Posts by defender of truth

40

Is God evil, just because he fails to prevent suffering?

by defender of truth in

a poster on another thread made the following comment, that really made me think.. it is about god: .

"imo i would say [god is] not evil but just indifferent.

apathy allows it.

defender of truth

A poster on another thread made the following comment, that really made me think.. It is about God:
"IMO I would say [God is] not evil but just indifferent. For me evilness is more classified with intentional acts to harm deliberately out of vengence, anger, malice and even pleasure. To me that is what evil stands for. Indifference is something comepletely different in my view."
It has been said that a God with the power to prevent unnecessary suffering and death, such as the deaths caused by natural disasters or cancer, and yet refuses to do so is evil. What do you think?
.....
Here are some quotes I found on apathy:

"Apathy and evil. The two work hand in hand. They are the same, really. Evil wills it. Apathy allows it. Evil hates the innocent and
the defenseless most of all. Apathy doesn't care as long as it's not personally inconvenienced."
Jake Thoene
...
"I have a very strong feeling that the opposite of love
is not hate - it's apathy. It's not giving a damn."
Leo Buscaglia

130

Atheists and JWs are on the same footing!

by exWTslave in

atheists believe that god should stop the large-scale injustice on earth; if he does'nt, then he does not exist.

jws believe that god will intervene sometime in the last days!.

interestingly, both throw themselves on their own expectation of soemthing god should or will do, yet in fact something god does not have to do.

defender of truth

ExwtSlave said:
"This is how I went about:
1. Relax your body...etc
7. In this silence, you are in the same frequency as your creator, ask for a link and see for yourself what happens!
After this come back to this thread, and share your experience."
Ok, I did just as you said.
I asked Him for a link, He gave me this one and then told me to leave Him alone..

http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/god11.htm

..............
The conclusion at the end of the article, for anyone that can't be bothered reading it all:
"The fact that God answers no prayers has meaning to you on a very personal level. Let me give you an example of what it means.
Let's say that you have a friend who is 35 years old, and she finds out that she has breast cancer. Obviously she is devastated. The cancer is fairly advanced, and the prognosis does not look immediately promising.
If you are a believer, what is the first thing to do? The first order of business is prayer. Then the advanced believer would create a prayer circle to channel the "Lord's healing power" to your friend.
As you now know, both the prayers and the prayer circle are pointless. God never answers prayers. If prayer circles worked, then we would be able to regenerate the legs of amputees, and we know that we can't. If prayer circles worked, we would not need doctors or hospitals. If prayer circles worked, we would pray that God completely eliminate breast cancer, and no one on the planet would ever get this disease. The effort spent praying is a waste of time.

So what should you do instead of praying? Think about this question: What might actually help your friend? Do not waste the time praying -- spend your time wisely doing something that will actually help your friend. For example:

*Make her family a nice dinner and deliver it to her home.
*Offer to take care of her kids for several days while she recovers from her last round of chemo.
*Make get-well cards to cheer her up.
*Organize a bake sale or telethon to raise money for breast cancer research.
*Go sit by her bedside in the hospital each day and read to her.
*Bring happy movies for her to watch in the hospital.
Etc.

God does not answer prayers -- the evidence is all around you. Now that you know that for certain, make the most of this knowledge."

130

Atheists and JWs are on the same footing!

by exWTslave in

atheists believe that god should stop the large-scale injustice on earth; if he does'nt, then he does not exist.

jws believe that god will intervene sometime in the last days!.

interestingly, both throw themselves on their own expectation of soemthing god should or will do, yet in fact something god does not have to do.

defender of truth

((ExWTSlave, the questions in my posts 439 and 440 were for you. Please respond, when you get chance to.))

11

Loneliness can have crippling effects , and the Watchtower knows how to use it..

by defender of truth in

"we are, as a rule, considerably diminished when disengaged from others.

isolation may very often be the sum total of wretchedness, as the writer thomas carlyle put it.".

"though note what he had to say about the two years he spent in isolation: its an awful thing, solitary.

defender of truth

Sorry to hear that Data-Dog. Do you feel more lonely at the meetings?
Does posting here ease the feeling at all?
...

Everyone else, good points. The Governing Body clearly want people to feel lonely, isolated from family and friends when they are disfellowshipped, so that they will return..
Further, they insist that even the persons close family must leave them alone in that dangerous state of mind, as shown in the quote from the OP.

11

Loneliness can have crippling effects , and the Watchtower knows how to use it..

by defender of truth in

"we are, as a rule, considerably diminished when disengaged from others.

isolation may very often be the sum total of wretchedness, as the writer thomas carlyle put it.".

"though note what he had to say about the two years he spent in isolation: its an awful thing, solitary.

defender of truth

Some reasons you might feel lonely or isolated
"*Losing a loved one or friend
*Lack of close family ties
*Fear of rejection from others or feelings of being “different” or stigmatised by society
*..reduced connection with your culture of origin"
...
How does loneliness and isolation affect your mental health?
"Everyone feels lonely from time to time, but long periods of loneliness or social isolation can have a negative impact on your physical, mental and social health. Some signs include:

*Physical symptoms– aches and pains, headaches, illness or worsening of medical conditions

*Mental health conditions– increased risk of depression, anxiety, paranoia or panic attacks

*Low energy– tiredness or lack of motivation

*Sleep problems– difficulty getting to sleep, waking frequently or sleeping too much

*Diet problems– loss of appetite, sudden weight gain or loss

*Substance use– Increased consumption of alcohol, smoking, medications, drugs

*Negative feelings– feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness or thoughts about suicide"

https://www.lifeline.org.au/Get-Help/Facts---Information/Loneliness/Loneliness-and-Isolation

130

Atheists and JWs are on the same footing!

by exWTslave in

atheists believe that god should stop the large-scale injustice on earth; if he does'nt, then he does not exist.

jws believe that god will intervene sometime in the last days!.

interestingly, both throw themselves on their own expectation of soemthing god should or will do, yet in fact something god does not have to do.

defender of truth

ExWTslave said: "Same principle applies toTHE NATURAL CALAMITIES too. If people are loving, nature too will be loving."
So if we act lovingly toward each other, natural disasters won't happen?

130

Atheists and JWs are on the same footing!

by exWTslave in

atheists believe that god should stop the large-scale injustice on earth; if he does'nt, then he does not exist.

jws believe that god will intervene sometime in the last days!.

interestingly, both throw themselves on their own expectation of soemthing god should or will do, yet in fact something god does not have to do.

defender of truth

exWTslave said: "Virtually every culture in the world has epics or stories that keep the memory of a Golden Age that once existed on earth where humans and animals lived like one-family, and all were vegetarians. At that time man was not hunting animals, nor animals were preying on man or animals."
Why, then, did God allow this Age you speak of to come to an end?
How many millions of years ago was this so-called Golden Age? Here is just one example of an ancient predator, others may know of other examples..
"Entelodonts lived in the forests and plains where they were the apex predators of North America's early Miocene and Oligocene, consuming carrion and live animals and rounding off their diets with plants and tubers. They would have hunted large animals, like the cow-sized artiodactyl Eporeodon major and the sheep-sized cameloid Poebrotherium wilsoni, dispatching them with a bite from their jaws. Some fossil remains of these other animals have been found with the bite marks of entelodonts on them."...."Entelodonts, sometimes nicknamed hell pigs or terminator pigs, are an extinct family of pig-like omnivores...from the late Eoceneto early Miocene epochs (37.2—16.3 million years ago)"
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entelodont

11

Loneliness can have crippling effects , and the Watchtower knows how to use it..

by defender of truth in

"we are, as a rule, considerably diminished when disengaged from others.

isolation may very often be the sum total of wretchedness, as the writer thomas carlyle put it.".

"though note what he had to say about the two years he spent in isolation: its an awful thing, solitary.

defender of truth

All the quotes in the above post are meant as irony, by the way.

11

Loneliness can have crippling effects , and the Watchtower knows how to use it..

by defender of truth in

"we are, as a rule, considerably diminished when disengaged from others.

isolation may very often be the sum total of wretchedness, as the writer thomas carlyle put it.".

"though note what he had to say about the two years he spent in isolation: its an awful thing, solitary.

defender of truth

"My children stay in touch with me. I know they are very busy, but wherever they serve, they make time to keep me posted, sharing the experiences they have had in the field ministry. I read their letters over and over. It is as if they have talked with me every week, and I am so thankful for that. Also the Christian elders in my congregation give appropriate attention to us elderly and infirm ones, following up to make sure we have transportation to the congregation meetings and providing other needs. I consider my spiritual brothers and sisters a blessing from Jehovah.”
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102004402

......

"Actually, all of us at one time or another have felt the need for companionship— for someone to lend us an ear, to offer us reassurance or possibly to echo our deep feelings or inner thoughts, and to understand us as a person. We have a need for someone who is sensitive to our emotions."

"Loneliness is a powerful feeling, and it can be very painful. It is a feeling of emptiness.
There is a sensation of isolation, a feeling of being cut off from other humans.
We can become vulnerable and frightened.
Have you ever felt this way?"

"Perhaps you feel rejected by your peers because of your physical appearance , race, or religion."
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102004401

11

Loneliness can have crippling effects , and the Watchtower knows how to use it..

by defender of truth in

"we are, as a rule, considerably diminished when disengaged from others.

isolation may very often be the sum total of wretchedness, as the writer thomas carlyle put it.".

"though note what he had to say about the two years he spent in isolation: its an awful thing, solitary.

defender of truth

"we are, as a rule, considerably diminished when disengaged from others. Isolation may very often be the “sum total of wretchedness”, as the writer Thomas Carlyle put it."
"Though note what he had to say about the two years he spent in isolation: “It’s an awful thing, solitary. It crushes your spirit and weakens your resistance more effectively than any other form of mistreatment… The onset of despair is immediate, and it is a formidable foe.”
"..we derive meaning from our emotional states largely through contact with others. Biologists believe that human emotions evolved because they aided co-operation among our early ancestors who benefited from living in groups. Their primary function is social. With no one to mediate our feelings of fear, anger, anxiety and sadness and help us determine their appropriateness, before long they deliver us a distorted sense of self, a perceptual fracturing or a profound irrationality. It seems that left too much to ourselves, the very system that regulates our social living can overwhelm us."
"We’ve known for a while that isolation is physically bad for us. Chronically lonely people have higher blood pressure, are more vulnerable to infection, and are also more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Loneliness also interferes with a whole range of everyday functioning, such as sleep patterns, attention and logical and verbal reasoning."
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140514-how-extreme-isolation-warps-minds

........
"A young man had been disfellowshipped for over ten years, during which time his father, mother, and four brothers “quit mixing in company” with him. At times, he tried to involve himself in their activities, but to their credit, each member of the family was steadfast in not having any contact with him.
After he was reinstated, he said that he always missed the association with his family, especially at night when he was alone.
But, he admitted, had the family associated with him even a little, that small dose would have satisfied him. However, because he did not receive even the slightest communication from any of his family, the burning desire to be with them became one motivating factor in his restoring his relationship with Jehovah.
Think of that if you are ever tempted to violate God’s command not to associate with your disfellowshipped relatives."
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2012282