Except there's no record of any it outside the Bible.
So there you go.
alot of people are saying god is cruel for killing the firstborns and animals and people in the ten plagues.
but didn't god achieve his goal of making nations and people be in fear of him?.
Except there's no record of any it outside the Bible.
So there you go.
i've never seen this discussed here, so thought i'd bring it up:.
as far as i can figure, jehovah's witnesses no longer teach that black skin is the result of a curse from god.
instead, they seem to teach that canaan was already dark skinned when his father, ham, brought the curse of servitude upon their family.
Ham, is pictured as a black man
Let me guess...he lived in the Black Forest? Thus making him a Black Forest Ham?
if I were Noah, and Mrs. Noah had a son with that coloration, I might be a wee bit suspicious....
The mailman was Black, but Noah never put 2+2 together on that one...
hey guys!
here's what i found to be the best way (for me at least) to debate jw's without earning the laber of apostate.
this is mostly valid when debating jw's that don't know you personally, but it could help with those that do too.
The sad reality is (and I've experienced this personally more than once) that if you mention Jesus too much or talk about the Bible without the context of WT, a JW will directly or indirectly call you an apostate.
here's why:
w86 4/1 pp. 30-31 Questions From Readers, Questions From Readers
"Why have Jehovah’s Witnesses disfellowshipped (excommunicated) for apostasy some who still profess belief in God, the Bible, and Jesus Christ? ... Approved association with Jehovah’s Witnesses requires accepting the entire range of the true teachings of the Bible, including those Scriptural beliefs that are unique to Jehovah’s Witnesses. What do such beliefs include?"
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What do such beliefs include? = things that are not in the Bible.
BTW- JWs don't debate. They talk, you listen. If you have something to tell them the discussion usually ends immediately as they mutter under their breath that you are a 'goat'.
alot of people are saying god is cruel for killing the firstborns and animals and people in the ten plagues.
but didn't god achieve his goal of making nations and people be in fear of him?.
First, I don't care what the biblical scholars believe or not. The best evidence was done in James Cameron's documentary entitled, Exodus Decoded, with Simcha Jacobovici.
I don't believe James Cameron's documentary because of Mel Brooks' "Holy Moses" and Monty Python's "Life of Brian" movies.
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From, The Atheist's Book of Bible Stories:
"The Camp of Israel As I mentioned earlier, approximately 600,000 Israelite warriors left Egypt during the exodus. If we assume one warrior for every three persons, that brings the population of the exodus to at least 1.8 million. For round figures, let’s assume there were two million of them. Some persons have estimated this ratio considerably higher, but as always, I give the Bible the benefit of the doubt.
This group lived in a temporary camp that wandered throughout the wilderness for forty years. Needless to say, a population, or should I say poopulation (a pun you will understand later) of two million, living in tents, creates tremendous logistical difficulties.
Let’s focus in on the logistical difficulties encountered in just one of the necessities of human life.
Now, let’s calculate. If each person relieved himself only twice a day (an obviously low estimate), and each deposit used one square foot of land surface (also a pretty low estimate), that means that every day, the Israelites turned 93 acres of land into a sewage lagoon. If they stayed in the same spot for a month, around 4 ½ square miles would be consumed – a veritable poop farm. During their 40 years in the wilderness, 2,160 square miles would have been used (that’s 1,357,800 acres). No wonder it was wilderness.
When you consider that there were two million people living in tents, and every one of them had to leave the camp to go to the bathroom – a bathroom that moved farther away every day, they must have spent half their life walking.
If we assume that the camp had a population density equal to modern Hong Kong (which is totally ridiculous, but we’ll give the Bible the benefit of the doubt, again), it would have occupied at least 44 square miles. That means that if you lived in the center of the camp, you would need to walk 3.7 miles, each way, every time you went to the bathroom. You would need to plan your bathroom breaks hours in advance. And, by the time you returned, you would need to go again. You’d think that God could have come up with a better system.
The camp of Israel was approximately the same population as the greater Vancouver or Cincinatti area. Just imagine yourself living in one of those two cities. Now, imagine that every time you had to go to the bathroom, you had to walk outside the metropolitan area, find an unused spot, dig a hole with a stick, do your business, cover it up, and then walk home. This is the best system that the Almighty of the Universe could think of.
Not only that, if we assume that each of these persons spent only two minutes digging their hole and doing their business, that means that at any one time, there would be an average of 5,500 persons simultaneously squatting on their holes. It must have looked like a pooping convention.
The total population of Egypt prior to the exodus was actually less than the number of Israelites who left it. That doesn’t make any sense.
[...]
In other words, there weren’t nearly as many Israelites in the camp as the Bible claims. In fact, a more reasonable estimate for the number is around 7,000, not two million. That is, assuming that the exodus even happened. Once again, the Bible exaggerates, this time overstating the number by at least 300 times. And, don’t forget that I have given the Bible the benefit of every doubt by underestimating the ratio of warriors to population, ignoring the presence of their animals, assuming impossibly high population densities, and attributing almost legendary bladder capacity to the Hebrews.
i know a couple of jws in my town that are both very wealthy.
one has upscale retail stores and owns a property development company.
the other has a large service company and owns a lot of real estate.
The Artist Formerly Known as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince is a textbook example.
Don't forget the tennis players currently known as the Williams Sisters and George Benson.
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Sincerely,
The poster formerly known as Shirley
both the jw cult religion and the isis religion are both the same.
both extremist for there gods...the jw 's sheeple worship the watchtower.
the isis god is allah, but they seem to worship/kill for muhammad.. .
Vidiot: if the WTS was ever placed in charge of a country to rule it as they see fit..."apostates" would be sentenced to death without possibility of appeal or reprieve.
In more than a dozen countries people who espouse atheism or reject the official state religion of Islam can be executed under the law, according to a recent report by the International Humanist and Ethical Union. But there is an ongoing debate about the "Islamic" way to deal with apostates.
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Note how WT laments the fact thay JWs cannot simply murder apostates:
w52 11/15 p. 703 Questions From Readers
We are not living today among theocratic nations where such members of our fleshly family relationship could be exterminated for apostasy from God and his theocratic organization, as was possible and was ordered in the nation of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai and in the land of Palestine.
Being limited by the laws of the worldly nation in which we live and also by the laws of God through Jesus Christ, we can take action against apostates only to a certain extent, that is, consistent with both sets of laws. The law of the land and God’s law through Christ forbid us to kill apostates.
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"The obligation to hate lawlessness also applies to all activity by apostates. Our attitude toward apostates should be that of David, who declared: 'Do I not hate those who are intensely hating you, O Jehovah, and do I not feel a loathing for those revolting against you? With a complete hatred I do hate them. They have become to me real enemies.' (W 7-15-92).
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If JWs still believed in Jesus (questionable at this point), they may remember that he said to pray for your enemies. He also alluded to the idea that wishing someone dead was as good as being a murderer.
As far as disfellowshipping goes, is there really any real difference between being dead and a JW treating a person as if they are dead?
with all the terrible things happening on this earth, i bet most witnesses feel that jehovah god has to step in..
The WT organization was expecting Christs arrival in kingdom power in 1914. It published this date years before its arrival.
Actually, since 1874.
Ironically, CT Russell didn't accept the 1874 date as Jesus' return until 1876. Two years late to the game for god's alleged 'faithful slave' and it's been downhill ever since.
When it all went south, 1874 was changed to 1914.
Wash, spin, rinse, repeat.
The 1914 date foundation was a major mistake because of what Jesus said at Matthew 24:36, Matthew 24:42 and Acts 1:7.
Or maybe the real mistake is believing in the fanciful musings of ancient goatherders.
i know a couple of jws in my town that are both very wealthy.
one has upscale retail stores and owns a property development company.
the other has a large service company and owns a lot of real estate.
I have many problems with the Borg. But some elders being rich is definitly not one of them. Good for them.
I have a BIG problem with it for one simple reason: It provers JWs do not believe what they preach.
When an elder gives a talk telling the entire congregation that Armageddon is "close," coming anyday now, and we (meaning everyone except me, the rich elder) must "simplify" their lives for kingdom interests and not be wasting time planning for retirement, living the good life, developing a career, etc., while the elder is doing the exact opposite, it is ultimate hypocrisy.
If these elders really believed the end was close/soon/coming anyday now, they would sell everything they have in order to preach WT's life-saving message.
If they don't believe what they say from the platform...SHUT THE HELL UP !!
I have no problem with any JW being rich. But don't condemn riches and the good life for everyone else while simultaneously building your own empire.
with all the terrible things happening on this earth, i bet most witnesses feel that jehovah god has to step in..
Unfortunately, the WT shell game has been making victims of JWs for over 100 years now. Some things never change:
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"Now, in view of recent labor troubles and threatened anarchy, our readers are writing to know if there may not be a mistake in the 1914 date. They do not see how present conditions can hold out so long under the strain. We see no reason for changing the figures - nor could we change them if we would. They are, we believe, God's dates, not ours. But bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble." Zion's Watch Tower 1894 Jul 15 p.226
earlier this year, i received an email from a jw family member with a link to this video:.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1ruhkgqjug.
i wrote a long reply debunking the video (mostly copying talkorigins info).
I think it is absolutely hilarious when religious people point fingers at someone else, especially scientists, and make accusations of fraud, deceit and believing in "fairytales". A classic case of the kettle calling the pot black.
This is doubly so for JWs. If they only knew how much WT quotes out of context and cherry-picks to 'prove' their theology. Of course, the JWs who sent you this video will no more check out the source material alluded to in the video as they would verify what's in WT literature. They'll take half-baked claims and run with it, convinced they've added to their college education by reading the WT.
Great response to them, TS.