snare&racket

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Posts by snare&racket

• 
  609

  What is spirit, exactly?

  by Viviane in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  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?

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  snare&racket

  sorry...

  Also what is the value in taking a poll on the belief of spirit on a religious forum. The data is bias beyond any value........and the answer has nothing to do with reality or truth.

  Evidence is everything.
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  609

  What is spirit, exactly?

  by Viviane in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  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?

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  snare&racket

  I know it has been clarified,

  But to be clear, memories are just connections between your vision, your emotion, your hearing, your taste, etc etc attached to your processing.

  A memory is actually physically formed in the brain. People with dementia have a brain that is physically deteriorating, the brain shrinks in size, they lose the neurones.

  Memory is physical! It would take 2 mi utes on google or a trip to the library to learn this. How on earth do you think atheists could exist if we had an etherial memory of no physical foundation, or if emotions were not fully explained by the physiology and their effects?

  These are all well understood. It is true to say we don't k ow the exact mechanism of how a memory is laid down, but that is due to the difficulty in testing and examining a living brain in real time. It isn't because the physiology is missing,

  Trauma and damage to the brain taught us much about how it works, it has been long appreciated that memory is physical, just as it is with a computer. You look at a cd and wonder how info is stored in a physical form....so with a dvd, it stores images, video, music, writing etc.Because we access the memory in what appears an abstract way, we don't see the neurons firing, not until the recent FMRI's could we see them work. Just as with computers etc, memory is stored physically, though in a very different way to computers.we don't have a specific memory region, we make memories by making connections.

  Everyone however has had a taste of how memories are laid down, ever heard a song and a smell been sent back 15 years to a specific memory?

  When we revise for exams, knowing how memories are made, stored and accessed, we revise in a manner that uses all of the senses. So I draw,

  I use colours, I read the words out loud, I make imaginary connections with the words. I even sometimes play songs when revising multiple exams so that nearer the exam I play the same songs again and it works, there will be portions of a song and a very specific and vivid memory from the revision will come to mind, usually something i had to put extra effort into learning.

  My point is, these are well understood and all 100% explainable via the physical.

  With respect, you are bringing up things long understood. Perhaps have a quick look on a reputable science/medicine/biology site online before you mention it as then you can learn for yourself what we do actually know.

  This took 10 seconds to find...

  Ask a neurosxientist: How and where are memories stored.

  http://www.mprnews.org/story/2012/03/13/daily-circuit-ask-a-neuroscientist
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  17

  New Light: I hear all the time as the Armageddon gets closer the light get's brighter

  by goingthruthemotions in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  new light: i hear all the time as the armageddon gets closer the light get's brighter.

  where in the bible is this supported.

  all i could fined is in.

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  snare&racket

  why would a deity lie to his people? also the light seems to get lighter, then darker, then lighter e.g. 'generation'

  Is god hopping in and out of the cave?

  What of the people who reject on the basis of old light, wrong light?

  What is the benefit of releasing the info in this bizzare mannner.....remember unlike light, true information does not hurt your retinas after long periods of darkness...so the analogy stinks...it doesn't fit at all!

  JW's only have new light in response to unfulfilled old light...... wow, they are like derren brown...
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  144

  Escaping Indoctrination - Faith Isn't a Virtue.

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  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.

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  snare&racket

  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.
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  32

  Scriptural Basis for Obedience to GB?

  by mrhhome in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have a genuine question for the jw apologist.

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  what is your scriptural justification for your unquestioning obedience to the governing body and your unwillingness to question their intepretation of scripture?.

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  snare&racket

  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.
• 
  609

  What is spirit, exactly?

  by Viviane in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  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?

  1. 
  2. 
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• 

  snare&racket

  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.
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  51

  What is the key to free yourself from the Organization?

  by suavojr in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  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.

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  snare&racket

  it is as easy and as hard as simply.....walking away.

  I was shocked how easy it was.
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  41

  Could you get disfellowshipped for simply asking questions?

  by LogCon in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  if so, what would be some examples?.

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  only questions that show a higher degree of thought and intelligence please..

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  snare&racket

  I was told not to attend neetings or associate with any JW's whilst I had these questions....

  lol
• 
  149

  If you reject the existence of the soul then you are an Animist?

  by Seraphim23 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  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.

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  snare&racket

  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
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  20

  2014 Convention Lapel Card / Badge

  by the girl next door in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  snare&racket

  What are they afraid of?

  Historians, scientists and biblical scholars getting in?

  They are busy spending there weekends laughing at cult literature misquoting them....