WinstonSmith

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Posts by WinstonSmith

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  31

  Pascal's Wager, Best Answer I Have Heard

  by Diest in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  many of us have heard of pascal's wager.

  basically that you can bet on god and receive an infinite reward, or you can bet against him and live an easier life for 80 years.

  this guy proves that the wager is really misstated.. .

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  WinstonSmith

  I quite agree KS. It would indeed be a wonderful thing if the truth about any subject could be used to end an argument. Our experiences in life warp our view of truth though. A fact doesn't change, but our view or understanding of it does. When they worked out that the earth was not the center of the universe, it didn't suddenly not become the center if the universe, our greater understanding of it meant we now saw it in the right place.

  I have seen people be proved completely wrong but still defend their defenseless position because they didn't want to give in and be seen to 'lose' to someone they perceived as cocky.

  I know some people that will look at this video and may lean toward being swayed but as soon as they hear those final words, the wall will go up. For them those final words will negate everything that came before them, no matter how sound it was.

  It is an excellent video, I just think from a tactical point of view, the warm appeal to reason will jar to a halt for some people, like a needle being bumped off a record player, on hearing his closing statement.
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  31

  Pascal's Wager, Best Answer I Have Heard

  by Diest in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  many of us have heard of pascal's wager.

  basically that you can bet on god and receive an infinite reward, or you can bet against him and live an easier life for 80 years.

  this guy proves that the wager is really misstated.. .

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  WinstonSmith

  My point is that people are more likely to listen and be moved by someone that they think is trying to help them rather than prove them wrong. This has nothing to do with arrogance. It has everything to do with being human. No matter how wrong we might be about something, I'm sure all of us would prefer to be told in a nice way that we are wrong, and why. No-one likes to be spoken to like they are stupid. No-one likes to be talked down to. This applies to athiests, Christians, the non-religious - everyone.
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  31

  Pascal's Wager, Best Answer I Have Heard

  by Diest in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  many of us have heard of pascal's wager.

  basically that you can bet on god and receive an infinite reward, or you can bet against him and live an easier life for 80 years.

  this guy proves that the wager is really misstated.. .

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  WinstonSmith

  I enjoyed watching this and the reasoning behind it is very sound. It is a great explanation and it will no doubt help some people 'get' what it means.

  I did however think that after holding our attention for almost 8 minutes with good arguments and appeal to reason he blew a lot of the goodwill he built up by saying, as his last words 'lucky I'm not wrong'. He was putting himself across well right up to the last seconds. One of the biggest turn offs for people learning more about athiesm is the smarmy "I'm so right and you're an idiot for believing in God" attitude that some have.

  This would appeal to a lot more people who are genuinely seeking if it was about 5 seconds shorter.
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  34

  Is the 10 Hour Per Month Requirement Still In Force?

  by Conan The Barbarian in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  are there any active elders/ms or higher out there who can advise if one of the requirements for appointment is that the person's fs time is equal to or greater than either the congregation's average or the national average?

  this used to be the case, but may have been relaxed.

  also is the branch still approving appointments?

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  WinstonSmith

  Exact conversation I had with an elder after moving into a new congregation and not being used and appointed soon after arriving:

  Me: Is there a reason why I haven't been re-appointed?

  Elder: Well your hours have been quite low since moving in. (I was getting 8 hours a month regularly)

  Me: So what should my hours be? I don't remember anything ever being specified in the elders book or the magazines.

  Elder: We would like to see your hours around the national average.

  Me: What is the national average? (Knowing full well that it was not printed in the KM any more)

  Elder: Ummm, ahhhh (pauses) let's make it ten.

  In the ensuing months I increased my time to 10 hours a month until the CO arrived and I was reappointed. I then dropped back to 8.

  Elders appointed by Holy Spirit? NOPE.
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  13

  When a Jehovah's witness cannot explain what they believe with New Light

  by wasblind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  their firm understandin' become shakey ground if confronted wit their own words.

  last week a elder from the hall i attended, kindly approached me, ask why i ( an unbaptised publisher ) stopped.

  attending.

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  WinstonSmith

  "Its hard to stand firm on shifting sand" Brilliant. I am SO stealing that as my own!
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  19

  The WT doesn't believe in infant baptism, but does an 11 year old really understand what they're getting into isn't just a pool with a lot of people looking on?

  by oppostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a scene from today's "safeguard your heart" district convention of jehovah's witnesses.

  (with thanks to ignacio luis gutierrez).

  http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/182579_326510270757133_1763913794_n.jpg.

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  WinstonSmith

  Mrs Smith got baptised at 10. Her reason? Because she loved God? Because she fervently desired a lifelong commitment to helping people undertand the bible? Because she wanted God's name sanctified?

  No.

  She did it because she thought it would make her Mum happy.

  A child of this age cannot possibly understand that, once they make this decision, if they change their mind in five years they will have to farewell everyone they love in order to gain their freedom.

  This picture gives me chills.

  Why can't they just let kids be kids?

  Gotta get those numbers up somehow I guess. They certainly aren't pouring in from the field.
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  171

  Watchtower's Billion Dollars of Property Cannot Be Sold until Outcome of Conti Appeal

  by Dogpatch in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  30 minutes ago i just got off the phone with some important players in this case, and some things were relayed to me concerning a lot of details of the outcome of the last two days of court.

  i am passing this on.

  cynthia hampton, one of the main players in the candace conti case (and a close friend of 28 years), just informed me of a further, far more powerful move by the state of california against the watch tower bible and tract society of new york, inc.. by order of the superior court of the state of california - county of alameda (see documents below), until the watch tower's appeal, which won't begin until august 13th and will take up to two years to settle due to due process of law, has forbidden the watch tower to sell any more of its $1 billion in assets in the borough of brooklyn until the appeals case is finished, to assure they won't shelter their monies in the light of this most huge and devastating sexual abuse scandal ever to hit the watch tower society, and perhaps any other single-victim lawsuit.

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  WinstonSmith

  As Irondork mentioned on page 2 of this thread, a while ago the WTS said they wern't sure of what Jehovah's will was on the planned upcoming building projects. Hey guys, I think you have your answer!

  Of course, as Agonus noted above, this will no doubt be spun as being a sign of the end, Satan causing trouble and / or the opening stages of the Great Tribulation.

  My experience has always been with JWs that when something good happens, it is Jehovah's blessing, a sign that he approves of a course of action. When something bad happens, rather than being an indication of no blessing from Jehovah, or disapproval of the course of action, Satan gets blamed for stirring things up.

  Confirmation bias at its finest.
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  106

  Plaintiff awarded in punitive damages -21M & 1 dollar. Total award, 28M & 1 dollar. Here's more info

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  the plaintiff, candace conti's goal from the very beginning was to bring enough attention to this problem to incentivize watchtower to change its policy of secrecy.

  the award can be explained as it was decided: separate compensatory and punitive damages.

  the punitive award is established in law to punish wrongdoing - here, the conscious disregard for others - and deter that conduct in the future.

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  WinstonSmith

  To all involved, our sincerest thanks for your bravery, hard work, and dedication. This will be a big hit for the Society from a financial, public relations and trust point of view. This may well be the thing that motivates many more to front up and let the Society know that they cannot get away with their lies, cannot cover up these horrid crimes, and bear heavy responsibility for their actions. It may cause many to finally question the legitimacy of these so-called mouthpieces of God.

  Love, peace and hugs to all.

  Mr and Mrs Smith
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  5

  NZ cult preparing to move into compound

  by Black Sheep in

  1. social
  2. current

  http://www.stuff.co.nz/4743327a11.html.

  church wants to set up 'destiny city'wednesday, 29 october 2008. the leader of destiny church says plans are underway to create a self-contained "destiny city" for its followers in the middle of south auckland.. .

  self-styled bishop brian tamaki made the announcement at the church's 10th birthday conference, held over the weekend.. mr tamaki said donations of more than $2.4 million had already been collected for the creation of the city.. the church was three weeks away from securing an eight-hectare plot "in the heart" of south auckland, tv3 news reported.. plans for the city include a 5000-seat church, maraes, medical centres and schools - eliminating the need for residents to ever leave.. "every child of every member of this church will never go to a state school again," mr tamaki said.. he urged the church's 7000-plus members to sell their homes and move to his city "for the purpose of god".. tv3 news said it had been contacted by a man whose mother planned to sell up six properties in order to donate the money to the church and secure a spot in destiny city.. the church could not be contacted for comment tonight.. nzpa.

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  WinstonSmith

  Hello Black Sheep,

  Thanks for the info, great post. Man these guys have really stepped things up since when we were in NZ. Around the time we left NZ, Tamaki had appointed himself bishop and they had the march on parliament all dressed in black chanting the slogan of "enough's enough!"

  It always made me sick how he has filled his pockets with the money of his followers, lives the rich life while many of his followers are left to struggle day to day.

  If they want land in South Auckland, I hear there is another cult with land and buildings for sale in Mangere.....
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  5

  jw.org message

  by Gayle in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  "we are working on a new design for jw.org and expect it to be available around september 1, 2012.

  ".

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  WinstonSmith

  I noticed that yesterday when I was downloading a WT.

  In the letter that announced the smaller mags and a move to online based content, wasn't the expected date in June sometime?

  Maybe the WTS geeks have been too busy trying to shutdown Sparlock appearances on YouTube to complete the work on the site merge....?