iconoclastic

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Posts by iconoclastic

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  79

  Death is not something to be feared!

  by iconoclastic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  science can explain how of things, but it cannot explain why of certain things (for example, why did life arise from non-life and evolved from simpler creatures to more complex life forms only to die and disappear?

  ) so are the conflicted religions whose chief concern is in safeguarding each ones separate identity..

  next option is to look for pearls among the stonesusing power of our own reason.

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  iconoclastic

  ListlessWitness

  Very well put—perfect example of comment! It gave me the feeling of drinking tender coconut water in a desert.

  Thanks for that from the bottom of my heart.
• 
  79

  Death is not something to be feared!

  by iconoclastic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  science can explain how of things, but it cannot explain why of certain things (for example, why did life arise from non-life and evolved from simpler creatures to more complex life forms only to die and disappear?

  ) so are the conflicted religions whose chief concern is in safeguarding each ones separate identity..

  next option is to look for pearls among the stonesusing power of our own reason.

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  iconoclastic

  Half banana

  This is an exercise in independence, and it can serve a purpose; because atheist and theist meet at one point—both nurtures a fear deep in their heart unuttered! At some point atheist fears what if there is something immaterial; theist too fears what if there is nothing immaterial! Hence the above mental exercise on fear, and reaching the conclusion that there is no need of fear—if you have sowed good, you will reap good; and if you have sowed bad, you will reap bad—and if you have mixed both, you will reap mixed results, and God plays no part in the Law of Cause and Consequence—Hence the above musing has nothing to do with any religion. (remember, I thrashed the religions in the very first paragraph of my OP)

  Besides, when we choose an action (we know the results of action from experience—either from ours or of others), we are also choosing the results. Hence there is nothing religion or God can play in our destiny—we are the creators of our destiny. Problems arise when we choose to be mere reactors.
• 
  79

  Death is not something to be feared!

  by iconoclastic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  science can explain how of things, but it cannot explain why of certain things (for example, why did life arise from non-life and evolved from simpler creatures to more complex life forms only to die and disappear?

  ) so are the conflicted religions whose chief concern is in safeguarding each ones separate identity..

  next option is to look for pearls among the stonesusing power of our own reason.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  iconoclastic

  Science can explain HOW of things, but it cannot explain WHY of certain things (For example, why did life arise from non-life and evolved from simpler creatures to more complex life forms only to die and disappear?) So are the conflicted religions whose chief concern is in safeguarding each one’s separate identity.

  Next option is to look for pearls among the stones—using power of our own reason. Leave behind even our own old style of looking at death as the opposite of life. Let us start on a clean slate: Though Jesus himself foretold truth will be overpowered by interpolators (Mathew 13:24-30), fortunately his perception of death remains intact: “Unless a seed falls into earth and dies, it cannot produce any grains.” His taking the unmistakable principle behind the eternal seed-tree mechanism makes all the difference—physical apparatus of the seed dies but life continues (which he further reiterated, with absolute clarity, through the famous parable of Lazarus and Rich man). Thus for Jesus, death was an expression of life, the most critical defining feature of life. When you die, you are making the ultimate undeniable assertion that you have been alive. In fact, death is even a precondition to life. You yourself are the proof. When you were in your mother’s womb, you thought it was your only world what you thought as the most comfortable place for you to be in. At the time of delivery, when you were pushed out, you thought in that trauma that you were experiencing a form of death, only to realize later that your life was continuing in a totally different world. This was the guarantee for some thinking people that death is not the end, but only an exit from the world to some other form of life—may be at yet another plane or dimension (which are irrelevant at this time, hence are best left as a surprise).

  This type of reasoning will only help us (never harm us). For example William Shakespeare started his life as an ordinary person working for a drama troop, and his work was to raise the curtain and to pull it down at the appointed times. However, at some point of time, he began to think that he was more than his physical body and should tap the enormous power that sustains his mortal coil—and the rest is history. Look at one of his golden words: “What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god!” (Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2, Page 13) He experienced firsthand another piece of truth hidden in the Bible: “Eternity” resides in each one’s physical body. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

  Kahlil Gibran alludes to the same when he wrote: “Your children are not your children … they come through you but not from you … You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.” List goes on and on: “Surely God would not have created such a being as man, with an ability to grasp the infinite, to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality.” (Abraham Lincoln) “I would love to believe that when I die …. some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue.” (Carl Sagan) “In the end, nothing is lost. Every event, for good or evil, has effects forever.” (Will Durant).
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  11

  Jesus foretold corruption of scriptures (rather than apostasy of Christendom)

  by iconoclastic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jws apply the fulfillment of what jesus fold in mathew 13:24-30 in what they call the great apostasy of christendom.

  here jesus was speaking in parable, hence application should be made in its essence.

  jesus sowed the seed (which means he preached the truth), later when it was compiled, selfish writers sowed weeds (interpolated their own ideas), and it became one book where on cannot distinguish what is good seed and weed.

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  iconoclastic

  smiddy

  It shows scriptures are not God's way of guiding mankind, rather conscience is. Because everyone's conscience says things such as anger, greed are all wrong; and altruism is right
• 
  11

  Jesus foretold corruption of scriptures (rather than apostasy of Christendom)

  by iconoclastic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jws apply the fulfillment of what jesus fold in mathew 13:24-30 in what they call the great apostasy of christendom.

  here jesus was speaking in parable, hence application should be made in its essence.

  jesus sowed the seed (which means he preached the truth), later when it was compiled, selfish writers sowed weeds (interpolated their own ideas), and it became one book where on cannot distinguish what is good seed and weed.

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  iconoclastic

  millie210,

  I was hinting at a direction. If you use this line of reasoning, you will find that more things are interpolation and a very few things are real. Interestingly, we do not need any manuscripts support, because greatest exponent of this type of reasoning is none other than prophet Jeremiah himself: “when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices….the law of the Lord, actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely”—Jeremiah 7:22; 8:8
• 
  11

  Jesus foretold corruption of scriptures (rather than apostasy of Christendom)

  by iconoclastic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jws apply the fulfillment of what jesus fold in mathew 13:24-30 in what they call the great apostasy of christendom.

  here jesus was speaking in parable, hence application should be made in its essence.

  jesus sowed the seed (which means he preached the truth), later when it was compiled, selfish writers sowed weeds (interpolated their own ideas), and it became one book where on cannot distinguish what is good seed and weed.

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  3. 
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  iconoclastic

  JWs apply the fulfillment of what Jesus fold in Mathew 13:24-30 in what they call the great apostasy of Christendom. Here Jesus was speaking in “parable,” hence application should be made in its essence. Jesus sowed “the seed” (which means he preached the truth), later when it was compiled, selfish writers sowed “weeds” (interpolated their own ideas), and it became one book where on cannot distinguish what is good seed and weed. To mention a few:
  

  1) Jesus respected woman, and appointed them to convey good news to men. (John 4:7-42; 20:17) whereas later writers added things such as woman should not teach in the church and so on (1 Tim 2:12); should put cover their head while praying (1 Cor 11:5, 6)

  2) Jesus put no restriction on greeting anybody, but weed was added to the Bible (you should not greet those who left the Christian teaching—2 John 10)

  3) Jesus said : “your Father knows what you need even before you ask him” (Mathew 6:8) which leaves no necessity of reminding God about our needs. Yet later writers added a prayer, that too, which makes no sense:

  = “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name [No one can make His name unholy, and His name is always holy—Revelation 4:8]
  = Let your kingdom come [His kingdom is not going to come just because we say: Let it come]
  = your will be done on earth as it is in heaven [everything that happens is His will, because one thing leads to the other—Galatians 6:7]
  = Give us today our daily bread [seed becoming fruit-bearing tree which produces seed is an eternal cycle which works whether we ask or not, whether we exist here or not]
  = And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors [God to take lessons from puny humans? Impossible]
  = And lead us not into temptation [God does not lead anyone into temptation]but deliver us from the evil one [evil one is each one’s own egoistic tendencies, hence one can easily put an end to them if he resolves. If evil one is here meant Satan the Devil, such one cannot exist—if he exists, what prevents him from putting his hands on the nuclear arsenals and from destroy the people]

  Thus later writers made the scriptures ineffective (like drinking dope and tonic together), and this was not prevented by God which means God expects people to follow their conscience!

  Also, this explains why God was never interested in safeguarding the originals!
• 
  24

  New hominid Species Discovered in South Africa

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  homo naledi has been added to our family tree but exactly where, is still to be discovered.

  read more here.... over 1500 fossils making up 15 separate individuals have been discovered in a cave near johannesburg.

  here are a few highlights of it's anatomy.... the skull was globular, like a member of our genus but the brain was small and primitive.

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  iconoclastic

  Cofty,

  Your reply sounds like that of North Korean ruler. Even if we go by your reply it would mean that people like Einstein who said, “Religion without science is crippled, while science without religion is lame” have not read any books on science.

  Anyhow, you brought the subject of reading. Here is something what I read in the November (2011) issue of "Discover Magazine." In that there's an article called, "His troubles are your troubles". On the cover it's titled, "MAD MICE, How neurotic rodents rule the $30 billion mental health industry."

  The article is about lab mice. The one thing of importance is that it states that the mouse shares 99% of our DNA. So, then, we must be related to the mouse as much as we are to the apes.
• 
  24

  New hominid Species Discovered in South Africa

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  homo naledi has been added to our family tree but exactly where, is still to be discovered.

  read more here.... over 1500 fossils making up 15 separate individuals have been discovered in a cave near johannesburg.

  here are a few highlights of it's anatomy.... the skull was globular, like a member of our genus but the brain was small and primitive.

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  2. 
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  iconoclastic

  Cofty,

  You are trying to prove that the alphabets s, q, u, a, r, e, c, i, r, c, l, e exist, hence a square circle do exist.

  If some fossils are found somewhere in the cave, how can that prove life arose from non-life and evolved from simpler creatures to more complex life forms, or in other words, the tiny cell eventually became an amoeba, then a lizard, then a monkey, and finally— you? Philosophically, it makes no sense—it cannot answer the big question WHY?

  Why life arose from non-life?

  Why it started a journey to reach more complex life forms, only to die and disappear?

  Instead, believe only what you see and experience:

  1) Life comes from life

  2) Symbiotic relationship that exist between species

  3) Engineering feats (One example, tree. It provides breathable oxygen for us while processing carbon dioxide, which would in high amounts in the air be toxic to us. It supplies wood, housing for birds, roots to limit erosion, fruit and seeds to eat, is biodegradable and gives shade. …
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  44

  A ship (no matter how big) will ultimately sink if it has a hole

  by iconoclastic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  humanity is like a ship, and holes are our hobbies (lust, greed etc.

  which are fondly renamed as each one likes) which always have been outperforming what science could accomplish!

  most of the greater or significant scientific achievements started from 19th centurymay be with the commercial transmission of electricity!

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  iconoclastic

  Cofty,

  Let atheists continue to ask: “Where is God, what is the proof” like the one who asks in the night where is sun, what is the proof that it exist?” But you try meditation; you will surely realize that Second Law of Thermodynamics is truer than what you thought and also God will provide the needed recharging at the right time—as He has been doing countless time in the past, from the time immemorial. (Ecclesiastes 1:9) Thus you will know both Science and God are true!
• 
  44

  A ship (no matter how big) will ultimately sink if it has a hole

  by iconoclastic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  humanity is like a ship, and holes are our hobbies (lust, greed etc.

  which are fondly renamed as each one likes) which always have been outperforming what science could accomplish!

  most of the greater or significant scientific achievements started from 19th centurymay be with the commercial transmission of electricity!

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  iconoclastic

  DJS,

  Here is another one lamenting:

  “I guess if there’s one thing I can say about the 21st century, it’s that the 21st century is all flash and no substance… everything is digital, nothing but files of invisible electronic data on computers and mindless zombies on their cellular phones… it’s sad how because of the digital age, society is ultimately doomed. Nothing in the digital age is real anymore, and you know, they say celluloid film and ray tube televisions and maybe even paper might become obsolete in this century? …What’s most annoying is that nobody cares, they’ve just learned to accept the digital age and get addicted to it… none of them are ever going to step up and say to the world, “you’re all a bunch of sheep!” and even if they did say anything, I doubt anyone would listen… they’re all too obsessed and attached to their cellular phones and overly big televisions and whatever other moronic things they’ve got these days… it almost makes me want an apocalypse to happen, to erase digital technology and force the world to start over again.” –Rebecca McNutt