Based on the theme, the drama and the sunday afternoon talk, it looks like this is going to be one of those "armageddon is nigh" conventions that will stir up more hype and expectation among the JWs about the end being very, very, very near, just around the corner, like one Trump blunder away.
Island Man
JoinedPosts by Island Man
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144
RC 2017
by wifibandit indue to last years success, i will post everything related to the 2017 regional convention in this thread.. to start us off.... thanks to exjw reddit user ich3b we have advance notice of the theme (this is not a joke!).
the theme for the 2017 regional convention is: "don’t give up!” .
as always, if you have access to confidential materials you would like to leak but need to protect your identity, pm me or email me: wifibandit1 (at) gmail.
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Sister at Kingdom Hall visibly upset "they took jehovahs name out of song"
by hoser ini went to meeting today and the sister in front of me was upset song 134 now song 139 no longer contains jehovahs name.
they took it out.
i never even noticed .
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Island Man
Tom honest the previous line was appalling. It always seemed to me that the gb was giving the "living god" a pat on the head "Jehovah our God, how well you have done!"
How can you be arrogant enough to patronise your creator?I was thinking along the same lines.
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How Old Was Eve When She Was Tempted?
by berrygerry inhas this question ever been answered by wt or biblical apologetic?.
if near the beginning of her creation, would she not have had the effective development of a a toddler or even a baby?.
if so, would you sentence a toddler or a baby to death for grabbing an appealing candy from a bowl?.
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Island Man
Based on the story, it's clear that Adam and Eve's ages were only numbers and didn't truly reflect their physical and mental development. They were created as adults with adult bodies and adult minds. The bible does not say they did not have intercourse before being expelled. Mention of sexual intercourse is only for the purpose of introducing offspring into the story. Eve didn't have offspring before the expulsion and that's the reason why it isn't mentioned that they had sex then, but the lack of such mention doesn't mean they didn't have sex - it only means Eve didn't get pregnant.
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Poll - Will you accept blood?
by OrphanCrow ini have made a poll to try to determine the impact of the wt's no blood policy on ex members.. if you are an exjw, please participate.. vote here:.
*oops...hang on here...i have to make a new poll...this one lets you vote more than once.
i will post the new one .
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Island Man
I'm with Cofty. I have no religious objections to blood but blood transfusions are not without risk so I can't say I'll accept all blood treatments which could mean accepting unnecessary blood treatments - and hence unnecessary risk - for non-life-threatening conditions. I will accept blood in a life-threatening emergency and/or if there aren't safer effective alternatives available to treat my medical situation. So I voted "some". The poll could have had more choices to get a more nuanced input of XJWs' feelings on the matter. I feel like the choice I chose does not fully express my view.
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Evaluation of my dream..Give it a shot..
by James Mixon ini'am chased by monsters and jw's, i turn and confront the whole gang and they all embrace me.lol.
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Island Man
You feel inundated by various stresses both from JWs and other people but long for meaningful, stress-free, relationships?
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AI on the cusp of tremendous breakthroughs
by azor inwhat does this mean for us as individuals and our civilization?
harris, kurzweil, and musk among others have some interesting thoughts on the subject.
as do shows like westworld.
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Island Man
I think the biggest breakthrough applications we will see in widespread use in the near future would be:
- Self-driving cars.
- Medical diagnosis and treatment.
- Real-time translation of live speech from one language to another while mimicking the speaker's voice.
- Forecasting - weather, fashion, social trends, etc.
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If one is associting with what org call bad association
by poopie indespite repeated counsel and it's willful and voluntary wouldn't that be brazen conduct calling for judicial comitee?
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Island Man
No. Brazen conduct is not merely disobeying the elders despite repeated counsel. Brazen conduct is not about how often one is breaking the rules. It's about how you break the rules.
For example, let's say a JW repeatedly watches porn in the privacy of his home, despite being repeatedly counseled by the elders. Not brazen conduct. But let's say the JW openly invites other JWs to come watch porn with him, or let's say he brags to other JWs about watching porn. That's brazen conduct. Brazen conduct is when you break the rules very openly without any shame or guilt, maybe even encouraging others to join with you in breaking the rules.
But it has been said time and again that you can be called to a JC for brazen conduct if your local elders have it in for you or aren't very knowledgeable of Watchtower rules on the matter of what constitutes brazen conduct.
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Did you know that J.F. Rutherford was part of the Knights of Pythias? There's PROOF for this!
by ILoveTTATT2 inwow.
wow.
wow.someone just sent me a scan of the boonville advertiser newspaper in which it mentions j.f.
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Island Man
I wouldn't make a big deal about it with a JW because it was before his conversion and their own bible talks about people being drunkards, fornicators, thieves, etc before conversion.
It might be interesting though, to find out what were the beliefs and/or practices of the Kinghts of Pythias and compare them with Watchtower teachings and practices of the Rutherford era to see if this "worldly" organization played any part in shaping any Watchtower teachings from the Rutherford era that have survived to this date. That would be something that would send shivers of cognitive dissonance down the spine of the most indoctrinated JW.
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Refuting Watchtarded Reasoning - 2. Does the use of "abstain" at Acts 15:29, necessitate avoiding more than just the eating of blood?
by Island Man inin my first post refuting watchtarded reasoning - 1.
"if a doctor tells you to abstain from alcohol, you wouldn't inject it..." steve and several other posters made the pertinent point that when the blood-alcohol analogy is refuted, jws will simply fall back on the reasoning that the use of the word "abstain" means to avoid taking it in by any means.
since this is indeed another common line of watchtarded reasoning used by jws, i've decided to make it the subject of this, my next refutation.. abstain is indeed a word with somewhat of a broad meaning, or more accurately, a broad usage.
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Island Man
In my first post Refuting Watchtarded Reasoning - 1. "If a doctor tells you to abstain from alcohol, you wouldn't inject it..." Steve and several other posters made the pertinent point that when the blood-alcohol analogy is refuted, JWs will simply fall back on the reasoning that the use of the word "abstain" means to avoid taking it in by any means. Since this is indeed another common line of Watchtarded reasoning used by JWs, I've decided to make it the subject of this, my next refutation.
Abstain is indeed a word with somewhat of a broad meaning, or more accurately, a broad usage. One definition of the word is:
"to hold oneself back voluntarily, especially from something regarded as improper or unhealthy..."
Notice the definition does not specify any specific method of "holding oneself back". The exact method of avoiding the thing being abstained from is dependent on the particular context in which the word is used. This seems to be by design for the one word can then be used in a myriad different contexts to allude to myriads of different ways of avoiding things and actions. This makes for brevity of speech.
For example, instead of the writer of Acts 15:29 having to write:
"...keep refusing to eat things that are sacrificed to idols; blood; things that are strangled; and keep refusing to participate in acts of fornication."
(two different methods of avoidance specified due to the different natures of the things to be avoided)He only needs to write:
"...keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols, blood, things that are strangled, and from fornication"
(only the one word "abstain" need be used because its meaning does not specify methodology and is thus broad enough to cover each different kind of activity)So Acts 15:29 isn't saying to hold yourself back from all kinds of uses of blood, specifically. No. It's saying:
"Hey, you need to not partake in each of these four things in the specific respective ways in which they're normally partaken of. I'm not going to specify what those specific ways of partaking for each of them are because that would make my statement needlessly wordy and I know you already know what they are or can easily find out by looking up what the Law of Moses says on them since that is, after all, the context of my mentioning them. OK?"
Context, context, context! The context determines the meaning of "abstain". The context of Acts 15:29 is all about which parts of the Mosaic Law, if any, are still binding on Christians. Thus what the Mosaic Law says about avoiding blood, delineates what it means to "abstain ... from blood". Acts 15 was not the issuing of a new all encompassing law on blood with expanded application extending to blood transfusions. Rather, it was a referral to existing OT laws forbidding specifically, the eating of blood. The use of the word is not to indicate an all encompassing avoidance of any single thing mentioned but rather, due to the fact that several things with different modes of participation are being mentioned.
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I am giving everyone on the board...
by The Rebel ina new commadment to the posting guidelines.
we must love one another.. if i read the posting guidelines and saw the lurking presence of that new commadment " we must love one another" i would feel very uneasy about registering.
it sounds more like a threat than an expression of love.
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Island Man
I think what you're getting at is that love is not something that can be compelled or forced and if someone commands you to love someone then that person would seem like some kind of sick psychopath.
However, I think the real issue is probably that the text does not actually command love. "Love" is how it gets translated in English. The English word love carries connotations of sentimentality. It's a kind of involuntary emotion. However the greek word in the text is devoid of sentimentality. It's more of an obligatory attitude of seeking the best interests of others.
So "love" is actually not a good translation of the greek word even though it's probably the closest single english word that we can use. The koine Greek language is just too nuanced and complex for the simple English language.