Posts by gubberningbody

Paul Johnson in his book "Intellectuals" brings to mind an important point echoing Jesus' words and common sense - that the affect a belief system has on a culture and people ought be the deciding factor as to its utility.

26

WT :They Don't Even Know the Bible!

by metatron in

jw
friends

we may argue about doctrine but sometimes the watchtower and awake magazines suggest that their writers are simple minded hacks who don't really know the bible as an objective subject.

i say this because of glaring omissions that often occur.. example: some years ago, the watchtower hierarchy legislated that no one should clap when a disfellowshipped person is announced as reinstated.

in discussions about this, they never brought up the bible account about the prodigal son and his father's reaction to his return!

gubberningbody

Narkissos, I think it's interesting that when introduced to all this as an atheist, the two books I found most useful ended up being written by those who were later turned out as "Apostates". The books were "The Commentary on James" and "Choosing the Best Way of Life"...

22

Question about snakes

by callitquits76 in

jw
friends

hi everyone, long time no post but i wanted your opinion on something please.. well a friend of mine has just got a corn snake.

its a baby but it will grow up to 6ft.

i never considered myself anti-snake because i know people do have phobias on them, but seeing it in action, including the way it eats, has really put me off - not only snakes, but also, the friendship.

gubberningbody

I caught snakes, kept and fed them for years as a kid. My mother just drew the line at poisonous snakes. The easiest thing to do to feed snakes properly is to get some all beef or chicken hot dogs, cut those into the right sizes and then you unhinge their jaws carefully with a blunt butter knife and stuff the food down their mouths. Once it's past the head they'll just swallow it.

This way no weird trauma from watching life feed on life.

I only did that once and I hated it. My bull snake ate a rat after it gave birth and then I came in to find all these sad little baby rats squirming about with no mamma. I freaked and rode my bike all over town trying to find a wet rat nurse. I ended up flushing them down the toilet after my own failed attempts to feed them through a tiny eye dropper.

42

What does nicotine feel like?

by Elsewhere in

i have never smoked or used any tobacco products aside from puffing on a cigar a few times (maybe 5 times in my life).

even with the few cigar experiences (which i did not enjoy much) i never noticed any real "feeling" from the tobacco.

what is it supposed to feel like?

gubberningbody

Sure Paul, what you don't realize is that is exactly the indication of addiction. Nicotine addiction is different than almost any other substance addiction I've found. These profound changes in the brain happen swiftly and are permanent. The relaxation was a feeding of the addiction.

123

Clarifying the Trinity Doctrine

by UnDisfellowshipped in

since there is so much confusion among ex-jw's, jw's, and christians in general about exactly what the trinity doctrine is, i decided to post this to clarify this teaching.. the historical trinity doctrine of the christian (protestant and catholic) churches has always been this:.

* there is only one true god by nature.. * there are three distinct persons who share equally the nature of god.. * there are not three different gods (that is the false doctrine of tritheism or polytheism).. * there is not one person who is revealed three different ways (that is the false doctrine of modalism).. * however, each person of the trinity does have his own "role" or "function.

" the son willingly obeys the father.

gubberningbody

I hate the trinity doctrine. If God is a trinity then he can bite me and damn me to perdition. The next person who walks up to me and says "Trinity" gets decked.

42

What does nicotine feel like?

by Elsewhere in

i have never smoked or used any tobacco products aside from puffing on a cigar a few times (maybe 5 times in my life).

even with the few cigar experiences (which i did not enjoy much) i never noticed any real "feeling" from the tobacco.

what is it supposed to feel like?

gubberningbody

It doesn't make sense to get involved. As little as one cigarette can make permanent changes to your brain, and not for the better. This was a surprise to many and the research results on this will probably take years to trickle down to the "Wheel-Of-Fortune" mentalities, however it's true and even more rapidly addictive for young people.

I dipped for 12 years before becoming a JW and that was the most difficult thing to quit. A dipper (I used copenhagen, swallowed about a can's worth a week) will get about 7 times the amount of nicotine in his system as a smoker.

I suppose this was one good thing I got out of the process. It gave me the motivation to quit. I could easily return, but that would be stupid.

23

is it really worth trying to change their minds?

by homeschool in

jw
friends

after reading steven hassan's book, i really believe the jw's are in a high mind control group, like so many other cult-like religions.

one point stuck out to me though....hassan said he will not do interventions if the purpose is selfishly motivated.

i don't know why, but it's made me question some things.

gubberningbody

One of the fundamental things people need is the need to be understood, to be validated and evaluated fairly. The crime is that the WTBS and these pansies running the show hide and won't debate with anyone. At least Russell had the cajones to engage. These wankers are worthless. They further insist that NO discussion take place and that it doesn't matter if you have good scriptural grounds for anything. They've crowned themselves as Jesus Christ's stand-in, and said that they are to be obeyed without question.