Posts by Rivergang

90

What does the Catholic church think of JW?

by Halcon in

on a trip to rome a few years ago i asked my friend (who is roman and jw) what the catholic faith thinks of jw.

he simply stated that jw is tolerated by the church but that really not much thought is given to them.

is there an official stance on jw by the catholics?

Rivergang

Although if you’re willing to go far enough, almost everyone in Europe is everyone else’s fourteenth cousin

In all likelihood, the link between the former Pope Dominic and Stefanie Brzakovic (nee Blabst?) is probably something as described above:

- i.e. There is indeed a connection somewhere, but using the noun "cousin" to describe the relationship might be taking the meaning of that term just a little too far!

(Bearing in mind that the most effective form of propaganda is the half-truth).

Otherwise, that Canberra Times article sounds typical of the press release statements you hear during (or after) a Jehovahs Witness assembly. I know that from experience - once I was quoted in a press release which was intended for our local newspaper. By crikey, but was I mightily relieved when that paper decided not to publish the story! (Any follow-up phone calls would have been - to say the least - embarrassing).

As an aside, though, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that some highly ranked official in the Catholic church did comment favourably on the evangelistic approach taken by Jehovahs Witnesses. I have heard such comments myself, from an admittedly lay member of the church, but one whose level of faith could only be described as "greater than devout".

27

God’s wisdom in allowing bearded JWs July 25 Watchtower

by Listener in

the july 2025 watchtower has a paragraph that claims that it was the superior power and wisdom of jehovah that guided the gb into allowing jws to grow beards.. the study article is ‘can you still learn from basic bible teachings?’ under the subheading ‘jehovah is the creator’ paragraph 7 states-.

“ 7. what did rahela do to accept a change in direction?.

your answer.

Rivergang

Wearing beards are just a sign of the laziness and rebelliousness of the people today.

"Laziness", did you say?

In fact, keeping a properly groomed beard (such as depicted in TD's post) requires at least the same amount of effort and attention as does being clean shaven.

I speak here from experience!

31

Curious? How many members of this group feel we are living in the "End Times"?

by Balaamsass2 in

i like to take a peek at the kids over on reddit every week or so.. this thread caught my eye:" curious….

do any ex jw or pimo, still believe the world is ending.

i see people who have never been witnesses think that the world will end soon and they say things like “jesus is coming soon”….

Rivergang

It would seem that each generation has had its "The End is nigh" moment (e.g. Barry Maguire's 1965 song Eve of Destruction).

Certainly, this time around the world order of things has reached another crossroad in history. The "old" order of things is now rapidly unravelling itself. It must be remembered, though, that the present order of things only established itself after WWII - following the 30 years of instability which WWI ("The Great War") initiated.

In turn, the order of things prior to WWI had survived for 100 years, following the Battle of Waterloo - a pivotal battle which ended the chaos caused by French Revolution.

And so on it goes, all the way back through history!

If there ever was a time when human beings had justification for thinking the "End of the World" had really arrived, the year 536 AD would have to be a front contender:

Why 536 was ‘the worst year to be alive' | Science | AAAS

19

1975 debacle

by Gman2001 in

did the borg ever apologize for 1975?.

Rivergang

Post 1975 Blame the followers https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/1975.php

The closest that they ever came to offering a written apology first appeared in the 1980 Yearbook of Jehovahs Witnesses.

That yearbook statement referred to something which was said in one of the previous year's District Convention talks. This so-called "apology" was again repeated in the Watchtower of 15th March 1980.

According to Raymond Franz in Crisis of Conscience, this "apology of an apology" was a much watered-down version of the one he pushed to be made. (With at least one Governing Body member all for just saying nothing at all and hoping that people would just quietly forget the whole matter).

14

Narcissist challenges culture ingrained with the concept of “saving face” to perform humiliating retreat

by slimboyfat in

oh yeah, this is going to end well.

hold on to your seats, folks, we’re on the front row of history for, as the chinese might say, “interesting times”.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8rgkkl7v8lo.

Rivergang

it still has the largest military by orders of magnitude with bases round the globe.

That, too, is now being challenged by China.

In terms of manpower, the Chinese armed forces are the largest in the world, with over 2,000,000 active service personnel, plus a reserve force of some 500,000. (In terms of numbers, the USA comes in at third place - behind both India and China).

China has the largest navy in the world, with a current strength of 370 ocean-going ships - plus a coastal defence fleet of almost as many vessels. Furthermore, its ship building capacity is estimated as being some 270 times as great as that of the US. Not surprisingly then, its navy is still rapidly growing in size, with most of its ships having been built since 2010 (versus just 10% of the US Navy's ships). This navy has also demonstrated its growing global capability. Over the last several months, we in Australia have been reminded enough about that; with Chinese warships carrying out exercises (including live firing drills) just outside of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone. Like the pre-WWI Imperial German Navy, that of China consists of a fleet of very modern warships. About the only edge the US Navy still has is its extensive, worldwide network of bases.

While the USA and Russia still have far more nuclear weapons than anybody else (each with over 5,000 devices at their disposal), the 600 odd nuclear weapons which China has are still enough to pose a serious threat. And just like its navy, China is rapidly building up its nuclear arsenal. The "missile gap" is closing at a rapid rate of knots!

America would now need to be cautious when assuming military superiority over China.

You know the old story about the word "assume"?

To ASSUME has a habit of making an ASS out of U and ME

228

The point of existence and how it refutes the Trinity

by slimboyfat in

rowan williams, the former archbishop of canterbury gave an interesting answer to the somewhat stark question, what’s the point of us existing?

as a christian, my starting point is that we exist because the most fundamental form of activity, energy, call it what you like, that is there, is love.

that is, it’s a willingness that the other should be.

Rivergang

There is no end to this 1500-year-old argument!

95

Trump Tariffs started today, Some Countries Caved in early morning.

by liam in

usa politicians in charge of the economy for the past 50 years were too stupid to understand how the economy works.

this just proves my theory, that an education on the top tier universities just sucks and means nothing in the real world, unless its in the stem education.

for 50 years usa had zero tariffs on other countries.

Rivergang

The only person who can remove human-led tyrannical governments altogether is God.
He's removing them.
Thank God.

Good luck to you with that one!

Generations of Jehovahs Witnesses have been disappointed (and continue to be disappointed), whilst expecting that event to happen.

95

Trump Tariffs started today, Some Countries Caved in early morning.

by liam in

usa politicians in charge of the economy for the past 50 years were too stupid to understand how the economy works.

this just proves my theory, that an education on the top tier universities just sucks and means nothing in the real world, unless its in the stem education.

for 50 years usa had zero tariffs on other countries.

Rivergang

TD

The days of standing at a machine all day are gone,

That was the point, namely, that those expecting the return of manufacturing to bring with it a return of the same number of jobs as previously are going to be disappointed. Furthermore, whatever the rights and wrongs of this situation, attempts to reverse it (Ref. AnnaNana) are going to be no more successful than those of the Luddites.

95

Trump Tariffs started today, Some Countries Caved in early morning.

by liam in

usa politicians in charge of the economy for the past 50 years were too stupid to understand how the economy works.

this just proves my theory, that an education on the top tier universities just sucks and means nothing in the real world, unless its in the stem education.

for 50 years usa had zero tariffs on other countries.

Rivergang

The first thing that popped into my head was manufacturing, but production can include a lot of things

It also includes primary industries - such as mining, farming and forestry. These, too, have in many ways been transformed by automation.

For example:

As far back as 2013, the mining industry began using driverless haul trucks, and this is now quite commonplace.
Go into any commercial forest these days, and you will hardly see a person in sight whilst logging operations are taking place. A single hydraulic excavator fitted with a harvester head has six times the output of a chainsaw equipped eight-man bush crew.
Farmers, too, hardly need to employ anybody anymore. Even milking cows has become a highly mechanised process, with most dairy farms now utilising such plant as rotary cowsheds. (These enable an astonishing number of cows to be milked in a 24-hour period; very important in this part of the world, where farmers do not receive a single cent in the way of subsidies).

If everybody just worked their own land without kings or rulers, there'd be no need for taxes or tariffs.

The trouble with that idea is that it only takes one bad season, and you would have famine. This was very much the case during 16th Century Europe. On average in those times, one summer out of three was a poor one, the harvest failed, and people then starved.

The same thing still happens today, in those places where people still rely on subsistence farming. (Sorry - but I myself have observed this firsthand). Then, if famine relief measures do reach the people so affected, it is often provided by governments of developed countries.

95

Trump Tariffs started today, Some Countries Caved in early morning.

by liam in

usa politicians in charge of the economy for the past 50 years were too stupid to understand how the economy works.

this just proves my theory, that an education on the top tier universities just sucks and means nothing in the real world, unless its in the stem education.

for 50 years usa had zero tariffs on other countries.

Rivergang

The word "progress" is a relative term,

I have always understood that term to mean technological advancement - and that is what I was referring to.

The Luddites of the 18th Century failed in their time to halt the advance of technology, as likewise would any attempts to do the same in this third decade of the 21st Century.

Things weren't exactly utopian before the industrial revolution, either. While the living conditions of the early Victorian era would appear to us as grim (certainly when viewed from a 21st Century developed nation's perspective), these actually represented a marked improvement over the living conditions of just a few decades earlier.

People working their own land might sound like a wonderful idea - until one has actually seen the reality. I have lived in a Third World country (Papua New Guinea) where 85% of the population exists by subsistence farming (i.e. "working their own land") and that, also, is far from utopian! For those poor wretches, famine is always a very real threat, and never far away. All it takes is a natural disaster - such as drought, flood, cyclone, fire or some agricultural pest (which can be as simple as the pigs getting through the fence and destroying the food garden!) - and people starve. Furthermore, their primitive methods of agriculture are in no way sustainable. Usually described as the "slash and burn" approach, it is extremely destructive to the environment.

It seems to be human nature to keep hankering after "the good old days"; while ignoring the fact that those "old days" were often not as good as people imagine them to have been.