Island Man

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Posts by Island Man

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  22

  Can JWs really vote now , since when?

  by Crazyguy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  is this true??

  ?.

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  Island Man

  If a JW in the US was DFd for voting, would their be a civil rights violation? I know the Civil Rights Act of 65 was more about race and color, but to deny (through threat of punishment by shunning) a citizen the right to vote seems to be on a slippery legal slope...

  That's why they don't DF you for voting. Instead, they say that the voting JW disassociated himself by virtue of his action. So they use this technicality to say that they are not sanctioning anyone for voting.

  But given that disassociated JWs are treated the same way as disfellowshipped JWs and given that a voting JW is disassociated against his will, I think this issue should be challenged legally.

  Maybe awake JWs should vote tomorrow and if their elders call them to a JC or tell them they're disassociated, then the awake JWs should threaten to sue and raise a storm about the legality of punishing someone for exercising their right to vote. See what happens.
  
  
  
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  33

  Fifteen years later, I went to the UN in person.

  by biblexaminer in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  of all the things that the watchtower has done wrong, what would you say is the singular most powerful thing that you could point a jw to, to crack their eyes open?

  what is the singular thing that can be expressed bluntly and conclusively that might shock a jw to their senses?

  if you could only carry one arrow in your quiver on your way to war with watchtower, what would it be?.

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  Island Man

  I believe that Watchtower's interest in the UN was that they were hoping to curry favor with the UN so that:

  (a) They would be spared when the UN turned on religion.

  (b) They would be the instrument that Jehovah would use to put his "one thought" in the mind of the UN to attack false religion.
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  17

  This should make most reasonable people stop believing in the Bible as infallible

  by ILoveTTATT2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i think that few parts of the bible can make you atheist or at least agnostic or at least kill your belief in the bible as infallible or the work of a loving god as comparing 2 samuel 24 with 1 chronicles 21. most people focus on the 1st verse, but there are at least 4 major and 1 minor contradiction in the chapter (they are parallel accounts).in the new world translation, 2 samuel 24 starts like this:.

  24 and again the anger of jehovah came to be hot against israel, when one incited david against them, saying: “go, take a count of israel and judah.” .

  notice that it is an impersonal "one" who incited david to do the census.

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  Island Man

  Hey, thanks for giving me a great idea for a question.
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  10

  Starting a 'Bible Study' - The Basics

  by Joe Grundy in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i never was a jw.

  i was brought up in a fairly fundie sect (pb) and have been for many years an interested atheist.

  i am an admirer of the work of bart ehrman (and recommend his blog).. from time to time, jws call at my door and invite me to partake in a 'bible study'.

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  Island Man

  Jesus and Paul didn't have last names. Back then very few people had surnames. Most people only had a first name and were distinguished from others with the same name by the use of descriptions that included things like, the name of their father, their occupation or the place they're from: examples: "Jesus of Nazareth", "Saul of Tarsus", "Joseph the carpenter", "Jesus the son of Joseph", "John the baptizer", etc.
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  114

  "The G.B. is neither inspired nor infallible"

  by smiddy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  that admission in the feb.17 ,study edition of the watchtower , " who is leading gods people today ?

  " "the governing body is neither inspired, nor infallible, therefore it (they/we) can err in doctrinal matters or in organizational direction .".

  have the many jehovahs witnesses past and present who have lost their lives by refusing blood transfusions due to the prohibition on blood tranfusions by jehovahs witnesses really got the sense of this statement ?.

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  Island Man

  Guys, guys, guys! Have you thought of this possibility: Some brothers in the writing committee are plotting a coup! They're plotting to overthrow the GB, and articles like these are meant to subtly condition JWs' minds for the day when the GB will be ousted. They're using careful wording to subtly and indirectly undermine the prophetic mystique that currently shrouds the GB.
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  42

  Learn To Speak Like A Jehovah's Witness

  by pale.emperor in

  1. social
  2. humour

  for those who were never a jw, here's a fun guide to passing yourself as one:.

  privilege [priv-lij] - a duty nobody would volunteer to do which is assigned to you without your say so.

  such as cleaning the toilets, picking up other brats candy wrappers in the back row and being stuck on locking up duty for the 7th time in a row.. df'd [dee-eff'd] - disfellowshipped.

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  Island Man

  THE SLAVE - The actual publishers of Watchtower literature.

  PUBLISHER - The actual slaves peddling Watchtower literature.
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  42

  Learn To Speak Like A Jehovah's Witness

  by pale.emperor in

  1. social
  2. humour

  for those who were never a jw, here's a fun guide to passing yourself as one:.

  privilege [priv-lij] - a duty nobody would volunteer to do which is assigned to you without your say so.

  such as cleaning the toilets, picking up other brats candy wrappers in the back row and being stuck on locking up duty for the 7th time in a row.. df'd [dee-eff'd] - disfellowshipped.

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  Island Man

  NEED GREATER - A knee grater.
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  23

  With up to 70% of young ones leaving what's the future of the jw's?

  by karter in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  they wlll always have new people coming in but the majority of the congro's are getting older particularly the inner city ones were it is expensive to live.

  they are struggling to get men to be elders and m.s's and this can only get worse as very few young ones stay around.

  karter..

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  Island Man

  They're gonna start encouraging parents to study more with their children and provide incentives like telling them they can count field service time on such family studies and can record them as a bible study. They're also gonna start encouraging single-inclined sisters to get married and have children.

  As bad as the defection rate among youth is, the success rate for creating JWs from the womb is still higher than that for creating them from the doorstep. So they'll just try to increase the JW reproduction rate and intensify the childhood indoctrination process.
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  42

  Learn To Speak Like A Jehovah's Witness

  by pale.emperor in

  1. social
  2. humour

  for those who were never a jw, here's a fun guide to passing yourself as one:.

  privilege [priv-lij] - a duty nobody would volunteer to do which is assigned to you without your say so.

  such as cleaning the toilets, picking up other brats candy wrappers in the back row and being stuck on locking up duty for the 7th time in a row.. df'd [dee-eff'd] - disfellowshipped.

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  Island Man

  INDEPENDENT THINKING [pejorative] - The act of using one's own brain, unbridled by Watchtower reasoning, and arriving at conclusions that are at odds with Watchtower teachings. It matters not how valid the thoughts are and how foolish the Watchtower teaching is.
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  36

  Why are JWs so sensitive to criticism?

  by Half banana in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i remember a roman catholic priest acknowledging on the bbc that the outrageously anti-clerical tv comedy father ted was a humorous mocking of his church but an acceptable thing.. try mocking the jw religion to a believer and the result is so very different.. just why is it that jehovah's witnesses can never take even the faintest hint of criticism of their religion?.

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  Island Man

  Deeply ingrained religious pride. JWs have been indoctrinated with the head-swelling idea that they alone have the true religion and everyone else is in error and serving satan. They also tend to point scornfully and ridiculingly at all other religions, because of the errors they teach.

  So in the JW mind, teaching truth is associated with being the true religion and accusing a religion of teaching falsehood is associated with labeling the religion as false and ridiculing it. They have been conditioned to think this way. So when you point out errors in Watchtower teachings to a JW, in his mind you're treating his religion with the same disdain that they treat other religions - you're accusing his religion of being false and you're ridiculing it.

  Another important reason is that JWs are extremely patriotic - idolatrously patriotic - toward their organization. They have been indoctrinated to esteem the JW organization and it's governing body as being as essential to their salvation as faith in the bible and Jesus. To the JW faith in the organization is as important as faith in God. So they equate any criticism of the organization with blasphemy against God and see it as a threat to their spirituality.

  To use a sports analogy: JWs are like fanatic supporters of a soccer team(Watchtower organization), who love and idolize the team more than the game itself(worship of God). Tell them you're not a soccer fan and they might be a little disappointed and try to convince you that it's really a great game. But tell them their team isn't all that good and get a good beating.