Religions do not want to use their money to relieve suffering because most of them thrive on it. If the people aren't suffering, they are a lot less likely to turn to God. It's totally irrational, that we should feel the presence of a benevolent deity at just those times when all the evidence in front of our eyes suggests his absence. People never fail to thank God for escaping a burning building or surviving a hurricane, but they very often fail to thank him for a full stomach or good health.
Rainbow_Troll
JoinedPosts by Rainbow_Troll
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8
Think about what they could use their money for
by jambon1 inreligions wealth has always made me squirm.
from the catholic church, with its golden city and priceless relics, to the mormons and their absurd temple and huge big fat bank account.
the jw's are the same.
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47
What did you regrettably not do because you were a Jehovah's Witness ?
by minimus injehovah's witnesses cannot do a lot of things.
i remember pioneers having to quit their jobs because they could not work in a convenience store and sell cigarettes.
i know of a young man who was offered a scholarship to any college or university if he wanted to go to because of his football abilities.
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Rainbow_Troll
I would have liked to participate in more holiday activities in school like exchanging Christmas gifts and Valentines. I really wanted to, but there were JW kids who would have told on me if I did.
I think my most shameful memory in this regard was when I was in sixth grade. A boy in my class handed me a Valentine card and said: "I know I shouldn't do this this because you're a JW, but here you go." I was both flattered and surprised. This was the first and only valentine I had ever received! I was probably blushing like a rose. I wanted to say thank you and give him something in exchange, but I didn't dare.
That boy could have been my friend. A REAL friend who would not have tossed me aside like my JW 'friends' did a few years later. I still regret it, but I did learn something from this incident. Ever since I've always spoken from the heart and never censored myself in fear of what others might think.
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Why do trolls do what they do?
by Londo111 ini truly don't understand the mindset of a troll.
i know it's been explained, but i still don't get it.
it is hard to distinguish between a troll and a jw apologist at times because the reactions are very similar.
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Rainbow_Troll
We're bored.
Also, the complacency, self righteousness, and utter lack of curiosity of most humans drives us to create conflict and mayhem where once reigned peace and bovine contentment.
I'll admit our methods are rather harsh, but our goal is a noble one. We're very much like the Shadows in Babylon 5. We play devil's advocate and criticize 'common sense' only because we want people to think for themselves. We forment conflicts because war gets people off their ass and forces them to improvise; to think creatively.
Without trolls, there would be no genuine thought or creativity on internet discussion boards. It would just be a bunch of self-assured boors agreeing with one another and laughing at anyone who thinks differently.
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Morality Without Deity
by cofty inone 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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Rainbow_Troll
How can there be any moral absolutes without a God? I have heard this question from so many theists. A better question is: How can there be any moral absolutes with a God? If God is the ultimate arbiter of right and wrong then there can be no moral absolutes. If God says murder your own child (like with Abraham), then this becomes the right thing to do in that particular situation. If 'right' is simply whatever God wills, then whatever God wills is right. 'God is good' means only that God wills what he wills. If God is truly good (in any meaningful, non-tautological sense of that word) then he is good because he obeys a set of moral principles external to himself.
No ethical theory I'm aware of is totally absolute. Even so, theistic morality has to be the most arbitrary ethical system conceivable. Utilitarianism, Confucianism, virtue ethics, social contract theory, all contain more absolutes than theist morality.
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22
Absolute moral standards and fiction.
by The Rebel innot all beliefs are worthy of respect, but when we read a book of fiction in my mind it's easier to travel outside ourselves and our absolute moral standards.
fiction allows our imagination to be free.
i haven't read " fifty shades of grey" but i read " romeo and juliet" at school,and juliet was 13, romeo i believe was supposedly around 18 or 19.
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Rainbow_Troll
While Romeo & Juliet is fiction, it was pretty normal for men in their late teens/early twenties to marry young teenage girls in Shakespeare's time. That was a case of art imitating life.
A better example might be the Marquis de Sade's writings since most of the behavior his heroes and heroines engage in would be condemned in almost any society or era. And yes, it is much easier to empathize (is that the right word? Maybe 'grok' would be a better term.) with evil people when we know they are fictional. Partially because fiction is a context in which normal social rules do not apply (at least in this country free speech has always been protected), but also because, in fiction, we get to experience everything from behind the bad guy's eyes. The nature of the medium makes it impossible to not identify with the villain to some degree.
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Rainbow_Troll
None of those make any sense at all.
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50
Eagerly anticipating the death of billions!
by stuckinarut2 insurely someone who eagerly looks forward to the death of billions of people (including babies and children) is not emotionally healthy?.
yet, that is the key belief "happily" anticipated by witnesses.... food for thought?.
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Rainbow_Troll
I don't think many JWs actually look forward to it, but they pretend to. I know that when I was a kid I feared armageddon - not only the projected catastrophes and mass death - but I also wasn't so sure I would survive either. So I was afraid, but I pretended I wasn't and acted as if I knew I would survive and inherit the kingdom and live forever.
This fear also drove me to witness to all the kids at my school. It was the only way I could justify befriending anyone. Otherwise why bother getting emotionally attached to people I knew would die horrendous deaths in the near future?
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Attitude in Kingdom Hall vs. in church
by Yesu Kristo Bwana Wangu inso, today i went to a different church than the jw's for the first time in over three years.. it is a protestant african church.
my first thoughts: for people who are 'trapped in babylon the great (according to watchtower) these people really seem genuingly happy and sincere in their adoration for god.
what a freedom compared to the witnesses!
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Rainbow_Troll
I did a lot of church shopping after leaving the WT and even though I never settled on one I don't regret the experience at all because it helped me to understand why some people do enjoy going to church.
For starters, the children were much better behaved than at any KH I have attended. They either stayed quiet or they went off to Sunday School and did their thing there. Compare that to the KH where the little kids do nothing but scream and cry (who can blame them, really?) and then, in response, their parents do something that has always seem inexplicable to me: they take the poor kid into the restroom and spank him, causing him to cry and scream even louder!
Another thing I noticed was that the sermons generally didn't last over 45 minutes and after that they would actually do other things like choir practice (where they teach you HOW to sing) and volunteer work (Christians actually helping the poor and needy? What's up with that?). There were also games, after school youth programs, and one church even had a singles night for anyone who wanted to enjoy the company of the opposite sex (Oh the horror! The scandal! )
The closest thing I experienced to a KH was a Mormon Chapal. The Sunday service there lasted 2 hours and everyone wore a suit; yet even this was better than the KH. The Mormons still believe in charity. They have activities for singles. And after the main service all the men get together in another room and have discussion about the Bible and theology where you can literally say anything and not be denounced as a heretic (at least that was my experience, though I've heard otherwise from ex-mormons).
Think: the Kingdom Hall is so boring that it makes regular church look exciting by comparison.
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Russia to liquidate Jehovah's Witnesses' organization
by processor inhttp://starconnectmedia.com/2017/01/19/russia-gets-go-ahead-to-liquidate-jehovahs-witnesses-organisation/.
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Rainbow_Troll
You would think that by now politicians would have learned that persecution only encourages religious fanaticism. It's history's most obvious lesson.
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Promise Keepers
by schnell in"real men keep their promises.".
i remember that bumper sticker from the 90s when i was a teenager in texas.
i didn't know it was attached to a kind of cult.. this article is 14 years old, and may well have appeared on this site before, but i'd like to reference it anyway because i see parallels, of course.. whatever happened to the promise keepers?.
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Rainbow_Troll
Wise men don't make promises.