Posts by Village Idiot

66

What Should the Minimum Wage Be (USA)?

by Village Idiot in

during the gop debates donald trump said that american’s “wages [are] too high” and later said “that having a low minimum wage is not a bad thing for this country” (7:25)..

do you agree and if so why?.

my two cents on this issue; do the math.

Village Idiot

During the GOP debates Donald Trump said that American’s “wages [are] too high” and later said “that having a low minimum wage is not a bad thing for this country” (7:25).

Do you agree and if so why?

My two cents on this issue; do the math.

Federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.
Full time work (if available) is slightly over 160 hours a month.
$7.25 x 160 = 1160 before taxes.

Now subtract:

A one bedroom apartment in many cities: $1,000 a month.
Food bills: $150 a month per person.

Is there anything left for:

Car expenses and insurance?
Or riding the bus which is more expensive than gasoline?
Internet which is needed for getting a job?

I remember in the 1980s how conservatives used to mock the misery of Russians living under the communist regime because 2 families had to share a 2 bedroom apartment. Same thing in Cuba with 3 generations having to live in the same apartment.

Here in the US I know of a 40 year old man who has to live with his mother because his $9 an hour job cannot afford him anything else. Multiply him times 10 million.

16

Why do American Christians stand with Muslim Nations on the Question of Evolution?

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

some statistics.

this graph charts national responses to the statement, "human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animal," and show some strange bedfellows.. .

as you see, a huge majority (70% and higher) of western europe people surveyed, accept evolution (in some form).

Village Idiot

Your chart only included Turkey amongst Muslim nations and there was a big difference between the USA, 40% pro-evolution, and Turkey at 25%.

Also, your title's mention of American Christians implies that most who identify themselves as such, about 85% of its population, hold on to that belief. It's fundamentalist Christians who are the focus, not liberal Christians and moderates who tend to believe in evolution and outnumber the Fundamentalists.

Of course, the USA lags behind the secular minded Europeans because of its having a larger fundamentalist Christian presence but it is not fair to compare them to Muslim nations. Especially Turkey which is a more secular state than other Muslim nations.

38

Honestly, Did Jehovah's Witnesses Do Anything POSITIVE For You?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i was raised as a witness and am very thankful that i am out.

having said that, i think my upbringing produced positive qualities in me.

do you believe that anything positive came from your being a witness?

Village Idiot

They taught me how to spot BS.

133

What are the biggest holes in evolution?

by shadow in

how honest are the proponents of evolution?

idk but curious to see what type of response there is on a topic like this or does their study only seek to confirm their preconceptions and ignore uncomfortable facts?

Village Idiot

I would not call it a 'hole' - that implies a defect in the whole theory - but more like an explanatory gap. Evolution's biggest gap is the evolution of single cell organisms from more primitive forms like basic amino acids. You would probably need to replicate the original evolutionary pathways with sophisticated laboratory experiments.

32

44 years old and having I.V.F help to have a baby thanks too bastard "this Generation" lies!! Wife wants kids in 2016! My story.

by Witness 007 in

as a young witness married couple in the 1990's we knew "this generation" of 1914 did not have long to go!

oh how cute a young pioneer couple we were.

we wont have kids till "afew more years pass" and we are in the new system.

Village Idiot

silentbuddha, can you tell us which Watchtower that was?

31

The GB know it's all lies and wants to dismantle the WTS ... then what?

by Simon in

so imagine the gb have a sudden attack of honesty and realize "crap, this whole thing is lies - we're not god's spokespeople at all !".

how do you dismantle a religion that has +8 million members in a responsible way?

you can't just publish a watchtower saying "we were wrong" because that would be irresponsible - you need to let people down gently, put people off gradually.

Village Idiot

I've thought of this before and I believe that a Watchtower should be written in definitive terms without any gradual "illumination". It's not likely that there will be an attempt to install a new leadership. They are so interlinked with the Governing Body that without it they would just fall apart without them.

The practical necessities of running an organization that size will also serve as a deterrence to restarting the organization. Who owns the properties and equipment that are necessary to communicate with the rank and file? Part of the process of dissolution will involve divesting themselves of all properties that are used in that regards (Printing presses and Internet equipment). Nothing left for any would be inheritors.

38

Most Poorly Written JW Book

by JW_Rogue in

so i was thinking the other day that the wt corp has produced thousands of books over the years.

although the writers have changed the style is almost always the same.

however, some books are just worse than others.

Village Idiot

@Ding: The Finished Mystery (1917).

I second the motion on that book. Its idolatry of Charles Russell, claiming that he fulfilled dozens of scriptures in Revelation. Its psychotic ramblings. It is no wonder that a sister who had inherited that book throughout 3 generations wouldn't allow me to read it.

10

Thoughts on John 7:53-8:11??

by BarelyThere in

jw
friends

i always accepted that the nwt said that these verses in john were not in the most reliable manuscripts.

i thought it was strange that while the "old" nwt at least included the verses, the "revised" nwt completely omits them.

now i'm trying to do research on my own, but my head is still spinning from all of the information i've taken in the past week.

Village Idiot

BarelyThere, different Bibles treat those verses differently. They might have the scripture with a footnote explaining the issue or they may not. One Catholic Bible that I had actually had that scripture at the end of the book of John with an explanation as to why it was considered spurious.

If you go to biblegateway.com you'll find nearly 50 different translations some of which explain why this was considered spurious scripture. The New International Version says:

"[The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53—8:11. A few manuscripts include these verses, wholly or in part, after John 7:36, John 21:25, Luke 21:38 or Luke 24:53.]"

The fact that this scripture is found in many different locations is as telling as its not being found at all in other manuscripts. It indicates that this "add on" account took a while before it settled its position in the text of the New Testament. To make an analogy the evolution of this spurious text was like adding a foreign gene to DNA.

46

Starlight in a Young Universe

by Perry in

the scientific method begins with a faith statement called a hypothesis, and then goes on to look for evidence, for or against support of the faith statement.. secular materialists often change their ideas on exactly how things have made themselves, but never whether they did.. the manifesto for this self imposed mental ban seems to be summed up by geneticist richard lewontin:.

‘our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural.

we take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism.. it is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated.