Posts by konceptual99

20

Millionaire JW Elder hypocrite?!

by Alostpuppydog in

so i know one should remove his own stick from his own eye before ones self judges another, but i noticed something.

it seems that the wealthy witnesses are the elders, the circuit overseers, the governing body... are they really different from any other 'worldly' religions or even organizations?

i mean look at the jewels the friggen pope wears.

konceptual99

In my experience much of the negative comments about those with wealth in the organisation are driven by jealousy. This applies to comments coming from both inside and outside of the organisation.

The WTS has never condemned wealth in itself or required a life of privation. Of course they are down on education, materialism and the pursuit of success in business or even a vocation but this is in the context of this being at the expense of spending time in WTS activities. If one can balance these together then the WTS loves them - we all know the prominent elders with wealth.

I have a relative who falls into this category and he has repeatedly entertained CO/DOs on his yacht, taken them flying, had them to stay at his high end property and indulged them in many other ways. Is he a hypocrite? Not overly. He spends most of his time, as it's pretty much spare, in WTS related activities. One of his kids has been in Bethel service for years and another has been a pioneer for years as well. He has his bad points but no one is perfect.

There are those who have skeletons in the closet, those who get passes on their kids' bad behaviour due to their position, those who upset others in business and so on. I have to say however I think this applies to many, it's not just rich elders who get to play the system - there are plenty of less wealthy elders who lord it over others and get to sweep things under the carpet.

As I say, I think many comments are simply down to the little green monster.

33

Is this another Trump backflip?

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

we've seen one backflip.

crooked hillary became a hard-working woman who deserves the nations praise (in his victory speech);.

now according to a uk newspaper:.

konceptual99

The real test comes when Putin decides to take a bit more of Ukraine, bomb a little more of Syria, put even more forces on the border with the Baltic states.

Trade protectionism, domestic policies on immigration, even less positive involvement with climate change management are all things that I think the rest of the world will cope with however the foreign policy decisions are where we shall really see if Trump is that interested in serving his nation and the rest of the world or if he simply wanted to win the race and flick Obama the bird as payback for ripping into him over the birth certificate nonsense all those years ago.

31

Fossilized foot prints, how do they explain it away?

by Crazyguy in

so there have been many sets of fossilized human footprints found in africa, italy, europe, britain and new mexico.

these foot prints are thought to be anywhere from 20,000 to 2 million years old.

so what do christians and jws do to try to explain these away.

konceptual99

Yes Master_Bob - you are right - the WT does not teach that the universe, including the Earth, was created as part of the creative days. My post did not mean to intimate that but on re-reading it through I can see that it does. To be fair, they also do mention that the age of the earth could be billions of years old in the Insight book.

Regardless, my point was that the WT uses very vague language to describe the length of the creative days which allows for a wide range of opinions which can easily lead to conflict with the scientific consensus. They can present a public persona of "the Bible and ourselves do not contradict science" whilst allowing individual members to hold completely nonsensical views.

5

The overlapping generation doctrine - The epitome of stupidity?

by evilApostate in

for years watchtower has taught that some of the people (anointed) who saw the events of 1914 will be alive to see the end of this system of things.

102 years later and the end is nowhere in sight; another failed prophecy.. to remedy the situation they have concocted some 'new light' in the form of the overlapping generation doctrine.

this new doctrine essentially states that the generation of 1914 consists of two groups of anointed whose lives overlap.

konceptual99

Everyone knows what a generation is except the GB.

Everyone knows what an apostate is except the GB

Everyone knows what a lie is except the GB

Everyone knows what creationism is except the GB

I am sure there must be many other words that the GB have their own definition for...

31

Fossilized foot prints, how do they explain it away?

by Crazyguy in

so there have been many sets of fossilized human footprints found in africa, italy, europe, britain and new mexico.

these foot prints are thought to be anywhere from 20,000 to 2 million years old.

so what do christians and jws do to try to explain these away.

konceptual99

It's true they are not dogmatic about the 7000 years anymore. It's true they refer to the periods in indeterminate terms. It's true they don't think the creative days were 7000 years long.

What you will not find in WT literature however is any rejection of short timescales for the age of the earth. You will not find any outright acceptance of the scientific concensus.

I would agree that few younger witnesses would think in terms of or perhaps even know about a creative day of 7000 years but if that's what an individual witness wishes to believe, as some old timers still do, then there is nothing in current WT literature to say they need to change their view.

It's typical WT obfuscation about the acceptance of scientific fact and concensus - keep it ambiguous, keep it from promoting confidence in science but avoid outright conflict with science so the sound bites for the public can be kept sweet....

31

Fossilized foot prints, how do they explain it away?

by Crazyguy in

so there have been many sets of fossilized human footprints found in africa, italy, europe, britain and new mexico.

these foot prints are thought to be anywhere from 20,000 to 2 million years old.

so what do christians and jws do to try to explain these away.

konceptual99

Yup - it's a case of looking at what the WTS actually says rather than what they would like to think they say.

Sure they don't have a position that is 100% in opposition with science anymore but the way it is cached is hardly a ringing endorsement for science and critical thinking.

31

Fossilized foot prints, how do they explain it away?

by Crazyguy in

so there have been many sets of fossilized human footprints found in africa, italy, europe, britain and new mexico.

these foot prints are thought to be anywhere from 20,000 to 2 million years old.

so what do christians and jws do to try to explain these away.

konceptual99

The 7000 year long creative day argument has not been 100% fully rejected. What they have said is that the creative days could be many 1000s of years long, allowing for a time range from their old doctrine right up to the 4.6 billion years that science suggests. They are not so dogmatic about 7000 years but they've not said anything that puts the idea completely to bed.

Of course, most modern day Witnesses just go with the science as it's less controversial however there are still ones around who think of far shorter timescales, some still thinking the dinosaurs were around with Noah. I know - some of them are in my congregation....

The current WT stance allows them to be pedantic about suggesting they agree with the scientific community without ever really distancing themselves from a position that weakens their secular credibility, It's doublespeak just like their silly statements about creationism.

11

KH for sale--Ryde --isle of Wight--UK

by stan livedeath in

sheer joy.. the local kingdumb hall is up for sale.

a quick build from 1984. i went in there once--for a relative's wedding.

half a million pounds.. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/commercial-property-for-sale/property-44198850.html.

konceptual99

Presumably then the Ryde cong is off to meet at Shanklin or Newport.

I used to know some people on the IoW - I remember one high up elder Steve(?) Joshua who had a son called Jevron. I think he got DF'ed.

22

So.....Blended VS Single Malt

by ctrwtf in

jw
friends

just wondering.

for you scotch lovers, i've been partial to singles for a long time, but was recently given a bottle of johnnie walker green.

i think i've fallen in love.

konceptual99

Blended Oh dear....

13

"Don't you want our kids to have what we had?"

by schnell in

my wife just asked me this.

my answer, in no uncertain terms, is no.

we both grew up in the dub religion.

konceptual99

You are correct Room 215 in that there are indeed many liberally minded JWs - I was one. The problem is that all the time these ones mitigate for the organisation's faults and allow the cognitive dissonance to work against their better judgement they are locked into the basic control mechanisms that prevent one from becoming mentally free.

It's almost worse for me that my wife remains in this state as if she were an uber loyal fundamentalist as I could feel less aggrieved at what is essentially wilful ignorance. She is quite capable of grasping the issues but cannot get over the CD. I can't blame her as she is as much of a victim of circumstance as I was but it actually requires even more CD when you have a more "balanced" worldview since there is less of what is normal to most people that you outright reject.