Posts by TonusOH

23

Watchtower online religion

by Hellothere in

if watchtower becomes a online religion, how you think transition gonna be like?

i thought this maeby would happen in a span of 20 years.

when all old timers are gone and just the new tech savvy generation left.

The issue for the WTS is that they will need to make sure that they can keep funds coming in if they move to an online model. They are still building and upgrading and they will eventually have a large campus (or two?) that will require lots of money for upkeep. If they can't get enough money every month/year, things could quickly snowball out of control.

The other issue is: how do you keep people in line if you cannot see them face-to-face on a regular basis? Do they think that Zoom attendance is a reliable indicator? Or how often they use their camera for Zoom meetings? Or how many "digital hours" they report? The elders will be worn out from all of the pastoral visits they will be making... not a healthy environment for them!

19

Who wrote the book of Hebrews?

by Fisherman in

there are good reasons to belief that paul wrote hebrews.

i am convinced he wrote it.

is there any any convincing evidence or argument that can validate the belief?.

TonusOH

A more fascinating question might be: who was Paul? There seems to be little reference to him outside of the Bible, if any. If we do not use the Biblical sources, what do we know about him? Anything?

68

1975 selling of houses

by Paul Bonanno in

jw
friends

as 1975 was approaching, many witnesses sold their property.

do you know about specific cases that are willing to share their experience of doing so?.

TonusOH

If Armageddon will come when it is least expected, then it will never happen for JWs. They are in constant expectation of it. Every news item is evidence that things are so bad that humanity cannot last another minute. Every news items is the fulfillment of one of the signs of the end. Every second that passes is one second closer to the Day of Jehovah, which is due any second now.

And since it's all going to end in a second, give the WTS all of your money. The booze cabinet is almost empty!!!

15

Dirt floors in Africa, Ultra modern Towers in Indonesia

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

matthew 19:21. jesus said to him, “if you will to be perfect, go away, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.”.

jw family tanzania - bukombe kingdom hall.

nothing like attending your local kingdom hall in africa with dirt floors, tarps as a roof, brutal heat with no air-conditioning, and small wooden benches to sit on after a hard days work.. does the society help this congregation in africa with a suitable kingdom hall that would have the local members more comfortable with these unbearable conditions?.

TonusOH

My thought exactly, wannaexit. Years and years of bad planning and irresponsible spending, and suddenly they are concerned that they are overextended and put out their hand to the same people they have been stripping bare for decades.

11530

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

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

TonusOH

LMsA: What he didn’t expect was for several prominent friends & allies of his to actually put on their thinking cap once the shock wore off.

I get the impression that he felt confident that admitting to cheating on his wife with prostitutes for years would not bother his supporters as much as Kim's 'betrayal.' It shows just how little he thinks of his supporters.

99

If not the WT/JW relgion where else are 'we' to go? Why not atheistic/scientific philosophical naturalism?

by Disillusioned JW in

sometimes jws wonder if the wt/jw is not the truth, 'then where else are we to go?

' i say 'why not atheistic/scientific philosophical naturalism and why not a secular philosophy which teaches a way of life?

' what do you folks say?.

TonusOH

Morality is not some intrinsic quality in living forms. It is a code of behavior that can be arrived at via group enforcement (which many mammal species practice, especially primates) or by reasoning out the benefits and consequences of certain behaviors and enforcing via societal structures (as humans almost always do). The former group does indeed arrive at its moral systems at least in part through evolution, since those species who enforce 'good' and punish 'bad' behaviors are more likely to survive in the long term.

As for the latter, if you can explain why an action is moral or immoral, then a deity is not a required component of a system of morality.

59

Why isn't this forum growing like reddit exjw??

by nowwhat? in

admittedly it 90% crap over there but still they are up to 80k in subscribers.

over here it's the same half dozen or so that posts something, including myself.

why is that?.

TonusOH

Yep, that's the one. Thank you, Ultimate Axiom! Time to spend a couple of hours reading...

146

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

by Disillusioned JW in

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.

TonusOH

Current world GDP was $85.24 trillion USD in 2020. (https://www.statista.com/statistics/268750/global-gross-domestic-product-gdp/)

Something tells me that the figure of $150 trillion over 30 years is... optimistic. Government planning tends to underestimate the time a project will take, and vastly underestimates how much money will be poured into the project, due to the amount of graft and outright theft that are usually involved. Oh yeah, they probably won't come close to achieving their goals, either. But lots of people will become very rich along the way.

11530

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

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

TonusOH

His main problem is that I don't think he can laugh at himself. If he could, he'd have material to spare.

11

How About.....YOU Doing the Shunning?

by titch in

hello, folks: about a month ago, stan livedeath started a post about.

how many of the readers here on the site have been or are now being shunned by friends/relatives?

well, let's turn that around a little bit: how many of the readers here have purposely shunned a witness, when they encountered them?

TonusOH

I wouldn't do it-- it's just not my personality. I would probably smile and nod, or even wave. They are the ones who limit themselves by shunning someone who never did them any wrong. If they feel compelled to turn away or pretend they do not know me, I get it-- I would have done the same at one time in my life. But I would feel a bit sad nonetheless.