Posts by Phizzy

42

Watchtower Growth by CONTINENT and other Statistical Gems

by jwfacts in

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Phizzy

Thanks for all the hard work ! I agree that analysing statistics is notoriously difficult, hence the old saw "There are lies, damned lies and statistics", the main danger being that they are used selectively , even if unconsciously, to prove a point.

But , by the graphs and figures you have made it plain, and thanks again, that the WT has a problem, whatever "increase" they crow about , underneath is an outflow , a hole in the bucket, that consists of people they would be much better off retaining if only they could.

The main growth being in the poor areas means eventually a cash flow problem that may not be solved by the property money making arm of the (religion) business. It takes time to turn over property, expenses are on a daily basis.

1

Richard Dawkins interviews Rabbi Tamara Kolton

by whereami in

never heard this take on judaism.. .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vpd-9c0jna.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&nr=1&v=jqqovivxf-c. .

Phizzy

Thanks so much for posting, it was so interesting, and so heartening to see how this intelligent, informed, educated woman has come to a spiritual life that makes sense !

It is probably for another thread, but I was interested that both of them agreed that there was "No Abraham" , I have long wondered which God Abraham actually worshipped, the Genesis story makes it look as though it was Yaweh but that is the writers agenda, but I have never before considered the possibility that Abraham is a total fiction.

That means that Islam is as badly founded as Christianity. On fiction.

7

2011-2012 Circuit Assembly program--"Let God's Name be Sanctified"

by naeuca in

does anyone have a recording of this that could be sent to me please?.

thankyou!!.

naeuca.

Phizzy

Interesting too that when Fra Ray Martini wrote his bit for the Pope, around 1280 (?), the letter "J" was interchangeable with "I" and was pronounced with the sound of "Y" as in "yet", so he was writing Yehova .

The silly buggers of Brooklyn can't even get that bit right.

60

"Be Successful in Coping with Change" - Notes from a special talk given after Watchtower Study at Brooklyn Bethel December 5, 2011

by wannabefree in

jw
friends

these are notes passed on to me, i thought i would share.. .

be successful in coping with change.

special talk given after watchtower study at brooklyn bethel december 5, 2011. monday night - monday night we had a special lecture to attend after study of the watchtower entitled "be successful in coping with change".

Phizzy

I thought the same as you Mickey Mouse as soon as I read that "amazing" figure of just under a million increase in 5 years.

So, working out an average for those leaving, it means that over 769,000 left in that 5 years. The vast majority of those would be people like me, who had believed, and lived, the relgion, and yet have left because they see it is false.

The "increase", that is newly baptised persons, have yet to find this out, let us hope they do so before they too are royally screwed like the poor people who have wasted their lives serving a Publishing Corporation by working at Bethel.

27

Awake!: Sometimes You Just Have To Pick Your Jaw Up Off The Floor

by metatron in

jw
friends

ah, deception must be so-o-o-o-o-o- easy when you can deal with people who have no critical thinking skills.. an amazing example?

the past november awake magazine !

the cover asks, "is belief in a creator reasonable?".

Phizzy

Thanks sizemik for giving us the full quote, some people say the Writing Dept of the WT is guilty of "quote mining", I say they are guilty of lying.

Just occasionally in my life I have done asimilar thing, told half the story, a half-truth if you can call it that, or been economical with the truth, as I was in a religion that purported to worship "The God of Truth ", Jehovah, I felt very guilty about doing it.

The writing guys at WT feel no such guilt, they have been pulled up for doing it so many times but they continue, I am sure they are all Hacks who have no belief in a God of Truth at all.

20

How Did I Ever Trust Something Called the 'Watchtower Society'?

by breakfast of champions in

i mean, the 'watchtower society'?

just the name connotes some weird, masonic, secretive organization!.

how did we ever fall for this!.

Phizzy

I never really trusted the WT as such, I thought that the religion had most things right, but I was always suspiscious of the WT Corporation and the Brooklyn elite, it was almost as though our little congregation was a seperate entity, and we could accept what they asked of us or reject it, I know the reality was different , but that was the way it felt.

Since reading on here I realise that the whole thing is wrong, the religion is riddled with error, and if one thinks of the WT as a bit seperate from the religion, which it isn't in realiy, but the WT is simply an entity that makes money from the religion.

I hope this rambling post makes a bit of sense, but what I mean is, in my mind I never joined the WT, I joined the religion, crap though it was, I hope I fell for it because I am a good, trusting person !

How that trust was betrayed !

61

Have your faith been made stronger or made weaker since coming here?

by jam in

me personally, considerably weaker.

in fact i have.

become an agnostic.. since i discovered this site over 6-7 yrs, we have.

Phizzy

Having been lied to for such a long time by the WT whom I trusted, about what is true, and what I can put faith in, I have decided not to trust anything without proof.

To spend my life hoping for things that will never happen, and not really living in the present to try to realise that hope, is to waste , totally, the one life we are sure we do have, this one.

I will not do that any longer.

Faith is trusting that something is true, with no real proof, that is no longer for me.

Just a side question that may need another thread, to believers like "Tec", why do you think God and or Jesus have granted you faith and not me ? I prayed long and hard for faith, on my knees, to Jesus and to God, ..... nothing.

I am at the point where I cannot see any proof that there is a God. I am now finished with all that, unless proof is forthcoming.

12

A New JW Offensive?

by metatron in

jw
friends

i am compelled to ask, are we seeing a new effort in apologia by jehovah's witnesses?.

perhaps it is just the vain, 'last-ditch' efforts of a few to defend this sick, unloving cult.

efforts to disprove over 130 years of false promises.

Phizzy

No major change will happen, they have to be forced to change by circumstances, 100 years from 1914 coming up ? change the meaning of "generation" , costs going up ? sell property and downsize, close branches and K Halls, especially foreign languge ones.

All this is reactive, they never seem to foresee things, but their reacting, if not the best course, has worked thus far, so it would take a large event of some sort to rattle them in to any kind of major change.

I think we will keep seeing apologists on the Internet trying to defend the indefensible as long as the religion, sorry, business, exists.

They make so much money per year, and pay no tax, they are in a very strong position for years to come.

20

Watchtower declares war... on the "Good Old Days" ?!?!?

by NoRegrets in

if any of you go to jw.org and look at magazine pdfs for a laugh or a shiver, you should have seen this gem in the march 15, 2012 study edition!

to long for the good old days.

the old days better than these days?

Phizzy

As usual , a little bit of fact mixed with mind control. Truth is we do tend to look back to say, our childhood years, and think that it was a golden age.

If we had a happy childhood, for us, to a degree, it was a golden age, but the reality is different, in oh so many ways, overall, life is better now.

Then comes the mind control, because the above thought is covered first, the average JW will think, yes the time before I was a JW is like that too,it just seems as though those years were golden years.

And then they will not do a proper comparison, they will not think about how much leisure time they had then, how they were free to join whatever group or activity they wanted to, how they could plan and control their own future etc etc

The thinking has been shut down. Or so the WT hopes, they can't have this hankering for a free life you know !

JW's must keep on going, like a mouse in a wheel.

34

I would like your opinion on Bertrand Russell's comment

by Terry in

could we discuss our reaction to bertrand russell's quote below?.

if i were asked to prove that zeus and poseidon and hera and the rest of the olympians do not exist, i should be at a loss to find conclusive arguments.

an agnostic may think the christian god as improbable as the olympians; in that case, he is, for practical purposes, at one with the atheists.. .

Phizzy

I think, on this occasion, Bertie is spot on, I don't always agree with what he wrote. But, for "practical purposes, at one with the atheists" is where agnostics find themselves, saying to the believer in any God or Godess, " please give me proof before you expect me to do anything about this being."

I think it is silly to get in to putting labels on people's position, because so much is assumed by others as to what your position is. If a label/identity is required better to make it up for yourself, some people label themselves Realist/Rationalist/ Humanist or something similar, that way they are identifying the intellectual postion they do hold, but don't have to suffer the assumptions made if you use Atheist or Agnostic.

Of course Russell was right, there is just as much proof for the Greek gods as any other i.e Zilch.