Nathan Natas

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Posts by Nathan Natas

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  5

  A Compassionate, Yet Ferocious, Christian Rebuke

  by Kent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  dear users of jehovahs-witness.com,.

  kent has been to the fabulous website "betty bowers is a better christian than you.

  " in perusing the joyous insight and delicate turn of phrase of america's best christian, mrs. betty bowers, kent has come to the sad realization that, while no one could ever be as good a christian as mrs. bowers, kent is verily jesus on the cross compared to you, darlings.

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  Nathan Natas

  Kent is verily Jesus on the cross compared to you, darlings.

  Hey, Kent, can you see my house from up there?
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  17

  Revelation- Inspired or......A case of bad Chicken

  by noidea in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the book of revelation is unlike any other book in the bible.

  so many visions leaving many to wonder what do they mean?

  supposedly, it holds the key to the future of mankind.. john had been through so many trials and tribulations.

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  Nathan Natas

  Hi Cowboy,

  Peyote is a cactus limited in its range to the SW US and N Mexico. It's scientific name is "lophphora williamsii." The active ingredient is mescaline, which is also produced by the San pedro cactus, "trichocereus pachaanoi" which is sometimes found for sale as an ornamental plant.

  A vine native to South America is the source of Ayahuasca or Yage.

  Satan must have created all these plants with their alkaloids and phenylethylamines. Surely Jehovah never meant for their use by humans. No, that would be WRONG.
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  30

  The Watchtower tells the truth...

  by teejay in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as distasteful as that truth is, it is one that may not go down easily for some who have nauseous memories of the wts.

  what does one do if an obvious truth is found in a hated source?

  is the truth's power diminished somehow?

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  Nathan Natas

  if I understand you correctly, it's your opinion that nothing good can EVER come from ANY Watchtower magazine.

  
  Yes, TeeJay, that's my opinion.

  How would you pick between the garbage in there to find something trustworthy?

  What's the expiration date on light?

  If you're talking to a demonstrated compulsive liar, how do you decide which of his statements to believe without LOTS of independant corroboration?

  The Watchtower is not entirely without value. It is high grade celluose fiber, and would be suitable at the bottom of a birdcage, for wrapping a carp, or for starting a fire.

  "I wish to see, and I mean this most sincerely, I wish to see the last King strangled with the guts of the last Priest." - Voltaire
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  35

  Speculation on special October 7th meeting

  by Seeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we have been discussing the special meeting being held in various locations on october 7th.

  note, this is the day after the annual meeting, not part of the annual meeting itself.

  reports have come in that certain individual congregations have been invited to attend.

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  Nathan Natas

  I can understand how as former thralls we would have some morbid curiousity about what the FDS/GB has planned.

  I predict that whatever the specific content might be, it will be a BALONEY BANQUET no different from any of the other special events and special revelations hosted previously.

  Let's just be patient and trust in Jehovah's Organization to provide us all with a good laugh in the days following.

  "I wish to see, and I mean this most sincerely, I wish to see the last King strangled with the guts of the last Priest." - Voltaire
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  30

  The Watchtower tells the truth...

  by teejay in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as distasteful as that truth is, it is one that may not go down easily for some who have nauseous memories of the wts.

  what does one do if an obvious truth is found in a hated source?

  is the truth's power diminished somehow?

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  Nathan Natas

  To me, saying that "The Watchtower tells the truth, sometimes" is like saying "This dip is made with peanut butter and baby poop. Care to try it?"

  I'll pass, thanks.

  There is sufficient historical evidence for the UNreliability of the Watchtower that it does not merit consideration as a legitimate source of information.

  What Watchtower publications CAN be relied upon for, however, is proof that the WTB&TS and Jehovah's Witnesses are nothing that they pretend to be.

  "I wish to see, and I mean this most sincerely, I wish to see the last King strangled with the guts of the last Priest." - Voltaire
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  7

  top ten reasons why beer is better than religion

  by bboyneko in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  10. no one will kill you for not drinking beer.. 9. beer doesn't tell you how to have sex.. 8. beer has never caused a major war.. 7. they don't force beer on minors who can't think for themselves.. 6. when you have beer, you don't knock on people's doors trying to give it away.. 5. nobody's ever been burned at the stake, hanged, or tortured over their brand of beer.. 4. you don't have to wait more than 2,000 years for a second beer.. 3. there are laws saying that beer labels can't lie to you.. 2. you can prove you have a beer.. 1. if you've devoted your life to beer, there are groups to help you stop.

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  Nathan Natas

  Reason #12: Beer understands that sometimes you get pissed off.
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  Orange Julius and JWs

  by VM44 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  remember the orange julius hamburger and drink stands?

  their old logo was of a red devil with a pitchfork, and.

  the motto for their drink was "a devilishly good drink".

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  Nathan Natas

  WOW! As Count Floyd might say, "Ohhhhhh, kids, that's SCARY!"

  The link didn't work too well for me, so here's the text from that site:

  Here's a quick-n-easy recipe from the first Top Secret Recipes book. Notice the egg substitute (which is made from egg whites) in the recipe. That's how you get a frothy, foamy drink. If you want a version of Strawberry and Pineapple Julius, check out the recipes in the second book, More Top Secret Recipes.

  1 cup orange juice
  1 cup water
  1/4 cup egg substitute
  3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1/4 cup sugar
  1 heaping cup ice

  Combine all of the ingredients in a blender set on high speed for 15-30 seconds. ( http://www.topsecretrecipes.com)
  Makes 2 drinks.
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  17

  Revelation- Inspired or......A case of bad Chicken

  by noidea in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the book of revelation is unlike any other book in the bible.

  so many visions leaving many to wonder what do they mean?

  supposedly, it holds the key to the future of mankind.. john had been through so many trials and tribulations.

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  Nathan Natas

  Noidea,

  Thanks for asking! The fungus is commonly called ergot. Here's a short article I just filched off the Web:
  

  ergot, disease of rye and other cereals caused by the fungus Claviceps purpurea. The cottony, matlike body, or mycelium, of the fungus develops in the ovaries of the host plant; it eventually turns into a hard pink or purple body, the sclerotium, or ergot, that resembles a grain of rye in shape. The sclerotium contains alkaloids (many of which are biologically active) that are toxic to humans and livestock. Ergot poisoning, or ergotism, epidemic in the Middle Ages, results from eating bread made of rye contaminated with ergot. Ergot poisoning is characterized by constriction of blood vessels, resulting in numbness and the development of gangrene in extremities; it may also affect the nervous system. Some of the alkaloids in ergot, e.g., ergotamine and ergonovine, are used as medicines; these alkaloids are chemical derivatives of lysergic acid, which is used in the synthesis of the hallucinogen LSD. Ergotamine alleviates migraine headaches. Ergonovine is used medicinally to stop hemorrhage and cause contraction of the uterus; during the 17th cent. midwives used ergot to stop postpartum uterine bleeding.

  Here's another that discusses other magic substances as well:

  One man's paean to mushrooms, mold, and mildew
  Sunday, November 21, 1999

  By MARY ESCH
  The Associated Press

  Be grateful for fungus. Sure, it's to blame for athlete's foot, moldy bread, and that slimy mildew on your shower curtain. But without fungi, there would be no beer, no penicillin, no gorgonzola cheese. And we'd be up to our necks in dead plants and animals if there were no fungi to rot them.

  In fact, fungus has had a key role in human history. Just ask George Hudler, professor of plant pathology at Cornell University.

  Better yet, read his book.

  In "Magical Mushrooms, Mischievous Molds" (Princeton University Press, $29.95), Hudler shares an infectious fascination with fungus that overtook him like a religious conversion 30 years ago, when he was in forestry school.

  The epiphany came as he peered through a microscope at mold spores, "lined up in a row like eggs inside a balloon." At that moment, Hudler says, "my life took on new meaning." He was hooked on fungus.

  For the past 10 years, Hudler has shared his fungal fervor with Cornell students in a popular undergraduate course by the same name as his book, published this year.

  Hudler introduces the book with a series of stories demonstrating the role of fungus in history. For instance, the infamous witch trials in Massachusetts had their roots in fungus-infected rye that sickened people and cattle so they displayed symptoms attributed to evil spells.

  Ergot poisoning from moldy grain also was responsible for numerous epidemics in Europe over the centuries. The hideous illness, sometimes called Saint Anthony's fire, caused burning pain before limbs would blister, rot, and fall off.

  Hudler tells how a chemist at Sandoz Pharmaceuticals in the 1930s isolated a potent hallucinogenic compound from the ergot fungus: LSD. It was enthusiastically embraced by the CIA as a potential mind-control agent in the 1950s, before it became a popular recreational drug.

  Some scholars believe the great philosophers of ancient Greece -- including Socrates and Plato -- gained inspiration through the ceremonial drinking of a secret, sacred beverage in the temple of Eleusis. The hallucinogenic purple potion is believed to have contained a crude form of LSD, derived from ergot-infected grain.

  Ergot derivatives also are used in modern migraine medications such as Cafergot and Ergate.

  A toxin produced by another grain mold causes internal bleeding and strangulation death. The U.S. government accused the Soviet Union of dropping that toxin in the form of "yellow rain" during the Vietnam War. But some scientists later theorized that what villagers called yellow rain was actually the feces of massive swarms of bees, Hudler writes.

  Molds are not the only fungal sources of toxic, hallucinogenic, or medically useful compounds. Mushrooms had a celebrated role in human culture long before Timothy Leary extolled the mind-altering virtues of psilocybin from "magical mushrooms" in the psychedelic Sixties.

  Several centuries ago in Siberia, Hudler writes, an explorer discovered that people enlivened life in a harsh land by eating hallucinogenic mushrooms. Those too poor to afford the fungi enjoyed its effects secondhand -- by drinking the urine of the mushroom-eaters.

  Some scholars believe the same mushroom -- fly agaric -- was the Soma, a mysterious life force worshiped by ancient Hindus and a factor in the genesis of modern religions. The Soma was passed from one person to another through urine. It is said to have had one foot and a red-and-white head -- a good description of the fly agaric, or Amanita muscaria.

  There is evidence that the ancient Mayans also used the fly agaric in shamanic rituals. And some scholars have suggested that the red-topped mushroom, rather than an apple, was the forbidden fruit in the story of Adam and Eve.

  Interwoven with Hudler's entertaining accounts of the role of fungus in history, culture, medicine, and everyday life are detailed explanations of the underlying science -- including classification, structure, chemistry, and growth habits.

  For instance, he describes how a fungus called Phytophthora infestans awakens from winter dormancy to produce wind-blown spore capsules, which disgorge swimming spores onto potato plants. The spores germinate, grow threadlike into the plant, and produce enzymes that digest tissue. Infected potatoes turn to putrid mush.

  That's what happened in 1845, when a devastating blight led to the Irish potato famine. More than a million people died.

  Lest his readers write off fungi as vile and destructive, Hudler devotes the latter half of the book to the benefits derived from fungi. Penicillin, for instance. And Cyclosporin, a mold-derived drug that helps prevent rejection of transplanted organs.

  The shiitake mushroom, long used in East Asian medicine as well as cuisine, produces potent anti-tumor and antiviral compounds that are being investigated as treatments for cancer and AIDS. Some common North American mushrooms also have been shown in clinical trials to have therapeutic effects against cancer, hypertension, and hepatitis B.

  Hudler devotes a chapter to the biology of yeast and how its metabolic processes are put to use in making bread, beer, and wine.

  "Let me assure you that for all the problems fungi have caused, they have also extended our lives and made them far more enjoyable," Hudler writes. He invites any reader who remains unconvinced to stop by his office at Cornell.

  "We'll chat," he writes, "for as long as it takes."

  "I wish to see, and I mean this most sincerely, I wish to see the last King strangled with the guts of the last Priest." - Voltaire
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  93

  "Mire of atheism..."

  by Julie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  :i welcome those of your quality of character and refusal to sink into the mire of atheism or deep cynicism, .

  i found these words to be so interesting.

  i have seen posts (albeit few) that discuss the bible and whether or not it is of god.

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  Nathan Natas

  Thank you Julie!

  I'm an atheist, and to me "the mire of Atheism"=the rigor of critical thinking/rational analysis.

  "There's something inside your head..." - OingoBoingo

  "I wish to see, and I mean this most sincerely, I wish to see the last King strangled with the guts of the last Priest." - Voltaire
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  9

  WTBTS CLINICAL LABORATORY OF BROOKLYN

  by Kent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  watch tower bible & tract society clinical laboratory of brooklyn.

  the watchtower is running a lot of strange businesses, and this one is just an example.

  they are listed as a medical laboratory by new york state department of health - health care reform act (hcra).

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  Nathan Natas

  "Tana leaves! Freddy needs more Tana leaves!"

  "I wish to see, and I mean this most sincerely, I wish to see the last King strangled with the guts of the last Priest." - Voltaire