Great topic Syme and I enjoyed your OP. It's amazing that JWs don't seem to think about the billions of prayers that go unanswered, for JWs and non-JWs alike. Even when it is a JW prayer and is "in accordance with Jehovah's will", what is the real percentage of prayers that are "answered"? Probably as mathematically close to zero as possible. And the ones that are "answered" are happenstance, as you have explained so well in your opening post. Why would a god who is powerful enough to have created the universe have any interest in the niggling problems that humans bring to him on a daily basis anyway? Yet when one of these prayers seem to have gotten god's attention, it's worthy of a few lines in a Watchtower publication!
Socrateswannabe
JoinedPosts by Socrateswannabe
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18
Selective Statistics & extraordinary JW claims
by Syme in* a jw family leave their crops and livestock unattained to go to a convention.
when they return, the crops and livestock are doing just fine.. * a desperate person is anxiously praying to god to give her a chance to know him.
even before the prayer is concluded, two jws knock at her door.. * a pioneer prefers to take leave from her work in order to attend the pioneer school, even though she's sure she'll be fired.
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BOE Letter: New Adjustments
by pixel in**this was predicted from some members here**.
to all congregations .
re: adjustments in organizational terminology and assembly arrangements .
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Socrateswannabe
It strikes me that GB 2.0 or GB "Lite" or whatever you call them has to put their mark on everything these days. "The governing body has decided" is an odd way to start out one of these letters. It seems like more mind conditioning to me. Lest any forget, these guys are in charge!
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When Camels fly, anachronisms in the Bible
by designs inlittle details in the bible tell us the various authors wrote of past events but used features current to their day.. instruments mentioned in daniel, and recent carbon dating of camels places their domestication around the 10th century bce.
yet genesis says they accompained abraham on his journey.. www.smithsonian.com.
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Socrateswannabe
Thanks for posting this Designs! I appreciate every scrap of evidence that this "sacred" book is not infallible and god-inspired. The link to the article from Tel Aviv University was helpful.
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Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 02-09-2014 WT Study (QUICKLY SHAKEN)
by blondie inthe wts?.
we request of you not to be quickly shaken from your reason.2 thess.
(1 tim.
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Socrateswannabe
I think paragraph 2 might have been accidentally omitted from your excellent summary. This paragraph was the one I found to be most odious:
"Misleading statements and outright lies about Jehovah's servants and their beliefs are sometimes featured in the media. Newspaper headlines, televison documentaries, and Internet Web pages are used to propagate untruths. As a result, some people become disturbed, gullibly believing such lies."
These guys are the ultimate spin doctors. If people who believe what they read in the media are gullible, what word can be used to describe those who believe what they read in the pages of the Watchtower? I'm not sure there's a word for that.
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What is with the WT obsession with King David??
by BU2B init seems like at least once a month he is brought up as a good example in the study wt.
it seems like he is given more praise than jesus.
have you noticed this?
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Socrateswannabe
Oh sure David killed his "ten thousands", cut the foreskins off a couple hundred dead enemies so he could add another goodbody to the old harem, bedded down a loyal friend's wife while he was out killin' Philistines for him, then murdered the guy before he could find out, but hey--we're not striving for perfection here, are we? He was simply practicing the "follow a boob" theory.
A friend of mine says that if a true moron proceeds you in anything you attempt to do, no matter how badly you screw up you'll still look better than him. In my opinion, old Lot--maybe one of David's ancestors I guess or at least somebody he had heard of--made David look like a choir boy. "Righteous" Lot did nothing more than offer up his daughters to a ravenous mob to be raped and murdered, and when that didn't work out, he decided to have his own fun with the girls once it was lights-out in the cave. And face it, Lot was just unlikeable. What a drip! At least David had some charisma!
Seriously, it took some twisted minds to create these fictional characters like David and Lot. Makes you wonder if the writers of the bible weren't more heinously demented than the characters they created. And you're right, the WT writers are obsessed with both of them! They can't pick role models any better than that?
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Were you 'alive in '75' and how was that year for you?
by punkofnice ini was a junior borgite in 1975. i remeber looking at the calendar at work in october and thinking: 'armageddon isn't here yet.....and it doesn't feel like it will be here anytime soon either!'.
i was surprised that jehovah hadn't obeyed the superior command to bring the big 'a' as instructed to him by fred franz.
how dare god disobey the jw leader!!!!!.
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Socrateswannabe
I was a teenager and I remember all of the hype leading up to it. Scared me enough to join the regular pioneer ranks right out of high school. I was at the summer convention at Candlestick Park in San Francisco in 1973 when one of the WT heavies (either Knorr or Franz but I can't remember which) gave a talk that left no doubt that 1975 was the end. The GB has blamed the hysteria of the time on the R&F but the craziness definitely came straight from the top.
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Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 01-19-2014 WT Study (8 DUKES)
by blondie inand princes and mighty men.. *** w97 5/15 p. 19 par.
shepherds and eight dukes.
upon the words of hezekiah the king of.
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Socrateswannabe
I just posted this on Billy's thread that deals with the same article:
This is a small point compared to the bigger issues that have been brought up here, but I found an interesting article that discusses the whole Isaiah/Emmanuel/Mahershalalhashbaz thing. The Society continues to primarily apply Isaiah's prophecy of Immanuel to Jesus, but this article tears that theory to shreds, IMHO.
http://infidels.org/library/modern/farrell_till/prophecy.html
Scroll down to the section, "Prophetic Chicanery"
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Billy's Comments You Won't Hear at the 01-19-2014 WT Study (7 Shepherds, 8 Dukes)
by Billy the Ex-Bethelite in16-20. we shall also have to raise up against him seven shepherds, yes, eight dukes of mankind.mic.
what is the most important thing that you can do now to prepare for any future attack on gods people?.
all of us must be ready to obey any instructions we may receive, whether these appear sound from a strategic or human standpoint or not.. .
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Socrateswannabe
This is a small point compared to the bigger issues that have been brought up here, but I found an interesting article that discusses the whole Isaiah/Emmanuel/Mahershalalhashbaz thing. The Society continues to primarily apply Isaiah's prophecy of Immanuel to Jesus, but this article tears that theory to shreds, IMHO.
http://infidels.org/library/modern/farrell_till/prophecy.html
Scroll down to the section, "Prophetic Chicanery"
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Golden Age Goodies
by Leolaia inrecently i had the pleasure to examine a stash of 1920s and 1930s golden age magazines, among the rarest of watchtower publications.
i thought it would be a fun idea to have a thread in which i share with you some of the amazing, ridiculous, hilarious things contained therein.
hence, this is the first post of a series of excerpts, scans, etc.
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Socrateswannabe
Good god! I knew there was some kooky stuff in the early publications but this is some of the wackiest stuff I've read. And I thought the 8 donkeys in Brooklyn were tops at spreading crap. They are not fit to carry Rutherford's slop bucket. This guy had gonads galore, plus it helped that he was just wild ass crazy. What a horrible legacy we have here, those of us who are still stuck in this organization of the insane. Thanks to whoever bumped this after all these years. Also, I miss Leolaia!
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What if the GB hired you as the new CEO of Jehovah's Witnesses?
by kneehighmiah ini'm pretending the gb decided to hire a ceo to combat dwindling membership and overall apathy.
here is a list of the changes i would make to the organization if i were hired as ceo.
feel free to list your ideas (serious and humorous)!.
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Socrateswannabe
As a (reluctant) active JW, I would love to see just about any of these changes take place. But your question is what would I do if the GB hired me as the new CEO. That assumes that the GB would still be in charge, much like a corporate BOD can hire/fire their top executive. So although I would certainly push for reform, I would also have to try to please my bosses (the GB) so that I could keep my phony-baloney job (quote from Blazing Saddles, sorry). And CEO's have learned from fiascos like J.C. Penny's attempt of wholesale change by a new CEO--it almost drove them out of business. Lesson learned: Don't alienate your customer base. So truthfully, if you don't cut the head off of the snake (the GB), very little will change.