Island Man

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Posts by Island Man

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  24

  “The Right to Shun: Ghent’s Misguided Jehovah’s Witness Decision“ Matthew P. Cavedon

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  https://canopyforum.org/2021/04/19/the-right-to-shun-ghents-misguided-jehovahs-witness-decision/.

  in march, the criminal court of ghent, belgium fined the congregation of jehovah’s witnesses (jw) for “inciting discrimination and hatred or violence against former members.” the case centered on the jw practice of “disfellowshipping.” while the court’s sensitivity to the individual impact of shunning is laudable, its decision regrettably assaults the freedoms of religion and association.. first, some background on jw beliefs and disfellowshipping.

  jw was founded in the united states over a century ago and is headquartered in new york state.

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  Island Man

  Simon: Think it through, how would it work?

  Simple. Make it illegal for any organization to incite - and especially coerce - its members to shun former members. If members of such an organization are punished or in any way treated differently or negatively by the organization, for failing to shun former members, then those responsible are subject to prosecution.

  Individuals still have the freedom to shun if they want. But they can't be instructed to do so by the org and they can't be punished by the org if they don't.
  
  
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  24

  “The Right to Shun: Ghent’s Misguided Jehovah’s Witness Decision“ Matthew P. Cavedon

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  https://canopyforum.org/2021/04/19/the-right-to-shun-ghents-misguided-jehovahs-witness-decision/.

  in march, the criminal court of ghent, belgium fined the congregation of jehovah’s witnesses (jw) for “inciting discrimination and hatred or violence against former members.” the case centered on the jw practice of “disfellowshipping.” while the court’s sensitivity to the individual impact of shunning is laudable, its decision regrettably assaults the freedoms of religion and association.. first, some background on jw beliefs and disfellowshipping.

  jw was founded in the united states over a century ago and is headquartered in new york state.

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  Island Man

  Simon: Everyone has the right to shun whoever they want.

  The operative word here is want. How many JWs are shunning their relatives because they truly want to and not because they feel pressured and coerced to? You seem to be oblivious to the difference between an individual choosing of his own free will to shun someone they view as toxic; and an organization mandating and stirring up its members to shun others with the threat of consequences if they fail to comply. Everyone is free to have sex with anyone of legal age that they wish to. So would it be ok for an organization to mandate its members to make sexual advances to a certain segment of society, with the threat of consequences if the members don't comply? Surely you see the difference between an individual's free choice and them being coerced by an authority into taking an unpleasant action they likely would not do on their own?
  
  
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  40

  Everyone Around Trump Is Getting The Virus Including Joint Chief if Staff ...what’s going on???

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is this just a coincidence?

  is trump a “super spreader”?

  is this a republican payback?

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  Island Man

  Yeah is so strange isn't it? As soon as the electioneering starts to heat up and Trump and his anti-mask-wearing Republican cohorts start meeting in large groups disregarding COVID safety protocols, all of a sudden lots of them start getting infected. What's going on?!
  

  How have so many people in America gotten so stupid so very quickly? America has become an idiocracy and a laughing stock.
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  7

  Annual Meeting?

  by pauluk in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the watchtower annual meeting is traditionally held the 1st saturday in october which is today, usually there are topics and speculations leading up to this but i've not seen anything on here or reddit this year.

  has it been cancelled this year, anyone know?

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  Island Man

  Haven't heard anything either. Most likely it would be done virtually. Probably will be streamed to select VIP JWs and snippets later uploaded to JWorg.
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  41

  Is There a Higher Conscious

  by LetTheTruthBeKnown in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  most of the individuals here from what i have read have gravitated to believing in evolution for various reasons and no longer have a belief in a creator.. the questions begs though, is there a higher conscious in the universe than mankind's.

  i am sure everyone agrees that animals are conscious, but to what extent can they reason?.

  here is the link to dr. rupert sheldrake's - is the sun conscious.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfhsobpja8a.

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  Island Man

  Given how vast and old our universe is - and who knows, there could even be a multiverse - I think it's possible that there is other intelligent life out there that experience a greater degree of consciousness than we do.

  But I think that's a relatively rational hypothesis to hold given the fact that we know the universe can give rise to conscious intelligent life as exemplified by our own existence.

  On the other hand if you're suggesting some supernatural intelligent being - and especially as an explanation for the birth of the universe - something for which we have no known verifiable examples and for which we have no credible evidence but just ancient stories written by ancient cultures that were mired in superstition and ignorance, then no.

  Positing an all-powerful, all-wise, ambiternal, complex, personal being as an explanation for the existence of the universe and life, is like borrowing one million dollars to pay off a one hundred dollar debt.
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  114

  Riots one reason to own an AR15 and several 30 round or 100 round mags.

  by phoenixrising in

  1. social
  2. current

  i hear this from the leftist idiots all the time.

  if someone breaks into your home 6 bullets are enough.

  well if its a one of i would argue that i still my need more round for even just one person.

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  Island Man

  "thank god i dont live in america."

  You can say that again!
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  15

  More on SARS-CoV-2

  by TD in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  below is a link to a peer reviewed paper by virologists and vaccine experts birger sørensen and angus dalgleish.

  according to the study, which was published in the quarterly review of biophysics, the coronavirus’s spike protein contains sequences that appear to be artificially inserted.

  to my knowledge, this is the first solid piece of evidence that this pandemic may have been man-made.. (emphasis on "may" --i'm sure this is not the last word on the subject).

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  Island Man

  Why didn't you quote the part that says the spike protein contains sequences that appear to be artificially inserted?
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  60

  Did You Think Jehovah’s Witnesses Were Typically “Racists”?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was a jw from infancy.

  we had a melting pot type of congregation.

  i grew up with all types of witnesses , all with different backgrounds.

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  Island Man

  No. Racism certainly exists among JWs. But that's not the same as saying that JWs are racist. As a group/religion, JWs are not racist, unlike the Mormons, Hebrew Israelites, KKK are/were.
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  28

  Very weird "orb" experience last night....and i don't believe in paranormal

  by Bad_Wolf in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so i got this night vision/security camera.

  wyze is the brand.

  this only happened once last night.

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  Island Man

  Based on the trajectory, it seems like it was an insect that flew off the face of one of the cabinet drawers, towards the camera. Being out of focus it looks like a fuzzy ball. Interesting how this happens just as someone enters the room, you know, like they scared the insect.

  Don't jump to fantastical claims of the paranormal when a mundane claim would suffice and is far more likely.
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  24

  With these 2 long term building projects will it FINALLY wake up some jdub's?

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  with the ramped up rhetoric the last few years many were totally convinced the end would be here by 2019-20 .

  and instead of making due, the org.

  has burdened the brothers once again to donate and volunteer for the new and improved patterson and video production center to be completed by 2026!

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  Island Man

  I think the reality is that it is very difficult to wake up JWs. JWs are under a potent psychological spell. It handicaps their ability to engage in sound logical thinking with respect to scrutinizing the claims of the organization.

  If Jehovah himself spoke from heaven and told JWs that jborg is not his organization, the JWs will then proceed to do a search on jborg's official website to determine if what they're hearing is true or if it's just another apostate-driven lie. Yes, I'm convinced that in such a scenario, JWs will be more inclined to accuse the voice from heaven of being that of an apostate, than that of Jehovah himself - because how can Jehovah possibly reject his own organization that he chose in 1919, right? lol.

  There is a great irony here. The Governing Body is petrified of JWs getting apostate information as if it has the power to sway a majority of them away from the organization. In reality, very few JWs are actually swayed by such information - too few - to justify the apostate paranoia that is exhibited by the organization. It is the organization's own mistreatment of individual JWs that breaks the psychological spell allowing the individual to finally be able to see the organization for what it truly is and scrutinize it logically.