TO: “freemindfade”:
Those “Ideals” listed are far more simpler yet profound than the precepts of the WTS – I don’t see anything in that list about peddling pamphlets to support a publishing company.
Posts by SAHS
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13I'm okay with the "fruitage of the spirit."
by cappytan inthough i now consider myself a secular buddhist, i just realized today that i'm okay with trying to pursue the qualities mentioned by paul as the "fruitage of the spirit.".
the only one i take issue with is "faith" in the context of religion.
what are your thoughts on the matter?.
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13
I'm okay with the "fruitage of the spirit."
by cappytan inthough i now consider myself a secular buddhist, i just realized today that i'm okay with trying to pursue the qualities mentioned by paul as the "fruitage of the spirit.".
the only one i take issue with is "faith" in the context of religion.
what are your thoughts on the matter?.
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SAHS
TO: “cappytan”
“What are your thoughts on the matter?”
The “fruits of the spirit” are really metaphors for basic sociological principles which help mitigate people’s fundamental defects of character. Religious “faith” is simply an exercise in one’s own reliance on, and harmony with, a power which is greater than himself. That power, which many refer to as “God,” is in my opinion simply whatever processes which happen to unfold in the natural, logical, mathematical order of the universe. “God,” as I see it, is not any sort of anthropomorphic being or “deity” but, rather, an emergent property of whatever processes that be in the natural order of things. Therefore, those positive, pro-social qualities of highly-evolved creatures such as ourselves – or “fruits of the spirit,” as such – are just the positive aspects of our human makeup which, as a collective societal phenomenon, exert an existential power – or “force for good” – over people as individuals which transcends their own capabilities for promoting self- and social efficacy.
Case in point: I myself actually am an alcoholic, and I would never have the fortitude as an individual to keep abstinent from drinking. However, a power greater than myself, in the form of fellow sufferers in kind, is in fact able to help effect my recovery, beyond whatever success I could have just by myself. It’s as the expression goes, “The total is greater than the sum of its parts.” I have faith in the fundamental tenets of the program of recovery (metaphorically embodying the essence of those general “fruits of the spirit”) as they may be expressed by the group of fellow sufferers as a whole. (I probably shouldn’t divulge the actual name of that group recovery program, if you know what I mean.)
So, the “fruits of the spirit” are really just another general metaphor, or analogy, for the antithesis of the common defects of human character, which defects are apparently based on the more basic, primal, intrinsic functioning of our mammalian brains which drive us on a subconscious level, namely fear, greed, lust, etc. – things which do in fact serve an evolutionary purpose for survival but which can also have the propensity to grossly exceed their natural purpose to the extent of becoming self-defeating.
That is what the “fruits of the spirit” are in my opinion.
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10
Real estate buying, why are the GB doing this?
by purrpurr inwatching the documentary going clear, i noticed several parallels with the gb.
one of which was that in recent times they are focusing their efforts on buying property.
i don't understand what the purpose of this is?
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SAHS
So, all those real estate holdings are really one giant tax-free savings account for the governing body.
A couple or so years ago, the governing body has completely usurped the sole designation of the “faithful and discreet slave” (at least according to their own current “understanding”). Looking at it from the outside, you can see how that little handful of elite “privileged” men have been elevating themselves on a higher and higher pedestal. And the more tax-free savings they are lucky enough to get away with acquiring and accruing, then all the more fuel and incentive for their little (or not-so-little) power trip!
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June JW.org Broadcasting: What You Can Receive From The Preaching Work!
by The Governor ini just finished watching john cedars rebuttal of the june jw.org broadcasting.
there was an interesting part that i found personally that wasn't discussed by cedars.
it starts at about 50 minutes in where this brother starts discussing what prisoners need or what they can get from the preaching work.
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SAHS
The WTS has conveniently – deliberately – omitted everything from its online library before the year 2000. Yes, all that vast amount of, um, “truth” (not!) since the birth of the WT magazine has been made completely inaccessible by anyone who would want to get a good picture of the teachings over time through the official Web site. Not that people can’t access those historical publications one way or another, but such information is conspicuous by its absence in the WTS’ online library. And what does that say about the WTS’ supposed role of being the sole mouthpiece for Almighty God and a champion of “truth”? -
8
Lets have some fun, pick out the books in the Bible.
by James Mixon infind them.. this is a most remarkable puzzle.
it was found by a gentleman in an airplane seat pocket,.
on a flight from los angeles to honolulu, keeping him occupied for hours.
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SAHS
Okay, I got the following (not quite necessarily in order of appearance in th OP):
Luke
John
Hebrews
Joel
Philemon
Chronicles
Daniel
Lamentations
Revelation
Timothy
Samuel
Exodus
Kings
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5
BR. LETT- Do YOU "Imitate Jesus!"? Many On This Site Do So Daily!
by Hold Me-Thrill Me inbr.
lett, people on this site imitate jesus every day.
they imitate jesus' custom of pointing out the hypocrisy, self-love and greed the religious leaders in his religion practiced daily.
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SAHS
“Hold Me-Thrill Me”: “(Matthew 6:23) . . .If in reality the light that is in you is darkness, how great that darkness is!”
That reminds me of the WT’s founder, Charles Taze Russell, who spent a great deal of time and energy counting the number of steps in the basement of the great pyramid of Ghiza. . . . Yes, nothing but darkness there!
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Dwindling Attendance? Here's a quick fix!....
by Tech49 inso here's a real life experience you will get a kick out of.. our kh has about 90 publishers.
typical meeting attendance during a co visit is right at 100 or so.
the rest of the time, attendance is a dismal 50-60, sometimes 70 on a good week!.
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SAHS
I remember up until just within the last ten years or so ago, they would split the congregations in our area due to updated demographics. (Lots of new people moving into the area because of the very rapid development of new housing subdivisions here in Southern Ontario.) But, according to my long-standing elder dad, they began amalgamating the congregations apparently to give the impression that they had a healthy attendance by the appearance of “filling” the capacity of the Kingdom Halls. How pathetic! -
4
Anthony Morris human hot dogs
by Tornintwo ini am in complete shock!
bearing in mind i still class myself as 'doubting' and still have/had respect for some jw teachings, well i can't believe what i just listened to from a member of the governing body.
im sure a lot of you have seen this but for anyone new like me, you have to see this.
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SAHS
You know, my dad who is a very long-standing and well-known elder, used to scare me about Armageddon since I was just a very young little kid, saying things like, “Just wait until Armageddon. You’ll be shaking in your boots!”Also, he would always scare me about the “unforgivable sin” of sinning against the holy spirit, which is how I got my user name here. I had reoccurring nightmares since childhood of an approaching dark storm with tornado funnels.That is the worst kind of abuse – screwing with a young child’s mind, due to being influenced by a corrupt, narcissistic, and self-serving organization (cult!) masquerading as a “religion” – and supposedly the one-and-only “true” one at that. And that kind of fear, guilt, and shame stay with a person for life! I think that is even worse than the pedophilia thing. -
55
Should I Make My Wife Watch the May Broadcast?
by TTATTelder infor some background, i am still in.
still an elder.
very much awake.
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SAHS
“Pete Zahut”: “It also was about never begging for money, in the literature, which so far hasn't happened" (to my knowledge.”
But, Pete, don’t forget that article they put in the WT at least every year about donating to the organization and all the various methods to go about it (wills, trusts, real estate, insurance policies, jewelry, etc.). Here is a link to yet the very latest example of what I mean: http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2014923
Enough said.
“OneEyedJoe”: “There are examples in the bible of god's organization going astray (mostly bad kings) but most of the time it resulted in the deaths of thousands”That is an excellent point! Both with those Israelite kings who went “apostate” (plenty of them!) in the Old Testament and the arrogant, hypocritical Jewish religious leaders in the the New Testament, there were many thousands of deaths – of course, especially in that god-awful, viscous Old Testament! And that makes me think of the many thousands of human casualties – including the totally senseless deaths of young children and babies – due to the WTS’ cruel and unfounded blood transfusion policy. Well, like I said – excellent point!
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Photo from Bible Teach book was one of the top posts on /r/WTF today
by Richard_I ina pic from the bible teach book was posted on reddit's popular /r/wtf subreddit where people post things that make you say "what the fuck" out loud.
this was the photo and you can read the thread's comments here.
it was one of the most-upvoted pictures today on the subreddit.. i visit that subreddit once in awhile and laughed out loud when i saw the thread..
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SAHS
I’ve actually been having nightmares about a dark storm approaching since childhood thanks to such morbidly terrifying drawings, such as this one from the big orange book published 1958 called From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained:
