GromitSK

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Posts by GromitSK

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  16

  Many JWs are chaste or virtuous homosexuals and "in good standing"

  by Rufus T. Firefly in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  [it gets under my skin when people post that a jw was df'd for being homosexual.

  if one ever was df'd simply for being homosexual, one would have ample grounds for a lawsuit.

  the comments in brackets are mine.].

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  GromitSK

  hm. Surely sucking and celibacy are mutually exclusive? :)
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  110

  What were Albert Einstien's Religious Beliefs?

  by KateWild in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this was covered a little on another thread and interested me.

  i have always been convinced einstien believed in god.

  i assumed what i had learned was correct and never thought i was taught something wrong.. i have seen some points posters have made.

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  GromitSK

  For me, what a person believes is of less interest than why they believe it. Einstein had such an impact on our view of the way the universe works he will always be an interesting person. The value of his opinions on a particular subject depend perhaps on how much interest and thought he devoted to it, and on what evidence that opinion is based.
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  54

  The Big Announcement..this week

  by designs in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  have you heard what the "big announcement" is to be this week.

  supposedly the bethel homes will get some announcement today and the congregations will announce the new something by the end of the week..

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  GromitSK

  Blood Transfusions are ok as long as the donor wasn't strangled?
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  176

  THE ALTERNATIVE DAILY TEXT by The Witchtower editor

  by processor in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i have published more than 200 'daily text' comments in german, and will now start translating those into english.

  they will be published here:.

  http://dailytext2.wordpress.com/.

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  GromitSK

  Np@kate. The stuff from processor is often very funny. Hope your day improved.
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  69

  Calling all materialists and non-materialists

  by willmarite in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  read this comment by bertrand russell:.

  that man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought or feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system; and the whole temple of mans achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins all these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are yet so nearly certain, that no philosophy that rejects them can hope to stand.

  only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair, can the souls habitation henceforth be safely built.. .

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  GromitSK

  I never really understood the "I live on through my children" idea. It doesn't make much sense to me.
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  176

  THE ALTERNATIVE DAILY TEXT by The Witchtower editor

  by processor in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i have published more than 200 'daily text' comments in german, and will now start translating those into english.

  they will be published here:.

  http://dailytext2.wordpress.com/.

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  GromitSK

  @kate - you know it's a spoof right? :)
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  15

  most of the universe is made up of dark energy and dark matter

  by Ruby456 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  about which we know very little.

  so how can atheists make assertions about reality when they challenge religious reality?.

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  GromitSK

  I think it's true that some atheists take religious examples and highlight the conflicts with what is now known. Personally I see that as a service to believers, or at least a believer could choose to see it that way. I'm not sure there are brands of atheism; as far as I can see, one either believes that gods are at least possible (however unlikely) or that they definitely don't exist. I am no expert on atheism.

  The paths by which people arrive at their atheism on the other hand seem to me quite diverse. What they do with it seems equally diverse to me too from passive disinterest to almost fundamentalist zeal and the apparent need to convert others.
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  15

  most of the universe is made up of dark energy and dark matter

  by Ruby456 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  about which we know very little.

  so how can atheists make assertions about reality when they challenge religious reality?.

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  GromitSK

  Perhaps wrongly, I view the 'dark matter/energy' as simply a page marker meaning 'we don't know what it is yet'. I can't see there's a problem in this instance which requires a change to the way scientists approach their work.

  Also, there seems to me a significant difference between science per se, and the way individual scientists may practice it. Scientists are simply people after all with egos, prejudices, virtues and failings.

  With regard to the OP: as cofty pointed out there is no necessary connection between atheism and science. Provide an honest atheist with adequate evidence of the existence of a god and expect that person to be convinced. To react otherwise would be illogical. By adequate, I mean sufficent for the person concerned. The standard of proof required to convince each person may vary considerably.
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  68

  Atheist believe in aliens but not God?

  by StopTheTears in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if you are a professed atheist, i ask you the question: do you believe in aliens?

  could not god be an alien?

  how do you know that there is no alien life?

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  GromitSK

  I do think the OP question is reasonable, the gaps in science can be filled with God and Aliens. The point being we don't have all the evidence to prove either, we are speculating on both.

  Hm. I'm not sure that the equivalence implied in that statement is true. We know for a fact that sentient life exists in at least one place. Therefore in speculating whether aliens exist we are simply extrapolating from a known fact based on probabilities aren't we?

  We do not however, know for a fact that god exists. All the evidence cited for the existence of a god may equally be explained by other reasons.
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  68

  Atheist believe in aliens but not God?

  by StopTheTears in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if you are a professed atheist, i ask you the question: do you believe in aliens?

  could not god be an alien?

  how do you know that there is no alien life?

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  GromitSK

  I must confess to being a bit puzzled about the issue here. To me, it looks like this:

  Aliens: I assume what is meant here is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Since we have proof of life here, whether we think it was 'created' by a deity or not, and it seems there is evidence of planets elsewhere with conditions which may support life, or at least stars which could produce such planets, it appears to me that the probability of life elsewhere can be estimated.

  So - we know it's possible, because we exist, therefore there must be a probability it also exists somewhere else, and given the size of the universe the probability seems 'high' to me. It doesn't seem unreasonable to me, on this basis to be of the opinion that aliens probably exist. Call it a belief if you like. Whether they have visited earth is a different question entirely.

  God: it seems to me that much of the evidence to support the existence of a god is interpretable in ways that don't imply a god too. So belief in god seems to me to be much more debatable.

  I don't see that belief in god and belief aliens are comparable, or that atheism and acceptance of life elsewhere in the universe are incompatible.