slimboyfat

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Posts by slimboyfat

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  21

  "Explaining Your Beliefs About Homosexuality"

  by wizzstick in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it's doing the rounds but i've not seen it before.. explaining your beliefs about homosexuality.

  there are three pages.

  here are my thoughts on each question on the pages:.

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  slimboyfat

  Archived so they can never claim they didn't say these things.

  Good idea, they are bound to abandon this position at some point. To quote from them: "people can change".
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  18

  What were Jesus's 'Miracles' supposed to prove?

  by nicolaou in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the healings, feeding the five thousand, walking on water, resurrecting the dead.

  none of it happened of course but let's take the bible literally and say that it did.. so?.

  didn't magic practicing priests perform 'miracles' in a contest with aaron?

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  slimboyfat

  Many of the miracles have antecedents in the Old Testament and other literature. A large part of the function of miracles in the narrative is to show that Jesus is a prophet like Moses, Elijah, Isaiah and so on.
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  18

  Will they change the Yearbook format?

  by freddo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  pure speculation here but i'm wondering if - with the numbers flat-lining - that the gb will stop giving country by country stats, or perhaps at least some of the statistics.. we used to get a monthly stat in the km - then that was "simplified" to "highlights".

  only the "good" stuff.

  then with the new clam workbook, no stats at all.. i wonder if the yearbook will soon only contain "positive" spun stats.

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  slimboyfat

  He ebook still has the full report sir, I am pretty sure!
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  18

  Will they change the Yearbook format?

  by freddo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  pure speculation here but i'm wondering if - with the numbers flat-lining - that the gb will stop giving country by country stats, or perhaps at least some of the statistics.. we used to get a monthly stat in the km - then that was "simplified" to "highlights".

  only the "good" stuff.

  then with the new clam workbook, no stats at all.. i wonder if the yearbook will soon only contain "positive" spun stats.

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  slimboyfat

  Yes we've got reason to believe the figures. Census results in various countries, including Canada, Australia, Brazil and Mexico, consistently show higher numbers of self-identified JWs than publishers reported in yearbooks, sometimes significantly higher.
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  18

  Will they change the Yearbook format?

  by freddo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  pure speculation here but i'm wondering if - with the numbers flat-lining - that the gb will stop giving country by country stats, or perhaps at least some of the statistics.. we used to get a monthly stat in the km - then that was "simplified" to "highlights".

  only the "good" stuff.

  then with the new clam workbook, no stats at all.. i wonder if the yearbook will soon only contain "positive" spun stats.

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  slimboyfat

  As soon as there are two or more years of decline I think it's pretty inevitable they'll stop publishing most or all statistics. They may stop even if growth is simply near zero.
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  583

  What is the purpose of life?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

  because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

  i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

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  slimboyfat

  Okay so now you're saying it is possible to be a Christian without being either ignorant or dishonest.

  But you are saying that the Christian God has been disproved?

  Is that correct? And is there no contradiction there?
• 
  583

  What is the purpose of life?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

  because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

  i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

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  slimboyfat

  So you admit that you characterise Christian believers as either ignorant or dishonest?

  It should be pretty clear that by "believers" I meant Christians, since we're not exactly overrun by Hindus or Sikhs or other religions on the forum. And are deists who allow for an impersonal God normally described as "believers"? I didn't think so.

  Anyway since you feel so terribly misrepresented (always) let's gladly clarify, it's just the 1.6 billion or so Christians that you are you calling either ignorant or dishonest. Other kinds of believers, deists, agnostics and Jedis no doubt eagerly await your judgement.
• 
  583

  What is the purpose of life?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

  because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

  i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

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  slimboyfat

  Or if thoughtful atheists are embarrassed by atheists who go around insisting God has been disproved and believers must be either ignorant or dishonest.
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  19

  Britain Branch Relocation - Chelmsford, Essex

  by wifibandit in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i97qudi-jwe.

  .

  a-19-e 10/15.

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  slimboyfat

  His accent sounds a bit like Jack Barr. Did they at any point explain why they need to do this relocation? In the past new branches were sold as necessary expansions to increase capacity. What's the rationale for this? It seems like a lot of activity for activity's sake, and collecting donations.
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  20

  Are we victims of abuse? Should we even think of ourselves that way?

  by nicolaou in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  abuse is such a serious word and i'd hate to use it lightly so if anyone reading this has suffered physical or sexual abuse please know that i absolutely do not equate religious abuse with your suffering.

  that being said, many of us were lied to and manipulated for decades.

  this cultic 'abuse' has borne fruit in shattered relationships, broken families and estranged children.

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• 

  slimboyfat

  Yes it probably is.

  A strange thing is that as long as you are "under the spell" it can work out okay for you though. Many people seem to be happy and thrive as JWs.

  I read an academic article recently, I can't remember the title, that looked at health outcomes associated with strict religions in particular, if I remember correctly.

  It said people who stayed in such religions had similar health outcomes to the general population. But people who left such religions had worse health outcomes. I think this included but was not confined to mental health.

  It's very stressful to leave JWs because it alters your perception of what life is all about and where it's going. And causes all the personal problems mentioned too.

  Sometimes I think of JWs I know who are smug and I think, "they'll find out in the end it's a lot of rubbish, that'll knock the smugness out of them". Then I think to myself, "they'll probably never have that realisation, they'll do pretty well, and be smug until they die".

  Sometimes I think smug believers are the lucky ones. They may be victims too but they show no signs of it.