Here is a short video which may help:
shepherdless
JoinedPosts by shepherdless
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340
Calling Cofty and others regarding evolution
by dubstepped inso i have started down the path of trying to understand evolution, and to get the linear lies that the jws planted in my head out of it.
i bought an audiobook called "evolution: what the fossils say and why it matters" by donald prothero.
i heard it recommended on an atheist podcast that i listened to.
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340
Calling Cofty and others regarding evolution
by dubstepped inso i have started down the path of trying to understand evolution, and to get the linear lies that the jws planted in my head out of it.
i bought an audiobook called "evolution: what the fossils say and why it matters" by donald prothero.
i heard it recommended on an atheist podcast that i listened to.
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shepherdless
Well, to start with, “micro evolution” and “macro evolution” are terms used by creationists.
Also, the linear model of us evolving from a monkey or a chimp is incorrect. Rather, we had a common ancestor, about 3 to 5 million years ago. And it was not a simple fork in the road. There were numberous forks or branches, with many species that are now extinct. Some of our ancestors became (or remained adept) at surviving in a forest, whereas our direct ancestors were better surviving in grassland, and walked more and more upright.
I will leave it to others to explain more.
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23
The Perfect Storm in 2018?
by Wild_Thing ini have been sadly watching as the number of jws in other countries are decreasing (for the most part), while the numbers in the us are strangely increasing.
while i question the organization's self reporting numbers, i think 2018 may be the year for another mass us exodus.
leah remini's show will be focusing on jws in her show on a&e.
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shepherdless
Decline, even in Europe, has only become visible, recently.
The first stages of decline are when the average membership age increases, relative to the population. That has already started to happen in USA. Leaving aside the possibility of some sort of financial collapse, I doubt there will be any significant decline in USA this year. In fact, there is likely to be a few more flat years, first. And even when decline starts to show up in the numbers, it will be a tiny 1% for a few years. And while this decline is occurring, the seeds of a more rapid decline will be taking place, as it turns more fully into a club for the silver-haired, with no ability at the congregation level to connect with the younger generations.
I know that is not what people want to read, and people here would like it all to happen more quickly, but I am trying to be realistic.
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29
Anointed Delusions of Grandeur
by Kohanic inso here is something i've been wondering about.
how do the 'anointed' come to the conclusion that they are chosen?
is it some weird collective delusion of grandeur and how is it manifested in such ones?.
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shepherdless
Someone who thought he was anointed for 5 years, and then learned TTATT and then turned up on the jwrecovery website (which is no longer is online). He described how he came to believe he was anointed, and what eventually brought him to reality. It was an interesting read. A brave and humble poster, for a while. He went by the username goat-bone (or goat bone or goatbone). He also later made a few posts on the exjw reddit site. I haven’t seen a recent post. He’s probably moved on in life. Good for him.
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55
The watchtower does not have the resources
by pepperheart inif you have a look at the december broadcast on jw tv they tell you that they wont be showing you a normal format for december but the 143rd event of gilead because the watchtower does not have the resources other wise to translate it many different lanuages.. with all the cuts the watchtower have made and are going to make you would have thought that they would have lots of resources.
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shepherdless
I would love so much for that to be true.
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Local elder dies of starvation
by Steel inwell , not really.. our hall recently had a secret collection for our head elder who is almost on the verge of becoming homeless.
i guess he lost some cleaning contracts because his clients were just sick of his no shows because of his pioneer work.
there is always something more important to do than earn a living.. this is the same assholes he is always shaming people to not doing enough.
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shepherdless
They condemn “this system of things” as being part of Satan’s - yet as quick as they mouth these sorts of critical sentiments, claim all kinds of monetary benefits and welfare checks when their feeble attempts to get by are not enough. The numbers of local JWs on some sort of welfare benefit is staggering - and suggests this religion attracts no-hopers.
Yes, this is what I observe as well, Steve. It seems to me too many JWs are on some sort of welfare benefit, and in some cases, needlessly so. Hardly a group worthy of being the sole survivors of Armageddon.
Just one point, though. Does this religion attract no-hopers, or does it turn them into no-hopers? I suspect a bit of both, but perhaps more the latter.
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315
Flat earth vs round earth
by Jrjw inmy brother has been talking about the earth being flat and some big conspiracy going on to make people beieve otherwise.
what are people's thoughts on this?.
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shepherdless
What presently remains of the Great Pyramids are just the cores of the structures. The outer surfaces of the pyramids, which were apparently a limestone mortar, are completely gone. When in their prime the surfaces of the pyramids were smooth and white as snow. Unlike anything the World has ever seen.
I have been to the pyramids, been inside one of them, and climbed on another.
From memory, it was mostly blocks of stone cut to the same size, and laid in place. I suppose each stone would weighed about 5 tonne. The outside was once finished with a smooth surface of pale stone. A small amount of it still remains on one of the pyramids. The local guides said that during the period of Ottoman rule, the smooth stone was quarried and used for their palaces. In and around Cairo, you can see Ottoman palaces made of pale stone. “Snow white” is an exaggeration.
I also visited an ancient stone quarry, when travelling in Egypt. The guides explained the clever technique for cutting stone out in blocks. There was a giant obelisk there, half cut out, and on its side. I walked on top of it. The guides said it was probably abandoned after it developed a large crack, which was still visible. The quarry was a long way from any archeological site, but (like virtually every archeological site there) was close to the Nile. Obviously they used barges to float the quarried stones to wherever they needed them.
The locals say that any “ramp” used to raise and position blocks into place on the great pyramids would have been a spiral around the pyramid, not the classic ramp shown in movies. Some western “experts” have said that they couldn’t have done it that way, because it would have made surveying the structure and keeping it aligned, too difficult. While it does complicate construction, I suspect such “experts” have never physically built anything themselves, and would probably struggle to assemble an IKEA bookcase.
The locals also say the ancients would have used a lot of sand to support structures as they built them. For example, the giant columns at Luxor would ha e been constructed by rolling a column section into place, surrounding it in sand, and then rolling the next on top, and so forth. It might sound a lot of work in theory, but I have seen it done to assemble freeway overpasses in the Middle East. It is a quick and simple way of building tall structures where you have lots of dry sand available.
In short, the effort that they went to was amazing, but all very explainable.
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315
Flat earth vs round earth
by Jrjw inmy brother has been talking about the earth being flat and some big conspiracy going on to make people beieve otherwise.
what are people's thoughts on this?.
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shepherdless
I was just reading a bit on the internet on the Antikythera mechanism. Apparently the ancient Greeks (or whoever built it) knew that the moon and planets have slightly elliptical orbits (ie not perfectly circular) and added gears to the mechanism to compensate. Even Copernicus didn’t know about the elliptical orbits. That wasn’t re-discovered until Kepler came along, and after a lot of observations over a long period.
By the way, those Babylonian tablets that are often referred to as proving Nebuchadnezzar came to the throne in 605BC also show that the Babylonians knew how to predict eclipses. Seems they likely thought the earth was a sphere as well.
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315
Flat earth vs round earth
by Jrjw inmy brother has been talking about the earth being flat and some big conspiracy going on to make people beieve otherwise.
what are people's thoughts on this?.
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shepherdless
I like the FACT that the ancient builders of the world's megaliths not only accomplished tasks still not attainable by modern technology, they also thought the earth was flat.
In about 200BC, Eratosthenes of Cyrene not only knew the world was round, he was able to calculate the diameter of the earth, and the tilt of the earth, using the suns shadows. His calculations for both were remarkably accurate for the time. Eratosthenes was not the first person to realise the world was round. There seems to be quite a number of others before him. Some ancient Greeks seemed to think the world was cylindrical. In fact, there is very little evidence of the educated class of any advanced ancient civilisation thinking the world is flat.
ancient builders of the world's megaliths... accomplished tasks still not attainable by modern technology...
Sorry, but that is rubbish.
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40
Introduce myself
by dantoole87 ini'd like share why i went from being a teenager determined to work in full time service for jehovah my entire life, to now being on here commiserating with you all.
i use to be an atheist but i now believe in god.
but i'm not preachy about god.
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shepherdless
Welcome!
Its like a 30 year old that believes professional wrestling is real. Sorry bro, but eventually you have to give up that delusion and realize its only sweaty guy opera.
Great analogy.