Posts by Anders Andersen

33

Have you ever thought what the primary teaching of Jehovah’s Witnesses is?

by Half banana in

it is not “preach the good news” nor is it “believe in jesus and get saved” neither is it “believe in the governing body of jehovah’s witnesses and get saved” although in practice they do teach this.

no, everything they claim depends on a belief in another doctrine which logic decrees cannot be found in the bible.

the leadership of jehovah’s witnesses put absolute faith in a protestant doctrine which is given a latin name, sola scriptura, meaning “by scripture alone”.. good evidence of the governing body believing in the primacy of this doctrine was when being questioned by the australian royal commission, they resorted to the ‘authority’ of scripture to defend their stance on having “two witnesses” when they are investigating child abuse cases.throughout the hearing they paraded their naive trust in the bible as the highest possible authority proudly ignoring the fact that most people regard it as having been superseded by modern scientific evaluations of what is true.. .

Anders Andersen

Very interesting OP!

It reminds me of what an other user here made me realize:

The different books of the Bible and the Bible as a collection of books are the result of religion. They are not the basis for religion.

Like any other book that describes something, it cannot contain everything there is to know about the topic described.

You can't build New York based on a couple of books describing the city and it's culture.

Likewise, it's impossible to build a complete and true religion from the Bible alone.

Simple logic dictates either tradition or revelation are needed in addition to the writings.

Watchtower has neither, and doesn't even claim to have those either.

Watchtower is building New York from a book.

21

"Are you humble enough to admit you were wrong?"

by stuckinarut2 in

that is a question i want to calmly and politely ask a witness next time i interact with them.

perhaps at a cart.. "the bible says we should be humble.

may i ask, are you humble enough to admit you were wrong on things you believe?

Anders Andersen

Yes, I'm humble enough to be corrected if needed. But the things I believe are true, so no need to be corrected.

After introducing doctrinal issues, they'd go

Yeah, we'll have to wait on Jehovah to clear that up. I'm thay humble!

Poinless exercition concluded. Sorry.

8

Brain tumor causes woman to become JW (4 times!)

by Anders Andersen in

why one woman mysteriously started hearing 'divine' voices.

after doctors admitted the woman to the psychiatric unit of the hospital, they learned that this wasn't the first time she felt a strong interest in religion and spirituality.

she described four previous times in her life, beginning at age 13 and again at ages 23, 32 and 41, when she experienced periods of intense spiritual and religious devotion.during these periods, which lasted about a year or two, she would join jehovah's witnesses and then later resign, when she lost interest, according to the report.as part of her psychiatric evaluation, the woman also underwent an mri.

Anders Andersen

Why One Woman Mysteriously Started Hearing 'Divine' Voices

After doctors admitted the woman to the psychiatric unit of the hospital, they learned that this wasn't the first time she felt a strong interest in religion and spirituality. She described four previous times in her life, beginning at age 13 and again at ages 23, 32 and 41, when she experienced periods of intense spiritual and religious devotion.
During these periods, which lasted about a year or two, she would join Jehovah's Witnesses and then later resign, when she lost interest, according to the report.
As part of her psychiatric evaluation, the woman also underwent an MRI. The scan detected a brain tumor.
It turned out that the tumor — which probably appeared first in childhood or adolescence — was very slow-growing, and likely periodically affected her behavior since her teenage years, Walther said.
Indeed, the doctors suspected that her four previous episodes of intense religious devotion might have been a symptom of the tumor's progression, according to the case report.
The tumor affected areas of the brain involved in processing sound, which is possibly why she may have heard "divine" voices, but it also affected networks that influence a person's emotions, Walther said.
It's not clear why the woman's periodic devotion to religion eventually caused her to experience a psychotic episode in which she tried to severely injure herself.

I wonder how the JW viewed this woman, who hears divine voices and is in and out the JW multiple times....

23

Why "Most high"?

by Doug Mason in

if there were only one god, why do we encounter the expression, "most high god"?.

is this not indicative of polytheism, and of levels (or degrees) of god-ness?.

doug .

Anders Andersen

Would you or anyone you know willingly, knowingly worship any god they know doesn't exist?

No, right?

Neither would the Israelite on the old days.

(At times) They worshipped multiple gods, and they believed all of them to be real, or they wouldn't have worshipped them.

Which means the Bible shows us that the Israelites didn't really see a difference in the actual existence between Jhwh and other gods. They were all equally real to them. They allegedly had plenty of evidence of JHWH being real, and that evidence was apparently no better than the evidence they had for other gods being real.

In the Bible false god doesn't mean not existing god as we are now taught. It means not our preferred god Jhwh.

The Israelites were polytheistic, and then chose to worship only one of those gods.

90

So my PIMO Younger Brother Tried To Kill Himself Today

by pale.emperor in

we all know that this cult will drive those trying to leave to desperate measures, and today by brother was very nearly one of those statistics.

he slashed his thigh with a kitchen knife and was bleeding out until he called the police.. i got a call on my way home from work from a police officer, coincidentally it was one of my old friends from school who's now a cop.

he told me my brother is in hospital after an attempted suicide and has lost some blood but will be ok. but i should get to the hospital as he's asking for me.

Anders Andersen

Very sorry to hear this. I really hope your brother gets the help he needs and pulls through.

My thoughts are with you and him.

78

Work Christmas functions: Being a Bible Student (unbaptized)

by rulehayl in

jw
friends

hi all,i have been studying with the witnesses for more than 6 months and regularly attend both midweek & weekend meetings, and i am nearly at the end of the "bible teach" book.

my boss is adamant i attend team christmas functions.

she knows about my studying and potential baptism next year, and has suggested that i attend and just not participate in activities like kris kringle.

Anders Andersen

It's even worse...after the conversation mentioned above we had a private conversation that ended with her deciding to tell the study conductor she won't follow Jehovah anymore. Guess that decision was undone...

102

If mathematics teacher made a mistake, would it mean mathematics itself is wrong!

by venus in

many people point to the irrationality in the depiction of god by the religions and their scriptures, hence jump into the bottomless pit of atheism.

in either camp, god is not a factor because religion is only a means that misrepresents god, hence religionists themselves are atheists (literally, those who live without god).

it is like saying there exists no earth because you found out your friend who taught earth is flat is wrong; or it is like saying mathematics itself is wrong because you found out your mathematics teacher made a mistake.

Anders Andersen

The law of increasing entropy -- also known as the second law of thermodynamics -- stipulates that all systems in the real world tend to go "downhill," as it were, toward disorganization and decreased complexity.

Yes, in isolated systems where no energy is added.

Earth is not an isolated system. Our Sun continuously adds energy.

Cofty was right. You don't know what you're talking about.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_law_of_thermodynamics

43

Which Things Did Your Overzealous Parents Ban?

by pale.emperor in

we all know the gb like to impose rules upon the rules... but did anyone else out there have parents that implemented rules upon those rules?

mine did.

my mum tended to copy whatever the elders wives were doing and took it to the extreme.

Anders Andersen

Smurfs
Watching any TV show with any openly gay hosts or guests (not that we had a TV...that came only in 1992)
Music from Queen (teh gaiyz)
Music from Terrence Trent d'Arby (demunz)
Going on any school trip, including one day trips
Playing at non JW schoolmates' house
Having non JW schoolmates over to play (may have happened once though)

Some of it may be overzealous JW stuff, some of it simply non-conformance to society, and some of it an accidental result of circumstances.

78

Work Christmas functions: Being a Bible Student (unbaptized)

by rulehayl in

jw
friends

hi all,i have been studying with the witnesses for more than 6 months and regularly attend both midweek & weekend meetings, and i am nearly at the end of the "bible teach" book.

my boss is adamant i attend team christmas functions.

she knows about my studying and potential baptism next year, and has suggested that i attend and just not participate in activities like kris kringle.

Anders Andersen

OP's username suddenly rings a bell with me. I've had a conversation with her a year ago! She can't ever say she hasn't been warned.

If God asked you to kill all people, would you do it? Hayley's answer.

Our conversation in the comments section (including a 'don't listen to the apostate' warning from a JW)

102

If mathematics teacher made a mistake, would it mean mathematics itself is wrong!

by venus in

many people point to the irrationality in the depiction of god by the religions and their scriptures, hence jump into the bottomless pit of atheism.

in either camp, god is not a factor because religion is only a means that misrepresents god, hence religionists themselves are atheists (literally, those who live without god).

it is like saying there exists no earth because you found out your friend who taught earth is flat is wrong; or it is like saying mathematics itself is wrong because you found out your mathematics teacher made a mistake.

Anders Andersen

I see a straw man argument.

Many people point to the irrationality in the depiction of God by the religions and their scriptures, hence jump into the bottomless pit of atheism.

Most atheists became atheists first, based on the complete and utter lack of evidence that any gods actually exist. Only after that do they start pointing at the very much flawed, inconsistent and contradicting ideas about gods as a very strong indicator that no gods have revealed themselves to mankind.

It is like saying our Earth doesn't have a second Moon. Not because your friend insists that this Second Moon is green or because his ideas contradict your neighbors idea that Second Moon is red, but because there is zero evidence a Second Moon exists.

And now you try to say that since it's possible the Second Moon is purple instead of red or green, I am wrong for thinking it doesn't exist at all? Yeah, no thanks.

The fact that there (theoretically) may be gods who are not even dreamt up in any current religious beliefs makes that their (theoretical) existence has even less impact on our lives than all the man made concepts of gods. In other words: why should we care about any gods that are unable or unwilling to present themselves in a compelling way?