Posts by Apognophos

65

The Kingom of David never existed!

by 5go in

david and the kingdom of damascus.

the city of damascus is at least 4000 years old.

it is recorded as being conquered by pharaoh tutmosis in the 15th century bc and it became the capital of an aramean kingdom from the 11th century bc.

Apognophos

I hope you guys don't jump all over me for saying this, but it seems as good a time as any to finally mention what I've been thinking... *takes deep breath*

I realize that he seems to be in the minority, or possibly a party of one, but JCanon (Larsinger58) seems to state his case very clearly. Has anyone ever really taken him up on his challenges to historical chronology, for instance with the VAT 4956 which he frequently talks about? I've read many threads where he posts this sort of information, and I never see a rebuttal from anyone who seems (from their other posts) to be knowledgeable about the subject. No offense to 5go, but he was really just copy-pasting info from a site which could be considered to be strongly biased. I'm talking about folks like AnnOMaly or Leolaia.

Being a newbie here, I'm sure that there's 50x more that's been said on this subject than what I've already read on JWN and it could be that the other history-oriented members had their debates with Lars long ago and simply stopped responding before I showed up. I'm well aware of Lars' more incredible claims about his own person, but I also don't feel that this entitles me to reject his historical arguments when they seem so rational. At the same time I am ignorant of astronomical calculations, archaeology, etc. and don't feel capable of investigating this on my own, from scratch, when I have a lot of other responsibilities that I'm trying to keep up with from day to day.

So, in a nutshell, what can some of you long-time members tell me about all this?

28

A double life

by raindrops in

jw
friends

i am usually a lurker here.

i was disfellowshipped about 3 years ago.

my relationship with my family has never been the same.

Apognophos

I wasn't aware that the holiday creators were looking for followers. Aren't they dead? And if they were still alive, what would they being trying to compel us to do in service to them? I'm confused, unless you meant to say, "not of the WTS, but of the demons that are lurking in your Christmas tree"?

5

Is $1.55 Million Really Watchtower's 'Largest Cash Settlement In History?'

by Scott77 in

only reposting for those who did not read it.. .

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Apognophos

I would imagine that it only applies to Bethel employees. Elders are unpaid and therefore cannot be considered employees. But it must make the Society nervous considering how many Bethelites disperse from the Brooklyn and Patterson grounds for every Sunday and mid-week meeting. Good thing they eliminated the separate Book Study meeting, that would essentially cut their liability by 1/3.

23

Reason

by dissonance_resolved in

so as someone newly awakened, my thoughts have turned to "why didn't i see this sooner?

how could i be so blind?

" part of it is that i never realized anyone may have left due to differences with the doctrine.

Apognophos

Wow, interesting. Not sure it was on-topic, but interesting!

23

Reason

by dissonance_resolved in

so as someone newly awakened, my thoughts have turned to "why didn't i see this sooner?

how could i be so blind?

" part of it is that i never realized anyone may have left due to differences with the doctrine.

Apognophos

I think a simple reason why so many of us failed to see TTATT sooner is not just that we didn't know any apostates who seemed reasonable, but we didn't know many Witnesses who seemed insincere. My experience growing up close to the headquarters and observing the brothers placed highly in the organization was that they were completely sincere and zealous for their beliefs. As I got older, I saw perhaps some jadedness and doublethink in them as well, but they were certainly not intentionally duplicitous.

It's difficult to believe, when one is a born-in (and you sound like one, sorry that I don't know your history) that most of the people you know could be completely misled. Of course we know that the majority of the world disagrees with us, but who are they to us? All the people we associate with regularly are believers, and it's a sad fact that the power of "my mother and father believe this way" exerts a large amount of control over all humans on this planet.

16

My wife buys "50 shades of grey??? How shes changed since being inactive!!

by Witness 007 in

so this morning we flirt and i tell her what a "dirty girl" she is for buying those books...but i was thinking this from a girl who broke a frying pan on my car years ago because i didnt want to go to the meetings.

slowly i wore down that rock that she is with little facts and qoutes...i would not have stayed with her if she remained the fanatic witness she was....also she now swears like a sailor...i like that..

Apognophos

Methinks that's like asking for pornos to have better acting ;)

25

Bible scholars, The Earth is the only planet in the universe with life, state the Bible.

by jam in

my wife friend told her, the bible states, "the earth is the.

only place in this universe that god made for habitation".. have anyone read a scripture that states or indicate this???.

.

Apognophos

I'm always puzzled by the statement, whether from fundamentalists or atheists, that the Bible's message is not compatible with life on other planets. The two subjects simply have nothing to do with each other. So if anyone's expecting Judeo-Christianity to come tumbling down when someone finds a microbe on Mars (not that I expect this to happen), they'll be disappointed. Now, on the other hand, if we find intelligent life, and they're saying, "Who is this God you keep talking about? We've never heard of God", that would be problematic.

However, it's likely that, if there are intelligent minds on other planets, they too developed religion as an answer to their early questions and fears. Even if they've since moved entirely past religion (and we can't automatically assume that any amount of technological advancement will remove the tendency to believe in God), if they once believed in God, then this will be taken as a sign that they have gone entirely apostate as a race, and need to be reconciled with God. Interplanetary missionaries will be promptly dispatched from all major churches to help them come back to their senses.

If it turns out that they have a concept of God, but no record of a claimed Messiah in their history, this can simply be taken to mean that God has not yet delivered their Messiah, although admittedly this will give some Christians pause as they wonder why God would allow this race to advance so far, and contact other planets, while not being reconciled with God yet. Self-proclaimed Messiahs will likely spring up at this point, claiming to be mediators between the aliens and God. And so on and so forth.

1

Destruction of the Death Star was an inside job

by JeffT in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2dvv-yib1xg.

Apognophos

It all makes sense now!

What's funny about this (fake) theory is that even Lucas didn't know that Luke, Leia and Vader were related when he wrote the first movie.

34

Elders! Elders everywhere!

by Julia Orwell in

jw
friends

an elder came around this morning at 9am to ask if my husband wanted to come with him on a bible study.

my husband nipped from the bathroom to the bedroom in his undies to get dressed, while i talked to the elder!

the elder talked about how he just happened to think my husband might be free this morning, and just happened to get a call from someone wanting a bible study, and then he said to me, "why don't you come visit my house some time?

Apognophos

Yes, that's a really good point. It can be empowering to "shut down" an elder who is snooping, even if it's very politely by saying, "I'm not really comfortable talking about that."

75

The 24 Elders in Revelation are NOT the anointed......

by EndofMysteries in

today i just thought of this.

i had written a thread about the false teaching of the anointed being resurrected already.

anyway, the wt assumes the 24 elders in revelation are the 144,000, and the assumption is merely because both sit on thrones.

Apognophos

Johning.