TonusOH

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Posts by TonusOH

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  85

  Physically in mentally agnostic ie sitting on the fence

  by ExBethelitenowPIMA in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  hi everyone i’m not pimi or pimo i’m pima.. i don’t think the gb have everything right but i’m sitting on the fence that maybe they do some things.. if the great trib starts i will jump that side of the fence.. this is a definite little sneaky advantage dodging but even by their own doctrine last min some could come in.. i suspect many are like me.. i spent years in bethel and am very disappointed and disillusioned by it all.. but at the end of the day i love the bible and think it is the word of god and i don’t see any other religion that comes as close to what jesus describes his true followers or who are fulfilling mat 24:14..

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  TonusOH

  Does anyone know the entire truth? Absolutely not.

  It's lines like this that make me wonder if you're having a bit of fun at our expense. But it did make me chuckle.
  
  
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  11530

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

  by Newly Enlightened in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  original reddit post (removed).

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  TonusOH

  pr0ner: The whole thing is kind of a lesson in being patient.

  I agree, though with Lloyd I think there are a couple of related issues that affected his response.

  1. His desire to control the narrative. That meant villifying anyone who had leaked the info and anyone who might spread it, then giving his own version of events. The problem with this is...

  2. ...he doesn't seem to think that his actions were wrong. So his livestream, which was meant to get control of the situation, instead made things worse because he freely admitted to cheating on his wife with prostitutes on a regular basis for years.

  3. This was exacerbated by his arrogance. He made it clear that he felt it was no one's business what he did with his private life and with the funds donated to him, even though these were given to him by people who wanted to support his efforts in making exJW video content and not in support of his desire to buy sex from street workers. He seems to believe that he is doing his supporters a favor by making exJW videos, and he finds it incomprehensible that they would care about his personal life.

  4. This was also made worse by his approach to criticism. And that means criticism of any kind- even if a supporter is trying to make a minor point, he sees it as an attack. And he only seems to know one way to respond: with full aggressiveness and no quarter given, until his target is crushed and humiliated. I don't think he was able to sit down and make a sober assessment of the situation, because destroying Kim was all he cared about.

  I think it is to be expected that his sense of self-preservation did not fully kick in until he'd blown everything up. So he has been attempting damage control ever since. But, due to the above factors, he's doing this the way he does everything else-- aggressive, unrelenting, unapologetic. No surprise, then, that it's not going well.
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  23

  Where is Jehovah

  by JohnTron7 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  during the massacre of many witnesses at a kingdom hall in germany the other night, where was jehovah's holy spirit ?

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  TonusOH

  As I recall, in moments like this the organization would say that unexpected circumstance can overtake us at any time, based on a Bible verse from Paul. I can recall them saying it after a particuarly horrific incident (in Japan, I think it was) where an angry husband set a fire at the entrance of a KH which did not have another exit. 87 people died that night. I often wondered about that. Ever single meeting where we had a prayer, we prayed that Jehovah would watch over our brothers around the world and protect them. Those prayers were not always heard.
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  85

  Physically in mentally agnostic ie sitting on the fence

  by ExBethelitenowPIMA in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  hi everyone i’m not pimi or pimo i’m pima.. i don’t think the gb have everything right but i’m sitting on the fence that maybe they do some things.. if the great trib starts i will jump that side of the fence.. this is a definite little sneaky advantage dodging but even by their own doctrine last min some could come in.. i suspect many are like me.. i spent years in bethel and am very disappointed and disillusioned by it all.. but at the end of the day i love the bible and think it is the word of god and i don’t see any other religion that comes as close to what jesus describes his true followers or who are fulfilling mat 24:14..

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  TonusOH

  If that's who this is... I'm wondering how someone can be so insistent on rock solid evidence in one thread, yet quick to accept whatever some internet quack has to say about vaccines/moon landings in other threads. A bit of a lack of consistency.
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  53

  1975 on the back burner

  by Fisherman in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  “1975” still marks 6000 years from the creation of adam in wt calendar.

  according to “all scriptures inspired” book, there is a gap between the creation of adam and the creation of eve and her marriage to adam.

  it was at that point in time when eve was created that marked the end of the 6th creative day and the beginning of god’s rest, the 7th day as recorded in genesis.

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  TonusOH

  According to the story, Adam lived to be 930 years old. So there's a very long gap that might exist. In other words, JWs can milk this thing for decades to come.
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  92

  Chance or intelligent design?

  by ExBethelitenowPIMA in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  cofty could you answer how the single cell came about by chance?.

  i know the argument for complexity in nature says natural selection over billions of years but this could not explain the complexity of the single cell the building blocks of life?.

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  TonusOH

  but there has to be something that never had a beginning or else what was before that?

  The idea that there was always something can be applied to the universe. Matter and energy could have always existed. While both options seem impossible, it strikes me as less likely that something as incalculably complex as God would always exist instead of matter and energy. If you feel that the simplest and clearest explanation is the better one, I don't see how you would prefer a God always existing versus the basic components of a universe.

  And if a God can conjure up a universe out of nothing, then it is possible for something to exist from nothing, which seems to contradict your belief regarding the possibility of a universe coming into existence. In other words, either option works with or without a God. That cannot be used to disqualify one or the other.
  
  
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  38

  “Lazarus, come out!”

  by Fisherman in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  many people here have expressed faith in evolution and in other theories—but in all honesty, do you have any hope whatsoever in your heart or in the back of your mind ?

  truthfully..

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  TonusOH

  Behe had his chance at the Kitzmiller v Dover trial, and did not impress.

  In any case, their approach is the same one I used to rely on- assume God as the default, then find flaws in any other approach. It works well enough, especially for those who are not evolutionary biologists or physics researchers. But trying to prove God as the default, without focusing on alternatives, is pretty much impossible. Otherwise, it would've been done and those alternatives could be readily dismissed.

  The best you can get, if you don't have sufficient education in those subjects, is that God is necessary- he must exist, in order to explain the universe and life. But that's as far as you can get with that approach. It explains why there are so many different religions and religious denominations- without a way to reliably research it, no one can determine who God is, only that he exists because someone had to create everything. I find that unsatisfying, if God was interested in me and wanted me to get to know Him.
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  23

  Is there really any universal issue of Sovereignty?

  by Linda14 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  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.

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  TonusOH

  That doesn't make sense, to me. Let's assume that Satan says that humans can run their lives just fine on their own. How does that undermine Jehovah's sovereignty? God created everything, and without him there are no humans, no Earth, no nothing. If God decides to, he could wipe it all out and start over. Any plan to change the way things work relies 100% on what God has created and what God maintains. Any attempt to follow different rules depends 100% on God playing along.

  What was anyone going to prove with the time they were given? What issue needed to be settled?
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  23

  Is there really any universal issue of Sovereignty?

  by Linda14 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  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.

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  TonusOH

  I think Epicurus covered that.

  Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
  Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
  Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
  Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

  I think this only works if you presume that God is 'pure good' or so good that he could not do something we might consider wicked or evil. Otherwise, God doesn't have to prevent evil. He may simply not care, or He may want to allow it. As for why, that would depend on God's personal qualities or desires or goals, or any number of factors. I think most current religions want God to be good and just, because the alternatives are unpredictable and that is very scary.
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  41

  Made up field service experience at yesterday's Public Talk

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  remember the made up stories of witnesses in djibouti,africa where they had to walk 2 days in alligator infested waters with no shoes in the blazing sun to attend the meetings?

  they made it to the meetings in these terrible conditions.. talk about made up stories!

  here is a field service experience that was told at yesterday's public talk which would fall into the made up stories!.

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  TonusOH

  I moved to rural Ohio seven or eight years ago. I have lived in a house and two apartments in different areas. I know there is at least one KH in the area, and probably two or three others. The WTS doesn't know where I live. JWs have knocked on my door a total of one time since I've lived out here.

  This is not a complaint, mind you. But they do not seem very active out here. I never see the carts, I never see JWs at any doors or walking down a street (granted, I do not expect this in a mostly rural area). This is a contrast from the tightly-crowded city I lived most of my life in, where they were a common site (and where I was one of those JWs for a long time).