Posts by Island Man

"For example, the July 2009 Awake! suggests that if a classmate asks: "Why don't you believe in evolution?" you could simply reply: "Why should I believe in evolution? Scientists don't even agree on it, and they're supposed to be the experts!" - The Watchtower, September 15, 2014 page 16, par 18.

If evolution is to be disbelieved because the experts can't agree on it - although in reality the disagreement is only on minor side issues related to specific animal species - then by the same logic shouldn't the bible also be disbelieved because theologians can't agree on its interpretation? A smart kid would easily reply to the JW shpiel above by retorting:

"Why should I believe in the Bible? Theologians don't even agree on its interpretation, and they're supposed to be the experts! Heck, your own organization can't make up its mind on what certain passages mean because you keep changing the interpretation from decade to decade!"

22

Weekend of November 15-16 "Outrageous sock day at your local KH!"

by Separation of Powers in

jw
friends

i am encouraging everyone here to go out a buy some outrageous socks for next week's meetings.

make a statement!

thank you to poster oppostate for the idea!!!.

Island Man

The Sock-it Overseer will deal with you guys!

36

New pick-up lines for non Ministerial Servants

by Quarterback in

jw
friends

here they are straigt from the presses of bethel.

a new publication for those trying to date and get that young sister to pay attention to him.

here are the top 10:.

Island Man

[Looking at her flirtatiously]: "Now this . . . this is at last what I've been waiting for! This is why I've been repeatedly declining the elders' offer to make me a ministerial servant ... so that I can at last find and have this lovable lamb of my own private sheepfold to be ministered to in every way, with undivided attention..."

Or you can look at her and say: " 'And Jehovah looked upon his special creation and said: 'It is not good that this desirable one should be alone. I will make for her a man of her own, one who will not be bogged down with congregation duties to leave her alone at home. Yes, no titles must fall upon the man that I dedicate to her, to serve her and her alone.' ' Bro. Non-MS at your service..."

The good thing about a pickup line that comes out cheesier than you expect, is that you can always salvage it by pretending that you were deliberately trying to be funny to make her laugh. For example, if a girl laughs after hearing your cheesy pickup line you can do a triumphant "Yes!" gesture saying to yourself: "Yes! it worked! I got to hear that sexy laugh [or see that beautiful smile]!" Then you can say to her: "Admit it: that was the funniest pickup line you ever heard, wasn't it?"

54

Is the WTS effectively 'pimping out' sisters?

by Simon in

i can't remember the topic with the discussion about the talk where they suggested that sisters should only consider ministerial servants as potential marriage partners but think about the implications more.. are they trying to use the potential affections of sisters to enourage brothers to do more and work harder?.

isn't this a form of 'pimping out' the sisters by limiting their attention to the people contributing to them?.

it seems to cross a line to me but i guess it's not vastly different to "only marry another jw".. what do you think?.

Island Man

This is going to backfire on them. Today we find mostly sisters marrying non-JWs. If sisters start being picky about not marring brothers who aren't ministerial servants, we'll start seeing more brothers marrying non-JWs. So the faithful sisters are going to have a harder time finding suitable JW husbands and more brothers are going to start marrying non-JWs.

28

Night and Day from GB to Writing committee? Someone explain?

by thedepressedsoul in

im sure by now most of you are familiar with anthony morris talk from this weekend.

im even seeing memes posted all over instagram from jw mocking it.. here is my question, why are the things written so different from how the gb members, like anthony morris are?

i know the gb dont actually write the stuff but i was under the impression that they come up with the spiritual light pass if off to the writing committee and they put it in the publications.

Island Man

I heard that the Circuit Assembly has a talk about showing love to inactive ones.

Yet we all know that Morris said this weekend that "Jehovah does NOT understand the inactive and indeed finds their hands covered in blood."

So which is it?

Maybe it's both. Maybe the Governing Body is ... [GASP!] ... divided!

12

The most important Bible scripture in history for JW's!

by Crazyguy in

luke 12:41new international version (niv)41 peter asked, lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?.

thats right this little scripture is the most important and telling scripture of all why?

becasue this is the parable yes parable about the fathful and discreet slave and peter himself said it..below is the full passage.. .

Island Man

" Incidentally CrazyGuy, my post was in support of yours and intended to provide further reference for any lurkers/readers interested in understanding the incongruencies in the WT's "faithful slave" dogma."

ditto here, Crazyguy.

7

JW`s claim to follow 1st Century christians ,identifying them as true christians distinguishing them from false christians of christendom.

by smiddy in

they critisize the dress code of modern society , that may be permitted at a church of christendom , jeans , slacks worn by women , denim skirts worn by women ,spanx worn by women who have been exercising ,jogging shoes , no tie`s worn by men , beards on men , long hair by men, sandals ,thongs, flipflops , and i`m sure their are many more you can think of .. none of these dress codes/styles are tolerated at jehovahs witness meetings , if you try turning up in any of this attire you will be counselled to change your ways after a few of your attempts.. so if they have a problem which they do , why dont they instruct the faithfull to truly follow the 1st century christians by wearing the traditional dress that was worn in bible times , for men and women .

meh-eel .. why dont they allow men to have beards and long hair and sandals that was a requirement for gaining approval of god in the first century.. the fact of the matter is they give lip service to following the first century christians , however the reality , is they dont.. smiddy.

.

Island Man

JWs do not follow the first century model. First century christians followed the grass-roots, local congregation-focused model. JWs follow the hierarchical, global organization-focused model of the major churches of christendom.

First century christians did not have any hierachical organization above the local congregation. Above the local congregation was Jesus acting through holy spirit and the angels. This was the invisible "organization" overseeing the "global" preaching work in the first century. There was no earthly international headquarters demanding monetary contributions from local congregations. There was no plethora of policies and procedures and paperwork coming from an international headquarters and taxing the valuable time of the local elders. The elders had lots of free time to be with their families and to tend to the actual practical and spiritual needs of christians in the local congregation. There was no great expenses resulting from the construction and maintenance of places of worship (kingdom halls). They met in homes. First century christians kept a "simple eye". They slaved for one master - God. Their service and loyalty was never divided between serving God and serving a demanding organization.

By contrast, JWs have followed the major churches of christendom and created a showy, expensive, hierarchical beast of an organization that competes against God for the loyalty and service of the JWs. Every month they have to remit a substantive sum of the congregation's monetary contributions to feed the beast. The beast meddles in, and seeks to micro-manage the spiritual activities of the members of the local congregations, demanding that they gave monthly reports detailing how much hours the preached, how much literature they placed, etc. The beast is expensive to maintain and is greedy for money. The beast issues a plethora of guidelines and paperwork to distract the local elders away from their family obligations and seeing to the actual practical needs of the brothers in the local congregations. The beast has turned all the congregations into cold, paper-pushing, policy-stickling, red-tape constricted factories geared more toward furthering the interests of the beast than the actual welfare of the members in the congregations. The beast has local congregations engaging in the expensive and time-consuming act of constructing houses of worship - something that never entered the minds of 1st century christians, and which Jesus implicitly showed to be unnecessary, for "niether in this place or that place will you people worship the father" and "where ever two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst" and again "keep your eye simple" and "stop storing up treasures on earth". The beast is greedy, the beast is materialistic, the beast is arrogant, the beast is callous, the beast is self-seeking and enages in all manner of unrighteousness deceptions, legal maneuverings and scripture twisting in its efforts to seek its own interests.

12

The most important Bible scripture in history for JW's!

by Crazyguy in

luke 12:41new international version (niv)41 peter asked, lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?.

thats right this little scripture is the most important and telling scripture of all why?

becasue this is the parable yes parable about the fathful and discreet slave and peter himself said it..below is the full passage.. .

Island Man

Crazyguy, I understand what you're saying. But an indoctrinated JW will just weasel his way out of Luke 12:41 by saying that Peter was wrong in saying it was a parable. The JW will say that Peter and the apostles at that time lacked full appreciation of all that Jesus was saying and so Peter's words referring to Jesus' saying as a parable cannot be taken as gospel anymore than can the apostles wrong assumption that Jesus was restoring the kingdom to earthly Israel as per their question at Acts 1:6.

One time I asked a question on Yahoo Answers where I reasoned on James 5:7 and 2 Peter 3:9 to demonstrate that christ's presence could not have started in 1914 because

1. James 5:7 tells christians to exercise patience until the presence of the lord. The need for christians to exercise patience should therefore end when christ's presence begins, according to the encouragement at James 5:7. So the fact that we see christians still exercising patience a whole century after 1914 serves as evidence that the presence did not start in 1914.

2. 2 Peter 3:9 in answering the question raised by ridiculers asking where is the promised presence, indicates that God is patient in bringing the promised presence because he wants to give people opportunity to repent. This necessarily implies that when the presence starts there would be no more time to repent as it would start with the destructive day of Jehovah wherein the wicked will be destroyed - not a century of invisible kingdom rule as the JWs are claiming. So the presence could not have started 100 years ago as that would mean people still having a whole century to repent in contradiction to 2 Peter 3:9's implicit point that there would be no time left to repent once the presence starts. An objective examination of 2 Peter chapter 3 reveals that Peter associated the presence with the destructive day of the lord ("Jehovah", NWT) and compared it with the flood of Noah's day. Peter does not give the slightest hint or mention that the presence will start invisibly for a century (which surely would have been an important point in light of the question being asked by the ridculers). Peter implicitly teaches a very visible and destructive presence, equating it with the day of the lord.

3. I futher mentioned the fact that, according to JW theology, the ridiculers' would actually be living during christ's presence and still asking where is his presence, because JWs believe that the last days began with the start of christ's presence. If the JW teaching is true then this would certainly be a great irony showing how blind the ridiculers are and yet the inspired bible writer makes no mention of this great irony and great blindness on the part of the ridiculers. Surely he would have done so if the ridiculers of the last days were living during the very presence they were asking about.

What responses did I get?

Sunshine: " Peter had the understanding God granted him at the time - just as Daniel did before him."
DANIEL 12:8-9
"Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, “My lord, what shall be the end of these things?” And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. " - New King James Version (NKJV)

So a JW - at least the one I quoted above - is willing to believe that the bible implicitly teaches error in some places due to limited knowledge of the writers, rather than humbly admit that their 1914 invisible presence doctrine is wrong according to the bible.

443

Zone Visit: An Announcement That Will "Test Your Faith"

by breakfast of champions in

this is the scuttlebutt in one of the "bethel congregations" by us.. no details as to exactly what this "faith-testing" announcement might be.. anyone else hear any of this pre-zone visit hype?.

.

Island Man

TTATTElder: He thinks parents should pray in front of their children and admit mistakes and even cry during prayer .

This is a very revealing comment. If the speaker it telling parents they should cry during prayer to make an impression before the children, it shows that he is the type of person who advocates using emotion to manipulate and deceive others. So when you see a member of the governing body crying during prayer, know that this is a deliberate tactic of manipulation. They are inadvertently admitting that they use emotional manipulation to hook JWs.

It is becoming clear that the governing body are not sincere. They put on a show - a show of humility, a show of being emotionally touched, a show of admitting mistakes, a show of conviction. It's all a calculated show originating from the minds of skilled propagandists and emotional manipulators - not genuine feelings from from the hearts of sincere men.