Posts by snare&racket

173

Atlanta Int Convention 2014:The Big Party. Does this look like WT believes Armageddon is coming "soon"?

by AndDontCallMeShirley in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=potrr2qxhue.

.. if armageddon is "imminent", why is wt focused on sight-seeing, entertainment, travel, etc.

instead of preaching and saving people??.

snare&racket

i wonder if the mansion in Wales (Anglesey) is simply summer accomodation fir the GB member visiting......

They don't even hide it any ire do they.

43

800 Infant Bodies Found in a Septic Tank at Roman Catholic Children's Home

by cofty in

796 infant skeletons have been found discarded in a septic tank at the former mother and baby home run by the catholic church in ireland between 1925 and 1961.. unwed mothers were sent these "magdelene asylums" to be treated like criminals.

their babies - if they survived - were taken from them.

if they did not survive their bodies were thrown into a septic tank and forgotton.

snare&racket

My goodness....

These, the people that formed the bible and yet what a history! Systematic disregard for life and childhood.

Will the suffering of children ever know limits in this church and the many churches formed from its history and doctrines?

6

Implications of the 80 year age limit for the COBE...

by james_woods in

aside from the obvious age discrimination and disrespect, what are other implications of this new rule?.

(persons over 80 years of age cannot serve as a chairman of the body of elders any longer by watchtower fiat).

1) - this means that no one can be a cobe if he was born before 1934. so much for persons alive and in adult understanding of the circumstances in 1914 surviving to the end.

snare&racket

intersting isn't it...

FIRSTLY... It is totally illegal to be ageist, so I wonder how this will pan out legally.

Secondly, they have now assumed the holy spirit is ageist in it's appointments, or that the holy spirit appts have a time limit.

Thirdly, they clearly don't want the older 'generation' who have seen the religion change 180 deg and also become a business, have too much power.

609

What is spirit, exactly?

by Viviane in

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?

snare&racket

someone mentioned memories...

the latest research confirms theories about sleep and memory a few of us have mentioned here in the past. Interesting stuff.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27695144

Sorry, now back on topic.....

609

What is spirit, exactly?

by Viviane in

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?

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.

609

What is spirit, exactly?

by Viviane in

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?

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

17

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

by goingthruthemotions in

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.

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...

144

Escaping Indoctrination - Faith Isn't a Virtue.

by cofty in

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.

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.

32

Scriptural Basis for Obedience to GB?

by mrhhome in

jw
friends

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?.

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

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?

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.