Posts by Coded Logic

21

JW's NOT identified by a symbol!!

by The Searcher in

*** km 9/74 p. 8 question box ***as jehovahs servants we.....................do not want to give others the impression that the tetragrammaton is the symbol of jehovahs witnesses as a whole.

we have no organizational symbol to identify ourselves but show that we are jehovahs christian witnesses by living in harmony with gods will.john 13:35.. don't you just love those "old" lights?.

Coded Logic

The wtbts being hypocrites? I'm shocked just shocked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjbPi00k_ME

2

Atheist/Agnostic/Non-religious households are more moral than religious counterparts

by Coded Logic in

dr. phil zuckerman (professor of sociology).

my own ongoing research among secular americans - as well as that of a handful of other social scientists who have only recently turned their gaze on secular culture - confirms that non-religious family life is replete with its own sustaining moral values and enriching ethical precepts.

chief among those: rational problem solving, personal autonomy, independence of thought, avoidance of corporal punishment, a spirit of "questioning everything" and, far above all, empathy.. the results of such secular child-rearing are encouraging.

Coded Logic

Dr. Phil Zuckerman (Professor of Sociology)

My own ongoing research among secular Americans - as well as that of a handful of other social scientists who have only recently turned their gaze on secular culture - confirms that non-religious family life is replete with its own sustaining moral values and enriching ethical precepts. Chief among those: rational problem solving, personal autonomy, independence of thought, avoidance of corporal punishment, a spirit of "questioning everything" and, far above all, empathy.

The results of such secular child-rearing are encouraging. Studies have found that secular teenagers are far less likely to care what the "cool kids" think, or express a need to fit in with them, than their religious peers. When these teens mature into "godless" adults, they exhibit less racism than their religious counterparts, according to a 2010 Duke University study. Many psychological studies show that secular grownups tend to be less vengeful, less nationalistic, less militaristic, less authoritarian and more tolerant, on average, than religious adults.

Recent research also has shown that children raised without religion tend to remain irreligious as they grow older - and are perhaps more accepting. Secular adults are more likely to understand and accept the science concerning global warming, and to support women's equality and gay rights. One telling fact from the criminology field: Atheists were almost absent from our prison population as of the late 1990s, comprising less than half of 1 percent of those behind bars, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons statistics. This echoes what the criminology field has documented for more than a century - the unaffiliated and the nonreligious engage in far fewer crimes.

Another meaningful related fact: Democratic countries with the lowest levels of religious faith and participation today - such as Sweden, Denmark, Japan, Belgium and New Zealand - have among the lowest violent crime rates in the world and enjoy remarkably high levels of societal well-being. If secular people couldn't raise well-functioning, moral children, then a preponderance of them in a given society would spell societal disaster. Yet quite the opposite is the case.

More children are "growing up godless" than at any other time in our nation's history. They are the offspring of an expanding secular population that includes a relatively new and burgeoning category of Americans called the "Nones," so nicknamed because they identified themselves as believing in "nothing in particular" in a 2012 study by the Pew Research Center.

The number of American children raised without religion has grown significantly since the 1950s, when fewer than 4 percent of Americans reported growing up in a nonreligious household, according to several recent national studies. That figure entered the double digits when a 2012 study showed that 11 percent of people born after 1970 said they had been raised in secular homes. This may help explain why 23 percent of adults in the U.S. claim to have no religion, and more than 30 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 say the same.

So how does the raising of upstanding, moral children work without prayers at mealtimes and morality lessons at Sunday school? Quite well, it seems.

Far from being dysfunctional, nihilistic and rudderless without the security and rectitude of religion, secular households provide a sound and solid foundation for children, according to Vern Bengston, a University of Southern California professor of gerontology and sociology.

For nearly 40 years, Bengston has overseen the Longitudinal Study of Generations, which has become the largest study of religion and family life conducted across several generational cohorts in the United States. When Bengston noticed the growth of nonreligious Americans becoming increasingly pronounced, he decided in 2013 to add secular families to his study in an attempt to understand how family life and intergenerational influences play out among the religionless.

He was surprised by what he found: High levels of family solidarity and emotional closeness between parents and nonreligious youth, and strong ethical standards and moral values that had been clearly articulated as they were imparted to the next generation.

"Many nonreligious parents were more coherent and passionate about their ethical principles than some of the 'religious' parents in our study," Bengston told me. "The vast majority appeared to live goal-filled lives characterized by moral direction and sense of life having a purpose."

5

troll_R_stupid

by Coded Logic in

a guide to getting people to take you seriously - 10 tips for all you dummies.

) do your best to insult everyone's intelligence and upset them as much as possible.

personal attacks are especially effective at getting people on your side..

Coded Logic

A GUIDE TO GETTING PEOPLE TO TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY - 10 tips for all you dummies

1.) Do your best to insult everyone's intelligence and upset them as much as possible. Personal attacks are especially effective at getting people on your side.

2.) Make your USER NAME grammatically wrong. For example, don't use a plural 's' when it is needed. Or use a chain toy store's capital R.

3.) Claim to be an expert in some field and then use a name for a tool that no one in that industry ever uses.

4.) Tell people they are immoral because they lack a particular belief (especially a belief that isn't substantiated by any evidence).

5.) Completely missrepresent peoples statements and then immediately turn around and tell them to "learn how to read."

6.) Group people who aren't connected in any meaningful way and then say "people like you" are the cause of some problem.

7.) When someone corrects a mistake you made turn around and accuse them of just looking it up on Google and that they're pretending to be an expert.

8.) Have poor math skills.

10.) After you attack and/or insult people - use 'LOL' to confuse them.

Alright dummies, use these tips so you're not such a big idiot . . . LOL.

27

Did Polonius kill his wife? A problem with apolegetics

by bohm in

jw
friends

a basic problem with christian apologetics when applied to the bible is that it relies on the tacit assumption you can draw reliable conclusions on the material.

the most common form of apologetics start out by certain claims (the tomb was found empty, the disciples had post-crusifiction experiences of jesus that transformed their lives, etc.

this is hearsay since the person who made the statement cannot be sworn in.

Coded Logic

I've had this discussion a number of times with fundamentalist. Very well put together. Thanks for the epistimic work.

10

Islamaphobia

by Joe Grundy in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzwzfpzw0ps.

je suis charlie.

Coded Logic

Hitchens hits the nail squarely on the head in this interview. Islam is a set of beliefs (and some really bad ones at that) and not a race.

"Islamaphobic" is a word created by fascists, and used cowards, to manipulate morons.
- Andrew Cummins

21

Dating processes why the big differences?

by Crazyguy in

i watched a documentary last night where they found old bones and spear heads in mexico.

this work was originally started in the 60s but they went back over the decades.

the main researcher dated the items at about 20,000 years old.

Coded Logic

What's the name of the "researcher"? What's the name of the documentary? The claims you are making sound wildly inaccurate. Please provide some more information so we can verify what you're claiming.

33

Islam is a religion of Peace

by Coded Logic in

warning: poes law may apply.

i just wanted to take a moment and remind everyone that all muslims are good people.

"real" muslims would never kill in the name of their religion .

Coded Logic

@Crofty,

What does Dr Peter Hammond have to do with anything?

4

3 things you didn't know about Rutherford

by Coded Logic in

i never realized rutherford was so devious and delinquent.

just found this on a debate forum: .

1) forgery:after c.t.

Coded Logic

I never realized Rutherford was so devious and delinquent. Just found this on a debate forum:

1) Forgery:

After C.T. Russell's death, J.F. Rutherford presented a book called: "The Finished Mystery" that was allegedly written by C.T. Russell after his death. But, according to a New York court, this was a forgery: "After his death and after we were in the war they issued a seventh volume of this series, entitled "The Finished Mystery," which, under the guise of being a posthumous work of Pastor Russell...which were not written by Pastor Russell and could not have possibly been written by him...They were proved false.(1)"

As you can see Rutherford wrote a book trying to impersonate a deceased man, it does not matter what your religious beliefs are, impersonating someone is immoral and illegal.

2) Violation of a Last Will and Testament

a) In C.T Russell's last will and testament, he willed: "As the Society has already pledged to me that it will publish no other periodicals."(2) meaning the Watchtower society. But Rutherford soon began publishing another magazine titled: "The Golden Age" in Oct 1919(3) (today's "Awake") Although he published it at first under a different publishing companies name he eventually published The Golden Age under the Watchtower.(3)

b) In addition to not publishing any new periodicals, the Watchtower had to remain separate from any religion(4) in C.T. Russell's own words: We belong to no earthly organization, hence if you should name the entire list of sects, we should answer no to each and all.(4) But under Rutherford. the Watchtower became totally under the Church of Jehovah's Witnesses and exclusively became its publishing arm.(4)

As you can see C.T. Russell had wishes in his will he clearly stipulated and were clearly violated by Rutherford.

3) ) Promoting Anti-Semitic ideologies in an organization that was dedicated to brotherly love.

Before I go any further I will reiterate that this is a debate about LEGALITY and MORALITY, not THEOLOGY there is nothing per se illegal about Mr. Rutherford's anti-Semitic actions but they were clearly immoral. also I am not here to debate about Zionism but about Mr. Rutherford.

a) While he initially was sympathetic towards Zionists as this publication states: "JUDGE RUTHERFORD, known throughout the world as a friend of the Hebrew people, is vigorously supporting the claim of the Jews to the Holy Land." (5) but later he seemed to change his mind by saying: "I'm speaking of the Palestine Jew, not the hooked-nosed, stooped shouldered little individual who stands on the street corner trying to gyp you out of every nickel you've got."(5). Hypocritical, a little bit, but I am not a person to judge anyone on hypocrisy, this however re-enforces my point that he was a swindler for he portrayed himself as pro-Zionist when it was convenient but became anti-Semitic when it was also convenient, in other words he painted a false picture to his followers regarding his views on Zionism so he could remain popular among them.

b) Also, Rutherford was a fan of the Nazis:"Instead of being against the principles advocated by the government of Germany, we stand squarely for such principles, and point out that Jehovah God through Christ Jesus will bring about the full realization of these principles." (5)

IN CONCLUSION:

J.F. Rutherford was a swindler that violated many moral standard (including his own) for he 1) forged C.T. Russell's authorship, 2) violated a legal last will and testament by illegal publishing periodicals using C.T. Russell's society and making said society sectarian despite Mr. Russell's will expressed wishes not to. 3) hypocritical on anti-Semitism and condoning the third Reich's actions, violating most moral standards.

Sources:

(1) http://books.google.com...

(2)http://www.pastor-russell.com...

(3) The Watchtower, Apr, 1 1990

(4) The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, Heather and Gary Botting, University of Toronto Press, 1984

(5) Jehovah's Witnesses, Anti-semitism and the Third Reich: The Watch Tower Society's Attempted Compromise with Nazism By professor M. James Penton University of Lethbridge, pdf file.

Copied from - http://www.debate.org/debates/J.D.-Rutherford-was-a-con-man./1/

6

Huge Research Finding relates to the brochure: ORIGIN OF LIFE, THE—FIVE QUESTIONS WORTH ASKING

by cognisonance in

first the new finding: summary and the actual paper.. now, consider this snippet from that brochure, especially the bold emphasis i've added (pages 5-7):.

researchers have learned that for a cell to survive, at least three different types of complex molecules must work togetherdna (deoxyribonucleic acid), rna (ribonucleic acid), and proteins.

today, few scientists would assert that a complete living cell suddenly formed by chance from a mix of inanimate chemicals.

Coded Logic

What are the odds of proteins forming by chance?

Quite high actually. We've found enzymes, nucleic acids, and proteins in several meteorites. http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/11/dna-discovered-in-meteorites/

The building blocks of life are part of nucleosynthesis. No absurd "what are the odds" numbers required. Molecules are always going to attempt to reach their lowest energy state. Most of the "millions of billions" of "possible arrangements" aren't stable and would collapse near instantaneously. Proteins are NOT like legos where you can just stick any pieces together however you like. Molecules are guided by Ionic, covalent, or metallic bonds - not by "chance". Just because an arrangement can be described doesn't mean its possible.

Whoever wrote this article doesn't have even a high school level understanding of how molecules work.

41

Do you believe what the Bible teaches? If "yes", why? If "no", why?

by Tenacious in

if you do believe in the bible's message, do you believe society has gotten better, worse, or has remained the same?.

if you don't believe in the bible's message, do you believe society has gotten better, worse, or has remained the same?.

on a personal note, there are many things that i can't help but notice that coincide with what the apostle paul wrote to timothy in his second letter chapter 3 regarding tough times:.

Coded Logic

The opinions of Timothy about the following generation being "worse" than the current one has been a theme all throughout history. People always look at history through rose colored glasses acting as though things used to be so much better. This is nothing new. Please reference PERSONAL BIAS for more information.

“Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.”
- Socrates (400 BC)