Posts by roybatty

27

And Suddenly I Understand the Muslim "Cartoon" Riots

by MerryMagdalene in

i've been thinking a lot about this, watching the news, noticing the problems in communication during interviews.

i have a friend who is a muslim and we try to explain to each other our cultural and religious differences.

there is a language barrier in addition to the aforementioned challenges, but we are still friends who respect and care about each other.. i also have an acupuncturist whose wife is a jw and he gets as frustrated trying to reason with her as i do with my mom.

roybatty

It's not about the cartoons. Most of the people rioting have not even seen the cartoons.

EXACTLY! I was thinking the same thing and the comparison to the L.A. riots (or for that matter most riots in the U.S.). In just about any area with extremely high unemployment, poverty and a large group of angry, young men you'll find just about any reason for a riot. Added to this is the governments behind the scenes stirring things up. I mean, c'mon, where does one find a Denmark flag???? I wonder if the typical mid-east Wal-Mart carries one?

It's actually a very effective way for governments to stay in power. Distract the people away from your own curruption and poor leadership and instead focus on the great Satan. Hell, the WT used a similiar tactic for years on most of us.

25

Can DaVinci Code make Witnesses think?

by Lilycurly in

jw
friends

i've just finished reading the book...and i know most of it is fiction, but some of you might have read it too.

as an ex-jw, it really made me think...the author has an excellent way to make one think outside the box without making it look like he wants to ram his ideas into your head...you know, it's kind of subtle, amongst all the action and enigmas.

my father loves to read...i really want him to read that book.

roybatty

Funny thing. I have yet to read the book but my 14 year old just finished and now is of the opinion that ALL religion is a bunch of BS. My 11 year old (who is still following the JW way of her mother) is now reading the book. I wonder how it will effect her beliefs in the JW system...hmmm....

30

have elders ever been sued successfully?

by silentWatcher in

quote: what i am waiting for is one of their rank and file elders to get sued over this issue and some of the hospital liaison puppets to lose everything he owns because of it.

this point was brought up in the "big news has started" thread (and is now buried on page 3).

interesting point, and i wonder if anyone has ever heard of a case where elders have been successfully sued over judicial matters (slander / libel) or wrongful death (blood)?

roybatty

I'm not a lawyer but it probably depends on how you approach the lawsuit. If you sue the individual because of damages caused by his role as an elder, you'd probably have to sue the local congregation, which in all likelyhood is a corporation. In that case, the elder wouldn't loose everything, but you might win a nice, shiny Kingdom Hall.

I guess you can compare it to the Catholic priest child abuse scandal and the millions of dollars the Catholic Church has had to dish out. As a matter of fact, I'm wondering if any individual who has been molested by an elder has sued the local congregation and won any damages??

21

Was Adam's "fall" part of God's plan?

by dorayakii in

the watchtower society and many other fundamentalist christian faiths believe that god is omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent.

in other words he is almighty /all-powerful, all-knowing and all-good.

his omnibenelovence though, clashes with his omnipotence in that if he is powerful enough to change the human condition, and he is willing to do it, why does he permit suffering?...

roybatty

"oh, well tetrapod, jehovah chose not to see into the future with adam and eve because they had free will."

Even when I was a JoeHovah'd out, loyal dub, this line always made me roll my eyes back.

12

A thing that bothers me about JW and Christmas

by zagor in

is that they dont celebrate it but are quite happy to accept gifts or money given by many companies at the end of a year as christmas gift.

in fact, ive heard all sorts of excuses ranging from well thats our money that weve earned over the year anyway to well we shouldnt really offend anyone

it looks like as long as you are receiving money or gifts its okay.

roybatty

True. I remember a few years back when I was the engineering manager at a large company I would always receive all types of x-mas gifts from vendors, usually sent to my house. Omha Steaks, Harry & Dave's fruit, gift cards for fancy resturants....it was great. Now that I think about it, I don't ever recall returning one of those gifts. :)

41

Ridiculous "Revelation Climax" Book interpretations

by Black Man in

i used to be so into prophecy and actually loved the climax book when it first came out.

now, i can't believe i bought into that bs.

anyhow, name a ridiculous climax book interpretation.

roybatty

It's funny. I threw out every one of my WT publications with one exception...the Climax book. It's just sooooo bad I had to save it.

23

Do you believe that "all men are created equal"?

by nicolaou in

jw
friends

"we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

even leaving god and religion to one side, are all humans born equal?

certainly not in their circumstances, but what about potential?

roybatty

I have heard if you read Marx and Tolstoy you'll see a different form of government advocated than what was ever practiced in the USSR.

"Greed is good." That's why even a "perfect" Socialist form of government will not work. Ingenuity AND big $$$ is the mother of invention. Just look at what Bell, Ford, Gates, etc.

True, the Soviets suffered from mass curruption but it still would not have worked. Case in point, look at the two Koreas. It's not an accident that the one country that choose a free market society is much better off the it's brother to the north.

23

Do you believe that "all men are created equal"?

by nicolaou in

jw
friends

"we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

even leaving god and religion to one side, are all humans born equal?

certainly not in their circumstances, but what about potential?

roybatty

Equality, in the sense they are talking about doesn't mean a ditto-head carbon copy of each other. That would be ridiculous. But it does mean the same freedoms and the same responsibilities for all humans. It means that whatever law applies to one person should apply to another. Yes, it is an imperfect world, women still make 71 cents for every dollar a man makes with the same education and experience. That is neither fair nor just. And that is what those words were meant to protect. That right to have the same pay for the same work (as one example).

Exactly. What the founding fathers meant that, unlike the King of England and his like, no one is born with any special rights, nor should anyone be denied these basic rights because of the family they are born into.

It doesn't mean that physically or mentally we are all born equal. Go challenge Shaq to a game of one on one and you'll find this to be true

139

Add an Awake caption here!

by doodle-v in

jw
friends

here is the original one:.

here is a blank one for you to add a caption to:.

have fun!

roybatty

OMG! Those were freakin funny. Mis & Richie, you two should team up and start your own web site or something to show off your talents.

19

partypoker.com

by Cygnus in

jw
friends

it's really fun, and easy, you can play for free or buy in and lose all your money like i have.

roybatty

Anyone notice the explosion in gambling over the last year - maybe its a UK thing. There is a concerted effort by the industry to win over lots of new gamblers especially the poker stuff.

Nope, it's a U.S. thing to - with local and state governments feeling it's the "silver bullet" to fight poverty. As good paying "blue collar" jobs are leaving the U.S. (along with companies closing plants) politicians are scrambling for tax revenue, so they've re-written the city and state laws to allow casinos to be built. Local and city governments love it because there is a 65% tax on gambling revenue. But just like the state lottery was suppose to be bring in millions of dollars for Illinois schools (but didn't), local casinos do more harm then good for a few reasons. One, the vast majority of casino users are local people - not out of town tourists. Two, this takes money away from local businesses and three, there are LOTS of people who re an enable to spend every dime they have at the casinos.

It's too bad a fraction of this money isn't used to re-train people for today's jobs.

And Cyg, I don't mean this as any slam against you or anyone else who gambles online or at casinos. I have plenty of friends who can afford to gamble and do so in a responsible way. To them, it's just another form of entertainment. I'm just disspointed that so many politicians have blindly supported casinos without first studying the affects on the community.