smmcroberts

Joined

• started 23 topics
• posted 113 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by smmcroberts

• 
  3

  Flee from "Old Light"!

  by smmcroberts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some witnesses fail to realize that "old light" is far more dangerous than any apostate writing.

  i saw evidence of this when i reviewed "rutherford's rainbow" on amazon.com and mentioned that witnesses were discouraged from reading the old literature.

  many witnesses responded that i was lying as they'd never been told this, and in fact had old literature on their shelves (which witnesses evidently equate with having read a book [e.g., see here where a witness justifies her ability to review the finished mystery without ever having read it by saying "i have it on my cd".]).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  smmcroberts

  “Concerning that day and hour nobody knows".

  I think I can reconcile that one for you, sseveninches: The GB is so damn humble [they call themselves a "slave", after all] that they consider themselves "nobody".
• 
  3

  Flee from "Old Light"!

  by smmcroberts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some witnesses fail to realize that "old light" is far more dangerous than any apostate writing.

  i saw evidence of this when i reviewed "rutherford's rainbow" on amazon.com and mentioned that witnesses were discouraged from reading the old literature.

  many witnesses responded that i was lying as they'd never been told this, and in fact had old literature on their shelves (which witnesses evidently equate with having read a book [e.g., see here where a witness justifies her ability to review the finished mystery without ever having read it by saying "i have it on my cd".]).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  smmcroberts

  Some Witnesses fail to realize that "Old light" is far more dangerous than any apostate writing. I saw evidence of this when I reviewed "Rutherford's Rainbow" on Amazon.com and mentioned that Witnesses were discouraged from reading the old literature. Many Witnesses responded that I was lying as they'd never been told this, and in fact had old literature on their shelves (which Witnesses evidently equate with having read a book [e.g., see here where a Witness justifies her ability to review The Finished Mystery without ever having read it by saying "I have it on my CD".])
  
  While all apostate writing [and evidently Amazon reviews] can readily be dismissed as "lies of Satan", the old WT literature must be considered truth (at least "truth for its time"). Since the WT has stated that they have never changed a doctrine, but have merely "tacked" ever closer to the truth like skillful sailors, one is forced to somehow reconcile the old literature with the new, and that's when absurdities spring up. It is in coming to terms with these absurdities that the inexperienced are liable to stumble (as I did: stumbling right out of the false.)
  
  As a public service, I have issued my warning to all Witnesses in my latest blog: "Flee from Old Light!" replete with examples of how one can get into trouble by failing to heed this advice. Be sure to read it before it's too late for you! Or if it's already too late for you (as it is for me, brothers and sisters) be sure to pass the link along to any Witnesses that you know. (BTW, and most importantly: It's sure to make you smile, if not LOL).
• 
  8

  It's all about me.

  by smmcroberts in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  but it's mercifully brief.. actually, "teeny" sent me.

  but i eagerly began posting here without first re-introducing myself.

  i realize that could be considered slightly rude.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  smmcroberts

  But it's mercifully brief.

  Actually, "Teeny" sent me. But I eagerly began posting here without first re-introducing myself. I realize that could be considered slightly rude. So here goes: I'm Steve McRoberts, and I used to post here years ago.

  I was in the org for 4 years from age 17-21. I was a Bethelite. After they unjustly disfellowshipped my pioneering sister, I began to read the old literature in the Bethel library. Out of this came a long letter full of questions and general apostasy which I sent to the Governing Body. In response, they had the "factory committee" of elders sit down with me for several days of meetings lasting several grueling hours apiece. In all that time they never tried to answer any of my questions, rather they just berated me for having done such a sinful thing, and for "being out of step" with the org. In the end they said I should leave Bethel and I agreed wholeheartedly. They expected me to go back to my old congregation back home, but I never set foot in a Kingdom Hall again.

  Instead, I wrote a fictional account of my experiences which became the full length novel: Falling in Truth: The Education of a Jehovah's Witness. This book sat in my closet for decades until the advent of the Internet when I made it available there along with my letter to the GB, and other articles about the Witnesses.

  Recently I came across Teeny's hilarious blog site and have begun writing some of my own blog articles for the general amusement of my former brothers and sisters (that's you, btw).

  I've been out of the org for 35 years now, and have never regretted that. Today I'm an atheist and very happy to be free from the god delusion.

  See you in the forums!

  --Steve
• 
  10

  Why I know that the world is flat

  by stuckinamovement in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  why i know the world is flat.

  by iamani diot.

  the world is flat.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  smmcroberts

  Hey, my older brother actually sprang these arguments on me when I was a kid! Well, really what he did was proclaim that he believed the Earth was flat and then asked me to prove him wrong. Then I got frustrated as he shot down all of my arguments. I told him that when the Apollo astronauts looked back at the Earth from the moon they saw it was a sphere (and we saw it as well, live on TV). He said that was all staged, and wouldn't listen to my feeble arguments about how grand a conspiracy that would entail (not that I knew the word conspiracy at the time.) Then I told him that in a lunar eclipse the shadow of the Earth was round against the moon. He said that just proved it was a flat disk. I told him that people had sailed around the world without falling off. He replied: "You don't know that; maybe they have fallen off the Earth for all you know." That's probably all I could come up with at the time, and in conclusion he said I had failed miserably to disprove him (although he didn't really believe the Earth was flat).

  It was a good lesson to learn at a young age (albeit delivered in the high-handed fashion of an older brother): if people want to believe something they will find ways to dismiss all arguments to the contrary, no matter how reasonable those arguments may seem to the non-believers. So I have learned to state the facts as I know them, and then not be surprised (or hurt) when people don't abandon their beliefs on the basis of those facts. In any case I've done my duty by informing them, and the rest is up to them.
• 
  1

  Profits and Non-Prophets!

  by smmcroberts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  have you ever heard of the weekly world news?

  it was a popular tabloid in the u.s. which sometimes made bible-based predictions, even setting dates for their fulfillment!

  does this sound like another magazine you might be more familiar with?

  1. 
• 

  smmcroberts

  Have you ever heard of the Weekly World News? It was a popular tabloid in the U.S. which sometimes made Bible-based predictions, even setting dates for their fulfillment! Does this sound like another magazine you might be more familiar with? Take a peek at the similarities and important differences in my latest blog article: Profits and Non-Prophets
• 
  32

  JWs And Near Death Experiences

  by Cold Steel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  [if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:punctuationkerning /> <w:validateagainstschemas /> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:saveifxmlinvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:ignoremixedcontent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables /> <w:snaptogridincell /> <w:wraptextwithpunct /> <w:useasianbreakrules /> <w:dontgrowautofit /> </w:compatibility> <w:browserlevel>microsoftinternetexplorer4</w:browserlevel> </w:worddocument> </xml><!

  [endif][if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:latentstyles> </xml><!

  [endif][if gte mso 10]> <style> /* style definitions */ table.msonormaltable {mso-style-name:"table normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"times new roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif].

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  smmcroberts

  Moshe,

  This is called "Data mining"; when we discount all of the times our dreams don't come true (99.999% of the time) and only focus on the few where (by sheer coincidence) they do. Gather enough data and you're sure to get a random hit now and then. IMHO that is not a good basis to build a belief system on a "spirit world".

  I had similar experiences many years ago when I thought I was having precognitive dreams. But the dreams were always remembered by me after their supposed fulfillment. When I later looked back on them honestly I could see where I had subconsciously stretched the truth: something would happen that would remind me of something similar in my dream (which was pretty vague) and then I would fill in the details, or would "remember" the dream in accordance with the "fulfillment".

  For instance, I once received a letter from a friend from NY who enclosed a tract with an illustration of a train. I then remembered that I had dreamed I was at the airport and I had asked someone "when does the train arrive from New York?" And they said "2:15". Holding the letter in my hand I then looked up at the clock and I think it was around 1:30. But when I later related this story to people the time somehow became 2:15 -- just to see their jaws drop. But it didn't feel like a lie; it felt like it really should have been 2:15 when I looked up at the clock, and so I helped the supernatural experience along a little.

  My wife will tell a story similar to yours about her waking up at 2 AM and "knowing" that her grandmother had just died. I have seen her innocently improve upon this story with the telling through the years until she's almost got me believing it. But I was there, laying in bed next to her hearing her snore at 2 AM. Again, it's not lying; it is wishful thinking and comfort: our minds giving us what we need. I'm not against wishful thinking and comfort in times when they are needed, but I am more in favor of honestly facing the hard factual truth. All the fact seem to point to our minds being dependent on our brains, so that when one dies the other is switched off forever. And that's fine by me; I don't have any memories worth preserving for eternity. I no more dread death than I do going to sleep each night: when the day is over I turn out the light and willingly give up my consciousness. When my turn is over I'm out of the game and someone else can play.
• 
  32

  JWs And Near Death Experiences

  by Cold Steel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  [if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:punctuationkerning /> <w:validateagainstschemas /> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:saveifxmlinvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:ignoremixedcontent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables /> <w:snaptogridincell /> <w:wraptextwithpunct /> <w:useasianbreakrules /> <w:dontgrowautofit /> </w:compatibility> <w:browserlevel>microsoftinternetexplorer4</w:browserlevel> </w:worddocument> </xml><!

  [endif][if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:latentstyles> </xml><!

  [endif][if gte mso 10]> <style> /* style definitions */ table.msonormaltable {mso-style-name:"table normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"times new roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif].

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  smmcroberts

  I don't mean to laugh at sincerely held beliefs, but I did in spite of myself. In fact I'm still laughing over the lines: " Apparently many of the spirits of the wicked dead join forces with Lucifer and his angels. These are most likely the spirits one sees manifesting themselves in various paranormal shows. " Even my wife, the born-againer knows the haunted-house shows on TV are crap.

  You cannot know what you claim to know (that "we have immortal spirits that survive death"). No one knows more about the unknowable than anyone else. But we do know that thoughts are intimately tied to brain function. You can induce OBE's by manipulating the brain, and people will swear that they are seeing old friends in the room that have long since died. If you want to believe in life after (and/or before) death I won't argue with you; I don't know such things either. But I do know that it seems highly unlikely given these facts (and to me, facts outweigh anecdotes every time.) When I die I fully expect to be dead.
• 
  32

  JWs And Near Death Experiences

  by Cold Steel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  [if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:punctuationkerning /> <w:validateagainstschemas /> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:saveifxmlinvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:ignoremixedcontent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables /> <w:snaptogridincell /> <w:wraptextwithpunct /> <w:useasianbreakrules /> <w:dontgrowautofit /> </w:compatibility> <w:browserlevel>microsoftinternetexplorer4</w:browserlevel> </w:worddocument> </xml><!

  [endif][if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:latentstyles> </xml><!

  [endif][if gte mso 10]> <style> /* style definitions */ table.msonormaltable {mso-style-name:"table normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"times new roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif].

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  smmcroberts

  "Anecdote": An uncontrolled or poorly documented observation or experience.

  ...anecdotes are a very dubious form of evidence
  because the variables are not controlled and the observations
  are not systematic. The reason why that is a problem is because
  anecdotes are a way of subconscious data mining and are subject
  to confirmation biases, memory effects, and other cognitive biases.

  The above quotes are from Steven Novella, M.D., Academic Neurologist at the Yale School of Medicine (taken from his course entitled "Your Deceptive Mind:
  A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills").

  When subjected to objective scrutiny all supposedly supernatural events have resolved to natural explanations. (Which is why no one has yet collected on the Amazing Randy's million dollar reward for providing proof of the supernatural.) However, very often such scrutiny is unavailable, and we end up taking the friend-of-a-friend stories at face value if our baloney-detection kits aren't switched on.
• 
  32

  JWs And Near Death Experiences

  by Cold Steel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  [if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:punctuationkerning /> <w:validateagainstschemas /> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:saveifxmlinvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:ignoremixedcontent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables /> <w:snaptogridincell /> <w:wraptextwithpunct /> <w:useasianbreakrules /> <w:dontgrowautofit /> </w:compatibility> <w:browserlevel>microsoftinternetexplorer4</w:browserlevel> </w:worddocument> </xml><!

  [endif][if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:latentstyles> </xml><!

  [endif][if gte mso 10]> <style> /* style definitions */ table.msonormaltable {mso-style-name:"table normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"times new roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif].

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  smmcroberts

  I recently posted a blog article on this very subject: Elder Nelson's Near-Death Experience.

  I also recently took a "Teaching Company" course on neuroscience, and the instructor discussed these experiences. It's interesting to note that mountain-climbers sometimes have similar experiences:

  At 2,500 meters or higher, some mountaineers report perceiving
  unseen companions, light emanating from themselves or from their body
  parts or the body parts of others, a second body like their own, or a figure
  where there is none.

  He went on to give a rational explanation for the phenomenon, which in brief is as follows:

  low oxygen, intense exertion, and
  stress, may account for these phenomena...

  Evidence supports the idea that
  out-of-body experiences depend
  on the temporal parietal junction.
  The temporal parietal junction of
  the brain seems to be involved
  in spatial self-perception and,
  thus, may be a candidate for
  understanding these phenomena...

  Visions and visitations seem to be associated with the temporal lobe. The
  temporal and parietal lobes of the cortex are involved in visual and face
  processing, as well as emotional events. Oxygen deprivation is likely to
  interfere with activity in neural structures, and the temporal and parietal
  lobes seem particularly susceptible to oxygen deprivation.
• 
  1

  New & Improved 80 Questions Discovered!

  by smmcroberts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it has been years since i posted here.

  i've been reawakened to the cause by teeny pyjamas and his humorous blog-site.. following in his (and andrew's) footsteps, i have begun writing humorous blogs about the org.. if you enjoy teeny & andrews blogs i think you might enjoy mine as well.. the funniest, i think, are the sparlock and the election day blogs, but take a gander as well at the discovery of the new & improved 80 questions; we're missing nearly half of the questions and welcome ideas for more!.

  all of the blogs are also listed in a convenient format on the facebook page for rational compassionate living.. .

  1. 
• 

  smmcroberts

  Hello everyone,

  It has been years since I posted here. I've been reawakened to the cause by Teeny Pyjamas and his humorous blog-site.

  Following in his (and Andrew's) footsteps, I have begun writing humorous blogs about the org.

  If you enjoy Teeny & Andrews blogs I think you might enjoy mine as well.

  The funniest, I think, are the Sparlock and the Election Day blogs, but take a gander as well at the discovery of the New & improved 80 Questions; we're missing nearly half of the questions and welcome ideas for more!

  All of the blogs are also listed in a convenient format on the FaceBook page for Rational Compassionate Living.

  Let me know what you think.

  Thanks,

  --Steve