"..the governing body watches the moon."
They're werewolves in sheep's clothing. lol.
Island Man
JoinedPosts by Island Man
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This Year's Memorial
by TD inperhaps i'm just getting older and crankier, but it really seems to me that the jw faith is deteriorating at an accelerated rate.. case in point: this year's memorial talk.
it was one of the most incoherent messes i've ever heard.
(and i've heard a lot of memorial talks over the last 50 years....).
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Today's (4/12) WT study - all about Jesus
by OneEyedJoe intoday's watchtower study article is all about jesus.
this stuck out to me after a year of hanging out on here where one frequent point of criticism is that jws claim to be christians but never talk about jesus.. anyone think it's a coincidence that today was the "special talk" follow-up to the memorial?
i think not - this is the most attended sunday meeting of the year, complete with many ubms, studies, and miscellaneous other potential victims who have been subjected to a coordinated effort to pressure them into attending.
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Island Man
I agree with your analysis, OneEyedJoe.
But I think they also shot themselves in the foot in the process by also drawing attention to their cooky teaching that Jesus is Michael the Archangel (paragraphs 5 and 6).
Also, it doesn't sound right that they love to refer to Jesus as a "spirit creature" (paragraph 5). In modern use, the word creature very often carries the connotation of that which is animalistic, sub-human. "Creature" is what you use to refer to some strange animal or insect you encounter in your backyard. "Creature" is the word used to refer to some weird looking alien being in a sci-fi movie. That Watchtower continues to use the term "spirit creature" to refer to Jesus betrays their very low emotional intelligence and their lack of genuine esteem for Jesus. Why not call him a "spirit person"? They have to use the word creature because of their paranoid anti-trinitarian fixation on making the point that he was created - even when referring to Jesus in a context far removed from the topic of his nature as a subordiinate creation of God. Doctrine takes primacy over honoring Jesus in an emotionally intelligent manner.
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February 15, 2015 Watchtower Tells Lies About Bible Jesus!
by Island Man inpage 6, paragraph 7 dishonestly makes the following 2 claims about jesus:.
"he never called undue attention to himself.
instead, he directed all glory to his father.".
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Island Man
By the way, my last comment about Jesus insulting the religious leaders raises a very troubling implication for bible-believing christians who believe Jesus was sinless. Here's why:
(Acts 23:3-5) . . .Then Paul said to him: “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall. Do you at one and the same time sit to judge me in accord with the Law and, transgressing the Law, command me to be struck?” 4 Those standing by said: “Are you reviling the high priest of God?” 5 And Paul said: “Brothers, I did not know he was high priest. For it is written, ‘You must not speak injuriously of a ruler of your people.’”
In this text Paul acknowledges that it's a sin to speak injuriously of a religious leader. But isn't this what Jesus did time and time again in Matthew 23? -
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February 15, 2015 Watchtower Tells Lies About Bible Jesus!
by Island Man inpage 6, paragraph 7 dishonestly makes the following 2 claims about jesus:.
"he never called undue attention to himself.
instead, he directed all glory to his father.".
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Island Man
I forgot to mention the fact that Jesus would viciously insult the religious leaders, calling them "offspring of vipers", "hypocrites", "blind guides" and "fools". But to be fair, they weren't his disciples, were they? But it just goes to show that a man who would publicly insult others that way would have no qualms about talking down to his disciples. -
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February 15, 2015 Watchtower Tells Lies About Bible Jesus!
by Island Man inpage 6, paragraph 7 dishonestly makes the following 2 claims about jesus:.
"he never called undue attention to himself.
instead, he directed all glory to his father.".
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Island Man
Page 6, paragraph 7 dishonestly makes the following 2 claims about Jesus:
1. "He never called undue attention to himself. Instead, he directed all glory to his Father."
In contrast to the above claim, notice what the Bible actually says about Jesus:
Never drew attention to himself, my foot! It seems like Jesus was always saying 'I am this and I am that, and if you don't accept it and follow me then bad on you!'(John 6:35) . . .Jesus said to them: “I am the bread of life. He that comes to me will not get hungry at all, and he that exercises faith in me will never get thirsty at all.
(John 8:12) . . .Therefore Jesus spoke again to them, saying: “I am the light of the world. He that follows me will by no means walk in darkness, but will possess the light of life.”
(John 8:23, 24) . . .So he went on to say to them: “YOU are from the realms below; I am from the realms above. YOU are from this world; I am not from this world. 24 Therefore I said to YOU, YOU will die in YOUR sins. For if YOU do not believe that I am [he], YOU will die in YOUR sins.”
(John 5:22, 23) . . .For the Father judges no one at all, but he has committed all the judging to the Son, 23 in order that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.. . .
(Matthew 11:28) . . .Come to me, all YOU who are toiling and loaded down, and I will refresh YOU.
(John 11:4) . . .But when Jesus heard it he said: “This sickness is not with death as its object, but is for the glory of God, in order that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
(John 11:25, 26) . . .Jesus said to her: “I am the resurrection and the life. He that exercises faith in me, even though he dies, will come to life; 26 and everyone that is living and exercises faith in me will never die at all. . .
(John 14:6) . . .Jesus said to him: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
(Matthew 12:42) . . .The queen of the south will be raised up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it; because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Sol′o·mon, but, look! something more than Sol′o·mon is here.
2. "He never talked down to his disciples or made them feel inferior"
In contrast to this claim, notice what the bible actually says about Jesus:(Matthew 16:23) . . .But, turning his back, he said to Peter: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because you think, not God’s thoughts, but those of men.”
(Luke 17:10) . . .So YOU, also, when YOU have done all the things assigned to YOU, say, ‘We are good-for-nothing slaves. What we have done is what we ought to have done.’”
(Matthew 17:15-17) . . .“Lord, have mercy on my son, because he is an epileptic and is ill, for he falls often into the fire and often into the water; 16 and I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 17 In reply Jesus said: “O faithless and twisted generation, how long must I continue with YOU? How long must I put up with YOU? Bring him here to me.”
(Matthew 15:15, 16) . . .By way of response Peter said to him: “Make the illustration plain to us.” 16 At this he said: “Are YOU also yet without understanding?
(Matthew 26:40) . . .And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter: “Could YOU men not so much as watch one hour with me?
(Matthew 7:11) . . .Therefore, if YOU, although being wicked, know how to give good gifts to YOUR children, how much more so will YOUR Father who is in the heavens give good things to those asking him?(Mark 10:24) . . .“Children, how difficult a thing it is to enter into the kingdom of God!
Didn't talk down to his disciples, my foot! As the above examples show, Jesus often expressed exasperation with his followers in the form of pejorative rhetorical questions like 'are you without understanding?' and 'how long must I put up with you?', for their slowness in grasping matters and for their lack of faith. He also talked down to his followers by calling them children, calling them wicked, and encouraging them to have a very low estimation of themselves as being 'good-for-nothing slaves'. -
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This Year's Memorial
by TD inperhaps i'm just getting older and crankier, but it really seems to me that the jw faith is deteriorating at an accelerated rate.. case in point: this year's memorial talk.
it was one of the most incoherent messes i've ever heard.
(and i've heard a lot of memorial talks over the last 50 years....).
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Island Man
The only good thing I noticed in this year's memorial is that the speaker did not opportunistically use the memorial of Jesus' death as a recruitment tool by inviting audience members to study the bible with JWs. -
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HBO Scientology Documentary
by tresdecu inhas anyone else seen the hbo scientology documentary 'going clear' - wow...cults are just mind-blowing you wonder how people can fall for that garbage, then you (those of us former/fading jws) look in the mirror.. i would love for someone to make a major jw documentary like this.
'going clear' is getting a lot of press.
poor tom cruise...he looks like quite the whack job in it too.
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Island Man
Did anyone else notice the parallels between the personality of L. Ron Hubbard and J. F. Rutherford?
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Island Man
Why is Jesus made of white chocolate?
Watchtower teaches that bible passages to the effect that Jesus is coming in the clouds, refers to Jesus' coming being invisible, unseen by human eyes and discerned only by the spiritually awake, i.e. JWs. I think this is the idea they're attempting to portray by painting Jesus in a color that matches the clouds in the image. They're essentially camouflaging Jesus to blend in with the clouds to portray the Watchtower idea of him coming in the clouds invisibly. If they did not make him the same color as the clouds in the image then he would look conspicuous among the white clouds and that would disprove their claiming that coming in the clouds means coming invisibly.
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The "5 Pillars" of Witness life...
by stuckinarut2 inoh, there is one brother that keeps prattling on about "the 5 pillars of faith and worship".
- prayer.
- personal study.
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Island Man
Isn't the 5th one family worship? -
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What would happen if all or most of the Governing Body died in some kind of accident?
by Esse quam videri inwith the organization controlled, totally and completely by the governing body, what would the watchtower society do to hold it all together if all or most of the governing body were to die?.
would the legal department step in and issue orders?
would the rest of the gb quickly appoint new members?
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Island Man
Didn't something like that already happen when the whole Governing Body in the sole person of C.T. Russel, died? Remember there was a power grab by Rutherford where he dismissed and demonized some of the individuals who Russel appointed and who were seeking to follow Russel's directions in his will.
I think something similar could/would happen. A power hungry brother or brothers in the legal dept will seek to wrest power unto himself/themselves and expel and demonize all who refuse to submit to their power grab. There might even initially be some secret political lobbying among prominent competing brothers in the legal dept. and/or the writing dept. to see who can muster the most support to form a coalition government ... I mean ... Governing Body to govern the organization.