The becoming as young children bit really hit me. My convention was shortly after I finished reading one of Steve Hassan's books in which he talked about how cults often stress being child-like as a virtue in order to age regress adherents to a point before the had critical thinking skills.
OneEyedJoe
JoinedPosts by OneEyedJoe
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2
Symposium: Those Who Will Inherit God's Kingdom
by 88JM init's been said before that once you know ttatt, then you listen with very different ears to talks at conventions.
i thought the second symposium this year on saturday morning of the convention was particularly terrible - here's what i had as the summary of the four parts:.
those "who are poor".
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The long weekend of B.S begins - UK.
by quellycatface inisn't going to be wonderful??.
not being there..
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OneEyedJoe
Lurker - sound like you'll be having a better time than those that attend the convention. I know I would have preferred food poisoning to the mental poisoning at the convention.
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public WT november 2014
by fastJehu insince many years the nov public wt has only one color and no picture on the front cover.. very strange.
so the design department saves time and can go from door to door ...... .
download: http://download.jw.org/files/media_magazines/42/wp_e_20141101.pdf.
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OneEyedJoe
Random thought: has the WTS ever depicted an interracial couple? I don't think I've ever seen a white/black combo...maybe a white dude and an Asian chick... my point though is that it seems like continued influence of the "old white man" world view that is clearly prevalent in the WTS.
Now back on topic...
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Being a SPIRITUAL ATHEIST is a good step!
by Pinku inreligions, in general, did not inspire people to be good, because the means they used was illogicality.
for example: one religion teaches: humans became sinners through one man, and would become righteous through another man.
no answer!
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OneEyedJoe
My point is that you framed it as a (false) choice between the two options of materialistic (which you clearly used in an effort to invoke the negative connotation) and spiritual (which inherently includes the idea of intangible forces on the order of karma, or whatever).
I reject both. I'm an atheist that believes what there is evidence for, and part of that evidence supports the idea that treating others well and looking out for the benefit of the group (I.e. your company vs self analogy) yields the best result for everyone. I treat others in a moral manner because that's the right thing to do, but there is nothing spiritual about that.
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Being a SPIRITUAL ATHEIST is a good step!
by Pinku inreligions, in general, did not inspire people to be good, because the means they used was illogicality.
for example: one religion teaches: humans became sinners through one man, and would become righteous through another man.
no answer!
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OneEyedJoe
What you describe isn't necessarily "spiritual atheism" just moral atheism.
Also, I'm not sure how that Einstein quote supports your assertions.
Furthermore, I object to your obviously biased use of the false choice between "spiritual" and "materialistic.". One can pursue an evidence based belief system (which would preclude anything "spiritual") without being materialistic.
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Who stumbled who?
by Brainfloss indon't have too many people at parties, be carefull about drinking alchohol, dancing, music,anything that can stumble another brother whether or not it is condemned in the bible the list is endless.. how is 100+ years of flip flops and constantly changing doctrine not been a stumbling block to brothers?.
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OneEyedJoe
Not to mention the folks who are stumbled by everyone else's over-sensitivity to things that aren't prohibited in the bible.
You're right, of course. It's a tremendous double standard. If you stumble someone else, you're responsible, but if anyone (especially the org) stumbles you, you're still responsible. When you can be convinced that you're always in the wrong, you'll be willing to put up with a lot of doctrines and practices that just don't make sense.
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Satan and the demons, ghosts, spirits, fortune tellers. Are they real?
by KateWild ini believe in god.
i don't believe he punishes or rewards people.
so by the same extention i don't believe any spirit beings can communicate with or influence humans.. many who do not believe in god though, have gone to fortune tellers.
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OneEyedJoe
Many testimonies of 'spirit guides' giving known-only-to hearer accurate family information (not cheap stage-act types using an 'assistant') to lure in victims and then soon mercilessly torturing all those involved, both physically and psychologically.
You can't trust testimonials for psychics or astrologers or palm readers. These con-artists design the experience in a way that allows people to suspend their critical thinking skills. Once they acheive that, they are able to take litterally hundreds of guesses until they hit one that the mark reacts to, and then emphasize the hits. That's how they arrive at the "known-only-to hearer" information. Either that, or they do prior research if they know you're coming. Either way, it's all been proven to be a scam countless times, but people still believe in it. Fools and their money are soon parted.
If you're superstitious and you already believe that you'll be bothered by demons if you go to a palm reader then it's not hard to see why a you might come away from a palm reading (or whatever) only to experience a bunch of 'spooky' events. You leave the con artist in a state of hyper-sensitivity to any event that might be perceived as supernatural. When you happen upon such an event, you immediately explain it as being supernatural, even though it has a reasonable explanation that does not require a supernatural cause.
Once you've settled on this supernatural explanation an odd psychological effect takes hold - the more evidence that goes contrary to your belief in the supernatural explanation that you see, the more you dig your heels in and hold tight to the supernatural explanation. This is the same sort of effect that doctors struggle with when it comes to getting kids immunized. Some parents have a (false) belief that immunizations can cause autism, seizures, you name it. The more information that is presented to such a person, the more they hold to their false belief, but the moment that any evidence seems to confirm their belief (i.e. an autistic kid that was only diagnosed as such shortly after initial imunization) they seize on it and their belief is confirmed, even if there are litterally millions of kids getting vaccinated that don't come out autistic.
It's the same thing with supernatural believers. Any time they hear a sound they don't expect, they may ascribe a meaning or supernatural origin to it. Then when confronted with evidence that it's not supernatural at all, they'll continue to hold fast to their belief. Or, in the occassion that they might conceed that a particular event wasn't supernatural, they imediately flood the skeptic with a list of other so-called evidence so long that the skeptic figures them for a lost cause and doesn't bother disproving each event individually....it's just not worth it.
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How the organization's bad advice messes up young people
by kneehighmiah inso recently a governing body helper gave a part on the convention.
he said young ones who are saying and not financially ready should knock it off.
what conflicting advice.
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OneEyedJoe
Don't have sex until you're married.
Don't get married until you're able to support yourself and your new family financially.
Once you graduate high school, don't go to college - endeavor to (barely) support yourself through part-time work that allows you to pioneer.
So obviously the ideal young person is a financially destitue, single virgin with no life experience who spends all their time going to people's houses to tell them how they can be happy.
I don't see the problem.
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Did not Attend Mid-Week Meeting but Felt Good - Strange Feeling?
by ProfCNJ inhi folks.
the usual feeling for me - when i missed mid-week meetings - is to feel guilty, sad or depressed.
it normally involved negative feelings.
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OneEyedJoe
It's been a long time since I felt guilty for missing a meeting. I think it was about the time that I realized that I hadn't learned anything new or enlightening that wasn't arbitrary "new light" at the meetings since my teens. Since I have a pretty good memory, I didn't feel the need to go and have stuff repeated to me ad nauseum.
Since learning TTATT, it's gone from being something of a relief the days that I miss to being either a greatly joyous or very frustrating occasion on the days that I miss meetings. Joyous when my wife stays home with me, frustrating otherwise.
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Freaking out a Jehovah's Witness
by jgnat inas you know, my husband has physically left the witnesses.
he nevertheless clings to many of the beliefs like a protective cloak, and every once in a while i trigger a dissonant episode where my reality clashes with his.
recently he listened in on my work research, a video of a futurist describing the a potential "disruptive change" event in the next fifteen years, as our culture shifts to autonomic (driverless) vehicles.
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OneEyedJoe
What facts are those DH? You gave a list of excuses for the FACTS. My favorite is "To think crime is reducing is to be an idiot." You don't even try to provide a fact contrary to the statement above, you just plug your ears and say "yeah, well you're stupid" and run away.
I wish nothing but the best for you, but I do hope one day that you'll wake up to the facts, and I hope it goes as gently as possible.