Posts by seattleniceguy

31

The evolution & creation dilemma? Its driving me mad

by Mr. Majestic in

my mind has been twisting for a few months now.

i suppose i am trying to fill the void left by the faith ive lost.

but i am trying to make sense of what is.

seattleniceguy

My dilemma is I can’t get my head around evolution. I have not looked deep enough into it yet, but I am having to, being I have no answers. But for me, the "first cause" lets that theory down (Not the big bang, but the first organism to exist). I have read a few explanations about the "first cause" but it didn’t really stick with me personally. Links between species is another part of evolution that I would like to know more about, but it does seem funny that there is not more fossilisation that shows the links between species, if any, although I have been told that there is evidence. I would like to see more of that kind of evidence if there is.

Hi there. One thing to keep in mind regarding evolution is that it does not necessarily need to address a first cause. For example, it is perfectly possible that someone created life and let it evolve from there. (I don't think this is true, but it is a logical possibility.) The people who are trying to bind everything together are the creationists, because it plays into their style of "explain it all in a 32-page brochure."

The reason I point out the disjoint is because it's best to first understand evolution by looking at the more recent examples and evidence. It is absolutely clear that evolution occurs, and there is amazing evidence for how it has happened in the last billion years. Going back 4 billion years it gets a little foggy simply because of the paucity of surviving evidence. But after you understand the mechanisms of evolution, you'll be in a better position to understand the ways in which life itself could have arisen from the same sort of principles.

Go to the library and grab a few books. I'd recommend Dawkins. He's an enjoyable read and extremely mind-expanding.

Best wishes,

SNG

5

New religious survey completed: Jehovah's Witnesses have the highest...

by seattleniceguy in

this is interesting.

a new study has just been completed by the pew forum on religion and public life.

the study encompassed more than 35,000 people, a very large sample for a survey of this type.

seattleniceguy

This is interesting. A new study has just been completed by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The study encompassed more than 35,000 people, a very large sample for a survey of this type. The results are here: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/02/26/us_religious_identity_is_rapidly_changing/

Here's the paragraph that caught my eye:

Among the study's more unusual findings: Jehovah's Witnesses have the worst record of any faith group at retaining their members. Hindus and Mormons are the least likely to be married to someone of another faith, and the least likely to be single. Mormons and Muslims have the biggest families. Three-quarters of American Buddhists are converts. Jews are the highest-income group in America, but Hindus are now the best educated: Nearly half of all adult Hindus have some post-graduate education.

Looks like someone besides us has noticed!

SNG

37

News Release: Special Awake! Campaign

by betterdaze in

jehovah's witnesses office of public information .

for immediate release .

november 1, 2007 .

seattleniceguy

it has become increasingly popular to criticize and denigrate the Bible

Yeah, just the other day all my friends were like high-fiving and stuff because we saw this way cool guy whose Bible denigration skill was just off the charts! He's going to run for President on a platform of Bible denigration for everyone.

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67

Japan closes 638 Congregations!!!!! Why???

by Witness 007 in

japan since the 1970''s has had amazing publisher increases!

every year the number of witnesses shot up by many thousands.

this peaked in 1998, since then the number of witnesses and congregations has continued to drop!.

seattleniceguy

Hey Stilla!

I don't post much anymore, but I check in every now and then. Good to see you!

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67

Japan closes 638 Congregations!!!!! Why???

by Witness 007 in

japan since the 1970''s has had amazing publisher increases!

every year the number of witnesses shot up by many thousands.

this peaked in 1998, since then the number of witnesses and congregations has continued to drop!.

seattleniceguy

I'd guess a combination of two things:

Lack of men
Japanese congregations are even more out-of-balance than the rest of the world when it comes to the ratio of men to women. This is probably because Japanese office workers are still expected to put in long hours and go out after work, making it difficult to return in time to get to meetings. As a result, men whose stay-at-home wives are converted, are less likely to take the bait and convert themselves simply because they don't have time. This has the effect of making it difficult for congregations to split. When I lived there, there was a spate of congregational merges. I didn't think about it then, but if you're in a congregation with only two elders (the situation with mine at the time) it only takes one of those guys to leave to force a merge. Put this way, the elders in Japan have enormous power to force change.

(Incidentally, I titled this bullet point "lack of men," not "brothers," because it makes the inherent sexism more apparent. It seems a bit satisfying that the Watchtower's absurdly outdated sexism could ultimately contribute to its demise.)
Cult backlash
Since the Aum Shinri Kyo subway attack in 1995, there has been a big backlash against cultlike groups in Japan. There has been a slow but steady decline since that time. If we assume that a respresentative part of the decline came from elders and ministerial servants waking up and leaving, you can see from the above point how a decline of 5000 members could have a big effect on the number of congregations.

SNG

25

Daniel-P's Convention Experience

by daniel-p in

jw
friends

well, i'm here at the convention, and boy is it a dozer.

all the speakers blur together - they all sound like the same exact person with their superficial emphasis on the "key points.

" today was a tad juicy, with the "stay away from the demon-enhanced apostates" symposium and the "you don't need an education to scrub toilets, jerk" talk as well.

seattleniceguy

Hey daniel-p,

Long time! Just wanted to say I enjoyed your report.

until I went back to imagining myself racing my bike in circles around the floor sections while everyone gazed on glassy eyed, in their waxen rapture.

This line was such a great description of the pent-up madness I think we all feel sitting in those seats, I had to laugh out loud. That would be pretty fun, wouldn't it?

SNG

26

"Jehovah ALWAYS has worked through ONE organization!"

by Dagney in

jw
friends

how many times have we heard this?.

i would like to know if any of you have any good arguements refuting this.

my brain is fried from two weeks of "fencing" with jw's.

seattleniceguy

"Jehovah ALWAYS has worked through ONE organization!"

...in exactly the same way that Santa Claus has always been the CEO of Claus Enteprises, Ltd.

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10

Revolution vs. Evolution

by IP_SEC in

social not biological.. i've been thinking about the differences between revolution and evolution but i cant understand why they are different.. example: religion.

revolution: communist revolution ended religion in eastern europe.. evolution: our society is slowly changing to a less religious people.. revolution: usually violent and not permanent.

evolution: non violent (though there can be conflict involved) long lasting, usually a permanent change.. .

seattleniceguy

Hello IP_SEC,

Your post highlights the fact that Darwinian thinking illuminates lots of other fields besides biology. Many large-scale trends can be understood in Darwinian terms, even though they are different in important details.

For example, consider the evolution of language. There are interesting parallels, such as a branching structure that can be traced back to common ancestor languages, and the fact that geographical isolation is one main cause of language branching, just as it is for speciation. The main difference is the possibility for language to change dramatically within a generation, for example by an invading army supplanting a nation's ancestral language with its own, which will tend to cause each language to pick up words and grammar from the other. This would be more akin to lateral gene transfer, which viruses and bacteria can engage in, where genes can be swapped with peers, rather than passed down only to offspring.

To your question, it's possible to think of cultural revolution as a Darwinian struggle of ideas, where the "fitness" of an idea is defined as its ability to propagate itself into other minds. The environment in which the ideas battle for supremecy is the pool of all the other ideas that are swimming about in people's minds, and it affects which ideas will tend to be prolific. For example, the idea of the virgin birth is much more "fit" in the Bible Belt, where the environment includes a set of supporting ideas about the Bible and Christianity. The idea would have almost no ability to survive anywhere else.

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