Coded Logic

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Posts by Coded Logic

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  30

  Some thoughts on guilt.

  by New day in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  had an interesting conversation with my wife recently.

  she struggles with physical, emotional and psychological problems which have often caused her to miss meetings.

  she mentioned how she is equally tortured by guilt if she misses meetings and ministry, and severe stress if she does them.

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  Coded Logic

  Hobson's Choice. Hadn't bumped into that one before. Nice little cognitive tool for addressing people presenting ultimatums as a "choice".

  Choosing between a having a black car and having no car doesn't mean you have a choice of colors for your car.
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  54

  So... Are they done printing the number of partakers?

  by thedepressedsoul in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  during the wt study yesterday i had a confused look on my face the whole meeting.

  more of a, wtf, face.

  one paragraph says, "therefore,the number of partakers does not accurately indicate the number of anointed ones left on earth.".

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  Coded Logic

  The number of partakers is not an accurate reflection of the number of anointed . . .

  Yay, the WT finally got something right! Even if it's just them trying to and save face.
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  22

  Anyone eat bunnies on Easter????

  by James Mixon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  we eat turkey on thanksgiving why not rabbits on easter???

  what's your traditional meal.

  for easter??

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  Coded Logic

  
  
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  25

  Happy Resurrection Sunday

  by Perry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  wishing everyone a happy resurrection sunday.... from my family to yours!.

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  Coded Logic

  Wow Perry, you have a beautiful family. Hope you guys enjoy your religious holiday.
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  20

  Muslim Shopkeeper Murdered for Wishing Friends a Happy Easter on Twitter

  by cofty in

  1. social
  2. current

  horrible crime in glasgow on thursday evening when a well loved muslim shop keeper asad shah was stabbed to death by at least one other muslim man.

  mohammad faisal, a family friend, said a bearded muslim wearing a long religious robe entered mr shah’s shop and spoke to him in his native language before stabbing him in the head with a kitchen knife.. mr shah had posted the twitter message ‘good friday and a very happy easter, especially to my beloved christian nation’.

  residents of shawlands in glasgow say he was well respected and had been known to hand out christmas cards to neighbours despite being of a different faith.. hundreds have turned out in a vigil near the crime scene....

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  Coded Logic

  Islam is not a monolith. But the Koran does specifically encourage believers to commit acts of violence and murder in the name of Allah. I understand not all Muslims condone violence. But peaceful Muslims don't get to say terrorists are "not real Muslims" when they carry out the very acts encouraged by their holy book.
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  14

  Didn't go to memorial this year

  by silent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my wife and i had business to attend to out of town today and i had thought if we made it back home in time, we'd go to the memorial.

  as it turned out, we didn't get home in time and we missed it, but we had a real good talk with each other on the way home.

  we are largely successful faders and at the very least, i like to try and make the memorial.

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  Coded Logic

  If there is a creator God I'm pretty sure he's a big boy. He will understand what you're going through and will have the wisdom to know that you need to take some time to figure out what you believe and why.

  Appreciation can come in many forms. It can be a silent prayer. It can be moment contemplating something that amazes you. It can be learning more about the universe we inhabit. It can be simple awe.

  Give yourself permission to search for answers. And NEVER feel guilty for following the evidence where it leads. When I first began my journey I found this video highly informative, thought provoking, and spiritual in a way I had never known before. Take a moment to check it out :)

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaMM2lAo2C8

  
  
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  17

  Evolution vs Creationism.

  by Labate in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  perhaps this has been discussed in the past, but i can't help noticing that on many posts creation vs evolution seems to equal theist vs atheist.

  granted, a creationist by defination would have to believe in a creator.

  on the other hand, believing in evolution doesn't automatically make one an atheist, a small point perhaps, but i think it would be more accurate to say believer vs nonbeliever.. just sayin'..

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  Coded Logic

  That means beginning with an assumption that there is an answer to all questions that doesn't involve the supernatural.

  Not quite right. Science doesn't assume there are no supernatural answers. Rather, it recognizes that there is no current method of detecting or investigating the supernatural and thus seeks naturalistic explanations.

  Though I do think it's worth pointing out that every time we've been able to study a phenomenon that was supposedly "supernatural" in origin - it has turned out to have a natural cause. Most likely the reason we can't detect the supernatural is because it doesn't exist.
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  95

  Evolution is a Fact #31 - Ten Questions for Creationists

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i thought this would be a good time to pose some questions based on the series so far.. if creationism is true these should be easy.

  answers that don't involve copy-paste would be really interesting to read.. ... .

  1. since some proteins can be assembled in more ways than there are atoms in the universe why do the sequences of amino acids and bases vary between species in exactly the way evolution predicts?

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  Coded Logic

  Since some proteins can be assembled in more ways than there are atoms in the universe why do the sequences of amino acids and bases vary between species in exactly the way evolution predicts?

  Because scientists are dishonestly trying to make the model fit the evidence.

  Why do humans and other primates have virus DNA, and other bits of non-coding text, in exactly same place in their genomes?

  Because God has full licensing rights to His intellectual property and likes to recycle where he can.

  Why do humans and other species have broken genetic code for features that they no longer possess?

  Because this DNA serves some unknown purpose and we just have to have faith and one scientist at one time didn't understand the purpose of one line of genetics that was later found out to be meaningful so now we're perfectly justified in believing that all junk DNA is meaningful . . . and also imperfection and fallen world and stuff.

  Why does human chromosome 2 consist of two primate chromosomes joined end-to-end?

  Sometimes painters use two different colors. And sometimes painters mix colors to produce an entirely new color.

  How do you explain the amazing fossils that demonstrate major transitions?

  Piltdown Man was a hoax so therefore all transitional fossils are hoaxes.

  Why do the same fossils always appear in the same layers of rock in a way that is totally predictable?

  Because during the flood larger animals could run to higher ground faster so they're in the top strata and slower animals are in deeper strata.

  Who were the hominids that walked upright more than 3 million years ago?

  Scientists just make up dates and stuff and the hominids are really only six thousand years old.

  Why do humans have vestigial features?

  We just don't understand their purpose yet and God will fix us back to our former glory so we can use them and stuff.

  Why does the distribution of species align exactly with evolution?

  Because God intelligently designed his creations . . . ?

  How does creationism explain bad design like the recurrent laryngeal nerve?

  Who are we to question God?
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  43

  The Modern Exodus: Perception or Reality?

  by Hadriel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'm completely new at this however just in my joining this forum and of course interacting with others i can't help but notice what appears to be a significant exodus from the organization.. for those of you that have long been in this game have you seen this before?

  i'm really curious and we should refrain from the sensational, but is what we're seeing different than in years past?.

  it sure seems like so so many are waking and leaving.

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  Coded Logic

  It all depends on what a person means by "Mass Exodus".

  If you mean within a period of just a couple of months that millions of JWs will walk away from the religion - than I'm with Simon on this and I don't think it's likely to happen.

  But if by mass exodus you mean the churn becomes so high they start having negative growth - then I think they're already there. I believe they have been fudging the numbers for the past couple of years by moving the goal post of what they call a "publisher" and they won't be able to hide their reducing numbers for much longer.

  I also think it's important that we make predictions (not proclamations). Because over time it allows us to look at what we first thought vs. what's actually going on and produce more accurate models. My own prediction for a "mass exodus" is that in fifteen years there will be half the number of publishers. And I think such a prediction is worthy of the title "mass exodus". But that's just me. It seems like very few others on this forum are willing to make specific predictions about where the WT will be in the next ten to twenty years.
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  11

  Evolution is a Fact - Index for Numbers 1 - 30

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  #1 protein functional redundancycomparing the sequences of amino acids in ubiquitous proteins confirms the relationship between all living things.. #2 dna functional redundancycomparison of the dna that codes for the amino acids of ubiquitous proteins predicts the tree of life with an astonishing degree of accuracy.. #3 ervsendogenous retroviruses that infected our ancestors are found in the same place of the genome of our closest primate cousins.. #4 smelly geneshundreds of broken genes that used to code for olfactory receptors in our ancestors are still found in our genome.. #5 vitamin cwhy humans can no longer make their own vitamin c and what that tells us about our species' history.. #6 human chromosome 2our second biggest chromosome is made up of two of our ancestors' chromosomes stuck end-to-end.. #7 human egg yolk genehumans and our primate cousins have the genes for making vitellogenin and they are all broken in the same way.. #8 jumping genesbits of parasitic code called alu elements prove our common ancestry with primates.. #9 less chewing more thinkinga broken gene for a type of muscle fibre we no longer have tells a story about our evolutionary past.. #10 non-coding dnain common with many other species huge amounts of our genome originated as copying errors.. #11 tiktaalikan amazing fossil discovery illustrates the transition of life from sea to land.. #12 lenski's e.coli experimentan experiment with e.coli, now in it's third decade, demonstrates the power of natural selection.. #13 morris minor bonnetsevolution has to make do with building on existing designs as illustrated by the recurrent laryngeal nerve.. #14 joey goes to ozfossil evidence for the origins of marsupials found in antarctica exactly as predicted.. #15 robinson crusoethe biogeography of oceanic islands presents an impossible dilemma for creationism.. #16 aquatic mammalsan excellent sequence of fossils illustrates the evolutionary journey of whales from land to sea.. #17 belyaev's silver foxesa 50 year breeding programme demonstrates the amazing power of selection and the interconnected nature of genes.. #18 fish fingersthe evolution of limbs is mapped out in an amazing sequence of ancient fish fossils.. #19 goosebumpsa vestigial reflex bequeathed by our hairier ancestors.. #20 lucy in the sky...an exceptional fossil of a 3 million year old hominid.. #21 footprints in the sand...footprints at laetoli show our australopithecus afarensis ancestors were bipedal 3.6 million years ago.. #22 the hillocks of hiss...a vestigial feature if the human ear shared by 10% of the population demonstrates our evolutionary history.. #23 faunal succession...the consistent sequence of fossils found in the rocks can only be explained by evolution.. #24 the origin of your inner ear...how the bones that reptiles eat with became the bones that we hear with.. #25 deep time...scottish geologist andrew hutton discovered the proof of earth's great antiquity.. #26 colour vision...how gene duplication - new "information" -and mutation equipped us with trichromatic vision.. #27 monkeys, typewriters, shakespeare, 747s etc...evolution is a combination of random mutations and non-random selection.. #28 something darwin didn't say...a long term study of pigeons demonstrates how natural selection acts on a local population.. #29 use it or lose it...fossil genes reveal the history of modern species.. #30 your third eyelid...the remnants of a nictitating membrane reveals our evolutionary history..

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  Coded Logic

  Fantastic resource. Thanks for putting this together Crofty!