slimboyfat

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Posts by slimboyfat

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  62

  Is There Life After Death

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i think this is a well developed discussion, of ian stevenson's work in investigating people's past lives claims.

  it's a little long.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0attm9hgcdw.

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  slimboyfat

  There is no evidence for us to believe that humans have been singled out for this extraordinary experience.

  Really? As far as we know we are the only beings that have ever contemplated the origins of the universe and its purpose. The very fact we can pose the question, and apparently make sense of the universe, puts us in an extraordinary and unique position. Why did the universe give rise to beings that can pose these questions? Just random luck and for no reason? Maybe, I guess. But even that possibility seems utterly mysterious and awe inspiring.
  
  
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  62

  Is There Life After Death

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i think this is a well developed discussion, of ian stevenson's work in investigating people's past lives claims.

  it's a little long.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0attm9hgcdw.

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  slimboyfat

  But does it really?

  I know for sure that I feel the sensation of a chair because I feel that sensation directly. I can see the chair, touch it, or sit on it. All these sensations I can vouch for personally. But as for the physical reality of the chair, I’m pretty confident about that too, but it is one step removed from my direct experience inasmuch as I am not myself the chair. I only sense the existence of the chair secondhand, whereas I experience my own existence first hand. So should I be more confident about my own existence as a conscious being or about the existence of the chair as a physical reality? Surely my own consciousness takes priority.

  Dennett seems to say we should be sure about the existence of the chair, but our own consciousness is a kind of delusion. But this kind of materialism is self defeating since it is only through our conscious experience that we know anything about the physical world in the first place. If we doubt our consciousness then how can we know anything about the physical world?
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  62

  Is There Life After Death

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i think this is a well developed discussion, of ian stevenson's work in investigating people's past lives claims.

  it's a little long.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0attm9hgcdw.

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  slimboyfat

  It depends on whether you view the material universe or consciousness as fundamental.

  If the fundamental component of reality is the material universe and consciousness is a random result of blind material forces, then it makes sense to say that consciousness ends at death.

  But if consciousness is findamental then it makes more sense to view the material world as the canvas on which a more basic or essential aspect of being is being projected.

  If I am sitting on a chair what do I really know? Do I know that the chair exists but that my sense of self sitting on the chair may be a delusion? Or do I know that my sense of sitting on the chair is real, and the chair may not be real outside of my perception?

  Materialists seem to come down on the side of the chair being real regardless of what the person feels. I’m not sure that makes a lot of sense. Since our direct experience is our own sense and perception, shouldn’t we regard that as fundamental and view the material world as secondary?
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  62

  Is There Life After Death

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i think this is a well developed discussion, of ian stevenson's work in investigating people's past lives claims.

  it's a little long.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0attm9hgcdw.

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  slimboyfat

  I don’t know but the idea that our thoughts are identical to electrochemical impulses in the brain is a bit odd too. I am not even sure what it means. Consciousness feels as if it’s a thing in its own right. Dennett says consciousness is a sort of delusion, and all that is really happening is brain patterns. But he’s never made a good answe to Mary Midgley who asks: if consciousness is a delusion, then who exactly is being deluded? If we are capable of delusion about being conscious then there is more to us than just patterns. There is a consciousness that needs to be explained still. And we are back to square one.

  In the analogy of the radio I guess we all have our own stations. The important point of the analogy is the brain as a receiver rather than producer of consciousness. How many radio stations there are seems to be a side issue.

  Although having said that, some who have explored afterlife stories do describe a sort of collective consciousness, or at least an awareness of consciousness that is not simply clearly individualistic in the afterlife.

  Again it somewhat comes down to what you view is fundamental, matter or consciousness. The answer is not straightforward.

  The main point is that brain damage does not necessarily prove consciousness can’t exist outside the brain, any more than a broken radio proves a radio station can’t exist outside that particular radio.

  https://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/12/12/is-consciousness-a-product-of-the-brain-or-a-receiver-of-it/

  https://youtu.be/x-6hosFAObI
  
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  62

  Is There Life After Death

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i think this is a well developed discussion, of ian stevenson's work in investigating people's past lives claims.

  it's a little long.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0attm9hgcdw.

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  slimboyfat

  If a radio breaks then it won’t play music from the radio station any more.

  If the brain is damaged then our consciousness is impaired.

  The question, in the scenario of our consciousness, is whether our consciousness is like the radio itself, or like the radio station that the radio receives.

  If our consciousness is like the radio itself then our consciousness probably ends at death.

  And if our consciousness is like the radio station that the radio receives, then our consciousness may conceivably exist by other means after death.
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  4

  Alex O'Connor's (CosmicSkeptic) great video! Now over 1 million views!

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  wow!.

  so as many of us know, alex o'connor (cosmicskeptic) did a great video a few years back in response to the appallingly homophobic caleb and sophia cartoon!.

  he gets a lot of views for his videos, but this one has more than any other presentation by him!

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  slimboyfat

  I was talking to a young Unitarian the other day, a student in his final year. He told me his only exposure to JW beliefs was “that weird animation about leaving gayness behind”. I think he must have meant this video.

  What a thing to be known for.
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  17

  JW Nut Telling His Story Online

  by pale.emperor in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  while searching for some jw related stuff online, i stumbled across this page created by a pimi.

  his name is steve mcdowell and a watered down version of his story was published in the watchtower https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/wp20150701/bad-to-worse-life-story/.

  however, this version, he says, is the full version.

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  slimboyfat

  Yes it always felt as if the “life stories” had the interesting bit cut out - because they did.
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  35

  new JW Online Bible Study Lessons

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  has anybody seen the new online bible study yet, just posted yesterday i believe?

  it's the first thing you see now when going to the home page.

  the online bible study lessons on jw.org are free, have no obligation, and are easy to use.

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  slimboyfat

  What ever next? #ongoingcollapse #morphdevelopments #themoneyisrunningout
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  17

  JW Nut Telling His Story Online

  by pale.emperor in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  while searching for some jw related stuff online, i stumbled across this page created by a pimi.

  his name is steve mcdowell and a watered down version of his story was published in the watchtower https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/wp20150701/bad-to-worse-life-story/.

  however, this version, he says, is the full version.

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  slimboyfat

  Except Sir, it’s a bit complicated by the fact that, for a period, Watchtower considered unbaptised publishers subject to congregation discipline. It’s concevable that someone being removed as an unbaptised publisher could have been described as “disassociated” at that time.

  I’d like to know if there is other evidence Michael Jackson was baptised.

  Young Lett looks almost normal.
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  91

  Proof of God

  by MrDantastic in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i'm an atheist as i do not see any evidence for the existance of a god.

  i encourage critical thinking in everyone and am ready to debate anyone on whether or not there is a god and what that god might be like.

  hmu..

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  slimboyfat

  I didn’t say God was any of those things.

  What I am saying is that God may exist in such as way that is not identical to any particular human conception of him or faith tradition. Therefore even if you eliminate every human construction of God ever conceived you have still not touched the central issue of whether there is a God at all.

  It seems perfectly possible, even likely, if God exists, that his nature and characteristics are such that have not been mapped out by any particular depiction of him.

  It seems odd to make the existence of God implicitly contingent on any humans having defined him properly. God can probably exist or not exist without humans necessarily having correctly described his nature.