Posts by skeptic2

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What is the ONE word that describes you best?

by In Between in

jw
friends

was thinking about this today while heading' down the road and thought it might be a fun topic.

if you break it down to the simplest degree, and i'm not necessarily talking about 'qualities' here ... but what one word, noun, adverb or adjective would you say describes you best?

for me: passion

A Case FOR Evolution?

by pmouse in

.

and the official wts response?

new light, silence, imperfect man or imperfect bird?.

skeptic2

Isnt this classed as adaptation, not evolution.

Adaption is the major part of the process. Here are some definitions:

1) The change in life over time by adaptation, variation, over-reproduction, and differential survival/reproduction, a process referred to by Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace as natural selection.
2) Descent with modification.

The long-term process through which a population of organisms accumulates genetic changes that enable its members to successfully adapt to environmental conditions and to better exploit food resources.

The bird id still a bird it didnt change into a fish !!!

Is that a serious comment? Do you seriously expect a bird to evolve into a fish in 20 years? Penguins took about 50 million years. Whales are another animal that moved from land to sea, over about 20 million years.

8

IRAQ RAPIST RAISED JW +1,163 news articles

by DannyHaszard in

kin defend texas soldiers accused of rape, killings

houston chronicle, united states - 3 hours ago .

... "he has very good morality," sanchez said, adding that he was raised a jehovah's witness.

skeptic2

Danny Haszard you are like a cross between a human, a Pitbull and a Bloodhound!

52

What happened between Jesus death & the gospels being written?

by yaddayadda in

hi, i'm interested in researching this subject.

can anyone recommend any good books that offer critical theories on the origins of early christianity, specifically the content and creation of the gospels.

for instance, how much of the gospels is underlying historical truth and how much might be exaggerations that crept in through, say 'chinese whispers' in the time between jesus death and the writing of the gospels ?

skeptic2

6.Since it is easily demonstrated the text has been fudged and that God obviously ALLOWED the cheating to take place it is not an act of impious immorality to suggest pure worship might (from God's standpoint) have little or nothing to do with the Bible in our modern times.

If I were a theist, that's exactly the way I'd see it!

52

What happened between Jesus death & the gospels being written?

by yaddayadda in

hi, i'm interested in researching this subject.

can anyone recommend any good books that offer critical theories on the origins of early christianity, specifically the content and creation of the gospels.

for instance, how much of the gospels is underlying historical truth and how much might be exaggerations that crept in through, say 'chinese whispers' in the time between jesus death and the writing of the gospels ?

skeptic2

This is an interesting blog post that comments on the potential meaning of the lack of contemporary historical record, that you are referring to:

Original blog post

Laura Miller, writing in Salon, does an appropriately contemptuous takedown of Michael Baigent's recent reworking of his crackpot/jackpot Holy Blood, Holy Grail theory, which doesn't hold up even to mild scrutiny. (It works as bad fiction, but not as bad nonfiction. It's no wonder Dan Brown has made most of the money from it.)

But when it comes to Jesus' existence, Miller blurs her eyes and displays nearly the same logical incoherence of which she justly accuses Baigent. Miller writes:

There are no contemporary accounts of Jesus' existence, although this isn't surprising, since he wouldn't have seemed sufficiently important to the people who wrote those accounts. Most modern scholars, including the secular ones, believe that someone more or less like Jesus did really exist...

These two highlighted statements pretty much contradict each other.

The alleged historical figure was:

"more or less like Jesus"

but at the same time

"he wouldn't have seemed sufficiently important"

WTF? How does one achieve these two conditions at the same time?

This remarkable-yet-unimportant historical Jesus apparently:

-Did not perform miracles
-Was not rumored to perform miracles
-Was not followed by large crowds of people
-Did not enter Jerusalem on a donkey (an extremely provocative action for a Jew)
-Did not declare himself the Messiah
-Did not disrupt the business of the temple
-Was not tried by the Sanhedrin on Passover Eve
-Was not tried by Pontius Pilate, who
-Did not send him to King Herod, who
-Did not send him back to Pontius Pilate, who
-Did not set free a known killer of Romans in an attempt to save Jesus, and
-Did not convict Jesus while Jerusalem was experiencing a near-riot

Any of the above would have been remarkable enough for chroniclers of the time to note. If the Gospel narrative is even sorta true, this would have been one of the most remarkable Passovers in the entire history of Jerusalem. And if this narrative isn't even sorta true, did Jesus really exist? How could someone be "more or less like Jesus" while at the same time substantially not do the remarkable things attributed to Jesus?

Add to this that the first records of early Christianity--at least its first forty years, probably more--also do not mention any of the above.

-Paul writes 80,000 words without mentioning any of the above events
-No writers of Jesus' time mention any of these events, either
-The events start creeping into Christian tradition gradually over the course of decades

Why would a reasonable person like Laura Miller conclude from this that the events substantially happened? Would it be news to Laura Miller that religions have been known to make stuff up?

It's possible that the historical events claimed in the Gospels "more or less" happened, and that writers of the time didn't notice them, and that Christians for decades didn't think them important enough to include in their writings, and then the events were spontaneously "remembered" bit by bit with enough accuracy to be "more of less" true.

It's possible. But it certainly isn't likely.

What is likely is that Jesus didn't exist and that religious fanatics actually made stuff up. It's the one theory that you don't have to throw your brain out to believe.

11

Just been knocked up with a DC invite (UK)

by skeptic2 in

the buzzer rang a moment ago and when i answered the intercom (i live in a flat) a voice said "we are two jehovahs witnesses come to invite you to a district convention".

i put the intercom down without saying anything.

they didnt bother to try again, but went on to the next number.. i kept an eye on them from my window (i can see the main door) and it seemed everyone in my building at least had the good sense to ignore them, no-one let them in.. this is the first time we have had jws knocking to my knowledge.

skeptic2

The buzzer rang a moment ago and when I answered the intercom (I live in a flat) a voice said "We are two jehovahs witnesses come to invite you to a district convention". I put the intercom down without saying anything. They didnt bother to try again, but went on to the next number.

I kept an eye on them from my window (I can see the main door) and it seemed everyone in my building at least had the good sense to ignore them, no-one let them in.

This is the first time we have had JWs knocking to my knowledge. Does anyone know whether this DC invite thing has been done in the UK before? My wife has no recollection of it in here experience.

I dont know why they bother, I think they would get even less interest than when they are placing magazines. The idea of a convention with lots of people would scare off the kind of unconfident person who is usually likely to be ensnared by the WT. It all seems rather pointless.

14

i think i found a bethel member online

by headmath in

http://amathenia.blogspot.com/

the guy says he's a jehoovers witness .

by his blog you can sure tell that he is.

skeptic2

Shortly the entire system of false Christianity will come crashing down. Thank God that he has shown us the way to the wilderness - the place of protection under the wings of God and here we are fed the bread that came down out of Heaven.

Not yet given up the JW millenarianism. I wonder what he means by the second sentence?

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