Qcmbr

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Posts by Qcmbr

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  48

  CAN EVERYONE DO ME A FAVOUR?

  by Mary in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i haven't been on here much lately, but i read barb anderson's report on the court case in california the other day.

  nice to see the borg finally getting what they deserve.. anyway, the daily mail has done a story about it and at the end you can give your comments.

  i think there are a number of 'faithful witlesses' on there who are giving the "thumbs down" to any negative comments about the borg, including mine.

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  Qcmbr

  Done
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  187

  What is with abusive atheists?

  by Fernando in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  sorry folks, i know the "candace conti case" is where all our time attention should be for now.

  i just had this much less important issue on my heart and wanted to make a quick note of it, as i am struggling with remembering all the details as clearly afterward.. although i am a non-religious believer and simple follower of jesus, i have had some constructive interaction with atheists and agnostics on jwn.

  i do enjoy learning more about their perspective.

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  Qcmbr

  Tec - choosing to be a slave is to be a victim. If you don't understand this I'm stuck since this isn't a puzzling deep idea.

  I hate how a requirement of being religious is to have to say things that are plainly wrong and try and make a sophisticated clever comment to wiggle around it. This is what comes of arguing over myths.
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  187

  What is with abusive atheists?

  by Fernando in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  sorry folks, i know the "candace conti case" is where all our time attention should be for now.

  i just had this much less important issue on my heart and wanted to make a quick note of it, as i am struggling with remembering all the details as clearly afterward.. although i am a non-religious believer and simple follower of jesus, i have had some constructive interaction with atheists and agnostics on jwn.

  i do enjoy learning more about their perspective.

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  Qcmbr

  s+f - there is a very different idea behind 'together we are stronger' or 'we are more than the sum of our individual contribution' than that proposed by xian faith (a notional god is not stronger because he is working with you nor is his ultimateness enhanced by your individual contribution.) The xian god requires that you need saving, he requires that you be imperfect, he requires that this life be only a prelude to a punish/reward ->worship scenario that you are a bit part player in ( the role of devil(advocate), saviour, judge, jury and recorder are already taken.) The xian god requires there to be sheep and goats, wheat and chaff, that which is burnt and that which is saved and so on. Xianity cannot countenance the idea that god is superfluous to mankinds needs, it requires a dependency relationship where we utterly depend upon god even for our very breath. I'm not certain which parts of this are different from abused victim and tyrannical abuser relationships. Aquiese to xian god and you may still get a raw deal and die horribly but at least you get eternity to be thankful and worshipful for your merciful god who allowed you to suffer such pain, rebel against xian god and you may still get a raw deal and die horribly but now you will be eternally punished as well. What's not to like?

  p.s. I am venting against faith - it is a terrible concept that has allowed mankind to stutter from one wasted life to another believing in whatever woo the current priest decided would best support his personal views. We've tried hugging trees, sacrificing virgins, offering milk to idols, throwing money in wells, burning witches, praying, giving money to priests, chopping off nob ends, putting hankies on women's heads, eating wafers and drinking wine, babbling on a floor, checking our electrical resistence, imbibing collodial silver, wearing crosses, blowing ourselves up, flicking water around, reading fairytales as fact, shaving our heads, wearing amulets, burning candles, going to war, enslaving heathens, torturing sinners, wearing cinctures, chanting mantras, tantric sex, putting pins in dollies, munching endangered species, flagelation and so on. At some point the experiment ceases and we note down the result. Evidence for God = 0.
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  187

  What is with abusive atheists?

  by Fernando in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  sorry folks, i know the "candace conti case" is where all our time attention should be for now.

  i just had this much less important issue on my heart and wanted to make a quick note of it, as i am struggling with remembering all the details as clearly afterward.. although i am a non-religious believer and simple follower of jesus, i have had some constructive interaction with atheists and agnostics on jwn.

  i do enjoy learning more about their perspective.

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  Qcmbr

  soft + gentle. Yes I do find believers are victims for the following reasons:

  1 - When they self identify as such (e.g. 'slave' ). Many believers are taught to see themselves as subserviant ,and in need of something additional to make them whole (they are an imperfect person ), they are taught that certain natural thoughts and actions are sin and certain moral actions are wrong. They are taught im many cases a spiritual caste system where the woman is under the headship of a male and the family is under the influence of the clergy / guru / especially pious. They are taught to give of their resources in order to show obedience or love. They are bound to revere books or ideas of questionable worth or that are downright immoral and to subject their natural morality to an alien meme normally from an ancient superstitious culture.

  2 - When they are given a worldview that is opposed to self criticism and the cost of 'doubt' questions are social censure, eternal punishment, damnation or some other punishment. A victim is in some way disempowered and the loss of freedom to think and question is one of faith / religion / beliefs primay goals and or side effects. The worldview is normally enforced upon a child or presented to the vulnerable (there are a few who come to religion with no unfulfilled needs, without coercion, love bombing or childhood inculcation and while I've never met such a person almost every single believer is convinced they would have always been <insert personal variety and degree of faith> regardless of culture or circumstance.)

  3 - Believers have to sacrifice all things at the altar of faith (a recent poster confirmed that she is being forced to sacrifice real physical paradigms to accomodate her spiritual belief.) A worldview that will not co-exist with reality and requires a re-assessment of factual, objective evidence that is contrary to the observed phenomenon and does not contain the foundational truth that IT must change according to the facts is ultimately nothing more than a mental cage.

  4 - Faith has a fundamental aversion to verifiable evidence. It makes a virtue from only seeking information from sources that support it. Since belief in magic is inherantly wrong all evidence detracts from faith ( thus thunder is no longer taken as proof of Norse gods nor the sun as evidence of an Egyptian sky deity - more recently christianity is adapting to having creation quashed by evolutionary theory .) Faith is thus antithetical to rational, reasoned, ammoral knowledge aquisition. It has been at the forefront of bigotry, stupidity , rigid ceremonial performance and factual buffoonery. Adherants aquiese to leasing their brains to demonstrably incorrect and fantastical mythology.

  :D
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  42

  Its on the Daily Mail Website!!!!!

  by cantleave in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2160605/candance-conti-molested-jehovahs-witnesses-member-age-nine-wins-28milion.html.

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  Qcmbr

  Forget the Daily Mail - this made Reddit!!!!

  http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/v70n7/ratheism_this_is_a_bigger_deal_than_memes_for_the/
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  28

  Gen.3;24 places the cherubim, and A flaming sword to guard, why?

  by jam in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  ok , why was it necessary for god to places a arm cherubim.

  to guard the way to the tree of life?

  adam and eve had.

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  Qcmbr

  I never understood where Eden went. Other than the flood there is no mention of Eden ever being destroyed or removed. Was the angel stuck there until the flood destroyed Eden or did that perfect place with an eternal tree naturally die off? Did the fruit of the tree ever propagate into a certain variety of fruit? Btw I recently found that if you plant an apple tree from apple pips you probably won't get an apple tree of the same type. To make an orchard of one variety you have to graft. Maybe the original tree of life was an apple tree and god made all apple trees produce different offspring to ensure that the tree of life didn't grow again later.
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  187

  What is with abusive atheists?

  by Fernando in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  sorry folks, i know the "candace conti case" is where all our time attention should be for now.

  i just had this much less important issue on my heart and wanted to make a quick note of it, as i am struggling with remembering all the details as clearly afterward.. although i am a non-religious believer and simple follower of jesus, i have had some constructive interaction with atheists and agnostics on jwn.

  i do enjoy learning more about their perspective.

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  Qcmbr

  What I'd like to know is what drives some Christians to be victims? On the proportionally small number of threads where atheists and the religious debate it can seem to be abusive when the paucity of facts supporting faith based worldviews is exposed repeatedly and the only evidence of magic is subjective experiences generated within a believers head. It is very difficult to critique or argue against a personal experience without being personal, the religious indulge in telling imaginary experiences and then expect to be taken seriously.

  Some believers also treat this board as somewhat more than a place to discuss and instead , based upon hallucinations, fulfill a divine mandate to preach. You can see it in their posting style where they claim a special privileged communication line with a version of their particular god which endows them with special powers and unique insights which they use to lead the gullible ( this is how cults begin and how real abuse starts .) Even amongst the wiser ex-JW there are those seeking a guru. The religious v atheist debates are dominated by a few and are not representative of all believers.

  Where believers have not preached or attempted to pass off useless information as having great meaning they get treated with general respect. Respect begets respect. I , as a fairly vocal atheist, can have plenty of solid uplifting conversations with believers who are willing to explore their belief or another topic without referring everything to woo. I wouldn't enter a church spouting Dawkins but some obnoxious believers enter any place and selectively spout the bible or last nights magic dream.
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  28

  The Fastest Growing Religion in America Is…

  by Dogpatch in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the fastest growing religion in america is... .

  may 4, 2012 9:11 amcomments (54)author: the american dream.

  do you know what the fastest growing religion in america is?

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  Qcmbr

  Fear not - LDS church is in a death spiral (especially in UK). Its just a matter of time. Almost all strong members are born in and the % of born ins leaving increases every year. The internet and open discussion are weakening it. Their numbers are swelled by the mes who haven't taken our names off the records.
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  40

  Why do only xian religions have soo many pedo problems ?

  by mP in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  im not trying to poke fun at any particular religion or show favouritism, but im having a hard time recalling similar repeated scandals in non xian religions.

  i cant recall hearing of pedo scandals in islam or buddism.

  yes i know that islam perpetrates many other evils like so call honour killings but buddhism seems to be rarely in the news for similar evils ?

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  Qcmbr

  Xianity is less successful at controlling the them and us paradigm when it is the dominant religion. Islam is likely to have the same issues but adds a cultural layer of secrecy against the laws of the west. The more secretive and hierarchical a society the more opportunities exist for the paedophiles to realise their sexual fantasies. It is all about opportunity. Ditto for all other abuses such as rape ( for example roughly 25% of US servicewomen experience sexual abuse including rape from fellow soldiers according to the BBC article on their website .)
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  361

  Watchtower found guilty ruled to pay 7 million to 1 victim? wow

  by yourmomma in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  is this recent?

  http://www.silentlambs.org/oaklandlawsuit.htm.

  i havent seen anyone post about it, the link has a pdf on it of the court documents, and it looks like the stamp is from 5/12 but its blurry.. .

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  Qcmbr

  This is great news if the WT changes it's policies and more children are protected.

  I still don't understand how these vast sums are calculated. 28 million is way too much, its out of proportion and will presumably be appealed and dragged out for years and then paid in tiny installments. I do struggle when one victim gets the jackpot while tens of thousands of abused kids have no voice or hope of recompense.

  I'd be happier if the WT was convicted and had to put some stupendous sum into a general third party child abuse fund which paid out a fixed sum to all victims and was then given a specific process to follow in future and a standing huge fine where said process was not followed. This process should immediately expose, to the law, all currently undisclosed paedophiles within the organisation.

  Still - this is a bittersweet victory against abuse and cover ups. Well done all those actively campaigning this is a great win.