AlmostAtheist

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Posts by AlmostAtheist

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  26

  How can you be faithful yet not gullible or misled?

  by The Dragon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i hear all the time how leaders justify why people should buy into and follow their guesses...and the whole defense is if you don't you have no faith.. what protects a "faithful" person from becoming prey to a self-exalted leader and their guesses?

  or are the faithful meant to be prey or something?.

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  AlmostAtheist

  From Merriam-Webster's:

  Faith: a (1) : belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2) : belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion b (1) : firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2) : complete trust

  The first one is what many on JWD express. They have faith in God as a being. Not faith that he'll do anything in particular, or that he demands anything in particular, but simply faith that he's there. In some cases, that he cares. Other than perhaps leaving a person with some unanswerable questions, this doesn't seem unhealthy to me.

  The second is more damaging, because it specifically requires a person to ignore facts that contradict the "traditional doctrines" of their religion. That's pretty much where we were as JW's.

  The last two get into solid gullibility, in my opinion. You are just setting yourself up for a fall if you have "complete trust" in anyone, let alone having "firm belief" in something unproven.

  But then "proof" means different things to different people.

  Dave
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  26

  HELP ME locate the "Heart Transplant" weirdness article in the Watchtower

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i can't remember what year; i think it was the early 70's.. it was the strangest article in watchtower history (and that is saying alot!)..

  to wit: people who get heart transplants also get the personality of the donor!.

  i kid you not.

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  AlmostAtheist

  How about this?

  "Most psychiatrists and psychologists tend to overcategorize the mind and allow for little if any influence from the fleshly heart, looking upon the word "heart" merely as a figure of speech apart from its use in identifying the organ that pumps our blood. . . . The heart is a marvelously designed muscular pump, but, more significantly, our emotional and motivating capacities are built within it. Love, hate, desire (good and bad), preference for one thing over another, ambition, fear-in effect, all that serves to motivate us in relationship to our affections and desires springs from the heart." (The Watchtower, March 1, 1971, p. 134)

  From: http://www.ajwrb.org/science/organ.shtml

  Dave [edited to add] of the "too little, too late" class (beaten to the punch!)
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  26

  HELP ME locate the "Heart Transplant" weirdness article in the Watchtower

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i can't remember what year; i think it was the early 70's.. it was the strangest article in watchtower history (and that is saying alot!)..

  to wit: people who get heart transplants also get the personality of the donor!.

  i kid you not.

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  AlmostAtheist

  There's an article in the Aid book along these lines. Don't know which article it was, though. Probably "Heart".

  Dave
• 
  36

  Why would God...

  by Crooked Lumpy Vessel in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  put us on this planet...giving us life with all its beauty.

  flowers, children, relationships, clouds, trees, kittens...then.

  tell us we are imperfect human beings and that there are invisible evil forces and demonic influences that are much greater and stronger than we are trying to sway us in the wrong direction.

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  AlmostAtheist

  If you have to ask questions that don't seem to have answers, maybe it's a sign that a premise is wrong?

  After I dropped the idea of a god, the world made total sense. If there was a loving god with intentions for man, then the state of the world, human history, weather -- they are all huge question marks. But with no god in the picture, everything looks pretty much as I would expect it to.

  If it doesn't walk like a duck, doesn't quack like a duck, doesn't swim like a duck, then I think you have to begin to entertain the possibility that it isn't a duck.

  Dave
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  14

  Photoshop fun

  by purplesofa in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  amatuer photography and photshop by purps.

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  AlmostAtheist

  I dunno Purps, I think these just might BELONG in "beliefs". There's a supernatural feel to them. Very cool. I'm definitely downloading them, and might be using one for desktop wallpaper.

  Really cool stuff, I'm still getting my head around them.

  Dave
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  16

  Reunited With My Disfellowshipped Daughter Today

  by skeptic1914 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  long story short: my daugher was df'd about 7-8 yrs ago.

  bitter and resentful toward me, abusive jw ex-husb and the elders that didn't want to listen to her side.

  saw her briefly at my younger daughter's wedding in 2003.. my mom died last week.

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  AlmostAtheist

  Congrats to you and your daughter!
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  20

  Could PBRs prove flood wasn't worldwide?

  by badboy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  pbrs (precariously balanced rocks),accoring to an article innew scientist,studies suggest some have been in their present position for 10,500 years.. a worlwide flood would have dislodged them ron their positions..

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  AlmostAtheist

  >>the Donkey class of the annointed remnent

  LOL, I love it!

  PBR's all around!

  Dave
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  23

  Is it stealing to get lit without paying the borg for it?

  by SnakesInTheTower in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm a pyromaniac.

  i want a fire on this thread and soon .

  so i wanted everyone's opinion on something.

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  AlmostAtheist

  as a poor pioneer, I really did not have the money. Now, I have the money (not pioneering..see the correlation),

  LOL! Excellent!

  I agree, you cannot steal something that is given away for free. If it WAS stealing, then it WOULDN'T be on a donation basis, and thus subject to tax laws.

  Dave
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  11

  Albums That Pulled You Through

  by Nosferatu in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  after my ex left me in 2001, i met a guy at a karaoke bar who i got along with very well.

  he lent me a mix tape of his which i made a copy of.

  the songs on that tape helped me get through that very difficult time in my life.

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  AlmostAtheist

  During a particularly difficult time in my life, I discovered "Poe" via her album "Haunted". I listened to that album 8 hours a day, over and over. Then I found her "Hello" album (which was her first, I believe) and started rotating them. Good music, but more importantly, it got me thru.

  These days its Alanis Morissette.

  Dave
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  13

  What a HS graduate knows about nutrition and health . . .

  by Madame Quixote in

  1. social
  2. family

  well, a few weeks ago, my daughter's boyfriend informed her of what her kidneys are for and that she has two.

  she really did not know.. this evening over dinner (a big, juicy freaking prime rib) i mentioned that i was eating an unhealthy portion.

  i explained that a healthy portion is not a plateful of whatever it is - as he and i were brought up to believe.

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  AlmostAtheist

  >>WTF do they learn in school?!!

  My 10th grade health teacher told us that our body heat was generated by the friction of blood in our veins. I kid you not.

  Dave