nicolaou

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Posts by nicolaou

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  39

  Is 1914 still a major belief in JW land ? Or has it been abandoned ?

  by smiddy3 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i just wonder about this topic as it is now 109 years since that date and what was expected to take place has never happened ..

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  nicolaou

  1914 is still a core doctrine but there's nothing major about it. There's not one single teaching that really matters or that couldn't be abandoned, this isn't a doctrinally driven faith anymore.

  It's a social religion. People stay for as long as they follow the rules. They can leave if they no longer want to follow those rules or be kicked out if they're caught in violation of them (I'm simplifying I know).

  1914, blood, perhaps even shunning could be dropped and there would still be a core following.

  Perhaps the carrot of Paradise is the one thing that couldn't go
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  100

  American Healthcare: How your system works

  by Diogenesister in

  1. social
  2. current

  canada has universal healthcare.

  the consensus is that america never will.

  can anyone explain why, please?

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  nicolaou

  Diogenesister I asked the same question some years ago. The American way really does seem odd to the rest of us.

  https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/4969311363923968/could-any-american-posters-please-explain-this-brit-why-many-your-countrymen-hostile-obamacare
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  53

  What`s the reason some of you think JW`s are in decline ?

  by smiddy3 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  from what i can see no such thing is happening.i became a jw in 1960 and remained for about 30 years and the numbers of active jw`s today in the world are far greater than they were back then.. and here in australia the numbers are much higher than they were back then .. so i don`t see that their in decline or have any worries about losing support .. don`t the numbers speak for themselves ?.

  is it just wishful thinking on your part ?.

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  nicolaou

  I think you could argue that the Watchtower Society HAS died, jw.org is the tombstone on its grave. The religion I grew up in through the late sixties to the new millennium barely exists anymore.

  90 hours for regular pioneers, 48 full issues of Watchtower & Awake! per year, PO's, CO's and DO's, midweek book study, in-person meetings only with Bibles in hand instead of iPads.

  Door-to-door work instead of stationary passive carts. Magazine routes, S8's and RV's. Detailed (but admittedly insane) study material instead of the stultifying and infantilised cartoon propaganda spewed out now.

  Honestly, if the shunning policy could be overturned so that young folks could leave without penalty or stigma I wouldn't care if their membership reached 20 million or more.
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  37

  The Org. covering up the SHUNNING POLICY !!

  by Phizzy in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  https://avoidjw.org/news/jehovahs-witnesses-mysteriously-deleted-shunning-videos/?fbclid=iwar3jjfsa3zx-4kxrdtjwopmzty-5wxhrxm1-gvjtp9j20ovqfpxh.

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  nicolaou

  https://avoidjw.org/news/jehovahs-witnesses-mysteriously-deleted-shunning-videos/

  Excellent article complete with the deleted videos.
• 
  37

  The Org. covering up the SHUNNING POLICY !!

  by Phizzy in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  https://avoidjw.org/news/jehovahs-witnesses-mysteriously-deleted-shunning-videos/?fbclid=iwar3jjfsa3zx-4kxrdtjwopmzty-5wxhrxm1-gvjtp9j20ovqfpxh.

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  nicolaou

  Please tell me someone downloaded those videos before they were removed?
• 
  30

  Confirmed: CO Discourages Zoom

  by XBEHERE in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i can confirm that the co during one of his service talks stated that zoom is a provision for elderly, infirmed, as well as people who might need it on occasion due to health reasons, otherwise you are expected to be in person at meetings and in the ministry.

  this had to come down from the top.

  maybe they do not want to put it in a gb update or broadcast since that would be too public i suppose.

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  nicolaou

  Hard to imagine the sorts of journeys WTWizard and others are describing just to get to a KH meeting in the US. I've been out for over 20 years now but wherever I've lived in the UK the nearest KH was only ever a few minutes away.

  How is this knackered old horse of a religion still limping on?!
• 
  77

  Biden running in 2024 🤣

  by LoveUniHateExams in

  1. social
  2. current

  i've filed this under news and world events, although i could've posted it under entertainment, lol.

  apparently, joe biden will be seeking re-election for another term in the white house.. this, despite a recent poll showing that 70% of people don't want him to run again.. biden just has to be the worst president i've seen.

  his gaffes, over-relience on a prompter, and, more than any other president, his refusal to answer journalists' questions, all go to make him top of the list in terms of bad presidents.. it will certainly provide entertainment, if nothing else..

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  nicolaou

  "I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait,”

  “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything."

  “I did try and fuck her. She was married. I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. … I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there and she was married.”

  Yeah it's hard to work out why he has so little credibility when it comes to his behaviour around women.
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  78

  Top AI inventor Geoffrey Hinton reluctantly concluded that AI will probably humanity fairly soon

  by slimboyfat in

  1. social
  2. current

  geoffrey hinton, major inventor of artificial intelligence: .

  “if you take the existential risk seriously, as i now do—i used to think it was way off, but now i think it’s serious, and fairly close—it might be quite sensible to just stop developing these things any further, but i think it’s completely naïve to think that would happen.

  there’s no way to make that happen.

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  nicolaou

  cofty: How will AI kill us all exactly?

  I don't think the fear is that AI will reach sentience and seek to annihilate us in some Schwarzeneggeresque apocalypse. As I understand it the worry is over the potential for misinformation. Imagine a future where anyone with a bad motive can easily utilise AI to produce the narrative and results they want.

  You think we've got it bad now with conspiracy nuts and anti-science ideologies? Wait until these guys have the tools to prove they are right.
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  11

  A Little About Me & What Is a Resurrection?

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  a little about me first: i was a 4th generation jw who had major reservations about the wt growing up, but finally got on board at age 23 when i got baptized.

  spent 8 very active years in, then 8 years out as an agnostic.

  got saved in 2004 and been living the born-again christian bible-believing life ever since.

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  nicolaou

  Anyone have any problem with this so far?

  I do. Your definition of logic is not strictly speaking true. The logical process itself doesn't presuppose anything in the sense that it operates on a set of rules and principles that are independent of specific assumptions or beliefs.

  I get that in practice, when conversations are had on specific topics, certain assumptions are made but these should be spelled out clearly at the beginning.

  What are you assuming Sea Breeze?
  
  
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  11

  A Little About Me & What Is a Resurrection?

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  a little about me first: i was a 4th generation jw who had major reservations about the wt growing up, but finally got on board at age 23 when i got baptized.

  spent 8 very active years in, then 8 years out as an agnostic.

  got saved in 2004 and been living the born-again christian bible-believing life ever since.

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  nicolaou

  Having lived 60 years now, on both sides of the theological fence

  We're about the same age, trust me, you haven't been on both sides of the fence until you've lived with unbelief for a while.

  JWs are just another subset of Christianity which in turn is a subset of Abrahamic faith which in it's turn is a subset of all religion.

  That ALL exists on one side of the theological fence. Us freethinkers, atheists, apostates, heretics and all the folks who simply never give religious faith a second thought are waving at you from the other side.

  It's nice over here. Come visit us.