http://www.slate.com/id/2276919/?gt1=38001.
ah, well... nobody's perfect.. peace!.
sa, of the "well, maybe except christ class", on her own....
just in from bethel, Richard Dawkins paints a very saintly pic of scientists and the scientific community in order to draw a contrast with religious fundamentalists.
The checks and balances of science yield facts about our world that encompasses very little compared to the realities a spiritual life yields and touches upon. But I don't think believers should scoff at science as there is a place for science in religious life.
http://www.slate.com/id/2276919/?gt1=38001.
ah, well... nobody's perfect.. peace!.
sa, of the "well, maybe except christ class", on her own....
lol I don't believe this saintly image of scientists and the scientific community you guys are drawing and the awful image of believers as people who "who not welcome any process that might prove their conclusions incorrect" - its bullcrap . Most of us here are living proof of believers who are prepared to examine the evidence and alter our beliefs. Diehard head in the sand believers are very few and far between.
i am a da'd dub circa 1993 (born in).
i have been an extremely successful business owner over the years but about 6 months ago augered in from about 60k feet.
my jw parents have been aware of my situation.
lots of elders are waking up to the truth about the truth. Perhaps this has happened to your father and he is reaching out to you. Call him and dig around a little as he may not be sure how you feel about the truth. If you DA'ed because of lifestlye and not because of doctrine he may be unsure how you feel about spiritual truth.
some thoughts on the so-called "pagan origins" of christmas:.
christmas and "pagan origins".
.
adding to favorites
there's a wide cross section of thinkers on this board, representing christian belief and non-belief and points in between, the agnostics.
there is most definitely a minority, mostly silent, of devoted jehovah's witnesses present, too, but their contribution to the dialogue and dynamic of the board is minimal.
that small minority aside, it can be said the people who venture into here to communicate with one another share a common paradigm, and that is the watchtower is built on a foundation of clay.
nickolas - here is something from wiki re anti-intellectualism. In fact if you read the whole article you will find that wiki is quite balanced in its treatment of the subject. but I think the extract below focuses on examples that are like how Jehovahs witnesses utilize anti-intellectualism. Perhaps by means of such discussions your wife may soften in her attitude to your disfellowshipped nephew and hopefully even agree to invite him over to share a meal at your place. Moreover you may be able to, over time, educate your children to recognise when a damaging ideology is at work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-intellectualism for the whole article whilst below is the extract that I think focuses in on JW type anti-intellectualism
Authoritarianism
Benito Mussolini: Il Duce of Fascist Italy, a police state.
Dictators, and their dictatorship supporters, use anti-intellectualism to gain popular support, by accusing intellectuals of being a socially detached, politically-dangerous class who question the extant social norms, who dissent from established opinion, and who reject nationalism, hence they are unpatriotic, and thus subversive of the nation. Violent anti-intellectualism is common to the rise and rule of authoritarian political movements, such as Italian Fascism, Stalinism in Russia, Nazism in Germany, the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, and Iranian theocracy. [citation needed]
In the 20th century, intellectuals were systematically demoted or expelled from the power structures, and, occasionally, assassinated. In Argentina in 1966, the economic liberalmilitary dictatorship of Juan Carlos Onganía intervened and dislodged many faculties, leading to a massive brain drain in an event which was called The Night of the Long Police Batons. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] The biochemistCésar Milstein reports that when the military usurped Argentine government, they declared: “our country would be put in order, as soon as all the intellectuals who were meddling in the region were expelled”. In Brazil, the educator Paulo Freire was banished for being ignorant, according to the organizers of the coup d’ État of the moment. [ 7 ]
Flag of Democratic Kampuchea
Extreme ideological dictatorships, such as the Khmer Rouge regime in Kampuchea (1975–79), killed potential opponents with more than elementary education. In achieving their Year Zero social engineering of Cambodia, they assassinated anyone suspected of “involvement in free-market activities”. The suspected Cambodian populace included professionals and almost every educated man and woman, city-dwellers, and people with connections to foreign governments. Doctrinally, the Maoist Khmer Rouge designated the farmers as the true proletariat, as the true representatives of the working class, hence the anti-intellectual purge. (cf. Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, 1966–76)
Governmental anti-intellectualism ranges from closing public libraries and public schools, to segregating intellectuals in an Ivory Tower ghetto, to official declarations that intellectuals tend to mental illness, thus facilitating psychiatric imprisonment, then scapegoating to divert popular discontent from the dictatorship (vide the USSR and Fascist Italy, cf. Antonio Gramsci).
Moreover, anti-intellectualism is neither always violent, nor oppressive, because most any social group can exercise contempt for intellect, intellectualism, and education. To wit, the Uruguayan writer Jorge Majfud said that “this contempt, that arises, from a power installed in the social institutions, and from the inferiority complex of its actors, is not a property of ‘underdeveloped’ countries. In fact, it is always the critical intellectuals, writers, or artists who head the top-ten lists of ‘The Most Stupid of the Stupid’ in the country.” [ 7 ]
there's a wide cross section of thinkers on this board, representing christian belief and non-belief and points in between, the agnostics.
there is most definitely a minority, mostly silent, of devoted jehovah's witnesses present, too, but their contribution to the dialogue and dynamic of the board is minimal.
that small minority aside, it can be said the people who venture into here to communicate with one another share a common paradigm, and that is the watchtower is built on a foundation of clay.
nickolas, another thing that struck me, triggered by Aguest's posts above, which you may not be aware of is that the watchtower leadership appeals to its followers anti-intellectuallism to keep them happy, contented and flattered. I'm not a person of many words and hope you understand what I mean (if you don't then I can explain). So my suggestion is to, using non religious material (perhaps a newspaper, TV programme or film even), examine and discuss with your wife how leaders can use appeals to anti-intellectualism to win people over. Leave her to make the connection to Jehovahs witnesses. If this was Gods organisation would they need to make such appeals.
there's a wide cross section of thinkers on this board, representing christian belief and non-belief and points in between, the agnostics.
there is most definitely a minority, mostly silent, of devoted jehovah's witnesses present, too, but their contribution to the dialogue and dynamic of the board is minimal.
that small minority aside, it can be said the people who venture into here to communicate with one another share a common paradigm, and that is the watchtower is built on a foundation of clay.
thats a good one Aguest (two hopes instead of one hope)
Nickolas
here is another. Jehovahs witnesses love to use the argument that there is no where else to go in their interpretation of John 6:68. Only Jehovahs witnesses have sayings of everlasting life, they argue, and therefore followers must remain in the organisation. But of course this section of John directs an individual to Christ and not to an organsation.
but our situation is very difficult and quite high profile.... i was raised as a jw and my mother was very strict and abusive.
i got baptized at age 14.. my mother actually called on my (present) husband's mom in service.
she was on the initial call resulting in his mom coming in the truth and him being raised in it from about age 8 or 9.. despite a very abusive step-father, he followed his mom's lead and came into the truth.
hey headisspinning welcome - many here, it seems to me, love Jehovah and believe Jehovahs witnesses have the truth. But we all agree that those who take the lead can be controlling and abusive. Because of this your faith will be challenged but you will be given emotional support as there are many kind souls on JWN.
Curtains
i am new to this site.
i've been out of it for about 17 years.
i've never really looked back or felt nger about any of it.
hi not bitter, welcome.
on first of december we had a manifestation to condemn the ostracism practiced from jehovah's witnesses against every disfellowshipped.
we made this manifestation in rome near the chamber of deputies.
at the event were present people from all over italy and some from switzerland.. what was done?.
how marvellous.
