Xanthippe

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Posts by Xanthippe

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  7

  to all a thank you

  by notalone in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  to all on this site who from their hearts participate, thank you.

  you encourage thought, offer support and share laughs, thank you.

  you may never know what point has touched a heart or opened a mind.

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  Xanthippe

  Thank you notalone, it's good to know what we say here helps people. There are so many different personalities and varied experiences of that organisation here usually someone can relate or advise. I hope you and your family are enjoying freedom and your daughter is doing well.
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  45

  What's preventing YOU from stopping meeting attendance?

  by nicolaou in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  we all 'exit' in our own way and at our own pace but i'm curious, why carry on stuffing yourself into that stiff suit and tie or meeting dress years after you realised the truth about 'the truth'?.

  they kept you a prisoner, what's stopping you from leaving now that you have the key to your own cell?.

  loved ones?

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  Xanthippe

  It's been twenty-eight years with no change from my brother and sisters so if I'd sat through meetings that whole time waiting for them to realise it's all bs I'd have wasted my life.

  Don't get me wrong the cut was damned painful at the time but I've lived a life full of interesting stuff and yes Nic seen my daughter grow up free and go to uni. I haven't given up hope, who knows they may leave one day, they know where to find me.

  It's different if it's your partner that's still indoctrinated. That must be really hard to cope with.
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  63

  Is it possible to decline preaching in the carts?

  by Skepsis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi folks,.

  i have a difficult dilemma.

  since i'm not pioneering any more, i'm reducing my hours wasted at that artifact known as cart or trolley.

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  Xanthippe

  Couldn't you say you prefer to actually talk to people, that you feel guilty counting time standing by a cart and you'd rather go door to door? Pretend you're taking the moral high ground and want to be a really good JW. Theocratic warfare if you like, beat them at their own game.
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  210

  Morality Without Deity

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  one of the most persistent arguments for belief in god centres on the necessity of an ultimate law-giver and epitome of goodness.. a softer version is seen in the genuine concern that a loss of faith will result in a corresponding loss of a moral compass - a more strident argument links the existence of good and evil with proof of the reality of god.

  it is often asserted that without god, moral decisions degenerate to nothing more than personal preferences and the victory of "might is right".. i want to succinctly lay out my response as an atheist, and show that a supreme being is not required for objective morality.. it is helpful to distinguish between absolute morality, objective morality and subjective morality.

  christian apologists frequently conflate the first two, and secular debaters often fail to point out the difference.. theists who disagree on everything else, are unanimous that god is perfectly good.

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  Xanthippe

  The problem - sometimes referred to as the Euthyphro dilemma - was identified by Plato when he posed the question of "whether the gods love the pious because it is the pious, or whether the pious is pious only because it is loved by the gods". If god commands good things because they are intrinsically good then goodness exists independent of god and we can discover moral truth without him. If on the other hand things are good because god commands them then morality is not based on anything other than god's unpredictable whims.

  I'm glad to see you've been reading Plato, Cofty. I've been banging on about his excellent philosophy for years on this forum. Euthyphro is one of his best dialogues about the ethical dilemma of a man taking his father to court for letting his slave die tied up in a ditch. There is so much discussion in that dialogue on what it means to be a good person. This from a man, Socrates, who is famously executed because he doesn't believe in the gods.

  What we actually see is theists sanctifying ethical positions they arrived at by other means, claiming that their opinions reflect the goodness of god.

  Yes exactly, five hundred years before Jesus the Greek philosophers were discussing what it means to be a moral person. Confucius and others introduced the Golden Rule (treat others as you would be treated) at around the same time. Theists have hijacked their ideas and ascribed them to a deity
  
  
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  6

  Fancy becoming emotionally attached to a pair of Jeans...

  by The Rebel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  and it was with great sadness that today my favorite pair of dirty denim, armani jeans were thrown in the bin.

  they cost me £260 to purchase, and were value for money, as they were worn for many years and together we shared some wonderful occasions.they were stitched on numerous occasions, and loving repaired.

  but today, and to my wife's relief i finally binned my amani jeans.

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  Xanthippe

  Fancy becoming emotionally attached to a pair of Jeans

  Depends who's wearing them.
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  58

  Women's March on Washington

  by azor in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my support is with the marchers in washington and around the country today.

  i was raised through my formative years by my mother and sister while my father was out of the picture.

  they gave me the compassion i have today.

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  Xanthippe

  The WH press conference. You really must see it, it is one of the most surreal things I have seen in my life.

  Wow thanks Bohm. Such a lot of whining from the president's press secretary, you aren't being nice to us. Was that a threat about curtailing the powers of the press? First step of a dictator.

  'The transition of power from Washington to the citizens of the United States' - Trump

  Do people really believe this?
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  24

  Beware of Emojis! A worksheet from jw.org to help you!

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  we all know just hoe dangerous emojis are right??

  well, thankfully, "jehovah's organization" have lovingly provided a step by step worksheet to help!.

  https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/family/teenagers/worksheets/friendly-or-flirtatious/.

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  Xanthippe

  I'm just gobsmacked, emojis are dangerous! What! This cult is insane. Flirting is dangerous is it? OMG don't even think about the opposite sex, your head, computer, Bible might explode.x😒😀😉☺️😘😝🤗😟🙁 Take cover
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  15

  Can you live with your self?

  by The Rebel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i think if we are to fully delight in life we must live without detachment.

  because when we become attached to a beliief we feel a desire that we are right.

  the problem with being right, even if we are right is that our beliefs then try to attach themselfs to virgin snow, and change people to our thinking.

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  Xanthippe

  Being set in our beliefs is a luxury we cannot afford. The survival of the planet depends on the humans populating it getting along. It's not having beliefs that divides and endangers peaceful human relations but as you point out Rebel leaving our mucky footprints on others. Good analogy.
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  29

  A Mathematic Perspective on Evolution

  by Saethydd in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i would like to apologize in advance if any of my information on the biology side of this discussion is incorrect, because unfortunately it is not my strongest scientific subject on account of my being subtly encouraged to view it with distrust.. i've recently debated the of subject of evolution with my father, i made the argument that when viewed over several million years random mutation provides a more than adequate explanation for humans having evolved from a common ancestor with chimpanzees.

  then he got this derisive look on his face a waved his hand saying "evolution's explanation for everything is the amount of time involved.".

  so i decided i would examine this mathematically.

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  Xanthippe

  Such unappreciative acts made Him evolve into a God who decided that He would perform no more miracles

  ..... and this, boys and girls, is why we don't see any miracles today.

  Now which story would you like to hear now, but only if you're very good and sit quietly, fingers on lips.
  
  
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  144

  2.16.2017 NJ Star-Ledger Ad: "Were you sexually abused by the Jehovahs Witnesses?"

  by breakfast of champions in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  my wife found this 1/4 page ad on page 2 of yesterday's nj star-ledger, probably the biggest newspaper in nj.

  pretty telling.. .

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  Xanthippe

  BoC thanks for that picture, this is great news.