Posts by Island Man

64

My jaw dropping OMG moment at the end of the convention

by UnshackleTheChains in

yes folks.

over the past few days i can honestly say the convention was relatively quite good.

most of the talks, videos, symposiums were in line with scripture if you have faith in the bible.

Island Man

I don't know ... that seems like a heck of a lot of people partaking by mistake. There must be some kind of brain-virus epidemic among JWs for there to be so many of them making that particular mistake. I think if we check the records it will be seen that the number of partakers stopped decreasing soon after Watchtower had new light reversing the teaching that the heavenly calling ended in 1935.

The increase in partakers is evidence that JW anointings are not coming from Jehovah's spirit but are basically based on individual bravery and the permission implicit in Watchtower doctrine. When the org. dropped the 1935 cut-off for new anointeds, they implicitly gave permission for more JWs to claim to be anointed and thus we see an increasing number of anointed. This also begs the question - for those who believe in god and anointing - how many truly anointed JWs have rejected their anointing because they were dissuaded from accepting that calling by Watchtower teachings? I seem to remember Jesus saying something about the wicked religious leaders shutting up the kingdom of heaven, preventing others from going in...

14

What do scriptural contradictions convey?

by venus in

any book that claims to be god’s word should have the minimum qualification of clarity.

if any of its verses are open to many interpretations, it cannot be god’s word.

god can easily be crystal clear as traffic police who puts traffic signals (red means stop, green means start …etc.

Island Man

The Bible definitely has all the hallmarks of a work that was authored by ancient men. A wise God would not do such a poor job.

There's no way to make sense of the morally questionable commands and discrepancies in the Bible, in such a way that does not either expose the Bible as a purely human work; or paint its divine author as a grossly irresponsible communicator responsible for much suffering due to his ambiguous communication.

14

What do scriptural contradictions convey?

by venus in

any book that claims to be god’s word should have the minimum qualification of clarity.

if any of its verses are open to many interpretations, it cannot be god’s word.

god can easily be crystal clear as traffic police who puts traffic signals (red means stop, green means start …etc.

Island Man

For a belly full of laughs check out the stupendously ironic, cluelessly authored, 1 Timothy 6:1:

Let those who are under the yoke of slavery keep on considering their owners worthy of full honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may never be spoken of injuriously.

4

1 Timothy 6:1: One of the funniest verses in the Bible that reveals its very shortsighted human authorship.

by Island Man in

let those who are under the yoke of slavery keep on considering their owners worthy of full honor, so that the name of god and the teaching may never be spoken of injuriously - 1 timothy 6:1. .

yes, you've read correctly.

it's not the fact that the author condones slavery and never tells his readers that it's bad to own slaves - it's not that that will bring reproach on the religion, no!

Island Man

Let those who are under the yoke of slavery keep on considering their owners worthy of full honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may never be spoken of injuriously - 1 Timothy 6:1

Yes, you've read correctly. It's not the fact that the author condones slavery and never tells his readers that it's bad to own slaves - it's not that that will bring reproach on the religion, no! ... It's the fact that slaves aren't sucking up to their masters enough!

How can anyone believe that this stupendously ironic and self-defeating verse was inspired by a wise God?

53

JW renaming things: "It's Not this, it's ....."

by Muddy Waters in

this was brought up in another thread, but i thought it should have its own thread.

feel free to add your own observations and experience.

the jws are so duplicit, and they rename things to somehow justify their own irrationalities.

Island Man

It's not false prophecy, it's wrong expectations.

It's not a forced blood transfusion, it's rape.

They're not creationists, they true Christians that believe Jehovah created everything during a period lasting more than 6 literal days.

It's not a false teaching, it's old light.

They're not the leaders of the religion, they're just the Governing Body.

46

Believers: How do you know your view of your chosen holy book is the correct one?

by punkofnice in

don't start fighting, darlings.

i am genuinely curious.

after all i was a jobo 50 years and thought the wbt$ was 100% correct.. i ask this because i see that, for example, christian denominations (or whatever), likely have differing interpretations of the same writing.

Island Man

It has always struck me as supremely paradoxical that a God would use his holy spirit to inspire the writing of an inerrant text, only to leave its correct understanding at the mercy of imperfect humans, none of whom seem able to understand it perfectly. Why go through the trouble of producing an inerrant text if you're not going to ensure that people have an inerrant understanding of it? So the Bible's supposed inerrancy actually counts for nought! Makes no sense. I think this paradox reveals that the text is not the inspired inerrant word of God - at least not a smart God.

33

Hi from England

by victimofdeceit in

jw
friends

recently quit being a jw because i realised that beyond armageddon i was going to be ruled by people who cover up child abuse, not telling the congregations by their letter where the money they donated in the box is going towards paying compensation for legal battles which they caused, and also i was bullied by elders and discriminated against for being homosexual, even though i am not practicing it.

it wasn't until i threatened legal action for a breach of confidence that the elders were deleted.

so through the media and my own personal experience, i realised that they were no different to corrupt businesses in the world.

Island Man

But they're just imperfect men. Why would you let the actions of imperfect men cause you to stop serving Jehovah?

15

2 witnesses told me the literature they were handing out were not religious

by charity7 in

two witnesses came to my door the other day and i politely told them that i was not interested.

they told me that it was ok and that what they were handing out was not anything religious.

i told them sorry and that i was still not interested.

Island Man

I would have looked them in the eyes and said:

"Not religious eh? Well, if those magazines aren't religious then I'm not at home today. Now please go try to insult someone else's intelligence with your offer of non-religious magazines while I get back to not being at home."

8

Watchtower article about shooting at hall?

by dkztcequ in

does anyone know if it is mentioned in one of the old watchtowers about someone who made off with someones wife, both of whom were shot at the hall by the woman's husband?

someone told me this was in a watchtower, but i cannot find it..

Island Man

I have heard of an incident like this happening in Barbados very recently - like less than 10 years ago.

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

Here is a Bible verse filled with stinging irony and which proves that the Bible could not have been inspired by any wise god with the ability to foresee the future:

1 Timothy 6:1: "Let those who are under the yoke of slavery keep on considering their owners worthy of full honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may never be spoken of injuriously."

Ha ha ha! The writer thought that disobedient, disrespectful slaves would bring reproach on the religion but he was too short sighted and too primitive in his morality, to realize that his condoning of slavery would heaps mountains more reproach on the religion in the future. So his very exhortation meant to avoid bringing reproach on the religion - that very exhortation ends up heaping mountains of reproach on it! Ha ha ha!