Posts by Apognophos

31

How do these Hard Core JW's Function?

by Zordino in

jw
friends

i am a fader and through the years i've known and spoken to jw's who live their entire life around the religion.

they live as though they speak with jesus himself!

what really got to me was the other day me and my wife had to stop by some elder's house and it was a saturday night.

Apognophos

Yes, I like those thoughts on counseling, and I agree.

For some Witnesses I've known, I think it would be an unkindness to try to force them out of their belief system. Perhaps they would start working more and thus be more comfortable materially, but they would also be missing the hope for the future that they always relied on. That's hard to cope with, especially for those expecting to see lost siblings or children in the resurrection.

And really, we know better than to equate the niceness of someone's stuff with happiness, right? You might see a sad, shabby house, but for them it's home. How can a casual observer say whether (a) they are happy or (b) they would be happier as an ex-Witness?

Anyway, since the Witness teachings don't hold up to objective scrutiny, the best way to be a committed Witness is to self-brainwash by studying as much as possible, stay busy in field service, etc. It helps to crowd out doubts.

70

A Message to Active Elders Lurking on JWN

by 00DAD in

there are really only a couple of reasons an active elder would be lurking here on jwn.. .

[if !supportlists]i. your ever growing doubts about the organization have led you here, or.

[if !supportlists]ii.

Apognophos

Elders often have wives too ;) Sometimes the wife is a little birdy on their shoulder.

43

Would you believe Abraham and Sarah existed before the Bible and King David etc.

by mP in

believers, take a guess which and explain how this is possible..

Apognophos

mP, I'm not trained in linguistics, but Leolaia is, and I think you need to respect that she is speaking from a place of substantial knowledge. If you want to be pedantic, then yes, it's her opinion, as much as everything ever said is the opinion of that person. But the points she is making are in line with the majority opinions of scholars. So really, you aren't arguing with her, but with her field as a whole. You completely disregarded a specific quote from Thompson on the subject of Abraham's name being typically Semitic, and then claim you haven't seen any disproof of your ideas from Leolaia. You also seem to refuse to read any books on the subject. So what right do you have to be so assertive with your opinions? There's no prize awarded to people who challenge decades of progressive scholarship with willful ignorance and somehow turn the status quo on their heads. That's because that never happens. Your logic is also inside-out; one does not "explain" a coincidence. A statment like that's bordering on failure to understand basic word definitions.

15

Learn the word MANUMISSION; use it instead of DISFELLOWSHIP

by Terry in

what a huge favor the watchtower religion does for those who awaken to its phoney cartoon theology!.

wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn"he/she/it manumitted" - tense past.

"he/she/it had manumitted" - tense past perfect.

Apognophos

I never learned to drive a MANUMISSION.

23

Breaking News! New Anonymous Leak

by headisspinning in

new anonymous leak: .

breaking!

#anonymous message: #opwatchtower court document #leak http://bit.ly/xkdrwa @par_anoia http://bit.ly/xkdyyv #wikileaks

Apognophos

And paranoid ramblings.

5

YRM (Yahweh's Restoration Movement) - Out-JWing the JWs?

by Apognophos in

just thought i would point out another religion that shares many of the jws' teachings, including non-trinitarianism and emphasis on god's name: http://www.yrm.org/yrm_statement_of%20belief.htm.

interestingly, they lean even further towards preserving the jewish covenant than witnesses do.

i didn't know it was possible to lean this far while still believing in jesus!

Apognophos

Just thought I would point out another religion that shares many of the JWs' teachings, including non-Trinitarianism and emphasis on God's name: http://www.yrm.org/YRM_statement_of%20belief.htm . Interestingly, they lean even further towards preserving the Jewish covenant than Witnesses do. I didn't know it was possible to lean this far while still believing in Jesus! I'll leave it to others to point out interesting beliefs from the list if they want to. My intention here is not to ridicule or dismiss, just to make a comparison to what we were taught.

23

Breaking News! New Anonymous Leak

by headisspinning in

new anonymous leak: .

breaking!

#anonymous message: #opwatchtower court document #leak http://bit.ly/xkdrwa @par_anoia http://bit.ly/xkdyyv #wikileaks

Apognophos

"Remember to continue breathing and blinking."

23

Breaking News! New Anonymous Leak

by headisspinning in

new anonymous leak: .

breaking!

#anonymous message: #opwatchtower court document #leak http://bit.ly/xkdrwa @par_anoia http://bit.ly/xkdyyv #wikileaks

Apognophos

I've scanned a few of the files on the par-anoia site and then opened them. Here's a sample, from a file called "02_Anonymous_Prologue":

This type of thing occurs a lot and usually when someone discovers how the
courts really work they die in some mysterious accident, i am not a man
given to fear, i have been in gunfights and have lived through the toughest
moments a man can face but today i am worried, almost afraid, and right now
i feel we are all going to wind up in jail where we will be found hung in
our cells and they will claim suicide or we will all die in mysterious car
accidents,

I think that mostly speaks for itself. Whoever is behind this is bouncing-off-the-rubber-walls crazy. The actual files enclosed seem to just be third-party material like Barbara Anderson's story, and something called "Anatomy of an Act of Religious Fraud" that is about S-21 cards (reading it now). In short, don't expect much from this "leak".

Edit: The S-21 file is about Menlo Park, but it's short, extremely confusing and probably not revelatory in any way.

23

Breaking News! New Anonymous Leak

by headisspinning in

new anonymous leak: .

breaking!

#anonymous message: #opwatchtower court document #leak http://bit.ly/xkdrwa @par_anoia http://bit.ly/xkdyyv #wikileaks

Apognophos

I'm not opening any PDFs from that site on this Windows machine. Just an FYI that there are security vulnerabilities in the format that could allow malware to be installed. So download at your own risk.

43

Would you believe Abraham and Sarah existed before the Bible and King David etc.

by mP in

believers, take a guess which and explain how this is possible..

Apognophos

Thanks for your explanation, Leolaia. I had a feeling that we were looking at linguistic coincidence, but I wasn't sure. I would daresay that it's also important for someone to explain using anthropology or ethnography why Hindu deities would be reused by the Hebrews, before asserting that similar names automatically proved a connection.

This is an easy trap to fall into when one conflates all languages or is ignorant of lingustic evolution. For instance, 'l' and 'r' have remained almost completely distinct in the IE language group; you're probably thinking of some East Asian languages.