lol, witchhunts. Such a spirit of love and brotherhood.
JonathanH
JoinedPosts by JonathanH
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13
Facebook, JW's, and paranoia
by Lunatic Faith inso i am still a member of the fb jw page since they put me in there themselves.
i haven't been on there for a week because i find the average post innane or downright paranoid.
today i got on there and got an admins explanation for why so many were randomly thrust into this closed group.
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Jehovah's witness meetings are NOT BORING......
by punkofnice in...i was told but they usually were as i look back.. as a lad i'd sit and look to see who the lights would fall on.
i'd get an almond and see how long i could suck it before i chewed at it.
i'd imagine playing rock'n'roll on the congregation's piano.. how did you get through the meetings when you were bored?.
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JonathanH
I used to play elaborate games in my mind as a kid. There were two aisles the men with the microphones would walk up and down during the question and answer parts, so I would in my mind imagine would would win a fight, batman or spiderman, or whatever heroes I was interested in at the time, and it would be decided by which microphone carrier served the most people. So somebody on the left aisle gets called on that's a point for spiderman, two on the right side is two points for batman. Meanwhile I'm imagining the epic battle in my head during the parts where they were reading paragraphs. And when that got boring I either fell asleep or thought about sex, or thought about sex and then fell asleep.
It was much better once I got priviledges because I could pretend to be busy doing something instead of sitting the whole time.
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Evolution Produced GOD?
by foolsparadise inif you believe in a god who made everything then that has to mean that you believe in evolution.....because god evolved from nothing.
prehaps evolution is the real creator...
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JonathanH
Evolution requires replication with modification, so no...god couldn't evolve from nothing.
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Atheist believe in aliens but not God?
by StopTheTears inif you are a professed atheist, i ask you the question: do you believe in aliens?
could not god be an alien?
how do you know that there is no alien life?
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JonathanH
A large portion of where people who are religiously minded misunderstand atheists is in the difference in how we "believe". For the religious mind something is either true or false, right or wrong. For the secular mind a probability is attached the the possibility of something being true or not. It's not a matter of aliens are real god is dumb, I have faith in one and not the other. Rather the probablity of biological aliens having evolved seperately on another planet is greater than the probability of a supernatural all father with a distinct dislike for certain sexual practices.
Do I "believe" in aliens? I believe it's a statistical possibility but there is not sufficient evidence to show that they have visited earth. But within the realms of what we know are possible there is nothing to rule out that abiogenesis occured on another planet in the goldilocks zone some where amongst the billions of galaxies with their billions of stars. This does not contradict any knowledge on the material universe and how it works.
Some sort of invisible magical man with a propensity for violence and demands that has the power and knowledge to create the universe without ever actually having a beginning himself has neither evidence, nor a basis for belief in light of what we do know about the universe. Is it possible something like that exists? Sure, but the probability of it is so low I wouldn't base anything on my life on it, that is to say I would not consider it to be "true".
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5
The Code of Hammurabi
by sinis inif any one steal the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death.. .
the owner of the lost article receives his property, and he who bought it receives the money he paid from the estate of the merchant.. .
shall be put to death.. .
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JonathanH
You got to admit, Moses beat Hammurabi in conciseness.
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JonathanH
Odd, at first I couldn't respond, I just sent a PM. Thought it was locked right away.
Really if that is us, then what does that make you? Wouldn't you be one step further than even the caricature that you drew? There should be one more panel where somebody reads that post on a message board, makes subsequent goofy face, and then goes and makes a comic strip and posts it on that message board.
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What percentage of young ones are leaving the JW's???
by karter inin my area atleast 50% if not more..
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JonathanH
The actual figure from a pew study was I think around 60%. Two out of three witness kids grow up and leave the religion.
Actually here is something.
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Was the GB scared by pew research on religion? (statistics)
by JonathanH inlooking at pew research data on jws (link below if you want to check it out, it's interesting to compare stats.
), you have to wonder if the gb has seen them and what they think about them.
it would seem to me examining the statistics that there are far more witnesses on the inside that don't really believe it is the "truth" than many on the inside would assume.
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JonathanH
Looking at pew research data on JWs (Link below if you want to check it out, it's interesting to compare stats.), you have to wonder if the GB has seen them and what they think about them. It would seem to me examining the statistics that there are far more witnesses on the inside that don't really believe it is the "truth" than many on the inside would assume. For instance only 80% of the JWs interview said that it was the one true faith, 16% said many religions can lead to eternal life and 3% either didn't know or refused to answer. Only 77% of witnesses said that their is only one way to interpret their teachings. 8% of witnesses think that the modern theory of evolution is the best explanation for life on earth.
Think about those things for a second. Only 4 out of 5 witnesses actually thought that their's was the one true religion. Given that the GB insists that every other religion in existence is satanic and will be destroyed, there is 1 out of 5 JWs that don't necessarily agree with that view. Now they may actually believe most of what the GB spews forth, but a degree of pluralism has managed to seep in so that there is a decent contingent of people that don't think salvation can only come through the GB.
What is really shocking is the 8% that believe in darwinian evolution. Those poor saps are just completely stuck in a religion they know is BS. Because you can't buy the whole adam and eve, and biblical literalistic interpretation and still say that Evolution is the best explanation for life on earth.
Do you think having statistical evidence of how many witnesses don't believe the GB is the path to salvation scares them to death? Or do you think they are in such a bubble they don't even know what pew research is? But knowing that there are so many still on the inside that don't buy it makes you understand the paranoia of the July 15 WT. Seeing that potentially 8% of witnesses believe in evolution would definitely make people in charge want to make sure no witness ever takes a class in biology, or genetics, or any life or earth science. Knowing 1 in 5 witnesses may think that you can attain salvation by means other than them would make them want to hammer home the point that disobedience to them is disobedience to god.
I wish I could find past studies, I'll keep looking on the site to see if they have any. I would be interested to see how these stats have changed over the years. But it's clear that they have reason to be afraid. There are many within that don't put faith in them.
Other stats of interest (there are lots)
39% of witnesses actually claimed political party affiliation, or leaned towards a party. Almost half of witnesses want bigger government and more services (only 23% wanted less government), which is funny because (A)The government is run by satan, and (B) Duh, a large portion of them are probably on welfare.
Which leads to this stat, 42% of witnesses make less than 30k a year, making them the second poorest demographic next to historically black churches (which overwhelmingly wanted bigger government). Which leads to this stat.
Witness have the lowest college graduation rate 6%, Historically black churches ranked second to last and were still almost double the witnesses at 11%. Hindus clean up BTW, they have a 48% college education rate. JWs also tie for second amongst the highest in those without a highschool education at 19% (1 in 5 witnesses don't even have a high school or equivalent diploma...that insane.)
Now a bit of social commentary. Blacks were discreminated against for the majority of american history. Just in the past few decades has their been any attempt at actual equality for them as a group, and though as a demographic they are making strides, looking at historically black churches, they still have a long way to go to overcome the economic, and educational handicap they had. But despite this, they are tied with witnesses and in some cases doing better in things like income, and education. It took centuries of bigotry and oppression to handicap blacks in america, and witnesses have done it to themselves in a matter of decades. While one group is trying to climb out of a hole they were forced into, another is being pushed into it with a smile by senile old men who are afraid of losing power and authority. It's disturbing that witnesses are unwittingly building a ghetto for themselves.
There are plenty of cool stats on JWs and other religions, go check it out. See what jumps out at you.
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God on Trial: The Verdict
by darth frosty inhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx7irfn2gdi&feature=player_embedded#at=29.
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JonathanH
It's a good scene. Is that from a movie or play? I need to look that up. Looks like a powerful drama.
I think this argument is powerful in this context because it drives home the humanity of those god had "smitten" in the past, and gives a very real face to what their suffering would've looked like. The witness (and apologetic community in general) simply says that the people god slaughtered he did so because they were wicked, and even if they weren't necessarilly wicked because were going around stabbing kids (like the isrealites) they were at least wicked in the sense that they were not worshipping Jehovah, but false gods, and of course they were no doubt fornicating, or maybe they had gays among them. No doubt there was some kind of sinning going on.
But can anything be said about some random Egyptian slave, or moabite that couldn't be said about the modern Jew from the holocaust? The people forced into concentration camps did not worship the true god as he had wished (according the christian beliefs anyway), they reject jesus as the messiah, a portion of them probably committed fornication, adultery, and then their were the gays willfully committing sodomy in the camps as well. To say that the holocaust is tragic, but the lining up of moabites so that "one may live and two may die" is glorious justice is to imply that the only bad thing about the holocaust was that it was done by Hitler rather than Yahweh.
Next time you read the old testament, think of the holocaust. When you read about the glorious slaughter of a people in god's name think of this.
That's what it was. Genocide. They felt terror and pain just as those in Aushwitz did.
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The Great Day of Jehovah - the War to End All Wars
by sabastious infor most of my life i was taught that everything we experience in our lives is a build up to the great day of jehovah: armageddon.
i was informed, regularly, that this war would be when jehovah finally gets his vengeance from his advasary the devil.
as jehovah's witnesses were were taught that war is the solution, so long as the kingdom set up afterwards is eternally prosperous.
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JonathanH
It's an irony lost on many, that the supremely wise and infinitely loving creator of all things only seems to ever have one plan to solve problems. And it's the same plan pretty much every earthly dictator has ever had. Kill everyone that disagrees with you, or that you don't feel is worshipping you hard enough. Infinite wisdom and his plan is always "hulk smash".
You want to show that you have a chosen people in the midst of heathens that don't worship you? How to go about showing that you have given your blessing and guidance as the loving father of infinite wisdom of mankind to a group of people? Maybe have them terraform the desert through advanced agricultural methods and hard work, turning a harsh ecosystem into one flourishing with an abundance of food greater than even the lush neighboring lands? Teach them advanced mathematics, and logic systems to better understand and explain your magnificent creation? Show them the incredible benefits of penecillin, and other naturally obtainable medicines that no other nation knows about, which will drastically reduce mortality rates and suffering of your people? Make it so they develop culturally, and scientifically at a rate so exponentially greater than their neighbors that every citizen of every neighboring country wants to leave behind their despotic rulers and join your wonderful nation? No. Murder the fuck out of every one that's on the best pieces of land, kill their children, burn their animals and leave nothing but blood and destruction in your wake. Then tell their neighbors "you're next unless you become our slaves, bitch.". Clearly that is the sane and reasonable thinking of an infinitely wise and loving allfather and not just some brutal warrior tribes trying to show that their god's penis is bigger than your god's penis.
Even the supposedly incredibly loving plan he had to eliminate sin is still "I'm going to take somebody that doesn't deserve to die, and then have him tortured and brutally beaten until he's dead. That should fix it."
And even after that instance of uh...love...it's right back to killing. Anything but the more liberal christian groups all teach that there will be some kind of vengeance from god. The details differ, but the theme is the same. God is pissed and he's going to kill everyone that isn't on his team....but not being on his team is evil....and he's not evil.
