Posts by Island Man

Here in the Caribbean where I live, many of the high schools are church owned, operated and named - Catholic and Anglican. But some JWs work as teachers at those schools and many JW children attend those schools but that doesn't seem to raise eyebrows the slightest bit among JWs here. I think it's because those schools are still under the authority of the government (Ministry of Education) when it comes to things like the syllabus, and the law states that they can't try to impose their religious beliefs on the students (even though some of the teachers try to). It's kinda weird when I think of it.

207

Is the AGM today?

by hamsterbait in

jw
friends

anybody going or who can give us the noolite hot from the gb a$$?.

.

Island Man

fastjehu: 10 hours Pioneer: Just another hurdle for the MS & Elders

I agree. We can expect future guilt trips along the lines of: "The slave has now made it sooo easy to pioneer. You only have to make 10 hours to join the ranks of pioneer! Surely we all can and should be pioneers! What could possibly prevent you from pioneering?"

And think about this: who will refuse to be a basic pioneer? Every indoctrinated dub thinks in glowing terms of pioneering, so the only publisher who would refuse to reach out to at least be a meagre 10 hour basic pioneer is . . . yes, you got it - an awake publisher. So expect this new basic pioneer provision to become a tool used for sniffing out those who are not totally loyal to the GB. Non-pioneering could become like the new inactive.

It could become a new tool to manipulate publishers to do at least 10 hours of service or face being viewed as lazy or disloyal to the organization. It could be difficult for awake JWs to give just a token 2 or 3 hours a month without being hasseled as to why they're not reaching out to at least be a basic pioneer.

This 10 hour basic pioneer requirement doesn't bode well.

6

JW.ORG - Search results for web info - updated March 2014

by LogCon in

jw
friends

Island Man

Terms: 666

LOL.

207

Is the AGM today?

by hamsterbait in

jw
friends

anybody going or who can give us the noolite hot from the gb a$$?.

.

Island Man

With this new light on the identity of Gog, whenever a govt. bans the work of JWs, you'll hear the JWs saying that they're part of Gog's forces and this action is evidence that Gog is getting ready to attack. Who knows, maybe the GB expects to be banned soon in some countries and this new light is just a way of taking in front, so when they do get banned they can always play the Gog card and tell JWs not to listen to any news by the Gog govt. which gives reasons for the ban.

In essence they could be laying the groundwork for the term "Gog" (or "Gog's company") to be used to demonize any govt. who bans them or investigates them. "Gog" will become the apostate label they slap on govts who are not favorable to the Witnesses and who may publish news items on the JWs that contain TTATT. The Watchtower is probably feeling the heat from Russian and other govts. I hear the charity commission in the UK is currently investigating them. The Watchtower probably expects the proverbial "$s#it to hit the fan" in the near future and so they're using this new doctrine to get JWs looking critically and suspiciously at govts who are critical of the JWs. That way if any govt. bans them and gives reasons, the JWs would have been pre-indoctrinated to disregard any damaging, confidential information that govt. sources have to say about JWs.

35

The Blatant SEXISM of Watchtower!

by Island Man in

from my yahoo answers question here: .

"the bible says of deborah: "now deborah, a prophetess, the wife of lappidoth, was judging israel at that time.

5 she used to sit under the palm tree of deborah between ramah and bethel in the hill country of ephraim; and the sons of israel came up to her for judgment.

Island Man

Onager: So, let me get this right, there's a glimmer of gender equality in a story in the bible (which is a wildly misogynist book overall)

I wouldn't go so far as to call it gender equality. If Deborah served as a warrior herself leading the army and taking part in the battle without having to call a man to do the actual fighting, then yeah, maybe I'd say it's gender equality. What I think it is, is an attempt at toning down male chauvinism and making patronizing overtures toward disenfranchised women of the time. From the fact that the story mentions a woman ia judge to the fact that Sisera is given into the hand of a woman is more than mere coincidence. There's clearly an attempt at elevating women. It seems obvious that the writer or later editor of the book had this as one of his (or dare I say, her) goals.

The fact that the bible is a mysoginistic book overall does not preclude it from having a story that seeks to exalt the image of women. Let's not forget that the bible is a book of contradictions. For example, it says God is just and loving but at the same time portrays him as a harsh genocidal brute who condones injustices like slavery and the subjugation of women. If anything, the general mysogynistic tone of the bible to gives credence to the idea that the story of Deborah is a deliberate attempt at improving the image of women and/or rebelling against patriarchy and misogyny. It could very well be an attempt at improving the image of God as not being a misogynist by a more liberal, forward-thinking bible writer who was painfully aware of the misogynistic nature of other writings and Israelite culture in general.

24

To Transfuse or Not To Transfuse

by Chris Tann in

when my son became baptized as a witness at age nine, it worried me that he could now get a no blood card.

i wanted to make sure if blood transfusions were really as disgusting to "jehovah" as i was taught.

i already found out some things about my beliefs that were not true, so it wasn't hard for me to be questionable about this.. i first looked in the reasoning book under blood as to why we don't accept transfusions.

Island Man

Your reasoning makes perfect sense. Another point that bears noting is this:

How is the body's use of transfused blood any different from the body's use of native blood? They are both used for the same purpose. Therefore if JWs are making the case that the body's use of transfused blood violates the sanctity of blood, then logically, they should also reason that the body's use of native blood is also a violation of the sanctity of blood, and we should all have to slit our throats and bleed ourselves to death to ensure we are abstaining from blood. The point here is that transfused blood is being used for the very dignified purpose that God created it - to sustain life by flowing in the veins - and therefore such use of blood cannot be said to be a violation of its sanctity. By contrast eating blood is putting it to a cheap use that it was not created for and thus violates its sanctity. The two uses are clearly very different and very distinguishable and one cannot honestly compare a blood transfusion with eating blood, without necessarily implying that we are all in violation by virtue of the blood flowing in our veins.

28

SAD HOLY SPIRIT ILLUSTRATION

by GreenhornChristian in

just got an email from elder sharing illustration from assembly.

the holy spirit does not seem to be in control as it supposedly was in the 1st century.

it's just lube now.

Island Man

The illustration does not match what the bible reveals about how God uses holy spirit.

In the bible, holy spirit is used to overcome human weaknesses, human imperfections and human limitations. God gives his servants holy spirit to ensure that they can do the job correctly. What would be the point of God giving people holy spirit to help them if he's not going to give them all the help they need to accomplish the task perfectly?

God did not give the bible writers holy spirit only to give them a little help. He gave them holy spirit to ensure that what they wrote in the bible is perfectly accurate. God did not give holy spirit to the 120 at pentecost to give them a little help in being able to speak foreign languages a little better. No. He gave them holy spirit to miraculously empower them to speak foreign languages perfectly so that the foreign visitors could understand them.

Holy spirit doesn't just give the person a little help. It makes them fully capable of performing the job perfectly. The only way a person who has been empowered with holy spirit will fail to do the job adequately is if the person rebels against the leading of holy spirit. This can happen. But when it does God will cease giving holy spirit to the one rebelling against its leading.

So this talk about holy spirit not working as in the first century is just a rubbish con excuse to cover over the fact that the JWs are not being directed by holy spirit at all. The embarrassing rubbish they have printed in the past is proof positive of the lack of holy spirit in the organization. God will not direct an organization with holy spirit and allow it to print such rubbish. That would be defeating the whole purpose of directing them with holy spirit.

35

The Blatant SEXISM of Watchtower!

by Island Man in

from my yahoo answers question here: .

"the bible says of deborah: "now deborah, a prophetess, the wife of lappidoth, was judging israel at that time.

5 she used to sit under the palm tree of deborah between ramah and bethel in the hill country of ephraim; and the sons of israel came up to her for judgment.

Island Man

"9 To this she said: “I will certainly go with you. However, the campaign you are going on will not bring you glory, for it will be into the hand of a woman that Jehovah will give Sis′e·ra."

Athos, it seems to me that there is an underlying theme of "feminism" in the Deborah story. What I mean is that the author seems to be sending an underlying message of anti-male-chauvisnism. I don't think its a mere coincidence that the only female judge mentioned in the bible tells a male warrior that his enemy will fall by the hand of a woman. There is clearly an underlying theme that says to men: 'men: curb your male ego, it's not all about you. Women can do it too and to prove that fact the bad guy is going to fall, not at the hand of the male warrior but at the hand of the under-dog housewife'.