Posts by OrphanCrow

63

Video: Dear Believer, Why Do You Believe?

by Believer in

i was asked to view the video “dear believer, why do you believe?” i said i would and i would publish my comments about it.

so here are my comments.

after my post, i hope other believers will post theirs comments about it.

OrphanCrow

Thanks for the background on Dr. Alexander, DJS.

Here is an article that debunks Alexander's claims and exposes him as a liar - he made claims in his book that are simply not true.

http://www.skeptic.com/insight/proof-of-heaven/

The article concludes with this:

So, if we add all this up, we have a neurosurgeon who makes fundamental mistakes about how the brain works, because he is not a neuroscientist or neurophysiologist—and that is a BIG difference. On top of this, he has a history of falsifying records and was in trouble with numerous malpractice suits, so his medical career was effectively over. And when Dittrich checked with other people, many important details in the book turned out clearly false.
This does not seem to trouble Alexander or any of his followers who want to believe him. They, like so many others, are willing to be duped out of their money for the book and make him rich, all while he tells them fairy stories to confirm their beliefs and make them feel good. It wouldn’t be the first time some religious figure separated people from their money—but perhaps the first time it was done by a neurosurgeon in a white lab coat.

221

Judge sanctions WTS - $4k per day penalty for not producing sex abuse documents

by Simon in

judge sanctions jehovah's witnesses.

imposes $4000-a-day penalty for not producing documents in sex-abuse case.

by dorian hargrove, june 24, 2016. a san diego superior court judge has ordered the church of jehovah's witnesses, also known as the watchtower bible and tract society of pennsylvania, to pay $4000 a day for every day that it fails to produce documents requested in a civil lawsuit brought by former parishioner, osbaldo padron, who claims a church elder sexually abused him when he was seven years old.. in a june 23 ruling, expected to be made final today, judge richard strauss admonished the church for willfully ignoring a court order to produce all documents associated with a 1997 body of elders letter that church leaders sent to parishes around the world in a quest to learn about sexual abuse of children by church leaders.. over the course of the past year, the watchtower society and its lawyers have fought hard to keep the letter confidential, claiming that turning over the documents would infringe on the privacy of those mentioned in the letter that were not associated with the case.. in march 2015, the church turned over a heavily redacted version of the letter.

OrphanCrow

TheWonderYou: They still think that in this - unwillingness to follow court orders - they are obeying God more than men.

But...but...whatever happened to "pay unto Caesar" and all that shit?

57

Mark Sanderson Talk re Belgium visit

by Listener in

the degradation of the governing body members continues on.

mark sanderson gives a talk regarding his visit to belgium for the memorial this year and was travelling from korea to munich to brussels, belgium on the day of the belgium terrorist attacks.he cannot wipe the smirk on his face as he relates his experience, with no regard whatsoever of all those unfortunately affected by the attacks.

in fact, he personally found god's hand affecting him personally, allowing him to attend the memorial as planned and a kh dedication.he is that privileged during his flight travels that internet was available to him, enabling him to catch up on current news and to contact branch's.

OrphanCrow

...aaaand...we were able to dedicate a NEW! Kingdom Hall complex...!!!!!

Yaya! Jehobah is really blessing us...buildings are soooo much more important than lives lost. We arez the good guys...we get property! Valuable property $$$$$$$$$

63

Video: Dear Believer, Why Do You Believe?

by Believer in

i was asked to view the video “dear believer, why do you believe?” i said i would and i would publish my comments about it.

so here are my comments.

after my post, i hope other believers will post theirs comments about it.

OrphanCrow

believer: ..........So that’s my take on the video.

Wow.

You missed the whole point of the video. You watched the same thing I did and came away with ways to justify your position rather than question it.

The video was designed for the viewer to question belief, not to justify belief.

And, I was disappointed. The video never did address the basic fundamental question:

"Why do you believe?"

Why is belief necessary? What is belief?

Belief is only necessary when there is no proof of something. Proof transforms the unknown into knowledge.

I value knowledge over belief. Belief requires a person to suspend their disbelief - to exist within a fantastical world. That is okay if I want to read or do something else for entertainment. Fiction books, movies, stories, etc. Sure...I will suspend my disbelief in order to engage with the experience. But, when the book closes or the movie is over, I am still here in the real world. I don't require belief to exist. I know I am here.

221

Judge sanctions WTS - $4k per day penalty for not producing sex abuse documents

by Simon in

judge sanctions jehovah's witnesses.

imposes $4000-a-day penalty for not producing documents in sex-abuse case.

by dorian hargrove, june 24, 2016. a san diego superior court judge has ordered the church of jehovah's witnesses, also known as the watchtower bible and tract society of pennsylvania, to pay $4000 a day for every day that it fails to produce documents requested in a civil lawsuit brought by former parishioner, osbaldo padron, who claims a church elder sexually abused him when he was seven years old.. in a june 23 ruling, expected to be made final today, judge richard strauss admonished the church for willfully ignoring a court order to produce all documents associated with a 1997 body of elders letter that church leaders sent to parishes around the world in a quest to learn about sexual abuse of children by church leaders.. over the course of the past year, the watchtower society and its lawyers have fought hard to keep the letter confidential, claiming that turning over the documents would infringe on the privacy of those mentioned in the letter that were not associated with the case.. in march 2015, the church turned over a heavily redacted version of the letter.

OrphanCrow

vidiot: PS @ orphancrow... Fixed

Cool. It would be a shame if we had bird stereotyping happening around here...haha!

221

Judge sanctions WTS - $4k per day penalty for not producing sex abuse documents

by Simon in

judge sanctions jehovah's witnesses.

imposes $4000-a-day penalty for not producing documents in sex-abuse case.

by dorian hargrove, june 24, 2016. a san diego superior court judge has ordered the church of jehovah's witnesses, also known as the watchtower bible and tract society of pennsylvania, to pay $4000 a day for every day that it fails to produce documents requested in a civil lawsuit brought by former parishioner, osbaldo padron, who claims a church elder sexually abused him when he was seven years old.. in a june 23 ruling, expected to be made final today, judge richard strauss admonished the church for willfully ignoring a court order to produce all documents associated with a 1997 body of elders letter that church leaders sent to parishes around the world in a quest to learn about sexual abuse of children by church leaders.. over the course of the past year, the watchtower society and its lawyers have fought hard to keep the letter confidential, claiming that turning over the documents would infringe on the privacy of those mentioned in the letter that were not associated with the case.. in march 2015, the church turned over a heavily redacted version of the letter.

OrphanCrow

pssst...vidiot...I don't think I said that. Baldeagle did.

It is easy to get us birds mixed up...we all look the same to you, don't we? lol!

221

Judge sanctions WTS - $4k per day penalty for not producing sex abuse documents

by Simon in

judge sanctions jehovah's witnesses.

imposes $4000-a-day penalty for not producing documents in sex-abuse case.

by dorian hargrove, june 24, 2016. a san diego superior court judge has ordered the church of jehovah's witnesses, also known as the watchtower bible and tract society of pennsylvania, to pay $4000 a day for every day that it fails to produce documents requested in a civil lawsuit brought by former parishioner, osbaldo padron, who claims a church elder sexually abused him when he was seven years old.. in a june 23 ruling, expected to be made final today, judge richard strauss admonished the church for willfully ignoring a court order to produce all documents associated with a 1997 body of elders letter that church leaders sent to parishes around the world in a quest to learn about sexual abuse of children by church leaders.. over the course of the past year, the watchtower society and its lawyers have fought hard to keep the letter confidential, claiming that turning over the documents would infringe on the privacy of those mentioned in the letter that were not associated with the case.. in march 2015, the church turned over a heavily redacted version of the letter.

OrphanCrow

stuckinarut: As kairos perfectly said, THIS is why the "police" in riot gear were eagerly hunting down the "witnesses" in the bunker video!

I totally agree.

The purpose of the bunker video is to prepare JWs for the "authorities" rounding up the pedophiles on The List. The JWs will think they are being persecuted because they are JWs but the real reason the police will be coming is to arrest the elders who covered up the criminal rape of children.

Great Tribulation indeed.

221

Judge sanctions WTS - $4k per day penalty for not producing sex abuse documents

by Simon in

judge sanctions jehovah's witnesses.

imposes $4000-a-day penalty for not producing documents in sex-abuse case.

by dorian hargrove, june 24, 2016. a san diego superior court judge has ordered the church of jehovah's witnesses, also known as the watchtower bible and tract society of pennsylvania, to pay $4000 a day for every day that it fails to produce documents requested in a civil lawsuit brought by former parishioner, osbaldo padron, who claims a church elder sexually abused him when he was seven years old.. in a june 23 ruling, expected to be made final today, judge richard strauss admonished the church for willfully ignoring a court order to produce all documents associated with a 1997 body of elders letter that church leaders sent to parishes around the world in a quest to learn about sexual abuse of children by church leaders.. over the course of the past year, the watchtower society and its lawyers have fought hard to keep the letter confidential, claiming that turning over the documents would infringe on the privacy of those mentioned in the letter that were not associated with the case.. in march 2015, the church turned over a heavily redacted version of the letter.

OrphanCrow

problemaddict: I would like to correct something. WT doesn't only use its own lawyers. I know one of the lawyers for an outside firm that handles their cases (at there internal staffs direction). His words......."they are a great client. they pay their bills on time, and they are always in trouble."

That makes sense. After watching the performance of Watchtower lawyers at the Royal Commission, I totally understand why the WT would hire outside lawyers.

221

Judge sanctions WTS - $4k per day penalty for not producing sex abuse documents

by Simon in

judge sanctions jehovah's witnesses.

imposes $4000-a-day penalty for not producing documents in sex-abuse case.

by dorian hargrove, june 24, 2016. a san diego superior court judge has ordered the church of jehovah's witnesses, also known as the watchtower bible and tract society of pennsylvania, to pay $4000 a day for every day that it fails to produce documents requested in a civil lawsuit brought by former parishioner, osbaldo padron, who claims a church elder sexually abused him when he was seven years old.. in a june 23 ruling, expected to be made final today, judge richard strauss admonished the church for willfully ignoring a court order to produce all documents associated with a 1997 body of elders letter that church leaders sent to parishes around the world in a quest to learn about sexual abuse of children by church leaders.. over the course of the past year, the watchtower society and its lawyers have fought hard to keep the letter confidential, claiming that turning over the documents would infringe on the privacy of those mentioned in the letter that were not associated with the case.. in march 2015, the church turned over a heavily redacted version of the letter.

OrphanCrow

zoos: What kind of teeth does this San Diego court have to MAKE Watchtower pay the bill?
If it doesn't have the authority to MAKE Watchtower hand over the document (well, it hasn't been able to thus far),.... what would be the next step for this court?

I don't know how it works in the San Diego court system...but in my country it is a simple matter for a court to make a judgement against someone who owes money. Once the judgement has been made, bank accounts and property can be seized to settle the debt.

11

Were leading characters in the history of Judeao-Christianity suffering from psychotic symptoms?

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

i don't think i've seen any reference to this academic study on this site.

the analysis in question was published in a serious academic journal, the journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences, in 2012, with the title, the role of psychotic disorders in religious history considered.. the authors were evan d. murray, m.d., giles g cunningham, m.d.

ph.d, and bruce h.price,m.d.. it was published online october 01, 2012, reference link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/appi.neuropsych.11090214.

OrphanCrow

fts: I've read the full article via my university library, if the initial summary appeals to you, you'd probably need the services of a good library to access the full journal article. By the terms of my access, I can't reproduce the full article.

The article can be accessed at http://sci-hub.bz/

I read some of the article. I think the article has some issues. Primarily, the authors of the article approach the characters in the Bible as the subject of inquiry when it would be more accurate to approach the study from the position that the authors of the Bible, rather than the characters themselves, are the ones who are revealed in the characters written about.

It is problematic to study another culture using the measurement tools of the observing culture. The results are ethnocentric and biased.