Posts by Heaven

47

Is the Bible God's word? Help please.....

by Freeandclear in

jw
friends

so real quick, i know this comes up now and then and i've looked over some of the posts from the past but here's the thing.. when i was a jw i drank all the cool aid, i was 100% and so i have all my own arguments (from the jw's) for why the bible is inspired.

i no longer believe this but i'd really like to read something that is pretty much 100% academic on this subject.

i want to read what scholars have to say about the authenticity of the bible and it's claim at being the inspired word of god.

Heaven

Hey Freeandclear... researching the history of the Bible and previous belief systems (eg read up on the Egyptian "Book of the Dead" and pagan beliefs) helped educate me on the false claim of the Bible being inspired by any sort of god.

As cofty stated, the issue of Theodicy, why an all loving, all powerful god allows evil to persist is an issue most believers have to face at some point. Once again, I will reference Bart Ehrman, as cofty did and recommend his podcast on The History of the Bible:

Bart Ehrman - The History Of The Bible: The Making Of The New Testament Canon

13

physical and emotional abuse from JWs

by 060702015 in

is physical and emotional abuse taken seriously in jws ?

do they address this form of abuse that their members inflict on others?

.

Heaven

All cults use emotional abuse as a control mechanism. JWs are no different. So no, they don't 'deal' with it. They encourage it.

19

Building an Ark

by Coded Logic in

"make for yourself an ark from resinous wood.

you will make compartments in the ark and cover it with tar inside and outside.

" - genesis 6:14. because, you know, that's how you build a giant boat - just wood and tar.

Heaven

26

Artificial Intelligence Is Here "Google's Deep Mind Explained! - Self Learning A.I. "

by Brokeback Watchtower in

jw
friends

our world is about to change big time.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnuyctuzjpm.

Heaven

We have entered the Cognitive Computing era. IBM Watson uses natural language and machine learning to process massive amounts of unstructured data to formulate predictive results.

Within IBM, it is estimated that Watson will take over 1st and 2nd level Remote Tech Support within the next 2-5 years. It's already in the problem records making suggestions to Customers on recommended manuals to reference for their issues. The Support guys have been instructed to 'teach' Watson, ie, feed it information. IBM recently gave Watson 'eyes'. It is now able to scan images as well as text, and perform it's analysis. IBM is partnering with the Health Industry in a big way as well as Weather, Banks, Apple, Twitter, Universities, etc, etc.

While there is no discussion, yet, that Developers are at risk, it sounds like Engineers' jobs will be. It's not a stretch that one day, Developers won't be needed either.

Ginni Rometty wanted to make IBM 'essential'. Cognitive Computing is IBM's 'moon shot'.

95

slimboyfat joins the Mormons!

by slimboyfat in

i know that some people on the board have experience of being mormons, so i would be interested in your feedback.

at church this afternoon it was an uncanny experience.

in the past i've read a lot about mormons, so i thought i was prepared in general for what it would be like.

Heaven

A former Mormon wrote in to comedian Lewis Black with his little rant. I think this has been posted before but it's probably worth placing here. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCUNsVRuzFc

11

Serena Williams provocative with Beyoncé.

by 2+2=5 in

anyone seen sister williams working her assests on the latest beyonce video?

what's the go, surely she is not a declared jw?.

she needs some serious council from jehovah, and i'm guessing bro sammy herd wouldn't mind being on that little committee.. the song is called "sorry".

Heaven

This song (and video) is definitely NOT GB approved

24

Why the Bible cannot be the work of an all-wise God that epitomizes love.

by Island Man in

there's simply no way to honestly deny that the ot condones genocide, slavery and misogyny.

there are too many passage showing yahweh commanding his people to wipe out this nation and that nation - women and innocent children included!

it leaves us with a god who wrote a book that very, very, very much seems like it condones genocide, but it doesn't, etc.. what kind of god does that?

Heaven

Ah, I see you've discovered one of the biggest cruxes between the old and new testaments of the Bible, between the Jewish and Christian belief system, that being the issue of Theodicy.This was one of my issues starting around the age of 10. For me, it was the extensive and massive suffering of the Ethiopian Famine of the early 1970s and why God did nothing to help these poor people.

I think a lot of current day believers eventually come to this fork in the road.

The Hebrews thought God to be all things, both good and bad. But it does present a huge logic issue to call him all loving whilst he commits atrocities or allows atrocities to occur.

One of the key requirements of faith is the abandonment of reason and logic. It was something I was unable to do.

11

Were leading characters in the history of Judeao-Christianity suffering from psychotic symptoms?

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

i don't think i've seen any reference to this academic study on this site.

the analysis in question was published in a serious academic journal, the journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences, in 2012, with the title, the role of psychotic disorders in religious history considered.. the authors were evan d. murray, m.d., giles g cunningham, m.d.

ph.d, and bruce h.price,m.d.. it was published online october 01, 2012, reference link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/appi.neuropsych.11090214.

Heaven

Either that, or they were all smoking some really good sh!t.

25

List of "pagan" things JW's allow

by problemaddict 2 in

what i'm looking for specifically is things that are "pagan" in the sense they predate christianity (or i guess judiasm to cover the ole mosaic code), that jw's allow or do.

the ones that come to mind are below.. rings - rings seem to originate in egypt.

for wedding ceremonies it became a symbol of "ownership" in rome.. pinatas - looks like possibly it originated in china as a part of the new year and a request for luck, and catholics later turned it into a beating of temptation type thing.. anything else?.

Heaven

notsurewheretogo said: Smurfs are pagan aren't they? And they are allowed?

I dunno... but my JW Mom gave me a Papa Smurf stuffed doll. I still have it. * grin *

25

List of "pagan" things JW's allow

by problemaddict 2 in

what i'm looking for specifically is things that are "pagan" in the sense they predate christianity (or i guess judiasm to cover the ole mosaic code), that jw's allow or do.

the ones that come to mind are below.. rings - rings seem to originate in egypt.

for wedding ceremonies it became a symbol of "ownership" in rome.. pinatas - looks like possibly it originated in china as a part of the new year and a request for luck, and catholics later turned it into a beating of temptation type thing.. anything else?.

Heaven

Neckties. And Black Cats. Also, Black Cats in Neckties... I'm pretty sure they are uber Pagan and acceptable.