Posts by SAHS
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SAHS
That article is right on the money! It describes the leaders of the Watchtower organization to a tee. They use charm (i.e., the sparkling new “JW Broadcasting” studio thing), manipulation (i.e., threatening that people will “die at Armageddon” if they don’t smarten up and do what they’re told), and blackmail (i.e., forbidding any contact with family members if they willfully break any of the many, many rules of the Watchtower leaders).
They continually exploit people by demanding that they recruit more members by pounding the pavement in a pathetic show of loyalty to God’s one-and-only true organization in all the earth.
And toxic? Well, just Google “Jehovah’s Witnesses” and “depression,” as well as “trauma” and “suicide.”
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You must not say Gee, Gee wiz, or Golly
by Truth and Justice inbefore i start my subject post, i like to extend a warm welcome to all the new members that have joined the site.
i just can't keep up with all the new names.
nice to see all of you here.. i haven't posted anything in a while because of work, scheduling and everything else, but i do have some interesting thoughts that i would like to share with all of you in the coming months.
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SAHS
“Truth and Justice”: “She says, "I know, but we're told not to say those things."”
That just sums it all up. Millions of JWs blindly comply with all of those myriads of petty little rules just because, as they will say, “We’re told not to by the faithful and discreet slave” (whatever the issue may be, such as not saying “good luck,” or “gesundheit” or “bless you” after someone sneezes, throwing rice or confetti at weddings, toasting, etc., etc.). And that’s it. JWs are too scared to even question the governing body whatsoever. It’s the same kind of thinking where if the governing body says “jump,” then they’ll just automatically say, “How high?”
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Why facts fail to reach the faithful, (even the intelligent ones)
by done4good ini posted this on another thread, and decided it deserves its own...thoughts?.
an unfortunate artifact of evolution is that belief can, and often does trump fact.
survival is at the core of what belief is about.
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SAHS
“David_Jay”: “Religion is not always based around a cult of worship, nor do they all include deities or even an afterlife eschatology. Jainism for example is a humanist form of religion with no deity. The Jewish Sadducees as well many Jews today do not believe in an afterlife, and even those who do see no relevance in living with it as a goal in mind. Buddhism is a religion that seeks to free a person of all notions of and desires for eternity and has no central deity for worship.”
That’s a good point. There are certainly a variety of types and structures of religion. Although, unfortunately, a high-control, totalitarian bent seems to have been the norm with monolithic organized religion as a whole, which I believe is a manifestation of the fundamental human characteristic of securing power and control over others (which some would categorize as a self-serving “defect of character”).
“David_Jay”: “Religion is not the opposite of atheism.”
True, at least not necessarily. But the most major and significant distinction with regard to religion is this: Religion and spirituality are most definitely not necessarily the same thing. Religion tends to demand everyone’s exclusive devotion to a leader or group (albeit with some exceptions, as you noted above), whereas spirituality, as an abstract concept, is something which is always available to each individual, regardless of whichever ambient religious climate he or she may find him- or herself geographically. I think of spirituality itself as a metaphysical state which emerges from within one’s own unique cognitive processes. It is really a basic personal philosophy of living which promotes serenity through acceptance of one’s own place in the universe and harmony within one’s environment. Personal spirituality allows the individual to espouse basic altruistic yet practical codes of conduct and social interaction which are completely separate and independent of any organized body acting as a custodian and dictator of belief, ritual, and conduct. Spirituality is the formation and operation of one’s own deeply personal psyche of human consciousness which allows a person to function with some degree of positive and beneficial thought, emotion, and action within oneself and toward others. In other words, spirituality is simply that which works toward general harmony, fulfillment, and peace. And to that end, really no specific organized structure of religion is necessary!
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Why facts fail to reach the faithful, (even the intelligent ones)
by done4good ini posted this on another thread, and decided it deserves its own...thoughts?.
an unfortunate artifact of evolution is that belief can, and often does trump fact.
survival is at the core of what belief is about.
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SAHS
Why even very intelligent people have arbitrary faith-based “beliefs” as opposed to just cold, hard facts seems to be a kind of coping mechanism. Analogous is that the very first phase of the “grieving process” is protecting oneself from uncomfortable feelings and internal sensations arising from inevitable unsavoury facts, especially as it pertains to ones own death or that of a loved one.
In such case, the fanciful becomes the stalwart crutch of the fragile psyche of the advanced brain. As the OP brought out, “Belief can, and often does trump fact.”
I believe that religion was something contrived by man as a way to satisfy specific needs emerging from the basic deficiencies, or weaknesses, of human character; namely, the need for fatherly security, redemption, and a primal sense of the “eternal.” I believe that Sigmund Freud was right in that the concept or notion of an almighty “God” is something invented by people to satisfy, or replace, an innately yearned-for “father figure,” which engenders an albeit false sense of survival and permanence.
It is the old adage that “truth is stranger than fiction” – and any kind of profound comfort for the “soul” of the human condition becomes the only palatable goal of which is sought by all levels of intellect alike.
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Do You Remember The First Time You Looked At "Apostate" Material?
by minimus ini was always fascinated by it.
as a kid, i used to go to the local library and secretly read books by so called apostates.
later, i would sneak into christian book stores and quickly buy a book or two.
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SAHS
Yes, it was around the year 2002, when I soon registered an account with this very forum. (Thank God for this forum!) The thing that really was the tipping point for me was the collection of flip-flops called “Food At the Proper Time” on the Website “http://www.freeminds.org,” by Randy Watters. I read that entire multipart document, which showed the evolution of the absolutely ridiculous teachings and policies contrived by the Watchtower Society. After reading hundreds of pages of the proven-to-be-crap of the WTS, it became most starkly obvious that all those teachings were from arrogant men and that they couldn’t possibly hold up to any candle to any in a force five hurricane.
And, of course, all the other myriads of factual information I’ve been lucky enough to peruse on my own have convinced me that the JW “governing body” is no more inspired than my left foot or my butthole.
Now I know that after I am dead, I will be in the exact same state as a brick or a door nail – which is the so-called Gehennah of which the WTS loves to scare people, and which is also a concept that actually brings me the most piece of mind of all. In other words, I know that I am destined to be completely dead forever – as is everyone else in this world, whether they know and accept it or not. But, in the final analysis, that is the most comforting – and natural – concept of all!
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SAHS
Whoops! My first double-post. All well. There’s apparently a first time for everybody. Sorry, folks. [Insert a really embarrassed, red-cheeked emoticon in your mind – I couldn’t find one.] -
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SAHS
“ttdtt”: “Next maybe Elmo and Big Bird can help us understand really complex things like 607.”
LOL!!!
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SAHS
“ttdtt”: “Next maybe Elmo and Big Bird can help us understand really complex things like 607.”
LOL!!!
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The Bread Illustration (Feb 16 Broadcast) - Massive Contradiction
by fizzle inso... bro flodin puts poison onto the first loaf of bread and says that this pictures someone "sinning against the holy spirit".
he then puts the bread into the trash can stating that jehovah completely discards anyone "sinning against the holy spirit"... meaning they cannot ever be forgiven...he says that the pharisees "sinned against the holy spirit" because they denied indisputable evidence of the operation of jehovah's holy spirit displayed by jesus... therefore jehovah would completely discard them... no way back for them.. fast forward a little... we have the bible character stephen...acts 6:8 says: now stephen, full of divine favor and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.so stephen was showing indisputable evidence of the operation of jehovah's holy spirit.now we come to the bible character paul (saul)... he was a pharisee.paul would have seen stephen in action... witnessing the indisputable evidence of the operation of jehovah's holy spirit first hand!yet paul not only waged war against all christians but he personally approved the killing (stoning) of stephen.according to the bread illustration paul should have been discarded by jehovah at this point for "sinning against the holy spirit"... he would have been put in the trash can... no way back at all...but what happened according to the bible?
jesus appeared to him on the road to damascus... he became one of the most zealous apostles in bible history with jehovah's full support!so what on earth is the bread illustration all about?
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SAHS
“Fisherman”: “Paul was spiritually blind when he persecuted Christians. That was not the case with the Pharisees that Jesus referred to as sinning without forgiveness . . .”
Well, if that were the case with the apostle Paul, then that would logically also have been the case with the other Pharisees to whom Jesus addressed in Matthew chapter 23 – the very same ones to whom Jesus said: “Serpents, offspring of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of Gehenna?” (vs. 33). Jesus referred to them as being “blind” five times in that chapter: He called them “blind guides” (vs. 16), “blind ones!” (vs. 17), “blind ones!” (vs. 18), “blind guides” (vs. 24), and “blind Pharisee” (vs. 26).
Now, don’t forget that Paul publicly said about himself at Acts 22:3: “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but educated in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strictness of the ancestral Law, and zealous for God . . . ,” and at Galatians 1:13, 14 he said of himself: “I kept intensely persecuting the congregation of God and devastating it; and I was making greater progress in Judaism than many of my own age in my nation, as I was far more zealous for the traditions of my fathers.”
So, it looks to me like Paul was quite an educated and astute Jewish Pharisee, certainly one with the necessary discernment to realize whatever legitimacy there was to the evidence of God’s holy spirit in operation among the early Christians. There is absolutely no way I can see that Paul would have been any less blind than any of his fellow Pharisees. (As Forest Gump would probably say: “Blind is as blind does!”