Posts by budbayview

42

Paleo Diet. What do you think?

by DATA-DOG in

i have been suffering from fatigue, burning in my stomach, and i have always had canker sore issues as long as i can remember.

whether it's from stress or not, i can't say, but i might be getting an ulcer.

the burning in my stomach and intestinal puffiness is getting to be be chronic.

budbayview

It has flaws in the supporting medical science references and is promoting an ingredient (coconut oil). Coconut “anything” is marketing hype, there are other oils and fats that have just as good lipid profiles.

Their argument against legumes is week, and again nothing conclusive in any medical studies that back up that claim.

They are misguided, the major problem with wheat today is GMO. It is not the same strains our ancestors ate. My family grew up on pasta (Italian) never heard of gluten intolerance or celiac disease until recently. Additionally, all the food additives that are used to process foods are very harmful.

For example, I was looking into rennet’s for cheese making and found out something interesting concerning genetic modified (GM) processes and cheese making. Rennet is a complex of enzymes found in all mammals. It is a key component in coagulating milk (curds and whey). It is processed form young calf’s (yes another unsettling use for these animals), and we won’t go into the how that works. Needless to say, animal rennet is somewhat constrained. There are vegetable alternatives, microbial rennet, and here it is, fermentation-produced chymosin (FPC). FPC sounds innocuous enough, but they use rennet-producing genes from an animal stomach and infuse them into bacteria, fungi or yeasts to make them produce chymosin (the key enzyme) during the fermentation process. The GM hosts (i.e., bacteria, fungi, and yeast) are then eliminated and the chymosin extracted off. Since there is no GM hosts remaining in the actual product, (i.e., chymosin) it is not labeled GM.

So here again is another example of science and technology in the food chain. In of itself these ideas are not necessarily nefarious, however what is the risk to our systems? So in the natural order, our design and functional maintenance was predicated on being much closer to our food sources. In that model, we would have a goat, a sheep, grow our produce, hunt for protein and gather what we find. Having cheese would require sacrificing an animal or figuring out which plants have coagulating properties and extracting that for your source of coagulating the milk.

39

New awake up on jw.org about suicide

by hoser in

they have printed a series of articles about suicide.

.

budbayview

Notmyfirstrodeo – “I'm thinking I should re-examine just what kind of god Jehovah is - We're doing all we can to get this divorce to go through, and we are living a decent life, will the Creator here my prayers?”

I am sorry to hear of your family loss and misfortunes. Yes, keep praying, and do not give up on our Father because of some self-professed truth holders have misrepresented him. Nor give up finding him out of fear, or guilt, or feelings of worthlessness. Forgive, including yourself, and move forward, find your Father, not in the WatchTower, or in one of man’s churches, but in your heart.

How can so much hatred and judicial condemnation be preached, when Jesus taught us to love our God with all our heart and mind and love our neighbor as ourselves. If we could all follow this one commandment, more would think twice about the collateral damage that shunning and DF’ing does. This is not love, it is ostracizing.

28

How was Adam Perfect? He sinned....Duh

by DS211 in

jw
friends

well an elder brought this up with me and said he didnt understand how adam sinned if he was perfect.

i said i dont see how he couldve sin ed if he was perfect....but he had free will to choose.

i then told him that i thought if god wanted us to obey him the worst thing he could do was create us to have free will.....a side thought i had was:.

budbayview

Good question, I have pondered this myself.

Perfection does not change one’s ability to make choices, or one’s free will. If it did, then ask yourself how or why perfect angels and the first humans sinned? Perfection doesn’t make you a genius, or give you super physical abilities. You must still put data into the brain or learn. What accomplishments would there be left in life if we did not have to learn, perfect or not? It may and hopefully so, make us a better person because we have perfection. However, it is because we have the ability to learn, and get it right, without the forbearance of death or disease or physical limitations and obstacles. But, make no mistake, it still requires us to learn and experience life and gain wisdom to be a better person.

We are very close to perfection now, with few minor genetic defects. Provided we have no mental (that we are aware of) defects to prevent us from thinking. This erroneous business about only using a small percentage of our brain is bunk. I have heard it a thousand times, when ones in the hall would speak of perfection as if it somehow granted ones genius abilities. “We only use 10% of our brains.” they would say. “Imagine if we could tap into the other 90%!” Most of us currently use 100% today, intelligence is not gained by perfection, but rater time and experience. Living a few hundred years would certainly give one experience and wisdom. The only thing stopping us from this is time and initiative.

Since we have shown that perfection does not mean you’re a robot, then is Satan the cause or the manifestation of evil? And, if he is abolished, what does this change with respect to good and evil? It will only serve to remove the antagonist, of which he had purpose. Without that, we would not know what good is, because we would have no comparison to evil. So, do we see Gods purpose, his wisdom and reasoning in setting the parameters for us to learn THE lesson of humanity. He wants you to love him for him, and not because he will condemn us in the metaphorically defined hell, for eternity. He wants to know we are loyal above the superficial riches he can provide or withhold, but because he alone has our best interest, it is because we need him for that reason, there is no other hope. So he could have just said that, and he probably did, but to show the reality of this to his children and to prevent this from happening again, he addressed it, and allowed this universal play to proceed. Since our Father set up the rules, he knows them with expert authority and since he created us, he knows us, again with expert authority. Therefore, to assume he did not anticipate the failures of Adam and Eve is underestimating the Grand Creator. Notice, I used the word anticipate. That is because, there is a difference between a hypotheses or educated guess, and the assurance of knowing an outcome. And, if he had an assurance of the outcome, that represents pre-destiny, and we are all clear that was not the case due to the implications. In other words, what is the challenge of living a life knowing each outcome? No fun at all, right?

When he determines we have the lesson learned, he will restore his theocracy….hopefully before we blow ourselves up.

my2cents

24

New Here, Introduction

by budbayview in

jw
friends

i have been eyeing this site for some time (years) and finally joined.

i was born in the organization, and grew up not too far were c.t.

russell started it all.

budbayview

Hi all,

I have been eyeing this site for some time (years) and finally joined. I was born in the organization, and grew up not too far were C.T. Russell started it all. I remember as a child attending at the congregation in Oakland, many visits by Schroeder, meeting his family and watching his slide presentations of trips to the holy land. This was a grand hall, before they started cloning them. It had two floors, three schools, a baptismal pool, and a great library. I remember during the meetings, I would sneak into the library and look through all of Russell’s old books and Zion’s publications, they had quite a collection.

My Father died when I was young, and that just solidified our convictions (at the time). My mother carried on, and this was during the time period when smoking just became a DF offence. She tried to hide it, and finally was confronted, and DF. I studied and continued on through my time at high school, did the recommended route and not attended college. Although, I must admit, this was not my mother’s wish and at her insistence, I went 2 years at a tech school, and received a (worthless) associate’s degree. I commenced my career, and was a bit naïve and started sowing some oats, so to speak, all the while harboring terrible guilt. I met my wife to be at a bar, obviously not a witness, and was married. I moved away and could not stand the guilt (fear), started studying and brought my wife in. For whatever reason, I won’t bore you the details, we faded away after the years. After a long DF, my mother finally quit smoking and was reinstated, I have two sisters, one in the truth (although a hypocrite sorry to admit), and one not. During the early years, my mother brought in most of her siblings. My first cousins aunts and uncles are still in the truth.

My fading started out with terrible guilt and fear, and moved to resolving some long standing spiritual issues. In that quest, I tried to prove what I learned was the truth, and the more I dug, the more the fabric of my faith in the WTBTS started to disintegrate. It was scary balancing not wanting to oppose Jehovah and trying to reconcile my spirituality. Although I could not whole heartily agree with the WTBTS, and most organized religions in general, I am still very spiritual and have never stopped learning about my Father.

The apocalyptic nightmares finally subsided, and my latest quest is determining the authenticity of the bible cannons. I am having issue with its canonization during the Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed and Emperor Constantine’s involvement. Seems like a bit of an oxymoron that we hold firm the bible as holy, but is was in the hands of the early Catholic church and Roman political system at inception. Add to that, the issue of reconciling texts of The Sumerians, Mesopotamians, Babylonian’s, Egyptians, and Greeks, that all predate any Old Testament writings, and I think there is a good bit to be sorted out…in another thread.

82

Who are the real WT puppet masters ?

by cookiemaster in

a few days ago i posted my estimations about how much the wt actually makes a year.

you guys were all really helpful and provided a lot of useful info.

a good estimate would be 2-3 billion dollars a year.

budbayview

Good question, and I might phrase it differently. What is the motivation? Find the motivation and you find the source.

What the point if it all? Money, power, sex, drugs, what is their motivation? Or are they totally disillusioned? Just another notch in the belt of the ruler of this world?

81

Do you frown upon tattoos?

by confusedandalone in

i am very interested in hearing from people who really think that people with tattoos are somehow weird or cagey individuals.

i would just like to get your outlook on this matter.

today i was in a grocery store and i sawe this guy with his two kids and his wife shopping.

budbayview

To me it falls into the same category of most overt authoritative ideologies. It we were created to all look the same, then we would all look the same, but we do not. Does God really care if we have long hair or a beard or a tat, or if we loved our neighbor and helped our fellow man?

We have all been socialized into “the norms”, but in actually it is all discriminating. At the end of the day, what we look like, dress like, and how we groom ourselves, has nothing to do with matters of real importance. As a matter of fact the removal of facial hair in America was popularized by aging men whose gray beards gave away their age. So in our vein society, they started shaving to look younger. It has nothing to do with anything else. That said, our survival (in this crazy word) depends on our ability to recognize and adapt to the situation. If you live in a conservative town, then dress and groom and cover the tats. If you live in a less conservative town be yourself then.

Personally, I have no issue with tats. Additionally, If tatt’s are taboo, just curious about branding then? Because a big branding event occurred in the Old Testament, it was called circumcision….

57

Are Evolution & Morality Mutually Exclusive?

by shadow in

there are a couple of long threads going right now about evolution & abortion.. .

if evolution were true, how could there be any basis for morality?.

budbayview

Evolution is a broad term. If discussing Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, I believe it still fits into intelligent design. The premise for survival and adaptability was programed in from the beginning, so the behaviors that support that are engineered from the grand designer. There is no other way to support a diverse biology and ecology. Change is in enviable, and we see evolution all around.

Now, cross species evolution, I am not so much a fan. I realize this is off topic, but I can even wrap my head around the big bang theory, as long as it was God pulling the trigger.

Concerning morality, I do not understand the connection to evolution? However, I will add this. If you had to govern a small community, how would you keep anarchy at bay, how would keep everyone safe, and provide fair justice? Religion and God have nothing do with morality, it did not stop Cain from killing Abel did it? You can argue where your morality (sense of right and wrong) comes from, but justice (dealing with consequences of moral infringements) is completely different. Take a look at The Code of Hammurabi for further information on how to govern your community.

28

Photo of Russel Exploring Giza Pyramids

by Gerard in

i found this in a french web site, i thought it was interesting.. .

french text (original): http://pages.globetrotter.net/mleblank/doctrine/pyrwt.html.

translation: http://www.letusreason.org/jw16.htm

budbayview

I think inevitably is all goes back to ancient history. The Sumerians, Mesopotamians, Babylonian’s, Egyptians, Greeks, all have surviving documents that predate our bible and are a great source of information of man’s early existence with the gods, etc.

Even the best manuscripts of the Hebrew bible are not that old relatively speaking (existing 2nd century BCE fragments). Sooner or later, you start digging around in the Mideast sand for answers. They do not call it the cradle of civilization for nothing. I think Russell had an affinity for history and esoteric information is all.

23

Governing Body humility: crapping their pants and admitting it stinks

by Terry in

we've all heard the old saying:.

any job worth doing is worth doing right the first time.. but, this would not seem to apply in the only organization on earth claiming to be solely guided by jehovah!.

in the watchtower society, the governing body gathers in a board room and prays, discusses and votes.. presumably the prayer invokes holy spirit of jehovah.

budbayview

I have agreement with most of this factual logic; however, at the end of the day, what is the point of it all?

The WTBTS is run just like a large publically traded corporation. You cannot march thousands to the same song without strict policy control and without demanding unswerving loyalty. Therefore, they must DF opposes of doctrine, irrespective of if his or hers argument is correct or not. It is not about the legitimacy of truth but the appearance of truth, and compliance. Anyone that has or is working in a large fortune 500 or 100 can attest to the fact that they are all run the same way. Go against the company policy and you’re out. It is all the same, corporation, club, cult, religious organization, etc., it is human dynamics, talk the same, look the same, dress the same, go along with to be with, on and on.

The problem is most cannot see it for what it is, a large organization run by men. We all get our personal feelings in a wad when our platform of well thought out logical, factual theology is quashed. It must, because if it did not, they would not have ONE message; however fallible it is. Unity and consistency supersedes truth. Loyalty supersede pragmatism, which is why friends will rat out one another. Also, there are very political ramification for changing doctrines and policy that must be considered and change is strategically implemented, and is always planned.

Look, I’m not defending them in as much as trying to give a rational explanation for the behaviors. I think like most, myself included who grew up in the WTBTS, we had certain expectations of reliability in what we knew was so right. I drank the cool-aid, and when you do, and if you one day start to question the fabric of what you believe, it can be a hard emotional landing. I have no axe to grind, it serves no real value, and I am only seeking to find meaning to life, my relationship to our Father, and how it is all interconnected with other human beings.

As far as I am concerned, unless I can put my finger in the wound of Jesus, and see his supported physical organization, I do not have a lot of hope for any of mans organized bodies of religions as legitimate. Some are better than others, but it occurred to me that if there was truly one, it would standout, so far out, that no one on earth could question its authenticity.

I get the analogous argument that our Father sent his Son and we missed that big clue, so how would we know his true representatives if they kissed our face? Jesus said, Love and Unity. I think a lot of them, including the WTBTS get the Unity down well, but lack in the other 50%, Love.

My 2 Cents

53

Who wants to live forever?

by Doug Mason in

what will living be like after 5 billion years?.

doug.

budbayview

Absolutely yes! With a myriad of challenges ahead, it will be a wonderful playground.

Imagine having the wisdom of the ancients with the body of 25 year old. The key to life is purpose.