Posts by Syme

55

JW.org to be banned in Russia

by redvip2000 in

my facebook was "lit up" today with all the out cries about the possibility of the organization's website being banned in russia.. as many of you recall this past august a court in russia banned the website and sought to make accessing the website in russia illegal.

well tomorrow the appeal by the org will be heard in court.

if the appeal is denied, jw.org will no longer be available in that part of the world, causing endless lamentations and cries of "persecution", only to bolster the idea that they are truly hated by the world because they are true christians.

Syme

Classifying the JW religion as "extremist" may sound good; they are extremist, and we know it first hand.

But, please, remember that the Orthodox church in Russia is in pretty well standing. Now, ok, some of you may find joy in the fact that the cult that has enslaved you is being persecuted, but why leave the Orthodox in favor? Are they better?

I can't take the part of the Russian government in this, because the current government of Russia is a nationalistic, religious, exrtremely conservative government, with a president who plays the Tsar. If they want to be severe with the "snare and racket" of religion, they should do it with all religions. The greedy Orthodox priests are no better than jws to be treated like royalty.

69

The Biggest Fear From The Watchtower Organization Is ???

by minimus in

jw
friends

i think the organization is worried most about how jws will stay loyal to their families even as it rejects the admonition of the gb and elders..

Syme

Apathy, I too think.

One the one hand, apathy inside the org: time is passing, more are getting too tired waiting for an ever-coming End. Humanity is not going into chaos, but getting better and better, regardless (and in contrast to) 'prophecies'.

One the other hand, apathy inside, means apathy in preaching. I see this happening worldwide (yearbook): too many wasted hours of preaching, for so few results. I see it also in my cong and town: a lot of hours in the field, with practically zero results. Preaching has been degraded to a mere distribution of brochures and magazines advertizing a website.

So I think stagnation is on the corner. Control, however, will continue to exist in the remaining 'faithfuls'. The GB has nothing to fear of people who willingly (and unwittingly) find joy in being called "sheep", and competing each other who is going to be more obedient.

37

Why would Adam or Eve choose the tree of knowledge instead of the tree of life.

by smiddy in

please help me out here .. in genesis 2:16 it says " and jehovah god also laid this command upon the man: from every tree of the garden you may eat to satisfaction.

17 but as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it , for in the day you eat from it ,you will positively die.. ok we get that , but what about this ?.

wouldnt it make more sense to forbid the eating of the tree of life first ?

Syme

The Adam & Eve myth is a beautiful myth, full of deep meanings, only if someone sees it just as it is; a myth. If one sees it as a ...historical account, they miss all the important aspects.

Of course they would choose the tree of knowledge above all. It is the same with the Greek myth of Prometheus. Knowledge was the forbidden fruit in his case also. The very case of early mankind is engulfed in those myths. Knowledge of nature, taming of nature's forces, self-awareness, were the unexpected gifts that natural selection gave to Homo sapiens. However, the ultimate gift of self-awareness ("they knew they were naked", says Genesis) came with a dreadful price: the awareness of death. All life forms die, but only Homo sapiens, with the evolved gift of self-awareness, is aware of the eventuality and certainty of his own death. That was the 'punishment' that God gave to Adam & Eve.

Man, far away from his primate past (a time of blissful ignorance), came with the knowledge of his self and his mortality. This enabled him to reach unprecedent intellectual heights, enabled him to conquer the earth, but cursed him with carrying the 'original sin': the awareness of his mortality.

50

It is that time of year again... I AM INVITING YOU ALL TO THE 2014 MEMORIAL OF JESUS DEATH

by suavojr in

jw
friends

yes, it time to gather and 'keep doing this in remembrance of me.

1 cor.

11:24 .. come all to our best memorial ever!

Syme

Sheet! April 14 is also the date of my baptism!

19

2013 WT CD Library?

by blondie in

jw
friends

will the wts be issuing one (or has issued onne already?

) or will the www.jw.org online library be the future?.

Syme

Rewritting of history does not necessarily mean that the WTLibrary will become obsolete. The CDROM contents can be rewritten just as easily as the online material.

6

Parallels to North Korea

by ForbiddenFruit in

no, i'm not just talking about the totalitarian regime that is the organisation.

i'm talking about how the jw's will fall, and how it links to north korea.

basically, last night i was watching a documentary on north korea.

Syme

Very good post, ForbiddenFruit!

Wtwizard, you point out some parallels between christianity and 'communism', however, you actually refer to characteristics of some so-called socialist regimes. It is true that states like East Germany, North Korea, (partly) USSR, and China (for different reasons) had in the end a corrupt version of marxism. In principle, Christianity and religion in general has NOTHING to do with scientific socialism, or marxism. In fact, it is the complete opposite, in every aspect. Marxism puts the idea of gods where it belongs, to mythology, and tries to makes better this world, without one surrendering to the futile hope of an afterlife. Christian martyrs gave up their lives because they believed in a better *reward* for them (as Paul so openly says in his letters); in other words, they died for themselves. Communist martyrs gave their life knowing that that would be the end; hence they died for the rest of humanity, not for themselves. If that's not the highest moral point a human can reach, then I don't know what is. True, some also *killed* for the 'sake' of mankind, but that does not diminish the value of the former.

Sex has nothing to do with communism; it is not to be repressed, but even more freed. Material prosperity is actually the goal of marxism. But for everyone! Not for some! Capitalism if in favour of prosperity, but for a select few. So, until we reach the former goal, what do we do? Start from medium poverty for everyone and slowly increasing everyone's standard of living, or letting the majority to ridiculous poverty so that a lucky elite may prosper? You see, communism is basically a moral question.

Identifying and attacking the corrupt ascpects of so-called socialist states is fair; attacking the principle of marxism means one likes the continiuation of economic inequalities and poverty, since poverty in Africa, for example, is a prerequisite for you to enjoy higher-than-average well-being.

The fact that some states came with a corrupt version of marxism, does not corrupt the concept itself, nor the ideal of communism (communism per se is the eventual goal of a socialist state. No communist state ever existed. "Communist states" is a term coined by the capitalist world, actually, so as to use the drawbacks of socialist states in order to attack the ideal of communism. That was a very succesful Strawman argument.)

32

Sheparding Call

by DS211 in

jw
friends

at the meeting last night i was approached by an elder and he asked me what my schedule was like for the next week or so.

i told him im not sure ill have to tet back with him and i asked why and he said kindly but in an odd sort of way "for a visit".

my wife and i have not gone out in field service and have been missing meeting left and right mostly due to sickness and family.

Syme

If the elder wants to just *encourage* you and not question you, then why doesn't he come alone?

2 elders together means questioning. If there are 2 elders, they are 2 witnesses, in case you say something incriminating. You don't have to go through this. You are not 'obliged', you're no criminal, and they are no police!

Ask him to be visited by only 1 elder, or by an elder and a MS or a plain publisher. Will he accept it? If not, why??

23

bassackwards

by stuckinamovement in

am i the only one that finds it funny that the organization's campaign this month is to offer a printed magazine that is simply an ad for a website?

what's more is they have printed close to 50 mil copies which will be delivered by an army of volunteers who drive minivans and knock on the doors of empty houses repeatedly until they find someone at home...... can you imagine facebook going door to door to spread the word about how awesome their site is?.

Syme

"On the jw org, a magazine has been uploaded

which advertizes

jw org."

This, my friends, is called INCEPTION. :)

23

'Jehovah will provide' / some fish(y) stories! - WT April 15, 2014

by bats in the belfry in

eduardo & family with kids will pioneer and survive on 10% of his regular income.. .. .

page 24. .

sort of reminded me of this guy: father of four quits job after attending annual meeting.

Syme

Some guy prying on your browser history instead of minding his own business = "a blessing".

Now, talk about Orwellian Newspeak.

BTW, the elder that pryed onto the poor guy's cell was, by ~90% probablity, viewing pornography HIMSELF. The 90% statistic is, according to a local CO, the proportion of appointed jws (elders & ms) that have viewed pornography. That means that if you have a BOE of 10 people, 9 of them have viewed porn. The 10th, must be either blind & deaf, or like 95 years old.

8

Yearbook increases and deceases: Top lands

by Londo111 in

looking at the percentage of average publishers of 2013 over 2012 (not the peaks):.

brazil 1.46%.

nigeria 2.60%.

Syme

Oh, Jehovah's blessing is evident! Many encouraging statistics! :P

Now, I gladly see that in my country there is a substantial decrease, which means my planned fade will not be out of touch, but part of a greater tendency. Now, that's encouraging!