Posts by B_Deserter

7

What happend to Types and Anti-Types?? Soooo hated them....

by oompa in

when i was growing up.

it seemed like everything said in the bible was a type and so wt figured out some absurd anti-type.

where the crap did they go, and why the crap did they start?...........god i hated the babylontg book.....................oompa

B_Deserter

That carried that through in a recent book about Daniel. It's actually what started me on my way out. I just couldn't swallow that much tripe.

58

Being a Pro-Life Atheist

by B_Deserter in

jw
friends

it's strange and i'm not sure if it's because of my upbringing, but i just can't be pro-choice.

i just don't see the rational justification (other than a situation where the mother's life is in danger).

i don't, however, see a problem with stuff like the morning-after pill, when the embryo is just a group of cells with no consciousness.

It's strange and I'm not sure if it's because of my upbringing, but I just can't be pro-choice. I just don't see the rational justification (other than a situation where the mother's life is in danger). I don't, however, see a problem with stuff like the morning-after pill, when the embryo is just a group of cells with no consciousness. I guess my position is that what has to be decided is what time during the pregnancy the cluster of cells turns into a living being. To me, it's simple. Cluster of cells=not sentient, embryo=sentient. I've seen no rational argument for differentiation of conscious human life whether it's in or out of the womb.

41

Are you smarter than a grade 8 student from 1895? I think not.

by worldtraveller in

jw
friends

remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education?

this is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in salina , kansas , usa.

5. tell what you can of the history of kansas.

B_Deserter

I noticed a lot of the questions deal with farming jargon and don't really apply to most people anymore. I do like, however, the idea of eighth graders knowing the locations and capitals of all the European countries (to be fair, there were far fewer back then, the Austro-Hungarian empire took up a lot of space). That's quite something now that we live in a world where people struggle to find their OWN country on the map.

2

So THIS is what Satan and his Demons have been up to...

by serotonin_wraith in

jw
friends

helping record a music album!.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyid=18513345.

i've heard a few songs already, and it's really good stuff.

B_Deserter

I agree with the sentiment so far. It sounds like the band is trying to stir up some folklore to sell records. We all know what better avenue for the devil to control you than a mass-produced laminated cardboard square by Parker Brothers!

4

Iraq, UN, George Bush & WTB&S Propaganda

by prophecor in

did anybody else believe that the united nations was the powerful entity that the wtb&ts tried to attribute it to being?

when george bush was trying to get support from the un for war with sadaam, they just pitter patterd around and tried to get boy george to just, take a chill pill.

un sactions were supposed to be enough for bush, and to just let the un do its job.

B_Deserter

I've thought about that, too. Bush's attitude towards the UN seemed to put a whole damper on the "kings of the earth giving up their authority" idea. Even less likely to submit to the will of the UN are all the Islamic nations. It's obvious that as the wild beast, the UN doesn't fit the bill. It's a pointless, corrupt debating society and nothing more.

7

It's tough letting go

by B_Deserter in

you know, we all like to talk about how awful the congregations we attended were, but at the end of the day, most of us are here because we need support letting go of our friends and family.

personally, i had and still do have occasionally (because i haven't faded yet) great times with some of my friends.

yeah, it's all based on our religion and they wouldn't be my friends if i didn't believe it.

B_Deserter

You know, we all like to talk about how awful the congregations we attended were, but at the end of the day, most of us are here because we need support letting go of our friends and family. Personally, I had and still do have occasionally (because I haven't faded yet) great times with some of my friends. Yeah, it's all based on our religion and they wouldn't be my friends if I didn't believe it. But, nevertheless, I still do feel a connection. My friendships in the borg aren't based on only the Watchtower. I go fishing with these people. I go to the movies, on trips, shopping, eating out, etc. That's what makes it so hard. I love my family and my friends, but pretending to the believe the crap the Watchtower spews out is just too high of a price.

22

Jehovah's Witnesses more likely to be swindled by quack medicine and conmen

by B_Deserter in

we all know how every congregation has that elders wife who takes it upon herself to be the hall's resident doctor quinn: medicine woman.

they are constantly pushing herbal supplements and natural medicines at the very least, and at times even getting a little "spiritistic" with some of the crazier quack devices out there.

do i think they're stupid?

B_Deserter

I thought if the patient gets better the medicine is verified?

Nope, not at all. In an uncontrolled setting, it's impossible to determine just what caused the patient to get better. That's why a much larger sampling is required. How accurate is a poll that only asks 10 people? Clinical trials are where hundreds, even thousands of patients are given a certain treatment in controlled settings. In any valid scientific study there is also a "control group" to determine that the recovery is truly the result of the medicine, not something else. A control group is not given the treatment and represents the general population. Let's say a new type of cancer develops that quite often goes into spontaneous remission, which many cancers have been known to do. Now, let's say you have some naturopath (aka Witch doctor) give this cancer patient an herb and poof the cancer goes away. Now, does the herb cure cancer? It could, but there's no way of knowing. This was one case, and there was no control. If there were a control, the person who did not get the herb would likely have also gone into remission and proven that the herb really had nothing to do with it. Even if the herb-taking patient recovered and the control person died, it's still too small of a group to determine that the treatment really works. You literally need hundreds or thousands of people in each group.

but I also think that they should be investigated, and if found to have merit further looked into.

What makes you think these anecdotes haven't been looked into? There is literally an army of scientists and researchers that look into this kind of stuff. Most notably, James Randi is a very famous skeptic and debunker of all sorts of myths, the original "mythbuster" if you will. He exposed the tactics of Uri Gellar and Peter Popoff to millions of people. I boggles my mind when people say that extraordinary claims and the like haven't been investigated when they read no medical journals and none of the many articles written on the subject.

Does science completly understand that? Forget about understanding it, how about just harnessing it. And it can't solve all problems: If you're in a wreck and get a rebar stuck through your skull and you're still alive, the placebo effect is not what your paramedics are going to need to beef up on.

I'd say science understands the placebo effect to a pretty thorough degree. No, it can't solve all problems, but I don't see many herbal cures for rebar being stuck through your skull, do you? This is a non sequitir.

And that is why the peer-review is not infallable. The past hundred years has many examples of scientists who were poopooed by their peers, only to be vindicated later. There is no medal for that, no apology, no amends for having their careers ruined.

No, peer-review is not infallible, but that doesn't mean we should just chuck it out the window altogether in favor of the old system: nothing. Do you REALLY think we need to return to the era where the only medicine available was snake oil? Can you cite specific examples of scientists that were poopooed by their peers and proven to be right? I can't think of any. Sure, there were some theories that were met with skepticism, but eventually they were proven right. You're attempting to cast practitioners of homeopathy in the same light as these vague, "victim" scientists that you mentioned. But the reality of the case is that most of these people don't even TRY to get their ideas accepted by the scientific community. They don't even TRY to do responsible clinical studies. If they did, all they'd have to do is show the data, and after much discussion and debate, it would likely be accepted.

26

Who will picket the Kingdom Hall with me?

by Maddie in

i'm sorely tempted to picket the 2008 memorial.

i will go in disguise and carry a placard with the words :-.

"the governing body of jehovah's witnesses are false prophets.

B_Deserter

I wouldn't protest anything because it only serves to reinforce the "apostates are crazy!" mentality the witnesses have. At least have a sign that has questions on it rather than words that simple attack them. I'd start with the scripture in Deuteronomy that says, roughly, if a man tells you something is going to happen at a certain time and it does not happen, then he is a false prophet. Then, next to it, have a sign with a quote from the Watchtower about 1975.

Something shorter may be in order, though. That way, anyone that might read it can do so quickly, without rousing the suspicion of others by looking at you for too long.

7

Peoples temple cult

by jacethespace in

i just watched a documentary about the peoples temple cult and was suprised to find there is some intresting similarites between there attitude beliefs and the watchtower society.. they began as an ordinary group intrested in morals and god and jim jones gradually manipulated them to the point of murder and suicide.. he would reprimand people in front of the whole congregation playing on peoples fears and guilt to the point where sometimes he would encourage others to hit a " wrongdoer".as he got more control over the people they feared to leave and anyone that spoke about leaving was turned in by there own family, hmm that sounds familar.

jim jones feared some that got out and tried to shield the congregation from bad press which is why around 900 were " encouraged " to leave america and go to guyana to what they called jonestown.he told his members that they couldnt leave and that the world would harm them if they ever left.. at one time he passed around a cup to drink and then told the congregation they had drank poison then after they panicked he told them it wasnt true he was just " testing to see how loyal they would be to him".. when they moved to jonestown they set up there own paradise.they grew there own food and made themselves completly independant from the outside world.they built there own homes and would have no outside information except a loudspeaker which jim jones spoke over and used recorded speechs on even throughout the night.he was telling them that the whole world was coming to turn on them and kill them and take away what they had.. when they said they wanted to leave he would say they were committing " blasphemy" by leaving and they would change there mind.. sadly at the end they encouraged mass suicide and took with them a visiting congressman.. paradise quickly turned into chaos and a nightmare and it got me thinking about the wachtowers utopian dream of paradise on earth.if they watchtower cant get things right now how the hell are they going to be capable of governing the whole planet in " the new system.. this isnt the same documentary but heres a link to one documentary about the peoples temple.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3625536419231928674&q=peoples+temple&total=2133&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=4.

B_Deserter

Scientology is also quite similar to the Witnesses. I think the tendency among some of us is to think that all these cults got the idea from JWs, but I think these cult control techniques are universal and far older than the late 1800's. It's called manipulation, and there are certain people who have a natural talent for it, some of them become cult leaders.

6

Getting down at a JW wedding.....something funny

by Homerovah the Almighty in

i caught this on you-tube recently and i thought i would share it with you folks .

its about a guy letting loose in a dance routine at a wedding in a hall , by himself no less.

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=c5pufzqoq_a&feature=related.

B_Deserter

LOOK I CAN DANCE AT A WEDDING!!! IM NOT IN A CULT!!!! IM NOT IN A CULT!!! SEE?!?!