PrimateDave

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Posts by PrimateDave

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  40

  Entertaining yourself during the meetings

  by Mysterious in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what did you do to entertain yourself during the meetings?

  i always had little games i played.

  to this day i have a fascination with notebooks and write almost compulsively when something is wrong.

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  PrimateDave

  Things I remember doing at the meetings:
  As a young boy, I would see how high I could count. (My parents never let us have pencils or paper for drawing.)
  As a young boy, I would read a story from the Bible. (The Exodus, or one of King David's adventures.)
  As a teenager, I would engage in sexual fantasies. (Standing up for songs was a problem sometimes!)
  As a young adult, I would actually try to pay attention.
  In more recent years, I would take ebooks on a Palm computer to read. (I read H. P. Lovecraft horror stories that way)
  Finally, I just learned to put my mind in "neutral" until the boredom passed.
  Now, I save time and gas by not going at all!
  Dave
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  10

  Watchtower Ironies - When I was a babe

  by Mysterious in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  anyone else find it amusing how many of the things they do are ironic?

  they talk about "babes" that eat spiritual milk and not solid food, and yet their publications are milk.

  they never teach people to think for themselves (chew) at all.

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  PrimateDave

  Yes, I remember reading and hearing about Fred Franz being a Bible "scholar". The problem with that is that he never made unbiased studies of the Bible and Christianity or published findings of said studies in peer reviewed journals for the advancement of real knowledge. No, he was not a scholar, just an apologist/propagandist with an agenda. And that is all that the Watchtower Society is: an apologist propaganda machine with an agenda (make money, maintain membership, make converts). Ironically, there are real Biblical scholars in other Christian churches who do not have a fundamentalist, apologist agenda. Funny, six months ago I couldn't see the facts which are so obvious to anyone who will take the time to look. When I was a babe, the milk was rather sour indeed!
  Dave
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  40

  How do you answer this question??

  by LuciousJ in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok, i'm now da'd as many of you already know.

  it's so fresh that my stomach turns everytime the subject comes up about religion.

  however, something that does puzzle me a bit.......is how do you answer people when they ask you the question "what religion are you?

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  PrimateDave

  I would simply say I'm agnostic. I think most people find that less offensive than atheist, not that I'm all that concerned about offending anyone. If they inquire more, I'd just go ahead and say that I used to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses, and I found out that they were wrong. I have told non Witness friends about what Witnesses believe. I'm as blunt and direct as possible. I say things like, "Jehovah's Witnesses believe that over six billion people including babies and little children are going to be killed by god soon." That raises eyebrows.
  Dave
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  14

  JW doctrine aside, where has your research of Christianity taken you to....

  by evergreen in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i felt i would ask this question in the friends forum as it seems to get the most viewing.

  my question is this.

  leaving aside your research of what you have found out about the organisation and focusing more on your research of the "christian faith".

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  PrimateDave

  After dealing with JW Doctrine, first through Beyond Jehovah's Witnesses website and then by reading Crisis of Conscience, I went further in studying the Bible.
  I focused on the Hebrew Scriptures first, because it is the basis for the later Greek Scriptures.
  I read Who Wrote the Bible?, Is It God's Word?, and Forgery in Christianity. I'm currently reading Biblical Nonsense.
  So, I consider the Bible to be a combination of myths, history, poetry, and advise (good and bad).
  That said, I wouldn't have any problems going to a "Christian" Church for the social aspect. I kinda wish there was a Unitarian Church where I live, but I'm not too concerned about it.
  I don't see there being one "true" religion anymore.
  I consider myself agnostic.
  I never felt close to god as a Witness, and I'm not getting any calls from him now either.
  If there is a more "correct path" to follow, I feel that it has nothing to do with highly organized, centralised, Corporation-based religions. Instead, a return to nature, simplicity, and caring for the earth and the living beings that inhabit it. That is where I'm at for now.
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  12

  can anyone point me to....

  by SPAZnik in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  someone wrote a funny skit about .

  something along the lines of .

  believe in bill because bill said so .

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  PrimateDave

  Kiss Hank's Ass?
  Check out http://www.jhuger.com/kisshank.php
  Funny, Balaam beat his ass until it talked back to him.
  The most elastic man in the Bible? Abraham. He tied his ass to a tree and walked up the hill.
  Dave
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  27

  Questions they ask when I crossed the Canada US border

  by JH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i crossed the border and drove into the us yesterday, and here are a few questions he asked me.. the first question he asked me was, what's your nationality.....thats sounds normal.

  then he asked, where are you going?

  wisconsin i said.

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  PrimateDave

  ..imagine if i would have said yes just for a joke....
  
  Well, lets just say that you might not ever get into the USA again!
  I remember a few years ago I went to Matamoros, Mexico with some friends. We spent a week there and were on our way back to the Carolinas on a Friday afternoon. We crossed the international bridge back into the US and then drove to the customs booth. I think they asked if we were US residents and asked for ID. They asked if we had anything to declare, and one of my friends said yes. He had that white Mexican cheese that he liked and a bottle of tequila. Then they asked if it was my car and I said yes. Then they said to pull into the inspection bay and remove our luggage from the trunk. Well, they checked out the car and found nothing (of course!) and said we could go. I did get nervous because they were waving through dozens of other cars and trucks while we just stood there. I guess a white guy driving an economy car with a couple Hispanic passengers must have looked suspicious!
  Dave
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  34

  Do You Think ExJWs Go To The Other Extreme When They Leave The Organization

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know that i am enjoying some of the things i would've gotten involved with had i not been raised in the "truth".

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  PrimateDave

  Sorry, didn't know the calculator question had been answered. In response to the original poster I would say that I haven't gone off the deep end and I don't plan to. Although, I have been considering taking classes in Martial Arts.
  Dave
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  55

  for atheists/agnostics

  by BlackSwan of Memphis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  how did you get to the point where you are at now?

  was it primarily new information that made you rethink religion and god?

  learning about the ice age, the universe, the fossils out there?

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  PrimateDave

  An understanding of scientific discoveries and methods coupled with a critical look at the Bible and religion have led me to agnosticism leaning towards atheism. I remember reading on the Talk Origins website about the principle of falsifiability. If a statement is made that can be proven false by observation, then it is falsifiable. That, to me, is an important concept because anyone could make the statement that a god or gods created the Earth and the Universe five minutes ago and made everything look like it has been here for billions of years. It is not falsifiable and therefore, not believable. Creationism is not falsifiable, because at some point in their arguments, creationists insert the 'god' idea. Well, 'god' could have done anything and you wouldn't know it unless you observed 'it' doing it.
  I would also state that I have a growing awareness of just how insignificant we really are. Oh, we are important in our own eyes, very human centered indeed. After all, the church used to teach that the Earth was the center of the universe. I try to grasp the scale of time and space, and I can't help but think that the moment each of us has in existence is very precious, very brief, like sparks that rise from a large camp fire, and then we go out and are no more. And then I wonder, is that all there is? Who will know I ever existed in a thousand years? A million years? A thousand million years? Will there be another species to study us when we have become extinct? Does it matter?
  Dave
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  15

  Wouldn't this be fun fun fun?

  by Skimmer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  wouldn't this be fun fun fun?

  one of the sponsor links on this site is a bethel tour company owned and operated by jws: .

  http://www.bethelcoachtours.com/ .

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  PrimateDave

  Me! I get to sit with Jeezuz! And eat some brownies too! (erm, what's in them brownies btw?)
  Dave
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  53

  IS EVOLUTION THE ANSWER?

  by Dansk in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm currently reading richard dawkin's book the ancestor's tale and it suddenly struck me that evolutionists believe all men are equal seeing that we all came from a common ancestor.

  that being the case, would it not serve man to believe in evolution?.

  turn on the t.v.

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  PrimateDave

  Hi Ian,
  This is an interesting thread. In my first post I mentioned that the problems in Southwest Asia wouldn't go away if religion were somehow abolished (like that could ever happen!), and you asked if perhaps I referred to cultural problems. I won't deny the effects of religion and ignorance in exacerbating the situation in that part of the world. Religion is a part of culture. Perhaps organized religion merely reflects the dominant attitudes of the dominant culture. I have read that modern humans are with few exceptions a part of 'Empire Culture'.
  Last year I read The Final Empire by William Kotke (Free download from http://www.rainbowbody.net/Finalempire/index.html). The author made a good point in my opinion that all highly organized human societies over the past five thousand or so years have grown by extorting life from the soil until they consume all natural resources in their area and collapse. Empires have risen and fallen, leaving ruined landscapes behind. If the collapse was great enough, leaving few humans behind, then the ecosystem of the land of the former empire eventually recovered. In other parts of the world, however, the deserts remain.
  In many parts of the world tribal groups did learn to live and promote life within their home ecosystems. Yes, they altered their landscapes as all living beings interact with their environments. But, the main difference between these tribal groups and Empire culture is that the tribals promoted variety of life and harmony with living systems whereas the Empires focused on large scale agriculture and deforestation. One of the most pervasive and inaccurate perceptions of nature is that it is all about 'survival of the fittest'. It is true that natural selection as a blind process tends to weed out unfit individuals. My point is that ecologists have seen that nature is also about finding niches and cooperation with other living beings. There is some competition, but there is also balance and diversity.
  Reading that book sparked my interest in Permaculture, which is perhaps one practical application of ecological science for modern humans. Permaculturalists seek to return to a sustainable, life promoting living arrangement with our fellow inhabitants of this finite world. The need for change is great. Just take a glance at http://www.dieoff.org/ to see how our current socio-economic system is leading the planet to the next great die off of species. I am a pessimistic because it seems that the current human power elite are gunning for a 'burn everything' economic model which will absolutely ruin the environment and cause untold human suffering.
  So, evolution is the answer. Just like bacteria in a petri dish, we humans will pollute our home with our waste product until we die off. Eventually, some other species may rise up the ranks to global dominance, sentient or not. Homo Sapiens may be the end of the hominid branch of bipedal primates. We have the answers to our problems, but we are as a species locked on course. One can't change the world, but can you change yourself?
  Dave