Posts by Mephis

18

Jesus was historical, and inspired too!

by iconoclastic in

jesus said something that only our generation could provide an avalanche of proof.

he said: it is easier for a camel to get through a needles eye than for a rich man to get into the kingdom of god.

(mathew 19:24).

Mephis

The gulf in wealth inequality in some countries is as bad as it's been since, well, the 1920s and before. Which generation do you mean? The never-ending one since 1914? The generation of 1874? It's absence of records pre-C19th which really hinders anything but educated guesswork prior to then. But I'd suggest a slave in the Roman Empire, a serf in the Middles Ages etc etc. would wonder why Jesus forgot about them if this can only apply in the year 2015.

I'd be a little more convinced if Jesus had predicted climate change as a result of industrialisation. But he forgot that part in his 'signs'. He'd have saved far the lives of far more people if he'd remebered to mention bacteria and viruses to someone too.

6

Is the Koran (or, parts of it) older than Muhammad?

by fulltimestudent in

islamic tradition rests on a foundation of the (claimed) writings of muhammad, that we know as the koran (or, quran).

so in that view believers see him restoring the original monotheistic faith of all the prophets ( of the west asian tradition).. its important to know that muhammad was born in mecca (in arabia) somewhere around 570 ce.

his parents died when he was young, and he was given into the care of his uncle abu talib.

Mephis

If the manuscript were a century earlier at the very latest, sure, that would start the search for some answers. But the date ranges mesh well with traditional Islamic dating, so there's not really a conflict here. I suspect some poor academic has been asked a question, answered it honestly, and the story has taken off. If the early end of the date range is correct, yes, interesting questions. But the tests weren't saying that one has to take the earlier dates as being more likely than the later.

Not really proof of anything, although the ideas on the origins of Islam and its writings are interesting in themselves.

34

Hebrew Was The First Language

by Bloody Hotdogs! in

according to the newest watchtower:.

jehovah communicated with adam in the garden of eden, using human language.

god likely did so in an ancient form of hebrew.

Mephis

Well they all had Hebrew names so case proven, m'lud.

I just don't.. no.. 6,000 years ago this happened you say?

16

Price for Child Abuse

by vinman in

how much money do you think the watchtower will have to dish out for this scandal in australia?

Mephis

They won't get the option to decide whether or not they will be providing redress, but they will no doubt fight every step of the way on who should receive any from them.

If one takes 1750 survivors (roughly the number given by the WT's own records) who could potentially seek redress, multiply that by the average $Aus 64,000 (one of the commission's suggested figures for weighting redress), you get $Aus 112m (52m pound sterling / $US 80m). That would likely be spread over 5 years or so.

I think the survivors who've found the strength to take their cases to court in the past probably have it right - the WBTS won't take child safeguarding seriously until they make the financial calculation and realise things can no longer go on as they have been. Still not sure I can wrap my head around just how pig ignorant the GB are.

12

Was this crazy crap going on in your hall as well?

by Crazyguy in

so any way i wonder if this kinda of activity is the norm in halls?

my wife has my youngest boy calling an older couple in the hall grampa and grandma, my oldest daughter called another older brother grandpa, and the ms that is studying with my two oldest boys on the down low (like i don't know), he's calling g them his boys.

what the he'll?

Mephis

Same as Mickey mouse for me growing up. Uncles and aunties.

32

New Watchtower Corporation Formed !!!

by xjwsrock in

to all congregations in the united states branch territory .

re: jw congregation support .

dear brothers: .

Mephis

Interesting. Quick scan of history shows it's been around since 2004. Didn't know they had their own consultancy corp. either (JWCS LLC).

13

JW's Approach To Bible Interpretaion

by JW_Rogue in

it will come as no surprise to many here that the jw approach to interpreting the bible is greatly flawed.

the reason that it is so flawed is that before anything is examined there are already some false assumptions that are made.

jws believe the following about the bible without evidence:.

Mephis

They approach any piece of writing in the same way as Calvin solves a crossword. They always have the right answer and so everything supports that, no matter what it actually says.

406

ex-jw-uk

by bigmac in

jw
friends

i'm quite new to this site, & have realised some members have a union jack symbol under their avatar.

i don't.. could we have a "show of hands" from any uk members?

i've already found several by reading older posts..

Mephis

In Manchester currently.

39

The Vedas - Scientific Knowledge - Prophecy - The Truth?

by LAWHFol in

the vedas are the core sacred texts for the people of the east.

generally the vedas are to the east as the hebrew scriptures are to the west.

supporters of the bible, boast of it's scientific accuracy,prophetic accuracy & general infallibility.

Mephis

@Mephis - Einstein,Schrodinger,Tesla,Oppenheimer,Sagan,Bohr,Heisenberg - The Most Influential Physicists / Scientists of this Era ALL extensively studied the Vedas.
Why would these Brilliant Minds spend so much time studying the Vedas and making known public-ally their great adoration of the Vedas, if they are simply books with some "fun" ideas in them, as you put it?
Don't get me wrong, my argument is not intended to Prove that God inspired these books.. Rather my point is that these books are perhaps the greatest and most substantial literary works to ever come into existence... And this deserving of attention, for any one with an ounce of intellectual desire.

Interest in the Eastern religions has been there in the past, and I'm sure it will continue into the future too. There's a whole host of thinkers of all branches of arts and science who have explored ideas from the Indian sub-continent. However... expressing an idea similar to that which can be found in a specific religion is not the same at all as signing up to the belief system of that religion. I'm unconvinced that all those scientists did 'extensively study' the Vedas. If the standard is as low as the odd quote with either a passing reference or, even worse, only a loose association with something one can pull out of the Sanskrit then we may as well call them all devout christian theologians because they'd have at least the same, if not better, understanding of the bible.

39

The Vedas - Scientific Knowledge - Prophecy - The Truth?

by LAWHFol in

the vedas are the core sacred texts for the people of the east.

generally the vedas are to the east as the hebrew scriptures are to the west.

supporters of the bible, boast of it's scientific accuracy,prophetic accuracy & general infallibility.

Mephis

LAWHFol, you start your OP with misrepresenting a paper on AI logic and language and it goes downhill from there. The idea that Newton just read texts in Sanskrit is ludicrous really. I think there are some fun ideas in the Vedas which can loosely be applied to some aspects of that blurred boundary where physics and philosophy seem to meet. But one does need to emphasise 'loosely'. And one has to be very careful of taking some of the claims which come out of India around ancient Sanskrit writing as being, well, true. eg recent claims on Sanskrit writings which are absolutely untrue include they describe spaceships and planes and gravity.