Posts by TonusOH

21

Was 536 the Worst year in history

by pistolpete in

jws believe that today, the time we live in is the worst time ever in history.

i know cause i just had a jw tell me yesterday this was the case.

he pointed to covid, the russian-ukraine war, the high gas prices and the food shortage happening.

TonusOH

I don't think most JWs could explain what makes these the worst times, aside from pointing to a few current events and claiming that we simply cannot sustain our current course. But complaining about how bad things are is a human pastime, and there are examples going back centuries of people wondering if they were living in the last days, as the problems of the world had gotten so out of hand as to be unresolvable.

But if you are part of an end-days cult, every day seems worse than the one before. You ROOT for things to get worse, because that's when you know god will finally put his plan into action. After all, why destroy the world when things are looking up? I'm thinking that god is sitting there, watching the price of a gallon of gas. "At $15," he tells his army of angels, "unleash hell. Err, I mean, unleash heaven. You know what I mean!"

19

Why is God's punishment always nonsensical?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

leviticus 10:1-3. .

the death of nadab and abihu.

10 aaron’s sons nadab and abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the lord, contrary to his command.

TonusOH

I find most of all of Jwism is about made up BS on the fly.

Rutherford was apparently the biggest BSer, his desire to take over for Russell lead him to make a lot of changes and additions to JW beliefs (including the name Jehovah's Witnesses). He really got the ball rolling on the habit of JW leadership finding "new light" everywhere and making stuff up. I can see why Fred Franz was upset when they pushed for an actual governing body; just imagine how many crazy ideas he was ready to run with after Knorr passed away!

19

Why is God's punishment always nonsensical?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

leviticus 10:1-3. .

the death of nadab and abihu.

10 aaron’s sons nadab and abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the lord, contrary to his command.

TonusOH

The OT god is over-the-top in his brutality. In 2 Samuel 6:6-8, he kills a guy for the crime of reaching out to keep the ark of the covenant from falling over. Intent didn't matter. Who this man was, didn't matter. He touched the ark. He died on the spot. Killed by a being that personifies kindness, mercy, goodness, and love.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

TonusOH

Wow 105 pages devoted to this guy...

He's the gift that keeps on giving.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

TonusOH

I think the bigger impact is admitting that he was cheating on his wife, repeatedly over a period of at least 3-4 years. I would guess that most people feel that he was being as self-serving as he could, and the actual numbers are much, much worse. That he was using prostitutes to do it just makes it that much worse, and his admission (both previously and in his video) that he lacks self-control and felt that his wife could not keep him satisfied makes it worse still.

This is not about a guy who visited a call girl a couple of times. This is about a husband who betrayed his wife, willfully and cynically, for a very long time. And who seems more upset that people are judging him, than he is that he did this to his own family. You could understand someone staying a Patron over a couple of trips to a brothel. His actions are on a whole different level, and most people cannot make excuses for it in good conscience.

I would not be surprised if his subscriber numbers keep sliding until the only ones left are the absolute die-hards and people who aren't aware of what is happening and/or aren't keeping tabs on their $1/month contribution.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

TonusOH

Yes, the WTS encourage the membership to eschew higher education and lucrative jobs where they may have to spend extra hours working. The time that is saved is available for study and preaching work. So they promote lower-wage jobs and then they wonder why financial support is down. Not the best thought-out plan.

As for the crime of insult, it appears to be their version of defamation. There appear to be a few countries that treat defamation as both a civil and criminal matter. I guess it would work out well for a person who has a talent for exasperating the people around him... they can't tell him how they really feel, for fear he might call the cops.

33

Blood Transfusions & Flood, Questions from Bible student only

by Marbles in

i was never a jdubb, only a bible student.

there are two main questions i have.

let me preface that by saying that i do not believe the bible is true, or the word of god.

TonusOH

The story makes it seem that David raped Bathsheba. I doubt that she had the option of refusing his summons, or may have feared for her life if she turned down the king. And she couldn't have been a willing participant, or god would have rendered judgment upon her for adultery. Either god conveniently let her slide on that (an action that directly led to her husband's murder), or she was innocent of any wrongdoing.

It's a chilling story, when you consider that the people who paid with their lives were the innocent husband and the innocent infant, who was stricken with a deadly malady in order to punish David (who, unlike his unfortunate child, had the opportunity to repent and avoid a death sentence). Plus, his pairing with Bathsheba leads to the birth of Solomon, a great king who also loses his way (but not before becoming part of the lineage that leads to the birth of Jesus... at least in Matthew's gospel).

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

TonusOH

I imagine it was because the responses were meant to be public...

I think the recipients were happy to make their replies public. It's got to be satisfying to do it when you know that the obnoxious, melodramatic blowhard who is trying to convince his followers that he's fighting the good fight against evil bullies will grind away a few millimeters of tooth enamel watching your reply.

I think he's painted himself into a corner with this. Loudly proclaiming his intent to protect himself via legal action, he has a lawyer email a sloppy 'letter of warning' that is little more than a roll of the dice. Now he watches as the recipients mock and roast him ruthlessly in response. What does he do? Drop it and pretend it didn't happen? Make more bombastic threats? Try actual legal action? There doesn't appear to be a scenario where he doesn't find himself in a deeper hole with only a shovel in his hands.

77

Back to the Meetings. It's Offical!

by pistolpete in

yep, the vacation is over, it's time to go to work------for free!

😭😢😓😰😡.

https://www.jw.org/en/news/jw/.

TonusOH

Keep in mind that difficult times are often very good to millennialist cults like the JWs. People start to feel anxious and unsure about the future, and many will be quick to hedge their bets when someone tells them that the scary times are the precursor to paradise on Earth. We like to have comfort and assurance that things will be alright, and this feeling is heightened when circumstances seem the most dire. "Bad news" is great recruiting fodder, which is why many JWs seem obsessed with telling you how awful everything is, all the time.

11530

It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

TonusOH

Well, he certainly found a cure for their boredom...