truth_b_known

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Posts by truth_b_known

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  27

  New and improved?

  by tenyearsafter in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have a family member who had been df'ed for 15 years or so...recently they reinstated as a jw.

  when i asked what motivated them to make that decision, the response was to be able to see family and old friends.

  they insisted that things were different now.

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  truth_b_known

  What has changed (in short) -

  Doctrinal Changes

  • All Annointed on Earth are no longer the Faithful & Discreet Slave
  • Only the Governing Body is the Faithful & Discreet Slave

  Practice Changes

  • Fewer weekly meetings
  • Monthly hour requirement for pioneers reduced
  • Stationary cart witnessing slowly replacing door-to-door preaching
  • Answering at meetings is to be limited to re-reading directly from the source material

  Watchtower Changes

  • The publishing of books and magazines has nearly ceased all together
  • JW website and JW Broadcasting replacing reading & studying
  • Personal study discouraged (The Governing Body will tell you what you need to know)
  • Real Estate scams funded by the rank and file are new revenue stream

  What has Actually Changed

  • Witnesses have less to do
  • Witnesses are no longer expected to competent to carry out a ministry or defend their faith
  • When asked questions Witnesses are instructed to refer people to the JW website

  What Still Remains the Same

  • Misogyny
  • Homophobia
  • Outright bloodlust for the death of non-believers
  • Shunning for non-conformity and asking questions
  • Protecting pedophiles
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  18

  Jehovah's Witnesses resume sidewalk carts after pandemic pause, soon will do door knocking

  by Bangalore in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jehovah's witnesses resume sidewalk carts after pandemic pause, soon will do door knocking.. https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2022/08/05/jehovahs-witnesses-resume-sidewalk-carts-door-knocking-next-list/10168175002/.

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  truth_b_known

  

  "Do you think we should tell those JWs that you can't get far riding a cart?"
• 
  35

  the sounding of the trumpet

  by enoughisenough in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i will risk showing my ignorance but i had some questioning thoughts in my head lately...maybe those more scholarly than me have insight.

  jw teach that the anointed who now die go immediately to heaven.

  when lazarus had died martha said she knew he would rise on the last day.

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  truth_b_known

  EnoughisEnough:

  I think you are on to something.

  Look at history. The history of the Jewish people and their religion.

  We are introduced to 2 religious groups in Israel in the New Testament - the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Sadducees outnumbered the Pharisees and had more influence. Their role in society was to keep the Israelite religion free from outside influence and preserve the Mosiac Law as well as temple worship. The majority of Israelite history has the Israelites holding no belief in life after death. The New Testament shows that the Sadducees strongly held this belief.

  The Pharisees on the other hand did were religious progressives. They believed that God was soon going to end all the wicked on the Earth, usher in this utopian kingdom on Earth, and raise all the righteous dead in new bodies. The Pharisees believed in resurrection.

  There was a third set of beliefs by Jews - immortality. In Josephus' writings we are made aware of the Essenes who believed that a person consists of 2 parts - a body that disintegrates and an immortal soul that would enjoy a pleasant afterlife.

  Keep in mind, most Israelites were neither Sadducees or Pharisees. There are no writings that reveal what the every day Israelite believed. What we do know is it comes down to one of three views -

  • Annihilation (The oldest held belief)
  • Immortality (Thanks to Greek influence)
  • Resurrection

  Check out Bart Ehrman's book Heaven and Hell - A History of the Afterlife.
• 
  8

  Remember THIS illustration from the Borg?

  by BoogerMan in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  bible teach chap.

  11 pp.

  110-111 par.

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  truth_b_known

  "The LORD said, 'If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them."

  
  
• 
  52

  Free Will - Does It or Does It Not Exist?

  by truth_b_known in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  being born-in and raised as one of jehovah's witnesses i remember a common theme or phrases used by the watchtower in its theory of why things are the way they are -.

  jehovah created humans.

  jehovah created humans as free moral agents.

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  truth_b_known

  I found this which helped me out -

  Free Will, defined as the ability to have done otherwise, is not logically possible. All events must either be caused or uncaused, these are the only logical possibilities. In a universe where all events have prior causes, Free Will cannot exist as every outcome is completely determined by the given set of conditions; there is only one possible outcome. In a universe where some events do not have causes, Free Will still cannot exist as uncaused events cannot be willed into existence by a person, they would happen at random for no reason. These exhaust all possibilities, and therefore Free Will does not exist.
  This, however, does not undermine our own causal agency, we causally determine our actions, and as such still have the ability to determine our futures to our liking. I would like to add that since most of the world assumes Free Will to exist, the truth that it does not exist would have significant implications in the real world. Holding others morally or ethically accountable for their actions, good or bad, is no longer reasonable given that they could not have done otherwise. A person's choice isn't ultimately up to them, despite how much they agree with it. This would change the way we view others, hold grudges, or even hate others at all. We would still need to lock dangerous criminals away for the safety of others, but to punish them or hate them for being morally depraved would be wrong, it IS wrong.

  I think my confusion comes in with thinking free will and having a choice are one and the same as determinism and lack of having choice are once in the same. This is not so and is important. Especially when it comes to human belief systems in which people's choices are used as a license to intentionally cause harm to others or hate them.
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  52

  Free Will - Does It or Does It Not Exist?

  by truth_b_known in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  being born-in and raised as one of jehovah's witnesses i remember a common theme or phrases used by the watchtower in its theory of why things are the way they are -.

  jehovah created humans.

  jehovah created humans as free moral agents.

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  truth_b_known

  CyberJesus is hitting on an important point.

  Free Will is an illusion. We certainly "feel" like are making choices. What is actually going on is the brain is running a calculation program.

  That calculation program consists of multiple points of input -

  • Belief structures
  • Current information
  • Past experiences
  • Desires
  • Temperament

  Input is also affect by the law of cause and effect as well as the other natural laws of the universe.

  They illusion of free will comes from our consciousness being aware that the calculation is being made combine with our inability to predict the end result of what will happen.

  Our brains are constantly running "software" that optimize our wellbeing. Cause harm to others and others' software calculations will result in treating you accordingly. Cause harm you are the problem. Others' actions, such as confining you to a place where you cannot harm them, are the result. This process is where the idea of morality comes from.
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  14

  Nonbelieving mates

  by road to nowhere in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a couple of my wife's friends are married to non witnesses.

  they say jehovah must have special plans for them.

  and that it is a special exception not destruction, alas, they are not attractive so my special idea about polygamy won't cut it.

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  truth_b_known

  These women as fooling themselves and are committing apostasy in the eyes of the Watchtower.

  Everyone on this website who was a JW at any point in their life knows what the Watchtower teaches - When Armageddon comes, all non-JWs are destroyed forever. No exceptions!

  These women are trying to eat their cake and have it too. They are openly practicing members of a religion that teaches that their god, Jehovah, will murder their husbands one day for worshipping him. Their belief goes against the teachings of the Watchtower.

  Encourage them to vocalize their beliefs in the presence of 2 or more elders. See how they react. I know it would be a cruel thing to do, but vocalize that you are going to the elders with their apostate thinking. No. Don't do it. Just run the scenario through your head and see how the simulation ends. I know - change or be DFed!
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  52

  Free Will - Does It or Does It Not Exist?

  by truth_b_known in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  being born-in and raised as one of jehovah's witnesses i remember a common theme or phrases used by the watchtower in its theory of why things are the way they are -.

  jehovah created humans.

  jehovah created humans as free moral agents.

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  2. 
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  truth_b_known

  I found some interesting viewpoints on this topic -

  Free Will, defined as the ability to have done otherwise, is not logically possible. All events must either be caused or uncaused, these are the only logical possibilities. In a universe where all events have prior causes, Free Will cannot exist as every outcome is completely determined by the given set of conditions; there is only one possible outcome. In a universe where some events do not have causes, Free Will still cannot exist as uncaused events cannot be willed into existence by a person, they would happen at random for no reason. These exhaust all possibilities, and therefore Free Will does not exist.
• 
  52

  Free Will - Does It or Does It Not Exist?

  by truth_b_known in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  being born-in and raised as one of jehovah's witnesses i remember a common theme or phrases used by the watchtower in its theory of why things are the way they are -.

  jehovah created humans.

  jehovah created humans as free moral agents.

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  truth_b_known

  PunkofNicke: I agree with you. The law of cause and effect certainly has the most to do with things.
• 
  52

  Free Will - Does It or Does It Not Exist?

  by truth_b_known in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  being born-in and raised as one of jehovah's witnesses i remember a common theme or phrases used by the watchtower in its theory of why things are the way they are -.

  jehovah created humans.

  jehovah created humans as free moral agents.

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  2. 
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  truth_b_known

  I am beginning to think that part of the answer comes from understanding what is exactly meant. There needs to be an agreement on what the terminology means. Also, that likes most things, it is not a binary situation.

  There is "Strong Free Will" which goes something like -

  (a) it is “up to us” what we choose from an array of alternative possibilities, and (b) the origin or source of our choices and actions is in us and not in anyone or anything else over which we have no control.

  There is "Hard Determinism" which goes something like -

  the history, present state, and future of physical bodies and force fields in the universe, including the physical aspects of mental states. The hypothesis is that every physical state of affairs at any point in time is the causal product of two things: (1) an immediately prior physical state of affairs and (2) the laws of nature. “[D]eterminism” is the thesis that “a complete physical description of the world at a given time, together with a complete description of the laws of nature, entails every truth as to the state of the physical world at later times” - or earlier times, for that matter. If determinism is valid, it means that with sufficient information about the world and sufficient knowledge of the laws of nature, one can both predict the future and derive the past because every physical state of affairs that once existed, now exists or will exist in the future is inexorably dictated by what precedes it.

  There are also "soft" versions of each theory.

  So, perhaps it is like one person put it (in my own words) -

  "In each present moment we are presented with a limited number of deterministic outcomes to chose from."

  That is to say, we have some choice, but much has already been determined by prior action.