Posts by TonusOH

16

Statement of the day

by road to nowhere in

jw
friends

during today's wt: "satan has the world on a treadmill wearing blinders"..

Projection is pretty standard for the WTS. Their approach is that, since they are the chosen who are guided by God through His Holy Spirit, they are right and everyone else is wrong. So they see themselves, not as oppressive leaders guiding the blind, but as open and honest servants who teach their followers to seek God with an open mind. It is everyone else who misleads the sheep, because those leaders are themselves under the Devil's thrall.

They do not feel even the slightest discomfort when they speak of others being oppressive and controlling and blind leaders.

23

Is there really any universal issue of Sovereignty?

by Linda14 in

i can agree that satan doesn't see god as a good ruler as stated at gen 3:1-5. he doesn't seem to see gods laws as right or good.

but whether there is an understanding/agreement between god and satan afterward to the effect that he can take the mantle of rulership to show whether his style is best is doubtful.

that conclusion is probably reached because god hasn't destroyed satan, and he is also called the ruler of the world in the bible.

TonusOH

Linda14: That time lag makes the wicked and Satan to cause problem for the just.

If Satan and his followers are wicked and those who follow God are just, then the proper outcome would be for God (and justice) to prevail over Satan (and wickedness). One wonders why God would allow wickedness to spread over the world at the expense of justice, but we can also recognize the story as a way of explaining why humanity is in the shape it's always in. It's not a great story, but we're talking of a time when editing documents was a very rare thing indeed.

Satan is an odd character. He challenges God and leads humanity away from him, even though he must realize that the story can only end one way. Satan is a tiny speck in a massive universe that was shaped by the hand of the person he has chosen to oppose. God can (and, in the story, promises to) undo the Devil's damage at any point and restore order to the universe. One wonders what principle the Devil stands for. But, when your life story is a sloppy amalgamation of many old tales and themes, I suppose this is the best we can hope for.

In any case, the issue of sovereignty is -in the case of the Abrahamic God- a case of "might makes right." Had Satan's cause been just and God been wicked, God wins anyway. Right and wrong come into play mostly because we don't want the winner and ultimate power to be wicked. And not even just, in some cases. So God is also presented as merciful. And kind. And loving. And so on. This seems to happen as a progression, as if the people defining God realized at some point that their early depictions were quite scary, and they needed to tone Him down just a bit.

29

why are we interested in what is going on in the JW

by enoughisenough in

for the most of us, we have left the jws...and even though we are no longer jw, many of us are still interested in their beliefs, doctrines and practices as currently practiced.

i was trying to sort out in my mind why i still care about what they are doing.

i think the answer to that is a hope that something will develop in the jws that will wake up a lot of others, and selfishly, a lot of my friends.

TonusOH

I have only a mild interest, since it was a part of my life for a long time and because my mother and a few family on her side are still dyed-in-the-wool JWs. But I didn't register here and start posting until I saw the Lloyd Evans stuff start happening and was curious about what was going on. I had left the organization quietly and am at peace with my decisions and with my life, so I wasn't really interested in the organization. But the discussion does bring up memories, and I find some of the topics interesting still. It's a chance to really see it in a different (new?) light.

11530

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

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

TonusOH

I assume he would follow his normal pattern- confront Tibor aggressively and get him to stand down, thus solidifying his control. Or, if Tibor doesn't relent, turn on him as a traitor and lament his betrayal to his remaining supporters, with the tacit expectation that they will do what they can to soothe Evans's bruised ego while finding ways to attack Tibor online.

Evans doesn't have a particularly varied playbook, from the looks of it.

4

Make your CoConuts payable to "Crafty Business Practices Inc" ;)."

by Diogenesister in

hurry on up!.

get those coconuts to the governing body right this minute!

they're going to need someone to rule over when jahooover kills everyone at the big a and antony morris' is going to need someone to talk to on his paradise island (now that he's been demoted and all) address to affix onto coconut .

TonusOH

Presumably, the hymn for that meeting was "I've Got A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts."

13

Museums the new way to make money?

by raymond frantz in

the organisation is now creating museums in 35 countries, is that their new way of making money?

nowhere does the bible say that christians should engage to such activity but is it possible the watchtower is now making it a priority for :.

a. look like they have something to offer to the community.

TonusOH

If they open a museum in the Cayman Islands, I'll be suspicious.

Have they said what kind of museums they plan to open? Like a history of the WTS and JWs, or something else? It seems like such an odd thing for them to do.

26

Details of Noah’s Ark

by enigma1863 in

jw magazines have claimed the flood story has so much detail that it couldn’t be just a made up story.. is it detailed?

name one person outside of noah’s family.

name one nephilim.

TonusOH

You would not need to put a large boat in the water for one year to show how miserable the experience would be. Put a large wooden structure on land, fill it with animals, and ask a group of eight people to manage it for a few days. An afternoon of shoveling several hundred pounds of animal dung should be enough to demonstrate the horror show that the actual ark would have been.

773

Breaking News: Anthony Morris III no longer serving on the Governing Body

by WingCommander in

jw
friends

this has been announced on the jw's official website, in the "jw news" section.

this is not a joke.

anthony moron da turd is out as a gluttonous body member!

TonusOH

Samcats: If there is no God, tell me something that isn't a colossal waste

The things I value now are relevant to me, and the things I accomplish might be relevant to others for some time in the future. We accept "temporary value" all the time. Depending on how we define it, the sum total of human existence was a colossal waste even if God exists.

11530

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

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

TonusOH

I don't think the stand-up video affected the Patreon numbers. But people here have been commenting on the relative lack of content he produces, and that he seems to be late with any topics he covers (ie, others already made videos about whatever he finally got around to). If you are a supporter and you are getting less than you were before, you might be inclined to look elsewhere.

I think he will still lose people mostly because they learn more about him and decide they do not want to support someone like him with their dollars. But a few will simply decide that it's not worth the money anymore. It's not just the loss of patrons. It is also the loss of people who did so much of the background work, that allowed him to produce the content at a certain pace and quality level. They are the ones who also need to be aware of who he is.

36

DISSOCIATION - Based on Covid 19

by gavindlt in

jw
friends

dear friends,.

i think you all know me as a person who has always strived, despite my imperfections to only ever wanting to be and remain in the “truth”.

it is in fact what i so desperately want for my son ashton and my baby girl honey bee, to be lovers of truth and grow up to be a loyal servants of jehovah god and his son, jesus christ.

TonusOH

MeanMrMustard: I don't see where, in that screen shot, they were recommending active JWs be prevented from attending via zoom if they were not vaccinated.

I don't think it says that explicitly, but it may as well. It says that only individuals who are fully vaccinated will be eligible to attend the theocratic schools, and that there will be no provision for teleconferencing. In other words, if you're not up-to-date on shots, you cannot attend in person, and you cannot attend remotely.