Posts by snare&racket

72

Paranormal Warning

by Cold Steel in

i've heard some weird stories coming from jws about the paranormal.

i know about the warnings about items that come from unbelievers -- those don't interest me as much.

what i am interested in are actual experiences in stories of the paranormal you've heard or experienced yourself.

Do you call it evil when a Lion takes down a gazelle? What about if one lion pride fights another? Why assume that with humans there is an extra invented element called 'evil'? The world is a safer, happier, healthier, wealthier place as civilisation improves and progresses. I bet you can't pick one year from history you would rather live in !

Illness and disease sucks but it is part of biological life. Is the survivability of bacteria evil? Is it evil when a kid gets a bacterial infection? It's just the natural world and every organism seeking to survive over another. It's a harsh world but we can explain away why. To introduce evil you need to explain it and prove it exists and then you have to prove that the best suggestion for why it is here ......is a horned red dude called Satan from Jewish myth.

Take another look at the world and try to find evil..... I see selfishness, I see people doing things for their own good, I see mentally damaged people not appreciating normal social rules usually because they were harmed too or clinically unwell for physical reasons. I sincerely don't see evil in the world anymore. If there are good, healthy and unscarred people out there that do awful heinous acts for no other reason that to do bad... I sincerely haven't seen that yet,

532

I conclude evolution is guided

by KateWild in

your qualifications are way above mine so i'd love to hear more about the specifics of what you have researched and how that supports the existence of a deity.

k99, i am not really convinced that you're interested in my conclusions.

in nature amino acids formed to then form dna.

snare&racket

Hadriel,

why are you doubting that answers will come? Do you believe in God? If you do, is it a coincidence that the specific area of science you feel we will be lacking in your lifetime is a region used by many to put God in the gap? Is it not just a very complex part of modern science? Abiogenesis is a huge and complex topic, have you read the literature and textbooks on it? Because we know much.

Abiogenesis and evolution are very different things we shouldn't be talking about it here. But the start of life abiogenesis is a huge and exciting field. I don't know why you assume we won't find answers, why do you state that? please don't go and look for research, please give your honest answer for why YOU when you said it felt that way.

i personally obviously likewise don't have all the answers, but I was very excited by Craig Ventnors work, his,latest being fascinating ( see below) ...but interesting to me with a JW past was to read of the work on artificial life. When the Lego pieces of life clip together the cells become alive and start to work. No god involved. No magic breath of life. No Frankenstein pulling of a switch. It's machinery.

http://www.nature.com/news/minimal-cell-raises-stakes-in-race-to-harness-synthetic-life-1.19633

9

"But WHY??"

by stuckinarut2 in

a thought struck me.

as young children we were known for often asking the question "but why?

" to anything and everything that we were told and presented with in life.

snare&racket

As a JW I was always told I "thought to much" and that I was "overthinking things" and that it was ok to have questions but that they were a waste of time as we already had the answers and faith in the GB was the only important thing.

NEVER since leaving has anyone said I over thought or asked too many questions and that's despite 10yrs of academia. The very opposite is the way to get answers.

The JW's offer a lazy life solution, do as they say, do what they say, do it when they say it... and in exchange they will do all the thinking for you, In reality this is what ended my JW life as this just wasn't good enough for me. 11 window cleaners in Brooklyn really didn't know better,

72

Paranormal Warning

by Cold Steel in

i've heard some weird stories coming from jws about the paranormal.

i know about the warnings about items that come from unbelievers -- those don't interest me as much.

what i am interested in are actual experiences in stories of the paranormal you've heard or experienced yourself.

snare&racket

After negotiating the bible ...based on facts, world history, religious history, cultural history I was left very confident it was man made stories and certainly borrowed from many beliefs Systems that were wholly different from each other , involving various gods and personalities,

Before I could let go of a belief in God, I had to negotiate the issue of spirits, this seemed a difficult but important task. Then I asked myself.... What exactly have I seen? I considered the mental state and bias of the people who had told me they knew of, or had themselves seen something unexplained....... I had my answer.

I remember calling down demons and Devils etc etc in front of my JW family to prove a point. I also remember the fear I had of such spirits even as a young adult male. Now I deal with death on a regular basis, wander hospital wards at night alone and I sincerely don't fear anything. In fact one night I was walking down a dark quiet hospital corridor and the lights were automated but switching on behind me as I was walking faster than the sensors. I had a sudden realisation that took me some seconds to untangle, this was a scenario that at one time would have made me unsettled. Now... Nothing, literally nothing.

Your mind is amazing at picturing your worst fears or imagined experiences... We had our heads filled with images of dark/evil demons with sexual desires and a lust for violence, enveloped in a fog of fear and spiritual darkness. It was all Harry Potter for adults, fed to kids to keep them in line. It's mental/emotional child abuse and it's speaks volumes that most JW adults fear this b.s. and even some ex JW's. It is untrue, unhealthy and indefensible to have been indoctrinated with such lies.

Trust half what you see and nothing of what you hear. Read, research and your own knowledge will be your best protection.

Those cracks and bangs from the TV are the plastics warming and cooling, those bangs and crashes are house noises. Those taps coming on are changes in water pressures and slightly opened valves. The lights flicker everywhere for many reasons. That dark fearful feeling when you talk to a spiritualist... Will also be there for you put on a horror film..... A bunch of people in plastic masks and makeup. The issue is you and the beliefs you were raised with 😉. I reasoned away all these fears and they are all honestly gone.

10

Is Pokemon Demonic?

by Saename in

[spoiler: pokemon is an invitation to communication with or possession by demons because... well... pokemon comes from demons.

so... i was looking through different questions on quora, and i noticed one that read, "is pokemon demonic?

" i was interested in seeing what people have to say, especially that not so long ago there was a thread (or a post in a thread?

snare&racket

🙈

15

Suffering with "Bridge-over-River-Kwai-syndrome" while fading

by OneGenTwoGroups in

i've never liked being late for meetings, 10 minutes early has always been 5 minutes late for me.

i'm a very punctual atheist at the meetings still.. when someone asks a simple question from the platform and not one dummy raises their hand, i still feel the need to raise my hand so that we don't all look like idiots.. my shoes still need to be clean and polished, my suits and ties match and are in good shape.

i never wear them anywhere else.. i still feel like saying hello to people that are obviously being ignored by everyone else.. people not singing out still bugs me, lol.

snare&racket

Be careful, this stuff is emotionally and mentally addictive, feeding the hunger of a guilt monster that has been artificially grown in you via the JW's.

There are far healthier options for your time, energy and efforts.

if I may humbly note, think of the consequences of just one bible reading if just one person listens, think of the consequences of helping the build of even just one more church. The consequences of just one morning in ministry if just one householder is swayed.

Honestly, having left the religion, I look back with few regrets, but there are some. Firstly I am sad for every year I did not leave. We live short, fragile lives. Wasted in that religion! Secondly I feel so guilt for the people I studied with and for the talks I did. I have some relief in the fact I wasn't an elder etc as I am not sure I could forgive myself for being part of a JC or disfellowshiping. Also, not one of the people stood on that KH platform are qualified to teach anything. All data is sourced from one place, the J.w's and with such bias no truth can be found.

Be careful when playing with fire, playing with a cult... Even if you don't get burned, someone else and their family may.....

12

PREZ JOKES

by SolidSender in

here's some bumper stickers recently spotted:.

honk!

if you had sex with the president.

snare&racket

Best prez joke I saw............. Trump

4

Congregation witch hunt?

by dothemath in

heard about a congregation recently that had a local needs talk regarding going to the elders if any wrongdoing had happened, or if you knew of someone involved.. mostly they were concerned with over-indulging in alcohol, but the elder emphasized "the need to get help from elders, or your spirituality would be harmed".

(words to that effect).

so now there's brothers and sisters running to see these guys, and likely over stuff that happened maybe years ago.. funny thing is the brother telling me about it said there's been several meetings now where people's names are read from the platform, and it looks like it'll be going on for a while.. i think if your conscience was bothering you, you would be better off being catholic, at least your only confessing to one person instead of being shamed in front of eveyone..

snare&racket

Adults being told off by other adults for doing things that all adults and most teens do weekly..

"Oh the local window cleaner is here to tell me I drink too much and shouldn't own a copy of Robocop."

I forget how pathetic the JW's are

48

Animals not meant to eat meat

by Carl in

jw don't believe in evolution .

how come animals teeth are designed to chew meat?

sharks for instance have razor sharp pointy teeth these are not to eat vegetation .

snare&racket

The teeth are a tiny part of the issue. From their mouth to their butt everything has evolved to consume meat. The stomach, the acid levels, the enzymes, the pancreas, the intestines, the cells, all the bio-chemistry.....

Animals have evolved to procreate and therefore survive in a certain environment. Everything about an animal, is focused on survival and eating is a big part of it. A lion has muscles to run.,chase, pounce, wrestle, hold down. Teeth to tear, cut, bleed, sever and chew. Even it's tongue is covered in hairs so that one lick devours layers of flesh. None of these things are useful for cucumbers...

All these things make an animal what it is, it's ridiculous to claim it once consumed another type of food. It would make it a totally different animal, it would look, live, behave, act like a totally different animal.

It's a ridiculous and ignorant idea,

532

I conclude evolution is guided

by KateWild in

your qualifications are way above mine so i'd love to hear more about the specifics of what you have researched and how that supports the existence of a deity.

k99, i am not really convinced that you're interested in my conclusions.

in nature amino acids formed to then form dna.

snare&racket

Lack of transitional forms? Have you read up any scientific literature on evolution? This is a very basic misconception, for EVERY fossil is a transitional fossil.