Posts by Galileo

29

607bce or 586/587 bce ? which is it?

by Number1Anarchist in

ok this is very difficult for me because i just started studing this question.

what i would like to know is what have you decided from your studies and does anyone know the statistics on how many beleive in the 607 dat and how many beleive in the 586/587 date.. the watchtower likes to say they agree with the 607 because that number is based on the bible when the 586/587 is based on secular history.. from what ive read so far the mojority thinks it to be 586/587 because most searches ive done give me that date.. what have you come up with in your research?

i feel like you almost need to be a scholar to figure this out.

Galileo

This topic was one of the big ones for me. I stumbled across it accidentally, not from an "apostate", but from a college course on tape about the history of Egypt (I recorded my journey out of the WTS here, if you're interested). There are over ten thousand pieces of archaeological evidence for the 587-586 date, and zero that support 607. Ten thousand on one side, zero on the other. It is not a disputed date by anyone but the delusional Governing Body.

Of note is that originally the supposed starting date used by Russell was 606 B.C.E., not 607. In fact he died still believing it was 606. It was ony after it was pointed out that Russell was so inept as a researcher that he didn't realize there was no zero year between 1 B.C.E. and 1 A.D. that Rutherford suddenly "discovered" that the Babylonian captivity actually started in 607, so the numbers still added up to 1914. In my opinion, 1914 is the smoking gun.

24

Another new guy from TX

by Texman55 in

jw
friends

howdy all, i just happened to be in your neighborhood and thought i'd ring your doorbell to tell you the good news about jehovah's kingdom, and if you don't believe every damn word of it you're going to die a horrible death real soon m*th*rf*ck*r thought i'd say howdy.. like it says on my profile, i wasted my vulnerable teen years in the watchtower bible and crap society, and it nearly killed me.

funny thing is, i wasnt coerced into it by my family, they were all worldly (well except for a very eccentric old great uncle that nobody liked or visited) and thought i was out of my fucking mind to join up with that jw shit.. which i was.

understandably, because my parents drank too much, there were truly horrible fights every night at home, a very bitter divorce when i was 10, and only child me was trapped in the middle of all that with no one to turn to.

Galileo

Another Texan here. I have a JW friend that I've known was gay from the moment I met him when he was about fourteen. It was a running joke amongst all of us - his supposed friends. He eventually became a window dresser and bought a Miata. There wasn't a stereotype he didn't hit. Eventually he was DF'd for homosexuality (shock, horror!). He is now reinstated, married to a fat girl (the last stereotype he hadn't hit) and awaiting his second child. I'm so glad you got out. It could have been much worse...

34

cheating on you Feild service time

by Iwonder17 in

i'm curious how many people do this and what is the most that you ever wrote down that you didn't do?.

my highest was 12 when i only went out 1 hour .

Galileo

The last few years I was a witness (and MS) I could no longer stomach the thought of "recruiting". So I never went out and reported around eight hours a month. It was high enough to be plausible yet low enough to be removed as a servant, which was my goal. When they finally counseled me about it they told me that they wanted to make me an elder, but the CO said I wouldn't be recommended, in fact I would be deleted as an MS, unless I brought up my hours. I thought this hysterical, as I hadn't actually been out in service in years, and had been an atheist since before I was appointed an MS. So much for the Holy Spirit.

36

Hello Atheists......need advice

by wings in

jw
friends

how do you deal with "no faith"?

what do you put faith in?

how was you transition from belief to non belief?

Galileo

How do you deal with "no faith"?

If you define "faith" as belief without evidence, then I've never had it. Once I realised the "evidence" I had been given from birth was flawed, I discarded it in favor of better evidence.

What do you put faith in?

As a follow up to question one, that is an oxymoron. However, if by this usage of faith you mean belief in something that might happen or might be true based on incomplete data, then I would say I have faith in science and human intellect. I have faith in human potential.

How was you transition from belief to non belief?

Extremely painful. I bought intellectual honesty at a tremendous cost in relationships, including my marriage, and my own emotional stability for a time. In the end, it was worth all that I paid and more.

Does it bother you that others have faith in God, and why?

Yes. I believe faith in God is destructive, retards intellectual growth, slows human progress, justifies the worst types of atrocities. Religion causes people to accept morally repugnant ideas, and has far reaching effects even for those outside of their particular belief system.

22

I'm thinking of that WATER4GAS offer -- you tried it on your vehicle?

by Fatfreek in

jw
friends

i first got this utube video showing a news report on a $1,200 device add-on to your vehicle.

basically, it injects a small quantity of hydrogen into your fuel intake port which reportedly increases your fuel efficiency -- some 60% and more.

the florida tv station set up its own testing of the device (hydro4000.com) on one of their vehicles and reported before and after economy results.

Galileo

Thank you for taking the time to respond...please tell me how James_Woods response was more valid than your affirmation of his comment?

Your welcome. And no, I won't explain his comments to you. If you don't understand what he posted, and I restated in my last reponse, I'm not going to explain it to you. You clearly don't want to hear an explanation, you want to hear that this is true.

I often drink and post idiocy. This topic interests me, so I have taken the time to read what has been offered here. You and I both know you haven't.
Drink or just you spouting bs?

That first sentence explains alot. You say you and I both know that I haven't investigated this. I can't fathom how you could make such a statement when I pointed to where I got my information in my very last post. This topic interests me as well, I had a friend that was asking about this a few weeks ago, which is why I investigated the claims. Try it if you wish. I'm done wasting time with a clearly unreasonabe insult spewing drunk.

17

X-files Movie 2008

by free2beme in

well, it finally came out and last night a group of friends and i went to see it.

we are all die hard x-files fans, and have looked forward to a new x-files movie for years.

so what did we think, after it was over, well .... we thought it was terrible.

Galileo

I agree. I saw it last night also. My friends and I could not believe that, with ten years in between movies, this is what they wanted to put out. There was no alien tie in, no follow up on the event of the first movie, not even an acknowledgement that there was a first movie. Instead we get this piece of garbage that focuses on trying to locate a kidnapped FBI agent with a psychic priest. It was like an average mid-season filler episode of the TV show. There was nothing that added at all to the story cannon. The finale of the TV series would have made a much better movie.

21

Seven Reasons Why the New iPhone Sucks

by edward612 in

jw
friends

http://www.topnewsblog.info/tblog_10437.htm.

look before you leap before buying the new iphone.

this is the iphone that all of us have been waiting for.

Galileo

I've had a Windows Mobile phone with a physical keyboard, 3G, user replaceable battery, and replaceable flash memory, tethering capability, and stereo bluetooth since 2005. Almost everything the iphone gets credit for "inventing" was done long ago by Windows Mobile phones. My current WM phone has all that plus GPS (including free turn by turn directions through either Windows Live Search or Google Maps) and is a much more open platform with tens of thousands of apps and a huge hacker community. And this phone is over a year old.

Don't get me wrong, the iphone has a better screen, a better UI, is thinner, and has a couple genuine innovations (multi-touch is cool). The iphone 3G brings it closer to the capabilities that WM has had for years. But most of the hype around all the things the iphone can do are not new, just new to the uneducated. For myself, I wouldn't even consider one until they put a physical keyboard on it (have you tried inputting odd names on their "predictive" onscreen keyboard?) and open it to other carriers in the US. I'm hopeful about Android and fully expect my next phone to run on it.

12

Holy Moses! PBS documentary suggests Exodus not real

by ICBehindtheCurtain in

this will be very interesting, i only wish it would make the rounds on the jw emails the same way "knocking" did, fat chance!

we can only hope that pbs and nova will jump on this bandwagon as well, sooner than later.

holy moses!

Galileo

Im going to watch it and research their claims. Hopefully its more honest than Zeitgiest. There are plenty of problems and questions about the Bible, there is no need to be dishonest about it.

Agreed. Zeitgeist is a total piece of trash that does much more harm then good for the cause of biblical criticism.

7

JW response to question posed on the certainty of the 537BCE date

by digderidoo in

this is a response to a question posed, " how do you know cyrus released the jews in 537bce, rather than 538bce or 536bce?".

by cyrus' decree the jewish exile was ended therefore fulfilling his commission as jehovah's anointed shepherd' for israel.

(2ch 36:22, 23; ezr 1:1-4) the proclamation was made "in the first year of cyrus the king of persia," meaning his first year as ruler toward conquered babylon.

Galileo

You're focusing on the wrong end. The real question is when did the Babylonian exile start? Why do they teach it started in 607 BCE when all the evidence (more than 10,000 pieces of archaeological evidence alone) say it started in 587 - 586 BCE?

22

I'm thinking of that WATER4GAS offer -- you tried it on your vehicle?

by Fatfreek in

jw
friends

i first got this utube video showing a news report on a $1,200 device add-on to your vehicle.

basically, it injects a small quantity of hydrogen into your fuel intake port which reportedly increases your fuel efficiency -- some 60% and more.

the florida tv station set up its own testing of the device (hydro4000.com) on one of their vehicles and reported before and after economy results.

Galileo

I'm never amazed at the Watchtoweresq arguments used here. Have you tested any of these rudimentary devices?

My comments were secondary because the primary points were made by james_woods. In a nutshell, according to the sources I trust (the most recent being the founders of the New England Skeptical Society on their latest podcast) it takes more energy to convert the water to hydrogen than the hydrogen produces. It is a net energy loss. I have not personally tested this, I do not have the lab necessary to do such experiments. Nor have I personally tested biokinesiology, homeopathy, ESP, or whether E really does equal MC squared. I rely on the consensus of those that have tested these things scientifically, or else I wouldn't be able to believe virtually anything.

Galileo of all names. Do you see the irony in this?

I chose the name Galileo because he was forced to recant what he knew to be true, as I was, not because I consider myself to be a scientist, and certainly not one of his caliber. Although I doubt if Galileo were alive today, that he would believe that you could get around the Second Law either.

Have you personally tested this?