I think it's the internet. The internet was very new in the 1990s and so it wasn't as widely available as today and there wasn't yet a whole lot of info online about JWs. But with the increasing availability of the internet, more and more damning info on JWs became available online so more potential bible studies are doing research on JWs and stopping their studies or refusing them altogether. The internet would be the death of them - and many other religions with equally questionable teachings and histories.
Island Man
JoinedPosts by Island Man
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30
Comparing Total Numbers Baptized During the 1990s and the Last Ten Years:
by steve2 insometimes, comparing raw numbers provides a more clear-cut numerical picture of growth or otherwise than percentages.
below are the numbers for peak publishers (rounded off so that 4,1 represents more than 4,100,000) for each year throughout the 1990s and those for the last ten years.. year: peak* baptisms.
* peak publishers abbreviated - simply to show annual baptisms in relation to peak publishers.. the main point: .
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36
Jupiter protects the earth... another example of intellectual dishonesty and an argument against design
by cognisonance ini'm taking a university astronomy course, and i must say it's really fun to read about this field.
anyway, i remember the jws used to use jupiter (and probably still do) as an example for how unique and special our solar system is (and thus designed) -- namely, that jupiter protects the earth from astroids, comets, and meteors.
convincing if one doesn't know any better, especially circa 1994 when jupiter stepped in front of a comet for us... but this isn't the full story!
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Island Man
I remember reading a chapter in the Draw Close to Jehovah book that mentions that Earth's atmosphere serves to protect Earth's inhabitants from incoming meteorites by pulverising them before they reach the surface. They were trying to give the impression that this was a purposeful design function of the atmosphere.
The problem with that idea which they seem totally blind to, is that they also teach the Earth was originally created with a heavenly ocean around it. An ocean of water would do such a good job at deflecting incoming asteroids by the hydroplane effect, as to render the atmosphere's role in stopping asteroids completely obsolete and irrelevant. So without them even realizing it, their heavenly ocean teaching contradicts the idea that the atmosphere was created to serve - at least in part - as a shield to stop asteroids.
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Weekly Scripture Twist - aka the Watchtower Study
by doubtfull1799 in“more than material assistance, refugees need spiritual and emotional support.
(matt.
4:4) elders can help by obtaining literature in the language of the refugees and by helping them contact brothers who speak their language.
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Island Man
“It is important to make clear right away that we are Jehovah’s Witnesses and that our primary mission is to help them spiritually, not materially, otherwise, some may associate with us only for personal advantage.”
What do we learn from this freudian slip? We learn that JWs do not consider spiritual help as being personally advantageous. It's true. Helping persons spiritually only benefits the organization. Good to see that they're writing the truth for a change.
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Can the GB be directed by Holy Spirit and at the same time be not inspired ?
by Chook inyes god directs our writings but they're not inspired, so gods directions are staggered and overlapping , so the genuine innocent believing jw has a wonderful life of overlapping bullshit.
so next time you meet a jw priest ask them what is the difference between being directed and inspired, then i promise you will hear first hand an example of overlapping bull..
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Island Man
No. The JW teaching that their organization/leaders are spirit-directed but not inspired is a foolish self-contradiction. Look at their definition of inspired in their own Insight book. It says (and I'm paraphrasing): 'the quality of being directed by a spirit from a superhuman source'. 'Directed by a spirit' is the same as saying 'spirit-directed'. Thus their own insight book unwittingly implies that 'spirit-directed' means the same as inspired. They're playing a deceitful word game with the minds of JWs. They're telling JWs to their faces that they're not inspired. Then they're using sneaky language that amounts to an indirect claim of being inspired, to get JWs to treat them as if they're inspired.
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Are Jehovah's Witnesses a cult just as evil and dangerous as Islam?
by cookiemaster ini know you might think i'm exaggerating but if you really think about it, maybe i'm not.
these two religions originate with the same ancient belief system.
islam is a dangerous middle eastern cult that seeks to control every aspect of its members' lives.
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Island Man
I'm not sure you can say that Islam is a cult. Islam is not a singular homogenous entity. Islam is a spectrum of sects that exist along a spectrum from the very moderate, liberal versions to the extremist versions. Are there cults in Islam? Absolutely!
Are Jehovah's Witnesses just as evil and dangerous as Islamic cults like IS and the Taliban? No.
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Watchtower bible used as a prop in a R rated movie
by greenhornet init was a wtf moment .
the movie is on netflix called american violence.. it was a non block buster hit.
any way the time stamp is 1: 38: 42. if anyone is interested.
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Island Man
"It was the bible that gave it , its R rating"
Actually, Chook might be on to something here. Maybe the movie makers contacted Watchtower asking for permission to use the NWT bible and Watchtower initially said no because they're afraid that JWs seeing the movie would be stumbled by it as it would indicate that the organization is partnering with Satan's world. After some back and forth negotiations Watchtower suggests that they can use the bible on one condition: That the movie be R rated. That way no JW would/should watch it and get stumbled. lol.
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Are JWs "mind trained" to be habitual liars?
by nonjwspouse ini don't mean overly obvious, or otherwise meaning to cause harm, but taught to lie for the purpose of avoidance.
this type of lying can be pervasive in areas of life that are not just to avoid discussions with people who have questions about the jw, etc.
my husband will lie/be deceitful about the silliest, simple things.
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Island Man
They have been trained to lie as a way of making their religion seem less extreme and more moderate. Their trainers have deceived them into thinking that such lying doesn't count as lying but is just the art of being tactful and not giving others the "wrong impression" about JWs.
Their trainers have given them the green light to lie by defining lying as
"withholding truthful information from those who are entitled to it.".
Their very definition of lying is itself a lie designed to justify lying! So JWs will lie to your very face without a twinge of guilt if they tell themselves that you're not entitled to know the ugly truth about some of their controversial practices and teachings like shunning persons who disassociate from the religion.
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What changes would JW.org need to make to become a normal Christian denomination.
by UnshackleTheChains ini am interested in getting people's thoughts on this.
on average 40 thousand people leave the organisation yearly for one reason or another.
the experiences all over the media are proof of this.
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Island Man
- Stop the practice of shunning.
- Allow blood transfusions.
- Stop discouraging higher education.
- Stop expelling people for "sins" not mentioned in the Bible.
- Stop the gratuitous use of coercive persuasion techniques.
- Stop encouraging worshipful blind loyalty and obedience to the organization and its Governing Body.
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Another JW Urban Legend Thread
by Funchback inthreads about jw urban legends are nothing new on this forum.
they are loads of fun to read.
how many of you remember the one about the teenager who skipped the meeting and decided to get into a car with his worldly friends and they worldly guys decided to rob a store and the jw didn't know they were going to do so but he was arrested simply for being with them?.
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Island Man
They had a fatal traffic accident right after leaving the clinic. Ki grieved over the incident but was glad his life had been spared on account of his sticking to the good habit he had formed over the years.
The problem with these types of stories is that they don't take into account the "butterfly effect". Maybe if he went with them right when they asked then the timing of their departure would have been changed just enough to avoid the accident. Maybe they died because he didn't go with them . . .
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Why do ones that got out come back in?
by moreconfusedthanever ini have not been to a meeting for about 2 years now.
i do not intend to go back but one thing has me baffled.
why do ones that have faded and been out for years return?
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Island Man
Various reasons:
- They left for lifestyle reasons, never learned TTATT and still considered Watchtower as The Truth, so faced with a life crisis or changed outlook on life, they return to Watchtower like the prodigal son.
- They return as PIMO just so they can restore family relationships and possibly try to wake up family members.
- They were stumbled out by a single incident and never did any thorough research to grasp the full depth and scope of TTATT so they later fall for BS JW apologetic excuses and rationalizations for why it's still The Truth.
So it basically boils down to two reasons: They never made TTATT their own, or they're coming back PIMO to restore family contact.