Snare,
A better reponse to mine. I considered that, but if Butterfly sets the rules of engagement I don't see these grandparents respecting them. And considering their need to push their JW beliefs, this may be a non-starter. Butterfly????
Posts by DJS
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31Are my children in danger of being indoctrinated if I let them spend the night with their JW family?
by Butterflyleia85 inso... i'm writing because i have mixed feelings.
keeping my kids safe is my goal... until they are old enough to understand and reason on their own.
my mother gave me the tapes (that i gave her back in december) of combating mind control by steven hassan, saying that she didn't have a tape player... reminded me of three years ago when i gave her crisis of conscience by ray franz and she said it's to big book to read and she's not a reader.
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31
Are my children in danger of being indoctrinated if I let them spend the night with their JW family?
by Butterflyleia85 inso... i'm writing because i have mixed feelings.
keeping my kids safe is my goal... until they are old enough to understand and reason on their own.
my mother gave me the tapes (that i gave her back in december) of combating mind control by steven hassan, saying that she didn't have a tape player... reminded me of three years ago when i gave her crisis of conscience by ray franz and she said it's to big book to read and she's not a reader.
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DJS
Ditto to Cofty's suggestion.
2 types of worship???? Really Catface? Aren't there a few thousand Xtian beliefs alone? And why limit the kid to Xtians? If you are going down that road why not attend Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist churches?
I suggest allowing them to be chlldren and choose for themselves when they grow up as to whether they want to be religious. Butterfly you don't seem to be driven by theism, just afraid of the Borg's brand of theism. Would some or a lot of grandparents/family respect your views and not try to indoctrinate your kids with JW crap? Yes. Based on the experiences you have related it doesn't appear your family will follow that route. They will likely use the time available to turn your kids into little Dub-bots. Teach your children decency, honesty, kindness, generosity and ethics. Those are the important things and they have nothing to do with religion. And use your Sundays going to the park, hking, to mseums, movies or to the mall with your children. Make memories..
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30
Anyone been watchtower conductor
by Saltheart Foamfollower ini think there is a good chance i'm going to be asked to be the watchtower conductor.
on the one hand, i'll find it quite difficult some weeks having to go along with what is written.
on the other hand, there'll be opportunities to ask controversial questions (within limits).
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DJS
TheDog,
I understand. I got to that point before the Internet and all of its glory and before I completely knew that the Borg was a cult. I just knew I was sick of the control and the nonsensical 'study' articles. The contolling language made me see red. You have the luxury of this site and others and know quite well the Borg is completely crap. To you and those like you who remain in, for whatever reasons, my deep respect. I could never have done it.
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11
Huge Rise In US Religious Disaffiliation
by metatron inhttp://www.technologyreview.com/view/526111/how-the-internet-is-taking-away-americas-religion/.
an interesting analysis of the view that the internet is killing off religious affiliation.
at any rate, the trend is there, whatever the cause.. .
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DJS
Met,
Nice article. Nice analysis. I didn't know that the rise of the 'Net correlates so strongly to a decline in religiosity. The world wide web is a powerful tool. Thanks.
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23
MAS370 - Was it a Remote Hijacking?
by fulltimestudent inprofessor kevin barrett is not exactly the most trusted commentator you could find, but that, of course, just maybe because, there are people who want his views on 9/11 to be ignored.. anyway he's advanced a theory that the missing malaysian airlines plane was remotely hi-jacked.
in the absence of other evidence, it just maybe what happened.
to consider whether it did happen, we need to ask why it may have been hijacked?
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DJS
BOTR,
Of course it's in the pipeline. We have military personnel controlling large drones from thousands of miles away. The Global Hawk and the Predator have been conducting surveillance and firing hellfire missiles for a while, and they are doing it remotely. Recently a fighter jet was test flown remotely. So of course the technology could be applied to a 777. But it isn't currently and likely won't be for a while. And when it is the controls will be so encrypted and controlled that a kid with a cell phone, or Achmed in a cave, won't be able to 'capture' it. Be realistic people.
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30
Anyone been watchtower conductor
by Saltheart Foamfollower ini think there is a good chance i'm going to be asked to be the watchtower conductor.
on the one hand, i'll find it quite difficult some weeks having to go along with what is written.
on the other hand, there'll be opportunities to ask controversial questions (within limits).
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DJS
I agree with Oubilette. I occasionally conducted the WT and was the shool overseer for several years. I also gave more public talks than the other elders because people thought I was good at it. Once it became apparent to the BOE that I was becoming disillusioned with the Borg's controlling nonsense I think they watched me closely and probably began limiting my availability for public talks, etc. Which was a good thing. I'm transparent. I'm not a good actor. I couldn't contain my revulsion for the Borg's nonsense, and others saw it.
If you are a good actor, even if you can control your derision for all things Borg, sooner or later someone is going to question your loyalty. They won't likely discuss it with you, but they will discuss you behind your back. These will typically be other elders. You likely won't like the results, and neither will your family and those close to you. These are things, if you are a currently serving elder, you should already know and have experienced or seen at your congregation and others.
Move along. Quickly and quietly.
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Seriously? 2,000 years of continuously diverging opinion about "interpretation" isn't enough time to sort it out?
by suavojr inthe current jw's who are inside (the conscience class) will have to endure another year of jw's pretending to please jesus with their bad imitation of the lords supper.
2000 years of people who could never be sure they had "the truth.
" what are the chances it'll come out in the next 2000?.
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DJS
Snare and Xanthippe,
One of the primary reasons theism was so easy for us to accept (in addition to our family/culture) is that the bible's 'chronology' of the creation of Adam, which is a story that we thought fact, leads quite direclty and promptly to Abraham and others who have some historicity behind them. A logical leap, when we were Dubs, is that such a short span - of a few thousand years - for human existence readily explained how and why god communicated with us. We may have questioned it a bit, but the sequential linearity of it all kinda sorta made sense. When we were ignorant.
Since the Adam/Eve story is nothing but pure BS, one would think that the average ex-JW (yes I'm talking to you Kate) would put 2 and 2 together and realize that humans have been around in essentially our current form for at least 100,000 years and likely much, much longer. Where the eff was god for all those in the far distant past when they needed her? And considering how very very difficult it was to be a human on this inhospitable planet they certainly needed her, from a theist perspective.
IMHO, to continue to place unquestioning belief in such a deity, based on nothing more than the bible really, is delusional. And absent the bible, sentient beings (some of which are actually members of this site), should demand a lot more about such a god than simply 'believing.' Remove the bible and that is all that is left. Other than their mantras. Which nauseate me.
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11
Seriously? 2,000 years of continuously diverging opinion about "interpretation" isn't enough time to sort it out?
by suavojr inthe current jw's who are inside (the conscience class) will have to endure another year of jw's pretending to please jesus with their bad imitation of the lords supper.
2000 years of people who could never be sure they had "the truth.
" what are the chances it'll come out in the next 2000?.
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DJS
Snare,
IMHO this is a better support for evolution!!! To think that an all powerful, knowing god capable of creating the universe and all that is in it is only capable of speaking to his 'most' important creation through a few old men over a thousand or two years and in such a ridiculous, confusing, meaningless manner chock full of riddles as the bible???? I mean really, is this the BEST she can do? And what about all of those poor humans who lived before she had this mish mash written down? Unimportant? Or maybe god really is a guy and he has a double Y chromosome pattern which impacts his ability to communicate.
ANY theist who would give this seriousl thought for a few minutes would become an atheist (yes Kate I'm talking to you!).
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MAS370 - Was it a Remote Hijacking?
by fulltimestudent inprofessor kevin barrett is not exactly the most trusted commentator you could find, but that, of course, just maybe because, there are people who want his views on 9/11 to be ignored.. anyway he's advanced a theory that the missing malaysian airlines plane was remotely hi-jacked.
in the absence of other evidence, it just maybe what happened.
to consider whether it did happen, we need to ask why it may have been hijacked?
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DJS
FullTime
You make some good posts. This isn't one of them. You are risking not being taken seriously for this and a few other recent posts. Conduct a bit more research and you will see that this isn't feasible/doable.
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Largest Genome Ever Sequenced - and it's 82% Junk
by cofty inby developing new techniques, a team of scientists led by david neale at the university of california have succeeded in sequencing the genome of the loblolly pine pinus taeda.. the genome is 16 billion base pairs long - 7 times larger than the human genome.
so why does it take so much dna to make a tree?
well it turns out it doesn't.. the new sequence confirmed that the loblolly genome is so large because it is crammed full of invasive dna elements that copied themselves around the genome.
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DJS
Snare,
That's exactly what I was thinking. From a management standpoint, a similar "DNA" for corporations (and individuals within corporations) is "change or die." I actually did a research report on this years ago. Companies and individuals more capable (Junk DNA???) of quickly changing and adapting to workplace changes more often thrive. Others wither, leave or are replaced. Valid hypothesis. You've given me an idea for my doctoral dissertation. Thanks!