Posts by venus

10

Critique/Rebuttal of May 2018 Watchtower study article - "Know Your Enemy"

by doubtfull1799 in

important note: i am not a theist and this is all meaningless of course from an atheist perspective, but this critique is written from a theistic perspective for those who are interested in picking apart jw theology or are still religious.

if this is not you, please just ignore!.

comments, additions, corrections to my crazy ramblings all welcome.

venus

doubtfull1799,

Every point is better than the other. I especially liked "

“Satan cannot force people to act against their own will.”

Evidence? Actually the writer claimed just the opposite a few paragraphs ago! If Satan can trick people into worshipping demons when they think they are worshipping God, then he is in fact forcing them to act against their will."

When a plane is hijacked, the first one who is held responsible for is the security-check personnel whose negligence is obvious in the episode. Similarly, God could have guarded the Garden 'by placing cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth' against Satan's entry rather than the reentry of Adam and Eve. (Gen 3:24)

Story is full of flaws because it has never happened, it is a poor copying from other sources. Satan is personification of evil, and evil is absence of virtue. Hence writers got everything hopelessly mixed and confused.

8

Most recent JW statistics

by Half banana in

has anyone come across detailed 2017 jw org statistics so we can compare them to previous years?

or are they now obscured in a soapy film of praise to the demi-gods at warwick to disguise the decline?.

venus

According to 2017 Service Year * Report, Number of Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide is 8,457,107. If everyone of them is serious and brings one more person every year, their membership would double in every year, as the chart below:

16914214

33828428

67656856

135313712

270627424

541254848

1082509696

2165019392

4330038784

8660077568

And in 10 years, the whole world population would be JWs with no exception.

25

1 Timothy 2:11-15...Woman and silence in the congreagation

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

1 timothy 2:11-15let a woman learn in silence with full submissiveness.

i do not permit a woman to teach, or to exercise authority over a man, but to be in silence.

for adam was formed first, then eve.

venus

By saying “Adam was formed first, then Eve; also, Adam was not deceived, but the woman was thoroughly deceived and came to be in transgression” Paul is talking about a different God than the one found in Genesis Chapter 1.

In the first creation account, God is a God of order because He creates plants, land, rivers, sea species, land animals, etc. before he creates humans “in His image” which suggests He is benevolent whereas in the second creation account, we find a different God who creates man first out of dry earth before he creates rivers, plants, animals, etc. then a woman from his rib, a God who treats humans much harsher than the first God as He restricts Adam and Eve to a plot of land, forbids them from accessing true knowledge, and then exiles and brings torment to all human beings for the disobedience of Adam and Eve.

It is understandable why Paul chose the second creation account to project his idea about inferiority of women.

25

1 Timothy 2:11-15...Woman and silence in the congreagation

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

1 timothy 2:11-15let a woman learn in silence with full submissiveness.

i do not permit a woman to teach, or to exercise authority over a man, but to be in silence.

for adam was formed first, then eve.

venus

They are 'straining out a gnat but swallow a camel.' (Mathew 23:24) Paul wanted to re-establish patriarchal theocracy, hence he conveniently ignored the First Creation account in the Genesis book which says "God created mankind (original Hebrew word is Adam) as male and female in His image" which makes men and woman equal.

Second creation account is full of flaws: God is shown as correcting mistakes done in the earlier account with changing the order of creation, planting a garden and enjoying walking in it, assembling a man out of mud only to realize later that He did not make a mate as He had done in the case of all animals, and finally making woman out of a [superfluous] rib taken out of man.

Paul obviously bases his degrading teaching about woman on this second creation account filled with flaws. What best can come out of flaws?

37

How were God’s true worshipers to determine virginity of pagan girls?

by Ireneus in

in the genocidal instructions supposedly given by god we find this interesting command: “now kill all the boys.

and kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.” (numbers 31:17, 18).

in the midst of killing and plundering, how were the israelites to determine whether each girl “has slept with a man” or not?.

venus

GoneAwol

Though very few, I have found certain verses which help me tremendously in my practical life while interacting with others. Ever since I read Mathew 12:35, I have not asked the questions such as why they did this to me, why did she say this to me, why was I insulted … and so. It is a fact that when we give same degree of love to many people we receive varying responses from each one of them. Same school, same teacher, same syllabus—yet responses of students vary. Jesus got support and help from unexpected ones, from “many women” when he was being falsely tried and taken to the site of death sentence (Mathew 27:55, 56, 61) whereas the expected ones, “72 disciples” he trained (Luke 10:1) did not come forward. Interestingly, Jesus had already declared there is no basis for expected action/reaction from others because each person acts according to his delight/passion: “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.” (Mathew 12:35) In psychology we say people act/react according to the compulsion from things buried in our sub-conscious mind. Just like each TV Channel has its own passion (some are for news, some are for entertainment, some are for wrestling, some are for science, some are for nature, animals, spirituality …etc) each individual has his own taste/delight and activities; they cannot be the same as those of another. This realization is a great freedom and relief because we come to know that we are often not the object of others’ action, but we just happen to be the recipient of their action because we happen to be around them. They would behave the same way with anybody around them.

37

How were God’s true worshipers to determine virginity of pagan girls?

by Ireneus in

in the genocidal instructions supposedly given by god we find this interesting command: “now kill all the boys.

and kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.” (numbers 31:17, 18).

in the midst of killing and plundering, how were the israelites to determine whether each girl “has slept with a man” or not?.

venus

GoneAwol

This is where some ultra Catholic Theologians make sense. They consider Bible as a book that contains both humans thoughts and God's thoughts. Verses such as Mathew 9:13; 25:31-46 are definitely God's thoughts.

They have no problem in identifying certain verses of the Bible as not inspired. For example, the world famous William Barclay offers no comments under John 3:13 saying it is not words of Jesus, but of John.

If you are familiar with world's mythologies, you would find much of the Bible is copy from others.

37

How were God’s true worshipers to determine virginity of pagan girls?

by Ireneus in

in the genocidal instructions supposedly given by god we find this interesting command: “now kill all the boys.

and kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.” (numbers 31:17, 18).

in the midst of killing and plundering, how were the israelites to determine whether each girl “has slept with a man” or not?.

venus

Smiddy3,

Bible writers created irrational stories about God (rather misrepresented Him), and many lost their faith in God. If you feel “How did I ever believe in this nonsense for over 30 year” it shows the image of real God is active in you.

11

News? or not news?

by eyeuse2badub in

10 dark and ungodly christian beliefs.

joshua sigafus august 1, 2018. .

christianity is one of the most widespread religions in the world, with more than two billion followers worldwide.

venus

Smiddy3,

I can give you some more examples:

When Jesus said: “Be like God” in Mathew 5:48, and he was not aware of the story of Adam and Eve in which Satan is shown as making the temptation using the same wordings “if you eat of that tree of good and bad, you will be like God.”Besides, this story is obviously a later adoption because it is placed into a background of Abel (a shepherd) and Cain (agriculturist) living near city states (Cain himself is spoken as builder of a city) as population is not just three (Adam, Eve, and Cain with Abel dead)

When Jesus declared:“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth”in Mathew 5:5, he also rejected much of the portion of OT where we find Jews making the claim that God had promised them land and dominion over other nations.

11

News? or not news?

by eyeuse2badub in

10 dark and ungodly christian beliefs.

joshua sigafus august 1, 2018. .

christianity is one of the most widespread religions in the world, with more than two billion followers worldwide.

venus

Smiddy3,

You are right, I believe like the ultra theologians of Catholic Church who take liberty in saying not everything in the Bible is inspired—it contains both God’s thoughts and human thoughts. As a child of God, I can know which verses are matching with my Father and which do not. For example:

I read the Bible, and weed out human concepts such as concepts about God: "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live" (Exodus 33:20). This is Moses' own statement about God Almighty. He doesn't know that Almighty means one who is able to do anything--He can manifest His full force or in part or even to less than 1%. Almighty should be able to offer a tender kiss to a little baby [without burning it into ashes] who should feel more loved than from a kiss from a human being. Hence Almighty will not say 'if you see my face, you will die.'

Yet I benefit from certain verses of highest insight into human psychology such as Mathew 12:35 which says 'people act/react according to their taste whether beneficial or non-beneficial to those around them.'

This has helped me a lot. Because i understood from this verse that if someone misbehaves with me, I tell myself 'I am not the object of his action, but I just happen to be the recipient of his action, he is not giving me according to what i did to him, but he is just unfolding according to his taste, or "treasure of his heart." This has made me feel a great relief when roughed up by others. Thus this verse helps me not to be overjoyed when loved by others nor grieve when hated by others.

4

Matthew 7:13-14 and Revelation 7:9.

by Sergey Antonov in

in matthew 7:13-14 says :“enter through the narrow gate, because wide is the gate and spacious the road that leads to destruction, and many go through it; 14 whereas narrow is the gate and strait is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it.

and revelation 7: 9 says of the great multitude, " after this i saw, and look.

of all the nations and tribes, and nations, and languages, standing before the throne and the lamb, dressed in white clothes, there was a great crowd that no man could count; and in their hands was the palm branches.".

venus

Interesting question, and it is obvious that both cannot be reconciled because Jesus was contrasting those reaching destruction and those reaching life which includes both heavenly life and earthly life.

If those reaching life are few, then they can definitely be numbered.