Posts by Heaven

john hoyle--jws go knocking on strangers doors and try to get inside homes to preach.. wt rep--we are slowly moving away from that kind of preaching work, we do more preaching by using literature carts and personal telephone calls.. .

the above quote is from john hoyle's website:http://insidethewatchtower.com/doctrine/phone-calls-to-bethel-jw-org-email-and-contacts/.

it's interesting, isn't it?

Heaven

OTWO said: I am sure some miracle will happen. Say, in one region, that an airplane carrying mail crashes with a bunch of non-JW's aboard (people who would die at Armageddon anyway) and inside that mail was some JW literature being sent to a prison in that region. Even if such literature were to cease being printed, it could be printed by someone on their home printer from the website. One of the jungle tribesman, trying to rescue any potential crash survivors, finds this literature and you have yourself a whole new story to tell at a regional convention.

* snicker * Those jungle tribesman would probably use the paper to roll their cigarettes. Or wipe their bums. Or decoupage their spears.

I suspect it will be pretty useless at conveying any information as I highly doubt the tribesman read any language from the outside world.

But I can see an 'Andre' story being fabricated out of this scenario. ;0)

13

Resurrection - cell phone edition

by Simon in

i have an oldish phone - a samsung galaxy s3.

i don't feel the need for anything faster or better because i don't use it a ton.

i hardly ever call anyone or have anyone call me and it's mostly used for emergency remote access to the forum, to play the odd game and to text the kids to let them know i'm picking them up or they want to be picked up from somewhere (maybe i should sign up as an uber driver?

Heaven

Doltologist said: Ancient phone?
I have a Samsung E800 which, the guy at EE told me on Sunday, is 10 years old and it still has it's original battery and it still works fine.

Dolty, that is very cool... glad it is working well for you. :0)

My personal laptop at home is 10 years old as well and working just fine.

But Dolty, it seems in the smartphone world, 1 year is ancient, 10 is like the Bronze Age. ;0) This is how they keep making money quickly. There are many who love getting the latest and greatest gadget. Just check out the people who line up for hours for the new iphone. You will never see me in that line.

I, personally, do not buy into the 'ancient' idea. I say run it as long as it will. Kinda like how I keep my cars.

24

I was 'witnessed(tm)' to

by punkofnice in

i was walking to town and i was approached by a smart young man.

"can i interest you in this," he said and handed me a small card with jw.org printed on it.. "oh, blimey," i said.

"i'm an athiest.

Heaven

punky said: Do unto others.......I know from being a JW that I was far more open to people that treated me kindly than outright opposers or aggrovating people.

Yes, I agree, it's a good way to be. I am nice if they are nice.

If they become harassing, my demeanor changes, though, and I become very matter of fact. I am not afraid to play the authorities card with bullies. I don't have time for the BS of abuse. I'm not young any more. ;0)

I admire that you took some time to speak to him. As I said, my time is so limited I'm typically a "No thanks, not interested." as I walk past and keep on walking kind of person. Maybe one day I'll have the time.

13

Resurrection - cell phone edition

by Simon in

i have an oldish phone - a samsung galaxy s3.

i don't feel the need for anything faster or better because i don't use it a ton.

i hardly ever call anyone or have anyone call me and it's mostly used for emergency remote access to the forum, to play the odd game and to text the kids to let them know i'm picking them up or they want to be picked up from somewhere (maybe i should sign up as an uber driver?

Heaven

Thank you for posting this Simon. I have the same phone and do not feel the need for anything newer (read more expensive).

I signed up with a plan that includes only voice and texting (no data). So far it's doing ok. I don't use my phone for a lot right now. I assume I will need data at some point but I'm good for now.

I will keep your handy tip in mind should I see a need to get this 'ancient' phone to run better.

24

I was 'witnessed(tm)' to

by punkofnice in

i was walking to town and i was approached by a smart young man.

"can i interest you in this," he said and handed me a small card with jw.org printed on it.. "oh, blimey," i said.

"i'm an athiest.

Heaven

punky, I admire your style, engaging and not hostile, but at the same time, trying to plant a few seeds.

'JW vending machine' ... lol. At least you didn't call it 'The Apathy Cart'. ;0)

9

Interesting article considering what's happening begging for money in the congregations

by JakeM2012 in

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/14/us/sunday-stickup/index.html.

i thought this article had some interesting interesting comments including this, "if a pastor or church leader has ever told you that the bible commands christians to tithe or give 10% of their income; hit you up for multiple offerings during one service; made you march up front to give; asked you to donate to a mysterious "building fund" or give a "first-fruit" offering; or even given special recognition to big givers in your congregation, lee and other pastors have a message for you:.

you are getting played.. these rituals, they say, violate new testament teachings about how and why people should give.

Heaven

Religion is... Exploitation and Extortion.

182

The Case for Theism

by FusionTheism in

"theism" here means "belief in a god" or "the worldview that an intelligent designer created the universe and life.

" ("god" here means a being with a mind who initiated and/or wound-up the universe, and designed life on earth)the most common claim that i see atheists making on twitter, is that "no evidence" exists in support of belief in a god.this post will remove any excuse atheists have for claiming "no evidence exists" in support of an initiator.

atheists can still reject this evidence as "weak," but they cannot truthfully say it does not exist.now, it is true that we do not have "observable, repeatable, falsifiable, empirical, scientific" evidence conclusively proving that an initiator exists, but we do have many lines of philisophical, experiential, and logical evidence.and... here... we... go:1:) many leading scientists, including stephen hawking, say that the space-time-matter universe had a beginning at the singularity/big bang.

Heaven

crazyhorse said: It amazes me how atheists can be SO certain that there is no God. At least having an agnostic view is plausible.

crazyhorse, this certainty comes from an understanding of religious claims, Biblical claims, a lack of evidence to support the claims, evidence that refutes the claims, and a study of history, archeology, geology, biology, etc.

As cofty has said before, one needs to define what is meant by 'god'. There have been so many different beliefs and so many different gods, especially in the various regions of the Earth (the Celts had their Gods, the Greeks had theirs, the Middle Easterners had theirs and so on). Many of the various pantheons have similar deities. The Israelites and Jews had Yahweh (El), the Greeks had Zeus. The Bible originates in the Middle Eastern pantheon.

As a child, I was taught that 'God' was Jehovah, also called Yahweh. I have since learned that prior to the name Yahweh, he was known as El. He is supposed to be our loving heavenly father. Yet when you read the Bible, he comes across as spiteful, vengeful, and quite hateful, particularly in the Old Testament. In the ancient middle East, when one tribe overthrew another tribe, the defeated tribe would typically adopt the victorious tribe's god. After all, their god must be weaker because they lost.

I have also learned that Yahweh was the Canaanite god of war and adopted by the Israelites and Jews. For me, this is not the type of god I want to be worshipping or following.

The Israelites at one point were polytheistic. Asherah was worshipped as the consort of Yahweh and 'the Queen of Heaven'. What happened to her? What has happened to all the other goddesses?The god Ba'al (Hadad) was also worshipped. He was the son of El.

As a child, I was taught that the Bible was the inerrant, true word of God. Therefore, it follows, that if there is even 1 fact in the Bible that can be disproven, then the claim that the Bible is inerrant is false. You need look no further than the book of Genesis. The order of creation is incorrect. There are many others I won't go into as this would be quite long.

So, after all this, I am wondering .... exactly which god are you referring to, what is it that you believe in, and what is the foundation or facts you can state to support this belief?