Nickolas

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Posts by Nickolas

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  363

  So me, of all people, had a religious experience

  by sabastious in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was sitting in my garage, as i often do, to chill out and i actually ended up becoming angry.. so here i am, in my garage, kicking it on the stool for the drum set that is in there (i am a pianist/composer, not a drummer).

  i start to think about all the crazy stuff that transpires on this planet.

  we have all seen shows and heard stories or maybe even witnessed events that don't add up.

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  Nickolas

  Seems to me you must have a lot of sentimental hands, especially after having played the game so intensely for so long. In your place I would be amused, not dumbfounded. Human beings have a tendency to perceive probability dynamics in terms of relatively small numbers - that is why there are those who believe in Creation simply because the probability of conditions that would allow the spontaneous generation of life is very, very, very small, to the extent they believe it to be impossible. But the anthropic principle allows us to think otherwise, particularly within the context of billions of galaxies each with billions of stars and planets, which constitutes a far, far greater range of probability than 9 cards drawn at random from a deck of 4 suits each with 13 cards.

  What you experienced was highly unlikely, but not impossible, sab. I am holding out for something far more remarkable.
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  179

  Were you 'alive in '75' and how was that year for you?

  by punkofnice in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i was a junior borgite in 1975. i remeber looking at the calendar at work in october and thinking: 'armageddon isn't here yet.....and it doesn't feel like it will be here anytime soon either!'.

  i was surprised that jehovah hadn't obeyed the superior command to bring the big 'a' as instructed to him by fred franz.

  how dare god disobey the jw leader!!!!!.

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  Nickolas

  Born in 1952 in Canada. Raised strict Roman Catholic. Devout first generation Irish mother and atheist second generation Italian father. Abused in separate school not in the sexual sense but all the others from the nuns and priests. All the changes in the early sixtees when I was just coming of age smelled funny. Eating meat on Friday was no longer a mortal sin, etc. Routinely equated "religion" with "superstition" to everyone and anyone by the time I was 14. Met a nice Anglican girl when I was 19. She was 17. We got married two years later. A year later, 1974, her big brother sees the light and becomes a Jehovah's Witness and starts to talk to the two of us about it. I'm interested, she's not. I start to study under the Witnesses, attend the odd meeting and a couple of assemblies. My wife is more cautious, but is starting to show an interest. 1975 comes along and everyone in the congregation is abuzz with expectation. The summer assembly that year was electric. And then it didn't happen. I figure the WTBTS had more than a hundred thousand students in the queu for baptism in 1975, because the numbers published for that year in the 1976 yearbook were something like 85,000 higher than 1975, but then the 1977 and 1978 yearbooks showed a huge decline in numbers. I started asking questions in my book study and was awarded with anger. In my mind I saw the nuns and priests again and recognised the WTBTS for what it was and I broke it off. 1975 did it for me. My wife was studying by then and she never saw the same thing I did. We're still working that one out.
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  41

  Belief in the Afterlife - where do you sit on the scale?

  by jgnat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am three-quarters through the book, the time paradox: the new psychology of time that will change your lifeby philip zimbardo and john boyd.

  it is taking longer than usual because i am earnestly applying the exercises as they appear in the book.

  which means i have to be ready to change my habits...but enough about me.. zimbardo's argument throughout the book is that a person's time perspective deeply impacts their choices and their ability to be happy.

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  Nickolas

  Thanks, lwt, good to "see" you, too. Wow, SBC, you've changed your avatar. It used to be so certain and brave. This one is intense. I like this one better.

  Karl Marx and Doris Kearns suggested that belief in a hereafter helped people cope. (Marx considered it a tool of the oppressors).

  I'm impressed. Someone who actually understands and doesn't misrepresent Marx's infamous opium of the people statement. Good thread. I'm looking forward to rejoining the conversation.
• 
  41

  Belief in the Afterlife - where do you sit on the scale?

  by jgnat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am three-quarters through the book, the time paradox: the new psychology of time that will change your lifeby philip zimbardo and john boyd.

  it is taking longer than usual because i am earnestly applying the exercises as they appear in the book.

  which means i have to be ready to change my habits...but enough about me.. zimbardo's argument throughout the book is that a person's time perspective deeply impacts their choices and their ability to be happy.

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  Nickolas

  Whether they realise it or not, individuals who believe their consciousness will go on after death behave differently and value life differently from those who believe otherwise. The 19 men of supreme and absolute faith who immolated themselves and thousands of others a decade ago might be the most graphic examples. To gentler souls the alternative is accepting that you will one day lose everything. Everything you have and everyone you love, including yourself, and you will cease to exist. All that really matters, then, is the here and now, how you live your life and how you treat your fellow travellers along the way. After all, they're going to lose everything, too. If for no other reason, you should be compassionate toward them.

  Belief in an afterlife is a balm against irrational despair but it also blinds its adherents to how precious little time they actually have. Those who believe they will go on after death have an abundance mentality while those who perceive the boundedness of their existence have a scarcity mentality, and each will have a tendency to conduct his or her life accordingly.

  I guess I'm back.
• 
  16

  Did Phillip fart? (or, was it the Queen?)

  by Lion Cask in

  1. social
  2. humour

  the facial expressions tell it all.. (thank you, babayaga, for the tutorial).

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  Nickolas

  Not long ago the Queen was presented with a proposal from one of the Commonwealth Countries to name a large metropolitan street in her honour. It was to be called "HMQ Elizabeth II Mews". The Queen responded: "We are Avenues and we are Streets and we are even a Highway in Canada, but we are not a mews."

  Couldn't resist. Now I'm off.
• 
  97

  2010 Partakers number is out!!!

  by Hairyhegoat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hey here we go!!!.

  they will need to buy some more crackers and cheap wine for next year now.

  what are the borg going to concocked now to cover there ass with the number of morons going up again at the memorial 2010 ?.

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  Nickolas

  I think this thing is reading my mind ...

  Ads by Google JW Kingdom Hall Jehovah Witnessess 144000 Jehovah Lice Treatment Dirty Rotten Lousy Watchtower Liars
• 
  97

  2010 Partakers number is out!!!

  by Hairyhegoat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hey here we go!!!.

  they will need to buy some more crackers and cheap wine for next year now.

  what are the borg going to concocked now to cover there ass with the number of morons going up again at the memorial 2010 ?.

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  Nickolas

  Now the ads have changed:

  Ads by Google

  JW Kingdom Hall Head Lice Jehovah Witnessess 144000 Jehovah Lice Treatment
• 
  97

  2010 Partakers number is out!!!

  by Hairyhegoat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hey here we go!!!.

  they will need to buy some more crackers and cheap wine for next year now.

  what are the borg going to concocked now to cover there ass with the number of morons going up again at the memorial 2010 ?.

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  Nickolas

  Still can find no confirmation on the 11202 number. Where does it come from?

  Oh, Great. Now I'm getting the following ads by Google:

  Ads by Google

  Head Lice Lice Treatment Lice Removal Lice Pictures Treating Lice
• 
  97

  2010 Partakers number is out!!!

  by Hairyhegoat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hey here we go!!!.

  they will need to buy some more crackers and cheap wine for next year now.

  what are the borg going to concocked now to cover there ass with the number of morons going up again at the memorial 2010 ?.

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  Nickolas

  Being a monkey can't help either

  yeah, but I'm really good at pinching lice from your head and eating them. Besides, I'm a bonobo.
• 
  97

  2010 Partakers number is out!!!

  by Hairyhegoat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hey here we go!!!.

  they will need to buy some more crackers and cheap wine for next year now.

  what are the borg going to concocked now to cover there ass with the number of morons going up again at the memorial 2010 ?.

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  Nickolas

  Is it possible that there's a Metastasized Class of counterfeit annointed Christians within the walls of the WT?

  Yes, I am coming to believe that is indeed the case, mle. It goes beyond that, however. There are many in the rank and file who don't want to be inside but do not leave because they fear losing their families, friends, social safety nets, sometimes jobs and inheritance. They are Jehovah's Witnesses in name only. Those of this group who go door to door are putting in appearances, but they're not pitching the sale in earnest. There is also the AJWRB, the Associated Jehovah's Witnesses for Reform on Blood, which counts among its members several active Jehovah's Witnesses, including elders. There is a cancer in the WTBTS, and the ironic thing is that it is the Society's own doctrines that keep them inside.

  Can anyone confirm the 2010 partakers number? If I'm going to use it in conversation I don't want to be called on it being bogus. Hurts credibility.