Village Idiot

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Posts by Village Idiot

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  67

  John Lewis: Trump isn't a legitimate president

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/john-lewis-trump-isnt-a-legitimate-president/ar-aalqsqs?li=bbmkt5r&ocid=spartanntp.

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  Village Idiot

  Simon,
  

  If Russia made up lies about Clinton then they should call them out on it. But if Russia just exposed lies and corruption by Clinton then they informed the US electorate more than the main-stream media was willing to do and did everyone a service.

  I have yet to hear what a single one of those emails said that made Hillary Clinton look bad. It seems that the mere presence of those emails made people assume that they exposed some wrongdoing on her part. Anyone know anything about a single email that was released?
  
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  8

  Any updates on Vaping?

  by longgone in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was wondering if the gb has forbidden vaping yet, so i did a search.

  there was a thread from a year ago, the comments covered all the bases i suspected the wt would come up with.

  i'm out, so it doesn't really matter to me.

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  Village Idiot

  What about medical Marijuana, vaped or otherwise?
  
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  17

  How many JWs still have a personal conscience?

  by contramundum in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in conversation with an old jw friend today, it struck me that most jws have replaced their personal conscience with a collective one.. instead of training their own mental powers to distinguish right from wrong, as the bible encourages, they are content to shift personal accountability away from themselves and onto the impersonal org.

  whatever behaviour may prompt an ordinary person to have serious misgivings ( such as ignoring glaring misapplication of scripture or rejecting basic human decency in favour of unchristian shunning ) they prefer to have those decisions made for them.. history teaches us, however, that there is no absolution for people who behave unethically or cruelly by allowing the excuse of 'obeying orders' to override what their inner voice should scream is inherently wrong..

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  Village Idiot

  How many JWs still have a personal conscience?
  

  As many as become apostates.
  
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  37

  The day after Armageddon

  by Pronger1 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jws are scattered across the globe.

  a few million people left, pretty isolated from each other.. telephone lines and power goes down since the people who supported the infrastructure are dead.

  communication across town, state, country, etc is cut off.

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  Village Idiot

  As a person who loves apocalypse fiction I can think of many ways that a tiny minority of people can survive after a major die-off. It takes imagination but the solutions are there.

  Assume that one out of a thousand persons survive and they start gathering together to live close together.
  

  Telephone lines and power goes down since the people who supported the infrastructure are dead. Communication across town, state, country, etc is cut off.

  Ham radios and walkie-talkies.
  

  Oil refineries shut down, gas for travel starts becoming unavailable.

  There would be thousands of gallons of fuel per survivor and the fuel at gas stations can become available when they are given electricity through means of generators. Any further transportation can be arranged by bicycles and any surviving horses. Keep in mind that people will be living close together in neighborhoods and have a lessened need for long distance transportation.
  

  Crops dying in the fields, livestock used for milk and meat start their process of dying.

  There is enough food in supermarkets to last every individual now living for 3 days. If one out of a thousand survive then there would be almost 9 year's worth of food as crops are planted. Of course Jehovah can arrange for a few farmers to survive and feed the rest.
  

  Manufacturing of replacement parts for automobiles gone.

  Go to Cuba and see how 1950s vintage cars are kept running without any factory made replacement parts. Besides, there would be over a hundred vehicles per survivor at a .1% survival rate.
  

  Read Stephen King's book The Stand to get an idea of how a few thousand people can reclaim one city.
  
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  123

  Why do some Jehovah's Witnesses choose to be atheist or agnostic?

  by Cassaruby in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  "traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest friends [the father and the son] .

  .. "whatever sense of 'belonging' that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the scripture presents .

  from reading joseph campbell i've come to understand that there are functions to religion or mythology.

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  Village Idiot

  I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with that choice. It just seems to me that it might be like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, so to speak.

  If you don't find anything inherently wrong with that then why are you using the metaphor of jumping from frying pan into the fire? The metaphor is the same as referring to the greater of two evils (the fire).
  
  
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  65

  Short stay

  by midnight in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  after much research and prayer i am returning to being a jehovah's witness i can find nothing that eliminates them from being god's directed people , in the end they will reach the end of there journey despite mistakes and errors just like the israelites entered the promised land , thanks for your input and all the best on your personal journey ☺.

  midnight..

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  Village Idiot

  midnight,

  ...I can find nothing that eliminates them from being God's directed people...
  

  Yes you can.

  This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. - Jeremiah 23:16 New International Version.

  The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The prophecies they gave you were false and misleading. - Lamentations 2:14 NIV

  13 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: ‘Hear the word of the Lord! 3 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! 4 Your prophets, Israel, are like jackals among ruins.- Ezekiel 13:1-4 NIV
  
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  8

  Is strong faith or belief in religion or "God" a mental disorder?

  by kpop in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it is a most interesting study.

  when one studies anthropology, one can see how the "need" for belief in a higher being evolved from early man.

  and it served a purpose.

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  Village Idiot

  Ancient humans such as Homo Sapiens had cave paintings that modern day anthropologists interpret as having religious significance. They didn't necessarily believed in a "higher power". They basically worshipped what they ate. That is a religion worth having compared to the ones we have now.

  It was later in our history, when we became civilized, that our religions would have undergone a significant change. Society became authoritarian with dictators running our life. We went from worshipping what we ate to worshipping what eats us namely sentient cosmic entities (gods) who were projections of the tyrannical nature of societies rulers.

  We need a new religion, one based on what we know of the universe. Carl Sagan, of the memorable Cosmos series, thought that science might want to use the power of religious sentiments that would lead us into worshipping the Universe. A form of cosmic pantheism.

  I agree with Sagan. Instead of despising religion and disparaging those who are religious we should change the very structure of religion into something useful.
  

  Long live the Cosmos!

  
  
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  46

  Some apostates are coming across as crazed psychopaths

  by jambon1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm not sure whether or not my view on this is correct so please leave your input.

  in recent months i've been viewing youtube videos.

  again, it might just be my view but there has been an increased amount of random people grabbing a camera and doing vlogs.

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  Village Idiot

  Some apostates are coming across as crazed psychopaths..

  That is not a proper use of the word psychopath even though it's misused by many as such. Most psychopaths have no more anger than your regular John Doe. Psychopaths simply have no conscience and are known to be manipulative for their own gain.

  As for combative ex-JWs, that's perfectly understandable even though we may wish that their tactics be different.
  
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  4

  Autocracy: Rules for Survival

  by Village Idiot in

  1. social
  2. current

  pardon the cut and paste but i simply can not do better than the author.. autocracy: rules for survival by masha gessen.

  i have lived in autocracies most of my life, and have spent much of my career writing about vladimir putin’s russia.

  i have learned a few rules for surviving in an autocracy and salvaging your sanity and self-respect.

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  Village Idiot

  I wonder how many people are moving to Canada. But then Canada has had its share of right wing a$$holes. No one as bad as Trump I'm sure but, since they're next door, Trumpism might, under the right circumstances, be contagious.
  
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  4

  Autocracy: Rules for Survival

  by Village Idiot in

  1. social
  2. current

  pardon the cut and paste but i simply can not do better than the author.. autocracy: rules for survival by masha gessen.

  i have lived in autocracies most of my life, and have spent much of my career writing about vladimir putin’s russia.

  i have learned a few rules for surviving in an autocracy and salvaging your sanity and self-respect.

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  Village Idiot

  GrreatTeacher,
  

  I felt dark winds blowing in the US not too long after Obama was elected.
  

  He was vilified even before he took office. I remember, shortly after his becoming president a group of armed men posting themselves on a church lawn (with permission of the church) at some distance from where he was going to speak. They held signs saying that they came in peace this time.

  I'm sure his name will live on in infamy in the eyes of conservatives. Every conspiracy crackpot and his sister will say something to the effect that:

  • Obama is planning to launch a coup against Trump.
  • Obama is going to take over the U.N. and open up concentration camps for Conservatives.
    
  • Liberals are arming themselves to overthrow Conservatives.
  • Etc. ad nauseum.

  And there's no exaggeration in what I just posted. I go to rightwingwatch.org every day and they reveal crackpots, some of them influential, saying similar things. The situation is just going to get critical one of these days.