Posts by Island Man

146

Just woke up turn TV on to hear yet another nut case with a gun.

by Still Totally ADD in

jw
friends

first they said 20 dead with 100 injured.

now i just heard 50 dead and 200 injured.

whatever it is it just another nut case who was able to get a high power gun to kill people.

Island Man

I have a hypothesis given the confusing nature of this case. The killer had 47 guns at the time of death but was not known to be a collector of guns before then. His relatives are confused about him having any grievances and mental issues prior to the shootings. The killer mounted his automatic gun on a tripod. He seems to be going overboard to buy and use as much deadly military hardware that the law allows. I think this is the key to understanding his motive. His actions don't seem to make sense if you think of it as a typical mass shooting. But his actions do seem to make sense if you think of it as the killer making a very deadly statement about laxed gun ownership laws in America. He's saying:

"Look what I - anyone - can do because of the foolish, laxed laws about the right to bear arms! Look at how much assault weapons one citizen can buy while you idiots worship your constitutional right to bear arms! Look at how much people can be killed!! When will you people wake up?! Don't wake up, just keep sleeping and partying out in the open while your laws allow me to easily do this..."

That's what I believe this was. This was a guy who was against the very laxed gun ownership laws and went off the deep end to make a deadly, extreme statement about it by carrying out an elaborate mass shooting with an overkill of guns that was completely unnecessary.

36

"Circumcision is a sign to set you apart from the people of the nations"

by stuckinarut2 in

we know that the hebrew scriptures, or old testament states that the practice of circumcision (of males) was supposed to be yet another sign that set the jews apart from the "people of the nations".

but apart from so many odd things, how dumb is this?.

i mean, how did someone know if a male was circumcised or not??

Island Man

I have always thought the same thing. Additionally, circumcision misses half the population - women. I guess the Israelite god didn't think it was necessary for the women to have the special sign of having a covenant relationship with him so he picked a practice that only applied to men. Further evidence of how the bible discounts women. And Jesus was circumcised too. That means he could not have offered a ransom body that perfectly corresponded to Adam's. Adam was not circumcised since he pre-dates the practice.

146

Just woke up turn TV on to hear yet another nut case with a gun.

by Still Totally ADD in

jw
friends

first they said 20 dead with 100 injured.

now i just heard 50 dead and 200 injured.

whatever it is it just another nut case who was able to get a high power gun to kill people.

Island Man

Cue JW propageddon: "See? The world is really in bad shape. The end must be soooo close! The end is very, very, VERY near! Come back [insert name of X-JW / Fader], before it's too late! We're already on the brink of Nuclear war between U.S. and North Korea and now this . . . How can this world possibly survive another decade? It's time to come back to Jehovah before it's too late . . .

86

JW Rumor: End of the Traveling Overseer

by Edison Trent in

a friend of mine has contacts to a family with several circuit overseers and special pioneers.

they have good connections to bethel.. he told me that the latest rumor from bethel states that the cos should be abolished in their present form.

they have also recently begun to take cos back to bethel.. over the same channel i have already heard of the car fleet program and that the dos should be abolished.. has anyone else already heard of it?

Island Man

Fisherman: In any organization, tight management is needed or things will get out of control. JW congregations are no exception.

But according to JWs, the JW congregations aren't just "any organization", they're supposed to be part of God's spirit directed organization with Jehovah invisibly running the show from heaven VIA holy spirit. So the fact that the JW organization is so obsessed with control and micro-management means one - or both - of two things:

1. The JW organization is not God's spirit-directed organization as JWs love to claim; but just another human-led organization subject to the same deficiencies and limitations and thus requiring the same human-originated controls and micromanagement to ensure things work the way the human leaders want them to work.

2. The leadership of the JW organization actually lack faith in the efficacy of holy spirit to direct matters so they put forth great efforts to set up human controls and human systems of micromanagement to control matters. Their obsession with micromanagement is actually a betrayal of their lack of faith in the leadership of Jesus and the operation of holy spirit.

86

JW Rumor: End of the Traveling Overseer

by Edison Trent in

a friend of mine has contacts to a family with several circuit overseers and special pioneers.

they have good connections to bethel.. he told me that the latest rumor from bethel states that the cos should be abolished in their present form.

they have also recently begun to take cos back to bethel.. over the same channel i have already heard of the car fleet program and that the dos should be abolished.. has anyone else already heard of it?

Island Man

Some are doubting because of the fact that Watchtower uses COs to keep a tight rein on elder bodies. But keep in mind that the rumor is not "end of the Circuit Overseer", but rather "end of the Travelling Overseer". With the advent of JW.org Watchtower doesn't need to have Overseers travelling from congregation to congregation to oversee matters. Watchtower can simply require elders to do all their bureaucratic paperwork electronically, online at JW.org, so an overseer can keep tabs on congregations' records electronically without having to physically visit the congregation and look at actual physical paperwork. The CO meeting with the elders can be done by way of a teleconference VIA internet with streaming video and cameras. The CO talks to the congregation can be replaced with a pre-recorded video talk or video presentation. Watchtower gets to maintain all their control without the expense of paying for persons to physically travel to each congregation.

32

Watchtower Study Today from August 2017 issue " Wait Patiently"

by BluesBrother in

theme scripture , james 5 v 8 abbreviated to " you too, exercise patience".

(i guess we know what to expect now) .

" how long?

Island Man

I found it ridiculous that they held up Jehovah's display of patience as being a great example that should motivate us to be patient. According to what the Bible teaches, humans have exhibited far more patience than the Bible records Jehovah as ever showing. How so? The Bible says that 1000 years to us is just as 1 day to Jehovah. So the 6000 years of human history - according to the Bible / JW chronology - is just as a mere 6 days to Jehovah! If Armageddon comes 1000 years from now, Jehovah would have had to wait, from his perspective, a mere 7 days to see his original purpose for the earth and mankind fulfilled. A mere 7 days! How much patience does it take to wait 7 days, compared to the patience that many humans exhibit by waiting years! Because of the great difference in time perception, Jehovah is no example of patience to humans. On the contrary, humans are an example of patience to Jehovah!

17

J.W.'s reliance on Matthew 24:14

by The Fall Guy in

virtually every j.w.

will gladly tell you that matthew 24:14 proves that only they are god's true people/religion, because they are the only people preaching the good news worldwide today.

crucially, they double-down on this lame bet by adding that their worldwide preaching proves another wtbts teaching, namely, that we are living in "the last days.

Island Man

I always understood Jesus' - and then later Paul's words - to refer to all the nations in the then known world - not necessarily every single nation in the entire globe.

Well the Bible writers certainly don't say "the world as we know it now" or "the lands we know of so far". No. They very plainly and explicitly say: "all the nations" and "all creation under heaven". These plain, explicit statements are clearly wrong, and constitute clear evidence that those writings weren't inspired words of an all-knowing god but entirely the work of fallible, ignorant men who lacked knowledge of civilizations outside their limited Afro-Euro-asian worldview. There is no hint of knowledge, in the Bible, of the existence of North, Central and South America which was inhabited by civilizations of people during the first century. If Romans and Colossians truly were inspired by God then Colossians 1:23 and Romans 16:26 wouldn't be saying what they're saying.

But of course Christians can't bring themselves to acknowledge this evidence so they have to come up with spin to explain away the clear, explicit error, and justify their continued mental slavery to the idea that these books are inspired by God.

34

Waking up to TTATT: Blessing or Curse?

by Jules Saturn in

if you take the red pill, you'll have knowledge, you'll be awakened, aware of reality, you'll have freedom.. if you take the blue pill, you stay in your bubble, wearing rose colored glasses, and feel security in an illusion.. taking the red pill isn't something that's easy to do.

to accept that everything around you is an illusion built up on lies or half truths.

but hey, it might feel good to be aware and break free from this illusion.

Island Man

Having a firm grasp on reality is always better in the long run. Truth is always superior to ignorance and ignorance is always superior to error. The JW way is error-laden. When you live a life of error, you're trying to live a life that defies reality because error is that which is discordant with reality. Reality will not bend to suit your error. Rather, your error-laden life will bend or break in the face of indomitable reality.

It is better to know and learn to cope with unpleasant reality, than to hide from reality behind comforting delusions. When you acclimatize to unpleasant reality you're on a good foundation to achieving a resilient kind of happiness - one that is used to the adversities of the real world and endures in spite of them. But when you acclimatize to pleasant delusions your happiness comes crashing down in a very painful and traumatic way when you're eventually forced to confront unpleasant reality. Many don't survive that crash mentally or even physically. That's why it's so much better to never have been living in the delusion to begin with, and that's why waking up can be so painful.

So my conclusion is this: The red pill is obviously better. But ironically, taking the red pill brings the very pain that you're seeking to avoid. You just hope that it would be less painful taking now that if reality forces it on you in the future. It's better to take the red pill now, knowingly, of your own free will than to have reality unexpectedly shove it down your throat at some later date, choking you to death in the process. Better yet, don't try to swallow the damn pill in one go. Chop it up in little pieces and mix it in with your favorite ice cream or something.

92

Does Morality Exist?

by Fisherman in

some people believe that stealing, lying and killing, is not moral.

some people don't.. does morality exist?

if so, prove it..

Island Man

I think that if morality exists, it must be defined. Proving that it does exist will define it. That is what I am looking for.

Morality has no existence outside of our own definition of it. It exists because we define(d) it! It does not exist "out there" to be discovered and defined. It exists "in here" - in our minds. Morality exists in the abstract because we have defined it.

Morality exists in much the same way as the purchasing power of money exists. Money has no true value in and of itself, independent of what we all choose, collectively, to ascribe to it. The purchasing power of money is imaginary - a shared delusion, and a very useful one at that. We all agree to ascribe it with value and use it as a convenient means of trading goods and services. Morality is like that. Societies choose to ascribe preference and antipathy to certain actions based on rational and irrational reasons and they label such actions as being either moral or immoral on that basis.

92

Does Morality Exist?

by Fisherman in

some people believe that stealing, lying and killing, is not moral.

some people don't.. does morality exist?

if so, prove it..

Island Man

Morality is an abstract concept. It's a classification that humans invented to group actions as being either prefered or to be avoided, based on various reasons such as superstition, culture and wellbeing. Morality is not a thing that is objectively real. It is an intangible concept/label that exists to the same degree that other abstract concepts/labels exist.

What is moral can be delineated based on irrational reasons such as blindly following ancient traditions based on superstitions, religious edicts, blind obedience to authority (The "might is right" principle and most theistic religions subscribe to) etc, or it can be delineated based on sound, rational reasons such as determining what is objectively harmful vs what is objectively beneficial to individuals and society, as a whole.