Posts by Heaven

we get what researchers call a “helpers high,” or a profound sense of well-being and optimism associated with helping.. and the impact goes further than just the emotional.

Heaven

(((( zeb ))))

Giving you a cyberhug. How have you been? Hope things are good.

This is an excellent article, thank you for sharing it.

I do little things like keep the weeds dug between me and my neighbour's places, cut and trim the grass in that area. I take care of their flowers and pick up their paper when they are away. I take little gifts to my friends places like food and candies. This weekend will be chocolate eggs. My one friend has a cat who gets little toys from me. They call me their cat's drug dealer as the toys often have catnip in them. :0)

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Morality Without Deity

by cofty in

one of the most persistent arguments for belief in god centres on the necessity of an ultimate law-giver and epitome of goodness.. a softer version is seen in the genuine concern that a loss of faith will result in a corresponding loss of a moral compass - a more strident argument links the existence of good and evil with proof of the reality of god.

it is often asserted that without god, moral decisions degenerate to nothing more than personal preferences and the victory of "might is right".. i want to succinctly lay out my response as an atheist, and show that a supreme being is not required for objective morality.. it is helpful to distinguish between absolute morality, objective morality and subjective morality.

christian apologists frequently conflate the first two, and secular debaters often fail to point out the difference.. theists who disagree on everything else, are unanimous that god is perfectly good.

Heaven

Christianity has definitely adopted different beliefs and adapted them to make them their own. There are many Christians who blame the Jews for the death of Jesus, the JWs being one such group.

David_Jay, have the Jews decided to alter the Torah or no longer believe parts of it?

Deuteronomy 32:6: Is this the way you repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Isn’t he your Father who created you? Has he not made you and established you?

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Millions now living will never die

by stillin in

but pretty much all of them are now dead.

and so are billions of others.

so, god doesn't desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance?

Heaven

ALL of my family born on or before 1914 are dead. Most of my family born in the 1920s are dead too. The only one left that I know of is my Dad -- he turns 90 this year and isn't doing well at all. He, too, will die one day as will all of us. No one gets out of this life alive.

Ask yourself the following question... "What is more likely - that the laws of nature have been suspended OR that an unmarried Jewish girl told a fib?"

Every generation of Christian thinks Christ is going to return during their lifetime. And every generation lives their entire lives and dies without this happening... year after year, generation after generation.

If I told you I was coming to your house 'soon' and in 50+ years NEVER arrived, would you still think I was coming 'soon'? I doubt it.

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UK The Times: "We need to do more to tackle sexual abuse among JWs"

by darkspilver in

article written by kathleen hallisey appearing on the website of the uk's times newspaper - the article does not appear (yet?

) to be in the print version.. kathleen hallisey is a senior solicitor at bolt burdon kemp, specialising in child abuse.

she acted on behalf of the claimant in the landmark case of a v watchtower [2015] ewhc 1722 (qb), the first judgment against the jehovah’s witnesses in the uk for historical sexual abuse.. in the article she refers to the wt uk child safeguarding policy - click here for a side-by-side 2012/2017 comparision of the document.

Heaven

The entire JW foundation based on Patriarchy where there are weak criminal sanctions for pedophiles, repressive ideals about sex, inequality for women, and social powerlessness of children, to name a few, needs to be abolished for a real, positive outcome to occur in tackling the sexual abuse problem. This is fundamentally how the JW religion is defined. I find it hard to believe the kind of change needed will ever happen.

210

Morality Without Deity

by cofty in

one of the most persistent arguments for belief in god centres on the necessity of an ultimate law-giver and epitome of goodness.. a softer version is seen in the genuine concern that a loss of faith will result in a corresponding loss of a moral compass - a more strident argument links the existence of good and evil with proof of the reality of god.

it is often asserted that without god, moral decisions degenerate to nothing more than personal preferences and the victory of "might is right".. i want to succinctly lay out my response as an atheist, and show that a supreme being is not required for objective morality.. it is helpful to distinguish between absolute morality, objective morality and subjective morality.

christian apologists frequently conflate the first two, and secular debaters often fail to point out the difference.. theists who disagree on everything else, are unanimous that god is perfectly good.

Heaven

I can accept that God is love, afterall, isn't love 'divine'? We have all known, felt, and given love. That is where it should end.

But inevitably, the pronoun 'He' (or 'She' as some do) is attributed to 'God' at some point by believers and this alters the metaphor, bringing gender and therefore some sort of personhood or 'being' into the definition. At some point, original sin/'you are a sinner', judgment, and punishment enters the fold. I particularly find this occurs when believers aren't winning a non-believer over to their delusional faith argument and they begin to get annoyed or angry.

The Bible defines God as more than love. It defines God as male, warrior, creator of light, dark, peace, and evil, creating things in an incorrect/impossible physical order, 'Heavenly Father', misogynist, abuser, mass murderer including baby killer, condoning slavery, and exhibiting parental favouritism to name a few traits. Whatever the Jewish faith defines as God, its Torah includes some of what I just listed.

If we define God as love, why is the Bible or any other holy book required? Why is religion needed? I don't see these as requirements to have love. I actually find them to be a detriment in a lot of cases ... and not just JW ones either.

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