What I found interesting was the part where they pointed to the pharisaic practice of not forgiving a sinner after 3 offenses. They cited this as an example of the unmerciful nature of the pharisees. Yet they were completely oblivious to the fact that the NT uses the same rule for those that teach different doctrine. The ignorant fools were unwittingly condemning the NT!
Island Man
JoinedPosts by Island Man
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31
The hypocrisy of today's Watchtower
by UnshackleTheChains ini don't really need to explain anything really.
all i can say is that i was gob smacked at the sheer audaciousness of the entire study article.
i'm still speechless.
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25
Talked Higher Education with Mrs. OTWO
by OnTheWayOut inso i shared a facebook video from newsbroke with my wife.
you many agree or disagree with the points made in the video.
please, don't make this about that.
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Island Man
"She went back into JW mode and said how so much of higher learning does focus on unrealistic hopes of humans figuring things out."
Maybe you can point out how much we have figured out and how much better life is today as a result. Ask her what life would be like today without antibiotics, vaccination and other advances if everyone had the JW mindset of not focusing on trying to solve problems and just leaving it all up to God's kingdom to solve it in the future. History shows that it is not unrealistic to think that we can solve problems because we have found solutions. Ask her if she would prefer to live in a world where no one is pursing higher education or doing any research in the hope of finding solutions. There would be no effective doctors or surgeons. There would be lots of preventable deaths from things like appendicitis, dental abscess, etc. And why does she go to the doctor when she's sick? Shouldn't she just wait on the kingdom to cure her illness instead of going to worldly doctors who studied at medical universities where they pursue the unrealistic hope of figuring things out?
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60
Jesus fulfilling old testament prophecies like his legs not being broken
by Isambard Crater inwhat are everyone's thoughts on this, how his legs weren't broken, he was pierced with a spear and he wore a thorny crown?.
i'm pimo and very much not wanting to believe, but like the daniel statue prophecies, these ones about jesus stick in my mind and give me "hmmm, maybe" moments..
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Island Man
Well I would say that before you even question how it is that Jesus fulfilled OT prophecy, you should question how it is you can be so certain that the NT accounts of his life are true and accurate. I mean, how do you know for sure that NT writers didn't just write fictional narratives to match up with OT prophecies in a bid to give legitimacy to the idea that their cult leader is the messiah? You do realize that the NT writers had access to and knowledge of the OT, right? How hard do you think it would have been to create fictional narratives that portray their leader as fulfilling OT prophecy?
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13
Subliminal Messages
by Lost in the fog ini was watching a fascinating ted-ex video on hypnosis and hypnotism with a friend.
my friend wondered if the jws new music might have a hypnotic suggestion buried somewhere in it which gets everyone in attendance to listen and absorb stuff that is totally irrational for the entire program.
ending with a second subliminal message in the final song along the lines of "you will snap out of this state when you next hear the word amen.
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Island Man
The whole subliminal thing is nowhere near as influential as most paranoists think it to be. Hypnotism isn't even half as potent as the popular media makes it out to be.
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19
Women must not instruct men, even by singing a theocratic song.
by Ultimate Axiom ini did a quick search and this doesn’t appear to have been commented on here, but if it has been, i apologise in advance for starting an unnecessary thread.. regarding a change to a song title, the study article on page 7 paragraph 17 of november 2017 watchtower explained, “the change of the title “guard your heart” to “we guard our hearts” was most considerate.
in the audience at our meetings, assemblies, and conventions are many new ones, interested ones, young ones, and sisters who by singing the words would be put in the awkward position of telling others what to do.
so the title and the lyrics were modified.”.
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Island Man
But Watchtower has actually watered down the sexism of the Bible, somewhat.
The Bible says a woman should not teach. Watchtower allows women to teach with a head covering. The Bible does not say a woman can teach with a head covering. The Bible says a woman can pray or prophesy with a head covering. JW women do not pray with head coverings on. JWs will say this text refers to leading in prayer. But JW men refuse to pray with a hat on even when they're just silently listening to the public prayer from the audience. If it's wrong for a man to listen to a prayer with a head covering then it should also be wrong for a woman to listen to the prayer without a head covering.
Watchtower has twisted the plain words: "I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over man" and "every woman that prays or prophesies with her head uncovered shames her head" to mean: "women should not carry out the duties normally assigned to a man except in such extraordinary circumstances where no baptized man in good standing is present, and then they must do so with a head covering." This is not what the Bible says. The bible only says women are not to teach or exercise authority, period. And women must wear head coverings when praying or prophesying.
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19
Women must not instruct men, even by singing a theocratic song.
by Ultimate Axiom ini did a quick search and this doesn’t appear to have been commented on here, but if it has been, i apologise in advance for starting an unnecessary thread.. regarding a change to a song title, the study article on page 7 paragraph 17 of november 2017 watchtower explained, “the change of the title “guard your heart” to “we guard our hearts” was most considerate.
in the audience at our meetings, assemblies, and conventions are many new ones, interested ones, young ones, and sisters who by singing the words would be put in the awkward position of telling others what to do.
so the title and the lyrics were modified.”.
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Island Man
But there's a stark contradiction here: Women are allowed to preach to men in the house to house ministry. So it's not just sexism. It's bigoted sexism. It's ok for JW women to instruct non-JW men in the ministry because worldly men are somehow inferior. Baptized JW men are superior. Us vs them and sexism rolled into one.
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340
Calling Cofty and others regarding evolution
by dubstepped inso i have started down the path of trying to understand evolution, and to get the linear lies that the jws planted in my head out of it.
i bought an audiobook called "evolution: what the fossils say and why it matters" by donald prothero.
i heard it recommended on an atheist podcast that i listened to.
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Island Man
First of all I think it's probably best if you discard the whole micro vs macro evolution duality. In reality, there isn't any real difference between the two. That is to say, microevolution isn't a thing unto itself that is somehow distinct from macroevolution. These are purely linguistic constructs. Evolution is evolution. Adaptation is evolution. Small changes accumulate over long periods, eventually resulting in an evolved population being reproductively incompatible with its ancestral population many, many, generations ago. In other words, speciation.
The important thing to keep in mind is that evolution occurs over very, very long periods of time. Yes, evolution is still happening but you won't see any significant changes in your lifetime because it takes place so very, very slowly. There are new species developing right before our eyes but it's a very slow process - too slow see in totality (in most cases). Here's an important thing to keep in mind: The transition from one species to another is not a sudden leap that occurs in one generation. Rather, it's a slow murky transition spanning many generations and not a sudden crisp dividing line. An animal of one species isn't going to give birth to an animal of another. Throughout the transition from one to another animals continue to give birth to young that is of their same species! You can only see a new species has developed when you compare animals of generation z with the ancestors of generation a. Never by comparing generation y with generation z. And we typically don't live long enough to span the time from generation a to generation z.
Think of yourself as being like a fly watching seedlings of giant sequoia trees and finding it difficult to imagine these tiny plants growing to trees hundreds of feet high. You stare at the seedlings for long seconds of time but you can't see any growth happening before you eyes. Throughout your entire life of about a month you hardly notice any change.
Another way to think of it is to liken the move from one species to another to the transition from the brightness of midday to the darkness of night. Imagine each generation is like 1 second of time. Can you pinpoint any single second that separates the brightness of midday from the darkness of night? No. The transition is too gradual to span such a small time difference. And each second of time is followed by another second of time that is only ever so slightly darker. You would be hard pressed to ever be able to point at any second of day being followed by a second of night. The transition is too slow for that situation. Yet, you can clearly see that night is much darker than at midday.
Apart from humans and chimps, there are other examples of animals having significantly more dramatic outward differences compared to their genetic difference. Dogs come to mind. Look at the dramatic differences between different breeds. Yet, genetically, they're of the same species! Different dog breeds is due to evolution by artificial selection. The difference between evolution by artificial selection and evolution by natural selection is purely philosophical. Different dog breeds are like different species in the process of developing but not yet there (as different species).
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315
Flat earth vs round earth
by Jrjw inmy brother has been talking about the earth being flat and some big conspiracy going on to make people beieve otherwise.
what are people's thoughts on this?.
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Island Man
I just got some exclusive footage of Kairos having a conversation with JWs, trying to bring up the flat Earth issue. Not surprisingly, the JWs are unable to make any scientific points to counter Kairos' arguments. But the JWs do admit that JWs are conspiracy theorists, so to speak. lol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUqfMoiYkU4&index=22&list=WL
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315
Flat earth vs round earth
by Jrjw inmy brother has been talking about the earth being flat and some big conspiracy going on to make people beieve otherwise.
what are people's thoughts on this?.
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Island Man
Kairos, I find it very difficult to believe that you're actually this stupid. If you're truly this stupid there's no way you would have escaped from Watchtower's clutches. I believe you're trolling us. Admit it.
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315
Flat earth vs round earth
by Jrjw inmy brother has been talking about the earth being flat and some big conspiracy going on to make people beieve otherwise.
what are people's thoughts on this?.
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Island Man
Walk me through it!
Ok Kairos. Here's an easy way to explain it. A tennis ball is smaller than a soccer ball. If you hold a tennis ball close up to a camera mimic the effect of being on the tennis ball or very close to it, and you then proceed to view a soccer ball 20 feet away, the tennis ball will appear larger because of its closeness to the camera. Take a picture. Then go outside and place the tennis ball on the ground. Then place the soccer ball 20 feet away also on the ground. Then go a distance of about 50 feet away and, using a camera, position yourself such that the tennis ball and soccer ball are directly in line of sight like an alignment and zoom in and take a picture and you will see that the soccer ball now appears larger than the tennis ball even though you're now further away. Because you magnified the image with the zoom feature. It's that simple!
Why are there no stars? The exposure is reduced when taking the images because the brightness of the earth's and moon's albedo effect would distort the clarity of the details. Reducing the exposure also has the effect of making the stars invisible. The ambient light from the earth is strong enough to overpower starlight of stars in close visual field proximity so you wouldn't see them even if the exposure was not reduced. As proof of the fact that the exposure was reduced, note how the moon looks dull rather than the bright color we see in the night sky with the naked eye.