That instant connection one experiences at assemblies, KH's etc. is essential to an active witness. If your a witness and I'm a witness........... we validate each other. We can bask in our mutually wonderful reflections. The pathological need to continuely be validated explains their harsh response to their children, mates, parents or close witness friends..... who have stopped believing. They are more then willing to abandon those persons because they can no longer be validated by them. The friendships and relationships end immediatly even before any announce is made....even if there is never an announcment. JW's are on shaky ground when nothing is reflected back at them. Probably why so many are willing to waste hours attending meetings and assemblies even though there is seldom anything meaningful studied or learned.
Giordano
JoinedPosts by Giordano
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21
Journal of Philosophical Psychology cites JWs as an example of a self-validating belief system
by slimboyfat ina recent article in the journal of philosophical psychology titled: 'how convenient!
the epistemic rationale of self-validating belief systems' by maarten boudry says that one of the defense mechanisms of self-validating belief systems is "multiple endpoints and moving targets" and cites jws to illustrate the point.
here are the sections that discuss jws:.
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Stephen Hawkings and Richard Dawkins attend the Jehovah's witnesses two-day assembly program at London Edgware assembly hall
by mankkeli inhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-15834523.
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Giordano
"They were both amazed at the grandiloquent write up of the newly released brochures on the origin of life released at the 2010 DC. WT's logic in that brochure motivated their attendance".
Mankkeli is right..........they were there.......... "and then Stephen Hawkings got up and danced for joy!"
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Texas Judge Who Was Taped Beating Daughter Is Suspended
by Justitia Themis inhttp://www.cnn.com/2011/11/23/justice/texas-beating-video/index.html?hpt=hp_t3.
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judge william adams, who made national headlines after the release of a 2004 video of him beating his then-teenage daughter, has been suspended by the texas supreme court.. the reason for the action was not mentioned in an order of suspension that was made public tuesday.. adams, a court-at-law judge in aransas county, was roundly criticized when his now-adult daughter posted online a video of him beating her with a belt when she was 16.. the video also showed the judge cursing and berating hillary adams..
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Giordano
Hillary Adams suffers from ataxic cerebral palsy which causes difficulty with balance, hand and feet movements and speech. Just wanted to make sure NRFG got that point. George are you an elder?
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Texas Judge Who Was Taped Beating Daughter Is Suspended
by Justitia Themis inhttp://www.cnn.com/2011/11/23/justice/texas-beating-video/index.html?hpt=hp_t3.
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judge william adams, who made national headlines after the release of a 2004 video of him beating his then-teenage daughter, has been suspended by the texas supreme court.. the reason for the action was not mentioned in an order of suspension that was made public tuesday.. adams, a court-at-law judge in aransas county, was roundly criticized when his now-adult daughter posted online a video of him beating her with a belt when she was 16.. the video also showed the judge cursing and berating hillary adams..
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Giordano
Hillary Adams suffers from ataxic cerebral palsy which causes difficulty with balance, hand and feet movements and speech.
In the footage, Judge Adams can be seen delivering around ten powerful strikes across his daughter's legs and backside. His wife then grabs the belt from him to take over, at which point he walks out only to return moments later with another belt so he can continue beating her.
Unrepentant: Judge Adams defended his actions by saying he was just disciplining his daughter
On the seven-minute long clip, as his daughter begs him to stop he can be heard snarling: 'Bend over the f***ing bed.
'Lay down or I'll spank you in the f***ing face.'
In total the girl receives 20 hard lashes from her father and one from her mother.
The mother screams: 'You turn over like a 16-year-old and take it like a grown woman.'
As the child lies crying on her bed, her father shouts: 'Do you want to put some more computer games on? Are you happy disobeying your parents?
'You don't deserve to be in this f***ing house. What happened to you Hillary?'
'If I hear so much as you raising your f***ing voice to me or your mother with the wrong tone or do one little thing or you look at me f***ing wrong, I'm going to wear your f***ing a** out with this belt.'
The shocking footage appeared to have been filmed on a webcam set up in the bedroom and dates from 2004 but only became public on October 27.
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My observation, the "threefold cord" actually weakens a marriage
by Robert7 inso my wife and i survived leaving the jw faith together over the course of the last 4 years.
it was a wild ride for our relationship, but thankfully we are stronger than ever.
so looking back, here is my observation about the "threefold cord", at least the jw version of it.. i believe the idea of the threefold cord actually weakens a marriage, keeping it less mature.
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Giordano
We married when she was 16 and I had turned 18. We pioneered together for about 2 & 1/2 years until we just got bored with the whole witness thing...it stopped making any sense to us. However we really couldn't fade......... I held three major positions in a very small congregation and our families were in. So we decided to move out of the area and just drop out. Since I was also the publisher's card servant (whatever it was called........this was in the 1960's) I sort of took our Pub Cards with me....oops where did those cards go to?
Soon after relocating we really started to open our minds and look at life differently. Our son came along about then and our family was dedicated to knowledge, art, music etc. We celebrated our 48 anniversay together in November. Having been and still are artists during those years we worked together on the business side of things. My wife was recently invited to have a one person show at a very fine museum which opened just a few days ago and will run until Feb 19. It would have been very difficult to explore what we were interested in and grow as persons, travel and worked at what became our profession if we didn't walk ourselves out when we did.
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Bart Ehrman: "Biblical Scholarship and the Right to Know"
by leavingwt inthis entire article by dr. ehrman is worth a read.
here are a few selections from it.
im not opposed to religion and i dont think that all religion is oppressivefar from it.
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Giordano
PSAC sited the Amish as an example of a kind and gentle religion? "Are there any more fundamentalists than the Amish ( as an example)? and yet what danger are they to anyone? who do they try to oppress and dictate too? NO ONE." Sorry dude....... if you agree that shunning is a form of oppression then take a look at the Amish: "Shunning, or meidung means expulsion from the Amish community for breaching religious guidelines -- including marrying outside the faith. The practice of shunning is the main reason that the Amish broke away from the Mennonites in 1693. When an individual is subject to meidung, it means they have to leave their friends, family and lives behind. All communication and contact is cut off, even among family members. Shunning is serious, and usually considered a last resort after repeated warnings." So the Amish dictate what to believe................And if you don't want to believe you are oppressed by being shunned. What danger are they to anyone? Mostly they are a danger to themselves. Their religious beliefs dictates that their mode of transportation is A horse and buggy. So it's common to see adults and children exposed to faster moving cars and trucks. Death by buggy is a reality.
Most religions are dangerous to their believers. I think that's in part what "right to know" means. -
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Bart Ehrman: "Biblical Scholarship and the Right to Know"
by leavingwt inthis entire article by dr. ehrman is worth a read.
here are a few selections from it.
im not opposed to religion and i dont think that all religion is oppressivefar from it.
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Giordano
The following observation is interesting to me because I think that many of us who are leaving the 'truth' or who have left often feel compelled to try to explain why. Its interesting to note that Ehrman has the same desire.
"My view is that most fundamentalists migrate away from fundamentalism slowly over time based on tiny doubts that seep into their consciousness. One of my jobs as a public scholar is to find chinks in the armor—to show why the internally coherent system of religiosity people have is, in fact, flawed. That involves talking about discrepancies in the Bible, its contradictions and historical impossibilities, as well as talking about the problem of suffering, and so forth. I do this because I think it’s important to consider and confront the deep philosophical issues without settling for easy answers. I’m actually not interested in making everybody either an agnostic or an atheist. I am interested in getting people to think and become more intelligent about their views of the world, whatever their views are. And I’m interested in seeing people reject religion that is harmful and oppressive".
This artical is a good presentation of his point of view. I was also suprised that he no longer considers himself a Christian............. I always felt he was conflicted.........I never thought I'd wind up a nonbeliever but it is often the only path that seems reasonable as well as sound.
Ehrman's public statements points to another path ....being a humanist.
When I left many decades ago I tired of the nit picking arguments and stopped getting involved. I came to a conclusion that I didn't have anything better to offer family and friends who were still in. Now I have to rethink that point of view.
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Do you know anyone who has given the WTS a "Conditional Loan" and been repaid?
by 3rdgen inif not, were they incouraged to "forgive" the loan?.
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Giordano
You know the society just craps cash.
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Are you sure leaving the JW religion has made your life better?. Lurkers think twice
by mankkeli inon this forum, i have carefully read most of the experiences of those who left the jw religion, i have even read experiences that have dated back to 2001, i have read the different circumstances surrounding their exits and what ensued upon leaving.
for the majority, i observed they are better remainning in the religion than leaving.
what benefit is there to strain family relationship because you want to be free?, please tell me, of what value is that freedom?,.
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Giordano
No room for George I hope you were kidding. But I suppose it's still better to have a bottle in front of you then a frontal lobotomy
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Book: "A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus"
by leavingwt inhas anyone read this book?
a marginal jew: rethinking the historical jesus .
"meier (religion/catholic univ.
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Giordano
There is scant evidence he existed at all except for the gospels. Put another way Paul's writing about Jesus would have barely filled up a paragraph. And the three historic writers who mentioned him were 70 years out and had no first hand account.
However assuming he lived and was a rabbi/ teacher does Meier indicate if he could read or write? I assume he could read a little at least. But the lack of writing from him or his followers is disturbing. He also had zero knowledge of basic science, at best his science was limited to the knowledge of that era and was wrong most of the time. That would indicate, to me that he was uninformed or perhaps Jesus/Michael didn't remember anything of his prior existence or he was simply a humble...with an attitude....Rabbi of his era..
I think the soup he was selling was pretty thin so everyone down through the years just kept adding ingredients to make it a bit more tasty and filling.
If he was real I think he got tired of the whole thing, A lot of times he just sounds petulant , and simply wandered off never to be heard from again. This is the thing about the gods or son's of god...they get testy. Of course start with nothing written down, use the oral tradition to spread his message in three different languages over a period of 30 or 40 years, wait for a wack job like Paul to explain it all then begin a process where each group had a written scroll of their version of his life and times and you have what we have today.
