I haven't posted here in a long time. I check in once in a while. This post, however, begs for a response. Not a detailed one, as nothing you said was of substance. However, since you acknowledge the need to abandon political correctness, I will not attempt to be. Leaving, I would like to assert the following: You, sir, are an idiot. A self-important, arrogant and ignorant buffoon, proud of your own naivety. In science, in the absence of evidence, one assumes the "null hypothesis", that a claim is not true. That is what atheism is. If you can provide better evidence that your foreskin obsessed child murdering ghost that invented math but thinks that Pi is exactly 3 (I Kings 7:23-26), is more likely than any other mythological being, then do so. If you can't, than stop insulting those of us that have the intellectual honesty to admit that, painful and frightening as it might be, we once based our lives on fairy tales.
Galileo
JoinedPosts by Galileo
-
30
"The Vincible Ignorance of Atheism"
by leavingwt inone evangelical's perspective on atheism, and 'red meat' for all.
the vincible ignorance of atheism.
david harts recent essay on the new atheists has been receiving a great deal of attentionand criticism.
-
-
-
36
No More Publisher Numbers
by GermanXJW inaccording to a report on the german xjw-board: http://forum.sektenausstieg.net/index.php?topic=13367.msg391400#msg391400 the german kingdom ministry for february 09 does not contain a supplement with the publisher figures.
.
furthermore, it does not contain the monthly report for the first month of the service year 2009 (sep 08) as it used to in the past.sixty years.. this may indicate that the wts is not that transparent with their publishers numbers any more if they are not even doing away with it.. can anyone confirm from other countries?.
-
-
Galileo
I figured out one time that I could go out on the first of August and not go out again until the 30th of September, go out again the next day 1st of October and not go out again until November 30...... and still be considered a "regular" publisher...just because I "published" in 4 consecutive months...but in reality had not been out in 2 months twice. 2 month intervals in field circus...there's the answer for faders...and that "activity" was questionable at best...but still legit.........its what I did before I turned in completely phantom time at the very end....
As for it not being in the Kingdumb Misery.... you can be certain that those monthly stats will be available somewhere .... the Society, CO, BOE....are obsessed with numbers.
That's an elegant solution, but I came up with a simpler one when I was fading... I didn't go out for two years & turned in 2 - 5 hours every month. No one ever questioned me on it, even though for much of that time I was a Ministerial Servant!
-
91
Disfellowshiped Last Night - Elder Question
by johnnyc ini know some of you know me by my posts...as someone very much on the "fence".
recently, i had made an effort to start coming back to meetings after being inactive for 2+ years.
during that time, i did have a prescription drug problem following an injury.
-
-
Galileo
I have known more than one elder that had an obvious problem with prescription drugs. One of them called me after I had had an accident to see if I had any Vicodin left over, because his doctor wouldn't give him any more. A public needs talk in our hall addressed this issue shortly after, but he was never removed as an elder. I think your appeal has a chance, but you know the saying: Be careful what you wish for. Why do you want anything to do with this cult?
-
42
The devil appears at JW convention in N.Y.
by kool aid man06 inhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn8t8pihina&feature=related
-
-
Galileo
The only thing this accomplished was to make this smug lunatic feel better about his own crazy beliefs. It accomplished nothing as far as making people think, as others have stated, it simply reinforced their own us vs. them, persecuted for the truth worldview. In fact, the governing body would do well to secretly hire an army of these nuts to stand outside of every convention. Most Witnesses aren't crazy, just misled. This guy seemed nuts and extremely mean-spirited. I would have cheered if that video ended with a Witness punching him in the face. I wanted to.
-
29
Do Jehovah's Witnesses Break Up Marriages? WT 11/01/08 pgs 11-12
by insearchoftruth indo jehovah's witnesses break up marriages?.
"if one partner chnages his or her religion, the marriage will break up.
" so goes the claim of many people.
-
-
Galileo
I'll add my voice to the chorus of outrage over this article. Like many others, the WT and their teachings directly broke up my marriage. I don't think they've ever put in writing how to make a success of a marriage where one mate has left the organization.
"Tina, from Nebraska, USA, wrote: At first my husband was opposed to me removing the section of my brain that allowed me to think and make decisions for myself. But when he realized this meant that I would stay with him out of obligation regardless of how much I pined for a husband like the ones I see three days a week at the Kingdom Hall, he was all for it! Now our marriage is stronger than ever, and I am confident it will remain so untill the day my husbands blood merges with the river of blood 'up to the bridles of horses' that our loving God has promised will soon flow down our streets."
-
25
Sorry God, I'm Not Dying Today. But Thanks For Playing.
by SixofNine inthis is skill.
and a man who's quick to adapt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrcbkbfdbrq
-
-
Galileo
"I think that it's the RC plane the whole way and somehow they digitally superimposed the guy getting out of the cockpit at the end." I would say bingo.
-
39
Atlas Shrugged
by purplesofa ini finished reading "atlas shrugged" by ayn rand yesterday.
like reading crisis of conscience it will forever alter the way i look at many many things.. this paragraph is only a small part in this amazing book, if you ever have a chance to read this book, try.
it's about a thousand pages, you can't just skim through.. i just want to share this....... "what is the nature of the guilt that your teachers call his original sin?
-
-
Galileo
I agree with the others about "The Poisonwood Bible". One of the best novels I've ever read, especially from a technical aspect. Barbara Kingsolver's writing ability is almost unfathomable. It also has much that any ex-JW can relate to.
I also agree that "Atlas Shrugged" is a must read. Ayn Rand was not a great writer, as seems to be the consensus here. But she does espouse some amazing and rather unique ideas. It's true that "Objectivism" evolved into an atheistic cult (for a pretty informative discussion on this, I highly recommend Michael Shermer's fantastic primer on critical thinking, "Why People Believe Weird Things", specifically the chapter about "the unlikeliest cult"). Clearly she had an insane ego and some bizarre ideas about human perfection and how everything was black or white. I'm not saying she was right on everything. But her ideas will certainly make you think, and think in perhaps new directions, even if it's just to think about why she was wrong.
-
121
Religulous with Bill Maher I just saw it
by seven006 ini dont post much at all any more but i had to mention this, i just got back from seeing religulous and cant remember the last time i laughed so hard.
it was great!!!!!!
close-minded religious people should save their money and not go see this movie but instead give your money to the next tv evangelist or street magician you see.
-
-
Galileo
OK, I just saw it. It was awesome. I have so much more respect for Bill Maher now. Absolutely unbelievable. See it, bring your Christian friends, it's awesome.
-
15
Religulous
by John Doe ini want to see this movie, but i'll have to drive 100 miles to tulsa to the closest theater showing.
sometimes it sucks living in the bible belt!.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0815241/.
-
-
Galileo
The reason is simple his, as Hitchens', Harris', and the rest of "brights" have been refuted time and time again. In fact their arguments are not even new. They tend to rely on the old atheist arguments from 100 years ago. They were refuted then, and they will be refuted again.
Atheism is a lack of belief. The only way to refute a lack of belief is to prove to a reasonable degree that the thing in question exists. I wasn't aware that god was proven to exist a hundred years ago. Seems like I would have heard of something like that, but please, if you could point me to that finding then I would be grateful. Which god was it, by the way? I hope it was Thor. He always seemed like he would be a fun guy to party with. But if he indeed hasn't been proven to exist, I'm not sure why we need a "new" argument, any more than we need a new argument for the non-existence of the Easter Bunny. Seems to me the old reasons work just fine.
Therefore their new tactic is to take the most extreme elements of religion and attempt to paint it as mainstream.
Clearly you haven't seen the movie or read Sam Harris. The review I read of Religulous (I can't remember where but it was a mainstream paper, probably the New York Times, although I'm not positive) said that the movie worked because he didn't pick religious extremists or seem to be making fun of his subjects. Sam Harris in "The End of Faith" and in "A Letter to a Christian Nation" goes to great lengths to show that religious moderates are a big part of the problem that leads to religious extremists. As far as us atheists that are "agog" over Bill Maher, that is far from true. My biggest problem with this movie is that people will see Maher as a spokesman for all nonreligious people. Here is what I posted in the other Religulous thread.
I can't wait to see this. It looks great. That being said, I hope no one considers Bill Maher any kind of spokesman for us skeptics. Sure, he doesn't believe in god, but he does believe in homeopathy, and that vaccines don't prevent disease but do cause autism (according to him polio was wiped out by better hygiene). He backs up his nutty health claims by quoting "doctors" that say HIV doesn't cause AIDS. I enjoy his take on a lot of subjects, and I'm sure I'll love "Religiulous". Just please don't mistake him for a true skeptic, or as an example of someone that has arrived at their atheism through any kind of scientific thinking.
-
121
Religulous with Bill Maher I just saw it
by seven006 ini dont post much at all any more but i had to mention this, i just got back from seeing religulous and cant remember the last time i laughed so hard.
it was great!!!!!!
close-minded religious people should save their money and not go see this movie but instead give your money to the next tv evangelist or street magician you see.
-
-
Galileo
I can't wait to see this. It looks great. That being said, I hope no one considers Bill Maher any kind of spokesman for us skeptics. Sure, he doesn't believe in god, but he does believe in homeopathy, and that vaccines don't prevent disease but do cause autism (according to him polio was wiped out by better hygiene). He backs up his nutty health claims by quoting "doctors" that say HIV doesn't cause AIDS. I enjoy his take on a lot of subjects, and I'm sure I'll love "Religiulous". Just please don't mistake him for a true skeptic, or as an example of someone that has arrived at their atheism through any kind of scientific thinking.