Posts by cofty

48

Corporal punishment

by Incognigo Montoya in

so i just finished watching the latest cedars video on spanking children.

i like lloyd, and think that overall he does a good job covering issues in his videos.

but i've gotta disagree with him on this issue, to a point.. i don't agree with beating your children, but i do believe in spanking, when appropriate.

cofty

1. A child is about to stick a metal object into a light socket.

Grab the child. Explain the consequences. How on earth would spanking the child achieve anything?

2. A child continually acts up towards his sibling, parent, or teacher, and taking away priviledges/grounding does not seem to be getting through.

Then you are probably not targeting the most effective restrictions and doing it consistently.

3. A child gets into serious trouble, i.e. shoplifting.

The child needs to know that they are still loved but that they will face the consequences for their behaviour. You should probably look carefully at their choice of peer-group

I think parents overestimate how much influence they ultimately have on their children. You can only do your best. Teaching them that hitting people who won't comply with your wishes is not the solution.

48

Corporal punishment

by Incognigo Montoya in

so i just finished watching the latest cedars video on spanking children.

i like lloyd, and think that overall he does a good job covering issues in his videos.

but i've gotta disagree with him on this issue, to a point.. i don't agree with beating your children, but i do believe in spanking, when appropriate.

cofty

I think spanking is unacceptable. One day we will look back and wonder why we ever thought otherwise.

Children respond to consistency. Always say what you mean and mean what you say and say it with conviction. If you say that there will be consequences for disobedience make sure there are - every time.

Never make petty rules but when you lay down a rule never ignore it. Look for the good things and praise and reward them.

Hitting children is a lazy and counter-productive method of discipline.

16

We Need To Get Rid Of Thomas Jefferson Statues and George Washington Too!

by minimus in

jw
friends

hofstra students in new york have gotten together to rid the campus of a statue of thomas jefferson because he was a racist slave owner.

i’m sure people hate many of the founding fathers because of their histories.

we need to get rid of any reminder of our sordid past.

cofty

Stalin and Mao were masters of airbrushing history.

Young people have always tended to see the world in simplistic terms of 'good versus evil'. The current generation show no signs of growing out of it. I blame their over-indulgent parents.

23

A little rant about prayer

by BourneIdentity in

is god responsible for every good thing that happens in your life?

i ask this because a brother gave a talk several weeks ago and said that.

he said when anything positive happens, we must not assume it was by mere coincidence, but we have to have 100% confidence that jehovah cares for us and was involved.. however, people complain that jehovah doesn’t answer their prayers and are told you have to keep asking, you need to show him you really want it bad.

cofty

An old Polish bro in one of my previous congregations told me about his son who was a JW and a TV aerial engineer. He said that work was slow and Richard needed money to support his family so he prayed to Jehovah.

"That night Jehovah sent a big wind and blew down lots of aerials and Richard have plenty work".

It did occur to me that it wasn't such great news for all the poor people with repair bills but hey.

Confirmation bias at its finest.

129

Climate Change - True Believer or Skeptic?

by Simon in

jw
friends

climate change ... who doesn't believe it?

crazy fools and science deniers ... right?.

it seems like it's become the new religion, the new orthodoxy, that must be accepted and believed as gospel and preached to all.. is it ok to be skeptical?.

cofty

Which is the bigger number? 200 or 24?

24 billion is bigger than 200 million by an order of magnitude.

32

BRANCH OVERSEER : "Apostates are GOOD people !"

by Aleph in

this is quite incredible.during his talk, the branch overseer, made a special talk dedicated to the apostates.. he clearly emphasis his point, "apostates used to be between us, really you can talk with apostates, those people are good, of course their point of vue is different than ours now but they are mostly very nice poeple, and you shouldn't be afraid to talk with them.

"though as usual, the reaction of the brothers was quite the same, impassive, i was very surprise by this statement.i cannot assume if this is just a one man step ahead towards the apostates, or really a change in their policies, this came from the mouth of a branch overseer.of course, for obvious reason, i won't give the name of the brother, which is famous, but only here in an central european country.i would have expected him to quote more scriptures, but he didn't, he could have use the one for jesus himself :"you should love your enemies", as apostates were really the "enemies" for the wtbs for such a long time, maybe now that the king of the north is awaken, apostates are not so bad after all ?

just wondering....

cofty

He will have put himself under suspicion by saying that. It would be outstanding if a Branch Overseer was to make a stand against the cult.

20

Christian or Atheists?

by Skipper254 in

in my brief time on this site, i've come to realize that most people who have been shunned or stray away from the jehovah witnesses normally end up having no faith at all.

my curiosity has led me to the conclusion that the gb has created more atheists than believers...... .

cofty

JWs who research and reason their way out of the cult are uniquely well-informed. If you apply the same skills to all religious belief and superstitions that you did to the teachings of the cult it is likely you will end up with no belief in the god of christian theism.

Faith is not a way to determine what is true about the world. You need to choose between faith-based and evidence-based thinking.

8

Slavery - ancient

by joey jojo in

i have been listening to podcasts by dan carlin and his excellent series on persia and the spartans, called king of kings.. its a refreshing way to hear unbiased accounts of history, untainted by religious beliefs.. a part of the podcast dealt with the jews but it put into perspective their place in world history and events.

pretty much just another tribe- sometimes rebellious, allowed to exist under the rule of a major power, allowed to worship their own gods exactly like the other tribes around them.. another part that caught my interest was the account of slavery and it made me think about the way wt and other christian religions have tried to reconcile the idea that it was ok in those days for jews to own slaves because they had laws to protect the slaves.. the podcast made me realise a lot of apologists of slavery obviously forget how a person becomes a slave in the first place.

apologists like wt say it was ok because it was part of the economy and the way life was, which totally skips over the important part.. after a war, when most of the men were killed or wounded on the battlefield by the winning side, whoever was left, men, women and preferably young virgins, were taken back to the homeland of the victors and sold at the slave markets.

cofty

Christians always try to conflate the servitude of one Israelite to another and the enforced slavery of non-Israelites.

When they do that they are either revealing that they haven't read the bible or they are lying for Jesus.

The god of the OT approved of slavery of the very worst kind. Foreign slaves were the personal possessions of Israelites. They were inherited like any other chattel and the owner had the right to beat them to death 'for they are your possession'.

The god of the OT also approved of taking virgins as sex slaves on an industrial scale.

It would take any xtian 2 minutes to find the references and read them objectively. When we combine these facts with the way christians identify Jesus with the god of the OT we are left with the conclusion that 'gentle Jesus meek and mild' prescribed slavery, kidnap and rape.

Edited to add - I just read that link posted by Sea Breeze. The way it treats the biblical data on foreign slaves makes the 'overlapping generation' doctrine sound reasonable.

29

Terrorist Attacks in Sri Lanka

by cofty in

three christian churches and three luxury hotels have been attacked in sri lanka this morning resulting in more than 130 deaths.. buddhism is the state religion in sri lanka accounting for 70% of the population, hindus make up 12% with islam and christianity comprising 9% and 7% respectively.

no group has yet claimed responsibility.

a civil war between government forces and separatist tamil tigers ended in 2009. the war lasted 26 years and cost at least 70,000 lives.

cofty

A Islamist jihadist group known as the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) have claimed responsibility for the attacks. The death toll has risen to 310 with a further 500 injured.

29

Terrorist Attacks in Sri Lanka

by cofty in

three christian churches and three luxury hotels have been attacked in sri lanka this morning resulting in more than 130 deaths.. buddhism is the state religion in sri lanka accounting for 70% of the population, hindus make up 12% with islam and christianity comprising 9% and 7% respectively.

no group has yet claimed responsibility.

a civil war between government forces and separatist tamil tigers ended in 2009. the war lasted 26 years and cost at least 70,000 lives.

cofty

I don't think it's fear of terrorists. It's fear of a populist uprising against Muslims. It's not an unreasonable concern.