Reasonfirst

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Posts by Reasonfirst

• 
  32

  Life in a spiritual (UN)-paradise

  by Reasonfirst in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a long, long time ago, when i was young, i became a 'special' pioneer.

  it meant that i had to spend 150 hours a month, and i received a small allowance.

  i was then assigned to a small country congregation, in western nsw (australia).

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  Reasonfirst

  OK, I'm assigned to this country town, where everyone knew nearly everything about everyone else. My assigned partner, a Bro J. was about my age and also came from Sydney. He had spent some weeks at his parents home, before I was assigned as his partner. So we travelled to this country town by train, arriving there early in the morning. A few people were on the station when the train arrived, including a group of youths.

  As we got off the train, they spotted bro. J and one yelled out, Hey! J, is your mate M. still fukking the XXXX girl???

  Australia was still somewhat conservative about sexual matters in those days, and topics like that were usually whispered about, not shouted out in public. Bro.J answered non-committedly, and hurried me out of the station.

  So finally, I knew what had happened to my predecessor. I knew him, of course, and had actually spoken to him a few weeks before. I'd asked him why he'd come back to Sydney and stopped pioneering, after only about 6 months in that assignment. He'd been very guarded in his answers.

  Still, not bad for a Sp. Pioneer, not only getting to know a non-jw girl (a local Bank manager's daughter), but shagging her as well.
• 
  32

  Life in a spiritual (UN)-paradise

  by Reasonfirst in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a long, long time ago, when i was young, i became a 'special' pioneer.

  it meant that i had to spend 150 hours a month, and i received a small allowance.

  i was then assigned to a small country congregation, in western nsw (australia).

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  Reasonfirst

  fulano (and others) - this was in the 1960's. And, apart from occasional invites to a meal by individual people, there were no organised 'special reward' activities.

  Drearyweather. A good question, that involves not just an individual (like me) but the whole religious concept. In deciding to post these experiences, I intended to discuss that aspect as a final post.

  This period (I think I was about 22) was somewhat formative in my life. And, of course, I was following the 'official' line of thinking and acting.
• 
  32

  Life in a spiritual (UN)-paradise

  by Reasonfirst in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a long, long time ago, when i was young, i became a 'special' pioneer.

  it meant that i had to spend 150 hours a month, and i received a small allowance.

  i was then assigned to a small country congregation, in western nsw (australia).

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  Reasonfirst

  I was only the latest Sp. Pioneer to be assigned to try and help this small part of the so-called 'spiritual paradise.'

  Two women Sp. Pioneers had been sent there a few years before me. One of them was Sister A.

  Suitable accommodation was always a problem in country towns like this, and these two found a room in an old, former catholic monastery, that was mainly housing dead-beats. Coming home after a days H2H work, they often had to step over one of those sort of guys who would be dead-drunk in the hall way.

  So just how Sister A, got involved with a man that spent most of the time drunk, I don't know. But get involved she did, and married the guy. In time the marriage deteriorated and he would bash her up. I'm not sure how this ended up. But i guess it was all part of living in a spiritual paradise.
• 
  32

  Life in a spiritual (UN)-paradise

  by Reasonfirst in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a long, long time ago, when i was young, i became a 'special' pioneer.

  it meant that i had to spend 150 hours a month, and i received a small allowance.

  i was then assigned to a small country congregation, in western nsw (australia).

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  Reasonfirst

  thank U scary 21

  Another member of this small country congregation was Sister I, who lived in a condition of constant depression and who seldom spoke. Why? Well, some years before, her son had been hospitalised and the medical staff wanted to give him a blood transfusion. Advised by the congregation, Sister I said NO!

  But the boy died, and the whole town (then numbering about 3000) turned against her, leading to her depressed condition..

  Some years later, when I was no longer in that area, I heard that Sister I, had committed suicide.
• 
  32

  Life in a spiritual (UN)-paradise

  by Reasonfirst in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a long, long time ago, when i was young, i became a 'special' pioneer.

  it meant that i had to spend 150 hours a month, and i received a small allowance.

  i was then assigned to a small country congregation, in western nsw (australia).

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  Reasonfirst

  A long, long time ago, when I was young, I became a 'special' pioneer. What was so 'special' ? It meant that I had to spend 150 hours a month, and I received a small allowance.

  I was then assigned to a small country congregation, in western NSW (Australia).

  In those days the WTS talked a lot about the JW org, being a spiritual paradise.

  So what was this part of the spiritual paradise like? I'm going to describe what the experiences of people in this part of the spiritual paradise were like.

  There was one main family in this part of the paradise, But by this time only the Grand mother, mother and a daughter attended meetings. The husband had once been the Congregation Servant (this was before elders). Then during a Circuit Servants (another out-of-date term) visit, something the husband had done caused the CS to want to remove him as Congregation Servant, So the Circuit Servant waited to the last day of the visit, gave the main talk, then during the WT study, drove to that family's home, broke in, and removed the congregation records. Wow! when this was discovered, that was the end of the husband's theocratic career.

  But wait, that's just the beginning of this story .......... !
• 
  8

  Gods on Paper and Stage

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  were the works of homer, aeschylus, sophocles, etc.

  acting blasphemously when creating their works of fiction because they included the gods in the stories?

  when homer placed dialog into athena's mouth, was he wrong to use his creativity to make her come alive for an audience?

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  Reasonfirst

  And, for even more complicated thinking try Allen Brent's, A Political History of Early Christianity, in which Brent tries to piece together the changing ideas which eventually led to Constantine's conversion and 'that' particular version of early Christianity become the official state religion of his empire, and many subsequent empires and individual states.

  I wont try to discuss his arguments, it get's too complicated.
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  45

  Isaiah 40:29-31 and Being Gay

  by IWant2Know in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i'm new here and i have perhaps an unusual question.

  it's just something that i would like to know from ex's or formers rather than from other jehovah's witnesses.

  but i would like to know what your experience and your struggle was for former jws who were gay when they were jws.

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  Reasonfirst

  IW2K: Quote: "Well, that's fascinating. Also, I had never heard of that before. Plus, thank you for your comments."

  It's an interesting topic, involving B.O.Y. creative abilities, intentions and whether or not he exists. Christian reasoning places low value on sex, but it remains as one of basic motivations in human life.

  Anyway, I've had enough to say. But, if you were fascinated by the Japanese women who studied gay men's relationships (they called themselves 'fujoshi,' which can be translated as 'spoiled' or even 'rotten' women.)

  I wonder what you'll make of Haesindang Park in South Korea. Wikipedia (for convenience) describes the park:

  Quote: "Haesindang Park (해신당 공원), also called Penis Park, is a park located on the east coast of South Korea, in a city called Samcheok, ... in Gangwon Province. The park is noted for its number of phallic statues. The collection created by Korean artists displays various forms of "hanging arrangements to three-meter tall trunks of wood", for joy, spirituality and sexuality. A small Folk Museum titled "Village Folk Museum" has exhibits of art objects on the "sex iconography" over ages in different cultures, shamanic ritual."

  Check out the images:

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haesindang_Park

  and, https://www.wandering-traveler.com/penis-park-korea/

  and, https://lateralmovements.com/penis-park-haesindang-south-korea/

  Don't blame me, I didn't plan that park

  
  

  
  
• 
  45

  Isaiah 40:29-31 and Being Gay

  by IWant2Know in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i'm new here and i have perhaps an unusual question.

  it's just something that i would like to know from ex's or formers rather than from other jehovah's witnesses.

  but i would like to know what your experience and your struggle was for former jws who were gay when they were jws.

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  Reasonfirst

  I've been reminded that I did not really give a direct answer to some of IW2K's questions, which were ...

  Quote: " Was your struggle difficult or nearly impossible, or did you just decide that the struggle wasn't worth it, and you decided that you just didn't want to do this anymore? Also, did you feel that you experienced Isaiah 40:29-31, or did you feel that you didn't and that you had a much more tremendous struggle compared to heterosexual JWs? "

  I called my friend for his answer, and again (as with most things human) his comments were not concise. But summing up he felt that that the whole religious experience was pointless.

  He said there were many good things about his religious experience with the Jws! There were many happy times. But in the end he badly hurt someone he loved, and also badly hurt his children. He sometimes hates himself for this. In fact, when first 'outed' he planned suicide*, and came close to killing himself.

  Why didn't he? Purely by accident, one day he stopped to assists a young Asian guy who looked seriously troubled. He got involved with the young man, found he was also gay, but an illegal migrant. In helping him, he came to understand himself better, fell in love with him - and they are still together some 3 decades on.

  So a short answer to your questions IW2K, is that it was not worth it, and he wishes he'd never heard of the bible, religion etc.

  *Research has found that attempted suicide rates and suicidal ideation among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth are significantly higher than among the general population.[1][2]
  

  Slurce: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_among_LGBT_youth
• 
  54

  Is AI going to change the world?

  by Reasonfirst in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  had lunch with a friend, whose a lecturer in the accounting dept.

  of one of australia's best universities.

  he told me he expects to lose his job at some point in the next 5 years, as the accounting dept, will disappear, as all accounting will be done by ai programs, so why teach it.. if his fears are correct, that means that any profession that involves the mind, may one day face the same future.

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  Reasonfirst

  Maybe this will become a problematical area for AI.

  https://asiatimes.com/2023/11/ai-plus-robotics-equals-fierce-new-weaponry/

  Imagine armed AI+ robots cruising the streets as police auxiliaries?

  Imagine an AI+robot in the hands of crime gangs?
• 
  54

  Is AI going to change the world?

  by Reasonfirst in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  had lunch with a friend, whose a lecturer in the accounting dept.

  of one of australia's best universities.

  he told me he expects to lose his job at some point in the next 5 years, as the accounting dept, will disappear, as all accounting will be done by ai programs, so why teach it.. if his fears are correct, that means that any profession that involves the mind, may one day face the same future.

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  Reasonfirst

  Another development:

  AI system self-organizes to develop features of brains of complex organisms

  Date:

  November 20, 2023

  Source:

  University of Cambridge

  Summary:

  Scientists have shown that placing physical constraints on an artificially-intelligent system -- in much the same way that the human brain has to develop and operate within physical and biological constraints -- allows it to develop features of the brains of complex organisms in order to solve tasks

  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/11/231120124246.htm

  
  

  
  

  Quote:

  With their system, however, the physical constraint meant that the further away two nodes were, the more difficult it was to build a connection between the two nodes in response to the feedback. In the human brain, connections that span a large physical distance are expensive to form and maintain.

  When the system was asked to perform the task under these constraints, it used some of the same tricks used by real human brains to solve the task. For example, to get around the constraints, the artificial systems started to develop hubs -- highly connected nodes that act as conduits for passing information across the network.

  More surprising, however, was that the response profiles of individual nodes themselves began to change: in other words, rather than having a system where each node codes for one particular property of the maze task, like the goal location or the next choice, nodes developed a flexible coding scheme.