Vidiot

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Posts by Vidiot

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  91

  Population 7 billion. Changes ahead.

  by Lion Cask in

  1. social
  2. current

  according to the world population clock, we're going to hit the magic 7 billion number this year.

  that's 7,000,000,000,000 living human beings on this planet.

  the world is about to change, again.

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  Vidiot

  BurnTheShips, well said; your points are kinda the flip side of mine, and just as valid.

  Again, significantly, while they are potentially mind-blowing (and fascinating as hell, I geek out about 'em, to), they are - once again - mundane, "real-world" conditions, advances, and circumstances; and, because of that, they will inevitably fly in the face of fundamentalist apocalyptic supernaturalism, and thusly will ultimately undermine that worldview more and more, until it dies a graceless death...

  Just my opinion.
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  91

  Population 7 billion. Changes ahead.

  by Lion Cask in

  1. social
  2. current

  according to the world population clock, we're going to hit the magic 7 billion number this year.

  that's 7,000,000,000,000 living human beings on this planet.

  the world is about to change, again.

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  Vidiot

  The big four problems facing ALL humans for the next 50 years:

  - unsustainable population growth (caused by the huge advances in 20th Century medicine, but unfortunately saddled with very little cultural change regarding birth rates)

  - resource depletion (in part, caused by the above), and the inevitable military conflicts that result

  - unchecked climate change (caused by rampant industrialization, and fueled by increasingly draconian lassaiz-faire capitalism)

  - the worst effects of Peak Oil and its economic ramifications

  Yes, I fully acknowledge that these phenomena seem distinctly "apocalyptic" in nature (particularly since they strongly suggest that a major die-off of a significant majority of humanity might be in the making), and thusly would seem - at first - to bloster the claims of the WTS and other millennialist groups, but a case could arguably be made that these are the main reasons why virtually ALL apocalyptic milleniallist religions' days are numbered.

  Think about it for a minute...

  Virtually every End-Times denomination - the WTS included - subscribes to an apocalyptic worldview (or, to be more precise, a belief in the impending near-extinction of our species) that manifests itself in an overtly supernatural manner. The details obviously vary from church to church, but I'm referring to overly literal interpretations of Revelation, the Rapture doctrine, etc.

  The conditions listed above, however, are domonstrably mundane "real world" phenomena - not supernatural.

  In addition, they will affect everyone, showing no favorites; every human being on the planet will be impacted by them in some way, shape, or form, however those conditions manifest themselves; whereas virtually every apocalyptic millennialist group in existence either implies or actively teaches that its membership will be rendered more-or-less immune to the ravages of the Apocalypse by virtue of their fealty and loyalty.

  In the face of that, how could the Rapture-Ready crowd - and by extension, the religions that claim to support them - ever collectively recover?

  Another way of looking at it is that the majority of End-Times denominations (including the WTS) - as social organisms - will be arguably unable or unwilling to adapt to such radical changes in their environment. However, as we all know, organisms that cannot or will not adapt to a changes in their environment always go extinct. No exceptions.

  In addition (and to address more specifically), the WTS does virtually nothing to inform, educate, or otherwise help prepare its 7-million-plus membership to deal with these conditions; one could even go so far as to argue that their failure to do so places their membership at greater-than-average risk. They haven't even attempted to incorporate them into WT eschatology the way they did with the post-WW2 geopolitical environment.

  This realization was another hugely significant component of my fade...
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  8

  Smurfs ARE dangerous...and here's the PROOF.

  by Vidiot in

  1. social
  2. humour

  http://comics.com/get_fuzzy/2010-12-28/.

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  Vidiot

  http://comics.com/get_fuzzy/2010-12-28/
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  48

  Did the GB become the Pope over JWs in 2010?

  by moshe in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the governing body slipped this in the wt for jws this past year- well, they have given the jws legal notice as to the vitual power and authority the gb has claimed over their lives.

  will jws bend over and accept another "quantitative easing" up their keester from the old gb geezers of bethel?.

  ***w109/15p.23par.8"yourleaderisone,thechrist"***.

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  Vidiot

  bohm - "I have wondered the past couple of weeks if the "new" GB is feeling nostalgic for the "good old days" in the 50s ..."

  From what I've gathered, they've been nostalgic for the 50s since the 50s.

  Like all conservative groups, the 60s really freaked them out, and they've never recovered.
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  12

  Stem Cells: A Ray of Sunshine and Hope

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it's difficult to feel much optimism now, with national economies so shaky and jobs so scarce - but read the headlines here.

  http://news.bioscholar.com/2010/12/a-cure-for-baldness-could-be-available-in-5-years.html.

  the greedy big drug companies and corrupt fda won't be able to stop the progress that is being made internationally on this subject.

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  Vidiot

  jgnat - "I think that fundamentalists could absorb this in to their world view by attributing the advances to divine intervention, and declaring that the millenial reign has begun. That gives them another thousand years for proselyzing."

  Except for the fact that the vast majoirity of millennialists explicitly advocate the view that the Apocalypse has to occur FIRST; they're dead certain that then End will manifest itself in a Big Way with millions of "unbelievers" dying and their own ideology being explicitly vindicated over all others.

  Even assuming that our planet and species did experience some kind of near-extinction-level-event (supernatural or otherwise), how could they explain the survival of reps from hundreds of different belief systems, sexual minorities, and other nonconformists?
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  19

  Help me understand the WTS/JW eschatology

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am seeking help as i attempt to understand the wts/jw current understanding of the eschatological sequence of events.

  please show me where my understanding is correct and where it is wrong:.

  wts/jw background.

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  Vidiot

  The way I'd always understood it was like this:

  - the "Wild Beast" (UN) turns on "Babylon the Great" (non-JW religion)

  - the "King of the North" (whoever that is) follows up by cracking down hard on JWs

  - the "King of the South" (Anglo-American West) follows suit

  - world "Peace and Security" is declared

  - everybody except JWs are wiped out in a spectacular display of supernatural vengeance

  I may have some of it wrong.
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  88

  Debunking the Watchtower - Slam Dunks and Solid Arguments

  by Nickolas in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  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.

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  Vidiot

  Here's one I don't think anybody's thought of yet:

  The WT (among others) assert that we grow old, get sick, and die due to "inherited imperfection", and that Biblical figures like Methuselah lived 900+ years because they were only a few generations removed from Adam, and thusly closer to "physical perfection". Therefore, the farther humans get from physical perfection, the more imperfect we get.

  By that logic, our kids should be uglier and stupider than us.

  Try getting any conservative Christian to say that about their kids.
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  106

  If Genesis isn't taken literally, who's sin did Jesus die for?

  by unshackled in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  this is an interesting blog post by the author cj werleman - write of the books god hates you, hate him back and jesus lied - he was only human.

  he writes with a good dose of humor which usually helps get his point across.. the blog post dissects the latest gallup poll results regarding 40% of americans believe in biblical creationism.

  but the point i found interesting in it was that if you don't believe the genesis account is literal....then jesus atoned for the sin of a fictitious character, adam.. here is a quote from the blog...but please give the whole thing a read, makes more sense that way:.

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  Vidiot

  Perry - "Did Jesus believe in evolution?"

  "...and he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female..."

  "Did Jesus Believe the Story of Noah’s Ark?"

  “...as in the days of Noah, so shall also be the coming of the Son of Man be...”.

  I wonder if anyone's considered Mark 4:34 - "...he did not say anything to them without using a parable..."

  unshackled -"Bottom line is evolution is a fact. For those who claim to be christians and accept that fact...how do they continue to call themselves christians? It's a paradox."

  A fairly significant factor in me being more or less an agnostic "post-Christian" these days...

  unshackled -"Guess I was wondering if anyone could present a reconciliation of either: 1) acceptance of evolution and christianity, 2) not believing Genesis is literal and Christianity.

  A while back (when I'd started fading, but was still mentally "in"), I wrote an outline for a seven-volume novel series initially intended to be based on the WT interpretation of Revelation (I still have a sholarly interest in apocalypticism), but full of twists that, in retrospect, would have made Ted Jaracz's head spin around like Linda Blair's.

  As it went on, however, I realized that rather than affirming WT eschatology, it ended up subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) repudiating it. Thing is, volume 7's outline (prequel/origin story) was based on Genesis, with a solid attempt at that very reconciliation. Narratively it actually worked, too. Everybody I know who read it (all non-JWs, of course, stoopid I'm not) thought the whole thing was really clever.

  I had found it interesting that the vast majority of progressive/liberal Christian denominations don't regard Revelation as being prophetic in any way; part of the goal was to interpret Revelation AS prophetic (albeit fictionally, of course), but in a distinctly liberal/progressive manner; to my knowledge, it's never been done before.

  It's called "The Authoritarian Threshold", but my friends nicknamed it the "Anti-Left Behind".
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  42

  What is the longest you know of a Fader being out of the JW's and then DF'd?

  by Think About It in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what's the longest amount of time you know of where a fader was out of the jw's and df'd later?

  probably alot of factors in this.

  could depend on how visible you are in your kh's town, the personality of the boe, what your "sins" were, what your "status" use to be, etc.

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  Vidiot

  James_woods - "The rule was that if you just left and didn't seem to be rocking the boat, you were just left alone."

  That seems to be what's happening to me...

  Any vindictive elders that I remember from when I was growing up eventually bit off more than they could chew and were politely but firmly "asked" to step aside. It was almost always permanent.
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  29

  Is it possible for the WT society to ever convince us of true reform?

  by james_woods in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i got to thinking about this and for me anyway, they would have to come clean on at least the following things:.

  an honest retraction must be made on all the ridiculous chronology (of course including the false prophecies).

  by this i mean, stop this psuedo numerology stuff of adding up this or that date, adding on x many years, etc.

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  Vidiot

  At this point, if they implemented any of the significant reforms suggested in this thread, they would arguably no longer BE Jehovah's Witnesses.

  As Ray said, they've long since made their bed, and have chosen to sleep in it - with all the consequences inherent.