Island Man

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Posts by Island Man

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  212

  Why Do You No Longer Believe in God?

  by Tenacious in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i know this question has popped up from time to time but i really would like to know how you guys, those that no longer believe, came to that conclusion?

  was it the wts and all its crap?

  was it something you read?

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  Island Man

  Any belief that requires great effort to maintain isn't worth believing and is probably untrue.

  Do you have to work to maintain your belief in the existence of air, gravity, electricity? No, because these phenomena are all provably true.

  In the same way, if God's existence were provably true then no effort would be required to maintain belief in him and the prospect of losing faith in him would be as ridiculous as the prospect of losing faith in the existence of air, gravity and electricity.

  It is precisely because the existence of God is a very weak concept founded in wishful thinking, and devoid of substantive evidence, that religions have devised notions like the need for faith; studying and meditating on religious literature to strengthen and maintain faith; and avoiding information that has the potential to undermine faith, i.e. logically expose the beliefs as being unfounded and without merit.

  No God of love and wisdom worth worshiping would create this kind of scenario where the idea of his existence can only be supported by wishful thinking and logical fallacies; and at the same time his "inspired" writings are contradicted by verifiable scientific evidence
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  28

  How Cultish are the JW's?

  by xjwsrock in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  first off, i certainly agree the jw's are a cult.

  but i'm sensitive to black-and-white thinking now.. so, where do they rank on the scale?

  think of a cultish religion scale from 0-10.. consider the likes of unitarian universalism vs baptist vs amish vs charles manson.. where do you think jw's fall on the scale?.

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  Island Man

  I would give them a 7
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  35

  Kick Back and Relax to Some Music

  by Finkelstein in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  that's right folks time to kick back , pour a cold one and in take in some tunes.. what are you listening to right now ?

  .

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu87294pvx8.

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  Island Man

  Otis Redding Sitting on the dock of the bay

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyxLaHmOaYM
  
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  35

  Kick Back and Relax to Some Music

  by Finkelstein in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  that's right folks time to kick back , pour a cold one and in take in some tunes.. what are you listening to right now ?

  .

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu87294pvx8.

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  Island Man

  Siahna Im covering Fever

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoXs1FyTzis
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  20

  TTATT is a process, and it’s going to take time. There are no Short-Cuts.

  by John Aquila in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i talked to a close friend that served with me as an elder for a few years.

  he allowed me about an hour to explain why 607 is not the correct date for the destruction of ancient jerusalem.

  i showed him all the scriptures needed and i showed him the wt magazines that proved it.

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  Island Man

  Amen, John!
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  44

  Who Qualifies for TTATT?

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when i first learn ttatt i started telling every one.

  ttatt will not help him, it will destroy him.

  all his family are jws.

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  Island Man

  Every JW deserves to know TTATT. But special care needs to be exercised when sharing it with some - those who the OP says do not qualify. They do qualify but they need special professional counseling to change their whole outlook in a gradual manner, before sharing TTATT with them.

  So I think the points made by the OP are valid, not as it pertains to who qualifies to learn TTATT, period. But specifically as it pertains to who is in a position to learn TTATT raw from layman ex-JW.

  it might be a good idea to think of what type of questions to ask a JW to determine if they're ready for TTATT from a layman ex-JW. Some questions might be:

  If hard, indisputable evidence came to light proving that JWs really do not have the truth, would you want to know?

  If you discovered that this is not the truth, where do you see your life headed - what would you do with your life?

  
  
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  80

  THE WATCHTOWER (STUDY EDITION) JANUARY 2016

  by wifibandit in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  pdf .

  this issue contains the study articles for february 29 to april 3, 2016.. what about the number of those partaking at the memorial?12, 13. why should we not worry about the number of those who eat the bread and drink the wine at the memorial?12 in recent years, we have seen an increase in the number of those partaking at the memorial of christs death.

  that trend contrasts with the decrease in the number of partakers that we saw for many decades.

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  Island Man

  That article is a stale re-run of a past Watchtower article.
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  7

  How intelligent people get recruited and psychologically trapped in manipulative groups like Jehovah's Witnesses.

  by Island Man in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iauhr-trkhy

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  Island Man

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaUhR-tRkHY
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  120

  The right to shun - wrong?

  by Simon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  many people are understandably upset and angry at the notion that jws have the right to shun people.

  it seems such an obvious "no brainer" cruel and inhuman thing to do - it must be wrong ... surely?.

  of course we look at things from the perspective of those hurt and harmed by shunning.

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  Island Man

  It's not about the right to shun. It's about the wrong of teaching others to shun a particular group of people.

  To see what I'm getting at, replace shuning with hating. Do you have the right to hate an individual? Yes. Do you have the right to publish information to instruct the public to hate a particular group of people? In many countries that's a crime called hate speech.

  By instructing their members to shun those who disassociate from the JW religion - on the threat of being shunned themselves if they fail to comply - Watchtower is engaging in immoral behavior that is, in my opinion, not much less criminal than hate speech.
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  94

  What other Shenanigans can we expect to see in the next 2 years?

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  its been a little over 2 years since i left the watchtower.

  in that time the magazines have been cut, the birth of jwtv, jw-org.

  carts for preaching, removed district overseers, cut assemblies, demand all the money from the congregations, stop construction and layoff bethelites, change the format of the tmschool .

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  Island Man

  I also believe that they will also start doing more and more video productions of meeting parts - especially talks. That way, they can better contend with the shortage of brothers and elders. They're going to try to make the paper-work less for the elders, freeing them up to exercise more shepherding control on the members.