Posts by konceptual99

12

School for Kingdom Evangelizers Office Guidelines

by wifibandit in

school for kingdom evangelizers office guidelines skeog-e 10/14.

and to help you prepare for the ske .... bscc tests and answer keys.

konceptual99

Pretty interesting stuff as ever wifi...

Found a few little things from a quick skim..

What is the secret to a successful marriage? [F-13; w11 2/1 9 pars. 5-6; g 7/08 9 pars. 5-6]
The secret is love for God and willingness to apply the counsel contained in his Word, the Bible.

So it is impossible for a non JW, or even presumably a religiously divided, marriage to be successful.

How do graduates of Gilead School differ from Christendom’s missionaries? [O-20; jv525 par. 1]
Christendom’s missionaries have established hospitals, refugee centers, and orphanages to care for people’s material needs. Casting themselves in the role of champions of poor people, they have also stirred up revolution and participated in guerrilla warfare. In contrast, graduates of Gilead School teach people the Bible. Instead of setting up churches and expecting people to come to them, they call from house to house to find and teach those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

They minimise the charitable works like it's a badge of honour...

Explain the difference between the Governing Body and the various legal corporations. [H-14; w01 4/15 29, fourth question] [1]
While directors of a legal corporation are voted into office by its members, the Governing Body is ffi
not appointed by any man but is appointed by Jesus Christ.

Just confirmation of the hubris of the GB - chosen by Jesus so you'd better do what they say.

Overall there is nothing there that you won't find in the publications but interesting nonetheless.

Thanks for the post.

24

To all former Elders – what are your thoughts

by Tallon in

if you were part of a judicial committee, and knowing what you know now, what was it like for you to sit on jc’s?

how did you feel if someone was reproved or df’d?

were you ever on a jc and you disagreed with someone being reproved or df’d and were overruled – how did you feel?

konceptual99

I was never an elder (fortunately) but my father was for many years and I have known and been good friends with many. I was also an MS for decades, seeing and hearing loads.

From what I have seen and discussed with ones over the years both before my awakening and after, it is clear that every body has these two types of elders described by Cofty. The problem is that often the legalistic ones are the assertive bullies that dominate the rest of the body and then have their minions trying to be even more legalistic so as to try and impress them. The result - the more humanistic ones are the minority and in no position to promulgate change or influence a more loving arrangement.

At the end of the day most elders on a JC tell themselves they are doing what Jehovah is asking them to do. That's enough to deflect most, if not all, of any disquieting thoughts they may have.

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

konceptual99

Science includes abstract thinking and esoteric knowledge and discussions. The problem comes with SBF clearly not understanding some of the things he is quoting or discussing.

Of course science does include those things however Cofty, to his credit, tends to stick to the empirical. SBF seems to automatically want to introduce the philosophical whenever he sees Cofty present a position. I would suggest that some take Cofty's consistency with the empirical as dogmatism which, of course, is completely the wrong thing to do. Whether that perception drives SBF's responses to Cofty or not, sometimes his posts are certainly obtuse and potentially just pseudo-intellectual nonsense. The worst part is that then the discussion goes nowhere.

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

konceptual99

I enjoy both Cofty and Slims' posts.

Cofty's posts over the years have been instrumental in helping me develop critical thinking skills and see how the scientific method has consistently answered many, many questions about the universe and world around us. Regardless of how you read his posts he overwhelmingly refers to well researched, peer reviewed and well accepted material that presents empirical data to support hypothesis and theory.

SBF (IMHO) takes a more philosophical approach to things. Over the time I have been here there have been many encounters where SBF will, essentially, play devil's advocate. He'll extend the conversation beyond the pure scientific method to include more esoteric and abstract thinking.

From my own perspective sometimes SBF raises interesting points and invites thinking out of the box however other times the comments come across as being esoteric, even obtuse, just for the sake of being so. Sometimes this seems to raise strawman arguments. I would also say that it seems as soon as Cofty posts then SBF will post some philosophically based rebuttal. Sometimes this leads to the conversation simply being derailed.

I can see why Cofty would take this as trolling. On the other hand I think that SBF is one of the few posters on here that can argue for a different but still non-theistically based position. It's a shame that the engagement often leads nowhere.

44

The 1914 doctrine: How long it will last?

by opusdei1972 in

one hundred years have passed and the society still supports this lie, which of course, is the basis of their other lies, like that of the unfaithful and not discreet slave appointed in 1919. however, i wonder, what will happen after 50 years, when the overlapped generation will pass?.

and if you want, what will happen with this religion in 2100?, could it survive with the same lie??

?.

konceptual99

Fair point DOC.

44

The 1914 doctrine: How long it will last?

by opusdei1972 in

one hundred years have passed and the society still supports this lie, which of course, is the basis of their other lies, like that of the unfaithful and not discreet slave appointed in 1919. however, i wonder, what will happen after 50 years, when the overlapped generation will pass?.

and if you want, what will happen with this religion in 2100?, could it survive with the same lie??

?.

konceptual99

I think in the long term you are probably correct Finkel however they are about to spend several months raking it all up as they start reviewing the God's Kingdom Rules book in the CLAM meeting next week.

37

Second in the Medal Table - Well Done TeamGB

by konceptual99 in

can't believe it - gb is currently second in the medal table, with more golds and silvers combined than even china.

given the size of the nation it's an incredible achievement and we have won in some sports where other countries typically dominate.

i can't imagine we will stay in second but i am happy to enjoy the moment.. well done to the whole of team gb!.

konceptual99

And now our paralympians are absolutely smashing it in Rio. Brilliant!

3

The Other Prince (Buster ) Has Passed Away

by BluesBrother in

the king of jamaican ska.. an icon of his time and a giant of his genre has left us , i believe i his late seventies.

.

there was a time when prince buster records would be played at any live gig , between sets .r.i p..

konceptual99

Great loss. His influence on music is seriously underrated.

39

Is changing the "truth" / presenting "new light" really so bad?

by Zana in

jw
friends

playing devil's advocate here.... what's the difference between the gb changing bible interpretations compared to parliaments all over the world changing laws?

although the us constitution (=bible) remains untouched, congress passes i don't know how many new laws every year.

and of course people are expected to follow them.

konceptual99

When talking about this, one told me, you actually can. His example was a change about the question whether miscarriages or stillborn babies have hope of a resurrection or not. First the GB said, "No, they don't." But after receiving many letters from concerned JWs they changed this to "We don't know."

IF true then fair enough but this really is an exception. The GB are not immune to reason sometimes and have shied away from certain dogmatic statements over recent years.

You try having an open conversation with people in your local hall about things like:

- the biblical reasoning for the generation teaching and how it's changed over the years

- the complete lack of any evidence for a global flood

- the overwhelming evidence that man has been here for way over 6000 years

- whether or not the organisation needs any reform of it's child protection "policies"

- the increasing super-stardom of the GB

- the inconsistencies in the blood policy

- the UN scandal

- hypocrisy with the situations in Malawi and Mexico 50 years ago

- promoting change to the disfellowshipping policy

and so on....

The fact is that there is no way of being any kind of dissident without turning yourself into an apostate worthy of being DFed.

In this context, the GB deciding they don't actually know if still-born babies will be resurrected is of zero consequence.

39

Is changing the "truth" / presenting "new light" really so bad?

by Zana in

jw
friends

playing devil's advocate here.... what's the difference between the gb changing bible interpretations compared to parliaments all over the world changing laws?

although the us constitution (=bible) remains untouched, congress passes i don't know how many new laws every year.

and of course people are expected to follow them.

konceptual99

This "old light" "new light" shite really grates on me.
If "new light" comes out and replaces "old light" who got the "old light" wrong?

This is precisely why the GB has worked hard to try and remove the terms from the vocabulary of the Witnesses.

They have not used the terms in the context of doctrinal understandings for many years. The online library going back to 2000 has nothing with these phrases. "Progressive/increasing light" and "clarification" are the terms you should use. They don't even use terms that would suggest what went before has changed.