Yep, a true believer, since childhood, raised as a JW, till mid 1990-ies. The first red bulb started flashing with "generation" change. The second was UN-NGO issue in 2001., when I wrote to local branch asking what's goin on and got inquisition on my back. That's the time when I realised that JW is a cult by definition and WT is a legalized scam. I still belived in God and Bible, but in the meantime I mastered some science, as part of the study I have conducted evolutionary algorithms (mathematical formulation of evolution) and realized that theory of evolution "has more evidence than gravity, electricity, wind...". Now I'm in the best case an agnostic.
Posts by btlc
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28Were You Ever A True Believer?
by minimus ini was raised in the religion and for the most part believed that my religion was truth.
i recognized some mistakes were occasionally made but felt that nobody is perfect.
then i smartened up and realized how dumb so many of the beliefs are....was there ever a time that you truly believed you had the "truth"?.
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btlc
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Watchtower No.3 2017 - The Four Horesmen
by pale.emperor inthis is the first time i've read through a watchtower magazine in about a year.
although i've been our only 8 months it really git me how crazy i must have sounded when i was a jw talking to non jws.. while other bible based religions talk about the 4 horsemen and back up their theories with other scriptures or historical evidence, the watchtower have taken so such steps.
1914 is thrown in there as if it's universally agreed that jesus started ruling since then.. even when i was a jw i never really understood why, if the pale horse represents jesus, why is he first?
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btlc
1st White Horse - Jesus Christ, started in October 1914
2nd Fiery-colored horse - World War, started in July 1914
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So, 2nd is prior to 1st, if we take time lineary... -
11
Are there stats for this site?
by ILoveTTATT2 inwondering if simon or anyone else have statistics for this site?i.e.
how many users are there?
how many posts have ever been made?perhaps a graph showing how many users there were at a given time?
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btlc
^^^^ Jehovah is blessing the work!
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1914 to be abandoned around 2016
by Alfred inthe other day i was doing some research about "1914" for a friend on my wt cd library (spanish) and i found it quite interesting that the number of times "1914" is mentioned in the watchtower magazine during the previous 3 decades has been dropping exponentially as follows.... 1980-1989: mentioned 854 times.
1990-1999: mentioned 492 times.
2000-2009: mentioned 222 times.
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btlc
1914 cannot been abandoned, too many pins and passwords should be changed...
Seriously, the whole cult is builded on 1914 and depends on it, WT won't shoot themselves in the foot. -
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Trinity...cross...Does it matter?
by NikL ini've been thinking about this for a while.. did jesus diee on a cross?
does it really matter?
it doesn't change anything that i can see.. is god a trinity?
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btlc
I always was stunned how JW line of thought is grafted from logic.
In example, God's Name, "the exact pronunciation of which has not been preserved", "while many translators favor the pronunciation “Yahweh,” the New World Translation continues to use the form “Jehovah” because of people’s familiarity with it for centuries."
But, in the case of stauros (check google translate from greek), the exact shape of wich has not been preserved, while many experts favor the shape of the cross, the New World Translation continues to use the form "the torture stake", no matter what's more familiar to people for centuries.
So, when is about the God's Name, we don't know exactly, let's take what's more familiar to people, but when is about the shape of wood, we don't know exactly either, let's invent the new name and ignore what's more familiar to people.
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2520-607 = 1913
by schnell ini love math, i love calendars, and somehow, this always gets me.. 2520 - 607 = 1913. not 1914.. 2520 - 606 = 1914. from what i understand, russell realized this.
he had previously used 606 bc, of course, but then he switched it to 607 bc.
i know there was something about no zero year, so it actually should be less one, correct?.
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43
2520-607 = 1913
by schnell ini love math, i love calendars, and somehow, this always gets me.. 2520 - 607 = 1913. not 1914.. 2520 - 606 = 1914. from what i understand, russell realized this.
he had previously used 606 bc, of course, but then he switched it to 607 bc.
i know there was something about no zero year, so it actually should be less one, correct?.
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btlc
CT Russell about zero-year in The Watchtower 01.12.1912:
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2520-607 = 1913
by schnell ini love math, i love calendars, and somehow, this always gets me.. 2520 - 607 = 1913. not 1914.. 2520 - 606 = 1914. from what i understand, russell realized this.
he had previously used 606 bc, of course, but then he switched it to 607 bc.
i know there was something about no zero year, so it actually should be less one, correct?.
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btlc
schnell: From what I understand, Russell realized this. He had previously used 606 BC, of course, but then he switched it to 607 BC.
wrong, CT Russell never spoke about 607 BCE, not even Rutherford, their number was 606 BCE. The first mention of 607 BCE was soon after Rutherford's death, in the 1943. book "The Truth Shall Make You Free", page 239.
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April 2017 Study Watchtower encourages you to defy The Society !
by BluesBrother inat least, that is how i see it... the article "the judge of all the earth always does what is right".
paragraph 6 & 7 .
6 consider the experience of willi diehl.
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btlc
Good point, Crazyguy, disfellowshipping started in 1952, Willi mixed something...
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April 2017 Study Watchtower encourages you to defy The Society !
by BluesBrother inat least, that is how i see it... the article "the judge of all the earth always does what is right".
paragraph 6 & 7 .
6 consider the experience of willi diehl.
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btlc
Thx for sharing! A fine example, I collected a few more from recent WT editions, it shows how an arbitrary rules governing lives of rank and file members:
Melba Barry: In 1940, Lloyd’s mother visited Australia, and Lloyd told her that we were thinking of marriage. She advised him against it because the end of the system of things seemed imminent. (Matthew 24:3-14) He also mentioned his intentions to his buddies, but each time, they talked him out of getting married. Finally, one day in February 1942, Lloyd quietly took me—along with four Witnesses who had been sworn to secrecy—to the registry office, and we got married. There was no provision then in Australia for Jehovah’s Witnesses to perform marriages. (w 01.04.2001 pg 26)
Robert Nisbet: In 1950, George and I were invited to attend the 16th class of Gilead. It was here that I first met Jean Hyde, a fine Australian sister who was assigned to missionary work in Japan after we both graduated. Singleness was still very much in vogue at that time, so our friendship did not then develop any further. (w 01.04.2003 pg 30)
Audrey Hyde: Since the 1920’s, Bethelites who desired to marry had been required to leave Bethel and serve Kingdom interests elsewhere. But in the early 1950’s, a few couples who had served at Bethel for some time were allowed to marry and stay. So when Nathan H. Knorr, who at the time was taking the lead in the worldwide Kingdom work, showed an interest in me, I thought, ‘Now, here is someone who will stay!’ (w 01.07.2004 pg 26)
So, when the big kahuna decided to not take the Revelation 14:4 literally, marriage suddenly become popular:
My life as a traveling minister was soon to change after I met Karin, a wonderful young woman. Both of us were invited to attend the international convention at Yankee Stadium, New York City, in July 1953. There, between sessions on Monday the 20th, Milton Henschel performed our wedding. (w 01.12.2007 pg 16)