Posts by robhic

3

Significant or not?

by robhic in

my jw girlfriend missed the recent (july or august) dc due to illness.

after she had had a visit by one of her friends who had gone to the convention i noticed a blank name tag on a table.

the visitor had left it for her as, i guess, as souvenier.

My JW girlfriend missed the recent (July or August) DC due to illness. After she had had a visit by one of her friends who had gone to the convention I noticed a blank name tag on a table. The visitor had left it for her as, I guess, as souvenier. What struck me was that the title was "Walk with GOD" and then underneath it said DC of Jehovah's Witnesses and the lines to fill in your name. Shouldn't that name tag have said "Walk with JEHOVAH" ? Are they lightening up in some way? Is that common? I just found it a bit odd that GOD and not JEHOVAH was so prominently visible on the tag. Is somebody ashamed...? Robert

28

The Friends?

by Farkel in

when i was a little dubbie we used the expression "the friends" to describe fellow dubbies.

we would say things like "she's one of the friends," or ask questions like "is he one of the friends?

is this terms still used in that fashion in dubland?

robhic

My JW girlfriend uses that "friends" term ad nauseum. I, too, feel like I'm reading a Stephen King book or some other cult-ish writing. It's creepy to hear constant references to "the friends" and it really weirds me out to hear her refer to them like that. It's definitely cultish. Robert

16

Watchtower Quotes

by Beans in

well i haven't done any promotions for the site latley and i see so many people new to the forum.

so for those who are unaware of our beautiful site full of watchtower quotes un-edited, come over for a visit!.

hey if watchtower quotes are considered apostate you may not want to see the contradictions within the watchtowers own publications.. http://quotes.watchtower.ca .

robhic

I have referred to this wonderful site many times. It truly has some excellent matierial and I thank those responsible for it. What a good job you've done.

Reading that literature makes me laugh, angry, nauseous, incredulous and woozy all at the same time. How did you all do it? But I have a quick question: How does the intrepid user of the Quotes site get around the objection(s) of those on which one would use the material? (Like a JW at the door...) Don't or can't they just say the quotes are false or incorrect or changed from the real WT literature? Like it's the work of Apostates and such?

I would guess that the burden of proof to show the quotes are false is on the person disputing them, but I can see problems when confronting someone with a quote that smashes their reality to bits. How far back can a JW be expected to have access to records? How complete are the KH libraries should the inquisitive JW wish to see for themself?

Just curious and thanks again for such a tremendous site.

Robert

32

Is the Watchtower Part of the "Antichrist"?

by metatron in

in the apostle john's day, a variety of religious sects appeared in christian congregations called the gnostics.. many of these gnostics thought that matter and flesh were bad and anything 'spirit' was good, so they believed.

that jesus couldn't have been flesh and blood.

so, john condemned them , in his letters, as the "antichrist" because.

robhic

The people of all nations who have the hope of everlasting life on earth benefit even now from Jesus? services. Though he is not their legal Mediator, for they are not in the new covenant, he is their means of approaching Jehovah.

Huh? Isn't this "hair-splitting" also a direct contradiction? Jesus is not "their legal mediator" .... but he is "their means of approaching jehovah." Po-tay-to <-> po-tah-to if you ask me. Isn't someone who affords (among other things) a means to approach someone or something, by their very definition, a mediator? This article was a lot of words but saying nothing.

I really don't think Jesus acted as a legal entity. C'mon, he was a hippie for the most part (not that that is a bad thing. )

Robert

23

Now you dont believe the Bible , which characters sound dodgy?

by sleepy in

when you stop believing the bible to be the word of god the motives behind the actions of gods prophets and followers come across rather differently.

in fact much like fundlmentlists today.you have joshua comiting genocide , and paul moving in and tacking control of the christians and changing the religion to his own beliefs.

which other characters actions can be interpreted differenly when you see them just as ordinary humans with more selfish motives?

robhic

It would probably be easier and quicker to list the people who don't sound dodgy. Almost all the people who get more than a cursory mention in the bible have some really weird stuff going on!

Who needs 1000 wives?!?! Who could kill 700 (7000?) warriors using a donkey's jawbone? I don't think so! And all the other various and sundry folk who have either some supernatural ability, some "who cares?" ability and on and on. It's like any other story ever written since writing was invented: Who wants to read boring, banal crap? You've gotta "punch it up" a bit to keep people's interest.

If Solomon had even 5 wives, who would care? Some Mormons do better than that ... today! And killing a guy using a sharp or hard piece of bone (but why the jawbone? Hmmm...) isn't a big deal. You can kill somone pushing them down a stairway. But killing hundreds of people, that's a kick-ass deed! Even Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwartzenegger have yet to top it.

So, I think it is all poetic license of a sort. Marketing the book to the masses is a whole lot easier with sex and violence on a huge scale.

Robert

25

Why Does God Permit Wickedness?

by undercover in

how many times did we, as jws, see that question?

how many times did we read or recite the same ole bs about allowing wicked people to try to rule themselves and failing?

god's soverienty was brought into question and now he'll give satan and man so many thousand years to give it a try.

robhic

Reading Job made me question what the motivation really was. Satan places basically a "bar-bet" with jehovah and jehovah takes the bait, makes poor Job's life a living hell all to prove a point to the debil! Seems jehovah would be a better person than that.

He coulda told beelzebub to take a hike and that he (jehovah) didn't plan on being his bitch anytime soon and making a bet with him. If jehovah was all-knowing then he already knew Job would stay faithful and subservient to him so their bet was unnecessary. It was also sadistic, cruel, childish, petty, small and just plain chickenshit!

You'd think the supposed creator of the entire universe would have a little better character than that, eh?

19

...they neither marry, nor are given in marriage...

by Tashawaa in

one of the hardest doctrines of the witnesses that i couldn't wrap my little brain around, was the teaching that the resurrected would not marry.. i remember one assembly, a whole talk was spent on the resurrection, and emphasis was placed on the fact that they would not marry.

the couple sitting in front of me (obviously a happy couple, 'cause this distressed them) whispered how they just couldn't believe it.. here's the scripture they use to back their doctrine:.

matt 22:22-33 specifically vs 30 "for in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as angels in heaven...".

robhic

There was a discussion similar to this a while ago. The whole not getting married is one thing, but "being as the angels in heaven" is a completly different conundrum.

Matthew 22:29-30 (new world translation):
"In reply Jesus said to them: "You are mistaken, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God; for in the resurrection neither do men marry nor are women given in marriage, but are as angels in heaven."

But didn't some angels mate with earthly women and spawn giants -- the Nephilim and Rephaim like Goliath? (1Sa 17:4, Gen 6:4 see also Num 13:33) does being like angels allow you to swoop down and mate and/or spawn with any woman you want?

Sounds like a sort of "drive-by rape" to me ... with nothing wrong about it. It's all just a load of B.S. as far as I am concerned.

Robert

11

how to the 144,000 get to heaven?

by in a new york bethel minute in

i have asked this to witnesses and they say it's their spirit, which is their life forces that goes up to heaven... that makes no sense to me.

because isn't the spirit, in effect, taking on the properties we normally consider the soul as having?

so what's the difference what you call it?

robhic

Corvin says:

Well, since you put it like that, I can say that I am of the 144,000, too. Prove me wrong.

Isn't there something, somewhere that states that if you are annointed that you can drink poison and not be killed/affected by it? Or maybe that was something to do with prophets? In any case, I'd be careful where you push your "annointed" status.

I've mentioned this same thing (that I was annointed -- and not even a JW!!!) to the lucky ones that show up on my doorstep. Never got much of a response.

Robert

22

Hello, I'm one of Jehovah's Witnesses and I'm here to convert you....

by undercover in

the thread about the 6 million bible studies reminded me of some things that always bothered me about going door to door.

1. as mentioned in the other thread, there were times that cos and elders would tell us to not identify ourlselves as jws.

tell them we are "students of the bible" or "concerned neighbors", etc.

robhic

This one is a little rough, but amusing anyway...

http://www.crapco.com/badads/ads/witness.html

Robert

22

Hello, I'm one of Jehovah's Witnesses and I'm here to convert you....

by undercover in

the thread about the 6 million bible studies reminded me of some things that always bothered me about going door to door.

1. as mentioned in the other thread, there were times that cos and elders would tell us to not identify ourlselves as jws.

tell them we are "students of the bible" or "concerned neighbors", etc.

robhic

I have had more than one argument with my honey about the "No Solicitors" signs. I say they include Jehovah's Witnesses, he says they do not.

A friend of mine made a sign (or found it on the internet) that was a purple background (irony or cruel co-incidence?) with "JEHOVAH'S WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM" around an official-looking seal. It was pretty funny.

Robert