Topics Started by jgnat

7
Interview with a UBM
by jgnat in
1. jw
2. experiences
i've been meaning to build this survey for some time.

built on simon's great survey template for "apostates", this survey is especially for "unbelieving mates" or simply those who may be dating or falling in love with their jehovah's witness (jw).. if you are interested in my story, the link below will have to do for now:.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/experiences/36842/1/jgnat-says-hi.
7
The WT as a bureacracy
by jgnat in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
here's a quote from a health care change agent, which i think suits the wts very well.. no matter how innovative or entrepreneurial a firm might have been at its start, once it is has been in existence for some time and has an established place in the social economy, its goal in life is to persist.

it leaves the world of innovation, often loses its purpose, and exists solely to exist, i.e., to cover its costs.

often this is a reflection of the corporate hierarchy, where, sadly, leaders lose their sense of providing true value to their customers, intent instead on aggrandizing their own position and preserving their status.
32
Despicable crazy people
by jgnat in
1. social
2. current
there are some mental illnesses which come with the potential for extreme violence.

i'm not talking the sociopath here who kills without remorse, but those mentally ill people while in the throes of their delusions who are driven to kill.

the outcomes can be horrific.. on december 6, 1989, a lone gunman gunned down fourteen women at a montreal college.
20
What is our place in the universe?
by jgnat in
1. social
2. current
what is our place in the universe?

scientists map our galactic supercluster and give it a name, laniakea.. .

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/14798/20140904/what-is-our-place-in-the-universe-scientists-map-our-galactic-supercluster.htm.
23
Pinker on Terrorism .... Self-Defeating
by jgnat in
1. social
2. current
http://chronicle.com/article/era-in-ideas-terrorism/128490/.

his conclusion, .

"even when they are not rooted out by states, terrorist groups carry the seeds of their own destruction.
39
What is a morally upright life?
by jgnat in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
is it relative, or do all human societies and cultures hold at least some things to be good?.

i don't think right and true is "universal" other than what is right and true for people.

a dolphin or a praying mantis may have alien perceptions of what is "good".
48
How much of our mind is our own?
by jgnat in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
margaret singer, pioneer in the study of cults, chaired the alberta psychological association (apa) task force on deceptive and indirect methods of persuasion and control (dimpac) from 1983-1987. the final report of this task force was rejected by the apa, and has not been published.

the apa noted that the brief characterized the theory of brainwashing as not scientifically proven and lacking scientific and methodological rigor.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/apa_task_force_on_deceptive_and_indirect_methods_of_persuasion_and_control#reported_conclusions_of_the_dimpac_task_force.

the apa has since dismissed the use of the word "cult" and switched to the term "new religious movements".
25
Thirty problems only a Canadian would understand
by jgnat in
1. social
2. humour
i got 29. how many do you get?.

http://www.tickld.com/x/30-problems-only-canadian-people-will-understand.
5
Magic and Mantras
by jgnat in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
sitting in the service of my old church, i am reminded of the power of corporate worship, the repetition of key phrases.

one reaches a peculiar estatic state, intentional i am sure.

i find myself wishing the congregation would join in a huge line dance to seal the experience.
48
Hubby's tempted to go back
by jgnat in
1. jw
2. friends
today he kept bumping in to (or rather dodging and weaving from) fellow witnesses.

he's talking about returning but can't figure out a way to do it without enduring a fair amount of humiliation.

i did not panic.