Posts by shepherdless

37

Why are there still so many of humanity that are immersed onto the lies, ignorance and delusions of religion ?

by Finkelstein in

all religions under critical examination has been recognized inherently as formative lies devised to appeal to human emotions and as a means to cultivate power and control for a select propagating few.

knowledge acquired through scientific inquiry and evaluation has proven that all religious adherence was mostly drawn out human ignorance targeted toward the emotions and consciousness of people.

here we are in the 21 century and people like the jws are still adhering to the lies of christianity and how this religion developed over time.

shepherdless

Why are there still so many of humanity that are immersed onto the lies, ignorance and delusions of religion ?

I agree with a lot of what others have already said. I think there is an additional factor. Most of human existence (and certainly virtually all of recorded human existence) we have had community based gods and religion. They have helped to pull a community together. I am sure that 3000 years ago, or even 1000 years ago, a united community would have been a far far safer place to live, than in a disunited community.

Thus as far as the forces of natural selection, for most of human history, it has been an overall advantage to be inclined to faith. In other words, it is in our genes to be religious.

That will change, over time. For virtually the first time in history, the disadvantages of being religious (eg being open to manipulation and exploitation) outweigh the advantages (community protection). Nevertheless, i think religious superstition will be around for many centuries to come, yet.

29

Beth Sarim

by HereIgo in

how many of you know about this san diego mansion?

i just found out about it recently.

apparently it was built for old testament faithful men to live in upon resurrection in 1925 such as abraham, moses etc.

shepherdless

I tricked my wife into looking up what Beth Sarim was, once. It made for an interesting evening. I think there was steam coming out of her ears. She was lashing out at the kids for not using a knife and fork properly, around the dinner table, etc.

After a while the cognitive dissonance must have kicked in and she calmed down. She probably doesn't even remember it now.

39

Can Someone Explain To Me, Are The Org In Debt Or Rich?

by pale.emperor in

hi guys.. im aware of the orgs blatant hints to donate, donate, donate to the org, the sacking of bethel staff, selling of buildings, reducing mags and books, emphasis on digital rather than physical books etc which is obviously a money saver - but are the wt org in money difficulty?

because elsewhere on here and on youtube there's stories of the watchtower being mega rich, one even called it "a billion dollar organization".

and if there is any money in there, who's benefiting off it?

shepherdless

I'd put money on UK / Aus /NZ and US law having a similar quota...

No, that seems to be a law, unique to Canada. It seems a good one, though.

47

CO visit... Circuit is not growing at all, he said during midweek meeting

by StarTrekAngel in

so that was a "shocker".

i was not able to attend the meeting.

i had a more important one with my other apostate friends in the area.

shepherdless

Excellent news cookiemaster. Yearbook numbers suggest that Eastern Europe may be a bit ahead of the trend, but it does seem to be a global trend.

Back to the O.P. Stagnation in USA must hurt the borg much harder than when it occurs elsewhere. It is great to hear about it. Thanks for sharing.

11

Caleb and Sophia have some competition

by usualusername1 in

jw
friends

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nmyoqiidqo&sns=em

shepherdless

The first video amply demonstrates that mindless zombies have no rhythm. Unsurprising, perhaps.

48

"Basics of Blood Management" by Dr. Petra Seeber and Dr. Aryeh Shander - Inaccuracies and Myth

by OrphanCrow in

patient blood management arose out of bloodless medicine and alternatives to blood transfusions.

pbm has been accepted as the standard of care in australia and has been implemented into the health care systems of other countries such as canada.

a prominent promoter of pbm has been aryeh shander from englewood hospital in new jersey.

shepherdless

Hi OrphanCrow, were you aware of the following newspaper article from Western Australia, May 2014?

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/how-two-jehovahs-witnesses-were-paid-millions-to-restrict-wa-blood-transfusions/story-fnhocxo3-1226921294173

The article is lengthy, but here is a cut-n-paste of the start:

How two Jehovah’s Witnesses were paid millions to restrict WA blood transfusions

THE WA Department of Health has paid almost $4 million to two Jehovah’s Witnesses, neither of whom is a medical doctor, to roll out a statewide program to cut blood transfusions to thousands of patients being treated in public hospitals.
The Sunday Times can reveal the two men, Axel Hofmann and Shannon Farmer – whose religion is vehemently opposed to blood transfusions – won the lucrative five-year contract in 2008, with an American associate, without having to bid for the job...

17

Young Ones Leaving

by pale.emperor in

in the congregation that i grew up in there were about 30 children under 16 (myself included).

as time went on they one by one slipped away from the meetings and most never got baptized.

of those 30 children only myself and two other girls stayed and got baptized.

shepherdless

On another thread, by sbf titled " New study - JWs by far the least educated religious group in Canada, Australia and New Zealand", I added a table created from Australian census data, relating to young ones leaving. Here is a repeat:

To explain, what I did was take 5 year cohorts from each census and lines them up so that you can see in each age group, how many remained JW's over a 5 year period. Eg, there were 5119 JW's between the age of 15 and 19 in 2006, but in 2011 that same group (now aged between 20 and 24) dropped to 4597. The fourth column is just the difference between columns 2 and 3, for ease of reference.

One of the questions in the 2011 census was in relation to which state or territory you were living in in 2006. Using the answer, you can tell which ones were living overseas, shown in the fifth column. The sixth column is just the 4th col, less the 5th col, for ease of reference.

This data shows the kids leaving in droves from 15 to 24. However, it also shows a trickle back in subsequent years, and those re-attending taking young kids in with them. It didn't occur to me until after I prepared this chart, but my wife is a classic anecdotal example of this drift back. I know another ultra-dub who was born in, was completely out and df'ed as a young adult, and rejoined decades later.

So, unfortunately, if history is a guide, some of the 30 children that pale emperor knew will probably drift back into the borg, over time.

11

Assembly day - La Féria, tx stats

by StarTrekAngel in

just quick post for stats.

1300 attendance .

4 baptism, 3 adults and 12 year old son of an elder from my cong.

shepherdless

Wow. 0.3%. Yet of the dozens or so reports of statistics I have seen over the last 6 months or so, only 1 or 2 have got close to 1%. I can't wait to see the yearbook stats at the end of the year.

Raising only $1 per attendee speaks even louder. Perhaps that kid will live long enough to see the end of one false religion.

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

shepherdless

The purpose in life?

Like any other self-replicating DNA, your purpose is to breed and procreate. However, you have an intellect that allows you to do all sorts of things; even override your purpose.

10

Self Delusion

by Coded Logic in

once upon a time there was a "kiai master" who trained his students how to knock people over - no touch - with purely the power of his chi.

how he came to think he actually had telekinetic powers - or how his students became accomplices in his self delusion - i have no idea.

but he was so convinced he could actually do these things he issued a challenge and put up $5,000 for any martial artist who could beat him.

shepherdless

I guess sometimes reality hits you in the face. Literally and repeatedly, in this case.

Strange that the Kiai Master believed his own b.s. I think a key element in his self-delusion is that he had so many sycophants (ie his students) supporting that delusion. There is an obvious parallel there with JWism and other cults, in that regard.

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