Posts by funkyderek

16

Being Deceived

by Dawn in

jw
friends

what an interesting group here!

i have a question to toss out to those of you who were once active jw's that are now born again.. i was a "zealous" jw - raised as one and was an aux pioneer, etc.

my whole family is jw's (elders, etc.).

funkyderek

So here's the question - I believe I was deceived before, but how can I be sure that I'm not being deceived now?

You were deceived before because the group you were part of controlled your access to information. Anyone who doesn't want you to read contrary opinions doesn't have your best interests at heart. Check everything and you can't be deceived.

--
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. - Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts

42

Im a freak

by WildTurkey in

jw
friends

im a freak, are you?.

http://www.outofservice.com/freak/

funkyderek

Need to be unique: 81%
Need to NOT conform: 99%
Willingness to express dissent: 94%
Overall: 89%

Who would have thought?

--
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. - Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts

84

Is homosexuality wrong?

by forgetmenot in

jw
friends

i know that the dub's view is that it is totally wrong.

i live in an area where the majority of people think it is wrong.

i don't think it is wrong (but i am not a homosexual).

funkyderek

Now you can go back to ignoring the fact that both Humanism and Marxism could not possibly exist without the asssumption that the universe either spontaneously generated or is simply self existing?

Marxism has nothing to say on the subject. I don't know why you keep mentioning it. Are there any Marxists here?
Humanism does usually assume that in the absence of evidence there are no supernatural entities. It is, however, primarily a value system and could continue to exist as such even if supernatural beings were one day discovered.

Those religions use the exact same logic as theists. Please explain to me how it is different. You cannot because they are exactly the same in the sense that the postulate cannot be demonstrated and goes against everything we know about the natural world.

No, they're not the same. The theist rejects the principle of parsimony. Because there's something they don't know - or cannot know - they "explain" it by postulating a conscious supernatural entity. Non-theists generally prefer to take a more rational approach, admitting ignorance where necessary, specualting on the available evidence but avoiding groundless superstition.

Theists have far more logic to go on because design always means a designer in the natural world. But, it also fails the science test because it cannot be demonstrated either.

Design always means a designer. That's true, but that doesn't mean the universe was designed. Therefore, t's pointless and circular. Order is not the same as design and can apparently arise without conscious intervention.

Wholly natural?? What the hell does that mean? Please show me any instance where something spontaneously generated from nothing so as to qualify it as "natural" If you fail to provide such a provable example, then your claim of natural is falsified and becomes by default unnatural.

Particles and anti-particles constantly spontaneously appear, but usually annihilate each other instantly. Close to the event horizon of a singularity, one half of the pair may be pulled in to the singularity, while it's opposite escapes, thus providing a way of detecting black holes.

JEEZ! I'm getting really tired of explaining this to fanatical scientific religionists!

You haven't really explained anything, and you seem to enjoy it anyway!

--
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. - Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts

26

Holy Week Rocks

by RWC in

as some of you may know this week is the most holy week in the christian faith.

it is the week that jesus, true god and yet true man, willingly gave up his life including all of the pain that went with his cruel death, to save us from our sins.

he opened the door for all to be saved and have eternal life.

funkyderek

By accepting the sacrifice of his Son, are sins are forgiven and we are reconciled with God.

That seems like a rather arbitrary way of forgiving sins. I only forgive people who have sinned against me if they repent of their sins. Of course, people can only sin against me by actually doing something that violates my rights, whereas people can apparently sin against your god simply by existing. I suppose, if you have an arbitrary and absurd standard for what qualifies as sin then you can have an equally arbitrary and absurd qualification for forgiveness. I prefer to be more reasonable than that. I can't and won't play by the wacky rules your god has devised.

You are wrong in your assumption that I believe without evidence. The evidence is more than suffcicient for me and billions around the globe.

Billions? I don't think so. Doesn't make it true in any case. The "Appeal to Popularity" fallacy is discussed at http://www.datanation.com/fallacies/pop.htm

--
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. - Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts

41

Complaints

by Guyferna in

please only respond to this message if you read everything on here first.

thank you.. why do people spend most of their time here complaining?.

some say: the organization is too strict!.

funkyderek

I wonder if this guy is NYT masquerading

Probably not. It's just an example of JW "unity".

--
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. - Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts

21

When is Nissan 14?

by Dawn in

jw
friends

ok - here is an interesting one for ya'll.

just throwing it out there for your thoughts.. the "lords evening meal" is always celebrated on the day that corresponds to nissan 14. my parents are still jw's and (as ya'll know) the memorial service is the "most important meeting of the year" - they literally cry if i don't go.

so i'm thinking - i'll show my mother and father honor by going - i can fake it through one meeting right?!

funkyderek

According to a number of Watchtower Articles explaining how they calculate Nissan 14th - the Jews are not always correct in how they calculate their own calendar so you can only know what date Nissan 14th is on by the Governing Body

Of course. The Jews have been using that calendar every day for 3000 years. How would they know what date it is?

--
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. - Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts

7

Some Cool Anagrams !!!!

by YYHWH in

jw
friends

(mike morton).

funkyderek

Watchtower Society = Woe! theocracy twits

Jehovah's Witnesses = The Jewish Son saves

Governing Body = Nor given by god

Charles Taze Russell = Craze results as hell

--
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. - Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts

24

2nd half of interview with Sharon Roe

by seven006 in

jw
friends

this came out in todays issue of the news register.

it is the second half of a two hour two part interview.. http://204.200.26.244/news/story.cfm?story_no=147722.

sharon roe does not know why her brother-in-law, robert bryant, reached a place so dark he felt compelled to murder his children and wife in their beds before putting a shotgun to his chin and pulling the trigger.

funkyderek

The Watchtower religion is not 71 years old and any dub will seize upon that and claim, "lies! You LIED about us!"

Yes it is! Jehovah's Witnesses were founded in 1931 by Joseph Rutherford. Before that, they were known as Bible Students.

--
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. - Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts

26

Creation Story Contradiction

by JosephAlward in

the two different creation stories in genesis contradict each other in the matter of the order of the creation of man and vegetation.

in the first story, vegetation was created on the third day, and three days later man was created.

however, in the second creation story, there was no vegetation before man.

funkyderek

There is absolutely no contradiction whatsoever here, and it is obvious we are talking about an event AFTER creation, NOT A CONCURRENT EVENT.

Agreed. It appears the account in question is referring to cultivated plants, rather than wild ones. Of course, it shows a misunderstanding of nature (understandable given the primitive world of the writers of Genesis), but you're right, it doesn't contradict the creation account.

--
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. - Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts

84

Is homosexuality wrong?

by forgetmenot in

jw
friends

i know that the dub's view is that it is totally wrong.

i live in an area where the majority of people think it is wrong.

i don't think it is wrong (but i am not a homosexual).

funkyderek

What can I say? I have already demonstrated in previous threads how the Humanist and Marxist thought evangelists do indeed imbrace supernaturalism. They have no idea how the cosmos got here. Right? It is simply viewed as self-existing, infinite, beyond human comprehension, right?

No, it's not right. The universe exists. Solipsism aside, we know it exists because we can observe it. Things which we cannot observe - either directly or indirectly - may or may not exist, but are by definition outside the realm of the knowable. Scientists do not consider the universe to be beyond human comprehension and understand most of the fundamental laws of the universe. To the best of my knowledge Marxism has nothing to say on the subject, being an economic and sociological theory. Humanism is a more loosely defined set of values, and individual humanists have various ideas on the exact nature of the universe. Again, the focus of the belief system is elsewhere as should be obvious from the name (hint: human-ism)
The fact that people who view the universe as wholly natural do not have an explanation for absolutely everything in it (especially the parts which are in principle unknowable due to the nature of the universe) does not put them in the same position as those who arbitrarily insert god in any gap in their knowledge.

--
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. - Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts