i wrote this earlier for my own benefit in order to get some thoughts straight in my head.
it is just my own personal pondering on what i think might be the motivating force behind having a faith.
it is not intended to attack, provoke or patronize anyone who has a belief and i hope it is not taken in that way.
I personally think that faith is for those not yet equipped emotionally and mentally to deal with reality.
Or maybe reason (or materialist reductionism) is for people who want to escape from the multifaceted and indeterminate nature of reality. It's ironic that it is the same impulse for certainty and definitive answers that drives people into JWs as also drives many former JWs to embrace reductive materialism. It's the same sort of myopia, just different wallpaper.
i have been reading a fascinating book about various strategies for studying the meaning of images: visual methodologies by gillian rose.
various approaches covered include compositional analysis, content analysis, psychoanalysis, semiology and discourse analysis.
it struck me how ripe watchtower imagery would be to such scrutiny, and how subtle trends in ideological emphases may be identified through the visual iconography that may be less apparent in the overt expositions of watcthower written texts.
now the harvest is underway up north i can get out for a walk with the metal detector in the evening.
i am lucky to live on a historic rural estate and i have permission from the landowner to detect.. this is a coin that popped up last night.
it was only about 2 inches deep and had been tumbling around in the plough soil for the last 750 years.. it is a silver penny of king henry iii.
Yes we were going to visit few months ago on a Saturday but I looked on a website and the tides dididn't fit. The island itself is called Lindesfarne? I read about this. And about a monk (or abbot?) who lived there and wanted to get away from other people. Even that was not remote enough for him so he went to an even smaller island nearby in order to get away from people. He was killed by a dragon of course. No not really, I just made that part up.
johannes wrobel, the founder of the watchtower history archives in germany, responsible for the stand firm-video and the stand-firm-exhibitions resigned in november 2008 and left the german branch office.
he was also the responsible person for many of the wt sponsored websites on jw in the 'third reich'!.
there are no further details known yet but this could be big news!.
Very interesting developments.
i have been reading a fascinating book about various strategies for studying the meaning of images: visual methodologies by gillian rose.
various approaches covered include compositional analysis, content analysis, psychoanalysis, semiology and discourse analysis.
it struck me how ripe watchtower imagery would be to such scrutiny, and how subtle trends in ideological emphases may be identified through the visual iconography that may be less apparent in the overt expositions of watcthower written texts.
I can't remember what this picture looks like. I wonder if there is a copy online.
is is true at all?
if so, are there any independent sources who have asserted this claim?
who did the translation?.
There are a couple of reasons some JW apologists have made the inflated claim that the NWT is the best translation - over and above the fact that it was produced by "God's organisation" of course.
Textual scholar Ernest Colwell produced a list of textual judgements that indicated a Bible translation that followed the best manuscript evidence. At the time the NWT scored best on this scale.
This led some apologists to claim the NWT was the best translation available. But of course this test is about the textual base of the translation not about the quality of the translation itself.
In terms of translation quality, scholar of early Christianity Jason BeDuhn concluded that the NWT was the best compared with other major translations in a book on Bible translation called "Truth in Translation". But he also disagreed with the NWT's use of the divine name in the NT. Others have criticised BeDuhn for focussing almost exclusively on Christological passages and not other controversial aspects of the NWT.
we like to think we are logical and have good reasons for for our beliefs.
no more so than when it comes to our reasons for rejecting the truth claims of jws.
we reject their version of history, such as the date of the fall of jerusalem, because it doesn't agree with the historical evidence.
People follow the crowd. We all look around us for clues as to what's the smart thing to do. And we look to authority as well. None more so than JWs.
That's why I think it might be very interesting if JWs start to decline in numbers. It would send a terribly demoralising signal to JWs. That combined with the loss of authority on the part of the GB might pave the way for a disorderly unwinding of some sort, rather than a gradual decline.
David Voas predicted this outcome.
we like to think we are logical and have good reasons for for our beliefs.
no more so than when it comes to our reasons for rejecting the truth claims of jws.
we reject their version of history, such as the date of the fall of jerusalem, because it doesn't agree with the historical evidence.
OutLaw there's a difference between what JWs are supposed to do and what they actually do. The very fact that so many Watchtowers warn against: education, marriage outside, friends outside, joining groups in the community, losing contact with Kingdom Hall when relocating, is telling. If these things were not a problem among JWs they wouldn't need to write about it all the time. They warn against these things because they occur so frequently and because they are likely to draw people away from JWs.
Phizzy I'd be really interested to hear your further reflections on why you the decision to leave despite it appearing to be against your interests.
Not to be rude but my impression of people who believe they have left JWs for purely doctrinal reasons is that they are a bit unreflective, not to say enamoured by an idealised version of themselves and motivations.
now the harvest is underway up north i can get out for a walk with the metal detector in the evening.
i am lucky to live on a historic rural estate and i have permission from the landowner to detect.. this is a coin that popped up last night.
it was only about 2 inches deep and had been tumbling around in the plough soil for the last 750 years.. it is a silver penny of king henry iii.
Do you ever find anything Viking? We want to visit the island over there the Vikings invaded. (I forget the name it had the gospels) I haven't been since I was young and I want to go back again after watching the Vikings TV series.
it is a pain that certain individuals pride themselves on hating god, who created everything.
like it's understandable that you choose to not believe in him because of your selfishness or thinking skills but to hate him is forcing it a bit.
i'm very thankful that those such as myself have the courage to believe in the lord.
God doesn't exist, the bastard - Sartre
