Posts by Mr Ben

1. “May you bless Jah with your tongue!” In accordance with this scripture each lick should be followed by uttering God’s name two times. Not once, or thrice, but twice.
2. Sexy clothing. Wives who flout their sexuality should not be rewarded with a licking session. Period.
3. Physical exercise is good for a little. In order to remain balanced spiritually, husbands should limit the amount of monthly licking time to exactly 100th of the time the wife has put in for field circus. Husband should keep a record of the amount of licking time so elders can compare this to field circus reports. We faithfully predict a rise in the number of our pioneer sisters.
4. Shaven or unshaven? Jehovah’s very unfaithful and indiscreet slave do not presume to direct the private lives of Jehovah’s people. However, spiritual ones will consider carefully Jesus was always well shaved and never had a beard, and indeed, authorised us to mark anyone who does otherwise. Therefore loyal husbands should present their wives to a special meeting of two or more elders each month who can establish the wife’s worthiness for licking privileges. Marking should not be done with a permanent marker but with the special semi-permanent marker listed as inventory number 69 on your monthly literature request form.
5. Single sisters may apply to the body of elders to see if they qualify for special privileges in this respect. Such spiritual ones will surely heed the wise counsel that they should submit to the body of elders as though they were “spiritual husbands” as it were. Such sisters will bear in mind that there is more pleasure in giving than receiving. Let those who can hear hear what the spirit says to the congregations.

We hope these new arrangement will be carefully heeded by all faithful ones.

Your brothers in the Lord….

63

Could religious belief be considered a sign of mental illness?

by nicolaou in

religious believers clearly have tendencies to make-up "facts" and "evidence" rather than accept true research and admit even the simplest of belief failures.

they have strange ceremonies that are virtually pointless but are said to have special significance or power.. we all know certain 'christians' alive today who are fully prepared to argue that they might never die!

couldn't it be argued that such a reversion into childlike fantasy is a telltale sign of mental illness?

Mr Ben

It could be a sign of mental illness. But religious belief doesn't automatically mean the believer is mentally ill. You could turn this argument on its head if you really wanted to.

For example, what separates sentient, thinking human being from other animals? Surely one of the main things that makes us human is that we are conscious of our mortality, of our future death.

When we look at 100,000 year old Earth Goddess artefacts from Neanderthal burial ceremonies do we conclude they must have been mentally ill or do we conclude that they were intelligent beings because they had religious ceremonies. It proves they could imagine the future, that they were conscious of their future death. It shows they were essentially trying to take some control over the seemingly uncontrollable – i.e. their mortality.

It could be argued therefore that religious belief demonstrates that the species is conscious, sentient, not merely driven by instinct; a being that can imagine the future and is attempting (futile though it may be) to control that future to some extent. In other words, religious belief just makes people feel better. It makes them think they have some control over their mortality.

Of course, this behaviour can become dangerous to both the individual and to society. In this scenario of extremism then the answer your question will tend towards the affirmative. But religious belief per se is not a guarantee of mental illness.

You could compare religious belief to a contagious disease, but that is a s far as it goes. You could compare a joke to a contagious disease, as it too is spread from mind to mind by language. Of course, you can therefore compare all ideas to a contagious disease as all ideas spread from mind to mind by language – but what purpose does such a comparison serve?

Aging and death are pretty gloomy prospects without the emotional crutch that religious belief can bestow upon an individual. To many people their belief system helps them cope with life and the knowledge of future death. So it can be argued that in this scenario religious belief assists their mental health – it helps them to cope with the business of living.

I wish I could believe.

19

HOW LONG DO JWS BELIEVE ABORIGINES HAVE BEEN IN AUSTRALIA?

by badboy in

jw
friends

it is reputed that aborigines have been in oz for about 60,000 years.. what do jws have to say about this?.

Mr Ben

From Wikipedia:

There are about 334 species of marsupials, over 200 of them native to Australia and nearby islands to the north. There are also 100 extant American species, mostly in South America but also, as a result of the Great American Interchange, 13 species in Central America, and one (the Virginia Opossum) in North America.

18

Blessed Solstice / Blessed Yule

by Sirona in

jw
friends

this is me at long meg stone circle yesterday.. blessed yule to you all.

dawn.

xxx.

Mr Ben

And a blessed Yule to you too! (From an ex-JW)

117

Your All Time Favorite Song- If You Had to Pick Just One ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

i decided to do a couple fluff threads tonight as my threads have been way too deadly seroius lately !

so if someone told you to pick one song that was your all-time favorite, what would you pick ?

i'd have to say for me it has not changed since the 1971 hit by led zeppelin, " stairway to heaven ".

Mr Ben

Just one? Tough question! For today it will have to be...

Windswept - Bryan Ferry

21

Comments on Science v Creationism

by Mr Ben in

jw
friends

this is the place to add your comments and bttt's for my thread at:.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/148600/1.ashx.

thanks..

Mr Ben

This is just to let you know that due to some sensitive souls being offended by my mildly unusual request to post comments here rather than on the main post, I have asked people to just post on the main post in the usual way.

Thanks for all your comments and words of support.

22

Science v Creationism

by Mr Ben in

jw
friends

science v creationism.

i keep popping back here every now and then to see whats going on, and i have noticed that the same questions about science and creationism are continually posted and answered now, as they were when i first came here.

for example, the statement that the sun and not the earth is the centre of the solar system is a scientific statement (the heliocentric theory) that is considered valid because it explains a large body of evidence (facts from the real world).

Mr Ben

HS - Excellently quoted out of context. Or is it that you again posted without reading fully? I recommend anyone reading your post to read what I actually said in its full context.

Gerard - Re your comment on the quote about not needing to reconcile the two ways of thinking - I was not including creationism in this, sorry if that wasn't clear. Rather, the "mountain" that does not require facts from the real world includes appreciation of art, love etc. but not creationism.

I quite agree that creationism is not valid at all, but is a pseudoscience. Creationism has set up camp as a pretend science and was and is used to dupe millions of people. It is sufficiently convincing to those in control of the curriculum in some parts of the US that it is taught in the science class. And yes, creationism has nothing to do with real science. But I disagree that it poses no danger to science in the sense that helps to confuse students going through these schools, people in certain religions, and the general public as to the difference between science and pseudoscience. The danger, whilst not directly to science itself, exists indirectly in that creationism being given equal time in the science class probably puts off many people from pursuing the sciences at college. But I get your point, all the creationist garbage in the world will never challenge real science. But for some reason it doesn't stop them trying...

22

Science v Creationism

by Mr Ben in

jw
friends

science v creationism.

i keep popping back here every now and then to see whats going on, and i have noticed that the same questions about science and creationism are continually posted and answered now, as they were when i first came here.

for example, the statement that the sun and not the earth is the centre of the solar system is a scientific statement (the heliocentric theory) that is considered valid because it explains a large body of evidence (facts from the real world).

Mr Ben

... and yet you did.

16

Dinosaurs

by tank in

jw
friends

has the watchtower ever published anything about dinosaurs?

just wondering since it doesn't fit with the creation time table.

Mr Ben

According to "God’s channel of truth" dinosaurs lived at the same time as humans, and went extinct 4,370 or so years ago during the Flood!

The book A Vanished World: The Dinosaurs of Western Canada states that "all of the 11 major kinds of dinosaurs . . . ceased to exist in the western interior at about the same time." This, and the fact that human bones have not been found with dinosaur bones, is why most scientists conclude that the Age of Dinosaurs ended before humans came on the scene.

However, it should be noted that there are some who say that dinosaur bones and human bones are not found together because dinosaurs did not live in areas of human habitation. Such differing views demonstrate that the fossil record does not yield its secrets so easily and that no one on earth today really knows all the answers. (Awake, Feb 8th, 1990, p4)

Some dinosaurs (and pterosaurs) may indeed have been created in the fifth era listed in Genesis, when the Bible says that God made "flying creatures" and "great sea monsters." Perhaps other types of dinosaurs were created in the sixth epoch. (Ibid, p11) [Note that the "sixth epoch" is the sixth day of Genesis, the same day Adam & Eve were created!]

In this connection, William J. Miller, Emeritus Professor of Geology at the University of California at Los Angeles, notes in An Introduction to Historical Geology (1952): "Comparatively few remains of organisms now inhabiting the earth are being deposited under conditions favorable for their preservation as fossils. . . . It is, nevertheless, remarkable that so vast a number of fossils are embedded in the rocks." A catastrophe such as the Noachian flood could account for this. (The Watchtower, Jul 15th, 1968, p421)

So there you have it - dinos lived with man! LOL! The Witchtower is eagerly awaiting the day dino bones are found with human bones! Yep, any day now, any day now..... armageddon coming soon.... dino & human bones coming soon.... any day now........