Posts by Viviane

11

The Duggar family hypocrisy

by Simon in

another christian child-abuse scandal in the news is the duggar family of "19 kids and counting" fame.. their show has been pulled after it emerged that the uber-christian family who are seen to promote right-wing christian values covered up abuse within their family and that of other victims by one of their family.

some values.

once again the only value that seems to really matter to the religious is appearance... good riddance to hypocritical zealots.. they have campaigned against lgbt as being threats to children and describing them as sexual predators all the while knowing that they have their own dirty secret.

Viviane

That being said, was what they did for their son all that bad? Their teen aged son engaged in horrible behavior, he got found out, he got counseling.

They sent him to counseling that teaches God will reward you with extra faith and zeal for being abused, that abuse happens because the victim somehow invited it, that you can choose to not be abused sexually or have greater faith (guess which they say is better?) and that the fix for the physical abuse is to dedicate your body to God so you can cast out fear of marriage intimacy.

Oh, and at the counseling... the founder and leader of the "counseling center" resigned for having inappropriate relationships with over 30 teenagers, the state trooper (member of their church) who kept it quiet was put away for 50 years for child pornography, the brother's founder and one of the counselors at the center was outed for carrying on an affair with multiple secretaries for years and the head of the ministry at the center was let go for getting caught cheating on his wife.

Some group they got there.

Should they have called the police?

Fuck. Yes.

74

Is Prophecy important?

by EA916 in

hello, i am certainly new to all of this.

i have recently been studying the prophecy's, and i was wondering if they are of any importance at all?

Viviane

my pleasure. I'm not a fan of inerrancy and can only claim plausibility for my pov

Your claim is incorrect and utterly implausible.

88

Damned if they do, Damned if they don't

by FusionTheism in

jw
friends

i see an attitude among some people here which is not very helpful.

i can understand it, but still, it's not constructive or helpful.. if you condemn the society for not changing, but then you also condemn them when they do change in a positive way, what incentive or motive does that provide for the people at the society to ever want to change for the better?.

also, what does that attitude look like to current witnesses who are having doubts?.

Viviane

If you condemn the Society for NOT changing, but then you also condemn them when they DO change in a positive way, what incentive or motive does that provide for the people at the Society to ever want to change for the better?

First, you make an error of omission, specifically not explaining what is better. How is the new better than the old? What metric are you using to make that claim and how is it objectively verifiable to others? How does it substantially change the life of Jehovah's Witnesses and their families for the better?

Also, what does that attitude look like to current Witnesses who are having doubts?
It probably looks to them like the Society has been correct in the way they describe apostates as bitter complainers who are never happy with anything the Society does.

This is the fallacy of presumption combined with a strawman. You provide no reason for making the presumption of how other people would view things. You provide no evidence for it and proceed to set an argument that you can easily knock down while attempting to make it look as if you are addressing a real issue.

And when they recently have admitted to errors and say they've been wrong in big ways in the past, some accuse them of having some secret conspiracy theory motive behind it.
To the people with this attitude: What exactly is it that you WANT the Society to do?

This is the only real meat in your post. You finally address the issue, but not for the reasons it needs to be addressed.

The reason it needs to be addressed is that they advertise they have the truth. They advertise that God gives it to them. When they make predictions and claims because they commune with God and then reverse those claims and predictions, it creates a very real issue with credibility. Was God lying to them? Were they talking to someone other than God? Were they making it up?

These questions are all important because they are just making claims about the future, they are using the justification of talking to God that affects people lives, their family, their financial status, their social status. It's important because if anyone publicly disagrees with these predicitions and rule and, often quite correctly, points out the lack of Biblical support or outright disagreement them, heavy sanctions are applied that can, quite literally, ruin a persons life.

So, rather than avoid the actual issue and use fallacies to do it, perhaps you would be better served by meditation upon the deep things, partaking of the meat rather than the milk.

250

Biblical Prohecies That Came True?

by Viviane in

recently there have been several claims made regarding prophecies that came true.

i've not personally seen a prophecy that i would consider as having come true.

i would consider the following as the requirements to say something is a prophecy and evaluate whether or not it came true:.

Viviane

You are in agreement with the WT on that.

A lot of Christians, not just the WT, say that. They want to have their cake and eat it, too.

250

Biblical Prohecies That Came True?

by Viviane in

recently there have been several claims made regarding prophecies that came true.

i've not personally seen a prophecy that i would consider as having come true.

i would consider the following as the requirements to say something is a prophecy and evaluate whether or not it came true:.

Viviane

I guess the argument would come down to "what constitutes a prophecy?"
If someone needs dates and names, there's not much, if anything, that will fit.
The looser the criteria for a prophecy, the more will be found.

Not much of a prophecy then, if there is no way to tell what's going to happen, is it?

250

Biblical Prohecies That Came True?

by Viviane in

recently there have been several claims made regarding prophecies that came true.

i've not personally seen a prophecy that i would consider as having come true.

i would consider the following as the requirements to say something is a prophecy and evaluate whether or not it came true:.

Viviane

Interestingly, there is no prophecy that none of Jesus bones would be broken.

250

Biblical Prohecies That Came True?

by Viviane in

recently there have been several claims made regarding prophecies that came true.

i've not personally seen a prophecy that i would consider as having come true.

i would consider the following as the requirements to say something is a prophecy and evaluate whether or not it came true:.

Viviane

Anyone?

60

Ten Commandments

by EA916 in

should we still be keeping the 10 commandments?

Viviane

According to Old Testament law, anyone caught selling another person into slavery was to be executed

Bullshit. Fathers could sell their children into slavery, they could buy and sell foreigners and slaves could be beaten brutally as long as they didn't die within a day or two.

I have to admit, either you are the biggest liar/idiot about the Bible I have ever seen or the most magnificent troll.

At first glance, it would appear as if God is condoning the beating of the slave, but let's read this carefully. First, we see that this verse in no way CONDONES beating a slave.

Bullshit. If God says they can do it, that's condoning it. Don't waffle, be worm, trying to squirm out of this. Glory, back, glow with pride the violence your God wished and brought to the people.

So, obviously, slavery during Old Testament times was not what we commonly recognize as slavery, such as that practiced in the 17th century Americas, when Africans were captured and forcibly brought to work on plantations.

Bullshit. They captured slaves in war and routinely bought and sold them, beat them, had sex with them. Be glorious is the power your god exercised of people. Don't shrink from it like a wilting flower.

So, although there are rules about slavery in the Bible, those rules exist to protect the slave.

You know what would protect them more? NOT ALLOWING SLAVERY.

You are a sickening Christian. You defend the god of the OT, trying to lie and weasel out of his gross crimes and horrible things. Sure, there was slavery, but it wasn't like slavery slavery. And rape was, you know, rape, not like rape rape. You excuse God for every bad thing he did while trying to pretend that somehow it was love. Murder. Rape. Genocide. Abortion. That's what you call love.

You worship and defend a capricious, petty, moral monster who would be guilty of warcrimes were he an actual person. Own that. You want the good part you think come with God, you are sure as hell going to get the bad.

60

Ten Commandments

by EA916 in

should we still be keeping the 10 commandments?

Viviane

It's past my bedtime.

Past mine, too. Sleep tight, faux lover.

60

Ten Commandments

by EA916 in

should we still be keeping the 10 commandments?

Viviane

Viviane + Village Idiot

I really hope I am the devil in that picture, buddy. Otherwise, your penis tail is tickling my unmentionables and I don't have a prostate to play with.