Posts by slimboyfat

31

Is there any humor in the bible?

by Normalfulla in

humor plays a big part in a lot of humanity and we all like a good laugh but as far as i'm aware god's supposed word has no actual humor ,of course apart from being a joke itself ,why wasn't there a passage or something like "jesus farted and giggles broke out among them " or something, is anyone aware of any notations of humor ?

all to.serious really.

slimboyfat

When the prophets lf Ba'al couldn't convince their God to consume an offering, Elijah suggested:

Perhaps he is deep in thought or he has gone to relieve himself.

18

Gaslighting

by mann377 in

jw
friends

ever heard of it?

i have but never realized the full meaning.

this is the tactic the wtbs uses to control people.

slimboyfat

The point is that, having changed their mind about being passive, for whatever reason, the WT didn't say "we've changed our mind, brothers" for this or that reason. Instead they acted as if it was the Witnesses who had got it wrong, when actually they were following WT instructions.

That's gaslighting.

"Did you think I said buy milk? Oh that's a shame, actually I told you to get bread."

30

Had twin babies with a married JW?!?!?!?!?!?! advice & thoughts

by Gokumonkey in

before i begin i just wanna say, im not proud of what i did, it was wrong but it happened now im just trying to do the right thing.. ok so im a "worldly" person and i meet a jw women at my job.

i had no idea she was married due to the fact that she hid her wedding ring.

i even ask if she was in a relationship and she denied it.

slimboyfat

She sounds like a piece of work, and treats everyone pretty bad. Shame your life is inextricably linked to hers now.

She probably went back because of the shunning.

Insist your children don't get baptised until they're adults. If JW children delay baptism until adulthood they invariably put it off altogether. That's why the GB are desperate to get children baptised as young as possible.

13

Aust Census: JW's and Divorce Rates

by shepherdless in

this post is actually in answer to a question i got from jwfacts.

i think the issue was also raised on a recent thread.. first, some data from the 2011 and 2016 censuses:.

(a) 1,751,733 (7.5% of population) reported being in a de-facto couple on census night, but .

slimboyfat

Shepherdless your presentation of the figures is very good and you obviously know what you are doing. My comments are intended to be supportive.

I wonder if you've come across a book called Sects and Stats by James R. Lewis. He's a religious studies scholar who uses census data to study small sects in anglophone countries. So very similar territory, except he doesn't discuss JWs. But his work may be helpful in terms of methodology.

https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/sects-stats/

When I read this book I was initially excited about applying his methods to JWs - until he said that the data are very expensive to access.

Also I suppose you know of the work of Ryan Cragun and Ronald Lawson on JWs, Mormons and Adventists.

https://www.ryantcragun.com/the-secular-transition-the-worldwide-growth-of-mormons-jehovahs-witnesses-and-seventh-day-adventists/

Cragun is good with stats on Mormons in particular, and responsive to emails.

Plus there is that essay by David Voas on JWs, I will send to you if/when I find that book again!

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/172862/british-sociologist-predicts-possible-collapse-jehovahs-witness-numbers

In fact David Voas is a very interesting sociologist it may be worth you following up, because he supports the secularisation thesis in a particular form that is supportive of some comments you've made on the subject.

Years ago I had a conversation with scociologist Steve Bruce about religious decline and JWs in particular. He said that his latest work (this was around 2006) was in collaboration with David Voas and they were working with evidence that the mechanism of religious decline is largely the failure to transmit religious affiliation from one generation to the next. In other words, people who are accustomed to attending church/KH tend to keep on doing so. Religious decline is not usually a result of people leaving church en masse. Rather what happens is that, at a certain juncture, the children of the devout are not fully socialised in the church, so they don't continue affiliation as adults. Decline therefore results as the devout age and die, and their children don't replace them in the pews/KHs.

This may seem obvious actually, but it's the subject of much debate among sociologists. In fact even the very fact of religious decline is (amazingly) in dispute among some prominent sociologists.

Another excellent book on religous decline is Religion and Demographic Revolution: Women and Secularization in Canada, Ireland, UK and USA since the 1960s by historian Callum Brown.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Religion-Demographic-Revolution-Secularisation-Religious/dp/1843837927/

He argues for a cultural and gendered explanation of religious decline.

6

McEnroe Puts Serena at About 700 on Men's Tour

by cofty in

john mcenroe was challenged by npr reporter lulu garcia-navarro to amend his comments about serena williams in his new book in which he rates her as the best women's player of all time.

lulu suggested he should not call her the best "women's" player but simply the best player of all time.

mcenroe was taken aback and explained that the men's and women's tours were very different and that serena would be around 700th on in the men's game.

slimboyfat

Strange times we live in when people are not allowed to say things that are obviously true.

Whereas it's become routine to accept the president of the United States will say things that are demonstrably untrue.

18

Gaslighting

by mann377 in

jw
friends

ever heard of it?

i have but never realized the full meaning.

this is the tactic the wtbs uses to control people.

slimboyfat

Definitely!

"Did we say 1975? No you got carried away!"

2015: "don't approach the public when Witnessing on the carts."

2017: "brothers you are being too passive when witnessing on the carts!"

Gaslighting

40

Did Jesus pre exist? Yes or no?

by UnshackleTheChains in

when i first became a witness, i always found the teaching about jesus being the arch angel michael hard to swallow.

i did however believe that jesus pre existed as a master worker alongside god (the first of his creation).. but now everything is brought into question having watched anthony buzzard explain why jesus could not have pre existed as it is impossible to pre exist yourself.

also the fact that it all sounds contradictory to suggest, he was already alive millions of years before he was transferred to mary's womb to be born as a human - the son of man?.

slimboyfat

Antony Buzzard, what a funny fellow. He's like a throwback to the nineteenth century interlocutors of Russell.

I take it you've seen the video of him arguing with two JWs.

https://youtu.be/2XPo43BgdBM

17

"Apostate" brother gives talk in Kingdom Hall and gets removed

by StoneWall in

jw
friends

this guy has to have the most courage of anyone i've ever seen or balls the size of basketballs.he actually gives a good talk and has tidbits scattered about throughout his public talk with hints,suggestions,innuendos of the wt organization.i never want to go in another kingdom hall again in my life but would have made an exception just to be in this audience.

lolnotice what's going on in the audience when they realize somethings up.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqqt0y1peuu.