Posts by Marvin Shilmer

34

"Jehovah's Witnesses do better after surgery without transfusion" - Article (July 3, 2012)

by Da.Furious in

this article from 2012 published by the birmingham news showed up on my facebook page.. what i would have liked to see in the statistics is the inclusion of total jws refusing blood transfusion and their survival rate not only the ones taht surviced, taking about only survivors is not like for like comparison in my opinion with patients who take blood transfusion and then dont survive.. .

.

Marvin Shilmer

I've read the article. It asserts that treatment according to Watchtower policy does not pose an increased risk FOR THE SPECIFIC PATIENT PRESENTATIONS REVIEWED BY THE AUTHORS of this study.

There is such a thing as bleeding to death. Current Watchtower policy would have a JW succumb to death rather than prevent that death by transfusion of blood and products rendered from blood on its forbidden list (red cells, white cells, platelets and certain plasma products such as FFP). This study does not dispute that fact.

See: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2012/03/stark-reality-facing-jehovahs-witnesses.html

And: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2012/02/more-than-50000-dead.html

Preventable death due to Watchtower's blood doctrine is well documented! Very well documented!!!

24

Why do people support abusers in the NFL?

by Simon in

i really don't get it.. in most sports in most countries your career is rightly over if you commit certain crimes.. but not in the good old nfl !.

it seems players can rape, beat women, abuse children, fight dogs ... and they will not only be allowed to play but they will have an army of fans wearing their names on their shirts and cheering them on.. the abuse and arrogant attitudes seem to exist at all levels - it seems like there is an endless feed of news stories where some high-school or college football players have abused or raped girls and they end up being allowed back to play and people rallying round as though *they* are the victims.. surely, whatever someone's skills as an athlete are, there are some things that simply can't be excused?.

or is winning truly 'everything' and it doesn't matter the cost?.

Marvin Shilmer

It's a cultural thing. For some folks it's a part of the natural order of things.

If you grew up learning it's proper to discipline beat your kid until their legs are bruised with lash marks then you don't think anything of it when your a sports star is arrested for doing the same thing to his 4-year-old.

If you grew up learning that womanizing is a natural and expected thing for men then when your sports star does the same thing you don't think much of it.

If you grew up learning that husbands or wives slugging their mate as a method of sharing frustration or winning an argument is natural and normal then when your sports star does the same thing you overlook it as normal.

The NFL is populated with individuals from a wide array or cultures. But one culture in particular appears to be dominating the news in this regard, and in each case I see the aformentioned tendencies at work. That culture is not the only one with these issues.

1

Blood Timeline - What's Missing?

by Lee Elder in

we have just added a new timeline on the history of the wts blood policy:.

http://ajwrb.org/the-historical-perspective/blood-policy-timeline.

plenty of room to add additional events.

Marvin Shilmer

I think the 2001 Medical Directive document is worthy of attention in the timeline. It was active for official use from May 2001 to December 2001. Then Watchtower had these documents destroyed:

http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-happened-at-watchtower-in-2001.html

Very few originals remain of this piece of Watchtower history. I have an entire sleeve of them, including the ones for minors.

68

Come on! Tell it like it is. People are LYING when they tell you, "I've read the Bible."

by Terry in

go ahead.

tell me.. "i've read the bible cover to cover.

i don't believe you.. it is damned near impossible!.

Marvin Shilmer

I've read the Bible from the tips. I've also read the six volume set Jefferson And His Time, by Dumas Malone, and The Road To Reality, by Roger Penrose. In length Malone's work beats the Bible by a long, long shot. In tediousness Penrose's work again beats the Bible by a long, long shot.

We should not underestimate reading habits of folks we know little if anything about. For sure it's bad form to presume of others.

It's presumption to think a motivated reading of the entire Bible suggests a willingness to accept its message. But then, in my experience what "message" a person takes from reading this work varies from person to person; hence to suggest a particular "message" would be more presumption.

137

9yr old girl kills her gun instructor with an uzi

by EndofMysteries in

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/26/us/arizona-girl-fatal-shooting-accident/index.html?hpt=hp_t2.

"a 9-year-old girl learning to fire a submachine gun accidentally killed her instructor at a shooting range when the weapon recoiled over her shoulder, according to arizona authorities.

another reason to go against those arguing that young children should be taught how to use guns.

Marvin Shilmer

TD,

I haven't followed details of this story over and beyond what I wrote above. But from what you write it sounds like this little girl was handed a fully automatic weapon to fire! I'm with you. Only the one holding the license should be allowed to operate such a firearm. I know firing ranges that offer unlicensed clients the experience of fully automatic weapons. But I've never understood it. It should be illegal.

137

9yr old girl kills her gun instructor with an uzi

by EndofMysteries in

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/26/us/arizona-girl-fatal-shooting-accident/index.html?hpt=hp_t2.

"a 9-year-old girl learning to fire a submachine gun accidentally killed her instructor at a shooting range when the weapon recoiled over her shoulder, according to arizona authorities.

another reason to go against those arguing that young children should be taught how to use guns.

Marvin Shilmer

This is one sad story. What was the kid's parents thinking?!!! What was the instructor thinking?!!! Everything about this incident screams unsafe level of probability.

Now we have a deceased individual survived by grieving loved ones, and a traumatized child.

I taught my children how to shoot when they were about the same age as this child. But the idea of putting a semi-automatic firearm in their hands was unthinkable at that age! Anyone whos's fired a semi-auto knows simply triggering off two rounds back to back can lead to dire consequences if you lose control, and from what I see that's precisely what happened in this case.

24

Why was such a GREAT, GREAT, GREAT thing as Internet not foretold in the Bible?

by Pinku in

jws claim that even such a small thing as proclaiming 1986 as the international year for peace was foretold in the bible.

this raises the question: why was such a great thing as internet (the influence of which could not even be compared with anything in the history at all) not foretold in the bible?

with internet and tv the world has become literally a global village!.

Marvin Shilmer

Ironically this is one subject where one of Watchtower's inferred predictions has arguable come true:

http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2011/07/urge-watchtowers-ironic-prediction.html

18

All the craziness of the blood doctrine.

by Crazyguy in

well it looks like the wt was slowly moving away from the blood ban going back to the 1990's but not sure of some things i have read concerning thier comments about blood moving through the placenta?.

that some protein fractions from the plasma do move naturally into the blood system of another individual (the fetus) may be another consideration when a christian is deciding whether he will accept immune globulin, albumin, or similar injections of plasma fractions.

one person may feel that he in good conscience can; another may conclude that he cannot.

Marvin Shilmer

Why?

Because Watchtower's top leadership no longer believes its own doctrinal position.

See: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2012/02/watchtower-leadership-believe-its-own.html

And: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-happened-at-watchtower-in-2001.html

-

18

All the craziness of the blood doctrine.

by Crazyguy in

well it looks like the wt was slowly moving away from the blood ban going back to the 1990's but not sure of some things i have read concerning thier comments about blood moving through the placenta?.

that some protein fractions from the plasma do move naturally into the blood system of another individual (the fetus) may be another consideration when a christian is deciding whether he will accept immune globulin, albumin, or similar injections of plasma fractions.

one person may feel that he in good conscience can; another may conclude that he cannot.

Marvin Shilmer

I think Watchtower focuses on normal, natural and healthy wholesale transferences whereas AJWRB is pointing out that cellular blood components are known to also transfer via placenta (though not on a wholesale basis).

The problem with Watchtower's premise is that it fails to apply it consistently for what it represents in relation to placental transference. For example the very 1990 Watchtower you quote from above states of "plasma" that it does not cross the placental barrier "as such" hence "plasma" is not left for each JW to accept based on personal conscience. Yet Watchtower policy allows JWs to accept transfusion of plasma products rendered from blood such as cryoprecipitate and cryo-poor plasma despite neither of these crossing the placental barrier "as such". Hence the premise Watchtower offers is no sound basis to assert its doctrinal position.

Another problem with Watchtower's premise is that it fails to apply it consistently in relation to other healthy organ transfers between mother and child. See: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2011/02/blood-transference.html

229

Ferguson Shooting (Is my thinking on this all wrong.......)

by out4good3 in

i think everyone here can agree that walking down the street, even in the middle of the street, is not cause for having a clip emptied in your ass......... i can understand how the black community would be outraged by the injustice of seeing another black man dead in the street at the hands of the police under mysterious circumstances....... i hope that i'm not succumbing to the attempts to assinate the already well impuned character of the dead man...... however.

i can't help but think that this could all have been avoided by exercising the proper discretion with fore-knowledge of the disadvantages people of color have when they are dealing with law enforcement in the united states.

it is not as if this disadvantage has only since recently came to light.

Marvin Shilmer

I'd be surprised if everything that went on in that patrol car was not recorded. I'd also be surprised if the cruiser was not equiped with an active dash cam. Should be interesting to see if there was anything recorded either as audio or video.