Posts by Heaven

10

This is what leadership looks like

by Pistoff in

since the day pope francis told catholics to stop obsessing about abortion and gay marriage, and get to the business of helping the poor, i have been afraid for his life.. in one statement, he pierced 2 sacred cows of catholic and evangelical thought, and he has not stopped.. he has lectured the world on real evils, mentioning capitalism in particular as a system that has left billions in desperate poverty.. he has now said that global warming threatens the world, particularly the poor, and is calling on the world to change it's lifestyle to save the planet.. i can't remember ever, in my entire life, when someone in as powerful a position as the pope, actually speaks out loud and in public the actual truth of the world's environment and calling the world to action, without regard for the consequences.. hard line catholics don't like him; fox news hates him, one pundit telling him to leave science to the scientists (of course, fox news doesn't leave global warming to the scientists) and today this from greg gutfield, fox news:.

"the most dangerous person on the planet is someone who is seeking strange new respect from their adversaries.

and that is what the pope is doing, said gutfeld, implying that the recognition of the existence of man-made climate change is fundamentally at odds with catholicism.

Heaven

And yet, he said that people who speak out against religion should expect to be punched.

Seems he talks out of both sides of his mouth.

Has he said anything yet about birth control?

17

WATCHTOWER AND BULLSHIT VIEWS ON SCIENCE (THE WATCHTOWER JUNE 2015)

by TerryWalstrom in

the watchtower june 2015 (bullshit).

the latest watchtower (online at j-dub dot argh!

) features a hilarious article.

Heaven

Religions have always cherry picked scriptures to affirm their agenda. I see no reason why they would stop at the Bible with this practice, particularly if they can use an external source to also prop up their faulty ideals. I have often been accused of taking scripture out of context. When I ask the person accusing me to explain how I've done that, they are usually unable to. It seems to me, even religion needs validation from outside their hallowed walls.

Science and the scientific method are greatly needed to erode the religious strangleholds on people. We need more Dawkins', Harris', Hitchens', Dennett's, Gervais', Maher's, etc speaking out against the hypocrisy of belief and religion.

In any discussion with religious people, I think it is important to first establish which god they are speaking about when they broach the 'belief' subject. It is interesting to watch the confused look on their faces. It's like they've never thought about it before and are ill-prepared to articulate exactly what/who their 'god' is. They don't even know his name in many cases. In my discussions, they have very little knowledge of the Bible, it's origins, as well as the natural world.

I like how Stenger approaches things. It is how I looked at things as an older child and teenager being raised in the JW faith. The claims being made about god do not hold up to scrutiny. IF he exists, god is really inconsequential because he is ineffectual. As one of my good friends states: "God/Religion is nothing but a fraud."

I think Epicurus's quote is still one of the most complete and succinct on the matter of god:

If god is inspiring people, it is my conclusion he's really f'ing with them.

Logic and reason must be abandoned in the realm of faith and belief. Once one abandons these, one has crossed over into the world of insanity.

9

How did you feel after..

by zeb in

jw
friends

..you had been away from the wt for a time.

i saw a quote tonight and it leapt off the page for me.. "now i know what it feels like to be part of a circle of friends, part of a group.

its a very different feeling than i have had before and it feels wonderful and right'.. spoken by a lady after being released of her heart "wall" that she had established for protection.. + comments please if you like.

Heaven

punky said: Who is it that says, "let's review - it's a cult?"

That's Oubliette, punky.

I tried to counter the negativity. I was unsuccessful. This is because I did not live with my parents once I grew up.

To counter negativity, you have to have positiveness, and a lot of it. For every negative thought connection your brain makes, you need at least 12 positive connections to nullify the 1 negative one. This is how strongly a negative experience affects the brain and human psyche. It's part of the survival mechanism and the 'fight or flight' response.

I just finished a course at work entitled "Turning Stress Into Strength". It cited that 1 in 5 Canadians will experience mental illness this year. Prolonged stress is linked to psychological illness. Full-time employees are at risk for burnout. Our 'fight or flight' responses are regularly being activated. Money is a major source of stress but if one is educated about finances and how to manage money, one is usually less stressed about it.

Mental Health Promotion involves action. I thought this was very interesting as one of the key doctrines of Jehovah's Witnesses is really 'do nothing' in their "Pray More + Wait on Jehovah" belief.

In a study group of 127 depressed people who were not seeing any relief from their symptoms by taking anti-depressants, 37 people from this group saw their depression go into remission from exercise alone. Yoga has been shown to have similar effects as some anti-anxiety medications. Deep breathing triggers release of stress reducing hormones such as dopamine and serotonin.

A healthy diet is also important. Consumption of processed foods negatively impacts all aspects of health.

There is more but I think most on here know the rest (manage your time, don't set unrealistic expectations, get adequate sleep, focus on finding solutions to your problems, etc).

16

Preach, preach, preach....feel guilty...preach some more

by Tornintwo in

since starting to wake up, i can't help notice how so many talks emphasise preaching, increasing your hours, pioneering etc...with a hefty load of guilt on the side.. i always noticed the guilt, but now i'm noticing how talks that seem to start out on another issue always seem to come back to hours!

visit talk seemed to start out about persecution, trusting in jehovah etc...but the main thrust in the end was, 'do more hours, pioneer, don't get an education or pursue a career, don't get distracted, hooray for the pioneers!

if you dont do more hours you will be 'the sort that shrink back to destruction'.

Heaven

To force someone to do something they are not cut out to do is ludicrous.

I never felt that it was anyone's right, including my own, to try and coerce someone into a religion.

JW Field-Serve Us is really being a door-to-door religious salesman.

The scripture at James 3:1 applies very much to JWs, especially since they are preaching made up crap:

"Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly."

So... even the Bible says not everyone should be doing this.

9

How did you feel after..

by zeb in

jw
friends

..you had been away from the wt for a time.

i saw a quote tonight and it leapt off the page for me.. "now i know what it feels like to be part of a circle of friends, part of a group.

its a very different feeling than i have had before and it feels wonderful and right'.. spoken by a lady after being released of her heart "wall" that she had established for protection.. + comments please if you like.

Heaven

After leaving home and getting hired at my present employer (over 30 years ago), I realized just how negative my parents had become when I'd visit them.

Everything was bad, nothing was good, and there were no answers other than 'Jehovah' (which I find to be a completely useless answer).

I thought about how our lives were diverging, like a fork in the road, a path that splits in 2 with each going off into 2 different directions. It made me sad... like I was suffering their death before they had actually died.

27

Church of Derp: New Light... Adam's Nipples

by freemindfade in

.

Heaven

Was Adam Andre's father? Inquiring minds need to know.

6

Growing up gay in North korea

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

how do you know you're "gay", if you've never heard of "gay?".

does something exist if there is no word to describe it?

consider the experience of jang yeong-jin.. .

Heaven

From the article: “There are many homosexuals in North Korea who live a miserable life without even knowing why,” Jang Yeong-jin said. “What a tragedy it is to live a life without knowing who you are.”

How does the suppression of information and knowledge benefit the world? There is absolutely no point to living a miserable life because of this.

27