humbled

Joined

• started 30 topics
• posted 1,948 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by humbled

• 
  65

  The yuk factor and others

  by jgnat in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  will you share with me an interesting discussion on what morals we all may have in common?

  my recent reading has resulted in a fundamental shift in my worldview.

  it feels like my house of cards have reshuffled themselves yet again, and everything i see, hear and smell is put in a new context.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  humbled

  "The Paradox Called Gay Republicans" is an interesting read, Great Teacher.

  I was raised by a conservative Republican father. I actually am grossed-out by blood pudding. Yet I deal much with blood when I butcher meat.

  I have over-come a fairly low threshhold for disgust through necessity. I submit that all of us will avoid the unpleasant when we can. I know I do.

  However.

  Everyone knows that sometimes shit happens. It's not like anyone embraces it or likes it.

  It's only this: when shit happens, some of us who would like to walk away---well, we can't. So we have learned to get along with it somehow. It usually involves gagging, avoidance and finally looking at it square, closely and somewhat philosophically. It's not about being brilliant or being brave.

  We just learn to deal with it.

  I believe we can think. We can get a hold of our emotions. We can change our feelings if need be--even about things that are yukky.
• 
  65

  The yuk factor and others

  by jgnat in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  will you share with me an interesting discussion on what morals we all may have in common?

  my recent reading has resulted in a fundamental shift in my worldview.

  it feels like my house of cards have reshuffled themselves yet again, and everything i see, hear and smell is put in a new context.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  humbled

  I am wary of a judgements that can't discern between what is apparently clean and what is apparently dirty:

  When people believe that it is cleaner to excrete every imaginable toxin, pathogen and chemical into the water supply via flush toilets (then drink and bath in what can only be partially removed) think an outhouse is a laughable option to a basic human problem.

  Sparkling porcelain is only a problem deferred.

  When people believe that the best care for delivering a baby is found in a hospital amongst stainless steel and staph germs they are abhorred by a woman baking her birthing sheets and baby clothes in the oven before birthing at home with intelligent oversight of a midwife.

  The sparkling hospital may send you home with a bundle of trouble not just a bundle of joy.

  But the Yuk factor keeps us from thinking very deeply about such things.

  Home butchering is a dirty work but so is commercial butchering. In both instances animals loose their life. If a person is considerate of the animal(I grant you, this is a delicate part) and clean--which is better? For the animal, I assure you it is better.

  I submit, much of the yuk factor is to do with conditioning. I am NOT condemning modern plumbing,hospitals and their role in obstetrics nor the need for large scale meat factories.

  However,if just because a person who takes care of their own bathroom, birthing and butchering and are obviously involved to a high degree in Yuk Factors, this does not make them any dirtier ultimately than the person who doesn't.

  I'm just saying that intelligent people choose to live both ways.

  We need to be careful to pick the yuk out of our own eye before picking the "Yuk" out of our brother's.

  ---------------------------------

  Sorry---it took so long to write this the thread probably went in another direction.. I'll catch up
• 
  51

  If You Got a Call or Visit From The Elders How Would You Deal With Them?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just curious..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  humbled

  What would I do?

  I would invite them in.

  I would ask them what their business was with me. Also did they even know why I was no longer a JW?

  If they knew what had gone on between me, Brooklyn and the local brothers, then I would ask what made them imagine I believed a word they said to me about faith in God?

  Minimus, they will never call on me.
• 
  82

  Religion VS Atheism and the decline of ethics and morals

  by EndofMysteries in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  being back in college after leaving the borg, one of the required classes for a degree at my college is ethics.

  after learning a few things, i am curious where morality and ethics is heading for the future of humanity.

  i wish i could find the source again, but several weeks ago i recalled reading a transcript of a very old document that talked about when christianity was being spread in europe, it brought civility and community.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  humbled

  Actually the removal of formal/traditional religion could herald an improvement in human relations.

  When people get "saved"--baptism effectly does this for Catholics and also for fundamentalist protestants as well--they are immunized against their personal moral and ethical failings.

  But children will learn what a caring parent teaches and models. The discussion of why the golden rule is a ubiquitous teaching is the ground for hope.

  Do children learn this in church?

  Listen to Billie Holliday's Strange Fruit in a past post. That fruit grew in the churchyards of the South.
• 
  51

  If You Got a Call or Visit From The Elders How Would You Deal With Them?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just curious..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  humbled

  I would love for them to call. But they don't dare.
• 
  20

  Interview with an apostate: Bruja-del-Sol

  by Bruja-del-Sol in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  tell us a little about yourself and your family.. im a 45 year old female.

  married age 18 to another jw (pos son), became the mother of two wonderful children, girl and boy (now adults), divorced and dfd when i was 33 years old and since 2008 married to my first love who used to be my classmate when i was 16 (but got kicked out of my life by my dad b/c he wasnt a jw).. were you a born in or a convert?.

  my grandmother from fathers side, my parents, 2 of my 3 sisters and their husbands (one is an elder) and kids, my brother and his wife and children, and the wifes of my two uncles are all still jw (uncles both have faded, but their cult personas are still intact, unfortunately).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  humbled

  I love your clear descriptions of how, what and why you did things. It was heart-breaking to hear how your dear old sister was let down by the "Friends".

  I wrote to an old pioneer sister who is 80 now. I love her so much! She is too much a JW to write me back. But even before I left she felt let down, lonesome. She lived in Berlin during WWII and saw too much bad things. She converted in her 30s in the U.S. after marrying an American.

  I make a point to drive past her house and saw her once. She is crippled up and so old....

  Perhaps your basic human warmth kept you from the greatest poison of the cult....the suppression of free-flowing love.
• 
  37

  So which religion IS actually correct?

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i read plenty of threads here.. what amazes me is how each 'theist/believer' is totally convinced that their way/cult is the correct one.

  even xtians are not in agreement over doctrine.. ok. so i've heard the excuse that it's the devil's fault..............but come on.............what a cop out.. is god so incapable of giving a consistant message of which is the true way?.

  i'd tend to think god doesn't exist and it's just the thoughts of deluded people with deluded ideas.............otherwise the real truth would be obvious.. god is really powerless if it/she/they/it have to rely on the game of chinese whispers..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  humbled

  It seems simple to me now,which church/religion is the right one--

  So all these churches have different doctines(or else there wouldn't be a different sign nailed over every door, right?).So the question for me is this:Does god care or not which church is giving out the right story.

  If he cares, then he's done a bad job of clearing up the confusion.

  If he doesn't care----well then, he doesn't care.

  And neither do I.
• 
  65

  The yuk factor and others

  by jgnat in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  will you share with me an interesting discussion on what morals we all may have in common?

  my recent reading has resulted in a fundamental shift in my worldview.

  it feels like my house of cards have reshuffled themselves yet again, and everything i see, hear and smell is put in a new context.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  humbled

  The words used to stigmatize a person or a food are always associated with YUK language. For the very young or unsophistocated words like "nasty" ,"filthy", "dirty" or simply "YUK" conveys enough disgust to teach us to reject AUTOMATICALLY any person or thing thus described.

  Older and wiserwe use words like "contaminate", "poison", "adulterate","pollute", to proscribe by generating a sense of revulsion.

  All these terms discourage the hearer from thinking about WHY.

  Why? why is something dangerous, nasty, evil? To label a thing or a person by first tainting its existence makes all further descriptions of it fall under disrepute---even if the actual factors involved are neutral or even comparable to accepted standards.

  We cast things, customs, people in this manner until we feel guilty if we even give them a fair trial. If we even say "hold on for a minute--let's think about this---" TO OURSELVES, we feel separated from whatever community we are a part of.

  The film "To Kill a Mockingbird" was of course the dramatization of what occurs when a man attempt to give a fair defense of a black man in a southern U.S. town in the 1930-40s. Trying to get people to THINK past their conditioning was the challenge.

  The yuk factor trumps fair reasoning for lots of people.
• 
  12

  WE SHALL OVERCOME ! WE ARE NOT AFRAID !

  by Phizzy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  dear old pete seeger has passed, bless him.

  what an influence that man had on so many different aspects of life !.

  his most famous anthem, "we shall overcome", taken from an old slave song, has especial resonance for us, we have left the w.t, many of us have taken the "underground railroad", but the slavery of loved ones continues.. i really do believe, that with the internet and our efforts, we shall overcome some day .. the most important thing though, is to be as the verse that was added to that song says, "we are not afraid", .... for "we shall overcome some day".. we have no reason to fear anything the wt may do, they are now a toothless tiger.. if someone can embed a really good version of this song, or several, please do so, i beg you.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  humbled

  Singing it NOW!

  Maeve
• 
  15

  I went to church today.

  by quellycatface in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  and it was good!!

  everyone dressed differently, some casually, some smart-a real mix.i would say there were 70 or so in attendance, all ages.nice atmosphere.ladies behind introduced themselves.young couple in front also.nice songs.toys for the kids.refreshments after.had a little chat with the lady vicar, she asked if i would come again.i felt welcome but not overwhelmed.jesus focused more predominantly than at the kh.i really enjoyed it..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  humbled

  I am soo happy for you. Grab the Joy, Quelly.