Posts by konceptual99

141

Schoolyard bully mentality

by FusionTheism in

i'm not naming names, but i just want to encourage people on here or on reddit or twitter, and tell you that you do not have to tolerate people who act like schoolyard bullies in the way they speak to you online.

i think anonymity is a big part of it.

they feel like there is zero accountability so they can be a bully all they want.. i recommend just ignoring or blocking anyone who is verbally abusive or treats you like schoolyard bullies treated you.. life is way too short to spend any time dealing with those kinds of people..

konceptual99

In addition, why do atheists (9% of the population, maybe) think they have a monopoly on truth, or that they are so superior to the other 91% of people?

I don't know if the 9/91% split is correct but many of the 91% (if indeed it is 91%) are far more entrenched in their position as to having the monopoly on truth. Those that accept the scientific method are open minded enough to change their viewpoint as new evidence comes to light. Those that base their mindset on holy writings tend to far more close minded.

It's only when I started accepting that perhaps the interpretation of the Bible as presented in WT publications may not be correct that I really started making my own mind up about the world around me. It was only then my mind really opened up. It was only then that I really started applying reason and logic to how I really felt about things. Before then, all I was really doing was reflecting the stance of the WTS within a set of acceptable parameters, never really being challenged to consider all sides of an argument.

47

Cart Witnessing - Thrilling! Productive! Epic! Er.....um, well, not so much.....

by sir82 in

jw
friends

talked with a pioneer recently, she was recounting her first experience with cart witnessing.. she brought the subject up, was going on & on & on & on about how wonderful the experience was, and how great, and how she enjoyed it so much, and it was so wonderful, and oh jehovah's blessing, and on and on and on...... a few questions to her revealed what really happened:.

-- a jw who owns a small restaurant in a strip mall allows jws to set up their cart outside his restaurant.

-- the restaurant is tucked pretty far out of the way, not prominent at all.

konceptual99

There is a difference between plain ole' cart work and special metropolitan witnessing.

Cart work can be done by pretty much any adult publisher with the minimum of training.

Special Metropolitan Witnessing is invite only. You have to apply and then be approved. It's mostly pioneers that get the "privilege". This may involve cart work in high visibility areas but also other activities like kiosks and desks.

32

The Religion Of Rejection - And Now That Includes Me

by dubstepped in

due to some recent developments i find myself in a new place, and at this point i've lost all of my family and fri....oh that's right, i never really had any friends in the organization anyway.

just people that wanted something from me and a few people that i would invite to do things that occasionally said yes.

the recent rejections of me got me thinking, so let's take a rejection inventory.. i had to reject all of the holidays when my parents started studying.. i had to reject any worldly friends that i already had.. even family became rejected, and the new religion had some place in that.. i was rejected in school and bullied all of the time, not just because we were poor and i made good grades, but for jw reasons too.

konceptual99

Great post. How is your wife with all of this?

22

Kingdom Halls for sale - Australia

by no-zombie in

this appeared on the abc news website this morning.. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-09/sale-of-jehovah-witnesses-halls-an-expansion-plan/6533544.

and here are the halls.http://www.commercialview.com.au/211-yorktown-road-craigmore-sa/commercial-for-sale-details-8894836 http://www.commercialview.com.au/8-james-street-crafers-sa/commercial-for-sale-details-8890348 http://www.commercialview.com.au/53-woodside-road-lobethal-sa/commercial-for-sale-details-8915140when is the branch going to sell your hall?

konceptual99

And..

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-09/sale-of-jehovah-witnesses-halls-an-expansion-plan/6533544

45

New Thought About Active J.W.'s

by The Searcher in

from my own observations & conversations with selected active j.w.

's, here are my conclusions:.

's are very rapidly falling into two distinct camps -.

konceptual99

Interesting....

I know of 4 young people that have stopped attending meetings in my area in the past few weeks. I also just heard about a married brother with a couple of kids in a neighbouring congregation that has said he does not want to attend any more. According to the local grapevine it's because he is too into his high powered job and frequent global travel.

Being an instagram follower of him and seeing a few of his posts regarding science I suspect the reality is somewhat closer to him realising TTATT rather than Satan luring him away with his evil job...

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.

konceptual99

I am pretty sure Fusion that I asked you on a previous thread to point to one example of where the Bible has actually added something to the body of scientific knowledge?

Is it possible to do so?

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.

konceptual99

Just opened my browser after being out for a few hours. Saw this thread title and then three little Viviane avatars on the right - I just burst out laughing, knowing opening the thread would see the OP ripped to shreds.

And so it came to pass....

55

Are Jehovah’s Witnesses losing the War on Apostates

by Watchtower-Free in

found this.

http://jwalumni.org/2015/06/08/who-are-jehovahs-witnesses-september-watchtower/.

by misha anouk on 8. june 2015 in news

konceptual99

Firstly - it's a good blog article from Watchtower-Free, just a shame that this site was not mentioned in the list of influential sites critical of the Witnesses, especially as the whole blog post is posted here.

Secondly, the whole section leading up to where TOMO talks about apostates is telling. He mentions not having doubts, even so called "legitimate" ones, saying that one should simply stop having them, go back to why one came into the "truth" in the first places and consider the unity of doctrine. Nothing about addressing genuine questions that doubting ones have time and time again. No concessions or quarter given.

The GB know that there are no genuine answers to so many of the questions that those waking up to TTATT have. All they can do is peddle the same old line about sweeping concerns under the carpet. I am convinced that the only reason there is not a flood of people exiting the organisation is that the social implications are too great.

30

How many times were you told, "You Just Don't Qualify Yet to be an Elder"

by John Aquila in

you think it's the holy spirit that appoints the elders, at least that's what new jw males are told.

the culture within the organization dictates to all young male jehovah's witnesses that unless you are an elder, you will not get the sultry, passionate- brunette, the voluptuous, curvaceous,- blond, or the seductive, erotic, red headed-vamp..

so unaware of the social forces that are shaping your mind, you succumb to the dictum issued by the governing body to conform to the structure already in place- if you want to be successful.

konceptual99

Was an MS for 20 years. I was constantly told I did not qualify to be appointed as an elder because I did not do enough FS hours. Holy Spirit my arse.

76

By “evolution,” we mean “macroevolution”—apes turning into humans, for example.

by FadingTruth in

august 2015 awake .

quote in title taken from article footnote.. anyone have information on who gene hwang and yan-der hsuuw in the article are?.

why do they repeatedly state that apes turned to humans when that's not what evolutionists teach at all?.

konceptual99

First I just want to say I fully accept what science says about evolution, even though I have a strong Christian faith in Jesus and the Bible.
There are many, many ways that the Bible can harmonize with and complement modern science.
It's a deceptive false controversy to argue that you can only accept science OR God.
This is not an either/or situation.

As I started to wake up, evolution was one the things that I was really struggling to harmonise with the Bible. I really wished I could have it both ways but the more I looked into evolution and the more I thought about the ineffectualness of God the more it simply became impossible for me to accept that evolution could have anything to do with any God and that everything around me pointed to the whole concept of God being illogical.

The Bible has added the sum total of zero items of any note to the body of scientific knowledge. Science owes zero to the Bible and everything to man questioning the world around him and being prepared to ignore the preconceptions enforced through religious belief.

I accept that there are many people who do accept evolution and have a faith in God. I respect their (and your) right to hold this view. All I am saying is that In my deconstruction of my beliefs I very quickly got over this possibility as to me there is almost as little logic and reason in it as my original beliefs as a Witness.