As far as other Witnesses are concerned, I'm a true believer. In reality: coasting on lowest speed setting, waiting to take the first exit that I see a sign for.
Apognophos
JoinedPosts by Apognophos
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66
What Status are you? Ex JW, Inactive, elder, MS...etc
by enigma1863 ini am technically inactive.
i was just curious if there are many people on the inside.
are there any within bethel itself?
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Christian questions to ask current JWs
by Christ Alone inhere are some questions that i thought would be interesting to ask a jw if they were open to a free and open discussion.
this assumes a christian worldview that the bible is the word of god.
if you have any others, please post them!
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Apognophos
Interesting questions! I don't recall seeing Gen. 19:24 before, what *does* that mean?
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Fascinating 1914 exchange between CT Russell and a colporteur
by cedars ini'm just doing some research for my book, and i uncovered a real gem from the watch tower of july 1st 1914 - published three months before the "gentile times" were due to end climaxing (as they thought back then) in armageddon.. a rather brave "colporteur" (pioneer) wrote in to the magazine asking whether the studies in the scriptures series of books advocating 1914 to be the end of the world should cease to be circulated after october.
not only does the question itself prove that the expectations of publishers back then were entirely contrary to what the society repeatedly implies them to be, but the answer given by russell shows the same arrogance and evasiveness that we see in modern literature from the society, showing how little has changed since those days.. here is the clipping.... .
notice how russell falls back on the same line of argumentation used by the society, namely "we have not attempted to say these views are infallible.".
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Apognophos
Thanks, this was interesting, and the "hundred years" comment is certainly eyebrow-raising. Just a side question, what does Russell mean by Christ being born in 4004? Was he saying that Jesus was only created just before Adam? I'm baffled. That almost sounds like young-earth creationism, sinc Jesus was supposed to be God's first creation.
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The Watchtower Society has come to grips with the futility of D2D preaching
by wasblind inyou don't even have to read between the lines, they say it straight out on their website.
" in many countries, more and more people obtain information online.".
who'd a thunk it .
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Apognophos
Seriously, though, I'm still in shock from the TMS part where they used a tablet at the door. You know that change must be blowing in the wind for them to schedule such a part.
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The "Pop-In"
by Mr. Falcon inso last night the wife is working, the kids are getting ready for bed and i'm watching futurama.
doorbell rings.
now it's dark, snowing and i live on a back road, so it's very odd to have a visitor.
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Apognophos
Ah yes, uninvited visits. When I started missing meetings in one congregation, Brother Overfriendly (an elder) would stop by while out in service (which I guess means the whole car group knew I was a subject of concern, thanks) and come up to my door with another elder and ring the bell and bang on the door. When I didn't answer, he would walk around to my back door and bang on that too, calling out my name loudly.
The guy was a real mental case. Absolutely no self-awareness. The kind that thinks he can make friends with you in service by peppering you with personal questions, constantly greeting you loudly at the Hall and slapping your shoulder roughly, etc.
I just made up my mind that no matter how many times he did a "pop in", I didn't have to answer the door, and if he asked me about it later, I would offer no explanation, just saying something like, "Oh, you came by? I must have been unable to get to the door", or "Maybe I was out" (despite the fact that my car was in the driveway). Basically, I would try to out-stupid him, although I'm not sure it's possible for anyone to beat him at that game.
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I dont beleive in the christian veiw of God , are their alternatives ? Other than Judaism , Islam ,or other popular Gods in the world today ?
by smiddy inwhile i discard the notion of god as described in the bible ,and which would also include the islamic and judean religions as they have similar roots ,i do concede their are things i do not know , that occur,which i cant explain , whether they be attributed to the paranormal ,ufo`s ,ghosts ,phsysic phenomena ,poltergeists ,or whatever .it is well attested their are occurences which defy explanation .. we know as human beings we are born and we die in the flesh .. what if their was some truth in the scripture" you will be all changed in a twinkling of an eye" going from a fleshly creature to a spiritual creature ?
i find their are part truths, half truths ,truths of ommission , old truths ,new truths , and truths that are yet to be revealed .with the wtb&ts.
so is their a possibility of our continuing on in a spiritual existence ?
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Apognophos
According to one branch of simulationist thought, you might be laying on a bed somewhere with a visor on, living in a virtual reality, to awaken in the real world when you die in this world. The movie "The Matrix" depicted something close to that, although few people ever got to see the real world, and some of them wished they hadn't when they did.
Personally I think it's more likely that we're just sim-people and our God is either the lab running the simulation, or a kid at his computer playing a game before dinner. In that case we shouldn't expect to live on after sim-death. But why should it matter, in that case? We're just numbers in a computer.
My advice is, don't assign yourself so much cosmic importance. Everything else in the universe has a lifespan, then disappears, so why shouldn't we? Even if humanity is special, it's only significant on the composite level. We individuals contribute what we can to society and the advancement of mankind, and then we make way for the next generation. Life after death is either achieved by accomplishing something that lives on after you, or else you don't accomplish anything and you are rightly forgotten. Everything is as it should be, in my opinion.
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Would you believe Abraham and Sarah existed before the Bible and King David etc.
by mP inbelievers, take a guess which and explain how this is possible..
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Apognophos
mP, you're simply not going to find quotations from people that specifically discredit all of your pet theories. That's like if I say, "Why aren't there any scholarly works addressing the idea that black cars are driven by government agents and used to spy on the American people? They should be doing these studies to prove me wrong!" The only way someone could help me is if they reasoned with me on the subject, using statistical math, psychological concepts like confirmation bias, and common sense ("What is the government doing in black cars when they have much more sophisticated surveillance technology?"). You have to think critically and use information that is available to you instead of demanding to be spoon-fed.
When most linguists fail to see a connection between certain languages or sounds, the burden of proof is on you to do much more than post some similar words and say, "Eh? Eh? Come on!" You'd have to demonstrate that the cultures intersected in a meaningful way, and show archaeological evidence of one language influencing another, or demonstrate laws of phonological shift that could be reverse-extrapolated to show how two words connect in the past. Since you continue to bring up bad examples like Ra=Rei which don't have support in the literature, you only demonstrate why it's a waste of time for someone to engage you in discussion.
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Blood transfusions and JW children in a household with a non-believer parent
by never a jw injust recently my daughter ask for permission to get baptized.
not knowing the mess that my wife's religion is, i consented.
after a lot of research, i now regret my decision.
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Apognophos
cofty, that's an amazing post. It's a bit startling to me, because as a born-in, I never encountered this perspective, and yet it makes so much sense. Saving that for my future reference.... The points in the article in JWOP's post are of course great too, especially the common-sense reasoning on fractions and how Jesus emphasized lives over other Mosaic rules that could bring the death penalty. There's so many good points against this false teaching.
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Another sad non jw falling for a baptised jw girl story
by spirituk inok ,so this is my story , this jw girl came on vacation in my country as a friend of my girl-cousin who is not a jw but were classmates at uni .
my cousin introduced her to me but she didnt tell me that she was a jw from the very first moment we flirt each other.we went on beach ,on bars ,cafes etc and she acted so wordly ,in fact i thought she could be a good one night stand with her behaviour .never saw anything weird about her that could lead me to question something, with the peak in the club where we danced together while hugging very passionatly .
i tried to kiss her that night but she kept her distance , i didnt notice any bad on that.anyway, next day we flirt again at the the beach and at night too .
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Apognophos
This girl is a victim of her upbringing. She didn't choose to be raised in that family. Some day she may cut the ties on her own when she's old enough and mentally ready, but right now you're both kids in adult bodies who are still trying to understand life. If you can't see the fact that she's conflicted between her emotions and her beliefs, and just want revenge because of your own temporarily hurt feelings, then you seriously lack empathy.
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Glaring omission in yesterdays Watchtower Study
by Bloody Hotdogs! in[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:punctuationkerning /> <w:validateagainstschemas /> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:saveifxmlinvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:ignoremixedcontent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables /> <w:snaptogridincell /> <w:wraptextwithpunct /> <w:useasianbreakrules /> <w:dontgrowautofit /> </w:compatibility> <w:browserlevel>microsoftinternetexplorer4</w:browserlevel> </w:worddocument> </xml><![endif].
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Apognophos
Although my take on this, when I was a believer, was that God allowed the baby to die rather than actively striking it with illness, admittedly that's much the same thing because it's represented as the consequence for David's sin. I agree that it was interesting that they left the consequence out of the article.
During the study I was also thinking, "Boy, it's good to be the king. Much better than that poor shmuck who picked up sticks on the Sabbath."