Posts by StarTrekAngel

21

Theory of Evolution and humanity are moving in parallel, and in opposite direction too!

by iconoclastic in

10 years ago

proponents of evolution theory was comfortable with their easiest method of induction that says something like this: i saw a blind man in the us, then in russia, then in australian, then in africa ..., hence all men are blind.

yet proofs are abundant for the decline (opposite of evolution) we experience globally!.

1) most humans declined into greed, the result of which is climate change which has the potential to wipe out all life from the earth.

10 years ago

StarTrekAngel 10 years ago

Saint,

1) Agree. Abundance was there for some but in many cases, the most precious bounty had to be chased and it could also attack you. It wasn't an easy life. This was ok while we were living in small groups. This does not work well when we have to feed millions. We quickly saw the benefit of raising and growing our own food. However, some noticed that they could manipulate other to feed them instead of having to hunt themselves. Look at some of the prescriptions for the priests of Israel. I am trying to keep this short but even in a culture of abundance, you still had to go up to the three and pick your own fruit.

2) True, but I believe that his prediction has worked for the current situation. I am not sure if he made any further predictions, but could it be said that the same ability to communicate will eventually brings us back together? May be the collective human race is acting like when you meet a new friend. We are now at a stage of misunderstanding each other because this ability to communicate has just brought us together. May be this same ability will finally help us settle our differences and end up bringing us closer.

3) Totall agree

4) Is difficult at this stage to tell if decease is winning the battle. We may have won over many of them but we don't know the long term effects. A long time ago, the development of antibiotics was seen as a win. Today over prescription is seen as a lurking danger. Sure it was our fault, but it shows that we grow in waves, not always in a straight line upwards and it shows that what we consider an absolute success today, may not be that much after all and may need rethinking. Hopefully longer term adjustments are detected and made soon before it becomes and irreversible problem. We are living longer, but is also understood that in many places the morbidity (a measure of the quality of life) is severely declining towards the later part of life. People are getting chronic deceases earlier in life.

5) My grandfather use to say how screwed up the world was getting and I could not understand what he was talking about. I am now beginning to have the same feeling but I can not help and see that, if he thought the world was bad in the 80's, that he would be totally outraged by the world of today. I also see from history that there are some things in which we have improved, in a way, not absolute. We don't sacrifice humans in an altar anymore, but we do sacrifice them in the name of other things by means of war and hunger. Could it by that here we also grow in waves?

Link

+1 / -0

21

Theory of Evolution and humanity are moving in parallel, and in opposite direction too!

by iconoclastic in

10 years ago

proponents of evolution theory was comfortable with their easiest method of induction that says something like this: i saw a blind man in the us, then in russia, then in australian, then in africa ..., hence all men are blind.

yet proofs are abundant for the decline (opposite of evolution) we experience globally!.

1) most humans declined into greed, the result of which is climate change which has the potential to wipe out all life from the earth.

10 years ago

StarTrekAngel 10 years ago

True. Evolution is full of dead ends. Not everything evolves for the "better". At the end, survival is what shows if evolution adapted to the current situation.

However, some of the points iconoclastic brings up, are the very reasons why I strongly believe in social evolution as well. In the animal kingdom, life is not respected the same way humans do. Survival of the fittest does not care about moral values in the animal kingdom. We humans are driven to save and conserve every life and we consider this idea to be of a higher order of thinking (I am not here to debate wether this is correct or not, is just a fact and I agree with preserving life). At the same time, we pretty much live in the same environment as the animals and therefore under some of the same rules. We have introduced some rules of our own, namely religion, finance, technology, etc. Some of the by products of the above, like global warming, deforestation, etc, have taken its toll on the planet much much faster than what is known to be common in evolutionary changes. In other words, we have introduced a ripple in the evolutionary order, bigger than any other drastic weather change on record. Social evolution has its effects on this as many of the above. Could this be one of the dead ends? May be, but I can not help and see how our social and moral values have contributed to the overall decisions made. This wasn't all driven by instinct. True, there is a degree of it, we are programmed to survive and as such, we will consume. But even in the animal kingdom some animals think twice about things. Some tarantulas protect a tiny race of frogs from predators because this frogs eat insects that would otherwise eat the tarantula's eggs. If that was the case for humans, in some cases we would have eaten the frog before we realized what kind of benefit it brought to us.

Link

54

WHEN people leave a cult...MAN landed on the moon? Or critical thinking......

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

10 years ago

i believe anyone who has voluntarily left a cult has shown they can adapt to new solutions, and have used " critical thinking" skills otherwise most would not have left.. yet i believe a safe place for support is still needed and this safe place i believe is searched for.. now i may not measure up to much in ways of education, but for me personally " critical thinking skills" = " new" a " new" way of thinking, that takes time for me the individual to be visual and to contemplate.

and the more i read about " critical thinking," the more convinced i am that i can live with the ridicule of those that claim i do not possess it.

furthermore i would say those that criticise others " critical thinking skills," often luck the sensibility and thoughts to snore, spit, and fart....nor would they understand a room full of tobacco smoke and cheap booze...where " critical thinking " can often be found in its most profound, in the most sensitive poems and "pictures" that were ever drawn.

10 years ago

StarTrekAngel 10 years ago

There is some truth to what you are saying. Critical thinking is definitely in short supply but at the same time, perspective and context can change the angle of reasoning.

In the other hand, there are people whom sole purpose in life is to pick apart the belief of others. My boss at work, for example, can enter a debate of almost any subject. He spends most his days reading and reading, hardly sleeps. Unfortunately, unless he started the discussion, he tends to not contribute anything meaningful to the discussion but rather centers in picking apart everyone else's statements to judge them in isolation. I would not have a problem if he disagrees with me. I can say white, he can say black, not an issue there. I have a problem though when you rather make a goal to say is not white but I am not going to bother showing you why I believe is black. Some people have left the cult but they don't realize when they have become a cult themselves. I don't mind if someone has a belief that is somewhat unfounded or is a grey area. However, if you are willing and ready to discuss it, don't walk away in the uncomfortable moments. It does nothing for your cause.

Link

+3 / -0

34

New convention theme

by StarTrekAngel in

10 years ago

just wanted to post here real quick, as many have joked about it.

we had an announcement in our cong last week about the upcoming one day assembly.

the title of the assembly is "imitate jehovah".

10 years ago

StarTrekAngel 10 years ago

Yeap. Well I tend to try and put myself in their place. Even if I did not believe in God, I would first put myself in a position of a believer and ask them... did not Jesus say that he and the father were one? Do we not, as JWs, preach that imitating Jesus means imitating Jehovah? Why do we then, need too separate conventions? Are we following two different Gods?

Link

+1 / -0

27

Nice Old Dears Tried to "Witness" to me Today

by cofty in

10 years ago

an older man and wife - ray and mary - got chatting to me today.

they were tourists admiring local wildlife.

i gave them a few tips on where to go to see some interesting things and it wasn't long before they were telling me about how awful the world is "nowadays" and paradise yadda yadda.

9 years ago

StarTrekAngel 10 years ago

Nice Cofty! I have already copied and pasted some of your others postings, especially the one regarding blood, in a notebook where I keep all relevant information. You know, a day of reckoning with elders is in my future. Might as well be prepared. There are some parts of this that I need to keep.

Link

+5 / -0

35

Epigenetics and Why Women are Stripey

by cofty in

10 years ago

take five minutes to learn something new today.... here is a very brief introduction to epigenetics with an interesting practical example.. ....

10 years ago

StarTrekAngel 10 years ago

Ahh! I have to love you Viviane! I thought we were in this forum to not read more than is necessary into people words. I am trying to keep my explanations short. It was just an opening statement into the idea that many of us have never heard this type of conversations. I feel the need to explain my role in the matter so that no one thinks I am pretending to have qualifications that I don't have. I am not claiming to be an expert. I am trying to explain to cofty why I feel the way I feel about certain medical professionals. Nothing more.

Where is the pretend knowledge? I said I felt misunderstood, not ignorant. I know I am ignorant in many things. I tried to explain my experience from my perspective and Cofty may have felt that I was bashing the many researchers and doctors who have helped advance the human cause.

Is that a bit more clear?

Link

+1 / -0

83

What woke you up?

by Israel Ricky Gonzales in

10 years ago

in march of 2014, i was a very active jw, a ministerial servant, gave a public talk, was an attendant for the memorial, and one of 4 cleaning captains for an international convention of 40,000+ attendees.

so what woke me up?

an innocent comment from a co-worker about the candice conti court case rang a bell that could not be unrung.

10 years ago

StarTrekAngel 10 years ago

Many issues were dormant inside of me in my case. Had some moments or flashes of awakening. I remember vividly when a co-worker challenged my knowledge of the org. He knew more about it than I did, despite never being a JW. On top of that, he was not regarded by many as being a centered person. He was related to the owner of the company and behaved as someone who was untouchable but from his attitude, he seemed like a not-so smart person. He challenged the whole 1975 thing and me, being the nice newbie JW that I was, tried to pull out the "new light" card. A few months after that, a KM article posed the question "Did JWs really falsely predicted the end in 1975?". I was thrilled. Jehovah was finally going to put this question to rest. I excitedly expected that session. Only to find out the entire article dismissed the issue and instead, encouraged people to concentrate on the positive works made by JWs. Totally evaded the answer.

That was the beginning of the end for me, now in retrospect. It took many years, but here I am finally. I even got baptized after that, not knowing what I was really getting into.

Link

+2 / -0

35

Epigenetics and Why Women are Stripey

by cofty in

10 years ago

take five minutes to learn something new today.... here is a very brief introduction to epigenetics with an interesting practical example.. ....

10 years ago

StarTrekAngel 10 years ago

cofty22 minutes ago

...meanwhile on the fascinating topic of genetics...

Sorry, english is not my native language and sometimes I find myself realizing that I not getting the meaning of certain phrases. What exactly does the above mean?

Link

35

Epigenetics and Why Women are Stripey

by cofty in

10 years ago

take five minutes to learn something new today.... here is a very brief introduction to epigenetics with an interesting practical example.. ....

10 years ago

StarTrekAngel 10 years ago

Xanthipppe,

As far as I have read, it can even mean the way you treat or are treated by others. Emotions are said to have an effect on epigenetics, including our relationships and the way we interact with our loved ones. Is not necessarily all that impossible. There is this thing called philematology or also known as the science of the kiss. It attempts to explain that there is a level of hormonal exchange between people when they kiss. Other fields, which I can not remember the name of, also attempt to explain the same exchange in other gestures, like holding hands. So I understand that philematology and epigenetics are not the same things, but it explains mechanisms of interaction with the outside world that are not fully understood.

Link

+1 / -0

35

Epigenetics and Why Women are Stripey

by cofty in

10 years ago

take five minutes to learn something new today.... here is a very brief introduction to epigenetics with an interesting practical example.. ....

10 years ago

StarTrekAngel 10 years ago

Cofty,

I have nothing but praise to those who have contributed to the research and the countless hours put into it. Unfortunately, it is my experience that the outcomes of research don't necessarily reflect on patient care. At the end, the medical field will pick and choose what treatments to adopt. This most likely happen in a trickle down fashion. I have to admit though that my experience on this is limited to a more localized environment. I have worked in the hospital field. One of these hospitals is well known in the area and, as per a famous political magazine, it became a topic of discussion at the white house during the ACA debate. While i was only in IT, I worked with almost every department to prepare database systems for each of their functions. I have participated on certain medical studies conducted in this hospital by means of assisting the doctors conducting the research. I helped determine how to best store and analyze the information from an IT perspective. After participating in those meetings, I can tell you that if you were a fly on that wall, you would never want a doctor to touch you again without consulting with 3 or 4 others. People have doctors on pedestals and while I am grateful for their service, I also am aware that they are human beings. I don't want to generalize but my memory as a child of what a doctor is like, a vocation doctor, and the doctors of today, are two different things. The researchers may have the best of intention and hopefully have not bias when they conduct research but the medical field in general does not adopt every one of the news techniques or recommendations provided by the research. Issues that affect their decision on this can go a number of way but they are almost always grounded in financials. The CFO in this case had as much decision power as the CMO on the types of treatments they will accept. I would understand that this is not necessarily the case at higher levels of the medical field. I am not criticizing doctors for wanting to make smart financial or career choices. This is just the way they are educated. I am criticizing the medical practice in general because it doesn't necessarily put patients first.

As far as social evolution, I have to respectfully disagree. I believe the way be behave as a society and the things we allow or not allow to happen as a society cause ripple effects on the future of human race. Think about what would have happened if, for example, Alan Turing would have been allowed to continue his work without judgement? Martin Luther? How many others like them have died without realizing their full potential or any support? Off course, as I try to compare it to biological evolution, is a slow process. One human being can not easily make a huge change.

On the last topic, I meant to refer to their belief that the "sins" were coming to get them but in reality, it could be said that the way they behaved had an actual effect on their life. Is all along the same theme. Is the same way that many of the "old wives' tales" of the past, are coming back now and in some cases science is finding an explanation for them and they actually work.

Sorry. I felt a need to clarify because I felt misunderstood.

Link

+3 / -0