Posts by Twitch

239

The Great Debate: "Has Science Refuted Religion?

by dark angle in

just want to share this amazing debate!

caltech cosmologist and physicist sean carroll teams up with skeptic magazine publisher and science historian michael shermer in this epic debate with noted conservative author and king's college president dinesh d'souza and mit physicist ian hutchinson as they go head-to-head over one of the most controversial issues of our age.

as science pushes deeper into territory once the province of religion, with questions such as why there is something rather than nothing?, where did the universe come from?, how did life arise?, what was the origin of morality?, and others, inevitable conflicts arise over the best approach to answer them.

Twitch

Not really wanting to partake in the discussion, I'd say it's a weak argument to say you can't disprove god. You can't disprove leprechauns either.

0.02

30

Any blues fans out there?

by botchtowersociety in

please educate me.

i am looking for good music.

.

Twitch

I listened to a lot of Stevie Ray and early ZZ Top.

Cream, Hendrix and Zeppelin rounding out the blues rock trilogy of the late 60s ;)

239

The Great Debate: "Has Science Refuted Religion?

by dark angle in

just want to share this amazing debate!

caltech cosmologist and physicist sean carroll teams up with skeptic magazine publisher and science historian michael shermer in this epic debate with noted conservative author and king's college president dinesh d'souza and mit physicist ian hutchinson as they go head-to-head over one of the most controversial issues of our age.

as science pushes deeper into territory once the province of religion, with questions such as why there is something rather than nothing?, where did the universe come from?, how did life arise?, what was the origin of morality?, and others, inevitable conflicts arise over the best approach to answer them.

Twitch

The frame of reference is important. With what is the standard of acceptance or tolerance measured? Our worldview as a JW or as an xJW? A belief structure and personality? An environment or social circle? A larger social mechanism? A political, religious or societal ruler?

Also, would the effect of the "accusation" that you think like a JW change if it was said by someone who was never a JW?

Do you view people who've never been JW and who have strong personal convictions as having a JW mindset? If not, why?

JW think is biased to be sure. It ain't the only type out there. It ain't a perfect or pretty world sometimes. Everyone knows it should and could be better.

Perhaps invoking the Law is a psych overcompensation for feeling guilty of being judgemental as a JW, in other words, one needs to "accept" everything and those perceived as having conviction as former JWs i.e. ourselves, are a threat to this.

Perhaps not.

25

Outside of smiles and kids what are the benefits of sex? - Keep it clean..

by usualusername in

discuss.........

Twitch

Hmmm

10

Burning Bridges, Living Free

by laverite in

for all those (ex)jws who have had to burn bridges with friends and family in order to live free: .

.

Twitch

Yea,..

40

Did You Feel Like A Pest When You Went House To House?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i hated going from door to door.

it was really bad when the neighbors would call each other and say that we had arrived.. what pests we were!.

now, i don't bother anyone if i can help it!

Twitch

Speaking of pests going door to door,...

251

Evidence for God...

by tec in

jw
friends

life come from the living, and this is a universe of life.

his teachings are truth.

which is why i weight it against the truth of the teachings (and one other thing that i will get to).

Twitch

Yea, evidence for god is nothing but subjective. I would be open to change this belief if there was hard evidence. If some wish to believe that their conscience is the voice of god or that the ability to conceptualize and virtualize a conversation with themselves as god's voice similar to a child's invisible friends, well, can't say anything if it gets them thru the day and makes you a better person. Seems a bit of a sliding scale though; where is the line between this belief and schizophrenia and/or other forms of mental illness? Not all believers hear or believe such things.

5

Transpersonal Psychology affirms the spiritual dimension apart from scripture.

by Fernando in

jw
friends

discussions on jwn have led me to start reading about the substantive work of psychiatrists carl jung, john weir perry, loren mosher, stanislav grof and others in "transpersonal psychology".. stanislav explains in this 1-hour long but very revealing video that he had no exposure to religion but became aware of dimensions beyond space-time through controlled psychiatric research experiments with psychedelic drugs (lsd).

this got him started on further research (much without drugs) in "transpersonal psychology" for around 45 years.. his terminology and explanations of the "hylotropic" versus "holotropic" states of consciousness maps powerfully to the "spiritual" versus "physical" in scripture and life (for me at least):.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rxrhfowj0u.

Twitch

How would you respond to his opening question enquiring if you have ever experienced non-ordinary or transcendent consciousness?

In the affirmative. And they didn't involve LSD or psilocybin, though those trips were rather memorable if only for the ability to enable thinking "outside the box", artificial as it was. But the mind doesn't naturally operate in those states and the side effects aren't worth it.

251