Posts by B_Deserter

13

Does the Shunning practice lead people to post on apostate sites?

by JH in

by shunning inactive or df'd ones, i'm sure that the watchtower unravels the red carpet to apostate internet sites.. what is a shunned person supposed to do?

talk to no one ?.

.

B_Deserter

I think a lot of the time people who are dfed have already broken free to a point and have friends on the outside already, thus no need to post on sites like this one. From the ones I know, they'd just like to move on and forget about it, and most of them do. God I wish I could do that. Not like I don't enjoy the conversation on this board though!

2

Witness kids coming to you with a problem

by buffalosrfree in

jw
friends

i recently had a jdub child come to me with a problem, and was i ever surprised, they could tell that i didn't conform to the party line, even though i have never overtly shown this.

they were depressed that they couldn't talk to their own parents but they can talk to me any ole time.

i am all ears.

B_Deserter

This situation is a good reason to do the fade. Being there to hold the door out of the JW world will encourage a lot of people that wouldn't otherwise take steps to leave.

39

Evolution

by B_Deserter in

i went to an aquarium this weekend and saw these: link.

here we have a near perfect example of a transitional form between fish and amphibians.

this thing is literally a fish-frog (even possibly a retarded fish-frog!).

B_Deserter

I see that I am now a senior member, so where is my darned coffee discount?!

39

Evolution

by B_Deserter in

i went to an aquarium this weekend and saw these: link.

here we have a near perfect example of a transitional form between fish and amphibians.

this thing is literally a fish-frog (even possibly a retarded fish-frog!).

B_Deserter

tsar,
As usual, the author of this essay has a profound lack of understanding of what evolution is. Allow me to comment on a few points

Evolutionists point out these species that exist today as examples of an evolutionary transition that happened millions of years ago in the past. Do they expect, then, that the mudskipper or lungfish will continue evolving into people given enough time?

No, they don't. Scientists do not believe that all life evolves to "higher" forms. Evolution is not an intelligent process. The basic premise is this: when a creature reproduces, it doesn't reproduce perfectly. Genetic information is altered because of the combination of genes from both parents. These give rise to new traits (slightly longer necks, wings, etc.). If these traits prove to give the creature an "edge," then it will be more likely to survive and more likely to pass those "longer neck" or "longer wing" genes on. Over time, it leads to speciation. There is no "direction" when it comes to evolution.

Perhaps such creatures might give an evolutionist some comfort on a superficial level, but the argument is as fallacious as lining up your silverware to prove that forks evolved from spoons.

An interesting illustration, but the author doesn't say exactly what logical fallacy it supposedly is. I'm beginning to suspect that the author doesn't even know what a logical fallacy is, either.

A similar problem is the origin of flight: it would have had to evolve at least four times, in birds, bats, insects and flying reptiles. It makes more sense that our creator solved this problem once and incorporated flight four times in unrelated species.

Scientists have no problem with the evolution of flight and this sentence again reveals a complete lack of understanding on the subject. The fact that flight evolved in more than one creature is neither here nor there to scientists, in fact if anything it's to be expected. This author is actually saying that it makes more sense to believe that an invisible man in the sky willed these creatures into existence than the fact that they developed their flying adaptations separately, at different times, due to different environmental factors.

I write computer applications for a living. Computer code does not materialize without a programmer. Living systems contain a three-dimensional computer code that tells your fingers to grow to a certain length, and then stop. Your eyeballs do not grow to two inches in diameter, nor does your tongue grow to two feet in length. We observe that this marvelous dance of DNA, RNA and proteins provide for tremendous variety within a species, but is self-regulating, self-repairing and copies itself with tremendous accuracy. There is no reason to believe that this amazing system was different and simpler in the beginning. It is at this level that the logical argument for Darwinism fails.

What utter tripe! Again, he decries evolution for believing that the complex systems of life evolve spontaneously (which it doesn't), when he believes the exact same thing except that an invisible diety made up by bronze age shepards did it! The "marvelous dance" of DNA and RNA was not that complex in the beginning. It started very simply and over millions of years gradually built on itself. This is just another example of a creationist expecting an iguana give birth to a duck. Yes, that's a ridiculous notion, but it's not evolution either. There are PLENTY of reasons to believe that life was simpler in the beginning, this author is just willfully blind to the fact that the deeper you go into the fossil record, the less and less complex creatures you see.

There is nothing remarkable about this essay. It is entirely consisted of points that have already been addressed and debated.

39

Evolution

by B_Deserter in

i went to an aquarium this weekend and saw these: link.

here we have a near perfect example of a transitional form between fish and amphibians.

this thing is literally a fish-frog (even possibly a retarded fish-frog!).

B_Deserter

hillary,

It's because he doesn't have a leg to stand on and he knows it. All he feels he needs to do is insult me because I'm young because his argument from authority (a logical fallacy that basically states "smart people believe/disbelieve it, so it must be right/wrong") comforts him. I'm pointing this out because creationists often like to move the goalpost when taking about evolution. They demand a scientific explanation that science can't explain (yet, or something they don't think science has already explained), and when they get the explanation, it isn't enough. The goalpost is moved, and now they demand another piece of evidence. Consider this thread an elaborate rant. I don't expect serious debate, although I welcome it. I just might learn something.

5

witnesses future

by jam in

i told my brother a elder, if the borg told the rank and file , because of the extreme perscution we are receiving we feel it is gods will for us too relocate too one central area.

i thought about this and what would the advantages and disadvantages?

it would be a state in the south, i don,t think they could get many too go to some island, james town.

B_Deserter

Not too far-fetched. As a kid my parents always taught me the importance of obeying the society and that one day we may have to leave our homes on the spot in order to escape destruction. More like the society wants to gather everyone in one place and do it quickly before anyone has a chance to think about what's going on. I honestly doubt it would happen. The JWs are simply too big to exert that kind of control on people. No suicide cults have EVER been multi-national religions (meaning having branches in several to hundreds of countries). The largest ever was Jonestown and that was 900 or so.

39

Evolution

by B_Deserter in

i went to an aquarium this weekend and saw these: link.

here we have a near perfect example of a transitional form between fish and amphibians.

this thing is literally a fish-frog (even possibly a retarded fish-frog!).

B_Deserter

Oh I see, gradual change over time leading to speciation due to evironmental factors is a far-fetched fairy tale because believing a magic man who lives in the sky created all things by making it "just happen" is a FAR more plausible theory.

39

Evolution

by B_Deserter in

i went to an aquarium this weekend and saw these: link.

here we have a near perfect example of a transitional form between fish and amphibians.

this thing is literally a fish-frog (even possibly a retarded fish-frog!).

B_Deserter

I went to an aquarium this weekend and saw these: Link
Here we have a near PERFECT example of a transitional form between fish and amphibians. This thing is LITERALLY a fish-frog (even possibly a RETARDED fish-frog!). This is EXACTLY the kind of thing creationists DEMAND to see before acknowledging evolution is real, and it's even ALIVE TODAY. There is even a related species (the Goby) that is completely fish! Seriously, if this isn't enough evidence for you to admit there might be SOME credence to evolution, then there's no convincing you.

14

This is what kept me from moving on a long time

by the_end_of_eternity in

pascal's bet.

so it follows that if you believe in god, you gain all, or it is neutral.

on the other then, when you do not believe in god, you loose everything or it is neutral.

B_Deserter

I think this Russell's Teapot strip sums it all up in a much more entertaining fashion:

31

Self-Esteem Shot To Pieces - No Friends

by wheelintheskykeepsonturning in

school sucked for me as a witness.. i always wanted to be popular, have friends, have a girlfriend, go to parties, play after school sport, stay the night at friends places, do all the other stuff which was fun and made you socially acceptable - which made you feel normal - but was disallowed because i was a witness child.. i thought everything everyone did at school was a direct test of satan on me.

that's what i was told.. so i tried to go through school living a "double life".

i desperatley wanted to be obidient to my witness mother who i loved so much and have her approval... so while i tried hard to pretend i wasn't a witness at school - for fear of being ostracized by my peers - i also was obviously "different" to my friends...and because of this i took a lot of shit for it and eventually became unpopular to the point where i dropped out of high school because i thought no one liked me.. for example: i would never "go out" with girls who wanted to go out with me... because i was afraid they would ring my home and my mum would be "disappointed in me" and angry and upset at me.

B_Deserter

Wheel,
Our experiences are very similar. One of the symptoms of being in a cult is to have an intense need for approval from everyone. For me, I tried so hard to be liked that it often backfired. I have no friends outside, either. Of course, since I'm fading, it gives me time to figure out how to build friendships in the normal way without having to lose the friendship of everyone I've never known. Of course, that's not an option for you, but do NOT let this temporary setback cause you to compartmentalize the facts about the JWs and start thinking about going back. It will only make it worse for you in the end.