Posts by bernadette

22

Hi everyone

by unhappy in

jw
friends

i just wanted to say hi to everyone.

i've recently decided to stop being a jw after being raised as one.

unhappy x. .

bernadette

Hi and welcome. Its good to have you with us. Fading is the best way to leave

14

i was listening to talk radio the other day and they were discussing the muslims who were taken off an american airlines flight (i believe that was the airline) because they were praying publicly prior to the flight.

one of the individuals, an imam, who was on the flight was being interviewed and in the defense of what he called "moderate islam" proclaimed there is a movement against islam, and specifically mentioned jehovah's witnesses handing out a flyer where they directly misquote the koran to implicate all muslims in 9/11.

is this in the new "the end of false religion is near" tract?

bernadette

found the article the asiaweek quote came from - its at asiaweek.com webfiles: war in the name of faith 11/14/01

14

Islam bashed by Witnesses

by Fleshybirdfodder in

jw
friends

i was listening to talk radio the other day and they were discussing the muslims who were taken off an american airlines flight (i believe that was the airline) because they were praying publicly prior to the flight.

one of the individuals, an imam, who was on the flight was being interviewed and in the defense of what he called "moderate islam" proclaimed there is a movement against islam, and specifically mentioned jehovah's witnesses handing out a flyer where they directly misquote the koran to implicate all muslims in 9/11.

is this in the new "the end of false religion is near" tract?

bernadette

It may be to do with the quote from Asiaweek in the tract. There may be a ref in the Asiaweek article to the Koran. If that's the case maybe this is a lesson for the wts to stop making out of context quotes from other sources!

If I'm not mistaken the only JW tract that directly quotes from the Koran is the 'Road to Paradise' one.

18

Women's Role

by loveneverfails in

so as you can see this is my first post here...it's going to sound a bit jumbled i'm sure.. i stopped going to meetings exactly a year ago primarily due to my realization of my role as a "woman" (well i'm 22 but anyway..).

to me, being a jw woman means a life as a subserviant housewife who can make no decisions and can only excel by pioneering.

i realized that's the way the whole bible is...totally male-dominant.

bernadette

Good for you. You have your whole life ahead of you. Seize the day

90

The Science of Belief

by LittleToe in

time and again the refrain is heard that belief and science are mutually exclusive, that belief somehow corrupts good science, that belief is not empirical.

i'd like to throw another slant on that, if i may.. belief is an inherent part of the human psyche.

the desire to know more about our environment and how it all works is also an inherent part of our psyche.

bernadette

How is faith testable? Is personal experience of something intangible and open to numerous interpretations actually evidence? After all, if you give a person a hallucinogen that stimulates a certain area of their celebral cortex, they can have faith that they will fly. Is the 'testable' part of your statement the results of a drop from a thirty storey building? If so, surely this is not a test of faith but more a visceral experiment in the chemistry of brain function.

I am not sure that anything that cannot really be empirically tested could ever be descibed as 'reasonable'

Hillary

One thing I have learned is that faith/belief needs constant reality checks - internally and also in debate with others. It needs to be subjected to the utmost scrutiny. So far my faith has withstood the scrutiny I have subjected it too.

When faith becomes religion then in my opinion it sort of becomes set in stone and that is dangerous.

bernadette

90

The Science of Belief

by LittleToe in

time and again the refrain is heard that belief and science are mutually exclusive, that belief somehow corrupts good science, that belief is not empirical.

i'd like to throw another slant on that, if i may.. belief is an inherent part of the human psyche.

the desire to know more about our environment and how it all works is also an inherent part of our psyche.

bernadette

Terry I understand you. The JW religion is exactly as you've described - an exhausting game with opposing sides battling it out, but a very damaging one and in the end very meaningless and artificial. IThe worst part is we aren't allowed to stop playing!

Science and the study of it is more satisfying and real.

I find that faith is too. Reasonable testable faith

90

The Science of Belief

by LittleToe in

time and again the refrain is heard that belief and science are mutually exclusive, that belief somehow corrupts good science, that belief is not empirical.

i'd like to throw another slant on that, if i may.. belief is an inherent part of the human psyche.

the desire to know more about our environment and how it all works is also an inherent part of our psyche.

bernadette

I would raise another point regarding the issue of "belief". The stability of any belief is wholly dependent upon memory. Beliefs are cognitive 'structures' with a physical correlate in the brain. Memory, as you know, is wholly dependent on specific neural circuits. Unfortunately, as we are beginning to realize, "memory" itself is a COMPLETELY plastic phenomena, encoded by malleable biochemical events across synapses. They exhibit very little stability over time, are completely modulated, modified (and or falsified!) and reformulated over time and following emotional events.

Given the plastic, unstable nature of memory, how can any "belief" based upon "experience" be believed......

In view of the above I think its truly remarkable then that we even have a consciousness and an ongoing identity at all! the fact is though that we do

(sorry got a little confused with the highlighters)

90

The Science of Belief

by LittleToe in

time and again the refrain is heard that belief and science are mutually exclusive, that belief somehow corrupts good science, that belief is not empirical.

i'd like to throw another slant on that, if i may.. belief is an inherent part of the human psyche.

the desire to know more about our environment and how it all works is also an inherent part of our psyche.

bernadette

My intuition tells me that I'm jumping in way over my head. But Terry your post got me thinking. For me the science of belief is more akin to the science of love for instance or the science justice. Am i makinfg sense.......

31

Calling all elders and former elders (need advice)

by nonamegiven in

wow, i'm asking elders for advice, how strange.

anyway if you want to know my history and where i am look at my first 1/2 dozen or so posts, it'll bring you up to speed.

here's where i need advice.

bernadette

A practical tip. To alleviate boredom at the meetingS learn a language while your there. I have found it very useful to take along a transalation in the language I want to learn and then work between the 2 whenever a scripture is mentioned. You will look very spiritual (throw them off the scent) and more importantly you'll stay AWAKE

69

Why is the Watchtower Society so cruel to teens?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

my mom just informed me that a 17 year old has been disfellowshipped at her hall.at least 7 others have been kicked out within the last 5 years.the publisher count is only 56 .why do they let the teens get baptized so young?

i was 14 and only got baptized because of pressure and the end was coming.if you weren't baptized you would be destroyed.. why don't they wait until everyone is at leat 21?

all these teens haven't come back and you won't ever see them unless they return.i haven't seen my cousin in over 2 years.no one went to his wedding,isn't invited to any family functions and is to be avoided at all costs.. the watchtower society should be ashamed that they act that way and the parents let them get away with it..

bernadette

Lonecat my heart goes out to. I applaud you for your courage and resilience.

I wish that there was some way that the wts could be sued for the cruelty both mental and physical it heaps on children in the org. In the way that silentlambs are doing for those who've been sexually abused. May be its something we need to get together on. I would support such a thing.