funkyderek

Joined

• started 48 topics
• posted 5,014 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by funkyderek

• 
  16

  Nobody Answers

  by Rex B13 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ten reasons why i never wash. my mother made me wash as a child.

  the soap makers only want my money.

  there are so many different kinds of soap, i could never decide which one was right.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  funkyderek

  Rex, do you think you're going to convince anyone by copying and pasting trite little aphorisms?

  --
  "The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion." - Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, 1794.
• 
  13

  What is the most important thing to know?

  by sleepy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if there was just one piece of information you could pass on to another what is the most important thing you can think of that a person should know?.

  i would say "never stop learning".. also what subject gives the most enlightenment on life ?.

  i would say physics as everything branches from there.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  funkyderek

  Admire those who seek the truth. Beware of those who claim to have found it.

  --
  "The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion." - Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, 1794.
• 
  13

  A question about Jesus

  by startingover in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my first post here, been lurking for quite a while.

  this place has been a real help in my journey.. a little background...raised a jw from day one, 3rd generation, 3 grandparents of the annointed, father and mother gilead graduates, father always prominent in the org.

  never really felt i fit in but played the game.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  funkyderek

  I've just finished reading The Calendar by David Ewing Duncan, which details the history of our calendar and explains it's many oddities. If memory serves, it was a monk named Dionysius who first (wrongly) calculated the birth of Jesus at what we now refer to as 1AD and suggested the Anno Domini system. I think it was about 800AD before this system was commonly used even in the Christian world, and it wasn't until 1949 (with China joining in)that it became universally accepted. Obviously, the only reason it's used is that Christianity became dominant. That was due to Constantine's conversion, which was mainly for pragmatic reasons. So, in short, it's just one of those quirky historical accidents.

  Disclaimer: All the above "facts" are from memory and some may be wildly off, but the general idea is right... probably.

  --
  "The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion." - Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, 1794.
• 
  18

  Any suggestions on a Bible and a Bible commentary?

  by DB in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i currently use the new world translation of the holy scriptures, and it seems to be a pretty good bible.

  but i am looking for a good, modern-english version with which to do some comparison reading.

  plus, i am looking for a good bible commentary for research.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  funkyderek

  Try Spike Milligan's version: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140239707/qid=1008014176/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_14_2/102-9184150-5253742

  --
  Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire
• 
  61

  the intellectual laziness in jh, ks & follo...

  by elke in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the words: intellectual laziness.

  recognize this trait?

  ahhh,many who apostasies from the one truth, shall we say ,adopts this trait-and transforms into epitomies of intellectual laziness...they construct the premise there is no true god to mislead others...they proceed to construct arguments to support these prefabricated conclusions with the building blocks of false logic...they convince intellectually lazy individuals the odds of a creators existence are remote...a lie recognizable to any form of honest intelligence.. craig rusbult, ph.d. explains why god refuses to provide irrefutable proof in his existence on the web page http://www.asa3.org/asa/education/views/proof.htm - "although it isn't stated directly in the bible, god seems to prefer a balance of evidence: there is enough reason to believe if we want to believe, but not enough to intellectually force belief against our will.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  funkyderek

  Erich,

  Either put up or shut up. I'm aware that you're busy with your scientific work of signal quantizing, but if you're going to take part in a debate, then at least make some attempt to deal with the issues. Otherwise, just admit that you don't understand the issues at hand, and either leave it at that, or do some real research.

  --
  Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire
• 
  43

  The Rainbow as a sign to Noah

  by Simon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i don't know if this has ever been brought out - i just thought of it:.

  the bible tells us that it rained for forty days and forty nights.. it stopped raining and noah & co floated around for a bit.. when they landed, noah sacrificed some of the animals (weren't they in short supply?

  ) and god promised never to bring a deluge upon then earth again.. to back this up, there was a rainbow in the sky as a sign.. now, what causes a rainbow?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  funkyderek

  Clearly the biblical flood story is a myth and not even an original myth. You could fill a book with the reasons why it couldn't be true (as I'm sure somebody has) but possibly the most amazing thing about it is that it didn't work - at all. OK, it wiped out most of humanity but a few years later, (probably within Noah's own lifetime!) Noah's great-grandson and his cohorts were threatining YHWH by building a tower "with its top in the heavens." To combat this new threat, YHWH then had to confuse people's languages. Not much of a god, is he? More like a petty tyrant.

  --
  Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire
• 
  61

  the intellectual laziness in jh, ks & follo...

  by elke in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the words: intellectual laziness.

  recognize this trait?

  ahhh,many who apostasies from the one truth, shall we say ,adopts this trait-and transforms into epitomies of intellectual laziness...they construct the premise there is no true god to mislead others...they proceed to construct arguments to support these prefabricated conclusions with the building blocks of false logic...they convince intellectually lazy individuals the odds of a creators existence are remote...a lie recognizable to any form of honest intelligence.. craig rusbult, ph.d. explains why god refuses to provide irrefutable proof in his existence on the web page http://www.asa3.org/asa/education/views/proof.htm - "although it isn't stated directly in the bible, god seems to prefer a balance of evidence: there is enough reason to believe if we want to believe, but not enough to intellectually force belief against our will.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  funkyderek

  FunkyD; just a quick line to say I appreciate your posts - I also like your signature, another fave quote of mine by Voltaire is "I object to what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it". I don't suppose you know what book it's from? I can't recall it, but I'm pretty sure it's not Candide.

  Thanks Abaddon, the appreciation is mutual. I'm not sure where my Voltaire quote is from originally. Yours seems to be a paraphrase by a later author - see http://public.logica.com/~stepneys/cyc/l/liberty.htm
  (Erich, note the quoting of a source. Easy, isn't it?)

  --
  Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire
• 
  4

  Wait on God or fix it ourselves?

  by joelbear in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  several times in the past few days posters have posed the question:.

  is there any hope for mankind and his screwed up governments other than god stepping in?.

  its an interesting question, the answer to which has grave consequences for the human race.. if there is a god, we are powerless over his decision making process.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  funkyderek

  So, Pascal's wager turns out to be a double edged sword for humanity as a whole. Waiting on god to make everything nice nice may not be a wise long term strategy.

  Agreed, Joel. In fact, Pascal's Wager when thought through properly leads me to the conclusion that in the absence of certainty either way, it is better NOT to believe in god. If there is no god, then at least the one life we get will not have been wasted waiting for the next one. If there is a god and he's fair, then he would not punish me for not believing in him when he gave me no reason to believe. (On the contrary, he might punish me if I pretended to believe.) If there is a god and he's unfair, then there's nothing I can do anyway. I'm entirely at his mercy. So it turns out that the most intellectually honest thing for me to believe should also be the safest.

  --
  Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire
• 
  61

  the intellectual laziness in jh, ks & follo...

  by elke in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the words: intellectual laziness.

  recognize this trait?

  ahhh,many who apostasies from the one truth, shall we say ,adopts this trait-and transforms into epitomies of intellectual laziness...they construct the premise there is no true god to mislead others...they proceed to construct arguments to support these prefabricated conclusions with the building blocks of false logic...they convince intellectually lazy individuals the odds of a creators existence are remote...a lie recognizable to any form of honest intelligence.. craig rusbult, ph.d. explains why god refuses to provide irrefutable proof in his existence on the web page http://www.asa3.org/asa/education/views/proof.htm - "although it isn't stated directly in the bible, god seems to prefer a balance of evidence: there is enough reason to believe if we want to believe, but not enough to intellectually force belief against our will.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  funkyderek

  I possibly would be in the position to send you a broadcasting-interview with Professor Zeilinger (with his reasoning about the existence of God) on a cassette, if you want it. But it would take time and efforts.

  A source would do. Don't go to too much trouble. Zeilinger's personal opinion on the existence of gods is not that important, but I would be interested in hearing what he had to say.

  Besides: Alternative theories are not necessarily false theories..

  No, they're not. But they're usually less good at making accurate predictions than the standard theories, which is why they remain alternative. Relativity was an alternative to Newtonian mechanics, until it was found to make more accurate predictions.

  Erich, I'm inclined to agree with Abaddon that you seem to be "all mouth and no trousers." I hope you can prove us wrong on that.

  --
  Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire
• 
  19

  Things that make you go HMMMMM?

  by ashitaka in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  regarding the "my boyfriend is a jw" post, with all of the hmmmm's.

  the meaning of hmmmmm?

  and what makes you go hmmmmmmmm?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  funkyderek

  Hmmmm.... usually means: "I smell a troll!"

  --
  Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire