As the title of this thread indicates, the atheist need prove nothing. Atheism is a negative belief, and a negative is unprovable, therefore the burden of proof is on the theist. With apologies to J. M. Barrie, I don't believe in fairies. I also don't believe in unicorns, the Loch Ness monster, Thor, Zeuss, Jehovah, Baal, Wotan, Apollo, Isis, Osiris, Vishnu, Allah, Krishna, Brahma, Ganesh, Chalchiuhtlicue, or any other made up deities. I don't need to prove any or all of these do not exist. If you have evidence that any of these actually exists, the burden of proof is on you to persuade me and the world with the weight of your evidence. Until then, intellectual honesty requires, not agnosticism, but atheism. If you are agnostic about one of these things, you must be agnostic about all, and if you are agnostic about all, I don't know how you ever make a decision about anything, as you must be indecisive about everything. After all, if you are agnostic about everything you cannot disprove, than you are agnostic about every idea ever conceived by anyone. At some point, you must realize that the only rational position is to believe only that which is supported by evidence.
Galileo
JoinedPosts by Galileo
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69
Why does an atheist have to disprove anything?
by digderidoo ini have noticed alot of debate in posts lately between an atheist argument and a christian one.
it seems to me that the atheist is asked to disprove god's existence.
some times these debates have started to get personal with one side attacking the other with insults and i do not want to start another argument like these.. but i dont get it?
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67
Announcement: They Clapped!
by metatron inweird.
after the letter was read, many clapped.
i don't know how to interpret that.. .
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Galileo
mightyone:
Yes, many have been hurt by brothers behaving improperly. Many more, however, overlooked human imperfection when we were "in". Instead, we were hurt by the made up date of 607 B.C.E. All historians know that the overwhelming evidence is that the Babylonian exile began in 586-587 B.C.E. You won't find a single history book verifying the 607 date, unless it ws written by a JW apologist. This makes all of their chronology invalid, and the Governing Body has been aware of this for decades, at least since the early seventies when Carl Olof Johansson made them aware.
Or by the fact that they lie about an increase in earthquakes in the twentieth century. Or that they lie about predicting 1914 would be the beginning of the Gentle Times, since this teaching wasn't changed untill years after 1914. etc. etc.
What really hurt many of us is that they have the power to cut you off from friends, family, and loved ones for even mentioning these facts. Personally, I lost my wife over them.
edit: sorry for the lack of paragraph breaks. I'm posting from my phone & it doesn't format properly.
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Having Sex With a Hot Sister
by Seeker4 ini was hoping that title would draw you in!
i was just thinking this morning about a lot of the judicial meetings i was in over the years.
i was remembering how, if it involved immorality and a good looking sister, it would not be unusual for one of the elders to comment on that.
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Galileo
The CO told me he asked them if they went home a masterbaited after wards.
Wow! I like your CO!
I have a friend that is still in, a female, blonde, 20's, very attractive. She confessed to some elders about some "inappropriate" behavior that she had engaged in. She told me later that she felt totally violated by the elders' questions (what were you wearing, wear did you touch, how long did it last, etc.), not at all comforted, and that she would never go through that again. One of the elders involved, not knowing I knew the details, later made an offhand comment to me about how gorgeous this sister was.
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Dirty joke in the Awake magazine!
by TJ - iAmCleared2Land inok, not the awake!, but in consolation, it's predecessor.
refer to this thread: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/128918/1.ashx.
there appears to be a "dirty joke" in the first issue (november 29, 1939) posted in the thread.
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Galileo
About "the bees that were molested": To "molest" means to bother. In Spanish you would say: "no me molestes" or "don't molest me" as in "don't bother me". The person who wrote the words to that Kingdom Melody was probably a native spanish speaker.
That makes sense. I never thought about the writer being a spanish speaker, although I was aware of the words other meanings. What I actually thought was what I'm sure most people thought, that the word more commonly meant "bothering" or "harrassing" when the song was written. Still, especially after I lost all faith that they were a spirit-directed organization, the idea that someone was having some fun and slipping in a dirty joke was always in my head when that song would come up.
During the years when I was a Ministerial Servant, but no longer believed in a god, I used to have this fantasy that that song would end the meeting and I would be called on to say prayer. Since many brothers seem to like to work references to the final song into their prayers (a practice I've always found contrived and corny), I imagined saying something like "Jehovah, we know that Satan's bees will continue behaving as though they were molested, and they will keep coming and coming at us. And no matter how many times they come, we won't stop vigorously beating them off." Of course I never had the courage to do anything of the sort, and certainly wouldn't have gotten away with it if I had. An elderly brother would have gotten the benefit of the doubt, perhaps, but certainly not a twenty-something like me.
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67
Announcement: They Clapped!
by metatron inweird.
after the letter was read, many clapped.
i don't know how to interpret that.. .
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Galileo
I went to my local hall to see their reaction. They clapped too, and it went on so long, I thought it was a little embarassing. I actually felt bad for them, they were so excited to get this one tiny little scrap of freedom back.
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26
Dirty joke in the Awake magazine!
by TJ - iAmCleared2Land inok, not the awake!, but in consolation, it's predecessor.
refer to this thread: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/128918/1.ashx.
there appears to be a "dirty joke" in the first issue (november 29, 1939) posted in the thread.
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Galileo
I've always wondered about the writer of the song that says "Like bees that were molested", then the very next verse is: "But we will ever beat them off". I think somebody snuck a double entendre in there. I mean, come on!
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365
Richard Dawkins Gets "Expelled" by Ben Stein!
by Perry ini just got back from seeing the new movie release "expelled" which is a documentary exposing the militant culture of supression regarding intelligent design in the scientific community.
in a "million years", i never would have imagined that ben stein could get the author of "the god delusion", richard dawkins to speak favorably about i.d.
(intellignet design).
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Galileo
Getting somewhat back on topic (and by no means am I taking a jab at anyone, since I've been as guilty as anyone of going down rabbit holes in this thread), there's a guy on youtube that's spent a tremendous amount of time producing a series about Ben Stein and the producers' claims. He makes some good points if you can get past his voice and his overproduction. Here's one I thought was pretty good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X8aifay678
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Watchtower Videos/DVDs: Your Opinion
by Eyes Open ini'm from the uk and i'd be interested to get your opinions on the videos and dvds that the society has produced.
not opinions on the content as such (i think i know that already), but on the style and the quality of production.
speaking as a brit, i found them incredibly corny/cheesy when i was a witness.
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Galileo
I was always emabarrassed to watch them, I would never watch them with a study. They were horrible. The Noah video was particularly notorious. I don't know a single witness that ever spoke well of that one.
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365
Richard Dawkins Gets "Expelled" by Ben Stein!
by Perry ini just got back from seeing the new movie release "expelled" which is a documentary exposing the militant culture of supression regarding intelligent design in the scientific community.
in a "million years", i never would have imagined that ben stein could get the author of "the god delusion", richard dawkins to speak favorably about i.d.
(intellignet design).
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Galileo
Yeah, I've heard that creationist darling Kent Hovind (whose degree comes from an unaccredited college, and so is therefore not legitimately a Dr., yet he continues to use the title) espouse belief in dragons.
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Movies I missed growing up a witness?
by inkling inok, so a recent post about the godfather got me thinking what a massively sheltered life i had growing up, .
and all the classic r rated (or otherwise offensive to delicate jw sensibilities) movies i must have missed.. i am not easily offended now, and am open to pretty much any genre.. i have a lot of catching up to do, so i could use some help-.
what are your all time favorite movies, "inappropriate for christians" or otherwise?.
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Galileo
I love movies, even moreso now that I can actually watch the ones for grown ups. Here are some of my favorites:
Lucky Number Slevin
The Usual Suspects
The Lord of The Rings Trilogy
The Matrix (it's a trilogy, of course, but the first one is an awesome stand alone movie and the sequels actually make the original less good).
About A Boy
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Lord of War
Everything Is Illuminated
Donnie Darko
Fight Club
Primer
The Departed
Road to Perdition
Superbad
Super Troopers
The Prestige
The Spanish Prisoner
The Sixth Sense
Unbreakable
Pop some popcorn, and enjoy!