Posts by Midget-Sasquatch

35

Fear of the gods

by Narkissos in

jw
friends

let me start with the questionable, unprovable, yet common premise that the gods in general were born out of human fear.. if we look for the closest match to our word "religion" in the hebrew bible, the best candidate, interestingly, will be "fear of (the) god(s)".

"service" to the gods will denote the religious practice, but the basic religious attitude is fear.

no matter how politically correct translations water it down into respect, reverence etc.

Midget-Sasquatch

Tetra

I very much agree with you that a major concern is that life is meaningless. The almost cliched response of reckless abandon that some have after losing their religion supports that it was a central concern for themselves anyway. I think the degree of dread this particular concern causes varies.

I wonder if religion came about not only to address all the fears mentioned by Narkissos, but also to attenuate the discrepancy between the way the human mind is wired and apparent reality. Looking for patterns and causes in an often random universe, the dissonance between our sense of justice and the rather amoral natural (as well as artificial) world we live in, etc.

I think the Epicurians could be "godless" because they consciously dealt with these fears and realizations and just accepted them. Just like you said in your own post "stare" right into them.

24

Comments You Will Not Hear at the 1-29-06 WT Study (Decisive)

by blondie in

jehovah used many prophets...to warn...elijah was one such prophet.

jehovah's servants...god's people--only jws.

worshippers of jehovah.

Midget-Sasquatch

Very nice analysis Blondie, as always.

But you know, I do find myself in the rare position of partially agreeing with the WTS in regards to the following comparison:

*** w98 4/15 p. 31 Do You Remember? ***
· Who are the modern-day Jehu and Jehonadab?Jehu pictures Jesus Christ, who is represented on earth by "the Israel of God," anointed Christians. (Galatians 6:16; Revelation 12:17) Just as Jehonadab came out to meet Jehu, a "great crowd" from the nations have come out to support Jesus’ earthly representatives. (Revelation 7:9, 10; 2 Kings 10:15)—1/1, page 13.

Both have ulterior motives (i.e power) for showing themselves "zealous for pure worship".

38

To all active JWs or double life JWs

by NowImFree in

one of the previous posts made me wonder how many active jws post on this site and how many of you are only in because not wanting to lose your family and you are leading a double life and also how many of you are still active but questioning.

please, all of you, i would like to hear your stories (of course not enough info to give away your identity) and why you are still in.

i think a lot of us that are out would be interested.. nowimfree.

Midget-Sasquatch

Still in it for my family. I could care less about dub "friends". I'm at alot of different meetings, conventions and assemblies but am one of those seat warmers. I've managed to keep an impression of spirituality within a narrow range of neutral/tepid/somewhatweak with all the witnesses that know me. So they'll still say hello to me out of courtesy and cuz I'm harmless.

39

The facts: The Bible is a code book sent by aliens

by Franz in

jw
friends

"is satan another alien civilization ?

snake-like parasite, which lives in human host ?

is satan originally from the planet called hell ?

Midget-Sasquatch

Franz Me Bad. The Textus Receptus is for NT writings and I forgot that the whole Bible Code stuff was based just on the Torah. But even just looking at those 5 books, they're evidently substantially edited material. So how would the code be affected? Did you know there are some 6000 variations between the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Pentateuch of the Masoretic Text? Wouldn't that mess up the counting frame? Maybe the Bible stories are just another mythology and don't describe anything extraterrestrial at all, but psychological. Check this out as a possible explanation for the results from the technique used in the Bible Code: http://www.csicop.org/si/9711/bible-code.html

39

The facts: The Bible is a code book sent by aliens

by Franz in

jw
friends

"is satan another alien civilization ?

snake-like parasite, which lives in human host ?

is satan originally from the planet called hell ?

Midget-Sasquatch

Franz

Ever hear of the Textus Receptus? Now, I'm not a cryptographer but I'd say that in itself takes away from the premise. Unless the Nordics (ET variety of course) had something to do with that as well.

The first thing that this post brought to mind was that X-Files episode where ET metal fragments had word for word passages from Genesis. Entertaining, but its this kinda stuff that ruins any serious discussions on panspermia.

64

To Those Who Still Go To Meetings, Do You Sense Anything Different?

by minimus in

jw
friends

are people excited by anything in the organization?

are they tired?

mostly missing?

Midget-Sasquatch

There are definitely more people in the movement now with serious issues. And I also see the same things others have already noted: less thoughtful commenting, sharp drops in attendance and a greater number of people are in it just for the social benefits, like having help with moving (I got suckered into that a number of times) or knowing someone who'll do a job real cheaply etc.

135

My Dad died this evening

by Mulan in

jw
friends

i thought i would let you know that my dad, passed away a little while ago, tonight, january 23. they called me at 6pm to tell me.

he had been failing rapidly for the past month, and had completely lost his hearing and was totally blind.

the dementia was extreme too, and he still knew me on thursday, but didn't wake up to know me in the following days.

Midget-Sasquatch

Condolences Mulan and to your whole family.

26

Double life, anyone??

by dinah in

how many of you lead double lives while growing up (especially those who grew up jw)?

in the last few days, it seems that bothers me about my adolescence.

i had to be one person for my mother, while still trying to be myself.

Midget-Sasquatch

While I didn't believe most of the stuff taught by the dubs, I honestly didn't find drugs or alcohol appealling so I didn't completely fit into any crowd. I didn't have the typical "double life" then, but rather, no life. I was and am a

36

requiem

by bebu in

jw
friends

i feel the need to update the ending to my mother's story.. after her surgery last september, when no tumor was found, she went home to enjoy happy visits from family (constantly), recovery, and two new kittens.

one month of happiness at her home, which she had designed herself 20 years ago.

my parents were reading and preparing her for living with ms, which was her new diagnosis.. .

Midget-Sasquatch

I'm so sorry bebu. Those were very moving tender expressions.

16

Naughty Japanese defy WBTS and enter college.

by imfreeimfree in

jw
friends

i was talking to a longtime faithful japanese jw who said that recently there are many young witnesses going to university.

" what about the recent dc and circuit assembly talks as well as the watchtowers, very firmly discouraging college.

the reply was " yes they are hearing but not doing "

Midget-Sasquatch

I'm no expert (mostly exposed to Italian-Canadian culture), but the Japanese have always struck me as a culture that highly valued knowledge and wisdom. Maybe that's partly how some of them were hooked by the WTS, with its claims of disseminating "accurate knowledge of God".

Soon enough though, a person who has learnt how to apply and interconnect what they've gathered/experienced, will see the incrongruities between WTS fantasy and the real world. Thats dangerous to the thought-constrained matrix in which the WTS tries to keep its members. All the power to the young (and old) who know better and truly value knowledge.