i don't want to deceive anyone and i have to clarify a few things so i'm sorry this is going to be a lot more vague then you want.
infact if you do not already realize or also feel something is about to happen as in the title, then move along, it will be a month or 2 before i update this.
it's not my intention to annoy anybody, i am too uncomfortable to post any details because it's too new and i need to verify things, and i am also feeling responsible to give a subtle warning, that it might be something somebody needs to see.
I would be fine to grow old and die and the world doesn't get any worse then it is now, that this is the worst and it either stays the same or improves, if that would be the case I would be content.
So, you think wasting your life as a minor-league Harold Camping is your great calling in life?
peace to you all!.
i sometimes find that i empathise with paul.
with how frightened/concerned he might have been when he started out (and perhaps always), that he would do or say something wrong.
Faith is uncontrollably attracted to sand.
I think faith in Christ is a bit more like building homes on stilts in earthquake prone L.A.:
You simply have to BELIEVE that the house won't fall in a strong earthquake!
i am going to be with a jw friend for the next few days.
we planned this vacation some time ago.. i haven't spoken to her since she hung up on me.
at the time, i was trying to explain my pain with eric's death.
You know that you place her in a tough position by bringing up the topic of JWs, and reminding her that she's associating with a Worldly, so if you choose to hang around her, try not to push those buttons (unless you want to blow the relationship). She made the boundary pretty clear, so you can choose to push it but at your own risk.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/na%c3%afve_realism.
naive realism, also known as direct realism or common sense realism, is a philosophy of mindrooted in a theory of perception that claims that the senses provide us with direct awareness of the external world.
in contrast, some forms of idealism assert that no world exists apart from mind-dependent ideas and some forms of skepticism say we cannot trust our senses.
FA SAID:
the thing that always occurred to me is that if a person could understand everything about any one thing, even just a single atom - then that person would be able to understand everything about everything
The fly in the ointment is, how would you know when you finally have attained "everything there is to know" about even one thing?
It's not like there's a magical master encyclopedia somewhere that contains everything there is to know... That strikes me as pointless unattainable goal, "chasing rainbows and unicorns" stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/na%c3%afve_realism.
naive realism, also known as direct realism or common sense realism, is a philosophy of mindrooted in a theory of perception that claims that the senses provide us with direct awareness of the external world.
in contrast, some forms of idealism assert that no world exists apart from mind-dependent ideas and some forms of skepticism say we cannot trust our senses.
And the next question: is an experiential perception required in order to make use of some phenomena? Nope. Humans invented sonar before we even knew bats or marine mammals used it, so there's an example of not being inspired by nature's use, but developing it independently.
So while we can never know the "true" reality of anything, that doesn't mean that we cannot use OUR limited perception (i.e. our internal brain model of reality) in order to improve the quality of life and extend our perceptive skills beyond what nature provides.
The issue of arguing the nature of reality is an interesting philosophical question to ponder, but most scientists don't get side-tracked on it, expecting to find an absolute "truth" or waiting to find that truth before proceeding with their work; they just do what they want to accomplish, and let the airchair-philosophers quibble.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/na%c3%afve_realism.
naive realism, also known as direct realism or common sense realism, is a philosophy of mindrooted in a theory of perception that claims that the senses provide us with direct awareness of the external world.
in contrast, some forms of idealism assert that no world exists apart from mind-dependent ideas and some forms of skepticism say we cannot trust our senses.
Satanus said:
Water, when we jump into it, is a fairly direct experience. But, even then, is that enough to really understand water?
That's a perfect example of how our perceptions are so influenced by our biological roots, that most people don't even give it a second thought; we're so blinded to thinking of any other way of relating to the stimulus.
We don't relate to water in the same way that a dolphin does: what is our 'atmosphere' is their hostile, unsustainable environment. They have an interaction with their surroundings where us swimming in SCUBA gear is only a poor simulation, just not the same. So who's perception of water, who's direct experience is "reality"? Ours? Theirs?
And to complicate matters, an insect's perception of water is completely different than both: for one thing, they can walk on it (using surface tension); that's something we can only imagine (uh, Jesus excepted). See, you didn't think I was going to get back to the religion thing, did ya? HA!
Point being, you'd THINK humans would have the insight to intuitively understand that "naive realism" (nice name, BTW... cue roll eyes) is fact, being that reality is completely dependent upon one's perceptive skills based on the hardware you have (vs that of animals), but that just doesn't 'click' in some people who never stop to consider their own frame of reference is limited and subjective.
BTW, that's not a picture of an insect, but a "robostrider".
http://whyfiles.org/coolimages/index.html%3Fid=1096298725.html
i see it posted that many are 'waking up' etc.
but the religion is still growing!
many enjoy the kool-aid.
Yup.
WT is a doomsday cult that has reinvented its eschatology to survive at least two BIG missed deadlines, and while the people at the top may have gotten drunk on a non-lethal dose of their own Kool-Aid (Franz' book didn't indicate them laughing at the R&F behind closed doors, at least), have managed to reinvent the story-line to account for the failed prophecies.
The recent official demotion of the anointed class is simply another step in consolidating the power of the GB, dismissing all the old coots who played along with the anointed scam after so many years while still leaving anointing as a feasible possibility (when they've got GB members in their 40s who've played that game, so they must keep that poker face going, but they don't need them to have any real say).
The changes occur at a glacial pace, and are easied in, having been telegraphed well ahead of time such that the idea is accepted long before its officially announced, hence decreasing it's awakening potential (ironic that, with JWs walking D2D with a magazine called Awake! Talk about an Orwellian title....)
if anybody ever read the two babylons book, it detailed how christianity became corrupt.
how over time, not on the spot, but slowly changes were implemented, it started with forbidding anybody to read or hold the bible, and only the leader/pope etc could teach, once there was full absolute power, then satan was able to put in anything he wanted to corrupt it all.
i am not going to list the articles and scriptures, everybody can find those, i'm just going to quickly show from the history to now how it's happened and the proof and what is happening now.
Then again, how do we KNOW that EOM ISN'T the Devil, trying to throw US off track (me, by extricating myself from my miserable atheistic hell hole existence) by planting "false flags", making the religious type to appear to be fruit-loops?
Is Satan trying to reinforce my non-belief!?!
And where the heck is YHWH while all this is happening!?!
if anybody ever read the two babylons book, it detailed how christianity became corrupt.
how over time, not on the spot, but slowly changes were implemented, it started with forbidding anybody to read or hold the bible, and only the leader/pope etc could teach, once there was full absolute power, then satan was able to put in anything he wanted to corrupt it all.
i am not going to list the articles and scriptures, everybody can find those, i'm just going to quickly show from the history to now how it's happened and the proof and what is happening now.
Scary thought: how can EOM assume that anyone else KNOWS what he's saying? What if Satan (who is really God) was scrambling his words on everyone else's screens, just to make him appear to be the oddball, when he's the one who's cracked the plot wide open? If Satan rules the World, such a disinformation campaign would be trivial (yet downright diabolical).
if anybody ever read the two babylons book, it detailed how christianity became corrupt.
how over time, not on the spot, but slowly changes were implemented, it started with forbidding anybody to read or hold the bible, and only the leader/pope etc could teach, once there was full absolute power, then satan was able to put in anything he wanted to corrupt it all.
i am not going to list the articles and scriptures, everybody can find those, i'm just going to quickly show from the history to now how it's happened and the proof and what is happening now.
EOM said:
king solomon - The truth is a very hard pill to swallow. Many will want to be ignorant of it because again, ignorance is bliss.
The truth is, the world is changing. For the worse. The population was 1 billion in early 1900's now it's just passed 7 billion. The US economy is horrible and where will all those lost jobs, where will new ones come in from? Also all of this flu issues, new flu's being made or discovered, etc. If it was 1950 again, then you could just live in ignorance and probably die after living a normal life. Since things are getting worse, if you know the truth, you will have an advantage, you will know what to expect, what to plan for, and try to be as comfortable as possible manuevering all the bad things going on. Hopefully can take the truth and know you can't do anything about it, and just live each day best you can, use what you know to your advantage, etc. There is a chance the truth could turn you paranoid and crazy, just too much to handle, and you live in constant fear.
Bud, don't take this the wrong way, but it might be YOU: you ARE too much to swallow, coming off as a Debby Downer.
Unless you're taking active steps to SOLVE the World's problems (eg becoming a doctor/researcher to study virology, an engineer to develop cleaner tehcnologies, etc), then you're simply just another loser JW who's knocking on doors to tell everyone how bad the World sucks, and yet you don't offer any practical solution. See, you may have left the JWs, but you forgot to abandon their apocalyptic warnings.
So sure, no spit, Spar: the World is changing. The US is changing, on the decline of a 100-year super-cycle (boom/busts, Elliott Wave, etc, etc) Just as it always has. And always WILL change. Life IS change, it evolves as conditions evolve. There will be winners and losers, but the challenge is to adapt.
(And as one of my fave Steve Martin movie lines says, "Just because you are losing doesn't mean you have to act like a loser.")
For every downer you produce, I can point out how the quality of modern life has improved. Not perfect, mind you, but we're not going off a cliff ALA Chicken Little, "the Sky is falling".
Now, that stated, I'm no Polyanna: I'm a believer in corporatism, and know that the gov't is run largely by special-interests, PACs, driven by $$$, etc. Oh, well... I happen to belong to a profession that has to play that game, just to keep up. It's not the textbook idealism of "govt for the people, by the people", but it is what it is.
