truth_b_known

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Posts by truth_b_known

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  34

  Why did Jehovah Kill all the animals in the flood? What purpose did it serve??

  by pistolpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some of my jw family that is waking up posed that question to my jw family that is still hanging on to jw belief.. the stepbrother that posed that question told me;.

  "in all these years of being a jw, i actually never gave it much thought as to why jehovah had to kill millions of innocent animals that had nothing to do with mankind becoming evil.".

  i keep picturing in my mind, all the baby puppies and kitties that were destroyed by jehovah.

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  truth_b_known

  2 Kings 19:35 states 1 angel killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers while they were sleeping. A global flood seems rather silly. There is no evidence of a global flood. It seems the global flood in Genesis was plagiarized from the Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh.

  With that being stated, the Epicurean ideology or philosophy of the "Problem with Evil" isn't proof of there being no god or that if there is a god this god is uncaring.

  Pain and suffering are not the same. Pain is inevitable. Suffering is a choice. Suffering is how we respond to pain. Animals do not suffer. Some animals and organisms are not even capable of feeling pain. Pain is a safety mechanism to protect us from harm.

  Consider that suffering and pain are often confused, but in fact are not identical. Pain produces suffering, but suffering can be produced by things other than pain, generally speaking by negative emotional states. That pain and suffering are not identical is also shown by the fact that people may experience pain and not suffer from it.

  As far as where the human concept of empathy comes from - evolution. Primates have developed a sense of looking at something else in pain and the brain responding by basically saying "How would I feel if I were having that experience?" From this evolutionary advancement humans developed empathy which in turn gave birth to what we call morality. It is an advanced survival mechanism. Everything our body does, including brain functions, is a survival mechanism.

  Philosophically, good cannot exist without bad as light without dark or pain without pleasure. The Hindu belief system describes all life as god, playing a part or a role in a drama that exists over an aeon. Like any drama, there is a protagonist and an antagonist. As long as good is winning and bad is losing we are content. However, we have gone astray with the idea that good must win and bad must lose. This would end the drama/play and the story would be over. Stories ending often generate anxiety. Anxiety is a form of suffering.
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  17

  An American Religion?

  by no-zombie in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have a question.. have every member of the governing body (past and present) been american citizens?.

  while i understand that some may have been born outside of the us, ultimately to serve in the world hq long term, i imagine that they all had to become 'americans'?.

  no zombie.

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  truth_b_known

  The Watchtower was, is, and will always be a business. The Watchtower was founded in the U.S. It is an American corporation. That about sums it up.
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  157

  Systemic Racism: What’s Your View? Is it As Pervasive As Some Suggest?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the president of the united states says we have to do something about this.

  many politicians and people agree that we are all affected by the scourge of systemic racism.

  what’s your view of this?

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  truth_b_known

  Simon:

  You bring up a great point that I always pondered. It is the idea that something is wrong if percentages aren't equal.

  If X% of the population is <insert ethnicity> then all aspects of society my be made up of the same percentage of that ethnicity. Case in point - prison population. If 10% of the population is a specific ethnicity that nation's prison population must be 10%. If it is more or less the criminal justice system is prejudicial.

  However, when things seem way off kilter it does merit the asking of questions.
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  157

  Systemic Racism: What’s Your View? Is it As Pervasive As Some Suggest?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the president of the united states says we have to do something about this.

  many politicians and people agree that we are all affected by the scourge of systemic racism.

  what’s your view of this?

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  truth_b_known

  Racism - the belief that different races possess distinct characteristics, abilities, or qualities, especially so as to distinguish them as inferior or superior to one another (Oxford Dictionary).

  It was once believed there were 3 races, Caucasoid, Mongoloids (including Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and American Indians, etc.), and Negroid. Khoisanoids or Capoids (Bushmen and Hottentots) and Pacific races (Australian aborigines, Polynesians, Melanesians, and Indonesians) may also be distinguished.

  In the past, Caucasoid human societies believed and propagated the belief Caucasoid persons were superior to non-Caucasoid persons. Asking biologists, "race" is synonymous with "subspecies". There are no subspecies in the species Homo Sapiens. Scientifically it is impossible for humans to be racist against. Homo Sapiens could be racist against Neanderthal, and vice versa.

  Is there prejudice and bigotry among humans based on ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, etc.? Yes. Is it systemic in the United States? I guess it depends on what system is being referred to.

  By statutory law in the United States government and its agents are prohibited from discriminating against persons do to the person's ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, national origin, or religion. By design there is no systemic prejudice in the United States government. If agents of the government discriminate (i.e. act on prejudices as listed) the are in violation of law and should be sanctioned.

  Is there socio-economic disparities seen which effect ethnic minorities in the United States at a higher per capita percentage? Yes.
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  16

  3 Types of People?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as a rule, there are 3 types.

  one is the dramatic over the top person where a hangnail means you might have to get your finger cut off.. the second type is —who me, worry?

  i’m not going to let too much of anything bother me unless it really is armageddon.. the third type is the person in between.

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  truth_b_known

  
  
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  15

  The GREATEST—EMERGENCY RESPONDER-----JEHOVAH GOD!

  by pistolpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is not mine, and i check and didn't see me posting it in the past, but it’s appropriate with what covid did to the door to door preaching work.. considering we are living in the last days, and everlasting life is at stake……….

  and the only means of salvation ------is the preaching work……... why would jehovah allow door to door preaching to stop for a whole year-----maybe longer?????.

  all jehovah’s witnesses never noticed how dumb the door to door preaching work actually is.. jehovah is the greatest emergency responder.

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  truth_b_known

  If you have $10,000.00 you have $10,000.00. The moment you receive it you know exactly what it is and what it is worth. It is your money. You can do with it as you see fit.

  Persons may try to convince you that you can use your money to make money through a process called "investing". You trade a part or all of your $10,000.00 in exchange for a profit.

  Often the greater the advertised promise the greater the risk. Guaranteed returns on investments are usually low. Higher profits come with the risk of no return and a loss of all or some of your initial capital, your initial investments.

  Some investments are actually fraudulent. The may be Ponzi schemes are outright theft. An indicator of such advertises investment opportunities that are actually fraudulent schemes are promises of unusually high returns.

  You might get up to a 2% return on guaranteed investments such as a savings account with a bank. You might get a potential for 7%, 8%, or sometimes higher on investments such as stocks or bonds. However, when someone advertises returns in double digit percentages such as 15%, 20%, or higher, this is a warning sign that you may be a target of a fraudulent scheme.

  As humans we know that the moment we are conceived in our wombs we have a maximum number of days of life already programmed into our DNA. We might lower that number by our lifestyle choices. Choices made by other may cause an even more dramatic reduction in that number of day.

  To live 80 years is to live 29,200 days. Some may try to convince you to invest some of those days in activities that might extend your days. Good clean living. Healthy diet, exercise, and abstaining from activities that can harm our bodies are often solicited to us. The returns on such investment of our time may net 5% - 10% giving us a few more years of life. In the end, you have 29,200 days of life. They are your 29,200 days of life. You can do with them as you see fit.

  So, what if someone offered you an investment deal. For 100% of your days of life they promise you an investment return beyond 1,000,000,000%. In fact the return is an infinite number of days of life in net return.

  Does it sound too good to be true? Does it sound like a scam?

  We all have something in common - we received an investment opportunity that sounds even less rational than an unsolicited e-mail from a Nigerian prince asking for our bank account number in exchange for a $1 million. The e-mail is from the extension @JW.org.
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  15

  Transparency Questions

  by Vanderhoven7 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  here are some questions to ask witnesses.

  how would you alter or improve or add to them?.

  transparency questions.

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  truth_b_known

  Martin Luther is responsible for having 7 books removed from the Bible. Luther's list of books to remove also included Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation. The reason Luther wanted to have all these books removed was because these books conflicted with his teaching of of saved by faith alone without works. Does your Bible translation remove the same 7 books because your religion teaches saved by faith alone?

  Why do those who take the lead in your religion refuse to apologize, let alone acknowledge, their mistakes in doctrine, later changed, that adversely affected your membership such as those who went to prison for not accepting mandatory alternative service offered in lieu of compulsory military service by the government or of those who died for refusing to accept medical treatment involve blood fractions?
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  7

  Procedure Question Involving GB to Make JWs Think

  by truth_b_known in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  since leaving the jws the governing body upgraded their status to being the "faithful & discreet slave".

  in a sense, the gb declared themselves the 8 popes of wallkill.

  absolute, unquestioning loyalty to the gb has become the central belief of the watchtower and declared the only source of salvation for the "great crowd".. the gb has instructed their followers to believe what they say and only believe what they say.

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  truth_b_known

  The publishers will follow the direction of the Organization.

  Oh, absolutely!

  Close associated members would go about selecting new GB members, looking for those who are anointed so forth.
  No question they would be replaced.
  Newly found spirit directed FDSL would be initiated.
  After prayer of course.

  I agree 100%. However, I believe we see certain individuals at Bethel start to sharpen their knives. I am sure it would look similar to the Rutherford hostile takeover.
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  42

  What’s Your View On Self Defense?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if someone comes to you with a knife or a gun, would you defend yourself if you could?

  if someone tried to beat you up , would you physically engage, run away or just try to talk the person out of beating you up or robbing you?

  if you did have a gun to defend yourself would you shoot to kill or would you simply aim for the ankle to incapacitate the person?

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  truth_b_known

  Violence is ugly. It doesn't matter who uses it. It doesn't matter how it is used. Our brains are geared to fight, freeze, or run when we see it.

  Like a tool, violence just sits there, inanimate, waiting for someone to pick it up. Violence is neither good or bad. It is a tool. Like any other took it can be used for good or it can be used for bad. So, it is in the way the user wields the tool that determines how it should be viewed.
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  42

  What’s Your View On Self Defense?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if someone comes to you with a knife or a gun, would you defend yourself if you could?

  if someone tried to beat you up , would you physically engage, run away or just try to talk the person out of beating you up or robbing you?

  if you did have a gun to defend yourself would you shoot to kill or would you simply aim for the ankle to incapacitate the person?

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  truth_b_known

  If you did have a gun to defend yourself would you shoot to kill or would you simply aim for the ankle to incapacitate the person??

  Firearms are a deadly weapon. First regardless of the shooter's training level, attackers rarely stand perfectly still. Second, when arteries are opened, death can happen in seconds. If you shoot it is reasonable to assume that death will result.

  Self defense is a natural right. The greatest miracle of all if life. It should be protected.