Posts by Midget-Sasquatch

25

Human Animals?

by passwordprotected in

jw
friends

inspired by this comment (post 16581 from satanus), i dug out a quote from richard dawkins;.

i wonder whether, some 60 years after hitler's death, we might at least venture to ask what the moral difference is between breeding for musical ability and forcing a child to take music lessons.

or why it is acceptable to train fast runners and high jumpers but not to breed them.

Midget-Sasquatch

We will be able to modify our machinery ad hoc at any point in our lives. In fact, recent RNAi trials show that we can silence unwanted genes in humans at will.

I'll admit I haven't kept uptodate on this line of work. When I started uni (wow its alreay been over a decade) I was amazed at the beginning use of complimentary strands of RNA to bind to accessible parts of DNA to block expression. Is that the basic approach of those trials? I'd be interested at looking at any material that may be freely online.

I wouldn't say eugenics is obsolete though. Why not "enhance" the process itself. Think of the possibilities open to two people who love each other but who's genetic matching reveals their offsping could suffer from some horrible defects. I'm strongly for somatic gene therapy of the child because we should look after those of us alreay here. But I'd be thrilled with gene therapy correcting the germ line defects of the parents. Then their children's own germ lines should be rid of those deleterious alleles as well.

25

Human Animals?

by passwordprotected in

jw
friends

inspired by this comment (post 16581 from satanus), i dug out a quote from richard dawkins;.

i wonder whether, some 60 years after hitler's death, we might at least venture to ask what the moral difference is between breeding for musical ability and forcing a child to take music lessons.

or why it is acceptable to train fast runners and high jumpers but not to breed them.

Midget-Sasquatch

Looking at all the atrocities going on in the world, I'd be happy if all people just started treating each other as good as some people here in North America treat other animals.

Accepting that we're animals doesn't necessarily mean though, that our society should be ruled by Natural Selection. Thats like saying its natural for small pox to kill many people or for spoiled food to make you very sick so lets not bother creating vaccines or preventing food poisoning. Recognizing our ancestral past, and how our behaviours may have evolved should give us more insight into our psychological makeup. Denying this facet of ourselves would rob us of knowledge that could be useful in group dynamics, personal relationships etc.

While we shouldn't have state controlled eugenics programs, there's real benefits to trying to curb deleterious alleles in our common gene pool. I'm for that in humane ways. I don't begrudge people who'd want the opportunity to pass on their "better" traits to their offspring. As long as there's free choice then its as its always been (for the most part). I'm not making light of the fears people have of eugenics gone to the extreme. But we shouldn't demonize the idea of improving and enhancing the overall biology/health of our species. There's always a natural bell curve for different traits like strength and intelligence so there'll always be those on the higher and lower ends. Why not shift the means for all those traits over just a bit?

34

Do You Need to Learn Hebrew and Greek? (WT 11/01/09)

by Midget-Sasquatch in

i'm sure quite a few of you on the board remember the km that discouraged learning the biblical languages.

well, here are scans of this newer article from the nov public wt.

very boring read with little direct prohibitions (understandable since its for outsiders), but still a bit of an eye roller with their reasons for not bothering to learn them.

Midget-Sasquatch

Some of the points made in that article do come across as reasonable to me, and to some degree, I'd have to say they are right in that just learning the basics wouldn't be enough. Of course, there's more to it, like context, but I'd be hard pressed to say that the Society never falls short in that respect.

I fully agree with several posters that comparing different translations and commentaries would, in most cases, be just as useful to gaining a better understanding of the text, if not more so. Time much better spent for those of us who can find quality sources. I still have to question why the Society felt the need to address this question.

I believe that, what Narkissos wrote about the general protestant fixation on correctly interpreting scripture, is catching up with the Society. They've drawn in a certain amount of believers who eagerly want to be able to "get at the true meaning". Its damaging to have these same people who've foregone "biased" translations, find even "poorer" instances of translating in the NWT. One immediate example that comes to mind is "for" vs "at" Babylon.

34

Do You Need to Learn Hebrew and Greek? (WT 11/01/09)

by Midget-Sasquatch in

i'm sure quite a few of you on the board remember the km that discouraged learning the biblical languages.

well, here are scans of this newer article from the nov public wt.

very boring read with little direct prohibitions (understandable since its for outsiders), but still a bit of an eye roller with their reasons for not bothering to learn them.

Midget-Sasquatch

Merci Narkissos. :)

TheMadJW

Your one liner is apt for The GB. But shame on me for now stooping to insults. I'm sorta sorry.

I earnestly urge you to continue studying the bible and get a hold of the kingdom interlinear edition if you can find an old one. Wonder why they stopped printing that?

34

Do You Need to Learn Hebrew and Greek? (WT 11/01/09)

by Midget-Sasquatch in

i'm sure quite a few of you on the board remember the km that discouraged learning the biblical languages.

well, here are scans of this newer article from the nov public wt.

very boring read with little direct prohibitions (understandable since its for outsiders), but still a bit of an eye roller with their reasons for not bothering to learn them.

Midget-Sasquatch

I'm sure quite a few of you on the board remember the KM that discouraged learning the biblical languages. Well, here are scans of this newer article from the Nov Public WT. Very boring read with little direct prohibitions (understandable since its for outsiders), but still a bit of an eye roller with their reasons for not bothering to learn them. Sorry I couldn't provide something more fun to tear into (and for not making the links active...I'm using fedora and firefox)

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/2751/hg01.jpg

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/6650/hg02d.jpg

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/8633/hg03m.jpg

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/1830/hg04.jpg

164

My sister died in a head on collision last night

by Bumble Bee in

jw
friends

i still can't believe it.

she was here for the bbq, we had an awesome time, laughing, her telling stories from our childhoods.

i gave her a hug and told her i loved her before she left.

Midget-Sasquatch

I'm so very sorry BumbleBee. I hope all the great memories come to the fore.

(I don't know how I missed this up till now.)

29

Thoughts on NOT dating

by wantstoleave in

just throwing some thoughts out there.

wondering if anyone feels the same as i do.

you know, being brought up not being allowed to date until you were 'of marrying age'.

Midget-Sasquatch

wantstoleave

You wouldn't believe how completely inept I am at all things dating! I can almost hear the other person saying stuff like: "God! I haven't had to deal with this kind of awkwardness since I was 16. I know 18 yr olds who are more suave." I was basically set back by about a decade. Although I have to admit that I can't blame all of my dating/intimacy blunders on the WTS.

I'm naturally very shy and socially uneasy. I'm very comfortable alone and really like the solitude but I can't pretend to be a deep thinker thats need it.

I doubt I would have ever put together a little black book envied by all my male acquaintances. I just know that I would have started dating a whole lot sooner and would have gotten experience that made me more confident and more astute at relationships so that MAYBE could have made my life happier than its been. All in all though, nothing stops us "slow coming to the game" to enjoy what may lie ahead.

161

FlyingHighNow Needs Our Love & Support

by snowbird in

jw
friends

her son, jesse, is in serious condition.. my son is in surgery and may lose his hand and arm.. jesse got an infection in a cut on his finger.

his finger and hand swelled to the size of an arm .. .

they have to do surgery on his hand and arm.

Midget-Sasquatch

Its wonderful to hear that the finger and arm can recover. Here's positive thoughts that the treatments they'll have him on will mitigate the infection even further.

I'm really happy for you FHN.

9

Will We in the Future Bioengineer Our Children?

by frankiespeakin in

jw
friends

i think in the near future this will be very prevalent and be the norm.

i don't think anyone will want to have the risk of inherent birth defects that are preventable and their child being born that way just because they didn't want it, the future concerns of the child being more important.

religons will have to go along with this too or else get a very bad label as not being progressive and harmful to the human race..

Midget-Sasquatch

The only thing I find unsettling about such a future is the likelihood of the same old story of the haves and have-nots. Up till now, it wasn't totally hopeless. There was always a shot open to a very poor but extremely sharp-witted person to make gains against some of the less gifted people born with silver spoons in their mouth. Hooray for genes!

However if the rich can ensure better genes in their own circle, is a "Gattaca" like world inevitable?

79

A Question Ex-Jws and Atheist On This Site

by Blue Grass in

i have a question for the regulars on this site which are mainly ex-jws and atheist.

my first question is just for the atheist.

why do you guys spend so much time discussing and researching a book you believe to be fiction?

Midget-Sasquatch

Blue Grass,

I'm really happy for you if you aren't able to understand the kind of bitterness and angst one feels from having their entire social network ripped out from under them. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Its a lonely existence. Who wouldn't complain about how a self serving corporation managed to turn all your own friends and family against you, just because you didn't believe or do everything they expected of you?

IMHO, this site is for such people to reach out to each other, sympathize and offer support and encouragement to heal and to move on. I'm alot less bitter recently then when I first started posting here. Although I still have my crabby moments ;)

As for why I personally like to discuss the Bible, I'm fascinated with studying mythology and comparing religions. I think that learning about spirituality and what different groups of people feel is involved with that, can teach us alot of about the human condition, its fears and aspirations, as well as both the dark and more promising aspects to our nature.