesses?

  by Thinkforyourself in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  in many closed religious cults, sects or globally widely spread religions, sexual abuse on big scale is revealed and covered up by the religious authorities.

  in the jw, the culture is to deal with these matters within the org itself, and the rule is, "no crime can be proven without the presentation of at least two witnesses".

  men made the rules, men commit these crimes and men defend them and even forse these children to meet and talk to their abusers.

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  Half banana

  Welcome TFY, no there is no love in sticking to the Iron Age wisdom upheld by Jehovah's Witnesses.

  At the root of the use of the "two witnesses rule" is the demand by the governing body that they control all information rights, which is an indication of their cultic nature.

  They want to limit adverse publicity by handling serious sexual abuse matters in house. This usually means either dismissing the claims, disfellowshipping the abuser (unless an elder when his word trumps lesser members) and often the abused as well if past puberty. Police involvement would lead to scandal and exposure not only on the individual cases but of the whole repressive organisation.

  The essence of JW Christianity depends on the governing body's use of quotations from scriptures.The interpretation can be made in any light the governance sees fit. Always the explanation is to the end of enhancing their own control over their flock and rarely is the quotation considered in its historical context or the original source meaning. If it suits their purpose it is used -- and the flock are trained to obey their leaders on the basis that they are using 'God's Word'. If a JW disagrees with the Watchtower then they are excommunicated.

  The fact that two witnesses are required in these abuse cases, at least to my mind, demonstrates that while they are indifferent to the abused who suffer greatly, their interest is solely in their own squeaky clean public image. Logic and care are sacrificed for Biblical literalism and their dire conceit that they are the only true religion.
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  114

  Riots one reason to own an AR15 and several 30 round or 100 round mags.

  by phoenixrising in

  1. social
  2. current

  i hear this from the leftist idiots all the time.

  if someone breaks into your home 6 bullets are enough.

  well if its a one of i would argue that i still my need more round for even just one person.

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  Half banana

  From a British perspective it is more than worrying to hear people praising gun ownership.

  P'rising, your obsessive pride and faith in gun ownership might well lead you to using your precious chosen weapon in a confontation and it's a 50/50 chance that the other gun owning obsessive will kill you.

  No guns = no death from guns.

  Human life is paramount as is the happiness which comes from mutual peace, not peace by the law of the bullet.
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  114

  Riots one reason to own an AR15 and several 30 round or 100 round mags.

  by phoenixrising in

  1. social
  2. current

  i hear this from the leftist idiots all the time.

  if someone breaks into your home 6 bullets are enough.

  well if its a one of i would argue that i still my need more round for even just one person.

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  Half banana

  Guns are for killing people not for solving social problems