Posts by TonusOH

2

Why does a loving God need to settle moral issues with the Devil?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

bible teachings.

bible questions answered.

why did god allow the holocaust?.

TonusOH

That's a thorny question for me. Can we survive if god allows us to have free will? In the Bible, we are told that god wishes for all to be saved, but we are also told that the path to salvation is long and narrow, and that few walk it. So god, who wishes for all to be saved, knows that very few will be saved. Isn't this a failure on his part?

The track record of free will is not encouraging. Apparently, every human being has sinned against god and at least a third of the angels, Satan included. Over a long enough time frame, the odds that everyone will cross god at some point are pretty even. Heaven will be a very lonely place.

14

Why didn't God create us to be obviously different?

by SydBarrett in

jw
friends

a silly question since i'm an atheist but one i thought of as a kid jw.

why weren't human's created to be obviously different from animals?

among believers there is some sort of universal hierarchy.

TonusOH

Jan, JWs still reject evolution, though I don't know if they have produced any such literature recently. They've produced two or three books denying evolution in the past.

They used to also have this strange in-between approach to the age of the universe, insisting that each creative day was 7,000 years long. This meant that the universe wasn't 6,000 years old or 13.8 billion years old. It was around 42,000 years old. I think they dropped that teaching at some point, though.

14

Why didn't God create us to be obviously different?

by SydBarrett in

jw
friends

a silly question since i'm an atheist but one i thought of as a kid jw.

why weren't human's created to be obviously different from animals?

among believers there is some sort of universal hierarchy.

TonusOH

I always thought humans were notably different in our level of self-awareness and intelligence. Even if we take evolution into account, humanity has succeeded in taking over every part of the planet that is capable of serving as habitation, and at least explored those parts that aren't. We're not much different biologically, but our ability to develop sophisticated means of communication and record-keeping has set us apart from pretty much all other life.

11530

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

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

TonusOH

"I'm not ashamed of the photos, despite your apparent efforts to shame me with them during the zoom call with Susan."

Somehow, I'm not surprised that he is incapable of feeling shame at his own behavior.

28

Poor metabolic health increases your risk for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.

by was a new boy in

it’s all a big fat lie.

more precisely a big low-fat, high-carbohydrate lie.. 'it took dr. paul marik 12 weeks to prove that conventional wisdom about dieting is a lie, and that was just to himself.

he lost 35 pounds, and cured himself of type 2 diabetes.

TonusOH

If the choice is giving up bacon versus dying too soon... it was nice knowing you all!

57

JWs unrecognisable compared to my grandfathers time

by ExBethelitenowPIMA in

my grandfather who has been dead for 37 years would not recognise the borganisation today.

he would turn in his grave if he knew the end didn’t come by 2023.. back in the 1970s he really believed in the 75 thing.

he was so disappointed and almost blamed everyone else why the end didn’t come.

TonusOH

ExB, do they ever give you ~~grief~~ counsel about refusing to get the shots?

57

JWs unrecognisable compared to my grandfathers time

by ExBethelitenowPIMA in

my grandfather who has been dead for 37 years would not recognise the borganisation today.

he would turn in his grave if he knew the end didn’t come by 2023.. back in the 1970s he really believed in the 75 thing.

he was so disappointed and almost blamed everyone else why the end didn’t come.

TonusOH

ExB: All this confusion about the where the 1914 thing started is going to be good for the Borg when they try to get away from it.

The thing is, they had pushed it aside. After the 1995 change where they stopped emphasizing the 1914 generation teaching, they appeared to have let it go. I think that they must have felt that not having a way to keep the time pressure on was hurting them, so they went with the overlapping generations teaching in 2010.

So, for 15 years they were letting the 1914 generation teaching fade into the background. Had they let that happen, it wouldn't be such an albatross for them now. Instead, they went with overlapping generations, which is the kind of idea that is so blatantly self-serving that I am surprised more JWs didn't walk away.

11530

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

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

TonusOH

Maybe they told him that his STD test was multiple choice.

28

Did God know Adam and Eve will Sin? - JW perspective

by bioflex in

i read about this topic sometime ago in one awake mag (cant rememer which one).

and from the jw perspective, he didnt know which means it took him by suprise or which makes it seem god is not as almighty as we would believe.

this is their reasoning.. http://www.watchtower.org/e/20110101a/article_01.htm.

TonusOH

I never had an issue with god's ability to 'foresee' the future. If something hasn't happened, then you can't see it- the moment doesn't exist yet. So god could be all-knowing and also not know what happens next. So, how can he predict the future, if he can't see it? Easy- he's in full control of everything, everywhere. If he says "this will happen in 100 years" he can make it happen. Presto! He predicted the future.

After all, I cannot imagine god being bound by time. If he could look forward into the future, he would only see a possible outcome. Otherwise, he would be bound to act by some force greater than him, and that makes no sense at all. God doesn't have to look ahead. He holds reality itself in his hands.

33

"How Long Would Jesus' Reign Be?"

by BoogerMan in

simple enough question for a jw to answer, because the org has told them for over 100 years that, .

a) jesus would reign for 1000 years, and.

b) that his reign began in 1914 when he became king.

TonusOH

Lacking any sort of scale for comparison, we would need to view it from the point of the person making the claims or predictions. For god, the word 'soon' is meaningless. He experiences time very differently than people do- for god, a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day. If you're eternal, time has no bearing.

If you are an organization that uses anticipation as a tool for getting and keeping people interested and involved, then "shortly" or "soon" refer to a very brief timescale. How many people would have stayed JWs if the GB's spirit guide revealed that the current system of things -destined to be destroyed "shortly" or "soon"- would still be here in 50, 75, or 100+ years?