Posts by Phizzy

41

KH's Still All Closed- How Bad is WT doing Financially?

by OnTheWayOut in

4 years ago

most churches are back to in-person worship.

not jehovah's witnesses.

is watchtower still managing to fleece the flocks as the sheeple no longer get literature, no longer go to the kh, no longer walk past the donation box?

4 years ago

Phizzy 4 years ago

As to the financial state of the Org, I should think they are still solvent. They embarked upon a big cost cutting exercise years ago, most Congregations have lower costs at present so will still send the Monthly "Tithe" as I call it at pre-Covid levels.

What huge expenses does the Org have ? They pay NO TAX ever, and if the Contributions only work out from the whole World as $1.00 a week per Publisher, that is still $8,000,000 a week rolling in !

That may be a bit simplistic, Contributions may well be less than that, but not much less I would guess.

The Org. will not go bust anytime soon, but individual Congregations may well struggle to meet their monthly commitment soon, do you think ?

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9

I Don't think the jw kids today are afraid of the Elders or the Governing Body, like the jw kids of pre-internet era.

by pistolpete in

4 years ago

something i've notice with born in jw kids posting on reddit, is that they have no problem telling off the elders.

this generation of born in jw kids just have no fear of who the elders represent because they know from researching on the internet, that jehovah is a created character by ancient people, and no different or real, than thanos.. these kids know exactly what's going on with the child sexual abuse in the organization.

they also have read and memorized the elder's book online.

4 years ago

Phizzy 4 years ago

I was a JW kid long before the Internet, a G.B or Elders ! Born in the early 1950's the Watchtower Org. was headed by a President, with different levels of management under him, down to "Congregation Servants".

We were not afraid of anybody, from the President down, but we did try not to get Disfellowshipped, for obvious reasons.

I grew up always questioning the WT teachings and claims, and when I moved Congregations joined with a bunch of guys similar to me, we took no shit from the Org, C.O's were seen as a nuisance who would move on eventually.

But we were exceptional, the rest of the Congregations around us towed the line, and were in fear of the Org's authority over them, I guess the people in those Congs. in turn spawned kids with that fear ?

The kids I have come in to contact with who have left, or are PIMO, have no fear, apart from the one of being DF'd. I guess most young ones have now "seen behind the curtain".

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6

“Joshua” and “Jesus” are the same Greek and Hebrew/Aramaic name: is this not confusing?

by psyco in

4 years ago

god’s name disappeared in the christian greek scriptures and its pronunciation got lost in the hebrew-aramaic ones.

the current vowels of the hebrew pronunciation of god’s name are taken from the “adonay” (“lord”) hebrew word which were the vowels chosen by who did not want to pronounce his name.

whereas the current latin pronunciation of god’s name (“jehovah”) was introduced by raymundus martini, a spanish monk of the dominican order, in his book published in 1270 c.e.

4 years ago

Phizzy 4 years ago

Nothing confusing about it when you look at the origins of the names. The name of the Israelite god Yahweh is etymologically difficult to nail down, but the name evolved as the god travelled from probably Egypt, via Midian, and he became a minor god in the Canaanite Pantheon, the name being pronounced differently by these different peoples, no doubt. Eventually he was adopted as an Israelite tribal god, among the others they worshipped, until after the Babylonian Exile when a form of Monotheism began to emerge.

Jesus of Nazareth was no doubt named by his parents in the normal way, choosing a name for him with nice connotations, but shared with many boys born around that time. At the time of choosing a name, his parents were not to know a huge Mythology would grow up around him, after his death.

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5

Job 31 v 11

by zachias in

4 years ago

in job 31 v11 it states that an inappropriate sex act is a crime not a 'sin'.

if this so between adults then it must extend that it is so if children are involved.

but the wt refers to paedophilia as a sin..

4 years ago

Phizzy 4 years ago

The Job story is a very old one, called "Oriental" by many scholars because it probably was around long before the Israelites and their adopted God were in existence.

It was picked up as good yarn and adapted by the Priests who compiled the O.T. as we call it, after the Babylonian Exile.

We have to think of how women were looked upon and treated at the time the story originated, even if Job was referring to an actual sexual liaison that was not between husband and wife, at this time it would have been seen only as a Crime against the Property of another. Coveting what was not yours was seen as wrong at this time, Sexual acts, even in the mind of the beholder, did not become "Sin" until much much later.

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6

Another shocking tidbit from the "Douglas Walsh" trial of 1954.

by EdenOne in

4 years ago

i'm reviewing the entire transcript of the douglas walsh case, and found this shocking bit that normally doesn't come up in the search engines, but it should:.

pages 370-375. hayden cooper covington on the stand:.

q: “in your experience of your own congregation in new york, did you have children there of eleven or twelve being baptized?”.

4 years ago

Phizzy 4 years ago

" What a crock of horse-manure! " Atlantis.

It certainly is, to expect young children to enter in to a Lifetime Contract and understand the ramifications of that Contract is recognised as wrong in Law in most Countries. Of course many Countries allow a similar "contract" in the form of being born in to, and initiated in to a particular Religion, to stand, but a Commercial Contract would be void.

The weaselly way they get round this is that if, like me, after child baptism ( I was 12) , you proceed to continue to live the life of a JW in to adulthood, then, according to the JW Org, you have shown you do know what your baptism was all about, and they can Disfellowship, Excommunicate you, for any number of things they have mainly made up.

A Crock of Shit indeed.

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20

"Resurrection" or "Re-Creation of The Soul"? What do really JW's teach?

by EdenOne in

4 years ago

interesting find through a book "inside story of jehovah's witnesses" (1967) by w.c. stevenson, supposedly a former jw circuit overseer.

it's an interesting "apostate" perspective written prior to the wts 1975 debacle.. anyway, at a certain point, there's a quote from a book called "the four cults", by professor anthony a. hoekema (1963, william b. eerdmans publishing company), a calvinist, which makes some sharp remarks about the way jehovah's witnesses teach the dead coming back to life:.

1) in the case of those "resurrecting" for everlasting life on earth, one asks: if the soul is extinct at death, and the body disintegrates and its components are integrated into other forms of life, what is there to "resurrect"?

4 years ago

Phizzy 4 years ago

Hi DJW,

yes you did make it clear to me that the WT version of resurrection was talking about what is essentially a clone. I was just underlining that thought for JW's who may never have considered it before.

Your observation tha the WT teaches the following concept is true too of course, " Maybe some of us can be satisfied with the idea that our data and mental program will be preserved and later implanted into a body which has a very close resemblance to our current body, with the newer body becoming youthful and perfect over time." I was one who was satisfied with that as a JW.

The problem with it is that if that is the case, it means that the "Soul" of the person, their memory/personality, does not die. Yet O.T Scripture says it does !

What the JW's teach and believe is essentially the concept of " Soul Sleep", which means that the Soul is Immortal, ( at least in some sense of the word), a Doctrine they have railed against for years, since the time of Russell if memory serves.

Another example of JW muddled, illogical Theology, in conflict with Scripture.

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2

What Door to Door has been Like For J W's the Past 20 Years

by IWant2Leave in

4 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki801ccg9yo.

4 years ago

Phizzy 4 years ago

In all my 50 years of door knocking, I never had a door slammed in my face, lucky I suppose. Some were very short with me and cut the conversation short with a firm " I am NOT interested" or something, but never was a door slammed. Perhaps the people where I was located were too polite ? I dunno.

I should think it is painful for today's JW's to door knock now, and few will want to return to it. People , genuinely, are not the slightest bit interested in religion here in the U.K as a rule, even Believers think it is a private matter, and don't want a discussion at the door, and have no desire to visit a Cult Website.

Even when I was an active, believing JW the futility of door knocking was apparent to me. It was starkly illustrated for me when an elderly "sister" who had pioneered since her teens told me in all those years she had never contacted someone at the door, got a "Study" and sucked them in to the Cult. Yes, she had "studied" with many, but none from her own first contact ! 40 years of non-productive door knocking !

Door to Door will soon die as a method of keeping J.W's occupied. Letter writing too will pale for them, easier than knock-knocks, but boring, and no results to speak of, so what will the G.B come up with next, to keep JW's on the Treadmill and away from Truth they can find on the Internet ?

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20

"Resurrection" or "Re-Creation of The Soul"? What do really JW's teach?

by EdenOne in

4 years ago

interesting find through a book "inside story of jehovah's witnesses" (1967) by w.c. stevenson, supposedly a former jw circuit overseer.

it's an interesting "apostate" perspective written prior to the wts 1975 debacle.. anyway, at a certain point, there's a quote from a book called "the four cults", by professor anthony a. hoekema (1963, william b. eerdmans publishing company), a calvinist, which makes some sharp remarks about the way jehovah's witnesses teach the dead coming back to life:.

1) in the case of those "resurrecting" for everlasting life on earth, one asks: if the soul is extinct at death, and the body disintegrates and its components are integrated into other forms of life, what is there to "resurrect"?

4 years ago

Phizzy 4 years ago

" The WT and the JWs teach re-creation of the body (with Jehovah God instilling into the new body a copy of the mind of the person who had died). The WT even explicitly says so in at least one of their books."

True, but what they are describing is not the resurrection of the person, they are describing the creation of a Clone with an implanted false memory. A Doppelganger, not the real "you".

Not a comforting thought at all that, because the real "you" is still dead.

Of course all the difficulties of thinking about this fade away to nothing when you acknowledge that there is no Afterlife, and no god.

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2

Ex Elder interview

by James Jack in

4 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jikmxk5hgdy.

4 years ago

Phizzy 4 years ago

Ken Mayo comes over as so very sincere, and as very relaxed and happy with where he is now in his life.

If guys like him are leaving, and are ending up happy and relaxed, J.W's should have a deep think about their beliefs, and their Organization, for obviously, " There is something rotten in the State of Denmark". (Marcellus in Shakespeare's "Hamlet".)

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5

England through to the Euro Final!!!

by LoveUniHateExams in

4 years ago

f**kin yes!!!.

get in!

!.

4 years ago

Phizzy 4 years ago

At least the Politicians will now not be able to piggy-back on the success, which Johnson and many more would have done.

The wonderful attitude of all our Players and the Manager has exposed how low down are the Racist thugs who call themselves "Fans" of Football.

Gareth Southgate shows what real Leadership is, and what taking accountability means, a pity we do not have Politicians of that calibre in Government, and also that there are precious few in the Opposition of that calibre.

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