slimboyfat

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Posts by slimboyfat

• 
  340

  Calling Cofty and others regarding evolution

  by dubstepped in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so i have started down the path of trying to understand evolution, and to get the linear lies that the jws planted in my head out of it.

  i bought an audiobook called "evolution: what the fossils say and why it matters" by donald prothero.

  i heard it recommended on an atheist podcast that i listened to.

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  slimboyfat

  Consciousness tends to be a word we use for humans and a few other animals that display some similar patterns of thought.

  Awareness on the other hand is much broader and is applied to creatures that appear to behave on instinct and don’t seem to reflect. Like I said above, ants and spiders, for example are commonly thought to be “aware” in some reduced sense, but not conscious as such.

  So pansychists tend to attribute a low level sense of awareness to all matter, far beneath the level we would describe as conscious.

  How does methodological naturalism offer evidence against the idea that awareness is fundamental to matter?
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  340

  Calling Cofty and others regarding evolution

  by dubstepped in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so i have started down the path of trying to understand evolution, and to get the linear lies that the jws planted in my head out of it.

  i bought an audiobook called "evolution: what the fossils say and why it matters" by donald prothero.

  i heard it recommended on an atheist podcast that i listened to.

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  slimboyfat

  Will be interesting to see how your comments here date as panpsychism gains momentum.

  And it is an exaggeration to say pansychists believe rocks are conscious. Unless you consider insects “conscious” for example. What panpsychists argue is that awareness is fundamental to all matter so that it varies in degree across a spectrum from human consciousness down to other animals, and whatever experience invertebrates have, down to plants, rocks and other objects, which may have very low levels of awareness.

  There may be little or no empirical evidence for panpsychism. But then, there is also little or no empirical evidence that can be offered for the common materialist conception of the world either. These are philosophical conceptions for making sense of the world and how it works. Materialism is just the common sense, or taken for granted assumption commonly made about reality in our particular historical circumstances, and therefore highly susceptible to revision.
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  14

  "They are so keen, they need to be locked up for the first 6 months!"

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  do we all remember that expression when we were jws?.

  someone new would "come into the truth", and be so enthusiastic and keen, that we would all joke about "locking them up for the first 6 months because they would preach to everyone".

  jws thought that the passion for "learning the truth" was the issue.

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  slimboyfat

  Yes that used to be an expression to describe enthusiastic new people in the truth. But it’s a long time since I heard it used, I guess for two main reasons: 1) no new converts and 2) no enthusiasm.
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  7

  Apostasy film just got nimonated for a BAFTA.

  by Xanthippe in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it didn't win but it was nominated in the outstanding debut film category!

  wow!.

  they showed a clip and gave a very short explanation of the plot.

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  slimboyfat

  It was pretty outstanding for a directorial debut.

  If he goes on to produce more famous films, then more people might come back to this one for years to come.
• 
  16

  Why do Jehovah's Witness members incriminate themselves in judicial meeting?

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  why do jehovah's witness members incriminate themselves to any judicial process?

  how can three elders conduct a judicial meeting with a 15-year-old teenage girl who supposedly was rumored to fornicate, took drugs or was drunk from drinking alcohol?

  can she or the parents refuse to answer any questions?.

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  slimboyfat

  I think one major reason people confess, that I don’t think has been mentioned, is that people fear the judicial committee already have evidence against them, and that if they don’t confess then the lack of confession will be used as proof that they lack repentance.

  As I understand it, judicial committees are not up front about what they know. Their opening gambit will be to invite the accused person to confess to anything and everything at the beginning of the proceeding. And anything they don’t mention at the very start, but can be proved later, will be used against them in the decision to disfellowship.

  So whether to confess and demonstrate repentance, or deny and hope they don’t have evidence, can present a tricky dilemma.

  It's a set up where you can jump one way or the other, only to find out immediately you’ve jumped in the wrong direction.
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  20

  German got his silver sword

  by fastJehu in

  1. social
  2. current

  on saturday 02-02-2019 german jws got there silver sword.

  rumour has it that all of europe received the translation yesterday, because gerrit lösch visited the european branch in selters (germany).

  can anyone confirm that?.

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  slimboyfat

  Interesting. This may be in response to accusations in Russia that their translation “not a Bible” because it is not called a “Bible”. I wonder if they will change fnd title and cover in other language versions, and in English.
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  46

  Halls closing

  by iknowthetruth in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in my city philadelphia they closed many kingdom halls.

  my hall was desolved and most of the publishers were added to a congregation that only had 50 publishers.

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  slimboyfat

  Yet, you can see the discouragement in their faces.
  Nice job GB. Keep kicking the only people who care about you.

  I think the GB do realise the effect these cutbacks are having on morale. This is something to consider, because it indicates how much trouble Watchtower is in. They are implementing these cutbacks, despite the effect on morale, because they can see no other way to preserve the organisation at this point. They must be in deep financial trouble to resort to this.

  The "literature" has long railed about how callous the "corporate world" is - viewing employees as chattel, having no use for you once you cease to provide value to them, etc.

  Have you got any such quotes handy, because that would be interesting to compare.

  
  
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  20

  German got his silver sword

  by fastJehu in

  1. social
  2. current

  on saturday 02-02-2019 german jws got there silver sword.

  rumour has it that all of europe received the translation yesterday, because gerrit lösch visited the european branch in selters (germany).

  can anyone confirm that?.

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  slimboyfat

  Have they changed the cover in German from “Holy Scriptures” to “The Bible” as in the picture? They didn’t change the cover title in English.
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  7

  Interesting Find

  by ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  scandal in malta.

  by paul j. bonanno and kent steinhaug.

  it was, and still is, a fact well advertised by jehovah's witnesses (hereafter referred to as jw) that every member who works in their general headquarters (which is located in brooklyn, new york, america), and their other worldwide offices, receives only room, board and a few dollars per month.

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  slimboyfat

  Wow this is nostalgia inducing. This was one of the earliest “apostate” stories I read online around 2000. I think it was on Freeminds. Pretty tame compared to what’s happened since.
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  30

  Legal concerns about: "picnics"

  by Darth FayDehr in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  "congregation picnic"2.

  "congregation gathering"3.

  "spontaneous gathering of jws”.

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  slimboyfat

  I like part in the elders book that says: just because you paid for the local KH, and are responsible for its upkeep, don’t get the idea that you somehow “own” the local KH!