Posts by slimboyfat

45

Why Did JWs Abandon Brooklyn for the Sticks?

by Room 215 in

i may have missed this, but can anyone tell me what was the pretext the gb concocted to justify their abandonment of a perfectly suitable, high-profile, high-visibility complex in what is arguably the world's greatest metropolis for the bucolic isolation of upstate new york.

any how does the move square with their purported belief in the imminence of armageddon?

.

slimboyfat

Do they need to pay that now the case has been settled?

It works out just under $1 each publisher per year for JWs in the United States.

There are other good reasons for concluding Watchtower is fast running out of money.

131

Do Jehovah's Witnesses Accept Evolution?

by jukief in

by evolution or by creation?

"the bible is a myth" and "evolution is true".

slimboyfat

Objective fact 1 = xtians believe that their god is love and that love has to do with actions that promote the well being of others.
Objective fact 2 = xtians believe that their god was in complete control of the tsunami that randomly killed a quarter of a million men, women and children.

Chritians also believe that there are things we can't know or understand about God. The Bible says we can't understand the mind of God. So the unreconcilabilty of God's character and his actions is not contrary to Christianity. It's part of the problem Christians have acknowledged from the beginning.

131

Do Jehovah's Witnesses Accept Evolution?

by jukief in

by evolution or by creation?

"the bible is a myth" and "evolution is true".

slimboyfat

Cofty gives an example of discovering his friend was beating his wife, not that he suspects abuse based on bruising...

That's the problem. All our is knowledge is based on the evidence of our senses and our ability to interpret it. Therefore no matter how strong the evidence for a thing (even seeing it with your own eyes can be hallucianation) there always remains the possibility that we have somehow got the wrong end of the stick.

131

Do Jehovah's Witnesses Accept Evolution?

by jukief in

by evolution or by creation?

"the bible is a myth" and "evolution is true".

slimboyfat

No, I think Earnest is saying that just because we can't think of a solution to a problem doesn't necessarily mean there is no solution.

It's as if nothing surprising has ever happened to an atheist, or they've never been wrong footed in their life. Haven't we all had the sensation of believing we fully understand a situation, only to find out later that we completely misunderstood what was going on? If these things happen every day in ordinary life, can we really rule out the possibility that God knows more about goodness and free will than we do?

19

Watchtower History Gem: I Found When Maria Got Her Teaching Certificate

by Wild_Thing in

jw
friends

i consider myself an amateur watchtower history buff.

i have always read that maria frances ackley russell, charles taze russell's first and only wife, went to a teacher training college and was a teacher for a number of years before marrying russell.

but, i have never seen proof that she truly did finish college and became a certified teacher.

slimboyfat

Didn’t Maria claim to have written the Studies in the Scriptures during the divorce case? Does technology exist yet to be able to analyse and identify authorship by comparing texts?

21

Terrific movie monologue from "Three Billboards Outside Ebbings, Missouri'

by Captain Schmideo2 in

jw
friends

just watched this movie last night.. the premise of the title and film centers around the mother of young girl, who was raped, murdered, and set on fire by an unknown killer.

convinced that the local police could be doing more, she erects billboards outside of town, calling into question the efforts of the town's beloved chief of police.

this does not sit well with the other townspeople, and soon, the town priest comes to visit and admonish her.and after hearing him tell her if she came to church more regularly, she would be able to find the peace and resolution she needs over her daughter's death, she delivers this speech to him:.

slimboyfat

Yes I noticed that and enjoyed it and agreed with the sentiment. Only small reservation was it was a bit "preachy" in the context of the film. I'm not so keen on films where the writer or director appear to be pressing a point of view heavily, even if it's one I agree with.

I can appreciate the good in religion as well as the bad. So while I enjoyed this speech, I also enjoyed the recent film "Lady Bird" which portrays a much more benign engagement with religion. Specifically the central character, the teenage girl Lady Bird benefits from mentoring from a nun and she also enjoys the ritual of a Catholic service while away from home.

There are good and bad aspects to religious experience and I appreciate the artistic portrayal of both.

2

If all you require is faith to believe in something then ....?

by smiddy3 in

jw
friends

be my guest :.

santa clause .

the tooth fairy .

slimboyfat

The Yeti theory of God.

https://afkimel.wordpress.com/2015/07/07/fr-robert-barron-on-the-yeti-theory-of-god/

I like the quote from Wittgenstein, that it's now how the world is that's astonishing, but that it is at all.

12

Display on Computer is Upside Down!

by compound complex in

greetings, techies:.

i'm teaching a class right now and my students' desktop computer is showing microsoft word upside down.

we share documents between our two computers but cannot because of this crazy turn of events.. any ideas?.

slimboyfat

Ha! Somebody should write a web page to fix that problem - which is written upside down.

77

North Korea threatening to bomb Guam...

by mikeflood in

crazy kim again....could happen?

thoughts?.

slimboyfat

Yesterday.

What fact did I ignore?

If you watch interviews of Trump in 1999 and now don't you see any difference?

I don't hear him using "nuclear proliferation" in extemporaneous speech these days. It's all big league this, smart person that, rocket man and so on.

12

Display on Computer is Upside Down!

by compound complex in

greetings, techies:.

i'm teaching a class right now and my students' desktop computer is showing microsoft word upside down.

we share documents between our two computers but cannot because of this crazy turn of events.. any ideas?.

slimboyfat

I was talking to someone the other day this happened to. It was a computer virus that caused it. He couldn't fix it so he turned the monitor upside down. Sorry can't be more help.