Posts by THE GLADIATOR

135

Why get "personal" when discussing a topic?

by Terry in

jw
friends

trading insults happens among kids all the time.. intellectual development hasn't progressed to the point where they can present contrary ideas and opinions with persuasive appeal to reasons, facts and logic.. "i know you are; but what am i?".

"your momma's so fat....".

so, they fall back on childish mocking, provocation and personal attack.. as we grow older and have more education and sophistication our minds should mature---or so you'd think!.

THE GLADIATOR

Well talesin I just looked at the post you refered to and remember the exchange at the beginning. It's an example of allowing someone to get to you rather than just ignoring their comment. On that thread I made a post that seems to apply to this thread, so I have put it here and added to it.

I started posting in my own name. I used to get into some heavy debates in those days and found that some people became abusive when they were called to account. When you post in your real name insults feels more personal. I felt that by posting as a gladiator in armour I could bang heads together and blame my alter ego. As it happens I have found that arguing, debating is often a waste of time, so I tend to use the gladiator as a figure of fun.

Perhaps more of us that rarely start threads should do so. It may help to stop the increasing dominance by threads that amount to nothing more than preaching; followed by the predictable counter arguments which generally become abusive. It would be good to see more threads that aim to help lurking Jehovah's Witnesses who are struggling to stay in the organization but don't know what to do next. Threads that offer a warm welcome and help to people experiencing what we went through years ago.

Salute

135

Why get "personal" when discussing a topic?

by Terry in

jw
friends

trading insults happens among kids all the time.. intellectual development hasn't progressed to the point where they can present contrary ideas and opinions with persuasive appeal to reasons, facts and logic.. "i know you are; but what am i?".

"your momma's so fat....".

so, they fall back on childish mocking, provocation and personal attack.. as we grow older and have more education and sophistication our minds should mature---or so you'd think!.

THE GLADIATOR

British Parliament houses a lot of ex-public school boys where such behaviour is par for the course.

It would seem that making personal attacks on a forum is the easiest way to get attention. It is also less effort to heckle than it is to construct a sensible argument and make a useful contribution. There are some here who use the forum to vent their personal frustrations, anger and disappointment.

Over the years I have been guilty of this. Afterwards I felt hollow and unsettled, so I try to be civil. The remarks we make will always be driven by our emotional state of mind, as we are human. We are not exactly the same person from day to day but move within our own range of emotions. The extent of that range can vary greatly from person to person.

I sometimes enjoy the cat and dog fights on fickle threads. It’s a shame when they ruin serious discussion on threads that could be sensible debate. Well thought out comments are drowned out by the noise. The risk is that sensitive people may be driven away from JWnet.

81

How Did You Become An Atheist?

by NewChapter in

jw
friends

since there seem to be a number of threads in this spirit, i'd like to ask how others became atheists.

for myself, i learned some things that made me understand the bible wasn't true.

i looked deeper, and it became even more unlikely.

THE GLADIATOR

still thinking This is true. Once we have an interest in something specific, our level of awareness increases.

What was always there, but we were unable to see, becomes apparent.

"I'm still not ruling out some sort of connection in the universe...but a god...I highly doubt it."

It is wise to keep an open mind. A closed mind learns nothing new.

81

How Did You Become An Atheist?

by NewChapter in

jw
friends

since there seem to be a number of threads in this spirit, i'd like to ask how others became atheists.

for myself, i learned some things that made me understand the bible wasn't true.

i looked deeper, and it became even more unlikely.

THE GLADIATOR

still thinking Thanks for sharing that. I too stopped praying long before I left the Watchtower Society. It was not a conscious decision.

I guess that deep down my sub-conscious mind had worked out the state of play and stopped emotionally motivating me to pray.

35

Offending Religion with Reality......

by AK - Jeff in

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THE GLADIATOR

“Which seems pretty stupid since you are the biggest supporters of Israel in the world. ”

It is precisely because the USA is the biggest supporter of Israel in the world that people are cautious about commenting on the increasing power of Jews in both Israel and the USA . It is accepted that Jews can publicly express their aversion to their children marrying unclean, uncircumcised gentiles. Make a negative comment about Jews and if you are in say, the entertainment industry, you may never work again. Mention that Jews are becoming too powerful and you will be compared to Hitler.

Just look at the fuss Jews are making in Germany because the government has recently ruled that child circumcision can only be carried out for medical reason. They intend to ignor the ruling. In the UK we are more outspoken about threats to our culture, yet the thought police are working on Brits to silence d issent .

8

Jehovah`s Witnesses are a religion of HATE . And God is a God of love

by smiddy in

jw
friends

does that sound harsh ?

well lets see now ,i was a faithful slave/servant/ member /volunteer (oops cant say that ) for 33 years , and i was taught to hate all that was bad , any and everything the watchtower said was bad , including my own shortcomings and sinful tendencies of youth , to be approved by jehovah i had to hate what was bad ,especially , false religion , not just any religion but false religion.

now while i had my ups and downs with my own imperfections ,sinfull state and desires of youth , i maintained a steadfast hatred of false religion.. now who were they saying was false religion , why it was the various jewish faiths (which jw`s had a foundation on ) certainly the eastern religions ,hinduism ,shintoism ,the islamic , definetly the african demonistic practices ,as well as the south american superstitious religions,in other words every religion other than the jehovah`s witnesses.. but they have a special hatred of christendom and an even more pronounced hatred of the catholic religion.

THE GLADIATOR

smiddy Perhaps the fault lies with the god that Jehovah's Witnesses follow; the vengeful Hebrew desert god Jehovah, who exacts exclusive devotion. They desire to develop the same judgemental personality, and hate to be challenged. Its all in the bible. They have described Jesus as an obedient angel. The man in sandals is too nice for them to follow, so they stick with the big sky daddy.

They do indeed hate false religion, failing to understand that all religion is false.

May your gods go with you.

38

The biggest enemy the Watchtower Corporation faces now is "The Truth"

by Finkelstein in

thats my opinion because the wts really has been preaching false information now for so long about the end times and armageddon soon.. also the doctrine that jesus chirt has taken a position over his earthly and heavenly kingdom in 1914 .... etc.

its been a winfall marketing scheme for such a long time, which now really doesn't have much leg to stand on.. time in conjunction with reality has made the wts's doctrines redundantly weak or useless more or less.. i'm even believing the leaders of the wts are even starting to know this for themselves.. the wts future and its main supporting pieces of literature, the watchtower and awake magazines may eventually be tossed aside.

for some new doctrines as well newly named pieces of literature .

THE GLADIATOR

The Watchtower Society is already altering to the new climate. Just two short meetings a week. No enforced hourly goal for ministry. Matters previously cast in stone are matters of conscience and this trend will continue. The magazines have been simplified and shrunk. In time they will have just one member’s only monthly magazine and leaflets for the public, they are almost there already.

As long as members turn up occasionally and buy a monthly magazine and a few annual books, the organization will continue to do well out of its 7,000,000 members plus bible studies. The easier it get, the more likely it is that members will stay.

This forum is a classic example of the mental gymnastic people will go through to hold onto impossible faith positions. Jehovah's Witnesses are well practiced at adjusting and compromising in order to cling to what they value. Hell, if it gets any easier - I may re-join!

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