Posts by behemot

Once a PO who was totally dumb and incapable (and whom the congregation barely put up with) was asked to step down (not as an elder, mind you, just as PO) by the entire elders' body (plus a troubleshooter special pioneer especially dispatched by the Branch) and he wouldn't budge, kept on (for hours!) claiming that Jehovah himself had put him in that position and that he didn't intend to let it go ... never seen anybody more glued to his chair ... very embarrassing.

Behemot

7

Is it really necessary to have all these splinter foreign language groups?

by gubberningbody in

jw
friends

in countries with basically a homogenous-language speaking group?

it strikes me as more devisive than uniting.

more like "separate, but equal".

behemot

In my experience foreign-language groups are often set up not because they are actually needed but, especially in stagnant and "fruitless" territories, just to give the impression to the otherwise bored members of the congregation that things are moving forward, there is some activity going on, initiatives taken, people getting busy in the work.

That's a two-edged sword though: foreign-language groups attract the most active, enthusiastic and eager members looking for "spiritual" gratification (well, at times it attracts also some with less noble reasons to turn over a new leaf), which in time, when the new group gains independence, leaves the "mother" congregation in an even weaker state.

Behemot

2

Imminence of the end & gardening

by behemot in

jw
friends

"i have, as a matter of fact, known some christians who did believe that the second coming was imminent.

i knew a parson who frightened his congregation terribly by telling them that the second coming was very imminent indeed, but they were much consoled when they found that he was planting trees in his garden.

" (bertrand russell, why i am not a christian, lecture given on march 6, 1927 to the national secular society, south london branch, at battersea town hall).

behemot

"I have, as a matter of fact, known some Christians who did believe that the second coming was imminent. I knew a parson who frightened his congregation terribly by telling them that the second coming was very imminent indeed, but they were much consoled when they found that he was planting trees in his garden." (Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian, lecture given on March 6, 1927 to the National Secular Society, South London Branch, at Battersea Town Hall)

Reminded me of so many JWs whose lifestyle and plans for the future contradicts their claim of the end's imminence: so many of them are "planting trees in" their "garden" ... good for them, actually, for eating of their fruits will soften their disappointment when the end doesn't come at all.

Behemot

1

Why We Suffer: reading suggestion

by behemot in

jw
friends

just finished reading this book, which i found very insightful:.

http://www.amazon.com/gods-problem-answer-important-question-why/dp/0061173975.

anyone read it?.

behemot

Just finished reading this book, which I found very insightful:

http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Problem-Answer-Important-Question-Why/dp/0061173975

Anyone read it?

Behemot

2

Gods fluttering spirit and the luminaries of day and night.

by hamsterbait in

i was very ill this weekend and started brooding over the ot which fascinates me even now.. according to egyptian religion, the spirit is shown as a pair of wings.

since in genesis the literal words are "the spirit of god was fluttering above the face of the waters", why do translators hide this obvious animistic phrase by translating it "moving to and fro" rather than fluttering?

(remember the gospel where gods spirit flutters down in the form of a dove?).

behemot

"And to YOU who are in fear of my name the sun of righteousness will certainly shine forth, with healing in its wings; and YOU will actually go forth and paw the ground like fattened calves.” (Malachi 4:2)

For the origins and story of the sunwinged sun see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winged_sun

http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/2059223

For early JWs' usage of sunwinged disk in their literature see:

http://www.seanet.com/~raines/disc.html

Behemot

12

2009 Global Peace Index: atheist nations are more peaceful

by behemot in

jw
friends

interesting .... http://mwcnews.net/content/view/31030&itemid=1.

behemot.

.

behemot

Men never commit evil so fully and joyfully as when they do it for religious convictions. - Blaise Pascal

12

2009 Global Peace Index: atheist nations are more peaceful

by behemot in

jw
friends

interesting .... http://mwcnews.net/content/view/31030&itemid=1.

behemot.

.

behemot

It all boils down to the old claim summed up by one of Dostoevskij characters, that “if there is no God, then everything is permitted.” (The Brothers Karamazov)

But loosing one’s faith doesn’t change the individual’s morality. It’s not because we loose our faith that we, all of a sudden, start betraying our friends, robbing or raping, killing or torturing!

It’s just not true that “everything is permitted” because we ourselves don’t permit it. Morality is autonomous, says Kant (Critique of Practical Reason) or it is not morality at all.

The behavior of an individual who doesn’t allow himself to kill just because he’s afraid of divine punishment is not “moral”: it’s just precaution, fear of the divine policeman, selfishness; the behavior of an individual who does good only for his own salvation is not “moral” either.

So, for the faithless ones, there are no longer “divine” commandments, but still there are our moral duties, that are the commandments that we impose upon ourselves.

As French philosopher André Comte-Sponville ( L'Esprit de l'athéisme) says: “Robbing, raping, killing? It wouldn’t be worthy of me – it would be unworthy of my upbringing, of what I am and want to be. Thus I forbid that to myself, and this is what we call “morality”. There’s no need to believe in God for that; it suffices to have faith in our parents and our teachers, in our friends (if we’ve been able to choose them well) and in our conscience.”

I would even say that stats like this one prove that Dostoevskij’s sentence could be paradoxically reversed thus: “If there is a God, then everything is permitted”. In fact, God speaks only and always through men, through their (biased) interpretation, thus every “moral” dictate, even the more questionable, can present itself as being of divine origin, and justify virtually everything (violence and war included).

Behemot