Posts by CyrusThePersian

9

God Works in Mysterious Ways

by purplesofa in

jw
friends

or is it how we react to what happens to us?

how we make lemonade out of lemons?.

purps.

CyrusThePersian

God does indeed work in mysterious ways...in fact, EXACTLY like Random Chance.

Hmmm...

CyrusThePersian

44

1995 The Year That Saw A Turning Point

by The wanderer in

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friends

1995 the year that saw a turning pointduring the 1980s, the thought that this generation will not pass until all .

of these events occur was the watchtowers theme.

the countdown .

CyrusThePersian

1995 was THE big turning point for me! I remember 1975 but I was just a teenager back then so I didn't pay much attention to that but the 1995 generation change was HUGE. I remember it well, I was an elder but already having a few doubts, mainly due to the internet and what I was learning there.

I had told my (now ex) wife a few years before that the society would one day have to change their 1914 generation teaching if Armageddon didn't come soon. She all but accused me of apostacy, (if only she had known). But when that article came out, I didn't gloat. I was simply struck by the fact that the so-called "Faithful and Discreet Slave" was in fact neither faithful nor discreet. It was right there, right at that moment, that I decided to quit, or "fade" as we call it now, so I wouldn't lose contact with my family. I resigned or "stepped down" as an elder in January of 1996 and quit going completely by that summer. About a year or so later, my wife left me for another elder (a whole other story there) and I moved 200 miles away from my home town to live where I am today, so yep, BIG turning point there!

CyrusThePersian

3

LED Lighting - Part 3

by Jim_TX in

jw
friends

well, it's been a while now (like 2 months), and i am still using the led lights.

i've added a feature though - so that i do not have to use the alligator clip to turn it on and off.

yuppers - i've added an infrared (ir) switch to it.

CyrusThePersian

Pretty darn cool, too. We have about three or four IR controllers in the house (as do most people), and all I need to do to turn the LED lights on is aim the IR controller at the 'box', and click a button - any button - and the LEDs turn ON (or OFF).

This system sounds so cool! I think in the statement above you may have hit on your problem. infrared light is everywhere. What you need to do I think, is design a device that only responds to a specific IR code like a TV does.

Keep us posted on this great idea!

CyrusThePersian

19

The Question Of ReligionThe Question of Atheism

by The wanderer in

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friends

the question of religionthe question of atheism recently, i posted some thoughts and questions about atheism and after having .

read some of the individual thoughts on that thread it is understandable why some.

individuals on both sides feel the way they do.

CyrusThePersian

However, my biggest fear about both is becoming “locked” into a belief system
that does not allow for other views and perspectives on different subject matters.
If questions or disagreements are raised about either perspective, the individual
is subjected to insults or ridicule.

That's your Jehovah's Witness background talking. Being free of the borg means that you never need to be "locked" into any belief system. While it's true that sometimes a person may be subject to ridicule no matter what he or she believes, the freedom to believe what you want and to discuss it among others, both those who agree and those who disagree, is a fundamental freedom.

Therefore, I keep an open mind on a subject allowing for other possibilities

Here we definitely agree. In my own life's journey from that narrow cramped road of Jehovah's Witnesses, I investigated all sorts of religious thought and it occured to me that if there is a god and he wants us to serve him why didn't he make the way clear? Why is he playing a game of "Choose the Right Religion" out of 10,000 possibilities? That's when I began to read about the scientific breakthroughs that we have made. Evolutionary biology tells us how we got here. Sociology tells us why we act the way we do and even why so many of us need religion. To me the things that scientific investigation have discovered are far more intriguing than the "God done it" explanation of religion.

Open-mindness is necessary for science. Closed-mindness is the hallmark of fundamentalism, like the Witnesses.

CyrusThePersian

64

Why do dubs act as if 1975 wasn't failed prophesy or misleading?

by NotaNess in

from the evidence i have found, it was all but etched in stone.

so why try and defend the wts by saying "they never stated armageddon would be in 1975", as one witness tried to throw back at me.. seems that you could show them all the evidence in the world of this false organization, and it will repel right off them.

is there some sort of "force field" kool-aid they're serving at the halls?.

CyrusThePersian

Actually, the society did make a kinda, sorta back-handed apology for the mess made by 1975. Ray Franz mentioned it in Crisis of Conscience, Faced with declining numbers after 1975 the society voted to issue at least some acknowledgement of its error. This was done in the 3-15-80 Watchtower, cleverly hidden in an article entitled "Choosing the Best Way of Life" and in a convention talk with the same title:

Watchtower 3/15/80 Choosing the Best Way of Life

"In modern times such eagerness, commendable in itself, has led to attempts at setting dates for the desired liberation from the suffering and troubles that are the lot of persons throughout the earth. With the appearance of the book LifeEverlasting—inFreedomoftheSonsofGod, and its comments as to how appropriate it would be for the millennial reign of Christ to parallel the seventh millennium of man’s existence, considerable expectation was aroused regarding the year 1975. There were statements made then, and thereafter, stressing that this was only a possibility. Unfortunately, however, along with such cautionary information, there were other statements published that implied that such realization of hopes by that year was more of a probability than a mere possibility. It is to be regretted that these latter statements apparently overshadowed the cautionary ones and contributed to a buildup of the expectation already initiated"

1980 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witneses- Pages 30-31

"The brothers also appreciated the candor of this same talk, [Choosing the Best Way of Life] which acknowledged the Society’s responsibility for some of the disappointment a number felt regarding 1975"

CyrusThePersian

5

Kurt Vonnegut dies at 84

by CaptainSchmideo in

jw
friends

and in his memory, i want to be first to say this statement:.

kurt's in heaven, now...".

if you haven't read his last book, you won't "get" that sentence.

CyrusThePersian

"...so it goes"

4

Hubble spy telescope for US government or strictly heavenly bodies?

by frankiespeakin in

jw
friends

well what do you think?

how do we know where it is pointed all the time, is it out there or dooes it zoom in on the earth and to provide inteligents information on who ever big brother wants?

is big brother snooping?

CyrusThePersian

Isn't the Vatican in charge of the Hubble? No images can be released without Vatican consent? I'm probably wrong

I'm afraid you are wrong. NASA is in charge of the Hubble Space Telescope, along with the ESA (European Space Agency) All images made by Hubble are eventually released to the public.

Some data are proprietary—that is, available only to the Principal Investigator (PI), the person who originally requested time to use the Hubble, and astronomers designated by him—for one year after being taken. The PI can apply to the director of the Space Telescope Science Institute to extend or reduce this time period in some circumstances.

Observations made on Director's Discretionary Time are exempt from the proprietary period, and are released to the public immediately.

The website to view Hubble data is http://archive.stsci.edu/hst

Well what do you think? How do we know where it is pointed all the time, is it out there or dooes it zoom in on the earth and to provide inteligents information on who ever big brother wants? Is big brother snooping?

The Hubble Space Telescope is not designed for earth observation. It literally cannot be pointed at earth and take any meaningful images. That's not to say, however that there aren't plenty of other satellite platforms out there keeping an eye on us, as JimTX pointed out, just not Hubble.

CyrusThePersian

77

Who here are basically athiest now???

by What-A-Coincidence in

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friends

*raises hand.

a few interesting quotes:.

"religions are all alike - founded upon fables and mythologies.

CyrusThePersian

Exactly cyrus! Thanks for your devastatingly logical thoughts

Thanks! I appreciate that!

While we are on the subject can someone
explain to me, "What exactly is an atheist?"

"Atheist" basically means "without god". Atheism carries with it no creeds or belief systems. As such, an atheist sees no need to appease a non-existant god and can feel free to to choose his or her own goals for a satisfying life. To me, atheism means freedom of thought which, IMHO, is very positive and desirable.

CyrusThePersian

77

Who here are basically athiest now???

by What-A-Coincidence in

jw
friends

*raises hand.

a few interesting quotes:.

"religions are all alike - founded upon fables and mythologies.

CyrusThePersian

While we are doing quotes...

"I don't believe in God for the same reason I don't believe in Mother Goose." -Clarence Darrow

To me, it's a perfectly tenable position to say that the God idea is self-evidently ridiculous just like Darrow said. Christians instantly disregard the notion that Thor or Zeus or Mother Goose or Santa Claus are real and not just figments of the imagination, so why can't we regard the Christian God the same way? After all, what evidence do you have that Jehovah created the earth and not Zeus? or Zoroaster? or the tribal gods of the Choctaw Indians?

So basically, I'm an atheist because no more evidence supports the Christian god than supports any other man-made diety. There is actually no evidence that a god-as portrayed by any religion-exists.

CyrusThePersian

60

Does The Memorial Mean ANYTHING To You???

by minimus in

jw
friends

just wondering.

CyrusThePersian

Hi!

This Memorial is very special to me-

It marks the tenth anniversary of my not attending.

Cyrus The Persian