Posts by Island Man

31

Is there any humor in the bible?

by Normalfulla in

humor plays a big part in a lot of humanity and we all like a good laugh but as far as i'm aware god's supposed word has no actual humor ,of course apart from being a joke itself ,why wasn't there a passage or something like "jesus farted and giggles broke out among them " or something, is anyone aware of any notations of humor ?

all to.serious really.

Island Man

There are actually passages in the Bible that speak negatively of joking and humor. I can't recall exactly where they are - maybe in Proverbs or Ecclesiastes - but the Bible does not approve of humor. That explains why there are no funny passages. All references to humor are portrayed in a negative light, associated with ridiculers and foolish men "in want of heart".

Jesus never cracked a joke. The closest the Bible comes to humor are passages that speak of God laughing at the demise of the wicked and Elijah ridiculing the prophets of Baal by suggesting to them that their god isn't answering them because he's busy in the toilet. There is no harmless, light-hearted humor purely as entertainment.

15

Just sittin' and mindin' my own business...

by Distracted in

i was sitting at a local city event enjoying watching an activity.

a friendly looking woman dressed in blue jeans and a floppy hippy looking top came and sat down besides me.

she notices i am sketching and says she likes to do this too.

Island Man

Call the number on the card she left you and tell her how you feel about what she did.

"I'm calling to let you know that after our meeting today I felt sort of used. First you pretended to be interested in something that I doubt now that you have any true interest in, to start a conversation. Dishonest. Soon as you got my contact info, you launched into your real reason for talking to me. Third, it distracted me from enjoying the event, and fourth, you made no effort at all in discussing any useful topic or conversing with me further. It was as shallow as it could get."

18

Yup !

by berrygerry in

.

Island Man

"Why Are You Looking ~~Forward~~ Backward to 1975?"

That would actually be a wonderful title for an ex-JW book about JWs! The title captures both the heightened, false expectations that their false prophecies bring; while at the same time highlighting the way they hypocritically dismiss their past failings as unimportant. It's a perfect book title!

12

The Biblical reasoning behind a judicial comitee?

by CitizenofEarth in

i was wondering today what i would say if i ever were to be called to a judicial trial in the congregation, and my conclusion was that i didn't really have any biblical defense against it.

so i was wondering what you guys would recommend.

it seems far fetched to me that the bible condones a 1 vs 3 biased trial (where you already have been judged beforehand), instead of one where you have a unbiased judge, a defense and a prosecutor/accuser.

Island Man

There is actually a scripture somewhere in one of the NT books that says to "reprove sinners in the presence of onlookers". What does that mean? Does it mean walking up to a stage and announcing "so and so has been reproved"? Is merely announcing that someone has been reproved, the same thing as reproving them in the presence of onlookers?

By way of illustration: If a Mob boss tells one of his henchmen: 'Shoot Lenny publicly', are the police also shooting Lenny publicly, when they later announce at a press conference: 'Lenny has been shot'?

It's pretty obvious that "reprove sinners in the presence of onlookers" means that gross sinners are not to be counseled and tried in secret but in the presence of others. This is what the passage in Matthew is alluding to when it says to take the sin to the congregation and if the sinner does not listen to the congregation then let him be regarded as a tax collector.

12

The Biblical reasoning behind a judicial comitee?

by CitizenofEarth in

i was wondering today what i would say if i ever were to be called to a judicial trial in the congregation, and my conclusion was that i didn't really have any biblical defense against it.

so i was wondering what you guys would recommend.

it seems far fetched to me that the bible condones a 1 vs 3 biased trial (where you already have been judged beforehand), instead of one where you have a unbiased judge, a defense and a prosecutor/accuser.

Island Man

There is no biblical support for a clandestine tribunal. In ancient Israel capital sinners were tried publicly at the gate. Watchtower has even said that the public nature of the proceedings served to dissuade unfairness on the part of the judges. So why are they intent on holding secret trials? What are they hiding? Aren't they interested in elders "trying" sinners fairly, in the presence of onlookers?

30

Comparing Total Numbers Baptized During the 1990s and the Last Ten Years:

by steve2 in

sometimes, 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: .

Island Man

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.

36

Jupiter protects the earth... another example of intellectual dishonesty and an argument against design

by cognisonance in

i'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!

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.

22

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.

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.

34

Can the GB be directed by Holy Spirit and at the same time be not inspired ?

by Chook in

yes 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..

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.

39

Are Jehovah's Witnesses a cult just as evil and dangerous as Islam?

by cookiemaster in

i 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.

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.