Posts by Island Man

54

How do you overcome this JW excuse?

by EdenOne in

during one of those meetings that took place before my jc, one of the elders, who was a good friend of mine back then and used to come up with a few outlandish personal views about some teachings, attempted to counter one of my arguments like this:.

eden - "well, if the truth doesn't change, why is it that what we teach as 'truth' has changed over the years (several examples given)?

how can we dogmatically claim at any given moment that we have 'the truth' if our teachings keep changing?".

Island Man

This is how you counter it. You simply reply:

"What Orwellian rubbish! I feel like I'm listening to an interrogator from the novel 1984! Are you listening to yourself? You are making a fool of yourself, not me. I don't have to sit here and listen to this stupid, deceitful, reasoning. Good bye!"

Then you get up from the meeting and take your leave. Don't dignify such stupid reasoning. Let them know in no uncertain terms that such reasoning is stupid and will not be tolerated in any way by you. You might even say something like:

"What! What did I just hear you say? Am I hearing right? Do you mind repeating that? . . . My God! you actually said that! Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined hearing such a foolishly disingenuous - one might even say facetious - argument coming from the mouth of an elder in Jehovah's organization! Are you joking or are you that desperate?"

47

What is the point of the picture in this weeks study article ?

by stuckinarut2 in

i don't understand the relevance of the first picture in this weeks study article?!?!.

wt week of december 15-21 "cherish your privilege of working with jehovah".

can someone post the pic?.

Island Man

scary21: Does anyone think it looks like a nice new prison ? It even has a guard tower on the right side.

OMG! Scary21, you might be on to something. A building that looks like a new prison complete with what looks like a guard tower, and located in the country. We know Watchtower is in to selling branch and other facilities to various organizations. So what if Watchtower already has plans or a deal in the pipeline to sell the new Warwick building to the state of New York in future - say 5 to 10 years down the road - to serve as a state correctional facility?

76

From 1 to 10, how do you rate the value of the Internet in your awakening?

by Hidden-Window in

jw
friends

as we all know, the internet is a real game-changer in allowing us to know the truth about the watch tower and its history.

i always had doubts and it was the internet that presented me with the ever-growing number of individuals who were going through a similar struggle.. i give the internet a 9 in my awakening.

what about you?.

Island Man

10

47

What is the point of the picture in this weeks study article ?

by stuckinarut2 in

i don't understand the relevance of the first picture in this weeks study article?!?!.

wt week of december 15-21 "cherish your privilege of working with jehovah".

can someone post the pic?.

Island Man

The opening picture gives a computer generated artist's impression of the new Warwick headquarters when completed.

By putting this image so prominently in an article entitled: "Cherish your privilege of working with Jehovah", the GB hopes to impress even more on the minds of JWs, the importance of voluntaring on such construction projects, thus increasing Watchtower's free construction labor force. Watchtower wants JWs to see such work as being equally important as going door to door - that they are equally working with God on construction projects as they are when out preaching. It's a very self-serving ploy on the part of Watchtower, using God to get JWs to do their own bidding to further their materialistic endeavors which they pass off as "Jehovah's will".

74

Why Do Atheists Struggle So Much Against God Who Supposedly Doesn't Exist?

by Perry in

an athist made this casual statememt on another thread:.

this would suggest to me that there are at least some atheists that do have consistant beliefs.. .

as an atheist, how could he possibly trust the reason that suggests this to himself?

Island Man

LisaRose: So believing in order and reason makes me a believer? Fat chance. You are making a giant, incorrect assumption, that lack of a creator would always and only result in chaos. Can you prove that? You can't, anymore than you can prove God exists. Evolution, which can be proven, shows that life did arise out of chaos.

Amen to that! ... except for the last sentence. (Evolution says nothing about how life arose. Abiogenesis hypothesizes a number of scientifically plausible scenarios for the origin of life.)

40

Governing Body new Branch letter begging for donations !

by ToesUp in

jw
friends

i just want the governing body to know how "happified" i am today.

keep sending those branch letters to the congregation(s) about sending your donations in.

not only did you humiliate the rank and file with your tony morris tight pants talk but now you are begging the same people you humiliated for money.

Island Man

For the life of me, I can't figure out what's so extraordinarily controversial about this letter. Watchtower periodically sends letters like these to congregations thanking them for their donations. I have heard letters like this read several times in the past - even before the new donation arrangement. I honestly don't think this letter is worth the excitement that the OP made over it. There is nothing extraordinary about it as to warrant such excitement.

18

Could a JW be DF for celebrating Festivus?

by Stealth in

jw
friends

after all, it's a secular holiday not a religious holiday.. if i was still an active member, i think i would start a new tradition of celebrating festivus.

most likely no jws would come, but that's okay, it's a famiily holiday anyway.. what grounds would the elders have to disfellowship you?.

.

Island Man

You know, the word Festivus does seem to have a Latin ring to it ... perhaps pointing to it's pagan Roman origins?

81

your favourite Christmas music , and merry Christmas to you all

by jhine in

i am perhaps a bit behind on this but i have just listened to " grandma got run over by a reindeer " sung by elmo and patsy .

it got me to thinking about christmas songs in general ,so i thought a thread about people's favourite christmas songs would be good .

please share your fave christmas music , a carol or something more modern .to start i will list my best carol as hark the herald and my best ever chart song as santa claus is coming to town by bruce springsteen .