Bugbear

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Posts by Bugbear

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  18

  Improving Critical Thinking Skills

  by GloomySunday in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm out of the jw religion, but still have trouble thinking critically.

  when i was in, i had no idea what a logical fallacy was, i used all sorts of false arguments, yes, even "if man evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?".

  i would fall for just about everything.

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  Bugbear

  If you want to study the subject on a higher level (University) you could start with book from the UK. The book is written by Richard Feldman and named: Reason and Argument , publisher is Prentice Hall 1998. >This book is very expensive, but if you are eager to find Reason and Argument, I think it is a good start to become a Philosofer. Bugbear
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  62

  The Bible and it's promise of Heaven and various other things

  by confusedandalone in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  now in no way am i trying to discredit anyones beliefs or make fun, but once you get to heaven what is the plan once you get there.. of course, we always overlay extremely physical things upon the experience of heaven... milk and honey... ruiling over the earth etc... truthful the whole idea sounds so boring / mundane /monotonous.

  spending all of eternity serving god by carry messages here and there?.

  watching humans... i guess spending time with family that are also there and reminiscing.

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  Bugbear

  For thousands and thosands of years humans have had the Idea of a god. No other explanation of life were at hands.Muslims pray (if they are not secularized) 5 times (or8?) a day. Chatolics pray every day in their churches. Pentacoast people pray in tounges. Many africans pray to a stone or some figure they believe is a God. Pharaones had the idea that they should unite withtheir ancestors. Socrates belived he should unite with the heavenly gods. It seams to me that the idea of a god, was un evolutionary necessaryidea to make humans sustain in live and to keep the next generation with some hope. Not one of all these prayers can ve.s.s.frify that one singleprayer have been heard by god.

  300 hundred years ago some clever men and women, discoverd the absolute absence of a god. Many of them became deist. (God is absent)some of them become Pietists (god is whitin my heard and I have a personal feeling that I can speak to god with my heart) Today we know that god is not necessary for life. And less and less people feel the need of praying. Why continue to pray to someone who hasn´t heard you for at least 6000 years. This despite from which religion the prayers come. Humans are stucked up with ideas they have learned from their fathers, mothers, teachers, mullahs, preast. And they are stucked up with what they WANT to belive. Look at JW:s. They still believe in that there are some truth in what the GB says. Some people also believe in what the Bible says. I feel pity for all humans.

  Bugbear
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  35

  How would YOU explain cognitive disonance to a Jehovahs Witness on your doorstep

  by smiddy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  seriously , in plain simple language that the most thick headed jw would understand.. and what examples would you use.. smiddy.

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  Bugbear

  Mum in Tunisia:

  Youy are quite raight. Humans believe wath the want to belive. Their understanding of life makes them a sort of a comfort I sometimes think that it is better for them to stand fast and keep on believing what the they belive. Do we have an alternative? I am an atheist very confirmed in my beliving. But my alternative is death. Can all humans take that?

  Bugbear
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  35

  How would YOU explain cognitive disonance to a Jehovahs Witness on your doorstep

  by smiddy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  seriously , in plain simple language that the most thick headed jw would understand.. and what examples would you use.. smiddy.

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  Bugbear

  JW:s (some of them) say they believe in the Bible. The Bible contains a lot of crap of misinformation, one if the most serious one in the time schedule.

  If only 8 persons survived the flood 4.300 years ago, how come that the Egyptians could build the enormous pyramids and other buildings, only one 100 years after the flood? (The old Kingdom of Egypt is securely dated in every way to that period).(In fact the Sumerer kingdom is even older and secure with handwritings f.ex. The Gilgamesh eposes, which tells another story of the flood.) History facts found in later days have convinced scholars that the Bible could only be red in a literary way. What knowledge have the GB that is superior the knowledge of the united university all over the world?

  Bugbear
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  8

  Foreign language groups

  by dissonance_resolved in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  foreign language groups are the fastest growing groups of jws in the western world.

  the best and brightest jws are drawn to them for the privileges, the challenge, the feeling of being special.

  but in my experience, being in one of these groups has a side effect.

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  Bugbear

  In the northern part of Europe, almost every active publisher , are trying to “hang on” to some publisher who knows something of another language. Everyone knows the native people are if not negative, but in fact hostile to JW:s. Therefore you must find a foreigner or fugitive from some remote country, if you at least want say a few words. Life is not easy for those who is still carry on their preaching

  Bugbear
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  62

  7/15 WT- Insane, Far Fetched, Narcissistic "New Light " about the FDS

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know this article has been discussed, re-hashed upside down in past threads.

  but there were at least 2 points i discovered in here that i felt were pertinent and important to bring out concerning the total control and narcissistic tendencies that these wt leaders possess on the governing body, i.e.

  alleged " faithful slave " .

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  Bugbear

  I feel sorry for the GB. They believe, that they and only they are the true interpreters of the wholly word the Bible. This takes them into a trap, from which they never can back. They can´t deny what is written in this book. Everything of what is said about slavery, homosexuality, women, blood, and the Old testaments sacrifying of animals and the cruelty of this god – still stands there. Theologies have had problem with this book in or about 1700 hundreds of years. Trying to explain how a merciful and loving caring god could kill the worlds entire population except for 8 people, 4300 years ago. And trying to explain why he will kill the rest of 8 billion people in Armageddon, except for his true believers.

  This book “the Bible” is nothing but a mirror of an ancient time, with totally different values and understanding. You could read it as a time document, a very interesting such, but you must understand that in this ancient time people had not the same understanding of human values, and did not understand “the creation” in the same way as modern research has forced us to do.

  Hanging on to the books values will continuously, take the GB to more and more problem. Trying to explain all the odd things from the book with “new Light” will reduce their dignity and credability, till the whole society collapse.

  BUGBEAR
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  97

  Are You Interested In Religion Of Any Sort At This Point In Your Life?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  personally, i respect that everyone has choices to believe whatever they want to believe.

  i have no interest in joining another religion....what about you?.

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  Bugbear

  I think that if you would like to understand the human nature, you should be interested in all religions. In fact a waste majority of humans do confess themselves to some sort of religion. This naturally depending on where you are born or your social environment. I have found an author who lived as a catholic nun for more then 10 years. She wasent sure that her choice was ringth, and therfore started to study the history of all religions. Today she is a professor at Oxford university in religionpsycologi. Her name is Karen Armstrong. She has written many books about her experiencies. I think her books help us understanding why almost all humans confess themselves to all these mad ideas.

  Bugbear
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  32

  exJW Psychology 104--One Way to Play the Depression Card

  by Billy the Ex-Bethelite in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had an interesting conversation with bobby (*some names have been changed) last weekend.

  he's also a successful fader going back several years before me.

  but i found we had something in common that i hadn't realized.. bobby had never been particularly happy growing up.

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  Bugbear

  I feel like you, even though I never went to Bethel. But I was an elder (a popular one) in the circuit. I had a wife and 6 children, was constantantly engeged as a speacher. always engaged in DC prep. I run a business with employees, and I was always ON. This til I totally collapsed and was taken to a hospital. On this hospital I slept for a week. After this week a doctor came and sat by my side discussion why this blackout happened.

  I explained my situation. , being a father, being an elder, running a business a.s.f. The doctor said no wunder your brain cut of the information channel. when I brain is loded with so much information and responsibilide, the fuse will broke, or alternative you heart will stop soner or later from a heart attach.

  He said: son, from now on -slow down, skip every not necesseary engagement, do not care on what others expect from you. You have a deep and profound depression, and this will grow even more if you try to comply with other desire.

  Bugbear
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  34

  Food For Logical Thought...

  by braincleaned in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  sometimes we waste hours and hours debating a subject like the flood, and the impossible scientific and evolutionary consequences that it entails.

  we go into great debates about how all of is is possible, what a "kind" means (species, obviously not)... etc.... but believers will not stop believing... so here is something even a child would think of more logically:if god is all powerful and love why would he have not just made the wicked drop dead, painlessly?

  simply, humanly.

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  Bugbear

  Ingersoll said: Who would like to have a father who drowned his own children.

  Obviously JW, Christians and other like their killer father.

  Bugbear
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  27

  Education Double Standard

  by Tech49 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is the kind of thing that really burns me.. .

  wtbts holds out an extreme double standard in regards to education.

  most, if not all, of you know how they feel about obtaining an education past high school (in the u.s.).

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  Bugbear

  "They are simply irritated that others have surpassed them in the education department and this makes them feel inferior. They can't have this so they demonize education and want to drive the educated person away fron them."

  What the GB are fearing the most is people with "humanistic" education, such as History, Archeology, History of Science, Sociology, psyciatric. They also hate people who have from a professional wiev have studied "higher Biblecritisism". Everyone of these people can easily understand that the thesis of the BWTC, that the "wholy scriptures" is the Word of God, its noncence.

  They take the support of their theory, from very old ideas that todays research and science have proven false. And if they meet people with hard scientific facs they realize that their whole business operation are in danger. That is why they do not take part in public debates in media. They only want to speak to people who is nat aware or are undereducatd.

  Bugbear