I have yet to find any possible benefit that I may have gained from the JW religion - and it is now 21 years since I gave that lot away. Furthermore, after all this time, I don't expect to ever find one, either!
Bill.
so, here's a bit of a different point of view.
while most of us will agree that our time within the jw cult was rather terrible, however, i'd like to look at another aspect.
did anything good come out of being in a cult and then waking up from it?.
I have yet to find any possible benefit that I may have gained from the JW religion - and it is now 21 years since I gave that lot away. Furthermore, after all this time, I don't expect to ever find one, either!
Bill.
this is not a new story.
the japanese military in ww2 were barbaric in the way they treated captured servicemen.
i was about ten when my father's best friend came home from a japanese prison camp.
unreasonable cruelty is not confined to one particular race or military.
So very true!
In the suppressing the Indian Mutiny, Britain carried out numerous atrocities, and not only against the mutineers, either:
- indiscriminate slaughter of the civilian population also featured prominently in the punitive measures that were handed out.
All this occurred in the year 1857, well after the "Age of Enlightenment" had taken place, and we of the West had taken to thinking we were a cut above everybody else when it came to humanity and civilisation.
Bill.
this is not a new story.
the japanese military in ww2 were barbaric in the way they treated captured servicemen.
i was about ten when my father's best friend came home from a japanese prison camp.
Your experiences may be different from mine, but I have seen very little in the way of forgiveness. My father in law certainly never did!
Bill.
this is not a new story.
the japanese military in ww2 were barbaric in the way they treated captured servicemen.
i was about ten when my father's best friend came home from a japanese prison camp.
With a grandfather who was a prisoner of the Japanese in Singapore's Changi Prison, and a father in law who (somehow) survived the Burma Railway, none of this comes as any surprise. Yet again more evidence that the human species is a cruel, violent creature!
Bill.
from so many posts and conversations on here, you'd think over 1/2 the posters here possess doctorates in theology, physics, biology, etc.
i'm curious aside from the books and research people have done here, what degrees they have.
to start, i just got an aa and going straight through full time to an mba.
Though I think credentials are important and add weight to a person's argument, I also think a well read person with life experience is just as qualified
The problem I see more and more of is the insistence on formal qualifications ahead of outright practical experience and ability. As an example, in my field, just about every position now stipulates that applicants must have dual qualifications - Electrical and Instrumentation; whereas previously most such positions were filled by persons like myself, i.e. licensed electricians with extensive instrument experience.
Despite having decades of experience in instrument work (including having managed a NATA registered Calibration Laboratory), someone like myself is now ruled out through not having that magic "Certificate IV" in instrumentation.
So........ having just completed the Advanced Diploma course in Electrical, the next one is going to have to be (at least) Cert. IV in Instrumentation!
Bill.
from so many posts and conversations on here, you'd think over 1/2 the posters here possess doctorates in theology, physics, biology, etc.
i'm curious aside from the books and research people have done here, what degrees they have.
to start, i just got an aa and going straight through full time to an mba.
I have just completed the Advanced Diploma course in Electrical Engineering, which is about the most a busted-@$$ electrician of over sixty years of age can aspire to do!
Bill.
it just seems to me religion in general primarily makes truly bad people worse, not genuinly good people better; and in many cases has even made good people do bad things in the name of their religion.
just curious, a personal poll if you will.
what are you guys' current views on religion as a whole?
How do I feel about religion as a whole?
I couldn't tell you that, as it is unprintable!
Bill
overview of his life, from china central tv america:.
http://www.cctv-america.com/2015/03/22/singapores-founding-pm-lee-kuan-yew-dies-at-91.
He ran a very tight ship but the streets of Singapore are safe to walk.
It is almost hard now to credit, but pre-independence, Singapore has a serious gang problem. However, Lee Kuan Yew quickly put a stop to that:
- admittedly, by using drastic measures deeply disapproved of by Human Rights advocates and such!
If ever there was a classic example of the "Benevolent Despot", it would have to be Lee Kuan Yew.
Bill.
Were I to learn that Night Owl is a close cousin to something that lives under a bridge, I would be not at all surprised!
Bill.
was life that bad for you?
we are really sorry...
Bung bill:"mad people and of mad times" It was that bad?
Bloody oath it was!
PS: Are you hankering for "The Good Old Days" or something"? As the Australian country singer, Tex Morton, once said in one of his songs about the "Good Old Days" (to quote) "I only hope we don't see them again!
Bill.