Posts by StrongHaiku

303

The best reasonable, rational, intelligent discussion on religion I've ever seen

by TerryWalstrom in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl6e4emx-4k

StrongHaiku

I like to believe that "religion" will eventually be redefined as what it is; stories and metaphors from people who knew very little about nature and the cosmos. Humans are storytellers and we will continue to tell stories in word and art. But, I like to believe that modernity will continue to move "religion" to the confines of storytelling and strip off its unchallenged authority.

I dearly hope that "religion" will lose it's privileged status and that faith will stop being a virtue. Otherwise, in a thousand years we'll be fighting "holy" wars on who shot first, "Han Solo or Greedo"...

But, then again, I could be wrong... (said by no one ever in the GB)

71

Are we heading for III World War?

by abiather in

the leaders of russia, germany, france and ukraine are slated to meet in minsk (the belarusian capital) tomorrow to discuss a ukrainian peace plan!

some countries such as hollande believe there is going to be a total war.

when they met last year in the same place, they had put forward a peace plan (a ceasefire, withdrawal of artillery, prisoner exchanges and other concessions) that were never fully implemented!

StrongHaiku

Eschatology, gotta love it. It always seems to me that it is less about "prophecy" and "serving God" and more of a coping mechanism for the day-to-day problems people encounter in real life. It seems to comfort people who can't deal with their anger at big and small injustices. "You put too much sugar in my coffee. Ha, ha... Someday you will pay for that at 'Armageddon'. See who laughs last...That'll show you."

Eschatology smacks to me like destruction porn for the impotent and insecure.

25

Do the Rank & File JW's REALLY read and understand the bible to be able to REALLY start a study with someone???

by ADJUSTMENTS in

i believe the average rank & file are illiterate when it come to the bible because they are so used to using the wbats cliff notes... even though i believe the bible is a fiction novel, at least be able to explain a novel you hold is such high regard: i mean jesus!!!

.

StrongHaiku

I used to remember all of the books of the Bible by singing them out. For the Old-Testament book use "This Old Man" ("With a knick knack paddy wack...") and for the NT use "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". I've been out 25 years and that still works. ;-)

21

Giving comments at meetings that cause cognitive dissonance while keeping yourself below elder radar for apostasy

by Brokeback Watchtower in

well i'm sure we can come up with clever comments that make people feel uncomfortable by serving to decompartmentalize things that have been compartmentalized in the thinking of the average jw.

or comments that make the cognitive dissonance stand out plainly, these have to be said in innocent manner and with an apparent obliviousness to the contradiction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/compartmentalization_%28psychology%29.

StrongHaiku

Brokeback Watchtower12 hours ago

Also even more effective is giving a private statements that cause cognitive dissonance but done with complete innocent expression and obliviousness to the contradictions.
Yep. Good reminder...Innocent questions can be very powerful...

21

Giving comments at meetings that cause cognitive dissonance while keeping yourself below elder radar for apostasy

by Brokeback Watchtower in

well i'm sure we can come up with clever comments that make people feel uncomfortable by serving to decompartmentalize things that have been compartmentalized in the thinking of the average jw.

or comments that make the cognitive dissonance stand out plainly, these have to be said in innocent manner and with an apparent obliviousness to the contradiction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/compartmentalization_%28psychology%29.

StrongHaiku

How about making the comment and adding the words "I guess?" at the end. No. Don't do that. That'll just get you in trouble...

51

What JW's are afraid of~

by kairos in

just putting together a mental list:.

jehovah .

jesus.

StrongHaiku

51

What JW's are afraid of~

by kairos in

just putting together a mental list:.

jehovah .

jesus.

StrongHaiku

Great answers... I would argue that they are more afraid of life than of death because every day is another opportunity where they could slip up and lose everything...

I think this is why many JWs will still rather die than take blood. For many the idea of dying for their faith is very strong. I think many JWs are the same type of people who would martyr themselves (and others) in a public square.

56

2014 increase in Memorial Partakers to 14,121

by jwfacts in

i have updated the article at memorial partakers with the figures released for 2014. no surprises here, it has risen yet again, this time by 6% over last year, and is now 14,121.. .

.

StrongHaiku

My Mother started partaking around 1982 (she was in her mid-thirties at the time). She married a brother and soon after he was partaking. Soon, other people in the hall got "anointed-fever". I have not talked with them in years but I recently found out through the grapevine that my nephew and his Dad may be partaking in the next memorial. I'm starting to think there are high-levels of "midi-chlorians" in my family. ;-)

I have been out for 25 years but I am sure that the numbers are waaaaay higher than what they report. As already pointed out by posters, many partake in private and/or are "discounted" as "mentally ill/imbalanced", etc. I was an MS at the time and I remember given directions by the elders on who to count or not. Crazy.

Glad to be now be an atheist where I don't have to pretend to understand all of this nonsense.

54

Mom says, "CO says there's only 15 years left!"

by Separation of Powers in

i don't typically hear from my mom often, but i tell you, over the past couple of weeks, i have heard from her several times.

you heard the comment about "our way of worship will be altered" and thank you for your posts by the way....but yesterday, she calls and is asking about the kids and then, in typical jw fashion mind you, says:.

"you know, you should really get back to meetings.

StrongHaiku

After I left the "Organization" I started to play cards for fun and profit. Don't judge :-) You learn a lot of about psychology doing that. I think a lot of JWs exhibit what is known as "loss aversion" - aka "chasing your loses". You watch people at the table invest/lose $1000, then they lose $10,000 trying to gain their original, $1000. They can't walk away from their original loss and in a few hours their down $100,000. And because of desperation they play badly and recklessly.

A witness who served looking to 1975 as a payoff then doubles down to 1984, then to 2014, etc. They are invested. They are chasing the loss and can't walk away from the table.

29

Devolution, not evolution

by abiather in

scientists discovered an organism that has not evolved in more than 2 billion years (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150203104131.htm) .

one can dismiss this as an exception*!

yet overwhelming proofs are too obvious to miss if we take the community as an individual (community is the reflection of the behavior pattern of the individuals that make up the whole).

StrongHaiku

abiather, I think you are mixing a number of separate ideas which are probably best to address individually.

Evolution provides a satisfactory answer to your first point as to why certain organisms may or may not change over time. It is an impersonal mechanism that is not man-made and does not require belief for it to work.

The rest of the points you listed (e.g. religion, social institutions, economics, governments, etc.) may be better analyzed under the framework of social/cultural evolution, semiotics, philosophy, psychology, and other man-made constructs. And, to be fair, these may operate in a similar way as evolution. This is what many are trying to do in the field of memetics, which at present is a weak theory but serves as an interesting analogue to evolution.

However, you then seem to add God into the equation and try to tie (and/or explain) those ideas together. I think? Perhaps to you the above don't make sense without the idea of a God/Designer/Prime Mover. I think this is true for many theists.

As an atheist, I will be happy to add God to the equation if it ever becomes necessary.