Posts by kaik

75

What was your eye opening moment?

by WasOnceBlind in

if you had to pinpoint the time or experience that finally made you open your eyes, what would it be?.

i think for me it was the time i saw my dad shun his brother who he had not seen in decades just because he was a da'ed jw.

i thought to my self "no way jesus would do that.

kaik

I had doubts, but I grew up in it. My mom got baptized around 1975, but my dad said after yeas of study, that much of the theology in WT does not make sense. He said that WT just invented too much things, but nothing is based on Bible. After couple years of constant pressure from JW relatives, he quit to study and never got baptized.

After my dad's death, I believed that the negative influence on my JW thinking was gone and I was attending like crazy, been on conventions, did field services, etc, but doubt were there. We eventually started to study book Revelation, and I just could not reconcile most the BS in that book with Bible. For example we were talking about pouring of wrath from Rev 16:1 and they said it was some convention in Ohio around 1920. Everyone around me was, awesome - me what BS. I just could not reconcile the book study with what I knew and suddenly came to me that if the material is BS, than the religion is BS. After the book study, I never returned to KH.

WT believes that their existence is outlined in the dooms prophecy; and the best way to justify a prophesy, is to prophesied the past.

38

How do you distinguish Americans?

by paulmolark in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igk4xvzwocw.

apparently americans are all chubby, baggy clothes wearing optimistic fast food eaters.

who knew.

kaik

It is difficult not to generalize, but two things are spot on: morbid obesity in every age group, social class, race, and regional area; and fashion: sweatpants, flip/flops, tight clothing revealing every body fold, spandex, and ragged t-shirt. Obesity is increasing world-wide, but sometimes what I see on the streets all over USA I am not sure if that 550 pound ogre is he or she. It is generally worse in the Midwest and Deep South, but the difference is visible between Montreal and Toronto, versus suburbia of New Jersey or Long Island. Canadians are definitely more fit.

Years back I used to work in international corporation and we had middle aged female manager walked into the meeting with our European counterparts in spandex and some weird cheap blouse that you get during X-rays. The Europeans thought that she was a cleaning lady and told her to leave. It was extremely embarrassing. However, if anyone looks into older movies Americans used to be extremely classy, women were looking good, but this had changed around 1960 or so.

In next 50 years everyone in the world will be obese in sweatpants. I see it in Europe and USA, today Mexicans are more obese than Americans, and so does most of Middle East.

18

2 reasons the 'overlapping anointed' idea generates no comfort for the WT writers.

by prologos in

1) the general "wicked generation" has always members that live past 115 years, so without the ridicoulous overlap idea, it would have taken wt writers to 2030 for the start of pardise.. 2) the "all things take place" prophecy recorded in math 23-25 include the entering of the " goats into everlasting cutting off=armageddon; the sheep into everlasting life= paradise".

therefore: the generation of wt anointed overlappers dying before armageddon to be raptured, is not what jesus said.

he said the generation will not pass, will survive, be alive , witness the entering into paradise.

kaik

Maybe the overlapping generation is the wicked generation, generation that never dies, because people are wicked all the time... Thus, generation can mean entire human biogenesis.

23

Bible Chronology, Egyptology and the Great Flood

by cappytan in

fact: bible chronology says the flood occurred between 2348 and 2370 bce, depending on which scholar you listen to.

fact: the great pyramid of giza was constructed 200 years before, in c. 2560 bce..

so, if you believe in a literal interpretation of noah's flood, you believe that the egyptians built a great civilization, were destroyed by the flood in 2370 bce, and then somehow, they reappeared immediately after the flood, picked right back up where they left off without skipping a cultural beat.. oh, and isn't it ironic that legitimately studying the great pyramid of giza debunks jw mythology now?

kaik

You can also take into consideration of Stonehenge and hundreds of smaller sites across Europe that were built between 2800BC and 1800BC. There was no discontinuity of the culture and population until much later time, which was cased by shift between use of stones and bronze tools. There are thousands sites in Europe from that era. In Czech Republic, there are about 550 of neolithic sites from the time of the biblical deluge. Germany has as five times more, not to mention France, Spain, UK, and elsewhere. Yet, Stonehenge and menhirs are here all over western Europe, but no single evidence of Deluge was ever produced in that time.

60

Does The Governing Body Have Enemies At Bethel?

by Brokeback Watchtower in

i would think that a lot of resentment is building up for these for these guys at bethel even though it may not be discussed openly for fear of being abused by the gb in some way.. any way looking at their personality and the extreme phoniness of rubber mouth/face lett, and am#3, and the chicken shit coward leosch who won't even show up in court when subpoena'd to defend his faith or policies, and i'm sure they have many more undesirable traits that repel people instead of attract and that has to work its toll on relationships they have at bethel.. and this shunning thing i'm sure must really erk some at god's house and while they may not be free to voice their discontent i feel it must be building because these guys are complete nincompoops when it come to reality and the only way they know how to give direction is with fear and guilt which i'm sure is rubbing a lot of people the wrong way.. and let not forget the issues that are raise when they stole all the congregations savings and the pledge drive for more cash, ban on higher education, lawsuit pay out and etc.... what is this doing to the relation ship they have with legal and accounting i see trouble brewing right thier in the spiritual pair of dice..

kaik

Bethel can be double-sided sword for many. Some people get their hopes high and are confronted with reality and leave, while other become entombed in the cult and loose a grip on reality. Considering the age of the WT and the changing dynamics of the JW population, there would be a clash based on the generational exchange. Many of these dudes are old, while the rest are boomers; therefore, they will be dealing with a digital generation which is much different than any other bethel youth in the past. So, it will be possible that there will be a struggle between these two population one stuck in the business-religious model of Knorr, while other depended on electronic means of communication. The outcome would be interesting.

25

The JOYS of being an EX-JW

by nicolaou in

add to the list and let's see the weekend out on a positive note!

1. sunday mornings.

alarm not set, cuddles with the mrs, tunes in the bedroom, coffee, bacon, another lazy coffee in the garden .

kaik

I can read whatever I want. I have books from St. Augustine to Jewish philosophers to Catholic writers like St. Bernard and Eusebius. No elder criticizing me for my book collection. My father was a book lover and prior his death he amassed over 2000 books that elders considered demonic.
I love playing video games instead watching TV, and I do not feel a shame about it.
No meeting twice per week for book study, school of theocratic warfare, and WT publications.
Continuous eduction without feeling guilty.
Spending holidays with my Jewish in-laws.
I vote and I participate in local political activities.
Living a life as the only one I ever get.

15

The new focus on This Generation is 70 C.E., Not Today

by FusionTheism in

here is the very latest writes about "this generation.

" looks like they are preparing to change it again -- now the focus is on 70 c.e., instead of modern times:.

jesus--the way book (2015), page 254 and pages 258-259:.

kaik

The issue with the generation of the Jesus time is tricky. Average lifespan of Roman citizen was 33 to 45 depending on the province and social status. Therefore, majority of people born and living through the time of Jesus was already gone when Romans sacked Jerusalem. While the age 70 was nothing special, but it was rare, and lest than 10% of Roman population ever met their grandparents. So the generation that witnessed the destruction in 70AD were children and grandchildren of the people to whom Jesus and John the Baptist preached.

17

What's worse, brutal murder or fornication?

by Tornintwo in

just to give you a bit of background, i've been researching my doubts for over a month, i'm convinced that although they may have some things right, they have a lot of other things horribly wrong.

i'm still clinging to a faith in god, because i see a creator's hand in nature, and i believe in jesus and his teachings, love, mercy, compassion.....that if everyone truly applied these (including jws) then all would benefit.. but i read this article in march and it's been on my mind ever since.

where isis stone a young couple to death for sex before marriage (a bit graphic).. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3017800/sickening-images-blindfolded-bound-couple-brutally-stoned-death-fornication-isis-militants-iraq.html.

kaik

Also, it is crucial to mention that fornication laws were implemented as a prevention for STD. Back then people did not know how to protect themselves from STD and it caused widespread biohazard problems for the society. Even Roman society had stricter laws against promiscuity, which were rooted in widespread gonorrhea outbreaks in the Roman times. In the 1st century also witnessed arrival of herpes, and it was only known to be spread by intimate contacts and Octavian Augustus issued laws that forbade kissing. Romans until late antiquity considered kissing as unclear act and was looked up with disgust by the society. Emperors like Commodus and Severus were known to kiss in the public causing a scandal.

35

Do you consider this site Godly or Ungodly

by Truthexplorer in

over the years, i have seen a change in heart with the country i grew up in and the general view of what they perceive as how everyone should view things in relation to morality.

a strictly religious country for centuries now forever changed within a short number of years.

i have also seen the viewpoint on this site gradually change in many ways.

kaik

Generally, it is ridiculous when evangelical crowds of bigoted Catholics threaten human race with brimstone because of the human progress, but comfortably omit the horrors of the past and idealized it as lost golden era. My parents were born during Depression and lived their childhood in WWII. My father witnessed his hometown to be bombed in 1944, execution of partisans and Jews. And I should mourn these horrible years? Where was his god when millions of people were tortured and slaughtered? And going back to distant history to the horrors of French Revolution, 30Years War, 100 Years War, to Mongol/Ottoman/Roman conquests; how can anyone defend these times. When plagues appeared, there was no whatsoever any treatment, no antibiotics no antivirals, people were just left to die. Even with present problems in the world, our time is far more better than any other year in the human history.

What it seems that the bigoted crowd cannot accept the fact, that the human race can make progress to better and thus need evangelical control and indoctrination to control the masses.

35

Do you consider this site Godly or Ungodly

by Truthexplorer in

over the years, i have seen a change in heart with the country i grew up in and the general view of what they perceive as how everyone should view things in relation to morality.

a strictly religious country for centuries now forever changed within a short number of years.

i have also seen the viewpoint on this site gradually change in many ways.

kaik

VI, I love Thomas Paine writing. Interesting is his life when he barely botched guillotine in 1794 while in Parisian prison. After his death, his grave was desecrated and his remains were lost in time.