bill mahers new book, the new new rules: a funny look at how everybody but me has their head up their ass.
this is a great book, laughs on every page.
so this is one of bills new rules from april 30, 2010 about religious wackos.
He says it like he sees it. There's a little bit of George Carlin in him, but not enough. We need more public exposure to common sense.
He's not always right - and I am not joining his little cult [yes some have, just like the Oprah cult mentioned above], but I appreciate his willingness to step to the plate, say what he thinks, and influence others to think out loud too.
Thanx for the recommend. Maybe 2012 will allow me time to read it - I think 2011 is all booked up.
Jeff
i was thinking that in 2014 or possibly 2015 a lot of witnesses will start questioning the organisation and we might even see a mass exodus.. i know at a stage i thought 2014 wow a hundred years surely the end will be here by then.. do you think the fact that it will be a 100 years since 1914 might trigger a lot of leaving and questions?.
or possibly they will still follow blindly, especially since the overlapping generations could go till 2070 or something?.
there very well could be a mass exodus type of domino effect since many are there sometimes whole families because of one strong mate/friend/relative, and one seemingly "strong" person leaving could take a few with him and make many more question, thus the domino effect.. thoughts.. .
I always thought it WOULD trigger doubts and exodus. But as my thinking has gotten clearer post-Watchtower, I don't think it will have a great effect [though there may be some who will leave].
Unfortunately, those in a cult are blind to reality, and a slave to fantasy. I lived through 1975, and I recall very few who left over that. There should have been thousands who left - but not many did. The fact is that these people are under a form of mental control. They are unable to look at things from a logical perspective. 2014 might be one of those keystone moments for them - but it will probably not trigger a massive movement.
No wonder religion has been able to seduce billions! Look at all the countless people around willing to believe in invisible people doing invisible things without the first shred of evidence to support the suppositions they proffer. People want to believe, irregardless of the facts. JW's are no different. And they are a bit more tightly controlled than other sects.
Still, I hope something like that might occur - a domino effect. Time will tell.
Jeff
hi.
my wife and myself are active witnesses.. before i go into great depth about our past and what brings me here, i would like to make sure i am posting this in the right section.. i'm a little technologically retarded so please bear with me.. .
twisty.
Welcome.
There is nothing new under the sun. That scripture is true. Most of us here have either experienced what you have, or have seen and heard of many others who have done so. So, this is the wisdom - to come here [or to another venue offering similar experience] and ask for advice. I am gratified each time I see a new name here. Though I have been hanging around this forum for 7 years, it is this aspect that always lights my day.
I believe that your basic instinct is correct in keeping isolated from the congregation and insisting that you are just studying the scriptures on your own. My only advice here [and it has prob been stated before I saw the thread or those comments] is to be VERY careful about the way you state that position. Those wishing to bend your words, could indeed make a case against you - because, as you know only too well, the position of Jehovah's Witnesses is that ONLY THEY can dispense correct understanding of the Bible. Once you have stated it to one person [and make sure it is not two persons if you can], then do not repeat it again. They will seek to use the 'two witness' rule against you if they like.
Another tricky matter to be cautious of is this: Sometimes elders will call, one speaking to you, the other on an extension. They did this to me - seeking to get me to 'indict' myself over the phone before 'two witnesses'. The best policy here is caller ID/hang up/ignore phone calls.
Buy some time. Keep them out of it. Think. Reason. Read. Rinse and Repeat.
Some end up leaving religion altogether over time [I did]. Others join another church. [Did that too for a time.] Some reject the entire god-concept [Me again after years]. But whatever the eventual ending to the saga - you need time away from them, isolated from their inquiry and influences.
I have surely just repeated very good advice found before I stated it here [didn't have time to read all 4 pages tonight.]. Good wishes to you as you seek to sort it all out.
Namaste
Jeff
my computer-support service has checked my computer because it's been rather "glitchy" lately, and the hard drive is failing.... so, i'll end up being cut-off from the board, for a while.... some of you have my personal phone number, if you need to get in touch.... **********************************************************************.
here's something else that's been bothering me.... we're going to fly out to see the in-laws soon - and i'm very uneasy about flying.... if something should happen to me, could you people please help find good homes for my animals???
they are all indoors animals, have been spayed/neutered, and are pretty good with dogs.... there are six cats - the seventh one, minx, will have to be "put down", as she is slowly dying of feline leukemia, and is far too "high-maintenance" for anyone else to care for.... but there's chomper - a neutered male, six-toed cat, somewhat feral but ferociously loyal to anyone who will be patient with him - and feed him wet food... he's a big, short-haired grey-and-black tabby... unfortunately, in the process of the hard-drive decay, my computer no longer recognizes my crappy printer, and so i can't load a pix of chomper... but he's a big cutie!!.
Zid - you silly one!
Your plane will not crash, your hard drive will be repaired and you will be back amongst us very soon.
A side note though: Smokey and Tiger Lily could be book-ends with my two cats, Taz and Stinker. They look like twins to yours.
Peace to you, have a good trip and we will see you soon.
Jeff
estimates range from 4 million to 15 million children die from starvation each year on this planet.
that's between 500 and 1700 children a day, depending on what numbers you accept.
still, no matter which numbers you use, doesn't this make you arrive at one of the following conclusions?.
Tec - my point was that not just Jw's believe that - someone [I can't recall now who, nor do I care really] suggested that this girl had learned this idea from Jw's. I found it curious and interesting that the person associated this as a Jw-only belief. Hence, the filter comment.
Jeff
estimates range from 4 million to 15 million children die from starvation each year on this planet.
that's between 500 and 1700 children a day, depending on what numbers you accept.
still, no matter which numbers you use, doesn't this make you arrive at one of the following conclusions?.
The fact remains that science has much to learn about dinosaurs. They do not have everything right.
Perhaps. But most scientific study points to the end of the dinosaurs around 65 millions years ago, after being around for about 150 million years. By almost anyone's account, that precludes the idea of 7 creative days, or mankind's existence during their end.
Someone indicated that the story I related was not accurate or the original thoughts of the child. A child certainly can find delusional thought funny or odd or comical. My grandkids regularly mock Santa and the Easter Bunny myth-like idea. They mock god-foolishness all the time. Apparently this little girl is able to sort out and call bullshit when she sees it. Good. Maybe rational reason will win this one's mind before she starts believing in talking to invisible gods without power to end famine [the actual topic of this thread]. Rational kids are not as stupid as irrational adults might assume. They don't have to be led or fed to be rational. The human brain is fantastic in it's ability that way.
What rubbish!
Jeff
estimates range from 4 million to 15 million children die from starvation each year on this planet.
that's between 500 and 1700 children a day, depending on what numbers you accept.
still, no matter which numbers you use, doesn't this make you arrive at one of the following conclusions?.
Didn't the Watchtower imply that the flood killed the dinosaurs?
Neither of these particular 12 year olds have EVER been a JW, or ever been inside the KH. This 12 year old got it from a movie shown in her church last week, I believe.
My what tangles we create when we seek to superimpose our filters over a matter. Seems like just maybe a few more fundamental churches might think like the Watchtower, eh?
Jeff
estimates range from 4 million to 15 million children die from starvation each year on this planet.
that's between 500 and 1700 children a day, depending on what numbers you accept.
still, no matter which numbers you use, doesn't this make you arrive at one of the following conclusions?.
My granddaughter just came in and told me about a girl in her class who, in mockery of the biblical silliness [this is a 12 year old], came into class yesterday and said; " Then God came down from heaven and killed the dinosaurs and the homosexuals."
Even a twelve year old can see the silliness of the Bible 'record' about the 'flood'.
Jeff
estimates range from 4 million to 15 million children die from starvation each year on this planet.
that's between 500 and 1700 children a day, depending on what numbers you accept.
still, no matter which numbers you use, doesn't this make you arrive at one of the following conclusions?.
I agree, Zid. The trillions of hours of wasted time 'devoted' to the Jehovah and Jesus Chronicles has been wearisome to mankind's metaphorical flesh. If proponents of those chronicles had it their way we would still be living in the dark ages.
Jeff
estimates range from 4 million to 15 million children die from starvation each year on this planet.
that's between 500 and 1700 children a day, depending on what numbers you accept.
still, no matter which numbers you use, doesn't this make you arrive at one of the following conclusions?.
Don't you find it interesting Zid, that most of the OT, and in fact much of the NT too, sounds like fairy tales? Once rational thought lifted me out of the 'faith funk' it all looks like that. Perhaps they sound like precisely what they were/are - tales told by a superstitious culture to define things they could not understand and to produce a form of control over others who listened [and later read] them.
In fact, I would actually find Homer or F Baum's imagery to be more believable as something worthy of 'belief' if I had never been familiar with them and they were presented as 'holy'.
I find it disturbing now that billions of sheep just baaa baaa baaa along believing such drivel, and then compelling the next innocent generation to do the same. My great hope is that over a much shorter time, due in large part to the information technologies that drive our planet and cultures now, that such superstition and voodoo science/religion will one day fade into the history books like Greek mythology.
Jeff
