Posts by venus

21

Why the JW org should fail.

by Half banana in

dr margaret t singer, a professor of psychology at berkeley university california has studied the experiences of 700 cult members.

''consciously and manipulatively, leaders and their trainers exert a systematic social influence that can produce great behavioral changes,'' said dr. singer.. .

one of the ways the jw organisation exerts so much influence over its members is because it has created a culture sustained by constant propaganda, which polices itself according to how the leadership has moulded it.

venus

The Watchtower, October 15, 1969, pages 622-3 declared: "More recently earnest researchers of the Holy Bible have made a recheck of its chronology. According to their calculations the six millenniums of mankind's life on earth would end in the mid-seventies.”

If people were associating with religions because of some beliefs or doctrine, all JWs would have abandoned their faith in 1975.

People choose religious mostly for social reason, just like they choose various types of social clubs depending upon each one’s taste.

35

what big change could bring down the watchtower?

by stan livedeath in

what single big change do you think could back fire and bring the cult down ?.

me: tithing..

venus

The Watchtower, October 15, 1969, pages 622-3 declared: "More recently earnest researchers of the Holy Bible have made a recheck of its chronology. According to their calculations the six millenniums of mankind's life on earth would end in the mid-seventies.”

If people were associating with religions because of some beliefs or doctrine, all JWs would have abandoned their faith in 1975.

People choose religious mostly for social reason, just like they choose various types of social clubs depending upon each one’s taste.

13

Old Light - New Light

by Vanderhoven7 in

terry walstrom posted this exceptional link on another thread.

i think it so amazing that it should have a thread of its own so everyone can have clear and easy access to the document.

terry wrote:.

venus

My goodness--changes that are made in the teachings would dwarf even ocean!

What a disservice to the one who testifies "I have not changed" my teachings.--Malachi 3:6

33

Manmade rules

by Jrjw in

i was talking to someone a few years ago and he said in his congregation they have a rail of white shirts prepared in the cloakroom for if a speaker doesn't have a white shirt on.

it was a rule in their hall that all brothers in the platform must wear white shirts when going talks and if the speaker won't comply when asked to change into the shirt they provide an elder in the congregation will do the talk instead.

i have never known any other halls do it so it must be a rule the elders have made up without gb input.

venus

Caught up in the rules and doctrinal falsification the forgotten fact is that our humane core is lost. The end product is persons who see everyone's faults except own ones.

33

Manmade rules

by Jrjw in

i was talking to someone a few years ago and he said in his congregation they have a rail of white shirts prepared in the cloakroom for if a speaker doesn't have a white shirt on.

it was a rule in their hall that all brothers in the platform must wear white shirts when going talks and if the speaker won't comply when asked to change into the shirt they provide an elder in the congregation will do the talk instead.

i have never known any other halls do it so it must be a rule the elders have made up without gb input.

venus

God cannot receive anything from humans because everything belongs to Him.

Yet humans began offering sacrifices, which later became a rule.

Sacrifice can be offered from anywhere, yet someone felt an altar would be a good idea, which again became a rule.

Original Passover celebration did not involve wine, but Jesus (purportedly) included wine, which again became a rule.

In the first century, going house-to-house was the practical option to advertise some news, which again became a rule—which some people even today hold dearly as a rule—even though far better advertising modes are available today.

That means anyone can make any rule.

48

Evolution doesn't happen today...WRONG...

by HowTheBibleWasCreated in

last year i had a brother tell me that one proof evolution is false is that he doesn't see it happening today... i was going to bring of viruses evolving so fast that new vaccines must be developed each year but felt he was too closed minded to receive it.

today i was listening to the audio book of 'an ancestors tale- richard dawkins' and noted oe point that shined through.. here is evolution happening>>>.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/05/2/l_052_05.html.

venus

Hi OrphanCrow & ttdtt

After my sleep I find our subject is not yet ended. Hence I will end it.

Certain truths are eternal. From childhood we are told: “Look both ways before you cross the street.”

Certain things are true some times and yet are false other times. From childhood we are told: “Don’t trust strangers.” But later we experience some of our own relatives/friends cheating us and some of the strangers behaving better than even our close relatives/friends.

Similarly, you can believe everything is matter and every phenomenon can be explained through materialism. But this belief will soon or later change as happened to some hard-core and prominent materialists. ‘Later’ can mean anywhere in the future. Even if it happens after a trillion births it doesn’t matter in view of the eternity.

48

Evolution doesn't happen today...WRONG...

by HowTheBibleWasCreated in

last year i had a brother tell me that one proof evolution is false is that he doesn't see it happening today... i was going to bring of viruses evolving so fast that new vaccines must be developed each year but felt he was too closed minded to receive it.

today i was listening to the audio book of 'an ancestors tale- richard dawkins' and noted oe point that shined through.. here is evolution happening>>>.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/05/2/l_052_05.html.

venus

Hi ttdtt,

Your response reminds me of the response the very eminent Scientist, the impeccably credentialed Ian Stevenson, who was director of the Division of Personality Studies at the University of Virginia, received. Among other things, he devoted the last 40 years of his life to the scientific documentation of past-life memories of children from all over the world. In the end, he had over 3, 000 cases on record in his files and many people, including sceptics and scholars, agree today that these offer the best evidence yet for life after death.

But here is the twist: atheists regard the evidence he garnered over a lifetime as nonsense, while conveniently forgetting that Dr Stevenson was as much an atheist as any of them.

48

Evolution doesn't happen today...WRONG...

by HowTheBibleWasCreated in

last year i had a brother tell me that one proof evolution is false is that he doesn't see it happening today... i was going to bring of viruses evolving so fast that new vaccines must be developed each year but felt he was too closed minded to receive it.

today i was listening to the audio book of 'an ancestors tale- richard dawkins' and noted oe point that shined through.. here is evolution happening>>>.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/05/2/l_052_05.html.

venus

Hi WhatshallIcallmyself

Here the question is not about what is material and what is immaterial? Question is dependency. When I know my core existence is immaterial, why should I depend on Scientists for explaining to me that it is immaterial. Science does not invent self, it is the other way around. My self with its mind is immaterial on its own merit and it is self-evident and too obvious. You may be aware that some eminent scientists like Einstein who went on record saying they arrived at some of their theories first through intuition and later they verified them through scientific means. Intuition is obviously from an immaterial source.

You can also google "atheists who unexpectedly underwent NDEs changed their view that everything can be explained through matter." You will be surprised to know there are some very prominent former atheists among them. They were very sincere in their former atheistic beliefs. You can also continue to be sincerely materialistic till you have an experience to the contrary.

48

Evolution doesn't happen today...WRONG...

by HowTheBibleWasCreated in

last year i had a brother tell me that one proof evolution is false is that he doesn't see it happening today... i was going to bring of viruses evolving so fast that new vaccines must be developed each year but felt he was too closed minded to receive it.

today i was listening to the audio book of 'an ancestors tale- richard dawkins' and noted oe point that shined through.. here is evolution happening>>>.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/05/2/l_052_05.html.

venus

Hi ttdtt

These questions are too simple to answer.

Matter has always existed in some form or the other since matter is materialization of energy which can neither be created nor destroyed. So is the case with immaterial beings such as my mind, your mind and the Supreme Mind. Hence question of who created God, who created His residence are all redundant.

I don’t need an explanation from Science for the existence of my mind which I know exists and which I know is immaterial. I exist, and I also know that I exist. Moreover, I am a consciousness with a conscience that is capable of distinguish not only what is right and wrong but even the various shades of them. So is the case with your mind and the Supreme Mind.

I know many scientists who are modest and balanced who say our area is to stick to what is quantifiable and empirical, God may exist or may not exist which doesn’t come under our purview.

Regarding souls or Supreme Soul being happy or unhappy. I know my very nature is happiness. I feel unhappy because I chose to be so by diverting from my nature, and I continue to be unhappy till I return to my original nature. For example, I am shouted at by someone. Now I am thinking about it--questioning it how, why ... which means now I am diverted from my original nature by taking the words of another person to hurt my self. I am creating the hurt--not the words of another person. After some time, I begin to think--how can his words hurt me unless I hurt myself; what if I let those words unheeded ...now I am returning to my original nature of happiness. This is the case with all Minds.

48

Evolution doesn't happen today...WRONG...

by HowTheBibleWasCreated in

last year i had a brother tell me that one proof evolution is false is that he doesn't see it happening today... i was going to bring of viruses evolving so fast that new vaccines must be developed each year but felt he was too closed minded to receive it.

today i was listening to the audio book of 'an ancestors tale- richard dawkins' and noted oe point that shined through.. here is evolution happening>>>.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/05/2/l_052_05.html.

venus

Cofty,

You may be right. But victims, like my grandpa, had no other way of explaining the horror they were subjected to.

It is true that similar horrors can be performed even by those belonging to religions (as happened from Rome during Dark Ages). This is because they were materialists in their hearts who were using religion for their unjust ends. This is true with pedophile Elders, Priests and other “religious” people …etc. They are “having a form of godliness but denying its power;” “wolf disguising” “whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.” (2 Tim 3:5; Mat 7:15; 1 Tim 4:2)