Posts by Half banana

52

how can navigate if our desire is for absolute truth...

by Ruby456 in

jw
friends

or do we give in to social constructivism?

to relativity?

or is there a way to be real and then to say whats real that everyone agrees to?.

Half banana

But back to you worries about the deterministic nature of existence.

First, social constructivism is a psychological explanation for human assessment of reality based on a broad and catholic discourse creating an intellectual frame for the ‘real’ world. The obvious weakness is that historically is did not find solid evidence for its discourse. It can only keep pace with the evolving scientific revelations of the cosmos and its interpretation... think Thomas Kuhn and his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. The roots of this concept (SC) are found in the child’s development and its private need to understand its world...and so it is with the world itself as humanity ‘grows up’. (I am especially interested in this connection).

Since, I’m sure we agree that truly nothing is absolute, this is probably the best we can hope for; a perception of reality based not only on our best interpretation of the material universe but one backed up by scientific rigour and sceptical thought...and understanding our place on the continuum of intellectual progress.

Second, why should we find this mechanistic label untoward? Surely if it is comfort we want in our fleeting lives we have at our disposal the profound beauty of art in its many forms which we can share with those closest to us. Yet isn’t it also true that the progressive understanding of both the cosmos and the human psyche are in themselves a source of endless fascination and satisfaction?

Perhaps Ruby, buried in the subconscious is an Aristotelian hierarchy which places conditions of human life ranging from “dire” to “perfection” and we can imagine an ideal world and therefore we do. In line with this, what distinguishes humanity from other mammals is a quest or longing for betterment, this emotive drive carries a largesse of hope, a thing which is completely absent in the analysis of the goings on in the material universe.

52

how can navigate if our desire is for absolute truth...

by Ruby456 in

jw
friends

or do we give in to social constructivism?

to relativity?

or is there a way to be real and then to say whats real that everyone agrees to?.

Half banana

'Absolutism' and 'perfection' are religious notions which do not chime with sensible human values. They are found in mathematics... and that's where they belong.

The worst suggestion is to put your faith in invisible, unknowable divine beings and their promoters such as the JW org (although it may work for you if you like being fooled all the time!)

Better to deal with life pragmatically, that means according to what works successfully and to only believe in those things which have evidence for their existence.

58

Reading The Bible Again After Leaving

by pale.emperor in

at the moment i dont beleive in anything.

im pretty much an open book, but my critical mind is very alert to bullshit.

but anyway i decided to re-read the bible with a non jw filter.. i researched online first which is supposed to be the best translation out there.

Half banana

It can be said with every justification that the JW organisation are repeat offending false prophets.

By their own literalist application of the Bible in Deuteronomy 13 verses1 to 5 it would be reasonable that it is God's intention to kill off such suppliers of false prophecy.

Now I'm not suggesting the deaths of the JW leaders because in an otherwise civilized western society we no longer practice barbaric and primitive Biblical retribution...but how else could the scripture be applied other than by condemning and dissolving the JW Organisation who are such brazen offenders?

As the sacred scripture instructs "You must rid yourselves of this wickedness". NEB

Governing body, are you listening?

18

Do you recognize?

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

gorby has had a personal paradigm shift lately.. from one point to an other i "feel" and "think" different about the jw subject.. - no more interest in doctrine.

- no more interest in things that happen 100 years ago into an religion.. - no more taking statements too serious.

it doesn't matter me at all what a generation doctrine change is all about, it doesn't matter me at all that brother elder said "blablabla boe!".

Half banana

Yep, doctrines, prophecies and overlapping unicorns have all the same value: nil.

It's wonderful to realise that no one is looking over your shoulder and that the dancing baboons in Brooklyn only affect those gullible enough to believe in them.

Real life starts when you leave Jehovah's Witnesses.

58

Reading The Bible Again After Leaving

by pale.emperor in

at the moment i dont beleive in anything.

im pretty much an open book, but my critical mind is very alert to bullshit.

but anyway i decided to re-read the bible with a non jw filter.. i researched online first which is supposed to be the best translation out there.

Half banana

A very good point Island Man. Who wants to worship anyone at all, let alone a murderous narcissist who demands perpetual adoration?

The obsession with the Bible is an enormous red herring, life is much better lived by thinking things through and using critical reasoning, not gullibly believing in Bronze Age deities and "sacred" demands from crazed cult leaders like Paul.

The Bible is not inspired by an invisible deity, it does not predict anything useful for modern man, Jesus was just another useless saviour figure in a long tradition of god-men who was used to give hope to the ignorant and illiterate peasants.

The JW cult is dependent on these useless ideas and will come to lose all its influence as the world grows weary of myth parading as fact.

58

Reading The Bible Again After Leaving

by pale.emperor in

at the moment i dont beleive in anything.

im pretty much an open book, but my critical mind is very alert to bullshit.

but anyway i decided to re-read the bible with a non jw filter.. i researched online first which is supposed to be the best translation out there.

Half banana

Good on you PE! It takes quite a while to get this rubbish out of your mind. What you did looking at the Bible is a natural consequence of having being indoctrinated and needing to see the text without the JW fixations. Another step is to see the Bible for what it really is; the selected and approved writings sanctified by the Roman Catholic Church for the purpose of political control by establishing an imperial Christ cult.

But the time comes when you can forget the cloying madness of the Bible and fully enjoy the imaginative literature of the world of creative humanity. Also the wonderful science writers such as Dawkins, Steve Jones, Steven J Gould and EO Wilson etc.

Be critical and get to the root of things! Don't think, what does it mean? think, why was it written down?

@Zappa-esque, thank you for your wonderful lists of theological depravity!

21

Dec 2016 study edition 'Setting your mind on the spirit.' WTF?

by Esse quam videri in

so the study article 'setting your mind on the spirit means life and peace.

' at paragraph 9 a little pictorial lecture for anyone setting their minds on the flesh.

brother fleshly minded talking about having a sailboat.

Half banana

I guess sometimes the carrot which is attached by a stick ahead of the proverbial donkey, is actually fed to the donkey by its considerate master.

The paradise carrot dangled by the GB is simply an illusion of hope, one never to be realized, which keeps the faithful plodding on........and without much pleasure in the only life they will ever have.

Funny how the GB all look overfed?

24

WT Study - 28th Aug 2016 - “Do Not Let the Faults of Others Stumble You”

by Nicholaus Kopernicus in

in paragraph 2 of this study, the gbojw evidences once again that they are sticking to the absurd 1914 doctrine – “when the last days of the present system began...”.

i noted that as 2014 approached, the gbojw became somewhat reticent about making reference to revelation 12:12 – the “short period of time” scripture.

so this study is the first one in a long time in which both the 1914 doctrine and revelation 12:12 are mentioned in the same study.

Half banana

NK, I don't think it was discussed on this thread but there is another phenomenon which flourishes in the JW community; that of fixating on the behaviour of others.

It is a human trait to be overly concerned over one individual but I have seen it so many times where a JW develops a "thing" about someone which bugs them and often sends them into another congregation or better, out of the org altogether.

The edict from the demi-gods seems to be directed not only to the disgruntled group but perhaps to those with JW "personality fixations"?

61

Did the flood happen?

by BlackWolf in

so we were talking about noah for our family worship tonight and it ended with a little debate between me and my parents about how the flood was possible.

you know, where did the water come from, how did all the animals fit, etc.

of course it led nowhere and my parents came up with some strange theories like that there was "an expanse of water in the sky" and that's where all the water came from.

Half banana

It is completely absurd to believe that a global flood occurred in historical time, there is no evidence that it happened and it was and remains a physically impossible event.

However once a person can believe that impossibilities are factual; then he or she is capable of believing that any madcap idea can happen, even other magic absurdities such as the idiotic one that the governing body of Jehovah's Witnesses are specially chosen and directed by God.

34

How delusional is Tony Morris actually?

by Festus in

anthony morris iii was representing gb in international convention in helsinki, finland.

in his final talk he mentioned that at the fight of armageddon jesus will fight together with the 144 000. he then reminds the audience that one angel destroyed 185000 assyrians.

so what are "144 000 immortal creatures together with jesus going to do".

Half banana

TM3 laughing about being able to control weather:

Further to what I said about TM3, it would be at this stage the average person would say to himself, wait a moment this is absurd, I'm not going to heaven and be able to control weather, that's ridiculous! The average non-deluded person would quickly wake up at the realization of the absurdity.

If TM3 doesn't wake up now perhaps it's because he already knows it's a charade?