Posts by PrimateDave

147

Atheists, Why the Anger?

by XJW4EVR in

ok, so you deny the existence of a god, or you lack belief in a god.

my question why do you get so angry over a mythical being?

no one gets as upset over the tooth fairy, santa claus or the easter bunny, as i have seen some of the atheists on this board get over the slightest mention of god.

PrimateDave

Well, I'm an atheist, and I haven't run any death camps, yet. Maybe I can get a job at Halliburton? ;)

Dave

1

for centuries man has been pre-occupied with predicting the end of the world.throughout history their have been so-called visionaries and prophets that have claimed to have been given divine authority to predict the end.calculating precisely when the world will end has preoccupied a long line of forecasters.from sibyl who predicted the return of nero as the antichrist in 195,to william miller who in the nineteenth century predicted the end to come in 1843. the list of projected ends generated by these doomsdayers is impressive.amongst them the dates 195,500,948,1000,1260,1420,1588,1666,1763,1785,1819,1843,1866,1903,1914 and 1975 rank tops.

these dates have been fervently anticipated and then bitterly mourned.. .

the jehovah's witnesses is one sect that has preached and has been most obsessed with end time prophecy.the witnesses original mathematical groundwork was laid down by charles taze russell.

PrimateDave

I have a quote for you from the 'zine Harbinger.5, "The End of the World." No it was not written by Jehovah's Witnesses or even religious fundamentalists.

The world is coming to an end. Make no mistake about
it, the days are numbered. Where you are, you can’t even
imagine what it will be like when the bottom hits.

Or, to put it differently, the world is always ending.
What comes next is up to us. Every morning we wake
up and sweat and bleed to put an exact duplicate of the
previous day’s world in its place. We need not do this,
but we do, out of fear, or despair, or psychotically deluded
petty ambition, or sheer stubborn lack of imagination.
At any moment we could all stop paying rent
and going to work—nothing could stop us if we all deserted
together—and rebuild society from scratch without
landlords or loan payments. Heaven knows we’ve
all had that daydream at least once. It’s not police or
politicians that keep the wheels turning and the bodies
burning, it’s our own compliance and complacency, not
to mention lack of faith in each another.

So, is it any wonder that humans have for centuries been hoping that some super-human power would do it for them, that is bring about the end of the world, liberate them from their oppressors, and bring in something better?

Dave (primate anarchy lives!)

147

Atheists, Why the Anger?

by XJW4EVR in

ok, so you deny the existence of a god, or you lack belief in a god.

my question why do you get so angry over a mythical being?

no one gets as upset over the tooth fairy, santa claus or the easter bunny, as i have seen some of the atheists on this board get over the slightest mention of god.

PrimateDave

Perry wrote:

But the god of the Jewish people has been viewed as truth and not mythological and there in is the problem atheist have with believers.

Balsam,
Did you ever consider that he might still be alive? Hundreds of people saw him die and return from the dead. Many millions of people will publically testify that God himself has "spoken" to them through a direct transfer of information.
How can you be so all knowing so as to speak for all human beings just because the Creator hasn't revealed himself to you? BTW, failure to prove your all-knowingness illustrates that the problem you refer to is only an illusion in your own mind.

Perry, respectfully, I think you might owe Balsam an apology. She, like you, is a Christian. Perhaps you didn't read her post fully. Her husband is an atheist, but she attends church.

Now, then, to answer the question of the original poster, I have to admit that I am without a belief in a god. So, I suppose that makes me an atheist. Yes, I still read the Bible. I still ponder questions of existence and morality. I still care about humanity and the planet. So, do I get angry? Anger is a human emotion, so, yes, I get angry. I get angry at bad manners. I've seen quite a lot of name calling from both sides of the fence on recent threads. There is a fundamental lack of respect being shown by a few posters for the beliefs of others. There is nothing wrong with having a discussion, even a passionate one, as long as there is respect. Also, it often helps to have a sense of humor. I certainly got a chuckle from Lt.Cmdr.Lore's post!

Dave

94

Why 6 Billion People Deserve to Die in Armageddon

by Leolaia in

jehovah is such a righteous, merciful, loving god -- slow to anger, overflowing with loving kindness and blessing.

yet it somehow bothers many of you that he will shortly execute his judgment on mankind and wipe out 99.9% of the world's population, as if that somehow is supposed to conflict with his loving qualities.

personally, i have no idea why many of you feel this way.

PrimateDave

Leolaia wrote:

This is Friskie, Jane's cat. Yes, even pets of the Executed will perish as well. In this case, Friskie failed to regularly observe God's law on blood. Each time Friskie caught a rat, lizard, or cockroach, she forgot to pour the blood out to the ground before consuming the flesh. Bad kitty!! Jehovah does not like bad kitties!!

I always knew God didn't like cats!

On a more serious note, the Witnesses aren't the only ones who like graphic portrayals Divine wrath.

Dave

450

Isn't God Awesome?

by Perry in

http://wonderofitall.com/

PrimateDave

Hey,

Thanks, Perry! The entertainment value of this thread is great!

Oh, and by the way, God is unbelievable!

Have a happy day!

Dave

48

Curious about what ExJW's Preach and Teach

by BEROEAN in

i've noticed many of you that have your own ministry.

i'm curious as to what doctrines you teach.

is it "jesus is love.

PrimateDave

1. What happens to a person when they die? Like all lifeforms on earth, we cease to exist. Anything beyond this is pure speculation.

2. Who is God and what is his name? Is there a God or gods? If there is, why believe that the Judeo-Christian tradition is any more worthy than the Hindu or Buddhist? What's in a name? Indeed, why is the God of the J-C religion male? Why are all the angels in the J-C tradition male? Whatever happened to Yahweh's wife Asherah? Do men make God in their own image?

3. Why is there suffering in the world? Because living life is a violent process. Because humans are primates, intelligent animals with a complex culture. Because Empire culture has been spreading for some 5000 years. Because religions like Christianity promise a better life later for submission and obedience to authority now, thereby promoting systems of domination on the planet.

4. How did we get here? We evolved. We continue to evolve. This is how the universe works. This is how life works.

5. According to the Bible, is it okay to participate in wars and politics? Depends on which part you read.

6. Is the Devil real? If so, where did he come from? No. It's the carrot and the stick. He's part of the stick.

7. According to your religion, is it okay to smoke marijuana? If I could, I probably would. Heck, I'd like to try some of those brownies I've heard tell of. The problem as I see it is that the U.S. Federal Government thinks it owns my body.

8. According to your religion, is it okay to have pre-marital sex? If two consenting adults...

9. According to your religion, how do God feel about homosexuals? Shoot. God himself must be Gay. I mean all those male angel hunks up there around Him all the time. I mean, WTF, some of those guys hadn't seen a pretty woman in I don't know how long, if ever. And then God got pissed when they decided to go on vacation on Earth to check out the pretty babes! LOL!

10. Does God talk to you personally? I'm not schizophrenic or anything. But maybe if I got some good weed.

Dave

18

Bible infallible?

by Shawn10538 in

i am wondering how many of the folks on this site believe that the bible is the infallible word of god.

post your replies if you are.

can i get an amen?

PrimateDave

Literature, poetry, and myth, with some history thrown in for good measure. Word of men? Yes. Infallible? No.

Dave

91

The Watchtower and Creation

by AlanF in

it struck me this past year, with respect to jw teachings about the timing of genesis 1, that even in things that really have no impact on what most jws think of as "core doctrine" the watchtower society sticks to its traditions over what the bible says.

this was again brought home in the september, 2006 awake!

17 between me and the sons of israel it is a sign to time indefinite, because in six days jehovah made the heavens and the earth and on the seventh day he rested and proceeded to refresh himself.

PrimateDave

Well, Insane (Mad, whoever!)

I appreciate your curiosity on the matter of the translation. I will make one comment and leave it at that. While it is true that the English text of the Jewish Bible that I have does not use "Jehovah" or "Yahweh" for the Divine name, one can easily identify the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) in the Hebrew text in the adjacent column. Otherwise, as you can see in my previous post, the translators have rendered the Divine name as "Lord God." May your journey for increased knowledge prove fruitful.

Dave

91

The Watchtower and Creation

by AlanF in

it struck me this past year, with respect to jw teachings about the timing of genesis 1, that even in things that really have no impact on what most jws think of as "core doctrine" the watchtower society sticks to its traditions over what the bible says.

this was again brought home in the september, 2006 awake!

17 between me and the sons of israel it is a sign to time indefinite, because in six days jehovah made the heavens and the earth and on the seventh day he rested and proceeded to refresh himself.

PrimateDave

Hi Mad, or is it Insane now?

I don't get why you are being locked out, if that is what is really happening. You seem to have a sense of humor, I think. I like that.

As for your question, a Tanakh is a Jewish Bible consisting of what we call the Old Testament. Mine is published by the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) and is a Hebrew-English "pocket" version. That is, it has modern Hebrew on one side of the page and a modern English translation on the other side of the page. Check it out on Amazon.com.

Dave

8

Interesting Critique of Naturalism

by Perry in

naturalism and ethics.

why is it that certain actions are morally right, others morally wrong, and some morally neutral?

where does the demand of normativity come from?

PrimateDave

Psalm 137 (Jewish Publication Society Tanakh)

8 Fair Babylon, you predator,
a blessing on him who repays you in kind
what you have inflicted on us;
9 a blessing on him who seizes your babies
and dashes them against the rocks!

Sounds to me like God approves of torturing babies under the "right" circumstances.

Dave