NotFormer

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Posts by NotFormer

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  33

  Sorcery = Pharmakeia

  by KerryKing in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  rev18:23 '....you deceived the nations with your sorceries'.. the interlinear for sorceries reads pharmakeia.. bible hub has some interesting definitions, i'll try to share screenshots below.

  the gist of it is that sorcery involves drugs/medicines/poisons, with or without spells, sorcery is not the same as witchcraft or divination, or white/black magic.

  i have long wondered about the connection between the medical/pharmaceutical industry's symbol of the serpent wrapped around a pole/stake, and the use of the word pharmaceuticals/pharmacy.. considering the common use of fluoride in public drinking water, nsaids with side effects such as depression, brain fog, dizziness, and opioids, mrna gene therapy, vaccines and so on, i wonder am i going mad, are these all coincidences??

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  NotFormer

  It's interesting that the tobacco smoking ban was linked to "pharmakeia". I never thought of that one. Nevertheless, the biblical case for forbidding smoking has always been weak.

  I note that the WT allows marijuana these days*. I suppose they don't want to get into that fight with the authorities. Another case of the government tail wagging the WT dog? 🐶 🤔

  https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/4786853971492864/all-bodies-elders-handling-cases-drug-abuse-september-1-2018

  * With strings attached, of course.
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  15

  JWlite can be the purple pill

  by Teddnzo in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i really like the red pill analogy in the matrix.

  the one guy wishes he didn’t take the red pill and would have preferred to take the blue pill.. many used to be pimi which is the blue pill and then they wake up to the fact that the gb are not who they claim to be which is taking the red pill.. they go through conflict and confusion as to what to believe now?

  does god exist?

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  NotFormer

  Are you saying that it's better to stay PIMO, with all the cognitive dissonance and personal feelings of hypocrisy, and to suck it up, than to go POMO?
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  72

  Reddit thread about Bethel Reducing Headcount

  by LongHairGal in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  apparently, the downsizing is still happening and from what i read those let go are over 50!.

  sad because these people expected to be lifers.

  now they have to make their way in the world at an advanced age with no education or desirable skill!..

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  NotFormer

  In these days of connectivity, do they even need national Bethels anymore? Especially now that printing is on the way out and what little is still being done was outsourced by a lot of the Bethels to other countries anyway. It's conceivable that everything could happen in New York with some very minimalistic branch offices that co-ordinate the management of Kingdom Halls and CO activity.

  The only lessening of WT activity that I feel a bit sad about is that they got rid of their own farms. I thought it was kind of nice that they actually provided for the people who worked for them in that way. That being said, I doubt being a Bethelite on the farm was any less lousy than being in Brooklyn Heights. I've noticed that we can get testimonies from exes who worked in the city Bethel, but there aren't many equivalent stories from people who worked within the organisation on the farms. Are there any?
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  7

  Jw Broadcasting Sept 24 : Making up stories about Miriam

  by raymond frantz in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  https://youtu.be/mvhvtxh3fn0?si=yw_pszgyh8xvmoy8.

  so the following video is part of the latest jw broadcasting for september 2024 the script for this video is taken from the publication "immitate their faith" which is like "my book of bible stories" but for adults but is full of inaccuracies and outright falsehoods and here we deal with an outright fabrication about miriam, the sister of moses:.

  under the subtitle "miriam the proud" we read: privileges and prominence bring blessings as well as dangers.

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  NotFormer

  "They put a clip in there from a secret leaked video a few years ago. Where a spokesman said the prime objective is the ""organizations image"" or directives."

  Makes me think of Star Trek's Prime Directive of non-interference. But WT's prime directive seems to be deliberately about interference. Interfere with the smallest details of congregants private lives and interfere with ordinary people by knocking on doors and manning the trolleys/carts conspicuously in their way. I say the last phrase because last time I saw the trolley in town, it was set up so that if I had walked the way I had planned to, I would have had to pass them, and I wasn't in the mood for a chat with them (probably wouldn't have happened, it usually never does, but I didn't take the chance), so I ended up walking up a different side of the street than I had wanted to*.

  * It didn't interfere with any real plans like stopping in a certain shop, or anything like that, I just noticed that them being on the corner that day made me feel uncomfortable. Other times I don't care.
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  22

  The fading of a well known American religion. Could this happen someday to Jehovah's Witnesses?

  by Balaamsass2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  new york times 9/5/24.

  " there are only two shakers left.

  they've still got utopia in their sites.. "by jordan kisner.

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  NotFormer

  "chrustaedlohians"

  That's gotta be the worst case of "please excuse any errors, I'm typing this on my phone" I've ever seen 😱

  I'm assuming "Christadelphians"? 🤔

  They actually experienced (or seemingly experienced) a resurgence in the nineties. The newly emerged internet was estimating their number as about 100,000 worldwide, whereas the "anti-cult" literature of previous decades only had them around 20,000. But like most Christian denominations and -isms, they've since declined, to about half that (50,000), according to Wikipedia. Australia holds the dubious distinction of housing the highest number within the Anglosphere. Not surprised, actually, I've run into a few over the years.

  The decline of church attendance is real across the board, but as TonusOH above says, in this case, the obsolescence is built in. They used to be able to "reproduce" by adoption, but governments frown on adopting kids into an overtly religious environment these days, so that source of "born-ins" has dried up.

  Does the article* mention whether the two survivors were adopted, or were they converts?

  *It's behind a pay wall.
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  22

  The fading of a well known American religion. Could this happen someday to Jehovah's Witnesses?

  by Balaamsass2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  new york times 9/5/24.

  " there are only two shakers left.

  they've still got utopia in their sites.. "by jordan kisner.

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  NotFormer

  Well of course they are dying out. They don't procreate.

  The only reason the JWs are around in great numbers today is because of the "born-ins". A lot of JWs defied the leadership's disdain for spouses and children and reproduced. It's a paradox that always has me scratching my head.

  On the Shaker story, surely there must be a few people in this day and age who would be willing to join a blissful rural lifestyle. Brother Arnold and Sister June couldn't be that unpleasant to be around.
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  72

  The Watchtower's Depiction of 'paradise'..

  by Ron.W. in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  perhaps we could post the pictures the wt have presented in their literature that depict their version of paradise here for comment/discussion:.

  from: spirits of the dead​—can they help you or harm you?

  do they really exist?.

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  NotFormer

  moomanchu, not bad, but that looks like an interpretation of the Edenic paradise, not a post 20th/21st Century paradise. WT artists are free to speculate. They can't help it if the GB themselves haved never explained exactly what people will have, post Armageddon, and what they will be doing with it.

  Interesting how the Catholic artist still has the mountains in his vision of paradise. Who was it?

  At least he was able to depict a fully nude Adam and Eve, even if he tastefully covered Eve's bottom crack with a peacock's tail (or a bush of some sort; I'm not sure). 🙄

  I notice this dilemma comes up in Christian circles where they want to depict Adam and Eve. The WT art department is probably full of artists who would love to depict them naked, as the Bible says, but they are restrained by modern Christian sensibilities. The best they can do is to show them from behind and from the middle of the back upwards, I imagine. That's usually how Jack Chick did it in his comics. And I imagine that the SDAs do it in their literature, as the Plain Truth people would have too.
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  39

  Jehovah's Witness Governing Body, (New Light Division) Are Vegetable Oils not more important than Beards?

  by was a new boy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  'use vegetable oil and soft margarine in place of animal fat,'.

  https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/101997444?q=vegetable+oil&p=par.

  'when possible, cook with unsaturated vegetable oils.'.

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  NotFormer

  These days, I only use olive and avocado oils (monounsaturated) and beef dripping or butter. I used to deep fry everything in a deep fryer in which the vegetable oil sat for weeks before it was changed. I would also drink two litres of full-sugar coke*. I was very cavalier about my diet. One heart attack and a double bypass later I've totally changed my attitude towards diet. These days I try to eat somewhere in the low-carb/keto/carnivore spectrum. I believe that my health is improving, but just as it took decades of bad eating to get to the point of heart disease, it may take decades to undo. And as a sexagenarian**, I don't have a lot of decades left, while the old age clock is ticking.

  *I suppose it's a small blessing that Coke is made from actual sugar (sucrose) here, and not high-fructose corn syrup, but the result was the same.

  ** For a laugh, watch the Beverly Hillbillies episode "The Clampetts in London". I call it "Granny versus the Sexagenarians".
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  15

  U turn in vac mandate

  by ElderBerry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so now they don’t want defib machines in khalls because it shines a light on the increasing blood clots from the shots that they said were safe.

  https://youtu.be/yvvyiuqv3nm.

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  NotFormer

  "Ironically, putting that in writing is more likely to make them subject to a lawsuit in future."

  They rarely see the irony or hypocrisy of their stances. In this case, once again, it's breathtaking.

  And as usual, they put nothing of themselves into it. Are there people in congregations who have an AED machine who don't know how to use them? Then train them, you morons! You hope that there might be people who know CPR who might help until an ambulance arrive? Here's an idea: why don't you insist that every elder and MS, at least, has a current first aid certificate?

  Journeyman's correct: a lawsuit could well point to this letter and ask why there was no-one trained in CPR in XYZ Congregation on the day Brother A died of a heart attack. Actually stating that they are taking away lifesaving devices due to their fear of lawsuits may paradoxically create lawsuits. No congregant would probably sue, but a state or other government that finds out about this might.

  This is stupid on so many levels, not least of which is taking away the congregational right to make their own decisions on how to look after their own people.

  They probably see this decision as "prudent". I see it as just plain immoral.
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  2909

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars (continued)

  by Simon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  uh oh, looks like the mega thread gave up the ghost, so while i investigate / fix it just continue the discussion here .... it's been a long 9 years lloyd evans / john cedars.

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  NotFormer

  "Plus it will be in Croatian and LE apparently doesn’t speak Croatian."

  Seriously? Why would you move to a country and not learn the language?