Posts by freemindfade

41

The positive achievements of Science and Religion in 2015. How do they compare?

by nicolaou in

science.. landed a probe on a comet, found liquid water on mars and successfully completed a ten year mission to pluto.. developed the first successful vaccine against ebola, discovered another human species in homo naledi, developed cancer killing molecules and high intensity ultrasound therapies which avoid surgery and leave healthy cells alone.

successfully mapped the human epigenome and developed the gene editing tool crispr, it's potential for medical and agricultural advance is staggering!.

found a way to produce graphene for a 1000th of the previous cost, developed cheap and sustainable methods to supply clean drinking water where water borne infections have been killing thousands, scaled up production of clean, renewable energy.. there's loads more, please feel free to add to the list.. .

freemindfade

What has atheism "produced" ever?

This might be one of the worst questions I've ever heard on here. Almost like a JW said it.

Theism is a belief and ideology, atheism is nothing more than not subscribing to that. How could "it" produce anything???

Atheism has nothing to do directly with scientific progress, do you think that conveying the best available scientific information is a religious act? If you abandon faith in supernatural things because of science, as many do, that is a collateral benefit to critical thinking. Not a product of "atheism". I believe it works the other way around, atheism is a product of knowledge.

Its too early in the week to smack my head

41

The positive achievements of Science and Religion in 2015. How do they compare?

by nicolaou in

science.. landed a probe on a comet, found liquid water on mars and successfully completed a ten year mission to pluto.. developed the first successful vaccine against ebola, discovered another human species in homo naledi, developed cancer killing molecules and high intensity ultrasound therapies which avoid surgery and leave healthy cells alone.

successfully mapped the human epigenome and developed the gene editing tool crispr, it's potential for medical and agricultural advance is staggering!.

found a way to produce graphene for a 1000th of the previous cost, developed cheap and sustainable methods to supply clean drinking water where water borne infections have been killing thousands, scaled up production of clean, renewable energy.. there's loads more, please feel free to add to the list.. .

freemindfade

44

The Lion Awakes

by eric hendrickson in

my name is eric hendrickson.

i have been on a journey led by the holy spirit which has brought to this point that has allowed for me to open the seventh seal and understand god's master plan.

i am the lion from the lost tribe of judah who has come to the world and be the messiah king.

freemindfade

Cocaine is a hell of a drug...

12

Wooly Mammoths

by Bloody Hotdogs! in

a jw came to my door a while back and used wooly mammoths as evidence for noah's flood.

he was a bit older, so i thought this must be some oddball out-of-date teaching of jehovah's witnesses.

i could remember something in the insight book about frozen mammoths, but not much else.

freemindfade

Heard a talk not to long ago on a Sunday about the flood. It was awful buy he mentioned the apply mammoths. Fascinating how they latch on to something like this that isn't really proof, and ignore volumes of other real evidence there was no flood.

56

What made you turn atheist or agnostic?

by LevelThePlayingField in

if you were a jw and are now an atheist or agnostic, what was the tipping point that made you turn to it?.

the reason i ask is i have noticed that many who leave the jw's seem to turn to atheism, versus still having some form of a faith.

have many of you given up on god first or have you had atheistic views first and then found atheism to be true.

freemindfade

I believe a lot of the constraints of the JW cult have little to do with faith in God and more to do with strength of being born in a cult ie fear obligation guilt. So let's say you would naturally be an atheist if not born in, the social and emotional pressure of the cult makes you fight to believe even if you don't. "You just don't have enough faith".

Scientologists don't believe the desert god yet they are equally as screwed in a control system. And north Korea as well. Even when God is absent high control groups are doing what they do and replacing it with something else.

For me it was a big moment allowing myself to be atheist, I would say I turned, I was just constantly trying to force myself to be a theist.

57

Is zeal beginning to vanish?

by Caupon in

jw
friends

it has to be starting to fade somehow.

the very last time i went out in field service, hardly any were out.

maybe just about nine people were out and man if you could just see their faces.

freemindfade

What i see is this:

From a 50,000 foot view the cult is dying a slow apathetic death. The people have changed and are disillusioned with so many things.

From a one on one level many still talk super crazy culty, maybe even more so at times. I believe trying really to convince themselves. Pretending to live the new veneer, they have gone from knowing the bible front to back to a topical understanding steeped in confusion much like how the Juche religio/political cult works in North Korea. People are fervishly devout! But most don't understand. I think witnesses understand less than ever before what the hell they believe but act more devout too because they are afraid of being someone who doesn't get it.

So I think on the inside people are drifting if only in their own subtle way, but outwardly not ready to face that it's all been BS. But I do believe beneath the surface of everyone termites of reality are eating away.

43

Beards galore at the Assembly

by Truthexplorer in

ok, at our recent assembly, i noticed that there were quite a lot of brothers wearing beards.

not just the older dudes, but right across a range of ages, young men, middle aged men and older men.

is watchtower beginning to relax this rule at last?

freemindfade

That's the desert god for you! He creates things then regrets them!

Goodbye dinosaurs...

Goodbye preflood people...

Goodbye foreskins....

Goodbye beards....

silly basted yhwh you just don't know what he likes!

43

Beards galore at the Assembly

by Truthexplorer in

ok, at our recent assembly, i noticed that there were quite a lot of brothers wearing beards.

not just the older dudes, but right across a range of ages, young men, middle aged men and older men.

is watchtower beginning to relax this rule at last?

freemindfade

I'm gonna go with general apathy towards the cult.

35

Video: 607 & 1914 Why These Dates Matter to Jehovah's Witnesses

by LevelThePlayingField in

this is a great video.

i think it's his best work so far.

everything you ever wanted to know about 607 in 30 minutes.

freemindfade

Witnesses don't care about 607. That is true . Because it means nothing in their mind. I similarly never gave the date any thought as it was just a date witnesses said and I said whatever.

However! 1914 is a date witnesses have a fervor and veneration for in a near idolatrous level. And the key (whether they know it or not) is a lie that is 607.

It's about 1914 and them lying blatantly for over a century. So yes and no. They don't care about the date but I don't think they know it's fabricated. Some witnesses need to learn it to know they are being lied to.

21

Drink Driving

by Simon in

with the christmas almost upon us i would like to share a personal experience with you about drinking and driving.. as you may know the local police are having a serious go at drink drivers this year... well, a couple of days ago i was out for an evening with friends and had a small number of drinks before dinner, followed by some rather nice red wine.

feeling jolly i still had the sense to know that i may be very slightly over the limit.. that's when i did something that i've never done before - i took a taxi home.. sure enough on the way home there was a police road check, but since it was a taxi they waved it past.

i arrived home safely without incident.. this was a real surprise as i had never driven a taxi before, i don't know where i got it and now that it's in my garage i don't know what to do with it.. any ideas?.

freemindfade

Clearly simon you were guided by the hand of the one true god, Dionysus, who looked after you in your inebriated state and saved you from the popo.

I'll have to get some uber parifinalia for my car... hmmm