Apognophos

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Posts by Apognophos

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  12

  Wasn't a letter about the NGO situation read at the Hall?

  by Apognophos in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  okay, so i've been seeing the occasional comment here and there on the forum that some jws, even elders, do not seem to have heard about the society ever being an ngo.

  am i not remembering accurately?

  back when this scandal happened (2001?

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  Apognophos

  Thanks for the feedback so far, this is surprising. I seem to recall hearing the letter read as part of the announcements in my congregation at the time. I specifically remember the library access being mentioned. As I was not reading any material critical of the religion back then, that I can recall anyway, I don't think I could be mis-remembering where I heard this.

  Years later, I came on sites like this and saw the letter for myself, but I have been under the impression this whole time that everyone heard this letter read in their congregation back in 2001. I wonder if it's because the friends were talking about the rumor in my cong., and maybe in your congregation, sloppyjoe2. [Edit: Island Man beat me to this hypothesis while I was typing.]
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  10

  good question ( sorry about the f word )

  by bigmac in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  Apognophos

  Have a look at Dr Richard Carrier's lectures on youtube

  I might do that -- I watched another one of his already and it was interesting, but not detailed enough for my liking. I'm planning to get some books on the subject to consider the mythicist case more carefully.

  I'm already of the opinion that Jesus may not have said/done most of what's in the Gospels; and if he did live, but almost nothing in the New Testament came from him, then it's about the same as if he didn't exist at all.
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  116

  Creationist Should Dismiss Genesis Quickly

  by Coded Logic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  chris tann,.

  in your earlier post you seemed to be under the impression that genesis and science were somehow compatible .

  however, the truth is the two are not reconcilable at all.

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  Apognophos

  Viviane, your logic is indisputable, but I didn't suggest that the complexity of "creator+universe" could be less than just "universe" -- only equal to it, or maybe just a bit more than it (conceivably within an order of magnitude, e.g. creator+universe only being 2x or 4x as complex as the universe alone).

  And to recap, Occam's Razor is not a law of nature, so even if the creator makes the picture 10x as complex, this is not necessarily meaningful in estimating probability. After all, complexity is not the sole indicator of probability.

  It could be that the formation of a creator according to the laws of a different universe was much more likely than the formation of intelligent life on earth; a number of non-religious scientists have stated that our own evolution could be an extreme fluke event.

  We can also see lots of examples in nature where evolution chose to do things in a more complicated way than is necessary, when its "creations" are looked at as finished products. The more complex approach that nature used only makes sense to us once we understand the steps it followed to get there.
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  10

  good question ( sorry about the f word )

  by bigmac in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  Apognophos

  Sure, but that's off-topic.
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  12

  Wasn't a letter about the NGO situation read at the Hall?

  by Apognophos in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  okay, so i've been seeing the occasional comment here and there on the forum that some jws, even elders, do not seem to have heard about the society ever being an ngo.

  am i not remembering accurately?

  back when this scandal happened (2001?

  1. 
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  3. 
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  Apognophos

  Okay, so I've been seeing the occasional comment here and there on the forum that some JWs, even elders, do not seem to have heard about the Society ever being an NGO. Am I not remembering accurately? Back when this scandal happened (2001?) and the Society withdrew their membership, wasn't there a letter read during the announcements in the service meeting explaining the Society's reason for their membership (the famous "library card" excuse)?
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  10

  good question ( sorry about the f word )

  by bigmac in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  Apognophos

  I don't see anything on a linguistic level concerning the names of the apostles to support the idea that the gospels are a myth.
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  19

  A LETTER FROM MY MOTHER...since learning TTATT

  by Blackfalcon98 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  so ive recently: joined the forum, read cofc, began reading combating cult mind control.....and today i gotta letter from my mother.

  i thought i'd share it with others so that i can gain some hidden insight, and perhaps just to encourage someone else here who has relatives who are still mentally locked in.

  dear blackfalcon98.

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  Apognophos

  Let's face it though, this isn't about a little facial hair, it's about your attitude. I'm sure your mother has observed that you do not have respect for the religion like you used to, if you would give up privileges in order to observe Movember. You can't blame her for extrapolating from that and becoming upset because she sees you going astray.
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  116

  Creationist Should Dismiss Genesis Quickly

  by Coded Logic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  chris tann,.

  in your earlier post you seemed to be under the impression that genesis and science were somehow compatible .

  however, the truth is the two are not reconcilable at all.

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  Apognophos

  Well, I agree that the places for God to "hide" in the universe seem to disappear every time we peer into them with science. I'm still hesitant, however, to extrapolate from what we have learned inside the universe to what may have happened outside the universe at its start (if there is an outside, and many scientists think there is, insofar as they believe there are multiple universes).
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  6

  domain name jw-org.org

  by LogCon in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  jw-org.org is still available.

  use your imagination.. .

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  Apognophos

  That's an apostate link, mana11 Some ex-JW set that listing up for the Hall without their knowledge. That's why it mentions TTATT.
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  12

  Taking the Bible "too" literally

  by Coded Logic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i once heard it said that the only people who care about what the bible says are the village priest and the village atheist.

  it seems to me most believers only care about "god's word" in very general terms and think it's all up to interpitation (religion a la carte ).. it the watchtower especially good at making agnostics and atheists because of their fundamentalism or is this true of many ex-religious groups?.

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  Apognophos

  The main reason that people here give for ex-Witnesses becoming agnostic/atheist (no need to capitalize those, by the way, they're not denominations) is that they were taught to doubt everything that the other religions taught. The mindset is "If this isn't the truth, then nothing is". However I personally think there's two other large factors: burnout from all the obligations of their former religion, and a lack of encouragement from the religion to actually be religious-minded in the usual sense, because of the business-like focus on appearance and works. It's so focused on negative emotions like guilt and fear that the Witness doesn't think that any religion is going to be based on positive emotions.