Posts by Island Man

14

Recent study links processed meats to cancer

by duc007az in

so a recent study says processed meats are just as dangerous as cigarettes when it comes to cancer.

the wtbs has had a long time stance that smoking is a df offense.

my question is if there's proof beyond doubt, why doesn't the wtbs make eating processed meats a df offense?.

Island Man

I knew about sodium nitrite being a carcinogen, years ago.

20

Mid - Week Meeting This Week

by xjwsrock in

millie210 posted this on another thread - i thought it deserved it's own op:.

i took an elderly friend to the meeting last night.

the study is in the "imitate their faith" book which is merely a compilation of previous short stories about bible characters that were featured in a series of watchtower articles.. they waste no time beginning their spinning and supposition with the cain/abel story.

Island Man

I had 2 serious concerns with this week's meeting - no 3.

1. The Imitate their faith study sought to compare Adam and Eve with Cain by saying Cain followed in their footsteps and by suggesting that Adam and Eve were not good parents. Repeatedly, Watchtower seems to always cast Adam and Eve in a terrible light as being generally terrible people. Yes they committed a serious sin. But that says nothing about their general nature otherwise.

When we objectively examine what the bible says about them - and does not say about them - there is no basis for thinking of them as being thoroughly evil people. David, and Moses both committed serious sins but overall they are viewed as good people. Adam and Eve committed the serious sin of disobeying God and eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad. That's the only bad thing the bible says about them. It says nothing else about their nature. This eating of the fruit could have been the one serious sin they committed their whole lives leading to their expulsion and sentence of death, just like Moses' one serious sin when he struck the rock to bring forth water leading to him being barred from entering the promised land.

Watchtower has even likened Adam and Eve to murderers because of the legacy of sin and death they passed on to their offspring. But such characterizations of them is without basis. A murderer is someone who premeditatively and knowingly takes the life of another. Adam and Eve were told that they will die in the very day of their eating of the fruit. There is no evidence to suggest that they knew their sin will bring suffering and death to their offspring. They were only told that they will die if they ate and they had no offspring at the time and may well have thought that they will not live to produce offspring. Comparing them to murderers is wholly unwarranted. They cannot be compared to Cain.

2. Mention is made of Abel noticing the weak, dependent nature of sheep and his role in caring for them and projecting that relationship unto God's shepherding relationship with man. But there is possibly a massive scientific fallacy here. The domesticated food crops and animals that we know today do not have the same characteristics that they had 6000 years ago. For example, the farm cow of today is not the same as its ancestors of thousands of years ago. It's makeup and nature has been modified through selective breeding. The same is true of the banana and quite possibly the sheep. So to speak of Abel noticing the meek, dependent nature of sheep as if sheep 6000 years ago were as meek and dependent as they are today, is foolish.

3. In the oral review, the answer-sheet answer to question 7 is an egregious example of Watchtower spin where they blatantly go beyond what is written to ascribe specific motives to Jabez' prayer requests - motives that are completely made up out of whole cloth and are nowhere to be found in bible verses referenced.

212

Why Do You No Longer Believe in God?

by Tenacious in

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?

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

28

How Cultish are the JW's?

by xjwsrock in

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?.

Island Man

I would give them a 7

35

Kick Back and Relax to Some Music

by Finkelstein in

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.

Island Man

Otis Redding Sitting on the dock of the bay

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

35

Kick Back and Relax to Some Music

by Finkelstein in

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.

Island Man

Siahna Im covering Fever

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

20

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

by John Aquila in

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.

Island Man

Amen, John!

44

Who Qualifies for TTATT?

by John Aquila in

when i first learn ttatt i started telling every one.

ttatt will not help him, it will destroy him.

all his family are jws.

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?

80

THE WATCHTOWER (STUDY EDITION) JANUARY 2016

by wifibandit in

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.