the 2015 annual meeting, specifically, part 1, right about minute 27, has anthony morris emphasizing that "you're better off reading one chapter (of the bible) and really absorbing it" than just reading the whole thing "as a challenge".
while i agree with the the whole idea of meditating on anything you read, it was doing this very thing that brought up so many unanswered questions.
i also came to the constant realization that the jws did not have a clue about what the bible really said.
JWs recite the Bible, they don't read it as in studying. They "read" it like Catholics "read" the rosary, or Muslims recite the Koran. It's more of a ritual, a standardized procedure, than actual reading. It has nothing to do with the mentality of reading books. There's no critical thinking involved; there's nothing intellectual in it.
It can hardly be called "reading".
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=plrw9u-n1z2m8peenfmbdxmvbdkum0ce1n.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uppgsfl6o5k.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9j8ivkmkvk.
why do there have to be wars?
why is there so much hatred?.
the collective answer i came up with is natalisam, or maybe the correct word should be politics?
Archaeology and paleoanthropology show that violence was much more prevalent in prehistorical bands and groups, than it is today. Violence between rival bands is also very often in some our closest relatives today, the chimpanzees.
When the first archaic members of Homo sapiens set foot into a new territory, one of the first things they did was exploit to the point of extinction many other species of animals and plants, including other hominids, and even other human rival tribes. That was the rule back then. (and yes, man-caused extinction is a really old habit.)
The "noble savage" notion of Rousseau has been proven today to be a total myth.
Organized society still holds to many injustices and has not stopped wars and violence worldwide; still, in general it is a lot safer world (and time) to live, than living in pre-organized times and places. (This doesn't guarantee, of course, that things will get even better in the future; study of the past indicates, it doesn't prophesy.)
The evidence indicates that while peace-keeping and altruism are part of our nature when it comes to a tightly tied group like a family, when it comes to relations between groups, violence is our natural tendency. The point of having superior intelligence to other animals is to be able to overcome those bad traits of our nature.
the photo-drama of creation (1912) says that god directed the evolution of animals into their current "fixed" forms, but that humans were created directed.
the divine plan of the ages said the same thing.
(various editions late 1800s to early 1900s) the 1898 booklet on evolution opposes the evolution of man but doesn't discuss animal evolution.
WT literature even up 70s or 80s refers to evolution as a tool of Satan. But since the latest literature accepts the so-called "microevolution", that begs the question (for j-dubs): If microevolution is true, then it is a part of Creation, i.e. a tool of Jehovah. How can microevolution be a tool of Jehovah, and macroevolution a tool of Satan, since it's the same process, just in different time scales?
Even from Russell days, evolution was thought anti-biblical (it is, of course; it's just that Genesis happens to be a total myth). The Bible Students were just a mixing of Adventist and other fundamentalist US-based Christian groups; all those groups had always been creationists and anti-science in general.
Side note: the 49,000 years theology of JWs does not differ that much from the literal 7-day theology of young-earth creationists. In the scope of geological time (4.6 billion years), 49,000 years and 7 days are roughly the same, the same absurd, at least. And, basically, the WTS hasn't dropped officially the 49,000 years theology, even to this day (last time I checked). An average thinking person can surmise just from that what kind of loony teachings we're talking about.
a vomit inducing comment.. i asked why do they have to specify 'meetings'?
they never miss us in tesco or the showcase cinema bar.. in their defence, a friend of mine said: 'that's because the meeting is where they normally would see you.'.
well, if they want to see you they can arrange a meal out or something.
I agree. That's one of the disadvantages of fading, instead of DA: they feel sorry for you, they have no idea of the real reasons, and since you can't speak openly to them and explain, they assume some lame reason for your not going to the meetings, like stumbling or being weak/discouraged etc.
Of course, if you DA, they'll not feel sorry or view you as weak, but will view you as Satan incarnate. Either way, it's a win-win situation for their delusional state of being (for the majority of them of course, not all). In other words, they will either pity you (fade) or fear and loathe you (DA).
researchers have found evidence of ancient microorganisms that lived in what is now western australia at least 4.1 billion years ago.
if confirmed, the discovery suggests that life originated on earth 300 million years earlier than previously thought.
.... the ancient microorganisms in question were found trapped inside zircons formed from magma in western australia.
Very interesting link, cofty.
Creationists: "Hey, see? Now scientists say that life appeared instantaneously after the Earth's formation! Isn't that proof that God created life in an instant, just after creating the Earth? Checkmate, evolutionists!"
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/16/us/new-york-church-assault-case/index.html.
police: teen killed in n.y. church assault wanted out.
by ray sanchez, cnn.
how many of us were woken up by some apostate yelling false prophets at a convention?.
how many of us were woken up by someone holding a sign and yelling, what happened to 1975.
how many of us were coerced to investigate the wt because some ex-jw pulled up a bunch of old watchtowers magazines and told us to read the false predictions?.
I woke up by reading about evolution. By seeing the solid evidence for evolution, the next logical step was the realization that WT doctrine (Adam --> Jesus as ransom equal to Adam --> eternal life due to ransom) was fundamentally wrong.
Reading of Ray Franz and ex-JWs on the Internet came later.
woody harrelson and mathew mcconaughey { standing at the back of the k..h..during a meeting }.
w.h.. "what do you know about these people " { who get their higher education reading and studying the watchtower and awake magazines} ?.
"just observation and deduction , i see propensity for obesity , poverty, a yen for fairy tales , folks putting what few bucks they do have into contribution boxes .. i think it`s safe to say that nobody here is going to be splitting the atom.
Indeed! And of course the opening line of the scene, by McConaughey: "What do you think is the average IQ of these people here?"
so i've been pretty good at not going to meetings lately.
yesterday i went for the co's last talks.
older co. his last talk was absolutely shocking.
Absolutely shocking.
I guess that the fact that I'm 8 months clean of hearing such BS, made me to be easily shocked on hearing this cultish stuff again, like I wasn't hearing it for 30 years.
