Posts by Midget-Sasquatch

17

The Book of Revelation

by under74 in

okay, if anyone's seen my last post i'm doing a research paper on adventist groups.

right now i'm reading revelation since it's a big thing amongst adventists.

my own conclusion is that revelation had to do with the time it was written in.

My first exposure to the insight that Revelation was dealing alot with Imperial Rome was from the catholic bible we used in highschool. It had footnotes to many of the verses which made it all seem so obvious I felt like an idiot. If you do a google search with the terms "preterist" and "Revelation" you'll get alot of what you're looking for.

I think it was written as an assurance to the Christians back then who were being severely persecuted. Since people basically haven't changed, many today who for whatever reason feel that things are terribly twisted, want that assurance that it will all be made "right" in the end...preferably in their lifetime.

18

Spiritually raped

by Tigerman in

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are people ' spiritually raped ' by jehovah's witnesses?.

Midget-Sasquatch

I don't see it that way only because in my experience with the WTS, I really only saw them coercing, cajoling, and deceiving people into consenting to that spiritual liason. They manage to fool people into "hooking-up" with them. So its more like a "Player" sucking dry as many easy "marks" as it can in the game.

Its an unscrupulous attitude to abuse the weakness or naivety of others mind you. People are still victims and are rightly enraged to learn of how they were "used". Maybe "spiritual rape" best applies to the budding spirituality of children growing up in the dubs like Tigerman pointed out? Ever notice how many of them are completely atheistic after their experience with the JWs?

Czar

You've almost got me to reconsider my position. But maybe I don't want to admit such a thing, because I am personally still in a situation which you mentioned. I think one could also objectively say that in the case of family being held hostage, the other person grudgingly consents to being "used". At least thats the take I'll settle for at this time. Very good points though man.

290

The Global Flood

by coldfish in

i've just read an intersting article on the flood to do with dates and whether is was truly global or a regional flood.. http://www.commentarypress.com/essay-flood.html.

my father used to be an elder for many years and the flood was one of the things that made him walk away not just from the jw but also belief in the bible.

he was hung up on issues like the flood taking place about 3500 bc and how that fit in with the pyramids.. i don't know much about egyptian history or the ages of the big pyramids, but his reasoning was if the flood wiped out every human on earth except noah etc then at 3500 bc there were only 8 people on earth.

Midget-Sasquatch

PeacefulPete

Would you be my guru while I'm on my quest for "reality"?

Seriously, the post hit the heart of the matter for me.

18

Does God Really Care

by Undecided in

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when i read of the many natural calamities that have killed billions of people over the centuries i wonder if god is interested at all?

when i see the importance that the bible makes of just one death of god's sons, when he was resurrected and given a higher position just 3 days later, what about all those millions of human sons.. i guess we are like an ant hill to god, if you happen to step on it, who cares.. ken p.

Midget-Sasquatch

A person who truly does care will be searching for the root cause of the sort of problems you mention. A person who is unwilling to consider the root cause of a problem is a person who really doesn't care to find the solution.

Schizm

So in your opinion, what are the solutions to all those natural disasters? Can't you see the best we can do so far is to try and detect the warning signs. What can someone who is powerless to stop such things do, but grieve with the losses, and do whatever they can to help those in the aftermath?

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

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"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.