Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  21

  The spinning blade of a Sword and the 2 Angels guarding the gate....

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  for some reason i found myself shaking my head once again in disbelief at the story in genesis.. amongst all things, the very concept of a "flaming sword" spinning around and blocking the "entrance to the garden of eden" is so stupid!.

  do people really believe that as a fact?.

  seriously, swords were not even invented at that time!

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  Half banana

  I know it's hard to do but try stop taking Genesis literally, it's just a myth straight out of an ancient writer's imagination.
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  36

  There is no Holy Spirit.

  by hoser in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  there is no holy spirit.

  i lead a double life.

  i post on apostate web sites, swear like a sailor, covertly subvert the watchtower religion and do many other things i'd rather not mention.

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  Half banana

  @ ttdtt,after waking up were you able to modify your talks to allow for alternative meanings in them or did you deliver them them according to the script? How long before you gave up appearing to be a witness?
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  9

  Dawkins v Haidt on Evolutionary Advantage of Religion

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  dawkins uses an interesting analogy comparing religious instincts to a moth's attraction to a candle flame.. dawkins describes religion as an accidental byproduct of a whole range of psychological predispositions such as a child's instinct to believe and obey its parents - he might have mentioned hyperactive agency detection as well.

  this is almost certainly true but is religion more than that?

  dawkins declines to speculate on whether the byproduct - religion - is an evolutionary advantage, only that the instincts which resulted in religion were advantageous.

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  Half banana

  Religion is a very woolly word and to understand it we would have to define it well because it means different things to different people. It almost defies an all inclusive meaning but at its root it must have to do with a recognition of-- or obligation to a spirit world which is interactive with human life.

  Looking back to the experience of our cave dwelling forebears, it can be demonstrated that they made a clear distinction between the mundane world and a sacred realm. (La Vache cave (mundane) and neighbouring cave (sacred) at Niaux in the Pyrenees, France, fourteenth century BCE) The sacred being marked by isolation from the everyday realities by using theatrical devices such as paintings, illumination and sound and holding rituals in special locations (often with cathedral like acoustics as at Niaux). For the tribal integrity certain rituals had to be observed and taboos respected. It was the hunter's relation to the sacred which explained his failures and successes. Had he observed the rites correctly? Had he consulted the shaman to intercede with the spirit masters? Had he sacrificed? Had he drained the blood of his kill? The human brain unlike the animal's, required explanations.

  It became clear that as humanity veered away from brute animal kind over geological time, what distinguished the difference between the two were the strategic faculties of the human mind. A mind capable of imagination and subterfuge and deception, including self deception par excellence.

  Religious observation kept the tribe psychically healthy but what worked i.e. the doctrines of the sacred, for one tribe may not have done for another and here is the rub. One set of sacred absolutes did not accord with a distant tribe's perception of what was a sacred absolute and so in the battle for survival over hunting territory, 'religion' became embroiled in the survival game. It may be argued there was an advantage to a tribe which was more religious or had a good shaman but since it is probable that all early humanity was smitten with the same bug it would be hard to determine at this distance in time.

  So did religion play a part in our evolution? Meaning did religion give an evolutionary advantage to our ancestors encouraging survival?

  I am inclined to think that at the tribal level it worked for internal order and submission to common values which made for unity. But that is not evolution. Instead I reckon that rather than religion being an agent for human evolution, religious thinking; the sacred and profane divide, can be shown to be the consequence of the expansion of the human cerebral cortex. (See; W. La Barre; The Human Animal)

  As a final note on the value of religion, although it conceivably gave some tribes a survival advantage; what worked for the tribe did not work universally so religion was not an agent for human improvement for in its extreme manifestations, it remains today a tribal force for division and mayhem.
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  28

  Report from Japan

  by wifibandit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  anon in japan says:.

  i served in the third circuit of shikoku japan.

  a few years ago, a well-known theocratic family disassociated.

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  Half banana

  Good news Wifi!

  The population of Japan are having fewer offspring than in other parts of the JW world. This means that any increase has to come more from outsiders instead of born-ins. The Japanese being sophisticated people, have access to free internet information which kills the cult mentality.

  It's worth continuing to observe the stagnation of JWism in Japan as it should set a pattern for other developed lands.
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  3

  TIL - Russell Purchased His Own News

  by berrygerry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  watch tower touts russell's prophesying of 1914 (albeit a tad off as to the true fulfillment).. watch tower refers often to "the world" magazine of august 30, 1914.. quotations from this magazine are: "look out for 1914" and "the terrific war outbreak in europe has fulfilled an extraordinary prophecy".

  (box on page 60 in the proclaimers book: “look out for 1914!” when world war i broke out in 1914, “the world,” then a leading newspaper in new york city, stated in its magazine section: “the terrific war outbreak in europe has fulfilled an extraordinary prophecy.

  ‘look out for 1914!’ has been the cry of the hundreds of travelling evangelists, who, representing this strange creed [associated with russell], have gone up and down the country enunciating the doctrine that ‘the kingdom of god is at hand.’”—“the world magazine,” august 30, 1914.).

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  Half banana

  Thanks Berrygerry for the info.The Watchtower is exposed for publicly giving itself a slap on the back since no one else would want to. It always was a devious and dishonest cult.
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  8

  Women finds frog in salad..

  by James Mixon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok the first thing that come to mind, how in the hell a frog make in through all the food handlers into a salad..but when you think about it i became a jw thinking a nice spiritual meal and i ended up with crap and no one warned me, there is something ugly in your organization.......the restaurant bj's w. covina ca.

  one of my favorite restaurant....ktla.com/woman-finds-frog-in-salad-at-bjs-restaurant-in west-covina.

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  Half banana

  I have just come across a recipe for "frog water" as a substitute for tea for the poor villagers who couldn't afford the real stuff. It comes from a book about rural life in Victorian times in the region I now live:

  First place a frog in the teapot and pour boiling water on it. After letting it stand for a few minutes-- or boiling it--the liquor will be fit for use.

  The 'frog' however was made from a chunk of bread crust baked to the point of being nearly burnt in the oven!
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  30

  Bible pssssges that are immoral - Lot offering his virgin daughters to be gang raped by homosexual males

  by jambon1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  tell me me more about your just & loving god..

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  Half banana

  Btw, according to Michelangelo's painting (on Millie's post) what on earth was Eve up to just before she was so rudely interrupted by a talking serpent?
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  36

  There is no Holy Spirit.

  by hoser in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  there is no holy spirit.

  i lead a double life.

  i post on apostate web sites, swear like a sailor, covertly subvert the watchtower religion and do many other things i'd rather not mention.

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  Half banana

  What sometimes concerns me is that some ex JWs still imagine holy spirit exists. Of course at the point of departure from the org we still are bound to carry some of the old baggage with us but "holy spirit" takes the biscuit as a ludicrous childish joke.

  Just how far removed from concrete reality is the whole religion business? There is no tangible evidence for spirits in the first place let alone the magic spirit of a spirit.

  To believe in fairy dust you have to believe in fairies.
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  34

  7 day conventions?

  by HereIgo in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  did any of you attend the old school week long conventions?

  i have heard stories and it seems like these were mostly in the 70's and 80's before my time.

  i couldn't imagine.

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  Half banana

  Yes Alan, the assembly days were reduced in number but they were still all about the opposite sex...........
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  9

  Deborah Layton - Jonestown Survivor

  by Tallon in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  saw this on the exjw reddit forum - very thought provoking.. "when your own thoughts are forbidden, when your questions are not allowed and our doubts are punished, when contacts with friendships outside of the organisation are censored, we are being abused, for the ends never justify the means.. when our heart aches knowing we have made friendships and secret attachments that will be forever forbidden if we leave, we are in danger.. when we consider staying in a group because we cannot bear the loss, disappointment and sorrow our leaving will cause for ourselves and those we have come to love, we are in a cult .... when family and friends are used as a weapon in order to force us to stay in an organisation, something has gone terribly wrong".. deborah layton.

  seductive poison: a jonestown survivor's story of life and death in the people's temple.. .

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  Half banana

  Deborah Layton summed up the reality of being in a cult.

  The terrifying thing is that when a cult is in decline or its leaders are, their only defence is to take the most extreme measures to maintain control or avoid exposure and the humiliation which goes with it. The Jonestown suicide massacre is testament to this and the deaths caused by Koresh at Waco happened when the authorities challenged the legitimacy of the Davidians cult.

  What sort of organisation is it which instills into the imagination of its members the notion of retreating to a hidden bunker?

  What organisation is educating its members to put the value of their lives as of secondary importance to an imagined utopian future?

  Which organisation is it which has warned its followers to obey its leadership "whether the instructions seem reasonable or not"?

  Please don't say that Jehovah's Witnesses are not a cult.