StrongHaiku

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Posts by StrongHaiku

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  19

  God Answers the Prayers of the Earring Hunters

  by konceptual99 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just a small anecdote from the meeting last night.. in the item interviewing a couple of older, long standing ones, one of the sisters was asked how jehovah had answered her prayers.

  her response was "in lots of ways but it's the little ways i think of the most.

  for example, when i am rushing to get ready for the meeting and putting my earrings in and i drop the butterfly clip on the floor and cannot find it.

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  StrongHaiku

  I think another thing I hate about prayer is that it minimizes the good that is done by people. You pray for health but go to the doctor. You pray for food but you go to work. You pray for help but it is people who do the heavy-lifting. It seems to me that you or some other person is doing the work, but God is getting the credit. However, God doesn't seem to get the blame when prayer is not answered. If all you count is the "hits" and not the "misses" then, by definition, you have confirmation bias.

  At best, prayer seems to be a placebo indistinguishable from meditating or day dreaming. At worst, it makes the person less likely to take responsibility and act on behalf of themselves and for others.
  
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  19

  God Answers the Prayers of the Earring Hunters

  by konceptual99 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just a small anecdote from the meeting last night.. in the item interviewing a couple of older, long standing ones, one of the sisters was asked how jehovah had answered her prayers.

  her response was "in lots of ways but it's the little ways i think of the most.

  for example, when i am rushing to get ready for the meeting and putting my earrings in and i drop the butterfly clip on the floor and cannot find it.

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  StrongHaiku

  Prayer, seems to me, is just a pond of Confirmation Bias to fish from and it is indistinguishable from random chance.

  I mean, if God really wanted to make himself known, wouldn't he choose one religion and enable them to manifest anything they need and want through prayer clearly and consistently? It would be the most wildly successful way to make himself know and clear. Man, this God lacks imagination.
  

  At the very least, he would provide some type of reliable and testable mechanism and guidelines to understand if it has any efficacy. Again, no imagination, no thinking through the problem...epic fail.

  You would think this would be the nail in the coffin for most religions and Gods. The amount of Cognitive Dissonance in the heads of people who pray must be deafening. Maybe that's the voice they're hearing.
  

  
  
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  65

  WT October 15, 2015 - Don't believe Apostate Lies

  by Designer Stubble in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the last article in this new wt, shows me that the organization is dealing with much information that is damaging them.

  i am sure that the many recent lawsuits are being noticed by the r&f.. here are some gems from that article, titled the naive person believes every word.

  we must be very selective about what we consider worthy of our attention.

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  StrongHaiku

  Especially could those who are new to the Internet conclude that a report or a news item, however strange or sensational, is true simply because it is online or because a friend sent it via e-mail.

  sir82, I often get stumped when they phrase things like that as well. However, I think it might be that the GB is trapped in a bubble of Psychological Projection.

  Psychological projection is a theory in psychology in which humans defend themselves against unpleasant impulses by denying their existence in themselves, while attributing them to others. For example, a person who is rude may constantly accuse other people of being rude.
  

  Their writing, in just about every topic, often seems to reflect their own limitations, ignorance, and privileged life experience. In this case, it is the GB that is new to the internet, etc. and they project that on others.
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  30

  The Verdict: God is Not Good.

  by cappytan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  not sure if this video has been posted before here or not, but it is a powerful scene.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx7irfn2gdi.

  i haven't watched the entire movie yet, but from this scene alone, i will be..

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  StrongHaiku

  Crazyguy, I had similar problems with all of the killings in the OT.

  One thing that always bothered me is that in the OT God commands his people a number of times to kill other people despite the fact that killing was something he supposedly could do directly. Not only did this cause untold physical violence but it probably contributed to a lot of mental and emotional damage as well.

  As an example, my father is a Korean War Veteran suffering from PTSD and has daily bouts of depression over the people he killed. I know this may seen trivial compared to all of the other OT atrocities. But it begs the question, why would a God (if he existed) wish to visit this type of psychological damage on people if he could have done the killing himself? Never could figure that out. And, all of the explanations I heard at the time are now patently obscene.
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  88

  Why JW marriage is a huge problem for the organization.

  by kneehighmiah in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the difficulty of finding a marriage mate is well known for sisters.

  but i would say it's hard for brothers also.

  i was talking to a jw last night.

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  StrongHaiku

  OP - Why JW marriage is a huge problem for the organization...

  I think that the fundamental problem is that the Organization (and society at large) indoctrinates people to think in sexist and misogynistic way. As long as the thinking is that women were created for men's pleasure, or treated as second-class citizens, or to fulfill a "role" you will always have a problem.
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  15

  How strong were you in “The Truth?”

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when you were still asleep in the watchtower organization and had no idea of ttatt.

  what would you have done if you were in a serious accident and all of a sudden you woke up in the emergency hospital room with all the brothers and sisters at your side and your spouse cheering you on to be faithful to jehovah.

  then the doctor comes up to you and tells you that you are about to go into surgery because there is no time to lose and the only way to live is to take a blood transfusion ?

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  StrongHaiku

  I was so "in the Truth" that when I left at 24, I felt like a "stranger in a strange land". Even just the idea of thinking for myself was foreign to me. That's how much in the JW bubble I was.
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  31

  What the Governing Body found out when they ' did the math'

  by Esse quam videri in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  stephen lett may 2015 broadcast.

  14:45 ... the governing body very much feels the urgency of accomplishing as much as we possibly can, in behalf of kingdom interests, knowing that the great day of jehovah is near....

  ... in an effort to inform you of the support that is needed for this great work, i have the following information to share.

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  StrongHaiku

  Never rely on the math from people who didn't know not to count a year zero between B.C. and A.D....
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  26

  Charity

  by aintenoughwiskey in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we know the wt interpretation of matt 25:40 is support of the anointed.

  since most of us here are no longer in that situation, what, if any forms of charity are you involved in?

  sorry for the awkward framing of the question, it's not meant to imply atheists, or non-christians are not charitable!

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  StrongHaiku

  Oh, one more thing (sorry)...

  If you have the resources, look at setting up a foundation as part of your will/estate planning. You can work it out so that all or a portion of your assets and investments can be used to fuel a number of causes after you are gone.

  And, please, take any opportunity to donate blood...
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  26

  Charity

  by aintenoughwiskey in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we know the wt interpretation of matt 25:40 is support of the anointed.

  since most of us here are no longer in that situation, what, if any forms of charity are you involved in?

  sorry for the awkward framing of the question, it's not meant to imply atheists, or non-christians are not charitable!

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  StrongHaiku

  Oh, and there are other ways to help... Donate your clothes or other stuff you don't need to "Goodwill" or some other charity organization. The less you have, the happier and more carefree you will be. And, giving and working with charities helps all of us learn how to be a citizen instead of just a consumer.
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  9

  30 most edited regular Wikipedia pages

  by biometrics in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jehovah's witnesses topic made it to the list:.

  http://i.imgur.com/7m2xgzz.png.

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  StrongHaiku

  3/4 of the updates is probably one of us posting "It's a cult!" and some JW deleting that entry...