Posts by fulltimestudent

2

South Korea and Japan

by fulltimestudent in

japanese prime minister has been visiting the us for talks.

the problem of japan's relationship with south korea was likely on the table for discussion.. the opinion of many observers, is that it may be a long time before japanese atrocities during their near 40 year occupation of korea will be forgotten.. a south korean film, my way (in english) crystallises the emotions felt in both korea's and in china.. more about the film: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/my_way_%282011_film%29.

and a dramatic segment of the film, where the amazing russian advance across japanese held china (manchuria) and into korea, brought the russian military onto the sakhalin islands and only a few km from the japanese island of hokkaido, scaring the the japanese leadership with the thought that if the war did not end, there would be a russian invasion of the mainland.

fulltimestudent

Japanese Prime Minister has been visiting the US for talks. The problem of Japan's relationship with South Korea was likely on the table for discussion.

The opinion of many observers, is that it may be a long time before Japanese atrocities during their near 40 year occupation of Korea will be forgotten.

A South Korean film, My Way (in English) crystallises the emotions felt in both Korea's and in China.

More about the film: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Way_%282011_film%29

And a dramatic segment of the film, where the amazing Russian advance across Japanese held China (Manchuria) and into Korea, brought the Russian military onto the Sakhalin Islands and only a few km from the Japanese Island of Hokkaido, scaring the the Japanese leadership with the thought that if the war did not end, there would be a Russian invasion of the mainland. That's something the west would like to forget, as the anniversary of WW2's end approaches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuUR95-o_fw

9

What happens when an elder bullys witnesses, both young and old

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

mental and physical intimidation (bullying) while young increases the probability of mental illness as an adult.

that's the conclusion of a recent study.. "bullying may be more scarring than child maltreatment because while society recognizes child abuse as a serious problem, and supports its victims, people just don't see bullying the same way, wolke said.

"there're still people out there who think that bullying is a normal rite of passage you go through and toughen up, etc.," he said.but bullying leaves people with poor self-esteem and a lasting sense of distrust of other people, he told live science.

fulltimestudent

So where does this leave Bible incidents such as that discussed in Galatians 5:12, where Paul wishes that those (probably from the Jerusalem congregation ) teaching the need for circumcision would castrate themselves. (self-mutilation, similar to the psychological problems seen in the practise of 'self-cutting,') yet here we find this claimed apostle acting like a bully

International Standard Version
I wish that those who are upsetting you would castrate themselves!

Some think that the Greek sense of the verse, is that the teachers of circumcision should be cut off from the congregation, as in this explanation of the text,

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
12. they … which trouble you—Translate, as the Greek is different from Ga 5:10, "they who are unsettling you." were even cut off—even as they desire your foreskin to be cut off and cast away by circumcision, so would that they were even cut off from your communion, being worthless as a castaway foreskin (Ga 1:7, 8; compare Php 3:2). The fathers, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, and Chrysostom, explain it, "Would that they would even cut themselves off," that is, cut off not merely the foreskin, but the whole member: if circumcision be not enough for them, then let them have excision also; an outburst hardly suitable to the gravity of an apostle. But Ga 5:9, 10 plainly point to excommunication as the judgment threatened against the troublers: and danger of the bad "leaven" spreading, as the reason for it.

reference: http://biblehub.com/galatians/5-12.htm

But isn't that social exclusion as bad as self-mutilation? Perhaps its even worse. So the bullying attitude is evident right from the beginnings of Christianity.

2

Pakistan welcomes China's President to Pakistan

by fulltimestudent in

a week ago, china's president xi visited pakistan.

the visit took place against background news that the pakistan government had extended the lease on gwadar port (built by the chinese) to forty years.

during xi's visit agreements were formalised on sections of a huge infrastructure agreement that will link the port to china's western provinces.

fulltimestudent

So Pakistan gets 46 billion dollars worth of infrastructure investment, which will create a new economic zone from the enlarged port and running all the way north to the border with China and onto the ancient city of Kashgar. The infrastructure development will include a new highway, new railway and pipelines.

What will China get?

First Gwadar is a port that means it can deliver oil and gas to its western provinces without the long trip around S.E.Asia, second it means another commercial route to Africa and Europe that can be used in the case of disruption. Third, if the hopes of increased prosperity are realised, it will help stabilise the political situation on China's western border, not just in Pakistan but also in Afghanistan (remember the billions of dollars that western nations promised to re-build Afghanistan after the American invasion, apparently just empty promises). If the project succeeds it will also benefit Iran (only 100 km or so away)

A similar project is being built through Myanmar, that can revolutinise the economies of Myanmar and S.E. Asia.

In China's north, another zone to Eastern Russia is being built that can create a new economic zone around the area where China, Russia and North Korea meet.

2

Pakistan welcomes China's President to Pakistan

by fulltimestudent in

a week ago, china's president xi visited pakistan.

the visit took place against background news that the pakistan government had extended the lease on gwadar port (built by the chinese) to forty years.

during xi's visit agreements were formalised on sections of a huge infrastructure agreement that will link the port to china's western provinces.

fulltimestudent

What was so special about the Gwadar Port agreement?

Anil gupta explains:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-kFL3Vb2tQ

2

Pakistan welcomes China's President to Pakistan

by fulltimestudent in

a week ago, china's president xi visited pakistan.

the visit took place against background news that the pakistan government had extended the lease on gwadar port (built by the chinese) to forty years.

during xi's visit agreements were formalised on sections of a huge infrastructure agreement that will link the port to china's western provinces.

fulltimestudent

A week ago, China's President Xi visited Pakistan. The visit took place against background news that the Pakistan government had extended the lease on Gwadar Port (built by the Chinese) to forty years. During Xi's visit agreements were formalised on sections of a huge infrastructure agreement that will link the port to China's western provinces.

The Pakistan Airforce provided an aerial Guard of Honor to escort the Presidential plane from the border: (The fighter planes are a joint China-Pakistan development)

https://www.facebook.com/ApertureSensation/videos/vb.567503256680182/779033985527107/?type=2&theater

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv2_S5uMoNo

9

What happens when an elder bullys witnesses, both young and old

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

mental and physical intimidation (bullying) while young increases the probability of mental illness as an adult.

that's the conclusion of a recent study.. "bullying may be more scarring than child maltreatment because while society recognizes child abuse as a serious problem, and supports its victims, people just don't see bullying the same way, wolke said.

"there're still people out there who think that bullying is a normal rite of passage you go through and toughen up, etc.," he said.but bullying leaves people with poor self-esteem and a lasting sense of distrust of other people, he told live science.

fulltimestudent

Mental and physical intimidation (bullying) while young increases the probability of mental illness as an adult. That's the conclusion of a recent study.

"Bullying may be more scarring than child maltreatment because while society recognizes child abuse as a serious problem, and supports its victims, people just don't see bullying the same way, Wolke said. "There're still people out there who think that bullying is a normal rite of passage — you go through and toughen up, etc.," he said.
But bullying leaves people with poor self-esteem and a lasting sense of distrust of other people, he told Live Science. "Being socially excluded and being a social outcast is about the worst stress that we can experience, more than other pains."
Although people are becoming more aware of how harmful bullying can be, efforts in the United .States. to tackle the problem are spotty, said William Copeland, an associate professor of psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, who helped conduct the study. "I think it's often the case that children that are bullied are not always supported in that, and told to deal with it themselves," Copeland said."

Reference: http://www.livescience.com/50641-bullying-child-maltreatment-mental-health.html?

Many elders within the J/witness organisation excuse their bullying tactics, with the excuse that they are being strong for Jehovah. Which may partly explain why so many young people are leaving the witness organisation.

1

The Intellectual Weakness of Christianity

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

i liked this alvin toffler quote:.

how apt it is for those who set their minds in the concrete of faith.. how apt it is, for jehovah's witnesses who are not allowed to doubt, even when the teachings of the organisation appear to be idiotic.. back in the 1930's the j.witnesses predecessors were forced to believe that the "princes of old," were going to come back and live in joe rutherford's big californian mansion.. how stupid was that!

time forced them to unlearn that, but only because they were told they could.. how stupid to let someone else decide what you can think!!!

fulltimestudent

I liked this Alvin Toffler quote:

How apt it is for those who set their minds in the concrete of faith.

How apt it is, for Jehovah's witnesses who are NOT allowed to doubt, even when the teachings of the organisation appear to be idiotic.

Back in the 1930's the J.witnesses predecessors were forced to believe that the "Princes of old," were going to come back and live in Joe Rutherford's big Californian mansion.

How stupid was that! Time forced them to unlearn that, but only because they were told they could.

How stupid to let someone else decide what you can think!!!!

7

effect of shunning

by lancelink in

i have read quite a bit on this site about the effect of shunning, mainly how the person being shunned reacts to it.

and then there is the wt reaction, how everything is the df'ed persons fault.. well, i ran across this article today.

some might think it is way too off base with the drug problem that this girl faced.. but the point i got out of it is how important it is to help the person with the problem instead of walking away and expecting that ignorance will cure the problem.

fulltimestudent

talesin:The pain of feeling utterly alone. I can easily understand the need to escape that.
It's hard to *not* want to escape pain.
It's a strange thing about our society (to me). We fail to acknowledge that behaviour has causation, and issues are better resolved than ignored - both on a personal and societal level.

Absolutely!

And the witnesses will find out that exclusion is not a good policy.

They should be asking why there is this growing hostility to them? How many of us would bother with expressing our feelings here and to others if we had not been excluded (cut off) from our families.

Of course, with minds set in concrete like faith, they'll keep blaming the devil, when a moments reflection would tell them the stark truth - they are bringing the disaster they face as an organisation on themselves.

Little by little, like drops of water wearing away a stone, the expressed anger of excluded family members will wear away the witness organisation.

The growing consensus on the permeability of sexual/gender identity- Ollie's brave journey

by fulltimestudent in

my gayxjw friend thinks i should post this story from today's aussie news.

(he dislikes jws so much that he even refuses to post here).

actually he's suggested two stories, but i'll consider the other story later.. this is actually a nice story about the growing acceptance of the fact that sexuality and gender is not as fixed as the genesis story pretends.. it is difficult to imagine a situation more fraught with emotion than parents discovering that their child is transgender, that is there is a dissonance between the mind's sexuality/gender and the body.. in australia, however, such parents (i doubt that jw parents, with a mind-set made form concrete would consider this) now have a source of assistance.. so meet ollie, birth name molly, but now freed to solve the dissonance he once felt between his brain (mind) and his body.. .

fulltimestudent

My GAYXJW friend thinks I should post this story from today's Aussie news. (He dislikes Jws so much that he even refuses to post here). Actually he's suggested two stories, but I'll consider the other story later.

This is actually a nice story about the growing acceptance of the fact that sexuality and gender is not as fixed as the Genesis story pretends.

It is difficult to imagine a situation more fraught with emotion than parents discovering that their child is transgender, that is there is a dissonance between the mind's sexuality/gender and the body.

In Australia, however, such parents (I doubt that JW parents, with a mind-set made form concrete would consider this) now have a source of assistance.

So meet Ollie, birth name Molly, but now freed to solve the dissonance he once felt between his brain (mind) and his body.

Ollie, now 12, has been a patient at the Royal Children's Hospital's gender dysphoria clinic for the past two years.
The clinic, the only one in Australia, treats children between the ages of five and 18 and has experienced a huge growth in demand since it was established in 2003 by Associate Professor Campbell Paul, a child and adolescent psychiatrist.
From two patients in 2003, it has grown to 104 in 2014, with more expected this year.

The really wonderful thing (to me) is the acceptance that Ollie's change has met with at such important places of social interchange as his school. Humans often find it difficult to be the odd man out, as the saying goes.

How this works is explained by one of the clinic's staff:

"Sex" refers to a person's physical appearance, determined by their chromosomes and hormones, Dr Michelle Telfer, the clinical leader at the hospital's centre for adolescent health, explains.
"Gender" refers to their innate sense of being male, female, or somewhere in between. A transgender person's sex and gender do not match. When this causes severe distress it is called gender dysphoria.
When Ollie was younger he did not know what transgender meant. But he always felt like a boy.
He hated wearing dresses. At eight he got a short, short haircut. He became more distraught at going to school, and cried at night.
Oliver's parents, Peter and Sarah, decided it was important to get Oliver into the clinic and onto "puberty blockers".
These medications stop the procession of normal puberty and are totally reversible. They are used to decrease the distress a young person feels from bodily changes they do not want, Dr Telfer says.
As the patient matures and is able to make long-term decisions they can move onto cross hormone medication, which is not totally reversible.

Polytheism in the Book of Daniel, a late second temple religious document

by fulltimestudent in

as jehovah's witnesses we committed ourselves to a blind belief in a monotheistic judaism that was automatically transmitted to a new religious organisation, started (we were taught) by jesus.. that's the premise which this thread will discuss.

i suggest that sufficient evidence is available to throw doubt on both those beliefs.

so this thread will argue (over about a week-hopefully) that:.

fulltimestudent

jhine7 hours agoGosh ,thank you for a very comprehensive reply to my question ! Yes it was very interesting . Strip away the cultural differences , clothes , food etc and human beings really are very alike .
Jan

Sometimes, there can be marked differences. It seems fair to suggest that the earliest traces of religious thought indicate that shamanism was the original religious thinking. The shaman could be seen as the gate through which the spirit world could be contacted. The shaman therefore, could be seen as the predecessor of all religious leaders, (including elders (grin). We can study active versions of shamanism in may places in the world.

Tibet, where a syncretistic version of Buddhism developed between Indian Buddhism and the shamanistic beliefs of native Tibetans. I've no time at present to develop the idea, but essentially in many forms of shamanism, the spirits are everywhere, in special rocks, streams hills/mountains etc. Tibetan buddhism may have taken that idea over and saw the whole land as a battle between the original spirits (demons) and the guardians of the Buddhas.

In Japan, shintoism is a shamanistic religion, with spirits everywhere, I've taken the explanations below verbatim from a Japanese tourist guide. It seems to describe shintoism quite well.

Shinto does not have a founder nor does it have sacred scriptures like the sutras or the bible. Propaganda and preaching are not common either, because Shinto is deeply rooted in the Japanese people and traditions.
"Shinto gods" are called kami. They are sacred spirits which take the form of things and concepts important to life, such as wind, rain, mountains, trees, rivers and fertility. Humans become kami after they die and are revered by their families as ancestral kami. The kami of extraordinary people are even enshrined at some shrines. The Sun Goddess Amaterasu is considered Shinto's most important kami.Some prominent rocks are worshiped as kami.In contrast to many monotheist religions, there are no absolutes in Shinto. There is no absolute right and wrong, and nobody is perfect. Shinto is an optimistic faith, as humans are thought to be fundamentally good, and evil is believed to be caused by evil spirits. Consequently, the purpose of most Shinto rituals is to keep away evil spirits by purification, prayers and offerings to the kami.
Shinto shrines are the places of worship and the homes of kami. Most shrines celebrate festivals(matsuri) regularly in order to show the kami the outside world. Please read more on our special information pages about shrines and festivals.

Japanese shamanism was inherited from the Japanese ancestors from the mainland, where we can still find in the Siberian tribes, something that may be akin to the original shamanism. This is so interesting as we have a method of comparison. Around 18,000 years ago some of those Siberian people crossed into North America and proceeded to colonise both North and South America. They brought their native shamanism with them, so comparisons can be made.

For later changes within Asia may I recommend Richard Folz's book, "Religions of the Silk Road-Premodern Patterns of Globalisation."

In everything, though, I believe we should take the advice of Chinese thinker, Zheng Yi (1033-1107 CE):

"A student must first of all learn to doubt."

and

"Follow the path of inquiry and study."

So armed with an inquiring mind, that is prepared to doubt conclusions one always has a mind open to change.

The very last thing the JW overlords want their adherents to have.

Of course, Christians may argue that they also follow the path of inquiry and study, but as simplistic simon has posted, you must do so in"faith."

There is no room for doubt in simplisticSimon's world view.