Posts by Island Man

23

Are JWs the most gossiping people on earth?

by Londo111 in

we all gossip.

it is only human.

watchtower actually tries to instruct adherents not to gossip and it can land a jw in front of a judicial committee—some do try to follow this admonition.

Island Man

I don't know if they're the most gossiping people on earth. But the very judgmental nature of the religion with the many man-made rules forbidding or discouraging innocuous things like men having beards and women wearing pants to the meeting creates a large content-set of faults to see in others and gossip about.

Also the level of secrecy surrounding the reasons for someone being announced as no longer being one of Jehovah's Witnesses, naturally arouses curiosity and speculation and, inevitably, gossiping.

So the JW culture is one that is very conducive to gossip. But I don't know if they're the most gossiping.

38

The Biggest Mistake The GB Have Made In The Last 10 Years

by pale.emperor in

i think the single biggest mistake the governing body have made in the last 10 years has to be creating jw broadcasting and putting their gb members on there... on a weekly basis too.. when i was a kid, i had no idea who the governing body were, what their names were or what they looked like.

there was one or two long term pioneers that knew the names of two of them but that was about it.. when i was about 10yo i imagined they looked something like this:.

ahh.... those learned men with a lifetime of bible knowledge just oozing out of their very hearts.

Island Man

I think the biggest mistake has been their recent emphasis on the use of smart-phones, and tablets and the promotion of jw.bog. This means that JWs are now being unwittingly encouraged to have greater exposure to online information which means that the new generation of JWs is now at much greater risk of being exposed to TTATT.

17

If Watchtower can use a non-sequitur to say that Jesus now knows the day and the hour, despite Matthew 24:36 ....

by Island Man in

... where's the good sense preventing them from again making a date prediction for the end and using a non-sequitur to justify their claim in the face of matthew 24:36?

"... but christ has been empowered in heaven to wage war against satan's world.

(rev 19:11-16) thus, it is reasonable to conclude that jesus now knows when armageddon will occur...." - watchtower july 2016, page 14, par.

Island Man

"Jan do you think Christ will only know after the event has started?"

The way I picture it, is that he's in heaven and he's just waiting for his Father to give him the nod for him to immediately start the battle. Until he gets the nod he has no idea when it will be.

17

If Watchtower can use a non-sequitur to say that Jesus now knows the day and the hour, despite Matthew 24:36 ....

by Island Man in

... where's the good sense preventing them from again making a date prediction for the end and using a non-sequitur to justify their claim in the face of matthew 24:36?

"... but christ has been empowered in heaven to wage war against satan's world.

(rev 19:11-16) thus, it is reasonable to conclude that jesus now knows when armageddon will occur...." - watchtower july 2016, page 14, par.

Island Man

... Where's the good sense preventing them from again making a date prediction for the end and using a non-sequitur to justify their claim in the face of Matthew 24:36?

"... But Christ has been empowered in heaven to wage war against Satan's world. (Rev 19:11-16) Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that Jesus now knows when Armageddon will occur...." - Watchtower July 2016, page 14, par. 4.

Is the reasoning valid or is it a glaring non-sequitur? Does Christ being empowered to wage war in the future at Armageddon necessitate him now knowing the day and the hour of the end? If I appoint a lawyer to administer my estate upon my death, does that necessitate the lawyer knowing the day and the hour of my death, in advance?

If Watchtower can use such strange reasoning to say Jesus now knows the day and the hour, where's the good sense to stop them using similar strange reasoning in the future to set another date for the end and say that they now know because [insert crazy, non-sequitur reasoning here]?

17

Coming Out To My JW Sister

by Ame SF in

now, i have been mentally "awake" for quite a while, but i'll just say march/april this year.

i won't go into detail about what it was that made me "realize" everything, so don't bother asking.. so, i've known for years that i wasn't like most girls in my classes, kingdom hall, and just in general.

from a very young age i had that obvious interest in the same sex, but seeing as i was seemingly the only one feeling that way i would brush it off and eventually i started getting interested in guys.

Island Man

Human sexuality is not limited to 3 discrete enumerations of homo, hetero and bi. Human sexuality is actually a smooth continuum. There are nominal heterosexuals who will find some few members of the same sex attractive; and there a nominal homosexuals who will find some members of the opposite sex attractive. Most people are at least very slightly bisexual but just choose to identify with the label that matches the gender they're most often attracted to and they may feel "dirty" about being attracted to someone of the other gender and work to suppress and ignore it, because there's the social and psychological pressure to choose one of the major labels and stick to it, so that life isn't complicated. Bisexuals are those persons at or near the middle of the continuum where the attraction to both genders are too strong for them to just choose one and suppress the other.

44

The 1914 doctrine: How long it will last?

by opusdei1972 in

one hundred years have passed and the society still supports this lie, which of course, is the basis of their other lies, like that of the unfaithful and not discreet slave appointed in 1919. however, i wonder, what will happen after 50 years, when the overlapped generation will pass?.

and if you want, what will happen with this religion in 2100?, could it survive with the same lie??

?.

Island Man

I predict that 1914 will be dumped sometime within the next 25 years.

6

Is The Time Coming Soon When We Can Sue The Watchtower Corporation For Damages From Mind Control And Bankrupt Them?

by Brokeback Watchtower in

i think as we become a more enlightened society in the future we will be able to.i think laws of this nature may be in the works in some countries right now perhaps not addressing the actual mind control issue in those terms but laws to protect its subject from those that use those tactics to harm their people through fraudulent means.

so i think the wt hope for financial survival in the information age is very slim.

look at what spain, russia, are already doing.. but they may just go under financially from way sooner because of multple lawsuits and loss of charity status in one country after another..

Island Man

Unfortunately, the legal system has not yet matured to that level. Maybe in the future.

34

Do you have / admire Charisma?

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

"charisma is a certain quality of an individual personality by virtue of which the person is set apart from ordinary people and treated as exceptional".

as a kid i was afraid of such charisma, as it was usually the quality i noticed elders, head masters, and parents had to exercise with unloving authority over me.. but now i think about it "charisma" doesn't need be only for people with authority.

" charisma" is something even we can have?

Island Man

"I've never thought of charisma as a message, but more of a kind of magnetic quality."

I never said charisma was the message. I likened charisma to being like packaging that the message is wrapped in. You refer to charisma being a kind of magnetic quality and yet you fail to see what I'm saying. You do realize that the wrapping on products can serve to attract (as in "magnetic") consumer's attention, right?

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

Island Man

Vidqun vs Cofy vs slimboyfat vs ...

34

Do you have / admire Charisma?

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

"charisma is a certain quality of an individual personality by virtue of which the person is set apart from ordinary people and treated as exceptional".

as a kid i was afraid of such charisma, as it was usually the quality i noticed elders, head masters, and parents had to exercise with unloving authority over me.. but now i think about it "charisma" doesn't need be only for people with authority.

" charisma" is something even we can have?

Island Man

"I can't agree that charisma is a pretty wrapping. People with charisma have a strong electricity to them comes from deep with in. They are not always physically attractive."

You misunderstood my illustration. I wasn't suggesting that charisma has anything to do with physical attractiveness of persons who are charismatic. I was suggesting that charisma is an attractive quality that "dresses up" your message but at the end of the day it is the substance of the message that is important and we should focus on the substance of the message and not be distracted by a speaker's charisma lest we swallow a figurative turd because of being distracted by the shiny wrapping that is charisma.