Phizzy

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Posts by Phizzy

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  16

  Apostasy

  by frozen2018 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  has anyone seen the 2017 movie apostasy?

  set in britain, the story is about a family, a single mom and her two daughters, who are jehovah's witnesses.

  i'm not going to give away too much of the plot, but holy moly!

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  Phizzy

  I think I Posted on the Thread that Earnest points us to, but, at risk of repeating myself, the Film is accurate and very well produced and acted.

  What I enjoyed at the Cinema I attended was the audience reaction to much of the content, the audience laughed out loud at the silly Doctrines, and I heard remarks like "disgusting" when the Shunning process was shown, and the way the Elders handled things.

  It really was a good insight for the Public to see the reality of JW life, and what a nasty little cult it is.
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  15

  Are You Satisfied With The Way The News Media Acts?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it would be a wonderful thing if the news media tried to exercise some fairness when they report the news or editorialize on a matter.

  if the news media does not stop showing bias, i would like to see sanctions of some sort on the cnn’s of the world.

  i really don’t think they can make the media fair but it would be nice..

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  Phizzy

  You have just reminded me Hoser, of the time I lost all faith in the "Watching the World" column in the Awake, and began generally to take WT writings with far grater pinches of salt, shovels full actually.

  That was when they wrote up this story > This story is known as "The Bricklayers Lament" or similar, and I first heard it in the late 1950's , in a rendition by one Gerard Hoffnung, various versions of this jokey story exist, and have done so from even before Hoffnung, but the Awake writers, in the 70's I think, wrote it up as though it really happened !!!!
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  25

  Zoroaster spoke thus

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the following is from: cosmos, chaos and the world to come (pp.

  222-224), norman cohn.

  yale university press.

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  Phizzy

  This revelatory Post from Doug shines a little more light for me upon the Story of the Magi as found in the Book of Matthew.

  I always found this Gospel story strange in that these were "Wise men" , Magi in the Greek, from the Persian word, and yet the story accords them nothing but respect, yet to my rigid JW mind it should at least have acknowledged they were not worshippers of the Christian god, and maybe even condemned too their practice of Astrology.

  As the Christian god seems to have evolved from Zoroastrianism, it is now no surprise to me the way these gentlemen are presented.
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  13

  MORTALITY rates Pre-Covid and Post-Covid (How are we going to understand?)

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i got out my calculator and looked up mortality statistics.

  i wanted to get a "feel" for what is normal ina non-pandemic world in order to compare with how things are now.once had had a "feeling" for it i began to notice that media has a dramatic (perhaps overblown) tendency toterrify the public by framing death rates, predictions, and political discord hysterically.

  mortality in a normal world.

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  Phizzy

  It really is a hugely difficult job to unravel the truth buried in the twisted skein of figures. " Lies, damned lies and Statistics" indeed !

  What I learned in the early months of this Pandemic was to take no notice of MSM Headlines, no notice of Social Media opinion, little notice of "Government Advisors", here in the U.K such people have been bought, so are not reliable , and pay small attention to so-called experts. Some were Scientists, but held weird opinions, and notably were not Epidemiologists or Virologists, so were merely offering an opinion no more valid than mine.

  I think it is obvious to all that Covid19 is a killer to many who get it. To argue about whether a person died "with" or "of" Covid19 does not help to get a grasp of the personal danger one faces. If I got it, I may die because my Asthma did not allow me to survive, but regardless of how the death would be recorded, I would still be dead.

  The main problem with all the factual confusion, not just figures, but facts on the nature of the diseases, and how it is spread etc etc is that nobody really knows the correct measures for Nations and Communities to take, and when to take measures.

  Personally I shall continue with my self imposed hermit existence ( well, it is almost that) and hope to keep myself and my family safe. But understanding it all in a clear way still eludes me.
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  14

  Hide and Watch (Monsters are about to reveal themselves)

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it is said of drunken behavior "i didn't know what i was doing - i was drunk.

  " as if alcohol makes people do things against their own character and temperament.. .

  i've known just a few alcoholics in my lifetime.

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  Phizzy

  " Politics is just another False Religion in my opinion."

  The similarity between certain people in Politics, politicians themselves, activists and Party members , and the members of religious Cults is certainly evident.

  The hanging on to a "belief" despite the huge evidence against that belief being just one symptom, another is being prepared to lie, cheat and even use violence to support their position.

  Political Cult members are as Mind Controlled as religious Cult members, and far more dangerous to the wider Community.
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  25

  Zoroaster spoke thus

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the following is from: cosmos, chaos and the world to come (pp.

  222-224), norman cohn.

  yale university press.

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  Phizzy

  This certainly puts a new perspective on things for me, I was aware of Persian influence upon Judaism in small measure, but did not realise how very influential it was. It seems too that Zoroastrian thinking not only came down to Christian thinking via Judaism, but found its way there on its own !

  The "new" Christian sects were more branches from the same (Zoroastrian) tree than mere sprouts from the Judaic branch.
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  25

  Zoroaster spoke thus

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the following is from: cosmos, chaos and the world to come (pp.

  222-224), norman cohn.

  yale university press.

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  Phizzy

  Thanks for your Post and for the Link to the A/J Archives Paper Doug , I found this quote particularly interesting, ( I have yet to read it all) :

  "Professor M. Boyce of the University of London is able to state, as a result of searching and rigorous scholarship: Zoroastrianism is the oldest of the revealed world religions, and it has probably had more influence on mankind, directly and indirectly, than any other single faith. In its own right it was the state religion of three great Iranian Empires, which II flourished almost continually from the sixth century· B.C. to the seventh century A .. c . Iran's power and wealth lent it immense prestige, and some of its leading doctrines were adopted by Judaism~ Christianity and Islam, as well as by a host of Gnostic faiths .•. today external forces have reduced the Zoroastrians themselves to tiny scattered minorities, living mostly in Iran and India; but beliefs first taught by their prophet are still subscribed to by other peoples throughout the world. "
  
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  39

  What’s up with the modern Nation of Israel?

  by DATA-DOG in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  being raised a dub i never voted.

  i’m not a republican or a democrat, not a liberal or a conservative.. i’m pretty middle of the road.

  i want everyone to have a fair shake if possible in this life, but i definitely don’t believe in forced equality, that’s just not possible.

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  Phizzy

  Earnest has ably outlined, with help from Amnesty International, what is wrong with the Nation of Israel.

  What now needs to be asked is: What is so wrong with the International Community that nothing is done about them ? ( I know I will get the usual " Whataboutery" ). But why the support for this ? "Oh, they are a beacon of Democracy", yea , for themselves alone, themselves being Jewish, Arab citizens of Israel are not the recipients of light from this " beacon".
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  6

  New Song by Grant Davis - PIMO

  by Anna Marina in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is a brilliant new song by grant davis who did the trolley/whiskey song with kevin mcfree.. it is called physically in menatlly out.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fys108g25ju.

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  Phizzy

  Sounds a bit like the old Brit singer Lonnie Donegan. Good stuff !
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  8

  MICKEY SPILLANE and MIKE HAMMER novels (A tough guy JW back in the good old days of Knorr)

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  spillane, mickey spillane.

  he pulled no punches and his pen was as fast as his gun.

  after all, it took almost three whole weeks for mickey to type his first novel.

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  Phizzy

  I was born in the '50's, and can't remember exactly when I first started reading mickey Spillane books, I just know that I had never read anything as fast-paced, exciting and hard-boiled. Looking through the list of Titles, I have read a lot of them ! obviously all the ones I could get my hands on at the time.

  I remember at School we had an unofficial Library among us guys, and we would lend each other "good" books, by "good", we meant raunchy, violent and thrilling. Another writer about the time, doing similar stuff, was Hank Jansen. A British writer, the Titles of his books were more Racy than the content !

  One book that one guy sold me at School, rather than lend it to me, was a copy of John Clelands "Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure" also known as "Fanny Hill". This was mired in a Court case at the time, early 1960's, and this enterprising lad had bought several hundred copies direct from the Publisher, and charged a sixpence mark up on the official price, I suspect he had got a discount on the job lot too, but good luck to him ! It sort of became unavailable to the Public for a while, but got published again within short order, but for a while , the joy of owning a Banned Book was great, and it was my first experience of Erotic Literature.

  I have read fast paced Thrillers all my life, and I think all the Authors subsequent to Mickey Spillane, writing similar stuff, owe him a debt of gratitude.