Posts by Saintbertholdt

20

Question: What would it take to get the BORG'S tax exempt status REVOKED?

by Black Man in

jw
friends

i've always wondered about this.

i've always felt the main reason the borg made publishers do time slips/field service reports was to show that they are doing a community service to justify their tax exempt status.

we all know about their money grabs with the kh build scams, their selling off millions of dollars in real estate, etc.

Saintbertholdt

WHAT WOULD IT TAKE TO GET THE GOVERNMENT TO REVOKE THEIR TAX EXEMPT STATUS? Public pressure? Media blitz exposing their finances. Political pressure? What?

The separation of church and state would prevent that. The US supreme courts formal neutrality test would not allow for tax exemption on churches to be lifted. I think the argument should not be one of losing tax exemption, but the argument should be for full public disclosure regarding financial matters for all churches. That is still a neutral stance and the only thing the state would be doing is leveling the playing field for its citizenry by giving access to information.

13

Why zombies?

by FadeToBlack in

jw
friends

i just saw ww-v with brad pitt the other night (i know i am behind the times, still trying to catch up on movies i missed the last 30 years) and it struck me- why are we always fighting zombies?

is it just easier to justify the carnage?

it seems to me, that the most horrific carnage seems to be neighbor-vs-neighbor.

Saintbertholdt

Do the non-zombies (the good guys?) always win or at least have some kind of happy moment at the end of the movie?

Tradition dictates that its never over and we're all ******.

I skipped the whole vampire thing though. Hope that is ok.

To me after the first Twilight movie vampires became forever unclean.

Time may heal all wounds though.

447

Does Anyone Still Believe in God?

by LaurenM in

do any of you ex-jw's still believe in god?

even with the new rebranding/softening of this religion, i still don't see how people can believe in him.

the god of the old testimate is an angry murderer who approved rapes and slavery and killed thousands of men, women and children.

Saintbertholdt

Then the question is as meaningless...

Well that is why I am an atheist. It has no real bearing on my everyday existence except when I'm discussing it on the internet.

... as whether there is a teapot orbiting Mars.

However to me its not a teapot orbiting Mars. I cannot completely dismiss the idea that there may be an impersonal but sentient God because if so it may imply that some questions will remain eternally unanswerable: For example: Is geometry a property of the physical universe only or is it independent of matter? Is causality independent of matter? The above questions may seem meaningless in the same way that determining the size of the universe is also meaningless. After all it has no bearing on our everyday lives, yet it is tantalizing and science has constantly attempted to start to answer the question.

Personally if an impersonal all powerful God exists, I would very much like to break the simulation and climb up the extension cord.

6

Does anybody know how to access the wikipedia library of old WT publications? It's a special access.

by LevelThePlayingField in

any help would be really appreciated.

their library contains wt publications that go back to 1880's.

Saintbertholdt

Oh Internets,

http://www.jw-archive.org/tagged/JW_Cakes#sthash.QabDHttW.dpbs

447

Does Anyone Still Believe in God?

by LaurenM in

do any of you ex-jw's still believe in god?

even with the new rebranding/softening of this religion, i still don't see how people can believe in him.

the god of the old testimate is an angry murderer who approved rapes and slavery and killed thousands of men, women and children.

Saintbertholdt

Hi Cofty,

As soon as the person posing the question carefully defines what they mean by "god" we can prove beyond all reasonable doubt that it does not exist.

How about this: An entity that has started a simulation which we know as the universe which is in its n'th iteration for whatever purpose this entity has desired e.g. experimentation with universal parameters/sadism/personal pleasure etc. This entity is all powerful/impersonal and does not care about individual sentient outcomes but only the simulation outcome.

447

Does Anyone Still Believe in God?

by LaurenM in

do any of you ex-jw's still believe in god?

even with the new rebranding/softening of this religion, i still don't see how people can believe in him.

the god of the old testimate is an angry murderer who approved rapes and slavery and killed thousands of men, women and children.

Saintbertholdt

Hi again Millie,

The one thing that still sticks with me that the Watchtower organization gave me is a vision of paradise. I think that is where humanity should be heading. And I do not mean a theocracy or some such thing, just a world in which we would all want to live and when we go to our rest we would be sure that things would be ok.

13

Why zombies?

by FadeToBlack in

jw
friends

i just saw ww-v with brad pitt the other night (i know i am behind the times, still trying to catch up on movies i missed the last 30 years) and it struck me- why are we always fighting zombies?

is it just easier to justify the carnage?

it seems to me, that the most horrific carnage seems to be neighbor-vs-neighbor.

Saintbertholdt

Hi Zimon, FungalZteeen, Village Ghoul and DecomposeToBlack,

My neighbor has an obsession with the Walking Dead.

We discussed the series extensively over several sessions.

Our conclusions were as follows:

Humanity has a secret death wish.

It is a vicarious release to see what would happen if everything went to hell.

Seeing the transformation of humans exposed to barbaric circumstances over a prolonged period of time results in good character arcs. (Specifically referring to five seasons of Walking Dead)

There were other conclusions but during every session we had some beers...and so I forgot the other points.

Greetings

SaintBrainzzzzz, I Want to devour some Brainzzzzzzz

447

Does Anyone Still Believe in God?

by LaurenM in

do any of you ex-jw's still believe in god?

even with the new rebranding/softening of this religion, i still don't see how people can believe in him.

the god of the old testimate is an angry murderer who approved rapes and slavery and killed thousands of men, women and children.

Saintbertholdt

Hi Millie,

When I first began participating on this site, I realized there is a formula that is supposed to be followed of leaving, poking fun at the religion, look to science and lastly, become an atheist.

Not at all Millie...do your own thang girl. Oh you answered that already with "I want to have my own experience - something the JWs do not allow."

Well yes do what you think is the best and you definitely don't have to become an atheist. Those like me that arrived at the realization of atheism, got there through our own catharsis. The best advice I saw online regarding the leaving process was (I am paraphrasing): Take some time off after you leave the organization. God understands perfectly. Then when you are good and ready, then start looking for that which (or for whom) you seek.

I do wish there were more opportunities for friendly discussions about the topic but the folks here that believe in God are pretty quiet and the atheists are as zealous as the JWs.

It is true many atheists are very zealous but those enthusiastic objections only really came to the fore after a group of religious folks decided to drive airplanes filled with fare paying passengers into some tall buildings. It dawned upon atheists that these people meant business and if religion went unchecked, well heck maybe we'd all be back herding goats and stoning rape victims in no time at all. Since then religion has become somewhat of a sticky topic for atheists where before they would have shrugged and returned to their crossword puzzle.

447

Does Anyone Still Believe in God?

by LaurenM in

do any of you ex-jw's still believe in god?

even with the new rebranding/softening of this religion, i still don't see how people can believe in him.

the god of the old testimate is an angry murderer who approved rapes and slavery and killed thousands of men, women and children.

Saintbertholdt

I am an atheist however I cannot positively say that God does not exist.

However if she does exist, she's very different from the stories and myths we've constructed.

9

Offended by JW letter targeting obituaries

by betterdaze in

local father offended by jehovah's witness letter, claims its writer is targeting obituariesjacksonville, fla. a local father who wishes to remain anonymous sent action news jax a copy of a letter sent to his family's church.. the letter read in part: "sorry about your loss.

i read about it from the obituary.

jehovahs witness literature was attached to the letter.. in a time when a family is grieving they need to be surrounded by family and friends.

Saintbertholdt

“In a time when a family is grieving they need to be surrounded by family and friends. That's not a time for a person to proselytize their views,” the father said.

Ooh, ooh I've done that. And now I feel sad.