Sorry I don't see an image, but then again I have a hard time finding Waldo.
Doesn't our brain try to interpret what we see to make sense? I faintly remember in psychology class that our brains will make a face out of random images.
could someone do me a favor and post the picture on page 9 on the above mentioned watchtower.. i'll point it out, very surprised no one else has picked up on this creepy image..
Sorry I don't see an image, but then again I have a hard time finding Waldo.
Doesn't our brain try to interpret what we see to make sense? I faintly remember in psychology class that our brains will make a face out of random images.
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.
The actual day I was baptized was the eye opening moment for me. I just got baptized in Plant City, FL in 1992. My best friend was "guarding" a door. He was 15 years old like me. He needed to use the bathroom and asked me to watch this door. I agreed and then this elder came by and told me only a baptized brother could watch the door. I proudly told him I was baptized today, and he told me that it wasn't long enough to have the privilege to guard a door.
Later that day my friend went into a room where the money was being counted. His father was an Elder. I was told I couldn't enter the room. In the room were toddlers, wives nursing infants, teenagers, and others in that room. The difference was they were the spouse and children of Elders. I knew at that very instance they were no different than any other religion when it came to hierarchy and privilege.
I was the son of a worldly father and a "spiritually weak" mother. I was dirt in their eye. Thankfully it allowed me to leave the religion early in life to pursue my education and a good career.
there can be no more profound form of ignorance than one which prohibits knowledge.
the watchtower organisation is one of the last remaining dinosaurs to do this.
instead of considering the biological and ecological complexity of life it gazes into its own oily navel and says with open-mouthed disneyfied wonderment, how marvellous nature is, how sacred jehovah is, how wonderful the governing body are!.
so we all know that "crazy" brother or sister.
every kingdom hall has one.
they give the best comments (from a hilarious perspective), have experiences with the "demons", but most importantly, they are on about 10 deifferent kinds of medications.
To the OP: I've heard of similar if not exact stories as you posted. I'm not a psychologist, but I'm sure having a deep faith that demons exist could influence a person's paranoia. I had a thread about book burning and other burning of materials because of the fear of demon possession. I was at homes where people swear demonic events happened. I was there as an 8 year old and saw the exact same events and thought how crazy these adults are, because I never saw any demons nor any indication of demons. It was all in their head.
Personal testimony doesn't equal proof of demons.
clip 3 minutes long.
ron and brenda sutton ................warwick 3 children
it was the missed association with family that brought them back.
i was around age 5 when my father allowed an elder and his wife into our home for a bible study.
my father never got baptized and left the religion completely when i was 12. he would tell the family that when he retires he would return to the religion.
he never went into absolutely why he left, but i think it has to do with the fact he reported an elder's daughter making out with a "worldly" guy, and it was my father that got lambasted.
I was around age 5 when my father allowed an Elder and his wife into our home for a bible study. My father never got baptized and left the religion completely when I was 12. He would tell the family that when he retires he would return to the religion. He never went into absolutely why he left, but I think it has to do with the fact he reported an Elder's daughter making out with a "worldly" guy, and it was my father that got lambasted. Or it could be he has four college degrees, and didn't want to be educated by window washers.
Anyway, 26 years later my father is now retired. He retired last year, but I forgot about his "promise", one he made several times. I called him out on it recently, to see what he would say. My mother and sister are still witnesses, but not very active.
"Hey Dad, remember you were going back to the Kingdom when you retire?"
His response....
"ehh well I got a lot of yard work now that I'm retired"
I wish he had that attitude 33 years ago.
lets say in another country someone died.
you never knew or heard of him, or her....... .people die every day.they exist, but with no personal contact, no media, they never existed to you.
so, are they dead.
I major in psychology, and make a good living doing it
Ah the internet, where you get to live out your fantasy anonymously. It is amazing all the psychologists, philosophers, biologists, lawyers, and physicist this site attracts. Simon must be proud to attract so many PhDs.
i'm currently working at a rehab facility.
it also has assisted living, long term care, and hospice.
the facility allows churches to sign up for planned activities.
I'm currently working at a rehab facility. It also has assisted living, long term care, and hospice. The facility allows churches to sign up for planned activities. The witnesses hold a service once a week at the long term care facility. These patients are mostly dementia, and will never leave the facility with exceptions for doctor visits. They also will not remember any discussions for the most part. In addition protections are in place to safeguard their finances from the witnesses or other exploiters.
A good portion of these patients are very old with no visiting friends or relatives. There usually is a 1:8 ratio of nursing aide to patient. These are patients that are total care, they can't even feed themselves. So basically the witnesses provide a little bit of companionship for these patients, and in return the witnesses can log field service hours and I guess a shit load of bible studies.
an elderly sister passed away recently.
family came to her memorial service from all over the country.
some of them, including grown-up, disfellowshipped children of hers, also came.
in 1897, j.j. thomson discovered the electron.
this was the first constituent part of the atom which, for 2,000 years, was thought to be indivisible.
today, we know of 18 elemental particles following the recent discovery of the higgs boson, the so-called god particle.. back in 1897, most people believed in god because there weren't even any theories as to how the universe came into being.
What are you going to do when the existence of god is disproved?
If such a thing was possible, I would be sadden but my life would continue as before. I've accepted life with out a God for all my adult life. I've never rejected the possibility, and have hoped for a loving creator.
Now to address what others have in this thread, the possibility of such a day coming in our life time. I've completed multiple college level science courses as they were needed for pre-requisite for nursing school. I'm now taking more advance science courses (Organic/Inorganic Chemistry, Cell biology ect...) for my future goal of pursuing a more advance medical degree. The increased knowledge I have received has not swayed me away from the belief of a possibility of a God. First, one must define what God is. Perhaps God could be simply viewed as a very advance alien life form.
I think the advance of science will only confirm the complexity argument by Creationist and other theists. I believe Dawkins wrote a reasonable argument to counter the complexity argument. I've watched several of his debates, and in one of them he stated "of course it makes sense that complex life comes from simple beginnings." Perhaps not an exact quote, but what I recall.
Creationists may argue that there really isn't such a thing as a simple beginning. The basic unit of life of all life is the "simple" cell. This basic unit of life is extraordinarily complex and entire college courses are devoted to its study. Even Prokaryotic cells are very complex, and there are bacteria that are able to communicate with each other, and this communication is considered more sophisticated than any communication systems man has made (Miller, 2001). Even the atoms that all matter is made up of is very complex. The sub atomic particles are perhaps more complex than the atom itself. Sub atomic particles behaving as a wave and particle and inhabiting different points in space simultaneously. None of this proves an existence of God, nor is it attempt on my part to support a belief in a God. I only making the argument that the possibility of more science may only confirm in many minds that life is too complex to happen without a designer.
Miller, M.B. & Bassler, B.L. (2001). Quorum Sensing in Bacteria. Annual Review of Microbiology 55: 165-199.