@ cofty: Pauline Christianity is built on the bedrock of self-loathing.
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That's why Perry and similar Fundies like it....
from the 2013 new world translation 2 tim.
all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, so that the man of god may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.. .
as jw's we must have read that scripture a thousand times.
@ cofty: Pauline Christianity is built on the bedrock of self-loathing.
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That's why Perry and similar Fundies like it....
like all the best comedy this is hilarious and agonising in equal measure.. if you have not bookmarked the jehovah's trumpet blog do it now.. shunning makes us joyful .... "fiends, we are the happiest people on earth because of true worship, and this includes the practice of shunning our closest loved ones...".
"So I’m proud to say that even when strongly tempted [to be a normal, decent, loving human being], I stayed loyal to Jehovah."
the following video sums up why i not only reject theism but oppose it.... if you worship a god who hears your prayers please invest 6 minutes to listen and ask yourself how you would respond.
then ask yourself whether your answer requires the same special pleading and double-think we used to indulge in to defend our jw beliefs.....
Christopher Hitchens summed this issue up very succinctly:
"Let's say that the consensus is that our species, being the higher primates, Homo Sapiens, have been on this planet for at least 100,000 years, maybe more. Francis Collins says maybe 100,000. Richard Dawkins thinks maybe a quarter of a million. I'll take 100,000. In order to be a Christian, you have to believe that for 98,000 years, our species suffered and died, most of its children dying in childbirth, most other people having a life expectancy of about 25 years, dying of their teeth. Famine, struggle, bitterness, war, suffering, misery, all of that for 98,000 years. Heaven watches this with complete indifference. And then 2,000 years ago, thinks "That's enough of that. It's time to intervene," and the best way to do this would be by condemning someone to a human sacrifice somewhere in the less literate parts of the Middle East. Don't let's appeal to the Chinese, for example, where people can read and study evidence and have a civilization. Let's go to the desert and have another revelation there. This is nonsense. It can't be believed by a thinking person."
the whole article makes me ill with its worse than average mind control.. i was going to only include one quote but there are so many doozies that i will post what i feel to be the worst.. from paragraph 6.
"gods organization survives and flourishes on earth because the people who are part of it have his approval.".
the great tribulation has been "so close" for over 120 years of wt history.
Oubliette: All alleged "forward motion" among JWs is completely illusory. They change doctrines periodically to perpetuate the illusion of motion, forward or otherwise
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In WT methodology, going full circle is progress. Look at how many doctrines WT has accepted as "truth", then completely abandoned as false when it gets "new light", then this same doctrine is once again accepted as truth. One big time-wasting, idiotic loop that ended up exactly where WT started- yet it's all spun as "progress" and "keeping up with God's organization".
Frankly, in order to "keep up" with WT, all a JW has to do is stand in one place....give it time: eventually WT will come back to its starting point, and the JW didn't have to expend any effort whatsoever except twiddle his thumbs while he watches WT run circles.
we may believe that the wt is having financial problems because of the sell-off that has been happening lately.
however, i think the opposite.
i believe the gb has realized that in today's world the money is in the properties that the sheepies have already paid or are paying for.
The thing that really strikes me about all this. Is that Wt got away with it, with out the slightest bit of resistance.
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It's the predictable result of systematic indoctrination of a group (Jehovah's Witnesses) for decades training them to avoid all critical thoughts or questions. Dumb them down further by telling that same group to avoid higher education and you can tell these people the moon is made of cheese and the only question they have is, "what kind?"
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To the OP's point, the WT is awash in cash right now. The sale of the Brooklyn properties alone netted WT a tidy $1,2 billion dollar profit. Add to that the sale of 14 Branch Offices, the income from Assembly Halls, the new donation arrangement, reduced literature printing, etc, etc., and WT is increasing its cash flow while simultaneously decreasing its expenses. Obligating congregations to a set monthly donation amount which cannot be sustained is the first step to WT's wholesale takeover of properties ILO payments.
the whole article makes me ill with its worse than average mind control.. i was going to only include one quote but there are so many doozies that i will post what i feel to be the worst.. from paragraph 6.
"gods organization survives and flourishes on earth because the people who are part of it have his approval.".
the great tribulation has been "so close" for over 120 years of wt history.
Also if a religious organization's survival and success have everything to do with God's approval, then how does the WT explain the success of the other groups of a similar age such as the LDS church, the 7th day Adventists
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Ironically, this list could include the IBSA, who were started by Russell and still thrive to this day. By WT dogma, that group should have disappeared years ago because they haven't "progressed" beyond Russell's teachings like WT claims to have done.
And, as you said BU2B, if surviving and thriving are clear signs of God's "approval", WT has certainly been bested by most religions in that department.
from the 2013 new world translation 2 tim.
all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, so that the man of god may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.. .
as jw's we must have read that scripture a thousand times.
@ Perry: You can find testimony all over the internet about this. [what Jesus is allegedly doing in people's lives]
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"Well of course there is no way that a person can know such things unless they have been there, seen and tested everything to a conclusion which of course never happens. The testimony of one person cannot spawn testimony in another. Ignorant faith based on brainwashing doesn’t cut it!" -Dougla A. Wallace, author (ex-Mormon)
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@ donny: If God was trying to send a clear message via text, then he has failed miserably.
A most simple point religious people always overlook (or deliberately ignore).
from the 2013 new world translation 2 tim.
all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, so that the man of god may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.. .
as jw's we must have read that scripture a thousand times.
@ Perry: We chose to disbelieve God and to believe another
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So why is this time any different than the last time?
I've seen this many times. A person leaves JWs, joins an equally silly cult like the Mormons, or a Bible-thumping Fundamantalist religion, or goes it alone, etc, etc, and declares they've finally figured it all out.
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Believing God is the greatest work in the world. It's dividends are endless because God is endless.
What are the "dividends"?
God didn't invent the Polio vaccine or the Internet. God (if he existed) does nothing for humans but sit idly by as an absentee parent; what humans have now is what humans have gotten through hard work. Why do you credit god with being "the greatest work in the world" when he's does squat for anybody??
most jw's don't know that they are in fact jonadabs and that in the vidication books rutherford came up with this class because he found some christians not as holy as others having part of themselves still stuck in satan's system still wanting to be wordly in some fashion.
so he came up with this class the jonadabs.
i wonder how jw's would react if they were to find this out?
You need the WT...but it doesn't need you:
Watchtower 50 1/15 p. 26 par. 22 Who Will Share in the Final Witness?
"Jehovah’s visible organization can use you, but can get along without you too. But you cannot get along without it. Fruitless ones are eventually pruned off and never missed..."
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WT calls all JWs "sheep", but here's what it thinks about sheep:
"Sheep are interesting creatures — docile, timid, and often plain stupid" --Awake! 3-8-93, p 15
well, now they want a follow up visit!
when you tell the elders that you have doubts and they say " its okay, we have had our doubts.
having doubts is not apostasy.
DD: WHAT IS THERE TO FOLLOW UP ON???
No doubt the next visit will open with: "Do you feel the Governing Body is directing God's Organization?" "Follow up" is code for, "what can we hang him with?"
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Watchtower Free: Even the cool ones can turn on you in a instant.
The "cool ones" are the most dangerous. Take it from personal experience.