Posts by Anders Andersen

27

Constant out-of-context quoting; how do Writing dept. cope with that?

by Anders Andersen in

i am just wondering here: almost every single quote in jw literature for which a source can be found, is taken out of context..

personally, i have checked almost every quote in the 5-questions brochure, some on dating and the cross in reasoning book, and some in magazine articles i found interesting..

just checked the "they envisioned a universe subject to whims of gods" quote in the feb 2016 awake..

Anders Andersen

@DarkKnight

You may not realise this, but accepting the fact of evolution is compatible with believing in a God or gods.

Official policy in Catholic church is that evolution is a scientific fact*, and the biblical creation story is to be understood as an explanation how humans are spiritually dependant of God.

Many people who understand and accept evolution (including scientists) believe is a God that kickstarted and/or guided evolution.

Accepting evolution is not compatible with a literal understanding of Genesis, as is the case with JW.

There is no way just 2 humans were created 4026BCE and everyone came from those two. There is way too much evidence directly contradicting that.

So the only people who can never accept evolution are the fundies with a literal explanation of Genesis, and a theology built on that explanation.

*) In fact, the earlier mentioned scientist Francis Collins is main science advisor for the Vatican

27

Constant out-of-context quoting; how do Writing dept. cope with that?

by Anders Andersen in

i am just wondering here: almost every single quote in jw literature for which a source can be found, is taken out of context..

personally, i have checked almost every quote in the 5-questions brochure, some on dating and the cross in reasoning book, and some in magazine articles i found interesting..

just checked the "they envisioned a universe subject to whims of gods" quote in the feb 2016 awake..

Anders Andersen

I am just wondering here: almost every single quote in JW literature for which a source can be found, is taken out of context.

Personally, I have checked almost every quote in the 5-questions brochure, some on dating and the cross in Reasoning book, and some in magazine articles I found interesting.

Just checked the "they envisioned a universe subject to whims of gods" quote in the Feb 2016 Awake.

Where the Awake article argues that the Bible is different, the original source continues to argue that also Biblical views are included in the earlier statement:

Created during rotighly the same period and in the same regions of the world, Aristotelian philosophy and Biblical accounts of cosmology and cosmogony are, not surprisingly, congruent in some respects. Aristotle's teleological explanations assumed that the world was fulfilling a purpose formed by a superhuman mind; Christian philosophy also is inherently meaningful and purposive.

https://archive.org/stream/EncyclopediaOfScienceAndReligion/Encyclopedia%20of%20Science%20and%20Religion_djvu.txt
So once again the literature quotes a source, and leads the user to a conclusion that is the direct opposite of what the quoted source intended to say.

But I'm wondering: don't the people in Writing dept. read the whole article before quoting?
Are they doing this on purpose or are they just dumb?
How do they live with their misrepresenting the facts, assuming they drink the KoolAid just as much as all of us did and are actually decent human beings?

22

Bob up and down Naked.......Really???

by Giordano in

after meticulous research here are the documented scientific pronouncements of the wtbt$.

“air baths are good for preventing colds.

what you do is strip naked mornings and evenings and then bob up and down for a while.” golden-age feb 1926 pg 310. .

Anders Andersen

Can we combine this naked bobbing with field service? :-D

10

Evolution, Critical Thinking, and Other Things the JWs Never Told Me

by David_Jay in

after reading several threads on the topics of evolution and theism, i thought i would share what happens to you when you go to college and get a real education on things: you learn that some of the arguments and stands of jehovah's witnesses are moot to begin with.

i never double-checked the "modus operandi" about many things, and boy, did i have some real learning to do.. for instance, why are jehovah's witnesses so against evolution?

it only proves their point.

Anders Andersen

Nice post.

I can already hear the JW muttering.... "What would Matthew know about generations anyway...filthy tax collector that's what he was!"

34

WATCHTOWER LIBRARY 2015

by adamluis in

we have ours.

i have attached pic.

waiting for my copy.

Anders Andersen

@WTS Archive: do you have examples of those changes?

I'm still contemplating of starting a project to rip all data from different years of WTlib, and then find all changes (if any).

Or did anyone do that already?

28

There are some real beauties posted here!

by stillin in

jw
friends

this one is worth repeating.

it was buried in a thread and u've been thinking about it all day.. a quote from mark twain, one of my all-time heroes.. "it's easier to fool a man than it is to convince him that he has been fooled.".

isn't that the truth....

Anders Andersen

Makemeanunbeliever6 days agoDr Wilder-Smith (A former evolutionist 3 earned doctorate scientist)
"The Evolutionary model says that it is not necessary to assume the existence of anything, besides matter and energy, to produce life. That proposition is unscientific. We know perfectly well that if you leave matter to itself, it does not organize itself - in spite of all the efforts in recent years to prove that it does."

"The ancient Creationist Book says that it is not necessary to assume the existence of anything, besides energy, to produce God. That proposition is unscientific. We know perfectly well that if you leave energy to itself, it does not organize itself becoming omniscient and omnipotent - in spite of all the efforts in thousands of years to prove that it does."

I always cry a bit when people point at lack of evidence and supposed unscientific reasoning to plead in favor of any highly unscientific and unproven assumption that any God exists.

9

Biblical clues to what God the Jews worshipped

by Crazyguy in

recently there is a royal bulla that was found in jerusalem, that of the judean king hezekiah on it was two egyptian ankhs and a wings sun disk.

there have been other artifacts found with that of the egyptian scarab beatle which relates to sun worship.

so does the bible give any clues to the god of the jews?.

Anders Andersen

Interesting OP!

When the news about that bulla broke, several Witnesses shared that news item on Facebook.

All comments were "you see, Bible is true and correct!"

Until someone noticed the winged suns and Tammuz / phallic symbol.

Then most comments were "Yeah right, as if that belonged to Hezekiah"

Well waddayathink.....some other king Hezekiah son of Ahaz lived in the palace on mount Ofel at the same time, and threw his bulla out?

They don't recognise truth if it slaps them in the face :-(

(And yes, most of us were the same before we woke up)

48

Time for Jokes.....Tell Us Your Favorite JW Joke!

by new boy in

jw
friends

i like rodney dangerfielsd's .

"so i hear a knock at the door.

i open the door and there are two jehovah's witness, they look at me and both say 'they are not interested' ....i get no respect.. and .

Anders Andersen

What the Chinese word for 'Jehovah's Witnesses'?

Ding-Dong

29

The Retractable Dangling Carrot

by TMS in

jw
friends

some scattered thoughts about the granting or denial of privileges of service as a control mechanism:.

this method of persuasion involving reward or punishment is so deeply ingrained in watchtower function, it is second nature.

although sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant, everyone from new bible study to traveling overseer is subconsciously aware of the possible limiting of his official opportunities to serve god and his brothers.. .

Anders Andersen

Interestingly, FS is never used as a carrot.

No matter how far demoted you are, you can always go into field service (unless DF).

Put on restrictions? No answering for you during the meetings, so you can improve your spiritual health. Uh...how is that going to help?

Now if they said: you're on restrictions, no FS for you, use that time to work on your spiritual health instead...that might make sense.

Are you a (seemingly) 'repentant' pedo? No mic roving of reading paragraphs for you, because you might be dangerous.

But you can go out in FS and meet all kinds of nice young people to witness to.

FS must always go on. New recruits and their money are needed...

15

At the doors.

by Sabin in

what were some of the derogatory things you heard or said about house holders?

.

i was taught that if they didn't answer the door & you knew they were in it was always that they had a guilty conscience..

Anders Andersen

An elderly sister, anointed, a little weird (somehow most anointed are?), was out doing street witnessing.

She approached a disabled man in a wheelchair. Of course she told him about paradise, where even the lame would leap like deer. He politely expressed his lack of interest.

"Well, just keep sitting in your wheelchair then, if you like that so much!"....