I dropped TTATT to some door knockers today (page 5)

Magnum

exwhyzee -

I was thinking the same thing and was actually going to post that point when I responded to this thread earlier, but I forgot.

It is so true that JWs dismiss what scientists say, yet at the same time they desperately search for scientists who agree with their viewpoints so they can quote them. I remember when Darwin's Black Box by Michael Behe first came out, the org devoted an entire opening series in the Awake mag to it. They loved it because it seemed to support their viewpoint on evolution.

TheStumbler

Yeah it was funny how quickly they switched 'most people don't realize that Genesis harmonises with science'

when presented with contradictions:

'well, you really can't trust what science says, it is imperfect human reassoning'

They simultaneously reject science yet recognize and crave its credibility. It gets them into all kinds of pickles

TheStumbler

Island Man,

I've had a very similar idea. Kind of like a JW facts but topical and specific to each magazine.

The reason I researched this article is because I've been thinking about starting a blog reviewing the major Awake and Watchtower articles. I've got reviews of about three or four articles more or less complete but I've found that by the time I finish them the magazines have already come and gone. I just don't have the time to commit to it with a young family.

maybe it is something that could be open source but curated by the community? Not sure if it would work but there's a seed of an idea there.

I've also written a few reviews of JW.Org pages. Would be good to get a counterpart of it up, TrueJW.org or something. We just don't have the organization or resources to compete though unfortunately. The new JW.ORG is actually a slick website

TheStumbler

There's some fantastic minds of this site but the information on here is not presented in an organized way, its drowning in an ocean of different threads and topics. There's a lot of crap on here too

Magnum

The Stumbler -

Yes, I agree that there is a gold mine of info on this site, but as you indicated, it is drowning in a huge ocean of words. Newcomers will miss some profound points because they don't have time to search through the ocean. I have been collecting points the past few months in an effort to consolidate info and make it easy to find. I'm planning on putting it in one organized, ever-evolving simple document.

jemba

Wow Stumbler that was awesome! You were so prepared. I loved reading this... Cant believe that whole post was typed on your phone lol

TheStumbler

I wrote it in Office 365 on my phone and copy pasted it into the browser. I didn't type all into the browser directly. That would have been a bit risky.

There was one funny moment, I was pretending that I had never read the article before but at one point I referred to a paragraph and the looked for it ahead of the material that we had so far covered. If they were paying attention they would have realized the that I had obviously read the material before. I lm fairly sure I got away with it. Thry didn't seem to notice.

They did seem curious how I knew so much so I just gave vague answers like 'I like to read'. A lie of omission perhaps. Anti Theocratic warfare. Or Theocratic Defense you could call it

suavojr

Great job! I am marking for future reference

Phizzy

Very well done Mr Stumbler Sir ! I hope I can do as well if ever the opportunity arises. I am on their DNC list, I reckon with a Big A against my name, so only get an oportunity to talk to them if I visit a big town, where I am not known.

Very well done again, if either of them has an honest heart they must eventually give thought to your words, that were so well expressed.

TheStumbler

I've been thinking about my conversation on Saturday and something has occured to me that I didn't quite realize the significance of at first.

I grew up in England so I have spent years researching and developing counter arguments to the common thought stopping statements used by JWs. Saturday was the first time I've spoken to a JW in Australia and they used exactly the same arguments as JWs in England. They may as well have been reading from the same script. I could almost anticipate what they were going to say.

I'm sure many of people have encountered the same JW talking points with their family and friends. Identifying the logical fallacies can be tricky particularly in a conversation. I know science and common creationist arguments farily well but if the JWs had wanted to talk to me about prophecy or chronology on Saturday then I'm sure they could have run rings around me.

maybe we need a list of common JW arguments, thought stopping statements like TalkOrigins list of common creationist claims. An index of common JW claims with a simple deconstruction and counter argument. Does such an index already exist?

I dropped TTATT to some door knockers today

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