Posts by Midget-Sasquatch

43

Why does God let bad things happen?

by FMZ in

this question seems to be getting thrown around in the earthquake threads, and is asked a lot... so, what is your opinion on why god allows bad things to happen?

also, did you stop believing in god because he allows it?.

i will throw my two-penneth in when i have a little more time tonight.

Midget-Sasquatch

I think the more we learn about the forces and causes behind the formation of life and the universe, the more we see that physically we and our universe are not the direct creation of an all-loving and omnipotent god. Maybe the Gnostics were on the right track in this regard. The material universe is not the design of the loving god. The physical reality is metaphorically the creation of an imperfect "god - the process". Nature does seem to be amoral though rather than the Gnostics view of it being totally evil.

So far, I have no way of knowing whether there is another non-physical part to us. But if there were, then the Gnostic take, mixed in with FMZ's view is appealing to me. The physical and its errors weren't the plan, but they'll be an insignificant blip to that postulated part of us that returns to its original restful home. .....And they lived happily ever after

18

Humans on other planets

by Truth2Me in

through research over the years, it seems to me that aliens do exist, and even it some of the alien abductions are "demonic" or "ginn activity" as many claim, there are still many tales of humanoid beings from other planets that have been seen on earth.

this is something i've struggle with for years, because jw and mainstream christians alike write it all off as demonic etc.

anyone have thoughts on reconciling belief in god with aliens, even humans on other planets?

Midget-Sasquatch

Hi Truth2Me

UFOs and aliens fascinated me as a kid. Despite my belief that there's a high probability of other intelligent and technologically advanced beings in the universe, there's really no hard evidence for their visiting us. Its even harder to prove alien abductions are anything more than some kind of psychological experience.

Have you read any of the alien/ufo related books by Jacques Vallee? He makes some interesting links between modern UFO and alien abduction accounts and the folklore of the past on such things as the succubus/incubus, the old hag, the wee people and fairy rings. He's arguing for an actual external agent that morphs to us. But maybe this sort of pattern points to an internaly generated phenomenon. Maybe we can end up learning something about ourselves from this?

47

The universe, designed to support life?

by Elsewhere in

jw
friends

i have heard many creationists say: "just look at the universe!

there are so many things about it that have to be just right for it to be able to support life.

an interesting point, so i did a bit of basic math:.

Midget-Sasquatch

Another point regarding that analogy of shaking pieces together but never forming a watch. It assumes complete randomness, but that model for life is missing an important element. Along with the randomness, we also have evidence for the involvement of selective pressures. Natural selection can at times mimic intelligence with what it produces. And that it would seem has literally made a world of difference.Selection has even been seen to work on the molecular level. (e.g. RNAs and their self-replication)

Edit: One of my profs once said: Is the universe adapted to life or is life adapted to the universe?

78

Positive about jw

by one in

jw
friends

there are many thing i dont regret about jw

learning from jw about cristmas is one of them

the jw were very open about cristmas, going against the "system" require some strenght and that in itself attracted many to the jw org.

Midget-Sasquatch

Mustang

I grew up as a jw but at the same time because my mom didn't convert right away I went to roman catholic schools. Where I lived the sacrament of confirmation was done in grade 7, and while I myself didn't go through it, I was taught all the prep material along with the class. Its believed that it came into being when local priests were given the duties to baptize and then when the bishop visited the church, he'd perform a second anointing of those baptized as a confirmation.

You're right on about the spiritual meaning given to it. Its a confirmation of the person's baptism and what that initiation entailed. The person is confirming their wish to be part of the church of God and to be followers of Christ. Its about affirming the christian identity when they're old enough to understand the basic tenets of the faith. The sacrament is said to give one a closer tie to God/Jesus, the Church, a fuller bestowing of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as one being better able to defend the faith, or at least receiving more strength and determination to live it. The Bishop normally conducts the sacrament and it has a person being sprinkled with holy chrism (holy oil). They were encouraged to take on a confirmation name for themselves to emphasize the point about taking on this other christian identity.

Not sure what else I can tell you. It was a long time ago. Everyone was urged to wear white if I remember correctly. At least I remember seeing alot of pictures with my male schoolmates in silky white suits and every body was comparing who was more queer looking...for once I wasn't in the running.

61

What Terms Do Jehovah's Witnesses Use To Indicate They Are A Cult?

by minimus in

jw
friends

.

"the organization" is one of my favorites.

very "cultish" expression, to me.......and you??

Midget-Sasquatch

touched on:

"submit to theocratic arrangement"

27

The Nativity Traditions of Jesus

by Leolaia in

the nativity traditions in the synoptic gospels are interesting for their reliance on ot exegetical traditions.

most of the narratives of jesus in the gospels are based on such interpretive traditions, modeling events of jesus' life on various texts of the greek ot.

jesus' multiplication of the loaves (cf.

Midget-Sasquatch

their "stream of consciousness" couldn't have generated exactly the same symbols, archetypes and allegories when they mentioned a miracle which had been already described in another Gospel. At least not in the sense described by Derrida. So I guess the question of a conscious effort and systematicity remains valid.

Pole

I see your point. Maybe this has more to do with the subsequent selection process for canonical vs non canonical gospels than a deliberate fixing of history among the writers of those NT gospels. The other gospels that were excluded fromthe canon have some very different accounts of the nativity (like time stopping at Jesus' birth) and the resurrection. So maybe the systematicity can't really help us with how much of the narrative was perceived as actual history and how much as myth to the authors themselves.

27

The Nativity Traditions of Jesus

by Leolaia in

the nativity traditions in the synoptic gospels are interesting for their reliance on ot exegetical traditions.

most of the narratives of jesus in the gospels are based on such interpretive traditions, modeling events of jesus' life on various texts of the greek ot.

jesus' multiplication of the loaves (cf.

Midget-Sasquatch

I always learn something new in your write-ups Leolaia. I don't remember Spong's books ever relating the legends of Miriam's dream or the husbands divorcing their wives. Very interesting.

Pole

If I'm not mistaken, pesher, or taking OT passages and applying them to the author's or reader's point in time was a practice of some ancient jews, in particular the Essenes [another curious link to the early christians perhaps?] Hopefully I'm not mixing this up too much with some of Barbara Theiring's ideas on pesher [which aren't taken seriously at all by those in the field - read some of her books and you'll see why :) ]. But Matthew's use of motifs surrounding Moses is sort of in the same vain. Maybe that's the original intent of the author of the Gospel, not as 100% actual history, but simply portraying was was mostly true to the author (Jesus was the Liberator), and doing it according to that particular view of the divine's repeated and similar intervention in history? The Jewish readers would easily pick up on the themes and that sort of approach.

7

Why does the wtbts say you have to bring a sack lunch to the assemblies?

by ko38 in

jw
friends

.

i dont fully understand what the big deal is as to why you cant leave the conventions to go eat.i use to have fun working in the food department when i was younger.you could miss most of the days talks if you stuck around for cleanup.. i helped build the assembly hall here in st>louis.i was thrilled when they installed an ice cream area.that was the best job to have and we used to request that duty months in advance.

(all the ice cream you could eat)then when they went to the free food oh boy did i pig out.dad always put a hundred or so in the kitty and i guess that more than covered the soy bean burgers,burritos and fruit bags that we ate.. but now there is strong admonition to not leave the building for food as well as to stay away from vendors around district assemblies.the only reason for this that i can think of is that they dont want anyone leaving the assembly and not returning for the afternoon session after a tasty lunch and good conversation with your friends.. of course if a lot of people didnt return from lunch they wouldnt be there to give contributions.thats the only reason i can come up with.what do you guys and gals think?

Midget-Sasquatch

I was such a moron growing up!!! I was practically an adult before I started having lunch outside the convention site and not coming back until the afternoon session was about to end. I was amazed at the number of teens and adults who were doing this. The smaller donations resulting from less disposable income has to be the number one consideration though.

33

"Brainwashing " thread......Part 2

by logansrun in

jw
friends

so, if a friend comes up to us and says, ?you?re an idiot!?

and we feel sad and angered after this incident we are likely to say that our friend made us feel sad and angry.

we made ourselves feel sad and angry.

Midget-Sasquatch

Logan,

You agree that the WTBTS uses manipulation, coercion, and several other effective thought reform techniques on its members. You've even practically said that the indoctrination of children growing up as JWs is as close an example to the model "brainwashing" as can be found.

I've agreed with your first post in so far as that in the initial stages, for an adult who's never grown up a JW, they willingly participate in their own thought reforming. I think that while you're looking at the beginning of the process, others are from personal experience focussed on the later stages. I think you should also consider though that the indoctrination process itself, morphs over time to a point where the person is conditioned to be less critical and so in effect highly receptive to external direction.

Yes there is still involvement of the person themselves, but very minimal in the later stages, and its also been highly manipulated. You yourself alluded to the possibility of conditioning your postulated "B" filter. Imagine us poor souls that grew up and actually had alot of our hard-wiring and patterns subjected to the indoctrination. The slyness of the thought reform process is that the person is in the end tricked into administering alot of the conditioning on themselves and they believe they are completely self-directed.

IMHO, those of us who weren't for whatever reason so "taken" by the Borg, just didn't have the indoctrination process reach its later stages.

18

Blood Substitute Vexes Jehovah's Witnesses

by blondie in

http://www.detnews.com/2004/health/0412/22/c01-40027.htm

wednesday, december 22, 2004. .

blood substitute vexes jehovah's witnesses.

Midget-Sasquatch

So maybe this could be the breakthrough that allows the G B off the hook. After all if someone refuses it they can say that the person acted on their own conscience, because WT publications say that it is permissable as not being made from a primary componant

I'm very hopeful of PolyHeme and its time that the cretins on the GB stopped requiring those senseless suicides. I'm more prone to think that its the WT lawyers that have been instigating these sorts of changes rather than any of the despots on the GB.

There still seems to be a fanatical streak within it that favours death over life. Here's a line from the June 15, 2004 WT (somewhere within par16-18) :

Moreover, some products derived from one of the four primary components may be so similar to the function of the whole component and carry on such a life-saving role in the body that most Christians would find them objectionable.

I'm praying that any of the overly impressionable dubs will not let this over-ride the loop-hole that now exists for PolyHeme.