Posts by Onager

102

If mathematics teacher made a mistake, would it mean mathematics itself is wrong!

by venus in

many people point to the irrationality in the depiction of god by the religions and their scriptures, hence jump into the bottomless pit of atheism.

in either camp, god is not a factor because religion is only a means that misrepresents god, hence religionists themselves are atheists (literally, those who live without god).

it is like saying there exists no earth because you found out your friend who taught earth is flat is wrong; or it is like saying mathematics itself is wrong because you found out your mathematics teacher made a mistake.

Onager

The Big Bang theory makes no claims to be the ultimate theory. It is the current attempt to explain the way things are.

Energy and Conscious Energy are two completely different things. One exists and one doesn't. You see you're trying to define a god by taking something that exists (energy) and then adding stuff to it that there is no evidence for.

What you're presenting is the irreducible complexity argument and that applies to your "Conscious Energy" as well, so the question remains: who created the conscious energy?

93

Higher Education

by Brian J in

just spent 8 hours in a 1 day elders school last weekend.

clarification given: "moving forward any elder, ms, or pioneer who themselves or someone under their roof enrolls in higher education, may no longer qualify for privileges in the congregation.

their qualifications will have to be reviewed by their boe.".

Onager

"Greater love hath no man than he who will drive his stationwagon at 5mph away from the Org for the sake of his family." - Brian chapter 1, verse 5.

102

If mathematics teacher made a mistake, would it mean mathematics itself is wrong!

by venus in

many people point to the irrationality in the depiction of god by the religions and their scriptures, hence jump into the bottomless pit of atheism.

in either camp, god is not a factor because religion is only a means that misrepresents god, hence religionists themselves are atheists (literally, those who live without god).

it is like saying there exists no earth because you found out your friend who taught earth is flat is wrong; or it is like saying mathematics itself is wrong because you found out your mathematics teacher made a mistake.

Onager

You infer from the "simple" universe of the human body, the complex greater universe because the conscious energy that creates one must infer a greater conscious energy creating the other?

Ignoring for a moment the complete lack of evidence for this inference, this line of reasoning relies on the decreasing complexity of creation. So, something like this:

God > Human > Wristwatch

Whereas science suggests increasing complexity:

Big Bang > Energy > Matter > Universe > Life > intelligent life > A.I. Robots

The problem, which you have tried to sidestep but failed, of "who designed the designer" is still very much a problem for you then, because you need something MORE complex than god to design god.

78

Work Christmas functions: Being a Bible Student (unbaptized)

by rulehayl in

jw
friends

hi all,i have been studying with the witnesses for more than 6 months and regularly attend both midweek & weekend meetings, and i am nearly at the end of the "bible teach" book.

my boss is adamant i attend team christmas functions.

she knows about my studying and potential baptism next year, and has suggested that i attend and just not participate in activities like kris kringle.

Onager

Wow Anders, that's the scary power of the internet right there! The internet knows all, the internet remembers all.

for what it's worth, I also got the vibe that they were already a JW. It was something about their turn of phrase and lack of addressing arguments. Either way, bring on the next defender of the JDubs!

35

Bible is good if we look for implied truth

by venus in

thumbs-up gesture doesn’t covey much if we see only four fingers closed and thumb standing upward.

but if we look for the implied meaning, then it is a positive, informal signal indicating a job well done, and saying ‘keep it up.’.

similarly, biblical accounts don’t convey much if we see them as mere accounts.

Onager

The implications drawn from any account are based on the thinking of the person drawing the implications and so if you do that, the account itself is largely irrelevant. A person can draw positive lessons from bible accounts, or from Grimm's fairy tales, or even from a supermarket shopping receipt found on the floor.

9

Do we need spirituality or religion to be good socially responsible people ?

by Finkelstein in

religion is declining in many countries around the world and hardly exists in some countries.. it would fair to say that scientifically acquired knowledge has taken a bite of religious practice over the years.

the premising suggestion that there is a god looking at everything mankind does or should do is vanishing out the human consciousness.. should we emulate the social directives written in ancient manuscripts established by those ancients for their civilization ?

is it possible that mankind can control and guide itself now with all the acquired knowledge we have attained, toward the ending betterment of humanity ?

Onager

Remember that it was religion that flew the planes into the twin towers. I think it's obvious that you can be a better person without religion. I'm not sure about spirituality, it's such a nebulous term, but I still think that if you use the purely human attributes of compassion and empathy then you can be a socially responsible person without relying on any outside influence.

84

Spirit Channeling at Wallkill's Bethel

by Marie33 in

look what an ex-bethelite has to say about the spirit channeling he saw first hand up at wallkill:.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfmqnzbyrko.

now i believe rayven's story of horror at brooklyn bethel:.

Onager

Surely the Bethelites wouldn't have time for channelling, what with getting drunk and buggering each other all the time?

12

Is it just me

by Jayk in

or is thanksgiving a massive animal sacrifice ritual?.

Onager

I've just been doing the Thanksgiving festival on a (free) World of Warcraft server and I had to kill 20 turkeys. 20! What is wrong with you Americans?!

78

Work Christmas functions: Being a Bible Student (unbaptized)

by rulehayl in

jw
friends

hi all,i have been studying with the witnesses for more than 6 months and regularly attend both midweek & weekend meetings, and i am nearly at the end of the "bible teach" book.

my boss is adamant i attend team christmas functions.

she knows about my studying and potential baptism next year, and has suggested that i attend and just not participate in activities like kris kringle.

Onager

Rulehayl allow me to be the first to welcome you to the first day of the rest of your miserable life.

23

Pale.Emperor Meets The Mormons

by pale.emperor in

when i was a jw i was fascinated with the mormon religion.

i never believed a word of it of course, but i was interested in their religion like most boys were interested in star wars.

i’ve read the book of mormon, doctrine & covenants, pearl of great price, book of abraham, watched their videos, read critical books by ex mormons etc etc… (strange at the time that i never did this with my own religion!

Onager

On the note put through your door, I'm pretty sure I saw a documentary on the Mormons that said they do deliberately use Honeypot entrapment techniques. It was the documentary that was the first to show the inside of the big temple place, can't remember the name of it now, but I remember thinking that if I could get my JW family to watch it they would have to find parallels between the way things are carried on.