Posts by truth_b

49

How Many People Here Still Believe In “God”?

by minimus in

jw
friends

because of this site i realized that there were many people who were active jehovah’s witnesses really didn’t believe in god at all.

i’m curious how many people believe in god?

i’m not interested in debating why you shouldn’t have a belief in a god or should.

truth_b_known

The question "Who still believes in God?" is grammatically incorrect due to it being intellectually dishonest.

"Who..." - "Of all living humans..." This is grammatically acceptable as well as intellectually honest.

"Still..." - "After examining all the evidence..." This is grammatically acceptable as well as intellectually honest.

"Believes..." - "Holds an opinion that is not necessarily based on facts..." This is grammatically acceptable as well as intellectually honest.

"In..." - A better choice of words would be "the existence or past existence."

"God" - Here is the biggest problem. "God" is implied to be the YHWY, Jesus, Allah of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic faiths. To accept the existence of one of these 3 you must accept the existence of the gods of all faiths exist. The factual evidence used in an attempt to prove the existence of "God" also proves the existence of all "gods".

So a the better way to word the questions "Why still believe in God?" would be -

"Who among all of us, after examining all the evidence, holds an opinion that is not necessarily fact based that there exists or there has been in existence the gods of human religion?"

53

Which is better minimum wage or minimum income?

by hoser in

jw
friends

we were having this discussion in the office the other day and we came to the conclusion minimum wage is better because it still adds to the economy vs minimum income which someone could potentially stay at home and do nothing and still get paid without producing a thing for the greater economy.. thoughts?.

truth_b_known

In the United States we have a minimum wage - sort of...

I remember when I was in my early 20s, just before I started college, I believe the minimum wage was $5.25 where I was living. I applied for a job as a security guard with a small, local security company. I was told I had the job if I wanted it, but that they only paid $5.00 an hour and easy said that it was below minimum wage. I didn't care. I needed income.

In the US we import persons from impoverished nations who are willing to work for below minimum wage or for less than those who are currently doing the work. This is done both legally through work visas or illegally by paying criminal aliens in cash. Then, for those companies who do not wish to deal with the above they simply outsource their work to impoverished nations where persons are willing to work for much, much less then in the United States.

Labor has a value. Minimum wage will not support a person or a family. However, it is not the responsibility of private business to house, clothe, and feed people. Neither is it the responsibility of the government in a free society.

13

The FISA Memo, To Release Or Not To Release

by freemindfade in

was the doj, nsa, and fbi weaponized?

the biggest scandal of this era, or a false alarm by the gop?

i am skeptical what will come of it, however, some very strong reactions and words are coming from its existence and those who read it, also the fight to keep it secret is telling (reminds me of any cult trying to prevent people from reading damaging information).

truth_b_known

Release it.

I believe it will implicate some high level people who are no longer in office and the FBI.

I probably won't be released as it most likely contains information that casts a poor light on President Trump even though it will exonerate he and his campaign from collusion with the Russians.

22

It’s My Anniversary!

by jp1692 in

today is the four year anniversary of the last time i set foot in a kingdom hall.

it was the day of the kool-aid issue of the wt!

“at that time, the life-saving direction that we receive from jehovah’s organization may not appear practical from a human standpoint.

truth_b_known

Feels good!

14

May I ask for help about Egyptian chronology and Neolithic settlements?

by paradiseseeker in

jw
friends

one of the first things that shook my faith as a teenager was learning about egypt and how its history goes back as far as 3500 bc, much earlier than the flood.

also learning about the first settlements like çatalhöyük, which flourished around 7500 bc, much earlier than the creation of adam.

the only answer i got from my mother was that this world is dominated by satan and thus we cannot trust in worldly chronologies.

truth_b_known

You're going down the same road I did that eventually lead to me leaving Jehovah's Witnesses.

It sounds like evidence or facts don't matter if they conflict with the teachings of the Bible, especially with Jehovah's Witnesses.

Your mother is using circular thinking to negate your argument.

My favorite argument has always been that Superman is real because Action Comics tells us so. That is no different than stating that anything from the Bible is true if it is only found to be in the Bible.

12

144,000 v. Great Crowd Verses

by Ding in

we know that the wt claims all sorts of distinctions between the "anointed" 144,000 and the great crowd.

-- the "heaven" verses apply only to the 144,000; the "earth" verses apply only to the great crowd.

-- "unless you eat of the flesh of the son of man..." applies only to the 144,000, etc.. in fact, when you show jws some passage the wt doesn't follow, they often say, "oh, that only applies to the 144,000.".

truth_b_known

Interesting.

Have you made a list yourself and be willing to share?

35

what big change could bring down the watchtower?

by stan livedeath in

what single big change do you think could back fire and bring the cult down ?.

me: tithing..

truth_b_known

If the Watchtower told all the congregations that there will only be one meeting a week and that it will be at your local Assembly Hall, combined with other congregations (super congregations). Then the Watchtower sold all the Kingdom Halls. Every meeting the Accounts Overseer would say that they are in the red $15.00 X total number of publishers scheduled to attend. Literally having to raise on the average of $9,000.00 per meeting or about $500,000.00 per super congregation annually.

For many Witnesses this new arrangement would mean an hour or more commute one way per week per meeting and an expected donation of no less than $60.00 a family per meeting or $240.00 a month. All for a 2 hour weekly meeting. Field service meetings would be held after the meeting to plan the entire week's field service activity (i.e. "cart witnessing").

This business model...er, spiritual arrangement would bring in millions of dollars a year. This does not include the billions raised in the sales of Kingdom Halls, which, according to new light, are not longer required. After all, Moses to call the nation of Israel into small groups. Moses called big national conventions. Jesus preached to groups of thousands. It would only befitting of Jehovah's modern day organization to do the same.

56

George Lucas tinkering with Star Wars films

by LoveUniHateExams in

just thought i'd start a thread about lucas revisiting star wars films and making new edits - for better or for worse.. first off, let me say that george lucas has a tremendous imagination and star wars (1977), also known as episode 4: a new hope, and the empire strikes back (1980) - episode 5 in the franchise - are two of my favourite films.

.

as progress has been made in special effects, including the development of cgi, it makes sense for lucas to go back and retouch the spaceships, laser blasts and light sabres, improving what was 70s and 80s effects.. but i feel that lucas' tinkering has been a mixed bag - some have been bad choices, some unnecessary and others have been good.. what do you think ... .

truth_b_known

As a Star Wars purists snob, I only consider the following movies to be true Star Wars -

1. Rogue One

2. Episode IV - A New Hope

3. Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back*

* The Empire Strikes Back all the way to the point when Vader is about to reveal to Luke that he is his father. Stop the film just before he utters those words "No. I am your father."

George Lucas had help writing The first two films (A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back). Return of the Jedi is A New Hope with Muppets. Lucas wrote Episodes I, II, and III by himself and it shows. Pure garbage.

What about the new films - The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi?

Horrible! Absolutely horrible!

The Force Awakens is A New Hope 3.0. Rescue the Rebel and blow up the Death Star...I mean Starkiller Base.

My hope is that Disney will re-release the original trilogy in it's original form in Blu-Ray or 4KUHD.

52

Oprah For President!

by minimus in

jw
friends

i hope hollywood helps make her the democratic nominee.

she sounds like she’s testing out the waters.

good luck ms. winfrey.

truth_b_known

People in countries outside of the United States are shit scared of anything that Trump does in regard to foreign politics. For example. Recently he goes to Israel and lets the Israeli prime minister make Jerusalem the capital of Israel. There were enough tensions between them and the Palestinians as it was.

Just for clarification - Israel is considering moving their nations capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. President Trump decided that if such an event occurs he would recognize Israel's decision by moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Israel is a sovereign, recognized nation. President Trump did not let Israel do anything. Israel does as it pleases.

In addition, there will always be tensions between "Palestinians" and Israel as only Israel supports a two-state solution.

41

Do you have JW-related dreams (nightmares)?

by compound complex in

greetings, dreamers:.

i guess it's never going away: daytime carryovers of jw-related stuff seeping into my dreams.. the majority of these dreams take place at conventions but with really weird trappings.

last night i dreamed i arrived at the site with no books, no lunch, nothing but my car keys.

truth_b_known

I would say almost monthly if not weekly I have at least one dream related to being a JW. They usually involve a younger version of me, still living at home with me parents, but being consciously aware of the fraud the religion is. The setting is always at a meeting (usually the Kingdom Hall I remember first attending) or at a convention.

truth_b_known

Posts by truth_b_known