Rivergang

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Posts by Rivergang

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  12

  Three children families stop step decline in Mormon membership

  by joe134cd in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i just posted this on a seperate thread, but i think it deserves its own thread.

  this is with regard to the pew survey that states “2 out of three 3 born into the jehovah’s witness faith.

  will not remain in the faith as adults.”.

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  Rivergang

  The JW criteria for defining "membership" is rather more rigid than that used by the LDS, or just about any other religious group. That is, they define as "members" only those officially reporting "field service" on a regular basis (however inaccurate those official figures may be).

  However, what a person might enter on a census questionnaire is quite a different matter.

  For example, on one occasion whilst myself engaging in the "field service", I recall meeting a couple who assured us that they, too, were Jehovahs Witnesses. It turned out that several years previously these two had undergone a "Bible Study" with the JWs. They appeared to believe everything they had been told by that pioneer couple who "studied" with them - although their level of understanding may have been rather limited. However, they were never baptised, and certainly never attended any meetings, let alone engage in that JW trademark activity, knock on people's doors! Yet, it is entirely possible that they (and all other such persons) would - if ever asked - describe their religion as "Jehovahs Witness". In fact, the first time I ever filled out a census form, I myself gave my religion as Jehovahs Witness - even though at that stage I was only somebody's "Bible Study" (and would have been lucky to have attended more than about three or four meetings at the Kingdom Hall).

  I rather suspect that the data used by the Mormon / LDS church to compile its official membership numbers shares greater similarities to that collected in a census than it does to anything else.

  Expressed another way, it you were to compare the official membership numbers of the JWs with the official membership numbers of the Mormons / LDS, then you wouldn't exactly be comparing "apples with apples". Those two religious groups apply completely criteria to define what it means to be an "official" member.
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  68

  Help with 1975 please

  by jhine in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i answered a question on quora about jw flip flops .

  i mentioned, amongst other things , the 1975 debacle.

  how witnesses were told that armageddon was coming in the fall of that year.

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  Rivergang

  I guess that they got me at a vulnerable time in my life.

  I think that that has often got a lot to do with it - it certainly was in my case.

  Another factor that may come in is one often displayed by victims of any sort of a scam. After investing so much already in what is now plainly a scam, some victims are still reluctant to pull out "just in case it might be correct after all".

  
  
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  9

  King Richard

  by Rattigan350 in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  there is this new movie out called "king richard" staring will smith playing serena and venus williams father.

  i don't know much about this, but i heard that they were raised by jw parents.

  how does that factor into the movie and their growing up aspiring tennis stars?.

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  Rivergang

  He should know, he cheated on two witness wives, gets drunk regularly, and embezzled thousands from his business, and cheated others out of their pay for working for him.

  And there was a time when I sincerely used to believe that "Our church don't do that sort of thing".

  Mug!
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  68

  Help with 1975 please

  by jhine in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i answered a question on quora about jw flip flops .

  i mentioned, amongst other things , the 1975 debacle.

  how witnesses were told that armageddon was coming in the fall of that year.

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  Rivergang

  It was never said that armageddon would happen in the fall of 1975.

  True enough, as far as it goes - but ONLY as far as it goes!

  The thought was certainly left hanging there, and it was obvious even to Blind Freddie that this was the conclusion the WTS wanted its readers to deduce from their writings. This started with the 1966 book Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God - on page 29 of which the term "appropriate" was used to link 1975 with Armageddon. It then continued over the next several years with a series of magazine articles, which got more and more pointed. One article was even entitled Why are you looking forward to 1975? That one was very explicit, talking about it being only "weeks or months" rather than "years" between the end of 6000 years of human creation and the "end of the system". It also effectively debunked the cautionary statement of Matthew 24:36, (i.e."no one knows the day or the hour"). This magazine article told its readers that it was not the time to "hide behind" those words - talk about the Watchtower being more important that the Bible!
  

  So, yes, you are correct that the WTS didn't straight out say that Armageddon would happen in the fall of 1975:

  - BUT they also made it plain that the event could easily occur within "weeks or months" of that time; and that furthermore, this would be quite "appropriate".

  Most readers of these works of propaganda drew the conclusion that the writers intended them to arrive at!
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  146

  Science News article: ‘Case closed’: 99.9% of scientists agree climate emergency caused by humans

  by Disillusioned JW in

  1. social
  2. current

  a news article has the headline of " ‘case closed’: 99.9% of scientists agree climate emergency caused by humans"; see https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/19/case-closed-999-of-scientists-agree-climate-emergency-caused-by-humans .

  the article says in part the following.. 'the scientific consensus that humans are altering the climate has passed 99.9%, according to research that strengthens the case for global action at the cop26 summit in glasgow.. the degree of scientific certainty about the impact of greenhouse gases is now similar to the level of agreement on evolution and plate tectonics, the authors say, based on a survey of nearly 90,000 climate-related studies.

  this means there is practically no doubt among experts that burning fossil fuels, such as oil, gas, coal, peat and trees, is heating the planet and causing more extreme weather.. a previous survey in 2013 showed 97% of studies published between 1991 and 2012 supported the idea that human activities are altering earth’s climate.. this has been updated and expanded by the study by cornell university that shows the tiny minority of sceptical voices has diminished to almost nothing as evidence mounts of the link between fossil-fuel burning and climate disruption.. the latest survey of peer-reviewed literature published from 2012 to november 2020 was conducted in two stages.

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  Rivergang

  Don't blame Acheson for the formation of the World Bank!

  60th Anniversary (worldbankimflib.org)
  

  While the US Secretary of State certainly attended the 1944 Bretton Woods conference (which led to the creation of that institution), he wasn't its founder. Rather, that resulted very much from the efforts of the British economist John Maynard Keynes and a senior US Treasury official, Harry Dexter White.
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  146

  Science News article: ‘Case closed’: 99.9% of scientists agree climate emergency caused by humans

  by Disillusioned JW in

  1. social
  2. current

  a news article has the headline of " ‘case closed’: 99.9% of scientists agree climate emergency caused by humans"; see https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/19/case-closed-999-of-scientists-agree-climate-emergency-caused-by-humans .

  the article says in part the following.. 'the scientific consensus that humans are altering the climate has passed 99.9%, according to research that strengthens the case for global action at the cop26 summit in glasgow.. the degree of scientific certainty about the impact of greenhouse gases is now similar to the level of agreement on evolution and plate tectonics, the authors say, based on a survey of nearly 90,000 climate-related studies.

  this means there is practically no doubt among experts that burning fossil fuels, such as oil, gas, coal, peat and trees, is heating the planet and causing more extreme weather.. a previous survey in 2013 showed 97% of studies published between 1991 and 2012 supported the idea that human activities are altering earth’s climate.. this has been updated and expanded by the study by cornell university that shows the tiny minority of sceptical voices has diminished to almost nothing as evidence mounts of the link between fossil-fuel burning and climate disruption.. the latest survey of peer-reviewed literature published from 2012 to november 2020 was conducted in two stages.

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  Rivergang

  Thanks, Earnest, for finding that information re. Dean Acheson.

  He was talking specifically about the needs for some form of arms control, where as the WTS (as is typical) put a somewhat different spin on his observations.
• 
  146

  Science News article: ‘Case closed’: 99.9% of scientists agree climate emergency caused by humans

  by Disillusioned JW in

  1. social
  2. current

  a news article has the headline of " ‘case closed’: 99.9% of scientists agree climate emergency caused by humans"; see https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/19/case-closed-999-of-scientists-agree-climate-emergency-caused-by-humans .

  the article says in part the following.. 'the scientific consensus that humans are altering the climate has passed 99.9%, according to research that strengthens the case for global action at the cop26 summit in glasgow.. the degree of scientific certainty about the impact of greenhouse gases is now similar to the level of agreement on evolution and plate tectonics, the authors say, based on a survey of nearly 90,000 climate-related studies.

  this means there is practically no doubt among experts that burning fossil fuels, such as oil, gas, coal, peat and trees, is heating the planet and causing more extreme weather.. a previous survey in 2013 showed 97% of studies published between 1991 and 2012 supported the idea that human activities are altering earth’s climate.. this has been updated and expanded by the study by cornell university that shows the tiny minority of sceptical voices has diminished to almost nothing as evidence mounts of the link between fossil-fuel burning and climate disruption.. the latest survey of peer-reviewed literature published from 2012 to november 2020 was conducted in two stages.

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  Rivergang

  Unless corroborated by another source, a person would do well to dismiss anything cited in WTS publications.

  While The Truth that leads to Eternal Life does quote Acheson as predicting a world "too dangerous to live in" by the mid-1970s, did he in fact really say that? Can this alleged quotation be backed up from at least one other source?

  As Scotsmen would say "Ah hae ma doots" about that one!
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  18

  Evolution News: Humanlike Footprints in Crete Dated to 6 Million Years Ago!

  by Disillusioned JW in

  1. social
  2. current

  i find it astonishing that humanlike feet could have existed that long ago.

  i wonder if some non-human upright ape might have had that kind of feet that long ago.

  see https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/humanlike-footprints-in-crete-dated-to-6-million-years-muddle-archaeologists-1.10301706 and https://scitechdaily.com/oldest-footprints-of-pre-humans-identified-in-crete-six-million-years-old/ .

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  Rivergang

  Certainly, the processes by which geologists date such things require a little bit more than an eight-second sound bite to describe!

  I think that it is all too easy to dismiss anything we cannot understand with a "Sounds like bull to me" type response.
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  35

  This is my favorite quote! What’s your favorite?

  by Iamallcool in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  no one can steal your thunder when you are the fucking storm!

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  Rivergang

  To ASSUME something makes an

  ASS

  out of

  U

  and

  ME

  (Anonymous)
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  12

  Watchtower More Important than the Scriptures

  by Vanderhoven7 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  mack moore ex-jw recovery writes:.

  yes, that is how they want people to esteem the magazine.

  they believe it is the unique mouthpiece of god.

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  Rivergang

  The excuse I heard offered as to why the Watchtower is "more important than the Bible" was that "Christendom has been reading the Bible for centuries, and it hasn't helped them".