SickofLies

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Posts by SickofLies

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  44

  I'm a newbie!!

  by Poodles in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is my first time in this forum!

  i joined because i would like to understand the witness way of life w/o joining!!

  all debates welcome!!

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  SickofLies

  Welcome, you will find a large library of information avaible to you about the JW's at this site. Please feel free to ask lots of questions.

  Many people have negative things to say about JW's but in their defence I will say this:
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  5

  Governing Body and The Pope

  by SickofLies in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have found this a good line of reasoning to use with jw's to really get them thinking, are there any differences between the governing body and the pope?

  i can think of a lot of similarities, and the wtbts officially condemns the practice of having a 'pope' like figure in charge.

  http://www.popechart.com/faq.htm

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  SickofLies

  I have found this a good line of reasoning to use with JW's to really get them thinking, are there any differences between the Governing Body and the Pope? I can think of a lot of similarities, and the WTBTS officially condemns the practice of having a 'Pope' like figure in charge. http://www.popechart.com/FAQ.htm
  Papal Prophecies: These are the 1139 Prophecies of St. Malachy. They state that there will be 110 popes after Celestine II and then the world will end: "In extreme persecution, the seat of the Holy Roman Church will be occupied by Peter the Roman, who will feed the sheep through many tribulations, at the term of which the city of the seven hills will be destroyed, and the formidable Judge will judge his people. The End.". (Do I need to say anything here?)
  Infallibility: This is the gift of "infallibility" which Jesus gave to Peter and his successors. Jesus did not give Popes the gift of impeccability, which means they can't sin. Then, he would have to take away their free will. Even Peter had the free will to deny him three times... Popes, like you and I, will be answerable on how we use our free will. (Indeed, I believe this is exactly how the GB would describe themselves, not using the word infallibility of course, but saying personally they can sin as individuals, but as a body what they say comes from God.) http://people.howstuffworks.com/papacy1.htm
  Origins: The Catholic Church dates back to the time of Jesus Christ, when Christ selected Peter to lead his Church. In the book of Matthew (16:18) of the Bible, Christ says to Peter, "And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." This statement, now known as the Petrine guarantee, gave Peter the fullness of power, according to the New Catholic Encyclopedia. (The WTBTS also traces its origin to the time of Jesus and says that Peter, Paul and others were the first GB.)
  Authority: As head of the Roman Catholic Church, the pope is the supreme spiritual leader of the Church and controls the church doctrine. With a billion followers, the pope's decisions impact societies and governments all over the world. (The connection here with the GB is obvious, although the WTBTS only has 6 million followers, their practices of no blood; shunning and door to door apostasy have affected many countries and families around the world.)
  Both the Pope and the GB's doctrines supersede the bibles authority, they are both considered to be God's channel for communicating with humans on earth, both are considered to be inspired or guided by holy spirit.
  Are there any other similarities you have noticed?
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  48

  Is There ANYTHING That You Still Believe From The Witnesses?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  or was it all bull?

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  SickofLies

  Well, since my experience with the JW's has made me an athiest, I don't know that there is much left to believe in. There are many things I believe in now which would go against the JW's teachings such as being a good citizen by voting, lobbying the government (on things like environment, energy, health, etc), helping out the poor by voluntering at places like the salvation army or donating money to them. Since becoming an atheist has made me care much more about the human race and what goes on in this planet, I now try and use my life to benfit people instead of just thinking, screw'em there all gonna die anyway.
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  15

  So how are JW's doing in 2006?

  by SickofLies in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  ok, so i had to go to the meeting last sunday and i was bored out of my mind, but i put this together while i was there and it is based on the latest figures for 2005, i though some here would find it interesting.. .

  in the 2006 year book the following figures are reported: (note these are for 2005).

  branches of jw's: 112. number of lands reporting: 235. total congregations: 98,268. world wide memorial attendance: 16,383,333. memorial partakers worldwide: 8,524. avg.

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  SickofLies

  I made some errors in my origional calculations (I didn't have a calculator at the Kingdom with me!!!) Here are the correct numbers and some projections: Branches of JW's: 112
  Number of Lands Reporting: 235
  Total Congregations: 98,268
  World Wide Memorial Attendance: 16,383,333
  Memorial Partakers Worldwide: 8,524
  Avg. Pub. : 6,390,016
  Precentage of Increase Over 2004: 1.3
  Avg Pioneers: 623,308
  Total Countries with Negitive Growth: 37
  Total Countries with Zero Groth: 28
  Toal Neg and Zero Groth Countries: 65
  # of countries with > 5% increase over 2004: 36
  Total % of Negitive and Zero Groth countries: 27.7%
  
  According to http://www.jwic.com/stat.htm
  
  Toal Neg and Zero Groth Countries in 2004: 22
  Toal Neg and Zero Groth Countries in 2003: 7 % increase from 2003 to 2004 in Neg and Zero Growth: 66% (calc using (65 - 22) / 65) % increase from 2004 to 2005 in Neg and Zero Growth: 68% (calc using (22 - 7) / 22) Basied on a 66% groth pattern: Projected # of Neg and Zero Growth countries in 2006: 108 Projected % of Neg and Zero Growth countries in 2006: 47% (108/235)
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  54

  Comments You Will Not Year at the 3-12-06 WT Study(Witness/Nations)

  by blondie in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  comments you will not hear at the march 12, 2006 wt study (february 1, 2006 issue, pages 22-26)(witness/nations).

  review comments will be in red.

  wt material from today's wt will be in black.

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  SickofLies

  Thanks for the write up, I'm printing these off and taking them to the meetings with me. lol
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  43

  Meeting Survival Guide – Games to play

  by unclebruce in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  meeting survival guide games we play

  one doesn't grow up religiously attending '5 meetings a week' without developing a strategy for survival.

  mine started at about ten years of age and gradually grew more sophisticated as the years assemblies rolled by.

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  SickofLies

  I like reading a nice book on evolution to help pass the time, in order not ro raise suspision I just tear the inside of my bible part and relpace the inside with my favorite peice of apoistate litature.
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  7

  Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

  by SickofLies in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2528412371399195162&q=brian+fellows

  funny stuff!

  lol!.

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  SickofLies

  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2528412371399195162&q=brian+fellows

  Funny stuff! LOL!

  Oh the stupidity! Dinosaurs are just modern day lizards that grew REALLY big! lol
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  49

  it's your turn now guys

  by deeskis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm reading last weeks medical rag, australian dr weekly.

  there's an article in there about how the male contraceptive is on it's way.

  versions of a male implant is being trialled by who and australian researchers.. the article quotes a london professor, john guillebaud who said that "surveys show about 2/3 of men worldwide in all cultures say they would take a male pill".

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  SickofLies

  Sounds good, I hate condoms! Plus women don't like taking birth control, so now you can just lie on one night stands and say 'Don't worry babe I took the pill!' and have all the fun you want. Be sure to give a false name so you don't have to worry about getting tracked down to pay child support.
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  84

  without God what would humanity do?

  by BlackSwan of Memphis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what would humanity do without some belief in an almighty, in a divine in something?.

  how has it shaped the way modern man thinks?.

  would we better off or worse, without a belief in that which is divine?.

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  SickofLies

  http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8797&feedId=online-news_rss20

  The researchers studied what three captive-raised young chimps would do when a familiar human caretaker dropped an object out of her reach.

  All three chimps were more likely to pick up the object and hand it to the caretaker when she reached for the object than when she merely looked at the object. Click here to see a video of a helpful chimp in action. This suggests that the chimps understood the human's goal and tried to help, says Warneken – even though they received no reward or praise.

  Human infants also helped in this way (click here to see a toddler help) and performed other, more complex helping tasks. They would open a cabinet door, for example, to help an adult whose hands were full, while a chimp would not. "This suggests that a tiny bit of helping behaviour is already present in chimpanzees, but they're not as flexible as human infants are," says Warneken.

  Such altruistic helping behaviour is common in humans, but had never been documented in other animals before. Researchers now need to understand how often, and under what conditions, it occurs, says Joan Silk, an evolutionary anthropologist at the University of California at Los Angeles, US. In earlier studies, Silk found that chimps are as likely to choose a food reward for themselves alone as for themselves and a companion.

  Indeed, the world would be a better place without any religion.
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  15

  So how are JW's doing in 2006?

  by SickofLies in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  ok, so i had to go to the meeting last sunday and i was bored out of my mind, but i put this together while i was there and it is based on the latest figures for 2005, i though some here would find it interesting.. .

  in the 2006 year book the following figures are reported: (note these are for 2005).

  branches of jw's: 112. number of lands reporting: 235. total congregations: 98,268. world wide memorial attendance: 16,383,333. memorial partakers worldwide: 8,524. avg.

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  SickofLies

  Ok, so I had to go to the meeting last Sunday and I was bored out of my mind, but I put this together while I was there and it is based on the latest figures for 2005, I though some here would find it interesting.
  
  In the 2006 year book the following figures are reported: (Note these are for 2005)
  
  Branches of JW's: 112
  Number of Lands Reporting: 235
  Total Congregations: 98,268
  World Wide Memorial Attendance: 16,383,333
  Memorial Partakers Worldwide: 8,524
  Avg. Pub. : 6,390,016
  Precentage of Increase Over 2004: 1.3
  Avg Pioneers: 623,308
  Total Countries with Negitive Growth: 37
  Total Countries with Zero Groth: 28
  Toal Neg and Zero Groth Countries: 65
  # of countries with > 5% increase over 2004: 36
  Total % of Negitive and Zero Groth countries: 2.77%
  
  According to http://www.jwic.com/stat.htm
  
  Toal Neg and Zero Groth Countries in 2004: 22
  Toal Neg and Zero Groth Countries in 2003: 7

  % increase from 2003 to 2004 in Neg and Zero Growth: 314%

  % increase from 2004 to 2005 in Neg and Zero Growth: 168%