TonusOH

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Posts by TonusOH

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  41

  Geoffrey Jackson goatiegate Part 2

  by Tahoe in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  from ske graduation this past weekend.

  (sent from a pimi).

  from ske on zoom: .

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  TonusOH

  That goatee is the crime! *rimshot*

  I kid, it actually looks pretty good. I bet Jackson wishes he'd been able to wear one for many years before now.
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  33

  Hotels for convention

  by ElderBerry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a department in bethel wants to try to make money from regional conventions by asking local hotels if they will give a special rate and a coupon code to give to jws.. .

  they should just keep it simple and not be greedy for dishonest gain.. .

  this year some convention sites the hotels said no thank you i think the jws are going to book with us anyway.

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  TonusOH

  We never did a hotel stay. But I can remember that there was emphasis on making sure to use the WTS rates and stay only at the hotels that had made deals with WTS. The idea was that area hotels would not offer the deals if they knew that individual JWs would pay the going rate. So a "good JW" would only stay at the hotels that reached a deal with the WTS.

  I don't know how that worked out. The only horror stories we ever heard were the 'approved' ones, designed to show why it was important to follow the WTS's lead.
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  22

  The Meaning of ETC

  by titch in

  1. forum
  2. suggestions

  folks: i don't mean to be a "forum grammar policeman", but there is something that i've noticed a few times.

  i've noticed that a few---not all---but some, members of the forum who use the abbreviation "ect" when they want to use the abbreviation of "etc.

  " for your education today, the term "etc" is the abbreviation for the latin term "et cetera.

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  TonusOH

  I find myself making a lot of typos as I get older. I read and re-read my posts to fix as many errors as I can, but some will get through. It's almost as bad as typing a message with auto-correct on an iPhone.
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  22

  General Amnesty For Disfellowshipped

  by NotFormer in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  future gb: "please come back!

  all is forgiven!".

  would it work?

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  TonusOH

  It would work to at least a small extent, since there are DF'ed JWs that would like to return, or who miss their JW family and friends. But if the policy itself is not removed, then amnesty could be a disaster. How many people would return and rejoice, only to be DF again soon after? At some point it becomes a parody of itself.
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  3073

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

  by Simon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  uh oh, looks like the mega thread gave up the ghost, so while i investigate / fix it just continue the discussion here .... it's been a long 9 years lloyd evans / john cedars.

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  TonusOH

  I'm imagining a JW looking for answers in 2024 and finding Evans's channel. They have heard good things and apparently he is the "go to channel" for exJW content. Cool! Let's see what we have...

  Hmmm, atheist video trashing religion. No thanks.

  Hmmm, ranting about the Silvio Mob and asking for money? Maybe not yet.

  What else? Using psychoactive drugs to combat depression? Um... what?

  How about... how to negotiate with a sex worker when your funds are low? WTF!?!?

  Jesus... where is the JW content???
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  14

  Essential Beliefs

  by LeeMerk in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  if the watchtower really wants to move more mainstream they need to take a lesson from evangelicals in the united states.

  they seem to say there are "essential beliefs".

  a handful of core beliefs that are necessary to be considered true christians.

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  TonusOH

  Isn't there one essential belief for Christians? Jesus offered up a sacrifice on behalf of humanity so as to redeem any who accept it. Everything else is up for debate, more or less.

  The problem with the WTS's approach is that they have chosen so many odd hills to die on, with the blood policy as a good example. Their interpretation has not stood the test of time, and they have modified it until it serves only as a way to express unquestioning devotion to the GB. The fact that it has cost lives does not seem to bother the leadership.
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  73

  Did God know adam and eve would sin?

  by gavindlt in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  to all those on this forum, i would love to know what your take on this vital question is..

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  TonusOH

  The future could be undetermined and god could still predict the future. He is able to control the minds of people and control events with complete precision. If god says that 'one day, X will happen' he can direct events so as to make X happen. Yes, that interferes with free will, but an unstoppable cosmic power probably doesn't give a rat's ass that you're upset that he made a woman name her child "Jesus" instead of "Bruno."

  Presto: you have a universe where things can happen that god does not predict, but where god makes predictions that come true. If god could read a timeline and tell us what will happen, doesn't that mean he is subservient to that same timeline? In which case, there is something more powerful than god out there. Here's a thought experiment: could god create a reality where the timeline is fixed so that even he cannot act freely?

  Bribie: If there is no God then the complexity and tremendous diversity of life on our unique planet does not make sense.

  The thing is, no engineer considers complexity to be the hallmark of good design. A good design is simple and efficient, and life on Earth is nothing like that. If there is a god, he's not a very intelligent designer.

  But also, if we use complexity to justify god's existence, then we have to account for a being who is far more complex than anything we've discovered or even imagined. Doesn't that make even less sense?
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  44

  Geoffrey Jackson has a beard now

  by Tahoe in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

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  TonusOH

  Looks like the CEO decided to vote himself a pay raise beard.
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  41

  God cannot lie

  by psyco in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the bible does not say that god does not want to lie, but that he cannot lie or it is impossible for god to lie.

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  so, if god cannot lie, for what purpose and why did he create creatures (satan, demons, humans) who can lie?.

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  TonusOH

  I think the more interesting concern is that the serpent is believed to be Satan, the Devil by most Christians. The father of the lie did tell the truth when he told Eve she would not die, that instead she would become like god. God himself confirms that this latter claim was accurate. We can even claim that the serpent did not lie when it told Eve she wouldn't die- she did not die on the same day, as god had warned. Indeed, one can interpret the Genesis story to mean that god was upset with the serpent because it showed these first humans that god was keeping a valuable gift from them. And that he did so using threats.
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  Did Jesus have a pre-existence or was he fully human, begotten at his human birth.

  by gavindlt in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  so when was jesus begotten.

  was he truly and wholly fully human.

  did he exist in two states, part human part god.

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  TonusOH

  I don't see how anyone can determine that. You're talking about what is, in effect, a magical being, capable of doing anything it sets its mind to. Jesus could have been a human puppet able to behave normally until god transplanted some part of his own consciousness into the body. Or he could have been a human puppet that god occasionally controlled remotely. Or he could have been the most advanced NI (natural intelligence- nothing artificial here!) to ever exist.

  I would even say that it isn't possible to determine how he was "begotten." Presumably, there was no physical act of sex, as god would not need so crude a method to inseminate a human woman. One can imagine that the same being who can wish an entire universe into existence would do the same in order to cause an embryo to magically appear in the uterine wall of Mary.

  And how would one explain these "states"? Has god ever been only half-god? How would that work?