Posts by rebel8

63

Where was the dead body of Jesus? Did the disciples disappear it?

by opusdei1972 in

i am currently an skeptic, but i have to admit that i can't assure that all the stuff of early christianity was false.. for instance, we know that the genuine letters of paul were written before the destruction of jerusalem.

so, paul affirmed that jesus resurrected, though he was not there when it supposedly happened.

but, if jesus did not resurrect, why didn't the jews expose this falsehood?.

rebel8

If there was a Jesus, he may have pretended to be dead and had his disciples let him out of the tomb.

58

Sleep Aid Recommendations

by LV101 in

jw
friends

in addition to the recent thread, "how to shut your mind down .

.

" (which is excellent) but there was another thread about the same time i'm searching for and unable to locate.

rebel8

chamomile tea, hibiscus tea, establishing a wind-down ritual that you do exactly the same way every night at the same time, no stimulating stuff a few hours before bedtime, no light or noise in the bedroom, meditation, lavendar on your pillow

19

"Active Topics" button opens a wml file

by rebel8 in

when i press the "active topics" button this morning, it tries to open a .wml file instead of taking me to active topics.. oh, the humanity!.

rebel8

When I press the "Active Topics" button this morning, it tries to open a .wml file instead of taking me to active topics.

Oh, the humanity!

Brazil court: Blood refusal for child is not murder

by rebel8 in

couldn't find this one posted here.. so the highlights (lowlights?

) are:.

in 1993, a 13 yr old girl with leukemia died due to her parents refusal of blood.the physician consented to the parents' wishes.the government attempted to prosecute them for murder.in 2010 the court ruled they should stand trial for murder.now that decision has essentially been overturned.the doctor violated medical ethics regulations when he followed the parents' wishes.the girl's dad is said to be a military reservist.her name was juliana bonfim da silva, and she never had the chance to live a full life..

rebel8

Couldn't find this one posted here.

So the highlights (lowlights?) are:

In 1993, a 13 yr old girl with leukemia died due to her parents refusal of blood.
The physician consented to the parents' wishes.
The government attempted to prosecute them for murder.
In 2010 the court ruled they should stand trial for murder.
Now that decision has essentially been overturned.
The doctor violated medical ethics regulations when he followed the parents' wishes.
The girl's dad is said to be a military reservist. I guess he compartmentalizes his adherence to doctrines about bloodguilt.

Her name was Juliana Bonfim da Silva, and she never had the chance to live a full life.

25

Watchtower November 2014: Witnesses can't donate blood

by opusdei1972 in

let us read a recent watchtower publication:.

many medical professionals and other advocates of blood transfusion appeal to people to donate blood in hopes of saving lives.

however, jehovahs holy people acknowledge that the creator has the right to say how blood is to be treated.

rebel8

sir82, interesting. The statements made by both AWJRB and the Borg grossly understate the amount of donated blood used by hemophiliacs.

44

Fresh Newcomer

by Yondaime in

hi guys, my name is yondaime,.

my will to remain in this relgious sect is fading, i'm about to be a freshman(just turned 18) in college.

, i have seen so many terrible things happen to good people in this cult and i'm sick of it!

rebel8

Congratulations on exercising critical thinking skills early in life. You will save yourself from much anguish and many wasted years.

Good luck. Do the right thing, be a good person, and enjoy the gift of life.

Build a life worth living.

66

"We're calling on your neighbours to promote a website"

by Simon in

wow, it's true - they don't call to 'promote god's kingdom' anymore but just their website!.

we just had an old lady call and tell us that was exactly what they were doing and it has "lots of good things on their for children".

yeah, right ... sparlock?.

rebel8

I wonder if wearing a t-shirt or placing an Internet ad to promote the website would count as field service hours.

30

Contradictory geneology of Jesus

by rebel8 in

jw
friends

so i'm reading another carl sagan book and he seems to invariably find a way to slam j-dubs in each one.

(i can't say i blame him.).

anyway, in this one he discusses the fact that the gospels give contradictory geneologies of jesus--differing lines back to david from joseph, and a different number of generations.

rebel8

I remember the dubs shaking their heads because Jews didn't accept Jesus as the Messiah, calling them stubborn or something like that. I'm beginning to understand why the Jews didn't accept him! It's so obvious--even the holy book that prophecied about him said he didn't meet the qualifications.

smiddy:

Sagan was from near where I was from, which is why it all sticks out in my mind. wts kept misquoting him. We used to talk about him in the Tuesday book studies, how he really kept talking about proof of creation but arrogantly claimed evolution was true--stupid scientists, blinded by Satan even when the truth is so plainly in front of them! They really had a hard-on for Carl Sagan.

One of my defining moments was when I realized wts had misquoted him all along.

I bet all that misquoting probably irritated him a bit, so yes, he took a swipe back.

"Doctrines that make no predictions are less compelling than those which make correct predictions; they are in turn more successful than doctrines that make false predictions.

But not always. One prominent American religion confidently predicted that the world would end in 1914. Well, 1914 has come and gone, and -- while the events of that year were certainly of some importance -- the world does not, at least so far as I can see, seem to have ended. There are at least three responses that an organized religion can make in the face of such a failed and fundamental prophecy. They could have said, "Oh, did we say '1914'? So sorry, we meant '2014.' A slight error in calculation. Hope you weren't inconvenienced in any way." But they did not. They could have said, "Well, the world would have ended, except we prayed very hard and interceded with God so He spared the Earth." But they did not. Instead, they did something much more ingenious.

They announced that the world had in fact ended in 1914, and if the rest of us hadn't noticed, that was our lookout. It is astonishing in the face of such transparent evasions that this religion has any adherents at all. But religions are tough. Either they make no contentions which are subject to disproof or they quickly redesign doctrine after disproof. The fact that religions can be so shamelessly dishonest, so contemptuous of the intelligence of their adherents, and still flourish does not speak very well for the tough-mindedness of the believers. But it does indicate, if a demonstration were needed, that near the core of the religious experience is something remarkably resistant to rational inquiry."

Broca's Brain, Carl Sagan (New York: Ballantine Books, 1979, pp. 332-33)

63