the unknown writer of the gospel of john put the following words in jesus' mouth, "blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.".
persuading countless generations that it is a virtue to believe incredible things on insufficient evidence, is one of religion's cleverest tricks.. the more incredible the claim; the more flimsy the evidence; the stronger the belief; the greater the virtue.. this is the exact opposite of how we operate in every other aspect of our lives.. rational people must demand objective evidence for everything they are asked to believe.
"extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence".. leaving the dogmatic claims of the watchtower is only a first step.
Never again will I believe without evidence. It was a painful and costly indoctrination that I was raised in, but it was a potent lesson for the rest of my life..
'I believe because I have faith!' ..... not truth, but hope.
I was a JW for 25 years, I know what 'evidence' to a christian was, I also know what thin air is.
i have a genuine question for the jw apologist.
.
what is your scriptural justification for your unquestioning obedience to the governing body and your unwillingness to question their intepretation of scripture?.
I asked this to my PO, before I left.
I also asked 'with the GB being men without holy spirit dictating their intepretation, is it not safer to intepret the bible myself so that when I meet god I can speak for my intepretations and desicions. Lastly, nowhere did god say his word requires an intermediary to explain it. Jesus was talking to ordinary people with his message and we are to believe they understood it, that was the point. Why now in the 20th century does god decide to use a team of men to explain the bible message? It seems dangerous to use imperfect men, so why notuse the bible alone?'
There is no answer to this....
They don't like you asking it..... which is great, because it is a logical AND scriptural question. So when they dismiss it....and then dismiss you... well the house of cards becomes evident.
i've always wondered that.
recently i asked that question on another thread and didn't really get ananswer.
cofty made an excellent point that we often hear what it isn't, but that really isn't useful.. so, what is it?
emotion is a physical response, the releasing of chemicals that have physical effects.
Splash, the cause leads to the consequence....
Adrenaline makes you clammy, takes the blood from your peripheries and non essential organs such as your gut, it redirects the blood to large muscle groups and the brain. Your heart rate increases, your resp rate increases, your eyes dilate to take in more information.
Those ARE the consequences of the CAUSE of what we call 'excited' or 'scared' or even 'agression'... the physical affects such as the gut losing the blood supply leads to the 'feeling' we have such as 'butterflies in the stomach'. Goosebumps are the result of long lost body hair that would have stood on end like a scared cat, the hair now gone we are left with the sensation and resulting raised bumps that so urge you to rub them....
The physical effects of the chenicals are the feelings we have. They are triggered by experiences, be it seeing danger, or an attractive mate.
they key to free yourself from the organization is having mental clarity of what is happening in relation to the watchtower, inside and out.
their basic concept is that they are god's sole organization on earth.
there really is no basis for anyone to make that statement.
it is as easy and as hard as simply.....walking away.
I was shocked how easy it was.
if so, what would be some examples?.
.
only questions that show a higher degree of thought and intelligence please..
I was told not to attend neetings or associate with any JW's whilst I had these questions....
lol
the classic debate between those who believe that consciousness is merely the result of the operation of the brain, and those who believe that it is apart from the brain, like the idea of a soul or the classic dualistic distinction between mind and body, is a well-known one.. however the thought has occurred that when people try to convince me that the soul cannot be real; soul in the sense of consciousness being a separate thing to the operation of the brain, then really the materialistic non spiritual view is in fact a rehash of animism, strange as that might sound.. animism is the idea that soul, spirit, consciousness, or whatever it might be called, exists in plants, animals, things, objects, places or basically in everything and anything in the material world.
the view of some is that very primitive cultures had this wide category of spiritual belief, which eventually evolved into the all the religions, faiths and spiritualties of today.
some of the faiths of modern times are not defined as animistic because these draw a distinction between soul and body or in modern parlance, consciousness and brain.. so in very ancient times, at the dawn of human spiritual belief, the sun, for example, rising and setting was seen not so much as being caused by the proverbial spaghetti monster but as being the proverbial spaghetti monster.
No seraphim you are wrong, we asked the exact same questions as you, but we didn't stop at asking, we looked at the answers...
You are asking all the right questions but I wonder if motive is holding you back?
Do you want to know the answers or do you want to find reason to believe in a soul?
Have a good evening xxx
What are they afraid of?
Historians, scientists and biblical scholars getting in?
They are busy spending there weekends laughing at cult literature misquoting them....
i've always wondered that.
recently i asked that question on another thread and didn't really get ananswer.
cofty made an excellent point that we often hear what it isn't, but that really isn't useful.. so, what is it?
Yes, we understand snorting too.....
the classic debate between those who believe that consciousness is merely the result of the operation of the brain, and those who believe that it is apart from the brain, like the idea of a soul or the classic dualistic distinction between mind and body, is a well-known one.. however the thought has occurred that when people try to convince me that the soul cannot be real; soul in the sense of consciousness being a separate thing to the operation of the brain, then really the materialistic non spiritual view is in fact a rehash of animism, strange as that might sound.. animism is the idea that soul, spirit, consciousness, or whatever it might be called, exists in plants, animals, things, objects, places or basically in everything and anything in the material world.
the view of some is that very primitive cultures had this wide category of spiritual belief, which eventually evolved into the all the religions, faiths and spiritualties of today.
some of the faiths of modern times are not defined as animistic because these draw a distinction between soul and body or in modern parlance, consciousness and brain.. so in very ancient times, at the dawn of human spiritual belief, the sun, for example, rising and setting was seen not so much as being caused by the proverbial spaghetti monster but as being the proverbial spaghetti monster.
Seraphim this mechanism is very well understood. There are papers and research on the release of 5HT and cortisol and the effect thereof. It is reprodiycable in a lab!
But to give you credit and assume you did not know that, gaian how are you assigning a soul to someone experiencing odd things following trauma?
Drugs can evoke new experiences, not within the memory banks, again such as 5HT receptors with DMT.
Where on earth does your biblical soul fit in?
You appear to br grasping at straws and putting forward all the things you consider a mystery about the human mind as reasons for a soul. The problem is they are not a mystery for anyone who has pixked up a book on it.
I mean no offence, again, I am just being practical and honest.
to start off, i'm not saying this happens, or doesn't.
i'm just a bit confused on the subject, and what you guys are always talking about.
what exactly is it with the wt on the issue of child abuse?
Would they think twice about phoning the police if a JW murded a child?
What is the difference?
The JW's see it as a sin and forget it is a criminal act, sexual abuse is tantamount to rape, children can't give consent!
No grey areas....
