Posts by sabastious

14

Mind Reading and Reinstatement - Part 1

by RayPublisher in

i've published a new article on my blog about the agony that people go through in seeking reinstatement.

part one includes a personal experience of one that crawled throught this field of glass in order to be able to regain a relationship with a close friend that is asleep in the jw movement.. part two will have a transcript (and accompanying audio on my youtube channel) from a sister that recorded her entire reinstatement hearing, including what the elders said about her after she was dismissed from the room while they deliberated.. here's a peek at the article on jwstruggle:.

.. .. .. there are likely a number of you on jwnet that have "been there and back again" and gone through it.. what was the hardest thing about getting reinstated?.

sabastious

Very good read! Thank you so much, it will help a lot of people.

-Sab

33

Blood Transfusion Increases Mortality in Heart Attacks

by Earnest in

i understand that the objection to blood transfusions by jehovah's witnesses is purely a scriptural one.

whether or not there are medical benefits to avoiding blood transfusions is, or should be, irrelevant.

however, for those who are not convinced by jw understanding of the scriptures in this regard, and those who don't believe either in the bible and/or in god, the fact that blood transfusion is associated with increased mortality in heart attacks may be of interest.. a systematic search of studies published between january 1, 1966, and march 31, 2012, was conducted using medline, embase, cinahl, scopus, web of science, and cochrane central register of controlled trials databases.

sabastious

The date range is too long, imo. Moore's Law exponentially evolved medical technology from 1966 to 2012. Therefore it would be unreasonable to apply the 10-18% figure to a person needing a transfusion today. I would suspect that the further back one's transfusion the more likely it increases chance of heart attack. Technology continues to grow, but silicon has its limits as governed by the laws of thermodynamics. Quantum computing caluclates on the atomic/subatomic level which will kick Moores Law back into full stride. The quicker we get our quantum computers up the better for everybody involved.

-Sab

14

NWT Matt 18:2 Child referred to as "it"

by Red Piller in

the nwt translation renders matt 18:2 this way,.

"so, calling a young child to him, he set it in their midst ".

calling a child "it" made me curious.

sabastious

Interesting find.

-Sab

177

A comet coming to end the world? Useful information?

by EntirelyPossible in

thoughts?

a woman named amanda started hearing a voiced telling them that a comet was going to destroy the earth.

they bought a house in the north carolina mountains to prepare, thinking the voice belongs to the dead former owner of the house.

sabastious

Shelby, any discussion which involves the fate of the world is one that concerns God. That should be assumed.

He doesn't bring, or allow ANYTHING that is harmful to man... without sounding a warning.

I don't believe in that God. I believe in a God that never brings anything harmful to man. I believe in a God that would never destroy a child, that's what man does and to their own detriment. I understand that human situations can become so knotted up that mass killing becomes available as a last resort. But to think that the Almighty God is limited to violence in the same way that we are is a shameful misunderstanding of him. Something YOU are accusing ME of. If I ever came to the knowledge that God had willfully killed children by any means I would resign from his team. I am extremely happy to find out that the killings mentioned in Scripture are mere instructional fables. However, they serve as powerful tales which when studied AS IF they are real yields incredible benifts to one's life. They are peppered with fascinating things such as literary allusions and numerology. Waiting for the end of the world is just not something I schedule for myself. I put that aside.

In THIS case, the hypothetical, I responded as to that "someone"... telling folks that, while THEY might not know how to prepare, there IS One who does... and they should go to HIM... and QUICK-LIKE... to get that information. Same as, say, someone saying "A comet is coming and you need to contact your President/King/Queen/Government to know what to do!" If such ones go, "Oh, shoot, I don't believe THEY can/will help me so, no, I ain't goin' to the one(s) YOU tell me to!"... then what? WHOSE fault is it if they don't go GET the proper information and/or evacuate when told to DO so?

If that "someone" cannot prove their assertion then they are lying or crazy and their idea should not be taken seriously. An entity that would know of such information would need to adequately explain WHY they have limited information as to the comet, yet insist that it's coming. This woman who says the comet is coming obviously wants to be a queen. She has some sort of complex that is shielding her from reality. Like you said after the destruction there would many people who'd want to be her "BFF." I would say that those people were just looking to get protection that she obviously had access to. It wouldn't be real friendship. They would crown her and the voice lords of the land. But there would also be the people who specifically distrusted the queen and her kingdom because she would be a prime suspect in a planetary crime scene. To assume the dead are merely the result of a judgement of God is very evil. Like I said God would never do such a thing. We have been told a scary story for a very, very long time.

For instance, the "warning" to "GET OUT OF HER, MY people!" comes to mind. Does it look to YOU like a whole lot of folks are heeding THAT warning? Yet, "her" demise isn't coming from GOD - He's just the one sounding the WARNING. YOUR position is that "she"... and those in "her"... CAN do something to stave off her demise - yet, my position is that there is NOT: her demise WILL come... and there's NOTHING anyone can do about it. Now, do you think going to those who are LEADERS among her is going to result in some kind of global attention to stand to... and a mass exodus from "her"? Do you REALLY think those who are leaders in her are going to sound a warning down... indeed, tell folks, "Oh, hey, you all need to get OUT!"?

The "get out of her" is a metaphor for leaving a collapsing environment. It's something that happens over and over in this realm. The 36th Hexagram comes to mind:

 Six in the fifth place means: Darkening of the light as with Prince Chi. Perseverance furthers. Prince Chi lived at the court of the evil tyrant Chou Hsin, who, although not mentioned by name, furnished the historical example on which this whole situation is based. Prince Chi was a relative of the tyrant and could not withdraw from the court; therefore he concealed his true sentiments and feigned insanity. Although he was held a slave, he did not allow external misery to deflect him from his convictions. I CHING 36

The whole 36th Hexagram is about light existing within a period of darkness. Such as being born into tyranny and oppression. There will come a time to flee, but while in darkness one must be cunning to avoid disaster. There is always a way out, it's designed that way.

I get concerned, sometimes, as to how you "reason" on matters.

I appreciate the concern, I really do. I don't see reason not to have this discussion on JWN. A lot of people here think about this stuff. After leaving the Watchtower people need to resolve all this apocalypse stuff. They have to figure out whether or not God WOULD kill us like is depicted in Genesis 6-9. The answer from where I stand is a clear and definite no.

-Sab

177

A comet coming to end the world? Useful information?

by EntirelyPossible in

thoughts?

a woman named amanda started hearing a voiced telling them that a comet was going to destroy the earth.

they bought a house in the north carolina mountains to prepare, thinking the voice belongs to the dead former owner of the house.

sabastious

So how do you get your god off the hook for millions of deaths in previous centuries? Are you going to play the "willful ignorance, AKA god can't see you" defense?

You keep saying I am being willfully ignorant, but don't really give any compelling reasoning. When people die, there are always reasons and they stretch far back in time. The reason FOR death itself is ancient which means it's not going to just jump out at us. We have had to literally dig into the past to discover the purpose of suffering. If you look at suffering from a surface level you will see no rhyme or reason. Yet, when you persevere in that search despite reason not to you will eventually find the truth. That suffering is humanity's err and God is keeping us around in order to restore us to our original state which transcends suffering (not erring). How exactly that takes place is not completely understood, but we have a lot of data. We must stay on our quest of discovery.

-Sab

177

A comet coming to end the world? Useful information?

by EntirelyPossible in

thoughts?

a woman named amanda started hearing a voiced telling them that a comet was going to destroy the earth.

they bought a house in the north carolina mountains to prepare, thinking the voice belongs to the dead former owner of the house.

sabastious

Sab - the Asian tsunami wiped out a quarter of a million people around the Pacific Rim, most of them knew nothing about it until the wave hit their shores with an energy you can't begin to imagine.

The more technology humanity discovers the more effective the warning systems we develop. Therefore it was always in humanity's best interests to cooperate so that lives could be saved. Science has always been impeded by human selfishness. Many will want to say it was belief in God which hindered progress, but that's an act of selfishness in itself. Such an idea will continue to create prejudice and hinder progress which will result in more loss of life. Without coexistence we all lose. If you take a good look at all of the world's religions you will see they all essentially say the same thing. Therefore it's something else besides religious ideology that divides us. It's selfishness which manifests through racism and general prejudice. What if we decided to get along from the beginning instead of distrust and kill each other? No matter what tribe you are from you still love your family and friends. We have always been exactly alike, but that fact has been slowly eroded over time. Since we no longer even know what we started with, we have no idea how much potential we truly have. Don't build on sand, build on a rock. Excellent advice.

-Sab

177

A comet coming to end the world? Useful information?

by EntirelyPossible in

thoughts?

a woman named amanda started hearing a voiced telling them that a comet was going to destroy the earth.

they bought a house in the north carolina mountains to prepare, thinking the voice belongs to the dead former owner of the house.

sabastious

Is man able to forestall EVERY potential disaster that comes his way?

I don't think God put us on this planet to be ravaged by natural disasters. I think that our brains have always had the capability to avoid all forms of natural disasters. When we are killed by them it means we have failed to properly prepare for them. To assume there are disasters of which are unavoidable gives God a bad name. I don't believe he just ploppled us in a misleadingly dangerous environment, that would be cruel and unjust. There are no problems that lack a human solution despite what anyone says. If a comet comes it will be a test for humanity, one that we can pass or fail.

But seriously curious, dear Sab. What if nothing COULD be done? Isn't it possible that such a situation COULD exist?

There are flying space objects larger than the earth and if something like that was coming straight for us we'd have no hope. It just doesn't make sense to me that God would go through the trouble of creating the earth and it's people only to then obliterate it. Ending all life on earth like that would render our entire timeline essentially useless. Genesis 1 has very clear language as to the purpose of the earth. We are supposed to subdue it and if that was never actually possible then that makes God a liar. There's always something that can be done, we just have to use our God-given brains and cooperate with each other. If we choose to act stupid and isolate ourselves from others, the natural world will be the final check and balance.

-Sab

19

Big Shake-Up Among Jehovah's Witnesses

by JW GoneBad in

i heard that there was a recent (january 2013) big shake up on the west coast in orange california.

i think it is a kingdom hall on taft street in orange that has a double hall.

anyway, i heard that there were 10 to 15 disfellowshiped, others given public reproof and several congregations broken up and new conregations started as a result.

sabastious

They love it when congregations break up, that means they can sell the real estate to the Catholics. CHACHING!

-Sab

177

A comet coming to end the world? Useful information?

by EntirelyPossible in

thoughts?

a woman named amanda started hearing a voiced telling them that a comet was going to destroy the earth.

they bought a house in the north carolina mountains to prepare, thinking the voice belongs to the dead former owner of the house.

sabastious

LMAO! He couldn't find Adam in the garden because he gave them 'privacy'. But he knows EVERYTHING. And sees EVERYTHING.

Everything he chooses to see. He has free will too. Sometimes you just got pull the blinds down!

-Sab

177

A comet coming to end the world? Useful information?

by EntirelyPossible in

thoughts?

a woman named amanda started hearing a voiced telling them that a comet was going to destroy the earth.

they bought a house in the north carolina mountains to prepare, thinking the voice belongs to the dead former owner of the house.

sabastious

the angels.. do they have privacy?.. yet they have freewill

Hell if I know.

-Sab