Posts by VoidEater

21

hi there! it's been a while since I've written a meaningful post

by veradico in

jw
friends

the lady on the phone told me that if i could get to chicago in time for a 1 pm flight i could still make it to nh that day.

if one has strong faith in ones faith, he should not fear other belief systems.

may have killed the cat; more likely .

VoidEater

Well worth the read - how else could you express this beautiful journey?

3

thin film solar company nanosolar has now shipped its first solar panels, leading to speculation that the (direct) cost of solar power is now cheaper than coal (and falling).. the company also began an auction for the second panel produced, however this was cancelled by ebay because nanosolar decided to donate the purchase price to charity.

the third panel has been donated to the tech museum in san jose, california.. while it is still too early to tell whether or not nanosolar can meet their goal of selling solar cells at $1 per watt, the fact that the company has constructed a manufacturing plant and begun shipping the product to a paying customer (in germany) is a good sign.

the first plant is reportedly capable of producing 430 megawatts a year of cells, which is a respectable amount compared to the total amount of photovoltaic manufacturing capacity currently in place.

VoidEater

I applaud the advances in development and the start of availability. Some of this reminds me of the shortage of GaAs (Gallium Arsenide) components in the late 80's when (1G) mobile phones were acheiving market penetration in the US. The company I worked for had a massive upturn in fortunes, being a GaAs manufacturer. Improvements in silicon technology continued, though, and I'm not sure that GaAs is typically used in cell phones any more. By the mid-90's, GaAs was more a niche technology again (this was rather mirrored in the computer hardware industry).

It will be interesting to see how the technology develops now that solar is becoming more available, more mainstream. Gets substantial R&D.

Thanks for the post.

60

JW IQ's. Below average? (Includes SM anecdote.)

by Open mind in

are dub bulbs just a little dimmer than the general population?

here's a little highlight from this week's local service meeting that prompts my question.. it's the annual, 20 minute, robotic hand-pumping session conducted by the secretary trying to get everyone all hyped/guilted up for this summer's district convention.

anyway, towards the end of the q&a, there's a paragraph that talks about offering a ride to the elderly/infirm ones in your congo.

VoidEater

Thank you Tuesday! My current situation: my JW parents are now living in the Bible belt. Will they be greeted as fellow Christians? Or shunned as cultists?

26

Did/Does God really love people?

by buffalosrfree in

at john 3:16 god says he loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believed in him will have everlasting life.

yet in revelation satan and the demons were kicked out of heaven and hurled to the earth.

how is that loving, what could possibly be the reason he would do that if he really loved us.

VoidEater

Hi Abandoned: I *love* your post!

One of the things that enters into my mind, though, is that even with your preferred definition of "love", love is stilljust an experience. We humans expect something to come out of love, quite often.

As humans, we would like to attach some imperatives upon those that love. And as loving humans we are invariably motivated to particular actions that come from loving. I wholeheartedly approve of this.

But..."love" is not in itself an imperative to action, in a removed-from-our-humanity context. Love is an experience. Love in itself is not a reason to do something, or be compelled to do something. Just as love can be unconditionally given, it can be unconditionally received.

Do I "believe" in God? Nope. Not in the stereotypical God I hear about from Christians. But the "God" that I have experienced makes no distinction in what it loves - it loves all equally, blindly, uncaringly.

Let me beat others to the punch: Yeah, kinda sad, huh? Just an honest expression of what my spiritual journey (such as it is) has led to.

17

It's Not Hard For a JW to Write a "Worldly" Person Off Because......

by minimus in

jw
friends

they're gonna die anyway.

when witnesses think like this, they become hardened.

they begin to believe that billions of persons are deserving of a catastrophic demise!

VoidEater

It's a tragic disconnect from humanity.

Yes, Dag - and it's such outdated, tribalistic thinking. OT with NT trappings.

They're all gonna die - and they're all evil, so they deserve to die.

26

Did/Does God really love people?

by buffalosrfree in

at john 3:16 god says he loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believed in him will have everlasting life.

yet in revelation satan and the demons were kicked out of heaven and hurled to the earth.

how is that loving, what could possibly be the reason he would do that if he really loved us.

VoidEater

There is no evidence that God loves us...and as I've said in other posts, whatever I experience as "God" is just as easily seen as bats in my belfry. I was just commenting within the context of the thread.

I still don't understand what God needs with a "strategy", though. If He meant to do something like a thief in the night, wouldn't (say) the year before Russel was born have been a perfect time?

Why does he need to prove anything to us, or anyone?

If He's trying to get everyone into the WTS, why hasn't he delivered effective means to His organization?

All the evidence suggests He has left the building, if He was here at all.

39

What will be the reaction in the congregation when...

by JH in

jw
friends

we have many older brothers and sisters in our congregation, and surely the same in many congregations all around the world.. what will be the reaction in the congregations when all these older ones, who were sure they wouldn't die before the end, pass away and leave a vacuum in the congregation.. i don't wish these older brothers and sisters harm, but eventually they will be too old to follow and they will die away.. it won't be the same anymore, when they see these old pillars who stood so faithfully crumble due to old age.. .

VoidEater

Still: Couldn't agree more.

Like others, the "pillars" I knew have already all died. New pillars are probably in place, though of course I wouldn't know any more. In my jaded view, the latest pillars will pass away, be briefly mourned, and forgotten as the past ones.

The insanity continues...

60

JW IQ's. Below average? (Includes SM anecdote.)

by Open mind in

are dub bulbs just a little dimmer than the general population?

here's a little highlight from this week's local service meeting that prompts my question.. it's the annual, 20 minute, robotic hand-pumping session conducted by the secretary trying to get everyone all hyped/guilted up for this summer's district convention.

anyway, towards the end of the q&a, there's a paragraph that talks about offering a ride to the elderly/infirm ones in your congo.

VoidEater

Well, I think they've been habituated out of critical reasoning!

I haven't noticed especially stupid people in the WTS (EDIT: I mean, at a higher rate than the general population), but I've seen a lot of them turn off their brains - they may know a lot, and be experts in their respective areas, but they can't bring there knowledge or insight into the world of their religion.

I remember how I was able to answer WT study questions - quite literally turn off my mind and just look through the paragraph for the "trigger word" that signalled the answer. Otherwise, I got hung up on the fallacies of how the scriptures were applied, or how the conclusions were not supported by the argument!

15

need a logical refutation for this JW argument about voting

by chickpea in

one of my nearest and dearest "sisters" for years always used this argument at the door to stress the evils of participating in the electoral process>>>>> if you vote for a candidate and then he/she does something in office that leads to deaths ( or whatever.... ) then the people who voted that individual into office share the blame/guilt/bloodguilt..... .

how do i deconstruct that to prove that no one is responsible for a decision other than the decision maker ( or decider as in a new vernacular term) ?.

VoidEater

Ooh! How about driving! You *might* make a mistake that takes a life. But you don't stop driving because of that. You deal with it when it happens, because that's what responsible people do. Here, the connection between your choices and actions and the outcomes is (like birthing a child) much more closely linked - yet we still drive.

15

need a logical refutation for this JW argument about voting

by chickpea in

one of my nearest and dearest "sisters" for years always used this argument at the door to stress the evils of participating in the electoral process>>>>> if you vote for a candidate and then he/she does something in office that leads to deaths ( or whatever.... ) then the people who voted that individual into office share the blame/guilt/bloodguilt..... .

how do i deconstruct that to prove that no one is responsible for a decision other than the decision maker ( or decider as in a new vernacular term) ?.

VoidEater

God, Lore - I think I love you! Gopher, I already love you, as you know.

The only thing I came up with on my own is that if she *doesn't* vote for the right candidate, she's guilty if a bad guy gets into office.

EDIT: Seeker beat me to that one...