And if the story is a metaphor or allegory, one has to wonder what God was trying to prevent. Was He really determined to stop humans from banding together and creating a great work that might unite them and teach them that with cooperation and hard work, anything was within their reach? I mean, in a way, God deliberately created the situation that exists today, with different groups of people endlessly at one another's throats. What if he had blessed their efforts instead, and offered them rewards if they would build him an equally grandiose temple?
TonusOH
JoinedPosts by TonusOH
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Beleif in the Bible ?
by smiddy3 inthousands of years ago .. genesis chapter 11: 1-9 and how god was affected by what man planned to do ?.
build a tower into the heavens ?
their is no end to what he may acheive having only one language .. today, in the year 2022.. not only are modern skyscrapers taller than anything that could have been built with the tower of babel in bible times ,but what is acheivable today in space far exceeds anything that could have been acheived back then.. and god / jehovah is silent ?.
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Babylon the Great
by Godlyman indo jw's still believe that babylon the great is the empire of false religion?
inquiring minds want to know .
estephan.
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TonusOH
I'm more interested to know if they are back to bashing the UN, now that they don't have access to their library as an affiliated NGO.
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Nephilim...Only desired females
by RULES & REGULATIONS inbible questions answered.
who were the nephilim?.
the bible account says that “the sons of the true god began to notice that the daughters of men were beautiful.” (genesis 6:2) those ‘sons of god’ were actually spirit creatures who rebelled against god when they “forsook their own proper dwelling place” in heaven, materialized human bodies, and “began taking as wives all whom they chose.”—jude 6; genesis 6:2.. the hybrids born from this unnatural union were no ordinary children.
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TonusOH
JeffT: I've been out a long time, but when I was in people at the hall talked about all kinds of stories about demons, fallen angels, beautiful women, freak offspring etc.
Same here. And, as often happens with urban legends, many of these stories were told as secondhand (and occasionally even firsthand) tales. I marvel at how many people my mother purported to know who had run-ins with demons and monsters. As with so many such tales, they seemed to become much more rare as recording mediums became more widespread and available.
Good stories, though. They're probably the reason I'm such a big fan of horror.
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Noah's Ark - Kentucky
by BoogerMan inregardless of belief/non-belief in the bible account, why is the ark nearly always depicted by both believers & non-believers as a huge boat, with a rounded hull & stern, and a tapered bow?
https://arkencounter.com/ .
the ark was crate shaped according to the measurements.
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TonusOH
There is 95 tons of those throughout. How much weight from the reinforced concrete? If only Noah had known!
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Noah's Ark - Kentucky
by BoogerMan inregardless of belief/non-belief in the bible account, why is the ark nearly always depicted by both believers & non-believers as a huge boat, with a rounded hull & stern, and a tapered bow?
https://arkencounter.com/ .
the ark was crate shaped according to the measurements.
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TonusOH
From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_Encounter
While the builders originally planned to hold the ark together with wooden pegs, modern building codes required the builders to use steel fasteners, thus 95 tons of metal plates and bolts were used to connect the wood together.
That is actually scary. An attempt to make the experience seem authentic is one thing, but creating actual safety risks is reckless. Good thing God sent those city inspectors to make sure they followed modern, man-made building codes.
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Nephilim...Only desired females
by RULES & REGULATIONS inbible questions answered.
who were the nephilim?.
the bible account says that “the sons of the true god began to notice that the daughters of men were beautiful.” (genesis 6:2) those ‘sons of god’ were actually spirit creatures who rebelled against god when they “forsook their own proper dwelling place” in heaven, materialized human bodies, and “began taking as wives all whom they chose.”—jude 6; genesis 6:2.. the hybrids born from this unnatural union were no ordinary children.
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TonusOH
I recall that the WTS used to say that the angels who fathered the nephilim gave up their human bodies when the flood began and returned to spirit form, but were rejected from Heaven for having forsaken their duties and loyalty to God. I recall some brothers who claimed that the moaning sounds that people attributed to ghosts was these angels, raging in frustration at their inability to return to a tangible form.
Lots of good stories when you are raised by superstitious people.
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11530
It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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TonusOH
Incorporating is a smart move, especially if a lot of money is coming in. It can provide legal protections as well, depending on the local laws and regulations. In the USA, a corporation is a legal entity that can shield the company owner from personal liability.
I am only surprised to see that he waited so long. He would have known about the benefits of incorporating from the business his father managed, wouldn't he? The tax benefits and liability protections would be very attractive to someone like Evans...
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Would You Like To Be God?
by Ultimate Axiom inwe know there are a few on this forum who think they are, but consider this for a while.
if you are god, you are omniscient, therefore you have nothing to learn.
nothing to research, investigate or explore as there is nothing you don’t already know.
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TonusOH
Ultimate Axiom: If you are God, you are omniscient, therefore you have nothing to learn. Nothing to research, investigate or explore as there is nothing you don’t already know.
That sounds like the worst possible fate. I think we're driven by a desire to know more, to experience things, to learn new ideas and see new results and make adjustments and try again. We're motivated by a need to improve, to be better and smarter and prepared for new challenges. Without that, I don't think I'd create anything. If I already know how everything turns out, then there is no need to experience it aside from a sense of malignant sadism.
Oh, goodness. I think I just realized what scares me so much about that concept of god...
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elder school and jabs
by enoughisenough ini watched a video ( can't think which one now.
)..and the presenter said he had been given unverifiable information from an elder's wife that the elders needed to have the "jabs" in order to attend elder school in person now and there wasn't to be a zoom, and if they didn't have the jabs, they needed to contact the branch.
( my thought: when will these toothless lions (elders) wake up and be real men and use their god given intelligence and quit allowing the manipulation?
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TonusOH
Hellothere: There's something not right here.
I am reminded of the old saying that sometimes the best explanation is not malice, but incompetence. The JW grift is based on keeping people waiting for an event that is very close, and this sort of grift relies on people either being insanely gullible, insanely desperate, or replaced on a regular basis. Most people will either see through the grift or simply run out of patience and decide that the JWs are wrong. Those people need to be replaced with new converts who can keep pumping money into the WTS coffers.
But you also need some shrewd minds and good planners at the top, and I don't think they have those anymore. The current crop of GB members are not dynamic speakers and they don't seem to have any fresh ideas to push to the rank and file. I think they lean too heavily on the "you must obey without question" part of the scam. The problem is, if you lean too hard on that, people will realize you are hiding something.
They also have done a terrible job of dealing with CSA and the related legal cases. I think their initial hope was that they could get it to go away by settling a few cases and never giving up their database of child rapists. But that has gone sideways and they are losing both court cases and money. And by digging in their heels, they're earning a reputation that is worse than any other church in regards to CSA. This GB is not capable of dealing with the issues they face.
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Science News article: ‘Case closed’: 99.9% of scientists agree climate emergency caused by humans
by Disillusioned JW ina 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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TonusOH
Honestly, it's not that great a photoshop job, what with some of the letters carved across the seams between the stones. It's scary what a good digital artist can do today.
And AI-assisted video 'deep fakes' are already capable of inserting one person's features onto another person's face. I wonder how long it will be before the "photoshop of video deep fakes" becomes available to the average person?