Posts by seattleniceguy

95

EVIL LOUTION? Why do you still resist? Science doesn't work?

by Terry in

jw
friends

i resisted it for years.

i was dragged kicking and screaming into the evolution theory camp.. i would rather have had my arm lopped off at the elbow;but, facts are facts.

i had to be intellectually honest.

seattleniceguy

Terry said,

Why would anyone arbitrarily stifle their own education? To avoid painful discovery?

Actually, I think that this is the primary reason people do so. Learning things that challeng us usually involves throwing away a previously cherished worldview, which can be extremely painful.

XQs said,

THe problem i have with evolution is it is a scientific theory. Which is based on observation. Humans are terribly limited by what they can observe espeacially when it is something that happend millions of years ago.

This is a cop-out. Of course scientific theory is based on observation. Isn't this better than religious doctrine, which is based on arbitrary pronouncement?

SNG

95

EVIL LOUTION? Why do you still resist? Science doesn't work?

by Terry in

jw
friends

i resisted it for years.

i was dragged kicking and screaming into the evolution theory camp.. i would rather have had my arm lopped off at the elbow;but, facts are facts.

i had to be intellectually honest.

seattleniceguy

El blanko:

They are both plants and according to 'their' kind are allowed to mutate using the rules of the creationist.

Wow! A "kind" covers an entire kingdom? Plants are all one kind? If that's the case, then animals are all in the same kind too. That's painting with a pretty wide brush!

The point of the post about the flowers is the fact that flowers that were once the same species have now diverged so much that the two populations cannot be breeded together. That's the basic definition of a species. Imagine two groups of humans, separated for hundreds of thousands of years. After they are reunited, they learn that the two groups can no longer interbreed. That would indicate tremendous genetic divergence, and that is exactly what evolution is.

SNG

31

Satan wants you to have an easy life

by Pleasuredome in

ahhhhh bless

seattleniceguy

Satan wants you to have an easy life

...so God wants us to have a hard life? Sheesh, thanks, God!

SNG

31

Satan wants you to have an easy life

by Pleasuredome in

ahhhhh bless

seattleniceguy

Satan is much more chill than God in the Bible. Sure, there was the whole Job account, but being that it just sort of pops up in total isolation, I think he was framed. Nowhere else in the Bible does he do anything really bad. He just kind of hangs low, asks questions now and then, and generally takes the heat for everything. Meanwhile God is killing men, women, and children by the millions, and somehow getting good press. I think he must own the media or something.

SNG

95

EVIL LOUTION? Why do you still resist? Science doesn't work?

by Terry in

jw
friends

i resisted it for years.

i was dragged kicking and screaming into the evolution theory camp.. i would rather have had my arm lopped off at the elbow;but, facts are facts.

i had to be intellectually honest.

seattleniceguy

I got tired of being that guy who steadfastly closes his eyes and ears and refuses to see reason, bending the entire universe around to fit his beliefs. Evolution is simply more in line with the facts of the natural world than Creationism, and I got tired of pretending it wasn't so.

SNG

83

You are EX-JWs because you want to live an immoral life!

by Sirona in

jw
friends

many jehovah's witnesses believe what they've been told about ex-witnesses.

they say that exjws simply want to live an immoral life.

they say that exjws cannot live up to "jehovah's standards".

seattleniceguy

EXJWs: Did you pursue a course of immorality and then research the JWs to look for holes in doctrine?

No. I was a faithful JW to the last minute and had to be dragged out kicking and screaming by a conscience that can no longer allow me to believe things that I saw were patently false. It was specifically the creation vs. evolution issue and the related issue of the literal inspiration of the Bible that broke me.

Incidentally, I should say that I never doubted the doctrine. In fact, I thought that, given the Bible being literally inspired of God, the doctrine was pretty strong. Obviously, I had much to learn! - but I didn't much care about that since there was the larger, totally encompassing issue of whether the Bible was worthy of that type of faith.

Now that I'm out of the organization I do a few things that JWs consider "bad," but I must say that I consider myself a much better person than I ever was able to be as a Witness. At first this struck me as a novel idea because of the conditioning that Sirona mentions, but now I see that it is the standard course.

Hey, how about this for an ad: JWs - be a better person: leave the organization!

SNG

P.S. Great thread, Sirona!

15

whose breast?

by peacefulpete in

note the present version of the betrayal revelation scene in john:.

21 when jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and.

and when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to judas.

seattleniceguy

Peacefulpete, that is fascinating! I must say that your posts are incredibly interesting to me. I have no real interest in doctrinal matters anymore, but the mechanics of text manipulation and the politics that caused it are very interesting! Please continue to post these articles!

SNG

11

How can an 'impersonal force' feel hurt?? (Isa 63: 10 NWT)

by Tyre in

but they themselves rebelled and made his holy spirit feel hurt.

he now was changed into an enemy of theirs; he himself warred against them.

*how can an 'impersonal force' feel hurt??

seattleniceguy

Hi there, Tyre. I haven't welcomed you to the board yet.

So...you realize that we don't all believe God is an impersonal force, or all believe the Bible, or anything, right?

SNG

6

Impermanence: a red herring?

by seattleniceguy in

the wts often talks about how impermanent the things of our world are.

governments change in the course of a few years or centuries, notable people come and go, the world scene constantly changes.

our lifespans are but a tiny blip on the cosmic scale.

seattleniceguy

Ask a question, get five good answers! That's what I love about this board. Very interesting replies, guys. As a one-line reply, I thought Leoleia's

An organization espousing Present Truth (tm) critiquing "Impermanence"?

was a great summation! LOL. Everybody else had rad posts too - I'm just don't have time to give you my individual thanks. But thanks!

SNG

6

Impermanence: a red herring?

by seattleniceguy in

the wts often talks about how impermanent the things of our world are.

governments change in the course of a few years or centuries, notable people come and go, the world scene constantly changes.

our lifespans are but a tiny blip on the cosmic scale.

seattleniceguy

The WTS often talks about how impermanent the things of our world are. Governments change in the course of a few years or centuries, notable people come and go, the world scene constantly changes. Our lifespans are but a tiny blip on the cosmic scale. Et cetera, et cetera.

Something struck me the other day as I thought about this. I think this argument is a total red herring. What does it matter what our lifespans are in relation to the age of the universe? The things that are important to us are the things in our local spheres: our local community, our homes, our relationships with our friends and families. The fact that these things may seem insignificant from a cosmic standpoint doesn't make them insignificant to an individual human. We aren't experiencing the world from a cosmic standpoint; we're experiencing it as humans.

Just sitting here musing. Thoughts?

SNG