Mephis

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Posts by Mephis

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  13

  Any Peugeot owners around here?

  by Mandrake in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i was wondering since there are a lot of uk users (at first i didn't notice that) if there is some peugeot owners here, clearly not from the us, the brand and also citroën has no presence in north america... in my city (santiago) you can see almost every car brand from chinese to european... in my apartment's parking lot there are toyotas, hondas, a porsche (that is abandoned, a carrera 911 turbo from 1989), even an old lancia, alfa romeo, nissan, renault, citroën, a camaro, suzuki, sköda, bmw, an old mecerdes, daewoos, kias, hyundais, an old vw beetle and a scirocco, few chinese, an audi, a dodge ram.

  even a maserati in a house two blocks away etc etc.. and my 307 :)

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  Mephis

  Peugeot 505 estates for field service. I still have nightmares.
  
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  21

  Evolution vs Creation.

  by The Rebel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  looking at the board, i see so many long threads on " evoultion vs creation " ect, ect.. therefore if " your" qualifications are only those of " an" uneducated j.w, may i ask one question?.

  q) what makes you feel you are now qualified to comment with absolute ,authority on any discussion?.

  i ask the above question because for most of us " ex-witnesses " logic is still words written in the pages of an awake" magazine.

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  Mephis

  Fun part about evolutionary science is that you can go out and get some of the finest education from some of the finest minds on the planet absolutely free via an online course (my specialisms are in the arts, so I took that route for some anthropology courses with John Hawks), or you can go to a library and get out a book by an 'authority', or you can take a module or some classes on it at a bricks and mortar educational establishment.

  It's not really like religion where someone speaks ex cathedra and that's all there is to it. If you bring the evidence, you get to have a debate.

  Fun part of being a creationist seems to be not having anything like that and just needing to say 'I believe'.
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  52

  People hate God?

  by looter in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it is a pain that certain individuals pride themselves on hating god, who created everything.

  like it's understandable that you choose to not believe in him because of your selfishness or thinking skills but to hate him is forcing it a bit.

  i'm very thankful that those such as myself have the courage to believe in the lord.

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  Mephis

  Shall we Stephen Fry? Yes, let's Stephen Fry.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-suvkwNYSQo
  
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  61

  Did the flood happen?

  by BlackWolf in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so we were talking about noah for our family worship tonight and it ended with a little debate between me and my parents about how the flood was possible.

  you know, where did the water come from, how did all the animals fit, etc.

  of course it led nowhere and my parents came up with some strange theories like that there was "an expanse of water in the sky" and that's where all the water came from.

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  Mephis

  There's a rational wiki article which covers some of the historical, geological and more general scientific objections to the idea that Noah had a global flood: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Global_flood

  Of course, the entire problem with taking this approach is that believers suspend all their rational thinking powers and make problems go away with 'God magic'.

  'The air pressure on earth being under so much water in the sky would be the same as living at the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean - how did Noah live like that?'

  'God did it so your factually based objection is irrelevant'.
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  7

  The charity Commission has refused charity status to another religion in the recent past

  by Truthexplorer in

  1. social
  2. current

  thought this was interesting.

  see link below.

  http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/charity-commission-reasons-refusing-charitable-status-plymouth-brethren-included-doctrine-separation/governance/article/1165267.

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  Mephis

  The commission has a number of powers over charities, so it's more likely we'll see those used first to put effective safeguarding policies into place rather than the commission opening a nasty political row over religious charities. Trustees, under British law, have a duty to the charity's interests over any religious ideology and that would seem a much easier (and already proven) way to achieve the fundamental aim of ensuring adequate policies are in place to protect children and vulnerable adults.
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  13

  JW claims of having the most accurate translation of bible

  by StarTrekAngel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  is is true at all?

  if so, are there any independent sources who have asserted this claim?

  who did the translation?.

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  Mephis

  'Most accurate' is pretty much meaningless as a description of a translation really - what measures that? For the bible, it tends to be how well the translation fits a church's own doctrinal preferences...

  It reads well as an 'Englished' modern translation of ancient Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic texts. It has some serious issues with (deliberately) obscuring major contradictions in the text (eg who caused David to make a census?) which are acknowledged by almost every serious translation. It also plays fast and loose with choosing how it translates certain passages - their version of John 1:1 being one which most bible scholars and translators would reject for a number of reasons as implausible.
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  7

  The charity Commission has refused charity status to another religion in the recent past

  by Truthexplorer in

  1. social
  2. current

  thought this was interesting.

  see link below.

  http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/charity-commission-reasons-refusing-charitable-status-plymouth-brethren-included-doctrine-separation/governance/article/1165267.

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  Mephis

  The difference in this case was that the application for charitable status was initially rejected. It wasn't removing charitable status from them. In the end, the brethren congregation concerned got their status in return for a few minor amendments to making information on their meetings available to the public and in promises to make sure teens leaving the group would not be left destitute by their shunning practices.

  There's a very, very long way before the WBTS has its charitable status revoked here in Britain. At any point the WBTS can new light some understanding that having an effective child safeguarding policy isn't a breach of their religious freedoms. They already rationalise reporting laws in that way, while fighting tooth and nail against reporting where the laws are not specific enough or do not exist.
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  7

  Barnet Kingdom Hall in the UK is a Pokemon Go Stop

  by usualusername1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have no ideas what to make of that.discuss.uun.

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  Mephis

  The locations of pokestops etc. are based on information registered by players of an older game called Ingress as well as some from Pokemon before they stopped applications for new stops and gyms. Religious buildings and generally places of interest or cultural purpose are frequently chosen.
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  44

  The Atheist Delusion

  by looter in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  atheist delusion.

  just want to know what the ex jw community thinks about this video and also offer my pov.

  the video was actually an advertisement on here.

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  Mephis

  All Christians have to do is read some and they will be ready to tackle these barriers with ease and, hopefully, with grace. But, this only goes for those who indeed have this situation not for those who reject God because they came to a their own conclusion. You know who you are.

  So Christians have an answer to every question, which works apart from all those times when it doesn't because atheists have used evidence to form a conclusion? Kind of like how the Reasoning Book was meant to work. Heck, kind of like how the Come Back to Jehovah brochure is meant to work.

  As others have said, follow the evidence. I'm agnostic about a God in the deistic sense, but I'm pretty positive that old blood and thunderguts Jehovah is a human invention.
  
  
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  13

  “The Jesus-followers’ first 200 years”

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the archaeologist digs and then sifts through remnants from the past, assembling the discoveries into patterns so that stories of the past may be brought back to life.. with almost 850 direct quotations from 50 books, my study sifts remnants from the first 200 years of christianity and sorts them into patterns that may help others to assemble a vessel that can hold ideas, or to form a skeleton where muscle and flesh, heart and mind, may be applied.

  a comprehensive contents listing is provided at the rear of this study.. my study, “the jesus-followers’ first 200 years” is available at:.

  http://www.jwstudies.com/the_jesus-followers__first_200_years.pdf .

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  Mephis

  As ever, a very useful starting place for people wanting to get into the scholarship of a subject.