Since mentally freeing myself of JW teachings I have learnt that there is zero reason to believe in any kind of supernatural force and that respect for others and the environment around us is enhanced by this understanding. Why? Because you are forced to focus on human qualities, appreciate this life is all we have and that no one other than ourselves can make a positive difference to the world and the people around us.
konceptual99
JoinedPosts by konceptual99
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16
My Conclusion After Research
by Disassociated Lady 2 insince leaving the jws i have looked into many beliefs and have come to this conclusion.. paganism has a high regard for women, as they worship goddesses and respect the female for the ability to give birth to new life.
christianity puts females in second place to males and blames women for male temptations which goes back to eve eating the fruit and tempting adam with it.
they also created a devil with the appearance of the pagan god pan and built churches on pagan worship sites so that people would still go there to worship, but within a christian building.. i have come to the conclusion that paganism versus christianity is about a battle of the sexes.. the fear of demonic forces is taught by religions to deter you from straying.
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IBSA (Watchtower UK) property portfolio for sale
by betterdaze inbehold: ibsaproperty.com“the extensive ibsa property portfolio in north london is now being brought to the market.”ibsa moved to the leafy london suburbs of mill hill in the late 1950’s.
since then, expansion has required the acquisition of further properties in the immediate area, and in some cases further beyond.
in recent years, relocation to a single site which would offer greater economy of operation became more than a matter of interest, and in 2014 a suitable site in chelmsford, essex was purchased.
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konceptual99
As with the NY property the criticism is not really about the fact they have property to sell. As a publishing organisation they needed facilities to run an operation and they can't be blamed for when property prices have escalated so much.
The issue for me is about the contradictions with how they tell members to live and how they solicit time and money from them. The encourage members to reduce their footprint in the world whether that is with their education, their job, their work and their social lives. They want people to invest more of their time and energy in activities that are beneficial to the WTS such as preaching and, more critically, volunteer support for building works.
They have used volunteer labour to renovate these properties. They have grabbed hard earned cash from congregations all over the world to improve their cash flow whilst they wait for the windfalls from property sales yet still maintain they need more help, more money, more support.
People that have spent their lives loyally moderating their footprint in the world have nothing to show for their years of servitude yet here is the WTS cashing in on their property portfolio.
How many bethel workers or those that have given up time and money to work as construction volunteers could afford to live in one of the apartments they are selling? How many will get one penny of the oodles of cash soon to floating around WT coffers?
For that matter, how many of the worlds poor, displaced, needy or ill will get one penny of this cash dripping through the fingers of the GB?
That's what makes this whole situation completely sickening...
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583
What is the purpose of life?
by slimboyfat inwhile reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.
because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".
i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.
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konceptual99
JM...
Science as we know today was invented in a recent time by Christians.
k99
Erm... what about the Book of Optics by Alhazen, a muslim?
JM
Science is a method not books. A book about optics is not about the scientific method.
Some books are validated by the scientific method and assimilated to scientific knowledge.
One idea from a Catholic friar became directly a part of the very scientific method, for example.
Of course science about the method and you claim the scientific method was invented by Christians. If you knew anything about this book you would see that it is acknowledged as one of the earliest examples of the scientific method being applied to a present empirical evidence on a subject. Alhazen (or to give him his Islamic name Ibn al-Haytham) was one of the first theoretical physicists and was just one of a number of scientists using experimentation to produce empirical evidence in the middle east during the middle ages.
Their work fed into the renaissance scientists in Europe.
You can dismiss the Greeks if you wish but it is completely disingenuous to ignore the influence of the work done by middle eastern, Muslim, scientists some considerable time before scientists in Western Europe further developed the scientific method.
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For Sale: 74 Adams St
by wifibandit inhttp://74adamsstreet.com/.
all pictures archived at http://imgur.com/a/rdrkx .
sample:.
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konceptual99
Look, look, look.... Come and buy our property that is perfect for turning into a mix of luxury, high rent income potential apartments and prime commercial space. It's in one of the most sought after areas of New York and offers the possibility to present a high end lifestyle and sales potential to your clients. The price is not cheap but we know that this property will make you millions of dollars after the investment you make into the buildings. Don't miss this fantastic commercial opportunity - buy it from us now!
The irony is that they can only sell a property like this to a large property investment company typically representing some of the most wealthy corporate and individual investors in the world. None of those people will be Witnesses. In fact they will normally be presented as the stereotypical fat businessman with their excess and greed. The apartments that are built will likely have no Witness occupants. They will be way out of the price range of most of them with their low to middle incomes - no city traders in their ranks, after all they have been told about keeping their eye simple and being a window cleaner so they have more time to stand by a trolley. How many Witness businesses will be likely to lease commercial space? None I bet - after all few Witnesses have built up sucessfull businesses that would be looking to expand into prime space like this.
They have the gall to impute bad motives to Witnesses who want to renovate or move house, suggesting a material eye yet here they are courting the NY real estate market with their shiny baubles. It's not their selling in itself that is so bad, it's the hypocrisy in how they have such double standards so openly.
Makes you sick.
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583
What is the purpose of life?
by slimboyfat inwhile reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.
because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".
i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.
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konceptual99
Science as we know today was invented in a recent time by Christians.
Erm... what about the Book of Optics by Alhazen, a muslim?
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583
What is the purpose of life?
by slimboyfat inwhile reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.
because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".
i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.
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konceptual99
The facts prove otherwise.
That summary post of yours referred to above is a brilliant synopsis of why events like the Asian tsunami simply cannot be explained away using typical JW reasoning. I remember reading it at the time and it really struck a chord as I was still trying to completely break the chains of cognitive dissonance. I really don't care if any accuses me of too much Cofty love - that was one of the best posts I ever read on this site.
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London K.H.'s - Which Ones Will Be Sold Off?
by The Searcher inaccording to the org's website, various congregations will be moving in with other congregations, effective january 1st 2017.
(i've only highlighted a couple) in all probability, their own k.h.
is/has been sold.
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konceptual99
"According to the org's website, various congregations will be moving in with other congregations, effective January 1st 2017."
I think Searcher has misread some of the info on the org website. Some congregations show a change for 1st Jan 2017 but only in meeting times at existing halls. This is where congs in the same hall are swapping meeting times.
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London K.H.'s - Which Ones Will Be Sold Off?
by The Searcher inaccording to the org's website, various congregations will be moving in with other congregations, effective january 1st 2017.
(i've only highlighted a couple) in all probability, their own k.h.
is/has been sold.
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konceptual99
I personally know a brother who works heavily on construction planning on the the LDC here in the UK. He very recently confirmed that they have been and continue to be look at EVERY SINGLE HALL here as to where consolidation can take place.
Of course there is some low hanging fruit. The large cities are already pretty sorted and areas of easy consolidation (e.g. Brighton) are being done but nowhere is safe. The next candidates will be halls requiring rebuilds or significant refurb. Clevedon is a great example. The hall had two congregations. They dissolved one congregation (Portishead), assigned the members to at least three other congregations, closed the hall and made everyone go to halls at least 20 mins drive away - which for parochial English brothers is like asking them to fly to the moon.
Make no mistake - this approach is being planned and executed everywhere.
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Easier to be a JW now?
by Xanthippe inreading konceptual's account of talking to cart 'witnesses' and it reminded me that when we left in '89 we thought the religion would do one of two things.
get more hardline, consequently lose members and eventually come to an end in some way.
or ease up on the members, fewer rules, less fs time, less meetings, just to keep them in.. all the recent apostate stuff, treatment of dfed kids and the hardline attitude to people who leave or try to fade has confused me, made me think they are harder on the r+f., but i don't think this is true.
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konceptual99
A JW said to me the other week, why don't you come back to the meetings? There's only two meetings a week now, and you can go on the carts instead of door to door. As like a selling point. There's also the implied threat that you are "bad association" if you don't go back to meetings.
Indeed SBF. They view the reduction in meetings, carts and use of video messages (which is just a new version of the foot in the door and play a speech from Rutherford tactic from 80 years ago) on the ministry as "loving provisions" yet it's obvious that it's a strategy covering all the other points in your post.
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WT “Study” for 11th Sept 2016 – “Why Must We ‘Keep on the Watch’”?
by Nicholaus Kopernicus ini was really puzzled when i opened this edition of the wt magazine at the above “study”.
what on earth has this picture at the top of page 13 got to do with christian watchfulness?
i wasn’t making a connection at all.
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konceptual99
They keep using the phrase 'the light is getting brighter' when they change their doctrines but in reality, it's getting dimmer and dimmer.
Whilst I agree with the sentiment 100%, the WTS have not used the phrase about the "light getting brighter" for years. It persists in the mouthsof individual Witnesses but they have been at pains to use phrases that convey a slightly different tone such as "beliefs being clarified" or "progressive light".
They are trying to convey that things haven't really changed. Of course they have and the light is indeed getting dimmer and dimmer - they know less than they did 10,15, 20 years ago.