pistolpete

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Posts by pistolpete

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  13

  MY GOSPEL

  by pistolpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  has anyone ever read the new testament- critically- and not theologically?

  by theologically i mean not reading the bible with the intention of understanding the nature of god and religious truth.

  but instead, reading the bible by analyzing only the facts of what is written, in an unbiased frame of mind to pull out what is actually happening in the written stories.. first of all, if you were to read the nt in chronological order, paul’s 7 authentic letters would come before the gospels of matthew, mark, luke, and john.

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  pistolpete

  Here is something else to consider. The Gospel of Mark was the first written gospel, not Matthew.

  Luke was written several decades after Matthew, perhaps at the end of the first century. And John was written much later.

  That being the case the Gospel of Mark was the cleanest of them all. By this I mean no extra embellishments.

  A good example of this is the Gospel of Mark did not have the story of Jesus's birth and the three wise men or whatever you want to call them. Mark also didn't have the killing of all the babies, or the young Jesus teaching older men story.

  Reason being is because these stories had not been "Created" YET to embellish the life of Jesus. So the stories were not in circulation when the Gospel of Mark was written. Meaning that the author of Mark had not heard of such stories. Those stories came years later. Remember the author of the Gospel of Mark was not an EYE WITNESS.
  
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  7

  I'm happy about the increase

  by StephaneLaliberte in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i know its weird to say something like this on this forum, but its how i feel about it.

  i feel that way cause i see that covid has taken a tole on my dad who's growing older.

  knowing that this will come as good news to him is somewhat comforting to me.

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  pistolpete

  Anyways... its really weird to feel this way.

  Not really weird.

  You love your dad and don't want to see him suffer.

  I feel the same way about many JWs who are enslaved to the organization and wasting their entire life away.

  I wish I could help them but they are so indoctrinated that I can't.

  There's nothing wrong with loving people and wishing they had a better life.
  
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  19

  So many are waking up. Pandemic gave jws time to think.

  by pistolpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is not about stats, but "actual experiences" happening world wide in the organization.

  there is about 156 comments of what some jws are seeing in their congregation.

  feel free to read and come to your own conclusion on whether the watchtower organization is turning pimo but no one says anything in order to keep family relations.

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  pistolpete

  truth_b_known

  What my father didn't realize what he was actually sayings was "The more time you spend away from Witness activities the more you will see the truth about the Truth."

  Almost two years without Kingdom hall meetings, conventions, and field service.

  It gives JWs some time to reflect.

  If it was truly the last days, why would Jehovah allow the door to door preaching work to come to a halt?

  If the last days called for meeting together all the more so as as we see the end drawing close, why would Jehovah allow ALL the Kingdom Halls to shut down WORLD WIDE?

  Add all the child sex abuse exposure and what do you get..............

  6 or 7 Million PIMOS!

  Remember Stats publish by the Watchtower does not Consider PIMOS.
  
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  19

  So many are waking up. Pandemic gave jws time to think.

  by pistolpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is not about stats, but "actual experiences" happening world wide in the organization.

  there is about 156 comments of what some jws are seeing in their congregation.

  feel free to read and come to your own conclusion on whether the watchtower organization is turning pimo but no one says anything in order to keep family relations.

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  pistolpete

  This is not about stats, but "actual experiences" happening world wide in the organization.

  There is about 156 comments of what some jws are seeing in their congregation. Feel free to read and come to your own conclusion on whether the Watchtower Organization is turning PIMO but no one says anything in order to keep family relations. .

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/rs8bxc/so_many_are_waking_up/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
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  18

  Article to discuss or argue over: Buddha, Abraham, Jesus and Muhammed: Larger-than-life historic figures or largely legends?

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've posted a link to an article that contains important food for thought.

  as we search for information to free our minds and hearts of cult-like thinking which entails being able to critically think, we need to ponder research that is available to help us to make important decisions.

  we need to allow ourselves to consider other possibilities, something that jw’s are discouraged from doing.

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  pistolpete

  As a side note: the world's most famous atheist characterizes himself as an agnostic when pressed - Richard Dawkins.

  I'm not a Richard Dawkins fan and only read two of his books which I think are just opinions. So I know very little of him. And I don't plan on reading any more of his books
  

  Pete Zahut

  “Lovers of truth will agree that…

  
  

  PH, I always hated how the WT used that phrase. Making it seem like if you didn't agree with them. then you were not a lover of Truth, and by implication a lover of the lie.
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  18

  Article to discuss or argue over: Buddha, Abraham, Jesus and Muhammed: Larger-than-life historic figures or largely legends?

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've posted a link to an article that contains important food for thought.

  as we search for information to free our minds and hearts of cult-like thinking which entails being able to critically think, we need to ponder research that is available to help us to make important decisions.

  we need to allow ourselves to consider other possibilities, something that jw’s are discouraged from doing.

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  pistolpete

  Listening to him speak and having read nearly every one of his books I think it's pretty hard not to come to the conclusion Bart Erhman is an atheist.

  He's disingenuous and knows which side his bread is buttered on.

  I've read all his books and I never came to the conclusion that he was an Atheist.

  Is it possible that bias (a tendency to believe that some people, ideas, etc., are "What YOU believe to be so)------, rather than accepting what A person straight out says his persona belief is)-- In Barth's case he says he is Agnostic, why should anyone believe otherwise?

  As far as his bread and butter, Bart had all the needed credentials of a certified New Testament Ph D Scholar and had all the opportunities to teach at any University of his choice with a nice salary and Tenure. He was Never in need of any monies.

  His choice to openly become agnostic is no different than many JW who chose to renounce the Watchtower faith at the cost of losing all family, friends and any networks.

  He did not go PIMO for fear of losing his family like most jws. He had the courage to Openly renounce Christianity regardless. That is braver than any Jw PIMOs who is afraid to come clean for fear of the repercussions.
  

  The books he started writing was even braver considering they would prick at his former friends and cause a division.

  The fact that his books have inspired hundreds of millions is just an added bonus to his courage on bucking the system.
  
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  18

  Article to discuss or argue over: Buddha, Abraham, Jesus and Muhammed: Larger-than-life historic figures or largely legends?

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've posted a link to an article that contains important food for thought.

  as we search for information to free our minds and hearts of cult-like thinking which entails being able to critically think, we need to ponder research that is available to help us to make important decisions.

  we need to allow ourselves to consider other possibilities, something that jw’s are discouraged from doing.

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  pistolpete

  Sea Breeze

  Bart Ehrmann, who is currently the world's top atheist-leaning bible critic,

  SB I can see that you either never read any of Bart's book or allow your bias to skew his scholarship on Jesus

  Bart has NEVER been an atheist and his almost 1 billion followers and readers who have read or heard his debates know this.

  Most Christian Scholars who have debated him concede that it's impossible to refute him because you can't refute historical accounts but you can always refute theology since theology is just religious belief not historical truth.
  

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxz4eyR9U5w
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  23

  What have you learn being on this site?

  by asp59 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i have learn a lot about the religion and congregations.

  when i was active visiting meetings, i was there for the spiritual food.

  i actually thought everyone else was there for same reason ;-) i have learn there's a great variation among jws.

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  pistolpete

  Anony Mous

  I learnt that there are a LOT more PIMO than PIMI in this organization

  The PIMO phenomenon started around 1995 when the generation that would not die started changing.

  That's some 26 years of PIMOs and growing. Possibly about 50 Percent of the 8 million membership could easily be PIMOs. Which is why all publications besides magazines have ceased, and meetings and field service with the excuse of Covidl has come to a close. In the next 25 years or so there will probably be about 10 Percent True Believers holding the fort. Everyone else will be gone.
  
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  12

  God of WT - a kindly killer?

  by Smiles in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this wt doctrine includes the wrathful mass execution of individual children, babies and disabled belonging to the billions of non-jws... extremist?

  "during the war of armageddon, jehovah will execute people, not in a cold, clinical manner, but in a “great rage.” (read ezekiel 38:18.

  ) he will direct the explosive force of his anger, not against one army or one nation, but against countless individuals living across the globe.

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  pistolpete

  Since Jehovah murdered 70,000 of his loyal, faithful worshipers, just because a King took a census, can we expect the same in Armageddon? Kill a few million Jehovah's Witnesses because the Governing Body takes a census every year on how many faithful JWs there is in the Organization.

  2 Samuel 24 Once again the anger of the Jehovah burned against Israel, and Jehovah caused David to harm them by taking a census. “Go and count the people of Israel and Judah,” Jehovah told him.

  the king said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Take a census of all the tribes of Israel—from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south—so I may know how many people there are.”

  The next morning the word of Jehovah came to the prophet Gad, who was David’s seer. This was the message: 12 “Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Jehovah says: I will give you three choices. Choose one of these punishments, and I will inflict it on you.’”

  So Jehovah sent a plague upon Israel that morning, and it lasted for three days. A total of 70,000 people died throughout the nation, from Dan in the north to Beersheba
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  19

  2021 Service Report

  by alanv in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have just realized that the 2021 service report figures have in fact been published.

  but they are written in such a way its harder to compare.

  so on the jw website, there is a tab called 'about us'.

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  pistolpete

  I don’t think they’d want to hide the numbers this year.

  Like they don't want to hide the number 587 BCE😂😂😂