The term "Governing Body" is not unique to the leadership of the JWs. The term is also used by a number of corporations for their leadership. When the WT first adopted the term it was when the Governing Body was part of the WT corporation, and one of the WT's former uses of the term pertains to those governing the WT corporation. It is thus odd that the WT claims that the governing body began in the first century CE in Christianity and that it is unique to Christianity.
Disillusioned JW
JoinedPosts by Disillusioned JW
-
12
QUESTION of the DAY (a brain teaser)
by Terry inquestion of the dayeach man chosen of the twelve jesus selected had been called disciples, or "students" (meaning "one who learns").
(latin discipulus; greek μαθητής mathētḗs; hebrew לִמּוּד limmûdh;jesus is stated in the bible to have sent out the twelve using a new description: apostles, "whom he also named apostles" (luke 6:13), first before his death "to the lost sheep of israel" (matthew 10), and after his (resurrection to spread the message of the good news to all nations (matthew 28:16-28:20).with the above firmly in mind, the question arises: “why aren’t the governing body called apostles?”.
-
-
Disillusioned JW
-
22
No Time to die.
by mickbobcat ini watched the movie by streaming it off line.
i don't pay to watch woke movies ever.
the film had great cinematography.
-
-
Disillusioned JW
"Roots" (not "Root") is also based upon an actual person (Kunta Kinte) who was an ancestor of Alex Haley (or at least, Alex Haley believed and claimed that his sources for the origins of Kinte were oral family tradition and that Kunta Kinte was a real ancestor of his - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunta_Kinte , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roots:_The_Saga_of_an_American_Family, and the sequel to the original Roots TV series [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roots:_The_Next_Generations ]). However, both the novel and the miniseries which were based upon it do include fictional content.
I watched the original 1977 miniseries and its sequel from 1979. I also read the entire novel they were based upon, at least 15 years before I read even one entire book (other than perhaps a very short one) of the 'Holy' Bible. Other than the Bible, Roots is by far the longest book I have ever read.
The "Roots" TV miniseries made an intense impression upon me of the evils of slavery, especially as it was practiced in many states of the USA and later in the Confederacy. The 1979 sequel made an intense impression upon me of the evils of the Jim Crow policies which were practiced in the former slave states of the USA.
-
10
Science news articles supporting biological evolution, including by discoveries of fossils
by Disillusioned JW in"a billion-year-old fossil of an organism, exquisitely preserved in the scottish highlands, reveals features of multicellularity nearly 400 million years before the biological trait emerged in the first animals, according to a new report in the journal current biology by an international team of researchers, including boston college paleobotanist paul k. strother.." see https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/528947 and https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/billion-year-old-fossil-reveals-missing-link-evolution-animals for details.. the first article listed above says the following.. "the microfossil, discovered at loch torridon, contains two distinct cell types and could be the earliest example of complex multicellularity ever recorded, according to the researchers.
the fossil offers new insight into the transition of single celled organisms to complex, multicellular animals.
modern single-celled holozoa include the most basal living animals and the fossil discovered shows an organism which lies somewhere between single cell and multicellular animals, or metazoa.".
-
-
Disillusioned JW
Is there fossil evidence (of transitional features) in support of the evolution of frogs from non-frogs? Yes!
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frog . In part it says the following.
"In 2008, Gerobatrachus hottoni, a temnospondyl with many frog- and salamander-like characteristics, was discovered in Texas. It dated back 290 million years and was hailed as a missing link, a stem batrachian close to the common ancestor of frogs and salamanders, consistent with the widely accepted hypothesis that frogs and salamanders are more closely related to each other (forming a clade called Batrachia) than they are to caecilians.[25][26] However, others have suggested that Gerobatrachus hottoni was only a dissorophoid temnospondyl unrelated to extant amphibians.[27]
... The earliest known amphibians that were more closely related to frogs than to salamanders are Triadobatrachus massinoti, from the early Triassic period of Madagascar (about 250 million years ago), and Czatkobatrachus polonicus, from the Early Triassic of Poland (about the same age as Triadobatrachus).[28] The skull of Triadobatrachus is frog-like, being broad with large eye sockets, but the fossil has features diverging from modern frogs. These include a longer body with more vertebrae. The tail has separate vertebrae unlike the fused urostyle or coccyx in modern frogs. The tibia and fibula bones are also separate, making it probable that Triadobatrachus was not an efficient leaper.[28]
Be sure to visit the above mentioned web page of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerobatrachus_hottoni . See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triadobatrachus . The latter says in part the following.
"Triadobatrachus was 10 cm (3.9 in) long, and still retained many primitive characteristics, such as possessing at least 26 vertebrae, where modern frogs have only four to nine." It also says "It lived during the Early Triassic about 250 million years ago, in what is now Madagascar." It also says "It was first discovered in the 1930s ...."
-
10
Science news articles supporting biological evolution, including by discoveries of fossils
by Disillusioned JW in"a billion-year-old fossil of an organism, exquisitely preserved in the scottish highlands, reveals features of multicellularity nearly 400 million years before the biological trait emerged in the first animals, according to a new report in the journal current biology by an international team of researchers, including boston college paleobotanist paul k. strother.." see https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/528947 and https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/billion-year-old-fossil-reveals-missing-link-evolution-animals for details.. the first article listed above says the following.. "the microfossil, discovered at loch torridon, contains two distinct cell types and could be the earliest example of complex multicellularity ever recorded, according to the researchers.
the fossil offers new insight into the transition of single celled organisms to complex, multicellular animals.
modern single-celled holozoa include the most basal living animals and the fossil discovered shows an organism which lies somewhere between single cell and multicellular animals, or metazoa.".
-
-
Disillusioned JW
For decades (probably even for more than 150 years) non-evolutionary biblical creationists have been saying there is no fossil evidence to show how giraffes got their long necks. I thus searched to see if there is such evidence I found that there is, though it looks like it wasn't recognized as evidence until the year 2015. The following are links to two news articles about the scientific discovery. I provide links to two articles because each article includes information not mentioned in the other article.
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ancient-fossils-show-how-giraffe-got-its-long-neck/
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/how-giraffes-became-winners-by-a-neck
The CBS News article says in part the following.
'For years, there has been scant fossil evidence showing how the giraffe evolved to have such an admirably long neck. But now, the remains of a 7-million-year-old creature with a shorter neck provides proof that the giraffe's iconic feature evolved in stages, lengthening over time, a new study finds.
The researchers are calling the remains of this ancient beast true "transitional" fossils, not only closing an evolutionary gap in the rise of Earth's tallest animals, but also providing concrete evidence of how one creature evolved into another.
"We actually have an animal whose neck is intermediate [in length] -- it's a real missing link," said Nikos Solounias, a professor of anatomy at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) College of Osteopathic Medicine and the lead researcher on the study.
The creature in question -- Samotherium major --lived during the Late Miocene in the forested areas of Eurasia, ranging from Italy to China, Solounias said.'
The National Geographic article says in part the following.
"Truly long-necked giraffes didn’t evolve until about 7.5 million years ago. Samotherium, Palaeotragus, Bohlinia, the extinct Giraffa sivalensis and the living Giraffa camelopardalis preserve enough transitional features to let Danowitz and colleagues reconstruct how this stretching occurred. It wasn’t simply a matter of drawing out their vertebrae as if they were in some sort of anatomical taffy pull. The front half of the neck vertebrae became elongated in Samotherium and Palaeotragus, generating forms intermediate between today’s Giraffa and their foreshortened predecessors. Then, within the last two millions years or so, the lineage leading up to the modern Giraffa elongated the back half of their neck vertebrae, giving them even more reach and making them literally at the top of their class."
See also https://www.science.org/content/article/odd-creature-ancient-ancestor-today-s-giraffes . It says something very important, namely the following. "The team’s analyses of bones from all three animals bolster that notion—and not just because the neck bones are of a length between the giraffe’s and the okapi’s. For example, ridges and other features that are prominent on the okapi’s neck bones and missing entirely on the giraffe’s are typically present but smaller on Samotherium’s, the researchers report online today in Royal Society Open Science."
-
14
Biden - Inappropriate Toucher and Killer of Children
by Simon inny times report on the drone strike in afghanistan - they killed an aid worker and his family including 7 children.. it was done as a political stunt so biden could claim they struck back at a terrorist (although it was a suicide bomb attack).. the attack was due to his incompetence and the drone strike done to distract from it.. his inappropriate touching of young girls now seems tame compared to his murder of young children.. he should be prosecuted.
he should be jailed.
he won't be, because us politics.. if you voted for him you're a shit that supports an inappropriate toucher and killer of children..
-
-
Disillusioned JW
Thankfully the USA war with Afghanistan is now over, the Biden administration being the one who ended it (and the Trump administration being the one who initially set a date for the USA withdrawal [I mention this because I believe in giving credit where credit is due]).
Thankfully also, the USA war with Iraq ended years ago, the Obama-Biden administration being the one who ended that war (a war on a country which had not attacked the USA) started by the George W. Bush administration.
-
14
Biden - Inappropriate Toucher and Killer of Children
by Simon inny times report on the drone strike in afghanistan - they killed an aid worker and his family including 7 children.. it was done as a political stunt so biden could claim they struck back at a terrorist (although it was a suicide bomb attack).. the attack was due to his incompetence and the drone strike done to distract from it.. his inappropriate touching of young girls now seems tame compared to his murder of young children.. he should be prosecuted.
he should be jailed.
he won't be, because us politics.. if you voted for him you're a shit that supports an inappropriate toucher and killer of children..
-
-
Disillusioned JW
I voted for Biden in the USA presidential election (but thankfully I didn't vote for Bush in 2000 and 2004) and I am deeply saddened by the drone attack which resulted in the death of ten civilians, including an aid worker and seven children. I hate ALL wars. I want Earth to be a place where warfare between humans no longer takes place. That hope of mine will very probably never become a reality, but I hope for it anyway.
One of the very sad things about wars is that young children almost always are killed in them, such as when the USA dropped two nuclear bombs (one being a fission bomb and one being a fusion bomb) on civilian populations in Japan during WWII. Likewise according to the OT Bible, Yahweh ["the LORD"/Jehovah] (the God that fundamentalist Christians and evangelical Christians devoutly worship as part of a Trinity) directly killed numerous small children, and on other occasions ordered the Jews/Israelites (his chosen people, according to the Bible) to kill numerous young children. War is sad and intentionally killing another human is evil, yet fundamentalist Christian ultraconservatives (and sadly even some ultraconservative atheists) in the USA are often the most vocal people in favor the USA engaging in wars.
-
18
Tax on Unrealized Capital Gains!
by Simon inso janet yellen, the us treasury secretary, thinks taxing unrealized capital gains would be a way for them to fund their runaway spending.. first, they claimed that the real cost of their nonsense spending was $0, so they were lying then or are lying now ("why not both?!").
second, they claimed that money printing doesn't affect inflation, so why not just print the money instead?.
third, the "for billionaires" is to get the feeble minded masses on board, those that live on benefits and vote democrat for more "free money", but the irs monitoring of $600 bank accounts is also apparently to target the ultra-wealthy as well.
-
-
Disillusioned JW
Many of the posts in this topic thread are very informative and sensible. I admit I was not expecting such to be the case, but I am glad I read this topic thread. Prior to reading posts on this website about taxing unrealized capital gains and about monitoring $600 bank accounts (and/or monitoring transactions of over $600 in bank accounts), I had not heard or read of such being proposed. [I have broadcast TV (over-the air antenna TV); I don't have cable TV and I don't have satellite TV and I rarely watch TV and other videos over the internet. I primarily use the internet for reading and for financial transactions.] But, later I noticed that even the mainstream news websites which I consider reliable sources of news also mention that these proposals were made. Thanks folks for the comments you posted in this topic thread.
I agree that these tax proposals are idiotic and that if implemented they would be dangerous.
I am discovering some things about the political party I am currently a member of (the Democratic Party) and of certain politicians I voted for that I find very disturbing. In about two years I probably will leave the Democratic Party and once again be the type of voter who is not a member of any political party (what is commonly called an independent voter). I find myself increasingly not approving of any political party (though I do approve of some specific legislative actions and executive actions of both the Democratic and Republican parties, and I approve of some proposals of some third/minor parties).
-
-
-
Disillusioned JW
Correction: In my prior post, instead of saying "tried my transition" i meant to say "tried to transition". Instead of saying "of animals very similar to apes" I meant to say "or animals very similar to apes". I notice I had a number of other typos in my post, but hopefully people know what I meant.
-
-
-
Disillusioned JW
I look forward to the continuing of the trend of an increasing percentages of the USA population identifying as nonreligious and atheist. I also look forward to the continuing of the trend of a decreasing percentage of the USA population identifying as Christian. I hope: that as the decades go by that human society (world wide) will become less violent on a per capita basis; that a nuclear war will never take place; that somehow the nations of the Earth will achieve world peace and security (probably through the UN) [not in a biblical anti-Christ type of way], at least in the sense of no more wars between nations; that the environment will greatly improve; that humans will visit the planet Mars; that life (such as microbial life) will be discovered on Mars and/or on some other world (whether a planet or a moon), etc.
Around twenty years ago (while I was a JW) I started the goal of living for at least 120 years, though realizing such a goal (without Jehovah bringing about a new world order) was highly unlikely to be met. [While I was a JW I also hoped I would never die at all.] But, I set that goal of living to age 120 (and having a long health span also) because I wanted a very long (and healthy) life and decided to aim high. I specifically picked 120 years because: (1) the Bible (in Genesis) said YHWH set a limit to human lifespan (or perhaps to how long humans will live on the Earth until the start of Noah's flood) of 120 years; (2) in our modern times (1995 onward) the oldest people living are about 115 -117 years old, thus suggesting it is feasible that someone could live to be about 120 years old (without waiting for a new order by YHWH).
To maximize the length of my life I try to eat healthy, avoid smoking, don't ever get drunk (and almost never drink alcohol), try to be safe (such as avoiding starting physical fights, moved to a neighborhood with a lower crime rate, drove as safely as a could [now I don't even drive], and avoid associating with people who are obviously dangerous, etc.). I went to a university library and looked up what medical science books say about the average lifespans of those with various diets ("diet" in the sense of "that which one eats"), so that I could choose the type of diet which is associated with living the longest. I then tried my transition to such a healthy diet (which includes transitioning to becoming a vegetarian [at least a very infrequent eater of animal meats - as opposed to plant-based 'meats']). I am still trying to become a vegetarian and I am making progress in that regard.
I want to become a much happier person than that which I have been throughout my life. Since early childhood I have been trying to achieve that but thus far I have failed. I have thought hard and studied hard to find out how to achieve such and I have tried hard to achieve such, but so far my mood (the vast majority of the time) is only very mildly happy/joyful.
I hope to become wealthy enough that I can retire early and I hope to retire early.
I believe (in the sense of "consider to be true", based upon the facts and plausible theories which I know) that biological evolution brought into existence humans, and that humans are the descendants of apes (of animals very similar to apes) - but not of any currently existing species of ape. I see evidence in the fossil record that humans are descendants of earlier hominids who were ape-like ('ape-men' and 'ape-women'), and that humans are very distant descendants of certain types of extinct mammals and of certain types of fish (fish that went extinct many tens of millions of years ago). I also believe that the first living organism of our universe came into existence by means of abiogenesis. I believe that abiogenesis very probably happened on Earth (about 4 thousand million years ago to about 4.4 thousand million years ago), but that maybe the first organism which lived on Earth came into existence from elsewhere in the universe.
-
8
www.jwletter.com
by Mace.Bean inhonest letter accurately stating current jw beliefs and practices.
far different from the childish handprinted letters most jws are mailing out.
https://www.jwletter.com.
-
-
Disillusioned JW
The "Letter From a Father to a Son" is outstanding!