Posts by Searril

56

PORTUGAL: Petition to terminate the legal entity of the Jehovah's Witness gets national news coverage

by EdenOne in

the petition is now going on 537 signatures.. today the newspaper "diário de notícias", the leading non-tabloid newspaper in the country, gave the story front page coverage and a full page to the article inside.. here are the links to the pictures of the pages:.

front page:.

page 6 and article: .

Searril

I clicked a couple links but none were translated. Can someone give me a brief synopsis of the justification being presented?

It's not my country so I don't really have a say, but even with my personal loathing of the Watchtower this kind of stuff bothers me. I'm a big free speech guy and it would be hard for me to personally support something that goes against that.

Again, I know it's not my country and I have no voice there, but I just think education and spreading awareness are the ways you really stamp out evil hate-cults like the Watchtower.

Maybe I just don't understand the nature of the petition so someone please correct me if so.

27

Have you ever "partaken" at the memorial

by NikL in

jw
friends

it's that time of year again.. trying to decide if i should or shouldn't.

:-).

Searril

The problem I have ...among a ton of others, is that I can't find any scripture that says ONLY 144,000 are supposed to partake.
If it's NOT in the bible and people pass on the emblems, are they symbolicly rejecting Jesus sacrifice?

Yes

105

Another School Shooting: The Gun Violence/Mental Illness Debate Continues

by jp1692 in

in the aftermath of the valentine's day school shooting in florida, i have read quite a number of articles, blogs and posts about the event.

it is disturbing--and i think inexcusable--that many people take the opportunity to use horrible tragedies such as this to push their own particular agenda.. in particularly insensitive and tone-deaf tweet, conservative political commentator tomi lahren wrote: "can the left let the families grieve for even 24 hours before they push their anti-gun and anti-gunowner agenda?

my goodness.

Searril

From a human psychological perspective guns can evoke thoughts of violent retribution.

Sounds like projection to me. I can not think of a time I've ever held a gun and had any thoughts about violent retribution.

In all seriousness, if you actually feel this way then I agree it is a good thing if you don't own any weapons of any kind.

74

The book burning has started

by pale.emperor in

don't know if this is a global thing but i've just been told by a pimo member of my old congregation that a min servant has been given the task of destroying all old books/literature in the kh library prior to 1992.. could be the elders (or even one of them) on a mission to stamp out dissent as my ex-wife used the same reasoning to her elder dad that i used in my jc: rutherfords books containing failed predictions.. anyone else heared anything?.

the ms who's been given the task is a company man.

no hope of him keeping them or selling them on ebay.. they have some russell books in that library too.

Searril

Bobby2446 2 days ago
If WT didn’t each any of of this, this would be no problem for you all to accept.

You never noticed that nobody ever tried to concoct this distorted definition of "generation" before the Watchtower invented it? That's the reason why there was never any "overlapping generation" controversy prior to this -- because nobody else ever attempted to rewrite what the word "generation" means.

Also, I'm 43. My daughter is 4. Our lives overlap. We're not the same generation.

74

The book burning has started

by pale.emperor in

don't know if this is a global thing but i've just been told by a pimo member of my old congregation that a min servant has been given the task of destroying all old books/literature in the kh library prior to 1992.. could be the elders (or even one of them) on a mission to stamp out dissent as my ex-wife used the same reasoning to her elder dad that i used in my jc: rutherfords books containing failed predictions.. anyone else heared anything?.

the ms who's been given the task is a company man.

no hope of him keeping them or selling them on ebay.. they have some russell books in that library too.

Searril

Bobby2446
The word “overlapping” or “contempory” is a mere descriptior.
The Millenial generation will still be alive well after us older original millennials are dead.
Dont get hung up on words. Generations lasts because people outlive people.

I like how, if we don't like what a word means, it's now ok to just make up a new definition for it and unilaterally declare that it's obviously "a fact."

28

What do I do ?

by jdash in

hey guys, this is my first time posting on here but lets get started.. so i'm a 17 year old boy who currently attends meetings at a congregation in indianapolis.

i live with my grandparents, on my father's side, because my mother died in 2010. i been attending meetings since i was 10. my mother got into the religion but then got disfellowshiped.

my dad is on and off, he currently just got reinstated.

Searril

Don't send a letter of disassociation. Nothing good can come from that.

Spend the next year of your life getting things in order. Definitely talk to your counselor/academic advisor and lay the ground rules with them that it needs to be confidential, then explain your situation. Work on getting financial assistance for college. Concentrate on your grades and DO NOT neglect making plans for college.

I can't stress this enough. Do not listen to any Watchtower idiocy about how getting your education is wrong. Just do it.

I know it's easier said than done. I was kicked out of home at 16 years old by my dub parents. Spend time now setting the groundwork for the rest of your life.

Do the absolute bare minimum you have to do to get by with your relatives who are still captives of the religion. You will hear complaints about not being super motivated in the religion. Stay the course, keeping your eyes focused on your real future, not the Watchtower's made-up fantasy.

340

Calling Cofty and others regarding evolution

by dubstepped in

jw
friends

so i have started down the path of trying to understand evolution, and to get the linear lies that the jws planted in my head out of it.

i bought an audiobook called "evolution: what the fossils say and why it matters" by donald prothero.

i heard it recommended on an atheist podcast that i listened to.

Searril

http://www.doesgodexist.org/

(Disclaimer, I haven't read what's on this page in at least a few years)

A fellow by the name of John Clayton who travels and discusses origins and Christians who believe in evolution. I attended one of his programs locally and then we actually went out to dinner and talked for a few hours.

Again, I don't know what stuff he publishes on this site, but I know in speaking to him personally that I believe he is on the right track. My only real issue was that he wasn't willing to go "far enough" on certain things (local flood vs global flood, vestigial traits in humans, etc). He may not post some of the more difficult to accept things publicly as a lot of older Christians simply can't emotionally handle certain things that are contrary to what they've always been taught, so that's why I say I'm not sure what he does or doesn't post publicly on his site.

Anyway, gotta run for now.

66

Since leaving the JW Organization, who is believing?

by Issa in

jw
friends

i left the jw organization last year during summer.

maybe some of you can relate.

who of you are agnostic or an atheist?

Searril

EDIT: Posted on wrong thread.

340

Calling Cofty and others regarding evolution

by dubstepped in

jw
friends

so i have started down the path of trying to understand evolution, and to get the linear lies that the jws planted in my head out of it.

i bought an audiobook called "evolution: what the fossils say and why it matters" by donald prothero.

i heard it recommended on an atheist podcast that i listened to.

Searril

I'm interested in how you reconcile the two.

I don't believe the creation account in Genesis is to be taken literally. Actually, I believe a great many things in the old Hebrew scriptures were not literal but rather allegorical in nature (many Jews believe the same).

For a time I had considered atheism, but in the end I simply found it to be too irrational. I believe the evidence for evolution is clear, but I find it too irrational to believe that the initial building blocks weren't put into motion by something intelligent.

I have considered the whole "so doesn't that mean that a god would've needed a creator too" thing, and I don't discount the merit of that question at all. If God exists then his nature is outside the scope of what I can readily describe so I can't know if such a question would even pertain to his "form of life" (for lack of a better term). So it's not that I discount the question. It is a very valid question. I simply don't know and I don't know how I could ever possibly know.

340

Calling Cofty and others regarding evolution

by dubstepped in

jw
friends

so i have started down the path of trying to understand evolution, and to get the linear lies that the jws planted in my head out of it.

i bought an audiobook called "evolution: what the fossils say and why it matters" by donald prothero.

i heard it recommended on an atheist podcast that i listened to.

Searril

How far does genetic drift go? If you can accept that the dog, racoon and bear all had a common ancestor, then you've digested a major building block of evolutionary theory.
In response to this, proponents of creation will guffaw and say that these animals are all variations on basically the same theme. They're all four legged, warm blooded carnivores and not really anything, "new."

I just wanted to say that this is not strictly true. While I do agree you will find a large portion of creationists (especially the older ones) who will immediately disregard any of this, there are more creationists than you think who are like me. I am a creationist and a staunch evolutionist. I see nothing about one that precludes the other.