i was almost 50 years old before i really knew anything factual about how the bible came into existence!.
it is astounding.. i was reading it since i was a child never with a doubt in my head.
i was told by people i trusted (who had no reason to lie) that i could be confident the bible was the word of god almighty.. and, it was as simple as that!.
Terry:
This is one of YOUR favorite subjects. I remember you bringing it up before.
I have only one answer for those who believe the Bible is this divinely preserved book:
What the hell is with the long and short version of the book of Mark. Couldn't the holy spirit make up its mind?
many jws believe they are the only religion that doesn't go to war and hence the only true religion.
i am working on an article at http://jwfacts.com/index_files/war.htm to show that this is not valid reasoning, and would love any comments.
despite being neutral in war, jehovah's witnesses are not pacifists.
The simple answer is NO.
While refusing to kill other humans in war is a neccesary condition to claiming that a religion follows Christ it is not a sufficient condition to making that claim.
For example: Being able to sing in tune may be a necessary condition to being the next American Idol it is not sufficient. You have to have stage presense, fexibility in style, individuality and strong delivery.
HOWEVER. If a religion does take sides in human warfare and encourages or otherwise endorses military action they fail to meet one of the most important of the necessary conditions to making the claim that they are Christian. That includes 99% of those who claim they are Christian.
Fooling around with this issue, in which JW's are extraordinary and exemplary, doesn't make the other religions look good at all.
many people don't know why they "feel" what they feel.
they fall in love with the wrong person.
they cry unexpectedly.
List all the emotions you can think of - they can all be reduced to just four.
Love - Rage - Fear - Curiosity
many people don't know why they "feel" what they feel.
they fall in love with the wrong person.
they cry unexpectedly.
One of the problems with our emotions is that we tend to describe them in terms of context instead of content. The result is that people think there are more emotions than there really are.
I believe we have four basic emotions.
1. Love (contentment, satisfaction, moving toward, attachment) These feeling tend to be gut related. Yes I mean intestines. We want to feel full. We want to be satisfied. There are no boundaries or conflict.
2. Rage (frustration) Muscular reaction. Clenched fist. Tight jaws. Blood to the stomach.
3. Fear (defense of self, protect boundaries, maintain status, jealousy is fear) Our brains and nerves are the system of dealing with "emergency". When people say they have to think about something before they give you an answer it is most likely going to be NO. Fear is at the basis of thinking.
4. Curiosity (the function of the sensory system. Orientation. Need for something New.)
We are lovers, doers, thinkers & seers. There is a system involved with each of these functions. That is the basis of our emotions.
It is a lot simpler than we realize. Some think that emotions combine to form a kind of palette with all sorts of subtle shades. That isn't how the body works. It can only experience one emotion at any given moment. However, emotions can often alternate rapidly and this gives the sense that they are mixing. They aren't mixing. You are mixing them in your thinking process.
I don't think there is much difference between JW's and anyone else. Everyone seems to have their own brand of ignorance and stupid beliefs.
Most of what we evolved to do (the big 4 fuck,fight,fear, & feed) has an associated emotion and we share it with all animals.
http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/us-beliefs-in-pseudoscience-worry/20070217212109990001?ncid=nws00010000000001
Midget-Sasquatch:
This subject is a natural for you.
I thought about the deep projects. The noise abatement guy made it clear to me that my city is not a testing grounds for anything. He also said he doesn't do UFO reports. I told him I don't believe in UFO's. He said he does and that the noise I heard - I will probably never hear again for the rest of my life. (I take that with a grain of salt)
Similar reports about prolonged loud noise go back to the 1960's - some in other countries.
Technology is a funny thing. It is hard to believe that only 180 years ago Faraday, a self-educated scientist, discovered you could produce electricity by spinning a wire coil in a magnetic field? Our world has been completely transformed by that.
Who knows what simple science may be involved in something like interdimensional travel. It would NOT be surprising. One day we know nothing about it. The next day we are on the way to electric lights, electric motors, record players, radios, tv, radar, computers, and all the other sciences that could not have moved ahead without using these things.
It could very well be that some Jar-Jar culture somewhere in space-time has discovered this already. It may have happened an infinite number of times. So it is a possible explanation. And indeed becomes a plausible explanation as you go through the process of elimination.
After my experience I am very optimistic that there are greater things awaiting our discovery.
which chapter would you want to write?
blood, un, shunning, cross, failed prophecy, evolution, flip flops, new world mis-translation, 607 bc/1914, smoking, birthdays, flood, door to door work, sexual predators, attitude toward other religions, organizational hierarchy, follow the money, birthdays & holidays, selective service/alternative service.
or would you just like to be the editor of such a publication.. would it sell?
As with any project that actually requires coordinated effort there are reasons not to do it. It just requires the desire. If it were to be done it needs someone with the respect of the group to promote the idea. I would be totally out of this for many reasons mostly because my ideas are usually too bizzarre. But we are sitting on a huge resource and there is a tremendous amount of talent here.
Natan Natas has hit the nail on the head. This IS a community speaking. The Watchtower can ignore the internet because the "old guys" still think in terms of paper and ink. But if the internet produces a well crafted expression of argument in a bound book they may have to look at it a little closer.
Some like Greg Stafford shaped his ideas in these very discusion boards.
It just seems that there is a lot of excellent stuff that hides in the pile.
Lady Lee has done a good job of best of on various topics.
Yes, Ray Franz did an excellent job with his books. But there is more to be written.
It might also create some significant buzz.
when i started researching i was still convinced that jws had the truth.
so i read some critical articles by ex-jws about certain teaching and i started to do some more research.. at this time i have successfully faded and no longer believe anymore.
but i can remember the moment when i first allowed the thought in my mind that it could all be false and not the truth.
It was 1973. I was reading a book about psychology by Fritz Perls.
One of his experiements required that you chew everything you eat to a super fine mush before swallowing it.
After a week you are supposed to see if your analytical sense improved.
The idea is that one's approach to information is the same as one's approach to eating. Most people just swallow things whole. They don't chew their food into little pieces.
So after a week - out of the clear blue - I suddenly experienced very strong doubts about the end coming in 1975. I repressed those doubts because it was too frightening to think that the Watchtower could be wrong.
That's how I experienced it. So tell your relatives to chew their food. Maybe they'll get the same flash of insight.
after a year or so of being a "lurker" (since i know some of you despise that word, say, instead, window shopper?
), i finally signed up.
for the last week or so, i've come to the sight every day and i've learned a lot and also remembered more than maybe i wanted to.. so here's my issue: i've been married for 1 1/2 years, together with this man for 5+ years.
It looks like this will hit 1,000 views pretty quick.
which chapter would you want to write?
blood, un, shunning, cross, failed prophecy, evolution, flip flops, new world mis-translation, 607 bc/1914, smoking, birthdays, flood, door to door work, sexual predators, attitude toward other religions, organizational hierarchy, follow the money, birthdays & holidays, selective service/alternative service.
or would you just like to be the editor of such a publication.. would it sell?
Which chapter would you want to write?
blood, UN, Shunning, Cross, Failed Prophecy, Evolution, Flip Flops, New World Mis-Translation, 607 BC/1914, Smoking, Birthdays, Flood, Door to door work, Sexual Predators, Attitude toward other religions, Organizational Hierarchy, Follow the Money, Birthdays & Holidays, Selective Service/Alternative service
Or would you just like to be the editor of such a publication.
Would it sell? Would the proceeds go to offset Simon's costs?
Just wondering.
http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/us-beliefs-in-pseudoscience-worry/20070217212109990001?ncid=nws00010000000001
Abaddon:
Why is it always the pig farmer in Albama with the out-of-focus Super 8 and not the lawn of the White House?
It isn't always dummys. That is a popular way of portraying it. Smart trained observers have had a lot of these experiences. Go to MUFON and you will get a different picuture. Usually the smart people don't talk about it because of the possibility that the publicity could affect the perceptions of those that have to review fitness for their jobs.
Really, if you were an alien looking for intelligent life on earth would you go to the White House?
