Posts by inbetween

37

Did God Invent Swords? - Logic Fallacies and Anachronisms

by cognisonance in

we need not conclude that our loving creator was the first one to make what we know as swords.

adam and eve saw turning in front of the angels something that was blazing.

by the time moses wrote the book of genesis, swords were well-known and used in warfare.

inbetween

tec, if it was to symbolize an impregnable barrier, why not describe it as "high wall" around it.

A sword, today and back then, symbolizies a weapon designed for killing. Any reader would have understood it that way.

58

Any gamers here?

by poopsiecakes in

jw
friends

i can't stop playing skyrim.

how did this happen?

i was never into this stuff before and never thought i would be.

inbetween

Gamer here too, love Skyrim on my PS3, and the quest about the "love of Mara" really had me thinking I´m in field service

I would recommend mass effect and dragon age as well.

26

"Keep yourselves in Gods Love"...JW`s and masturbation video #22

by smiddy in

i just looked to see if this video is still on the official jehovah`s witness website "keep yourselves in gods love " ( deaf and sign language # 22 ) and it is.

notwithstanding whether it is appropiate for signers to be explicit or not, depending on what signage they use, the real question should be, why are the governing body of jehovah`s witnesses so concerned that their members are masturbating or not.it is not an issue in the bible .why are they delving into something that quite frankly does not concern them ?.

smiddy.

inbetween

KS. yes I agree, most religions have codes for controlling sexual desires, however, point is, even from the bibles view, that this is done in order to prevent damage to others or one self (e.g. sexual transmitted deseases, broken marriages, abuse or even rapping)

when it comes to masturbation, its something virtually everybody growing up does, it does not harm neither one self nor anybody else (normally, perverted people is a different story) however, with strict rules like in JW, poeple feel guilty and unworthy.

Intended or not, but feeling of guilt will urge poeple to compensate with more field service, donations or whatever...

I agree, sexual desires in a civilzed world need to be controlled, but not condemned like the org does...

62

At what age do people 'wake up'?

by Splash in

i was thinking about this question recently after being at the meeting when new pioneers were announced for the 2013 service year.. we have a dozen or so pioneers in the congregation, and most are in their 20's.

some absolutely love the things they are taught and can't wait to spread the good news.. others in the congregation are going through the motions, tired of hearing the same old same old but have no way to change things now.

then there are a couple like me.

inbetween

It may not be a certain age, it can be a traumatic event, that helps start thinking.

For me, it was different, I always wanted to look at facts, avoid being close minded. However, most research i did, was in WT -library...still I found somethings always questionable, like blaming 1975 fiasco on the brothers, or believing that tigers, sharks etc in paradise will eat straw...

In my case, it was this open mindset, that when I stumbled across facts regarding blood policy I just soaked all the information up like a dry spounge, the beginning of a fast, depressing but also exciting road, to where I stand now after three years as an agnostic, who formally is still in because of family....

I remember, I always was curious for information, even pre internet, I looked secretly in a book written by a former member (very popular in my area, many book stores displayed it in the early nineties) but he wrote lies and half-truths, which confirmed by belief in the org, rather than destroyed it.

Well, but if you really appreciate facts, sooner or later, the time comes and they will shine through myth. Point is, a person has to be ready to accept it even if it may go against wishful thinking...

37

New light or did the speaker just pull this out his wazoo?

by pubtruth in

i went to the last day of the dc here in west palm beach, just to make my mother company.

wow, what a difference can a year outside the lie can do to perception.

it was the same crap as you'd expect but there is a plot twist: the speaker was so into the talk he was actually starting to shout and wound up mentioning that they now know how many angels will be needed to destroy everyone at armaggeddon.

inbetween

EE maybe you can make another calculation considering how many Thor would be able to kill

37

New light or did the speaker just pull this out his wazoo?

by pubtruth in

i went to the last day of the dc here in west palm beach, just to make my mother company.

wow, what a difference can a year outside the lie can do to perception.

it was the same crap as you'd expect but there is a plot twist: the speaker was so into the talk he was actually starting to shout and wound up mentioning that they now know how many angels will be needed to destroy everyone at armaggeddon.

inbetween

how stupid, he probably calculated almot 7 billion people divided by 185.000 (thats how many Assyrians one angel killed), and cam to 37.000 angels needed.

Fur sure nobody said it during our DC, it was perhaps just the idea of the speaker, nothing official...

27

Do Elders Have A Reasonable Expectation Of Privacy During Judicial Committees?

by DT in

jw
friends

i should point out that i'm not a lawyer and i'm not qualified to give legal advice.. there has been much discussion about judicial committees lately and how to handle and possibly record them.. naturally, the question of the legality of recording judicial committees is a concern.

my understanding of the law in the u.s. is that it is legal to record private conversations in most states provided at least one party consents to the recording.

in the other states, it is required to get the consent of all parties to record a private conversation.. however, it would be reasonable to ask whether or not a judicial committee is a private conversation and whether the elders have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

inbetween

wha happened said: "To invoke clerical priviledge, the individual confessing cannot be sanctioned in any way"

I think, this is a brilliant statement, because the society when its convinient, always likes to compare elders with clergy,

How is the situation really in countries, where the clergy possesses such a privilege, is it bound legally to the fact, that confessions cannot be sanctioned ? If that is the case, then sorry, WTS, no privilege for you guys, since confessing a serious sin to elders ends up in a judicial comitee, and that always will have snactions (reprove or dfd !)

30

Why do so many major characters in the NT change their jewish name to a greek one ?

by mP in

cephas/simon -> peter.

saul -> paul.

jesus -> christ.

inbetween

wow Leo, soo interesting and alyways well documented, thanks for all the effort.

are you available as an app for my smartphone ?

4

TV Report on JW in German

by inbetween in

for those who understand german:.

the german tv-channel pro7 broadcasted a program on wintesses last week, you can watch it still here:.

http://www.prosieben.at/tv/galileo/videos/clip/321351-zeugen-jehovas-1.3202746/.

inbetween

For those who understand German:

The German TV-channel Pro7 broadcasted a program on Wintesses last week, you can watch it still here:

http://www.prosieben.at/tv/galileo/videos/clip/321351-zeugen-jehovas-1.3202746/

The report must have been partly made with approval of Bethel in Selters, since they filmed there and interviewed brothers as well.

The report seemed largely fair and correct.

However, they interviewed a brother from bethel, Wolfram Slupina, which i beleive is the official Bethel speaker for media and press.

What he said, was quite disturbing. The report tells about the magazines, being published without the name of the writers. Being asked, why this is the case, the Bethel speaker answered, that this is done on purpose, because the author is Jehovah himself through inspiration !!

What ? Either he said some nonsense, mind you, he is not just some brother, he is an official from Bethel !, or it is the new viewpoint of the Org, they pride themselves now as being inspired. Before they always used to say, the mags are not inspired and can be wrong too....

the second disturbance was, when at the end of the report, he was asked about disfellowshipping. His reply was, that contact to dfd persons is broken on religious level. A typical example of double talk, we all know, that no witness is even allowed to say a simple hello to a dfd person (except relatives with necessary family business) What a bunch of deceivers and lyers...

Anybody seen this programm too ??

28

CO Visits... Are elders honest about the TRUE state of the congregation?

by Alfred in

this question is really for elders or ex-elders (or ministerial servants in the know).... did you find that some elders would tend to "white-wash" the true state of the congregation when they had their sit-down with the co every 6 months?.

did some elders feel pressure to hide certain things from a co for fear of being "removed" from the boe?.

(judging by the "fakeness" that some elders displayed during co visits, i have to wonder whether they were really worried about being removed for not seeking out inactives or encouraging more participation during the wt study, book study or fs...).

inbetween

pretty well described so far.

Consider the CO like a mid-level manager that comes to check up on the local outlet, and you understand most actions of the elders before the visit.

From my own experience, what really troubles most of them , is the sheperding issue, in no hall I ever was, the elders never tolf the truth, which was almost always, that there is hardly a real shperding being done....