Posts by Simon

15

Samson kills 1,000 Philistine military men with a donkey's jawbone...I think not!

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

the watchtower—study edition | september 2023. study article 37. rely on jehovah, as samson did.

4 consider an example of samson’s trust in jehovah and of the support that god supplied.

on one occasion, a philistine military force had come to capture samson at lehi, evidently in judah.

Simon

How did anyone even get near him, even with a few hundred dead bodies around?

These are the kind of OT tall tales, and the WTS insistence that they are absolutely true, not just fanciful fables, are what first started me questioning things.

They clearly cannot be true. The stories don't make sense. They miss out the motivation and rationality of the enemies. This guy would be like Superman, wiping out their armies. They finally catch him by learning the secret being his long hair and then they don't have someone cutting his hair several times a day? In fact, they don't bother to execute him on the spot as any sane people would, so allowing him to fulfill his heroes story of redemption.

Utterly crazy. But then a man goes on a sea voyage in a fish ...

168

Moral responsibility.

by nicolaou in

no subtlety here, it's going to be obvious where i'm going with this.

please consider the following scenario.. you're seated on a railway platform bench waiting for your train.

a high speed intercity is about to hurtle through without stopping when you see a small child running to the platforms edge!

Simon

How about this one:

You know of a plan to kidnap, torture, rape and murder a young woman. You can easily stop it, but you don't. Instead, you create a clone with no memory of the event.

You tell people who follow you that this makes you "loving".

The question isn't whether you're loving or not, because the answer to that is bleeding obvious.

The question is how warped is the morality of your followers to believe you.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Simon

Put me down for 24 / 506

Q: are we allowed to hunt down and eliminate Patreons to influence the results? ;)

49

a pet peeve of mine

by enoughisenough in

jw
friends

putting this under "friends" because i couldn't figure out where to put it.

it is very often on here and in ex jw videos, ect that people like to undermine some of those who once we would have called friends.

there seems to be a view that window washers, plumbers, cleaners, construction workers are somehow less intelligent than those who may be college educated.

Simon

There seems to be a view that window washers, plumbers, cleaners, construction workers are somehow less intelligent than those who may be college educated. I don't think this labeling is in anyway kind or accurate.

You're correct.

I think it's a way people like to point out how the WTS holds people back when it comes to academic attainment. But as you point out, this does not equate with intelligence (or even knowledge). You could even argue that people who don't rack up huge debt for a worthless degree and the wisest ones of all.

They may even have the last laugh as AI takes over everything ... except for jobs like plumbing!

30

JW Marriages - Loophole in wedding vows

by Finally-Free in

not being raised as a jw, i went to many church weddings, mostly in catholic churches.

all the times i went to jw weddings i thought it unusual that they had their own vows, much different from the wedding vows used elsewhere.

i remembered jws mentioning "divine temination" of marriages to me and thought the vows reflected that thought.

Simon

Marriage is a funny thing, it's history is hardly "romantic".

Back in goat-herder bible days, women were just more chattel to be traded, so it was a financial arrangement.

Later it evolved into a less obvious deal between two families, more to form alleigances.

Finally, governments used it to enforce segregation - requiring you get a license from them, to marry who they allowed you to.

Nowadays it seems like a huge industry - I can't believe people piss away so much money, esp. when you're starting out in life and could spend it on so many more useful things. But the media promotes the mantra that you're missing out unless you've thrown an expensive party for tons of people you don't really even know.

Anytime me and my wife have an argument, I always pause, point, and say "hey, remember ... lord in your heart!". Yeah, that usually gets a good reaction, LOL.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Simon

Or he's too lazy / incapable of updating his video captions so it's just left as-is. Anything that involves effort is a low priority.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Simon

Lloyd frequently said he had no interest in providing support to new leavers who turned to JW survey - and him - as they woke up. Facing the prospect of being shunned and loosing everything. Some were young and homeless. Some were suicidal. He made it abundantly clear he would not respond to personal emails....unless they were from Bethelites, or elders with a good "story".

Yeah, but I bet he'd respond promptly if someone who left was successful & wealthy and looking for ways to spend their money on exJW "activism".

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Simon

Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, and the former Yugoslavia ...

Then there was the two nuclear bombs that the US dropped ...

If you care to have a debate, start a separate topic. This is not the place.

65

The currently missing 'Titan' submarine. What do you think?

by SydBarrett in

jw
friends

any opinions are just speculation, but my guess, being morbid, is that there was not a hull breach and implosion (although that would have been the most merciful fate for them), but instead the amateur level of building this thing meant that it lost power and communication and got itself tangled in the titanic's wreckage or is sitting on the actual seabed with no way to release ballast to resurface.

terrifying.

what's your gut feeling?

Simon

Apparently they detected the implosion so knew the sub was toast on Sunday. The wreck was exactly as expected - directly below its last known position, and probably located within minutes of getting a submersible down there (as per James Cameron).

So why was it such a big news story for so long?

Well, wasn't there a hearing about corrupt pedo president Bidens crack-head money laundering son?

Nah, that couldn't be it ... we can totally trust the US government and the media.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

Simon

It's never a good look to mention a WW2 event when the West has got far more blood on its hands than Germany could ever have dreamt of, oh but they are spreading democracy!

Please spare us your poor takes and off-base comparisons. The west hasn't come anywhere close to the level of mass killings by socialist Germany, Russia, and China.

Of course some would say that the holocaust was almost as bad as food allergies ... (if you know the reference, you know, if you don't you'll be thinking "WTF?!")