http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qth3q54t-m8.
cofty wrote:
Sam Harris' book "The Moral Landscape" is excellent.
I am a huge Harris fan, and I also thought that was an excellent book.
On a side note, my favorite Sam Harris quote of all time is: “If you were to get up in the morning and say some Latin words over your pancakes; expecting them to turn into the flesh of Elvis Presley; then you have clearly lost your mind. If you have the very same expectation in regards to a wafer and the body of Jesus Christ; you’re simply a Catholic”.
Let me ask you former sisters something: did any of you wish you could make up outlandish settings to liven up your talks, such as: “making a return visit at a honky-tonk bar”, or “witnessing to another passenger on the Universal Studios tram”? My mind often wandered onto such things.
On another point, the one thing that amused me about the sister's talks, was how a sister could convert a trinitarian to the JW point of view within a mere five minutes!
one of the first things that shocked me when learning the truth about the truth was how the organisation uses tricks and deception to fool their own membership.
i guess we all have our own favourite examples, like the quotes in the publications that make outside sources look like they oppose the trinity/support the nwt/disprove evolution, when in context the intent of the original source is quite different.
or the grossly exaggerated experiences delivered at conventions: if we happen to know the person or were present at the events described we know it's often garbage what they say on stage, more closely resembling a desired script emanating from headquarters than anything that actually happened to real witnesses in the circuit or district.
My favorite tactic is when the writers quote from alleged authoritative sources in support of some position they are promoting (such as the identity of Michael the Archangle, or some other trivial doctrinal quibble). They will often quote from a “noted scholar”, who upon investigation, is discovered to be a part time Biblical studies teacher at a community college in Fairbanks, Alaska.
It’s similar to promoters printing a raving review for a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie from a “movie critic” – who turns out to write for a high school newspaper.
i notice reported in a number of posts that this seems to a bit of a mantra with the dubbies now, more so than ever in the past.. is this because they are getting desperate for the life they live as jw's to change ?
they don't really want to end their days with the constant drudgery of the jw life still going on, they want something different, but must "wait on jehovah".
sigh.. i wonder if this is a small opportunity for us to sow some small, niggling doubt, why not ask, when they spew out the "it is soooo close" nonsense:.
Look what happened to Hannaniah. He made folks believe in a falshood too. Right ?
Guess what happened ?
LOL. It’s a shame Jehovah doesn’t throw them a bone and give them at least one of the gifts of the spirit; as he did in the first century. Field service might be a little more interesting, and the children wouldn’t always want to quit and have their donut after only an hour. How nice it would be if just once, he could give them the power to speak in tongues instead of having to spend donation money on translating tracts into Urdu or Kalanga. Give them the ability to prophesy who will be home instead of them having to write Not-At-Home slips.
i notice reported in a number of posts that this seems to a bit of a mantra with the dubbies now, more so than ever in the past.. is this because they are getting desperate for the life they live as jw's to change ?
they don't really want to end their days with the constant drudgery of the jw life still going on, they want something different, but must "wait on jehovah".
sigh.. i wonder if this is a small opportunity for us to sow some small, niggling doubt, why not ask, when they spew out the "it is soooo close" nonsense:.
ShirleyW, have you met DontCallMeShirley?
i notice reported in a number of posts that this seems to a bit of a mantra with the dubbies now, more so than ever in the past.. is this because they are getting desperate for the life they live as jw's to change ?
they don't really want to end their days with the constant drudgery of the jw life still going on, they want something different, but must "wait on jehovah".
sigh.. i wonder if this is a small opportunity for us to sow some small, niggling doubt, why not ask, when they spew out the "it is soooo close" nonsense:.
ShirleyW quoting JW:
and of course you just know he said "if I didn't believe what I was saying why would I be here in a shirt and tie on this hot day !
That reminded me of a thought that crossed my mind one morning on my commute. On my way into the office, I drive past a bus stop that is frequented by Witnesses. One morning, they had resorted to setting up a 5 ft. tall magazine rack (like the ones they have in dentist’s offices) right next to the bus bench. I don’t have to mention that the rack was totally ignored by commuters (who were much more interested in their iPods).
I thought: “If one didn’t truly believe in what they were preaching, why would they be embarrassingly stupid enough to set up a literature rack next to a bus stop?” But hey, I guess it’s what Jeremiah would have done, right?
i notice reported in a number of posts that this seems to a bit of a mantra with the dubbies now, more so than ever in the past.. is this because they are getting desperate for the life they live as jw's to change ?
they don't really want to end their days with the constant drudgery of the jw life still going on, they want something different, but must "wait on jehovah".
sigh.. i wonder if this is a small opportunity for us to sow some small, niggling doubt, why not ask, when they spew out the "it is soooo close" nonsense:.
vanyell wrote:
Are they(WT) revving up the "End Time is near" machine again?
It does seem to me like they cranked up the volume on this with the global “false religion” kingdom news campaign that was launched in October of 2006. Post 9/11 seems to have given the Watchtower a lot of fodder for their Armageddon rhetoric.
In the organizations history, there seems to be cycles of heightened “end is near” drum beating. This was certainly the case during World War II, especially with the persecution that was launched against Witnesses in the United States and Canada.
The Vietnam War era (with the run up to 1975) saw a huge wave of Watchtower articles and convention talks that proclaimed the end to be just around the corner.
Each new cycle seems to capture the imaginations of a new generation that is too young to remember the previous failed predictions.
this was one of the things i thought about while i was beginning to think for myself.. who has the more intimate relationship, the coworker of a man who calls him by his first name, or his child who calls him dad, or papa?.
all the emphasis jws put on jehovah blinds them to this simple truth.
what if one of us walked up to our father and said, hey bill!
While a JW, at the very most, I felt a lukewarmness toward whole heavenly father, Jehovah character. However, I feel much differently now. After reading the Old Testament anew, I feel that Jehovah was simply a maladjusted neurotic. Jehovah is just like one of those guys you see that after being beat up in school, always picked last for kickball, and rejected by all the girls; he grows up to be a cop.
this year as with every previous year a letter was read on how we can honor jehovah by helping to clean the stadium where the district convention is held.. does the watchtower get a break on the rent if the dubs do a major cleaning of the stadium?
sounds like slave labour to me.. .
hoser.
Past yearbooks have had several experiences from around the world of stadium management being dazzled by the JWs diligent cleaning of their stadiums. Whenever some official was quoted as saying how he wished all people were like Jehovah’s Witnesses, this was usually always highlighted in convention talks.
What never dawned on the people making those statements is that if all people were like JWs, nobody would be playing the professional sports for which those stadiums were built. Instead, the world would just be filled with pastel colored auditoriums.
i notice reported in a number of posts that this seems to a bit of a mantra with the dubbies now, more so than ever in the past.. is this because they are getting desperate for the life they live as jw's to change ?
they don't really want to end their days with the constant drudgery of the jw life still going on, they want something different, but must "wait on jehovah".
sigh.. i wonder if this is a small opportunity for us to sow some small, niggling doubt, why not ask, when they spew out the "it is soooo close" nonsense:.
Mary wrote:
Unfortunately, the idea that 'Armageddon is imminent' is the center of the Watchtower's universe and they can't let go of that without risking that their entire house of cards will collapse.
I think that sums it up pretty well. The “end is near” sales pitch is what the whole religion was founded on. Who would have listened to C.T. Russell if he would have preached that Jesus return in 1914 would merely be an invisible presence where he turns his attention to the earth? How exciting would that handbill have been? Who would have sat and listened to Rutherford’s delusional diatribes had it not been for their belief that the end was near?
If it weren’t for the belief in an imminent apocalypse, who on earth would give up college so that they could approach strangers and offer them magazines that show people dressed in slacks and button shirts petting lions?
