Posts by DarioKehl

13

Just Received This Email From "Knocking" Director

by DarioKehl in

jw
friends

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 15.0px; font: 13.0px tahoma; color: #292929} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 17.0px; font: 13.0px tahoma; color: #1440fc} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 17.0px; font: 13.0px tahoma; color: #292929; min-height: 16.0px} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 15.0px; font: 13.0px tahoma; color: #292929; min-height: 16.0px} span.s1 {text-decoration: underline}.

knocking update.

february 2011. www.knocking.org.

DarioKehl

arrg!!!! Why is all this code appearing in my posts??? Sorry for the eye sores, everyone.

13

Just Received This Email From "Knocking" Director

by DarioKehl in

jw
friends

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 15.0px; font: 13.0px tahoma; color: #292929} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 17.0px; font: 13.0px tahoma; color: #1440fc} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 17.0px; font: 13.0px tahoma; color: #292929; min-height: 16.0px} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 15.0px; font: 13.0px tahoma; color: #292929; min-height: 16.0px} span.s1 {text-decoration: underline}.

knocking update.

february 2011. www.knocking.org.

DarioKehl

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 15.0px; font: 13.0px Tahoma; color: #292929} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 17.0px; font: 13.0px Tahoma; color: #1440fc} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 17.0px; font: 13.0px Tahoma; color: #292929; min-height: 16.0px} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 15.0px; font: 13.0px Tahoma; color: #292929; min-height: 16.0px} span.s1 {text-decoration: underline}

KNOCKING Update

February 2011

www.knocking.org

PBS SUBJECT SETH THOMAS DIES AT 30

Seth Thomas, who received a transfusion-free liver transplant to meet his Jehovah's Witness religious beliefs in the 2007 PBS documentary "Knocking," has died. He was 30.

A recurrence of disease in the past year damaged Seth's new liver. Despite a series of hospitalizations, doctors were unable to stop the progression of liver failure. Another liver transplant was not possible. Seth leaves his wife Nina and their 8-month-old son Seth Jr.

Seth's parents Ralph and Audrey and sister Jennifer, all featured in "Knocking," also survive him. In the documentary, father and son were simultaneously operated on in a live-donor transplant as Ralph donated half of his own liver. Seth's wife Nina appeared in "Knocking" as his girlfriend. They were married in 2006, several months before the national PBS broadcast.

Seth's sister is Jehovah's Witness minister in Bulgaria with her husband Mike. They returned to Dallas a week before Seth's death February 14.

I'm sure there are other posts about this documentary. How many of you have seen it? What are your thoughts on the project?

22

Atheists and Evolutionists, Line Up for Some "New Light!"

by DarioKehl in

good day, again everyone.

before delving into my topic, i just want to make it known to people who have pmed me that i have received your messages but it's not allowing me to reply!

i'm not ignoring you.

DarioKehl

Billy...

That came up in the book I read! And it makes sense in the selection process. Avid defenders of god would, in theory, carry a "devout gene" and would be the first to voluntarily march into warfare. If the less devout hid in the churches, over time, their "less devout" behavior would accumulate in the gene pool and the "devout gene" would be removed from the population after generations of war casualties selected against them. It would be unfavorable, then, for a nation/theocracy to have a population of people "less devout" and unwilling to fight religious wars because they would be prone to easy attack from other "devout genes" carriers from different religious nations/theocracies. So, the "devout gene" would move again and reach an equilibrium. Eventually, that conquering sect would have the selection process begin again. Yet, we still observe a vast majority of religious behavior today, despite the need to survive on a crusade battlefield. Humans still, at great cost to themselves, buy into the idea of religion, usually to their own peril. Somehow, this "god gene" still shows up.

cofty, you've obviously read some of the same books I have so you're still warm.

Hint 3: Think vestigal traits...

22

Atheists and Evolutionists, Line Up for Some "New Light!"

by DarioKehl in

good day, again everyone.

before delving into my topic, i just want to make it known to people who have pmed me that i have received your messages but it's not allowing me to reply!

i'm not ignoring you.

DarioKehl

cofty... You're getting warm!

Here's another hint: It's a little abstract. Try thinking about how the behavior allowed for positive selection.

22

Atheists and Evolutionists, Line Up for Some "New Light!"

by DarioKehl in

good day, again everyone.

before delving into my topic, i just want to make it known to people who have pmed me that i have received your messages but it's not allowing me to reply!

i'm not ignoring you.

DarioKehl

Good day, again everyone. Before delving into my topic, I just want to make it known to people who have PMed me that I have received your messages but it's not allowing me to reply! I'm not ignoring you. And to Billy the ExBethelite, I am unable to even open yours for some reason. Sorry!

Ok... I have a great question for those of you who are atheist/evolutionist/scientific-minded. I recently came across a terrific answer to this question that shot my old response down. I just want to post this question to see what your responses are and after a few of you post your responses, I'll share this tidbit with you. Here goes:

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If evolution is true, what roll does religion play in human adaptation and natural selection and why would humans fight, kill, invest, deprive themselves and expend vast amounts of material and energy into building giant cathedrals and embarking on lengthy missions throughout our history??? Remember, nature selects AGAINST waste and extravagance. Environmental pressures should have weeded out the "god gene" long ago, or so it would seem...

Hint: The answer is NOT "population control" or "it's a way for humans to deal with the realization of their own mortality." Those were the answers i used to give and they're inaccuratet! Hit me back!

52

Does God Keep Time or is Time a Human Construct?

by Band on the Run in

jw
friends

i was watching oz re-runs on hbo.

everyone is prepping for a major prison riot.

apocalyptic scenes are shown.

DarioKehl

Point: an exact location

Introduce that point to the 1st dimension and it can travel one of two directions along a line.

Introduce that line to the 2nd dimension and it can travel one of many directions against its axis and make a plane.

Introduce that plane to the 3rd dimension and it can travel one of many directions against the previous two axes and make a box.

Now what? The 3 axes have been spoken for. The box can only expand or contract along the 3 axes... but introduce it to the 4th dimension and it travels in one direction only between two points in time. Duration is the 4th dimension. The property all 3 dimensions possess which enable them to endure, or occupy 3D space, from one point in time to another.

Time is interpreted by the minds of living organisms to reconcile cause and effect, but it is also influenced when presented with very strong gravitational forces or velocities approaching light speed. Einstein--SOMEHOW--knew that time was relative and eventually published his theory of relativity (on his spare time while working in a patent office). The most amazing thing about it is, how a human in the early 1900s with no modern technology had enough insight to even come up with an idea this abstract. Because time is different on an object at near light speed relative to a stationary object, Einstein proved there's no such thing as a universal clock. Time inside a black hole breaks all rules: past, present and future occur simultaneously.

When you think about stuff like that, and the fact that our nearest galactic neighbor, M31 Andromeda, is 2.3 MILLION light years away, the concept of a "universal God" seems so ridiculous. It's just too big a place!!! If there IS a God who can violate all physical laws and propel himself with Holy Spirit (a force yet to be detected or measured), through the known universe in real, absolute time... would he really give a damn if a teenage boy spanks his monkey every night? Then WHY ALL THE GUILT AND FEAR?

61

Hello Everyone...Just Joined Today

by DarioKehl in

i've been reading this thread for some time and finally had the opportunity to create an account.

i am anxious to meet you all and have a support group/active audience over the next crucial months and years following.

background: long-time doubter, giving way to frustration and skepticism beginning about 10 years ago and finally to total admission that this is a cult and that atheism is the way to go.

DarioKehl

no WAY! I don't know the individual, but that is interesting

61

Hello Everyone...Just Joined Today

by DarioKehl in

i've been reading this thread for some time and finally had the opportunity to create an account.

i am anxious to meet you all and have a support group/active audience over the next crucial months and years following.

background: long-time doubter, giving way to frustration and skepticism beginning about 10 years ago and finally to total admission that this is a cult and that atheism is the way to go.

DarioKehl

Yup! Subscriber here :) LUVVITT!

263

Growing up a gay Jehovah's Witness (My Life Story)

by m0nk3y in

i feel the need to express how i feel and felt about my life as a gay man.

i was brought up from birth as a jehovahs witness.

this has played a major part in my life and it has been a real struggle to get past.

DarioKehl

I find the solution in the Young People Ask book repugnant. I've struggled with this since 7th grade (I'm an "80/20 bisexual" in favor of other guys and have only come out to a select few ExJWs). This problem is HUGE within the JW community and it continues to be ignored. The advice in the publications might as well be summed up like this:

"Welp! Ok! We showed you the scriptures, soooooo... you know how God feels about the issue! Our job here is done. You just pray or read WT publications anytime those filthy thoughts enter your mind. And remember...it's probably just a phase you'll grow out of (talk about a FALSE HOPE!). You just try to live the rest of your life never knowing what it's like sharing that special bond with someone that the rest of us get to enjoy. And remember to ALWAYS have faith that JeeeHOOOOOvah will heal all sinful imperfections in the New System. "Probably you" can be like one-of-us, one-of-us, one-of-us... Ok, on to the next chapter, 'What Hobbies Should I Choose?'"

How different it would be if the roles were reversed! What if, one day, the old flabby elder woke up and was told that from this day forth, engaging in long term sexual relationships or marriage with the opposite sex was strictly forbidden, grounds for disfellowshipping and losing God's favor? How long could they stand to deny their natural impulses? I'd put my life savings up that 90% would fail--and by fail, i mean "fail" by CHOICE. Making a choice for happiness.

It's sooo sad seeing young ones in the Khall who obviously struggle. There is no approachable, active support group from within...even if they buy the whole WT Bill of Goods, they have to seek true help from "worldy" sources only--that's all that's availableto them! The only thing they can count on is becoming car group gossip fodder. My heart aches for them... I went through it too.

61

Hello Everyone...Just Joined Today

by DarioKehl in

i've been reading this thread for some time and finally had the opportunity to create an account.

i am anxious to meet you all and have a support group/active audience over the next crucial months and years following.

background: long-time doubter, giving way to frustration and skepticism beginning about 10 years ago and finally to total admission that this is a cult and that atheism is the way to go.

DarioKehl

@ wannabefree: yeah, i hear you. And believe me, there are times when I miss that quick comfort fix I used to get when I'd "Say a quick prayer to Jehovah." As a biologist, I have to admit, I look at life from an engineering perspective. As it stands now, genetics cannot explain behavior. Currently, genetic causes are only alluded to (especially in twin studies), but I very deeply believe that there's a "faith" gene and, judging from my mother's side of the family, I definitely did not inherit it lol (they're all worldy evolutionists). I used to pray but always felt silly, much like a kid leaving a tooth under their pillow when they were old enough to realize that a tooth fairy is nonsense (or so I think... JW kids never played "tooth fairy" haha).

As I stated, I will never belittle people for their beliefs or try to convert. Some exJWs jump right in to other Christian faiths and if that makes them feel better, that's a story with a happy ending. I'll never understand it tho. And perhaps you may never understand a person like me who just can't experience having faith. I dunno... the very word bothers me sometimes. It's foreign and icky. As an independent thinker, you and I have many resources at our disposal to validate our claims but the bottom line is, if a belief in "God" gets you through daily life and offers a hope for your future, then I'm very happy for you. Sometimes even envious. Lt. Commander Data always wanted to explore human emotion, but without the chip, it was a total mystery for him...I'm the same way with belief in a god.

HOWEVER... one of my favorite interests is cutting edge physics. And I don't want to come off as one of those annoying laymen who try to blend physics with philosophy, but it's so exciting to see Science actually require faith from people for possibly the first time ever! I just finished one of the best books ever written IMHO: "The Black Hole War" by Leonard Susskind. He goes toe-to-toe with Stephen Hawking and wrote the entire novel because he proved one of Hawking's theories wrong. To a general audience, most of us would say, "Who cares? All these guys do is crunch numbers and create formulas only a few other people on earth are smart enough to comprehend!" But they WORK. The numbers WORK. And the theories they validate have meaning. Perhaps the most intriguing one for me is the hologram universe theory. Sounds hokie, I know. It immediately conjures up a scenario like "The Matrix." But, there's a possibility that this universe we percieve is just that--an illusion. All matter is made of energy, and energy in its smallest unit (at the Planck scale) is described as information...or code. I think there's a reason why physics breaks down when you zoom in to the super tiny scale. Perhaps it's part of the game... a design flaw we were never meant to notice. But we DID. I guess a small part of me desires to know more. If this is a giant holodeck, then who designed the program? What's the purpose, if any? That's what keeps me hanging on. I don't want to believe we are simply over at death. A very small part of me really, really wants there to be something more! But what I cannot do is make an allegiance with organized religion. It gives the easiest answer. "God" is the default explanation for every mystery. It just seems like a cop out, you know? Throughout history, theists seem to love the unknown and exploit it as proof of their diety. Scientists love the unknown for a different reason: It puts people to work! They want to solve the mystery. It's an easy trend to follow through human history. In ancient Greek times, "gods" were very human. They fought, they killed each other, they had sex with each other, they lived on mountaintops that were visible to humans... but once science started explaining things like thunder, lightning, droughts, etc., "god" became more and more mysterious and unintelligible. In modern times, science has provided many, many answers and, in a sense, has shoved "god" further and further into a mysterious corner. Eventually, the gaps will close. However, if...if there's a Grand Creator behind everything, I certainly cannot give credence to a 19th century American printing corporation's claim as being His representative. If there was an all-powerful being, I find it absurd to think that He would manifest himself through the WBTS.

@Billy... you look like a rascal, buddy! I look forward to getting to know you! Are you really an ex-bethelite??? How long ago were you there? I'd love to pick your brain for juicy details that go on "behind the scenes." I'm new here, so if you've posted fantastic stories before, I'll have to search for them. But when you get a chance, I'd love to hear whatcha got!

@lifelong humanist: amen! and duly noted. "swift" is easier said than done at the moment. I love my family deeply (have an adorable 3-yr old nephew) and have many, many close friends (some are of the same mindset but would never leave...but I'm working on 'em. Maybe a mass exodus at once???) There is so much to lose. But I intend to document this transition as it happens, in real time. Hopefully it will serve as an aid to others when they reach the same crossroad. This is so tough...