I think I had completely stopped attending WT/JW conventions and assemblies before 10 years ago and thus I wasn't likely at the circuit assembly mentioned in the first posts of topic thread. Can anyone using this website tell me if the idea of higher education being compared to sacrifice to Molech/Moloch ended up in any of the printed literature of the WT? If it did which specific literature did it appear in?
Note: My internet browser was in "Work Offline" mode when I initially tried submitting this post. When I realized that I then interrupted the submission process (before it reached stage two of the process). If a duplicate of my post eventually gets posted, please understand that it accidentally happened. I only want one copy of the post to appear.
Disillusioned JW
JoinedPosts by Disillusioned JW
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44
Higher Education compared to sacrificing your child to Moloch!
by Vidqun inforthcoming attraction at the next circuit assembly.
for those that are interested in attending.
if you encourage your child to pursue higher education, you are sacrificing him or her to molech (cf.
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Badge of honor - for apostasy!
by Vidqun intoday, i have attended my jc meeting, courtesy of three local elders.
all three had their "shepherd"-books on their laps.
i carefully and meticulously proved to them that their interpretation of dan.
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Disillusioned JW
Vidqun did the elder body classify you as disfellowshipped or disassociated? I'm guessing (according to the policy I read in the Organized To Do Jehovah's Will book of 2005) they classified you as disassociated. If that is the case you can think of yourself as having disfellowshipped them.
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Why some are religious or not?
by Vidqun intime article: several years before pope francis became pope of the catholic church in 2013, psychologists began to debunk the idea that being more educated meant a person was less likely to be religious.
instead, a new social psychology theoryone that had little to do with education levelarose.
according to dual process theory, people are either deliberative or intuitive when they make decisions.
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Disillusioned JW
Vidqun I think the point about deliberative versus intuitive is a very good point. I am very deliberative. But when I don't have relevant facts about a particular topic and can't find any, then I use an intuitive approach on the topic, or I stop thinking about the topic.
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Is Bible prophecy now starting to come true regarding the prelude to the great tribulation?
by Disillusioned JW inis bible prophecy now starting to come true regarding a prelude to the great tribulation?.
full disclosure: i still don't believe in the bible's claims about the existence of the supernatural, even of jehovah god (i'm an atheist and a scientific/philosophical naturalist), but i am asking this question because recent events are starting to seem (to me) to fit well the description of some prophecies in the bible.
consider the following.. several hours ago (on 11-26-2021) as i was about to enter a local fred meyer store of my city (in suburb or small city in the metro area of a large city) a person i know told me that a moment earlier a person left the store in a hurry with a cart load up with unpaid merchandise (i think i was told it was groceries but i don't remember that for sure).
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Disillusioned JW
Abraham1, that is an interesting translation you state of "sea-level rise" but I don't see that sense in any of the Bible's I have, except in the sense of the temporary rise of the sea caused by surges in the waves. The sense I get is that of a very turbulent sea storm with a surges in the waves, and possibly even a tsunami.
The latter part of Luke 21:25 in various functional equivalence, idiomatic, and free ('paraphrase') translations (and one literal translation) are the following.
- Revised English Bible says "roar and surge of the sea".
- Today's New International Version says "roaring and tossing of the sea".
- Revised Standard Version and New Revised Standard Version say "roaring of the sea and the waves". The New American Standard Bible--Updated Edition also says that.
- Holman Christian Standard Bible (of 2003) says "roaring sea and waves".
- The Twentieth Century New Testament (Revised Edition of 1904) says "roar of the sea and the surge".
- The Complete Bible - an American Translation says "roar of the sea and the waves".
- New Living Translation (of 1996) says "roaring seas and strange tides".
- The New Testament In Modern Speech (Fifth Edition, 1929) by Weymouth says "roaring of the sea and its billows".
To me any recent translation saying 'sea level rise' is forcing a meaning into the verse, in order to make it appear to predict the rising sea levels detected by modern-day scientists.
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Is Bible prophecy now starting to come true regarding the prelude to the great tribulation?
by Disillusioned JW inis bible prophecy now starting to come true regarding a prelude to the great tribulation?.
full disclosure: i still don't believe in the bible's claims about the existence of the supernatural, even of jehovah god (i'm an atheist and a scientific/philosophical naturalist), but i am asking this question because recent events are starting to seem (to me) to fit well the description of some prophecies in the bible.
consider the following.. several hours ago (on 11-26-2021) as i was about to enter a local fred meyer store of my city (in suburb or small city in the metro area of a large city) a person i know told me that a moment earlier a person left the store in a hurry with a cart load up with unpaid merchandise (i think i was told it was groceries but i don't remember that for sure).
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Disillusioned JW
Is Bible prophecy now starting to come true regarding a prelude to the great tribulation?
Full disclosure: I still don't believe in the Bible's claims about the existence of the supernatural, even of Jehovah God (I'm an atheist and a scientific/philosophical naturalist), but I am asking this question because recent events are starting to seem (to me) to fit well the description of some prophecies in the Bible. Consider the following.
Several hours ago (on 11-26-2021) as I was about to enter a local Fred Meyer store of my city (in suburb or small city in the metro area of a large city) a person I know told me that a moment earlier a person left the store in a hurry with a cart load up with unpaid merchandise (I think I was told it was groceries but I don't remember that for sure). He said the store employee(s) tried to catch up to the theif but were unable to do so. This happened during the day time. The Bible says that in the last days there would be widespread lawlessness.
Later I got home and talked with my mom, who is a convinced JW. She asked me if I now have changed my views regarding the JW religion and the Bible and God's existence, in light of what I we see taking place. I said no, while also acknowledging that are new major problems including rioting in my mom's city (the city I was born in). She said that what is happening in her city is terrible, but that the city is still a beautiful city.
Later I turned on the TV and saw in the evening/national/world broadcast news a news segment showing a large number of people dressed identically entirely in black (with their faces covered) smashing into a department store, and rapidly stealing valuable things from the store. They were organized thieves (and I think the news might have said they were part of gang) and the news said the theft happened in broad daylight. The news mentioned multiple stores (and I think in multiple cities) experienced such crimes. The Bible says that in the last days there would be widespread lawlessness.
To me the people doing the above horrible things are acting crazy. To me it does not make sense that such things are happening.
In the same news program there was a news segment about a new strain of Covid-19 (newer than Delta). The strain is called Omicron and is in southern Africa (and the strain was first identified in the country of South Africa) and it was said to be far more transmissible than the Delta strain and more dangerous. The news says it is mutating rapidly and has multiple new mutations. The news also said that medical scientists/experts do not know if any of our Covid-19 vaccines can deal with it. In the news USA President Biden said the only way we can defeat Covid-19 is if we have Covid-19 vaccines globally. The news about Covid-19 reminded me of the book of Revelation saying there would be deadly plague (in 7:8, 9:18, and 16:2, 9, 11) and that such would be part of the bowl of wrath poured out upon the Earth by God. The news report also said that the stock markets (including the S&P 500 Index) plunged (though in low volume due to the holiday weekend) today on the news about the new Covid-19 strain, making the biggest one day plunge of this year thus far. For one news source about the new strain see https://deadline.com/2021/11/new-heavily-mutated-covid-variant-identified-in-africa-called-a-big-jump-in-evolution-1234880724/ . It says in part the following.
' “This variant did surprise us,” Tulio de Oliveira, director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform told the New York Times. “It has a big jump in evolution, many more mutations than we expected, especially after a very severe third wave of Delta [variant].” ... The new variant has more than 30 mutations in the spike protein alone, which raises fears of increased transmissibility, according to a South African researcher cited by the Times. The new variant has 10 mutations alone on the ACE2 receptor, which helps the virus to enter cells. That’s five times more mutations on that structure than the Delta variant exhibits, according to the researcher.'
Months ago a wildfire in my state spread so much that it spread to the outskirts of the southern end of my metropolitan area. People in small city it spread into is a city I drove through years ago - it is near enough that the public transportation of my metro area has a bus line which goes to that city. People in that city/town located south my city were told to evacuate.The local news was saying how people in the towns having the wildfires were having severe health problems as a result to the fires and the smoke. That reminds me of Revelation 16:8-11. My supervisor lived in an area which was told to evacuate and he told me he did evacuate. Fortunately his property did not catch on fire. The smoke from the wild fires in my state was so bad that I could see, smell, and feel the sting (in my throat) the smoke in the sky above my city, and the smoke made the sun look red for days and it made the moon look orange (or red) for days also. It recalled to my mind Revelation 6:12 and 16:8. In my entire lifetime I had never ever experienced such a prolonged amount smoke in the air of such magnitude. My experience of it (as well as knowledge of numerous other wildfires in my state at the time) recalled to mind the verses in the book of Revelation (in 8:17) of a third of the trees being burnt, of a third of grass being burnt, and a a third of the ground being burnt, as well as the sun and moon turning to blood, and of such being a pouring out of a bowl of wrath by God.
The same news broadcast showed a man shoot dead a father over a dispute about child custody. Recent previous news reports mentioned killing rampages taking place. Those things remind me of Revelation 7:14.
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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?”.
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Disillusioned JW
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.".
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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 ...."
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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.".
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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."
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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..
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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.