Posts by simon17

202

I don't believe the Bible is Inspired of god - Why do you / don't you?

by cantleave in

many of you may know that i was brought up a witness and stayed in until the age of 42, even reaching the dizzy heights of being a congregation elder.

i was unusual in that, even as a witness i studied to degree level, on a part time basis, sponsored by my employer.

my first was in chemistry and my masters is in business administration.

simon17

Leading a life that is not authentic and does not reach its potential?

Without a believe in a higher power there is no technical "purpose" to life therefore technically no way to describe "full potential."

It could very well to live a good life and to be happy to many people. Being a christian, as long as one is tolerant of others, is a fine way to accomplish that goal for many people. For others it is to seek ultimate truth and answers about the universe, or contribute in science in some way. To others it would be help as many people as possible.

The poster said that the Bible is what they believe because its the best offer they have seen. A conscious choice has been made there and it is not dillusional or dangerous. Even if it turns out to be wrong, maybe its the best choice for them. I wish all christians so answered.

11

i am finding it hard to pray with my children

by Evidently Apostate in

i have been fading for 6 months but my wife is still in and always asks me to pray at dinner and when i put the little ones to bed but i am finding prayer to be more of a pretense than heartfelt.

i have to pray for the sun or the earth but why thank him for the food, hell thank me for going to work everyday .who put us in the house we live in, god?

its really hard for me to pray for anything anymore as i have an anger toward him and dont want anything to do with a future (mythical)paradise under his control, so why ask for it?.

simon17

How about making your prayers about your genuine feelings instead of the usual JW checklist.

Dear god, I wanted to express how appreciative I am tonight for the wonderful family that I have, and I pray that we can always maintain the love and respect that we have for one another like we do right now. We are also thankful for how relatively fortunate we are to live in a area of the world where we have ample food and provisions and housing, good friends and opportunities. I pray that we can always keep in mind those less fortunate than us by no fault of their own and I hope we can strive to help such ones. I look forward to a happy future and pray that our family will always remain as strong and happy as we are now, able to overcome our struggles with our love. Amen

Thats what I did as I went through the fade portion where i was still being asked to pray for family, meals, and the congregation. Actually, ironically as I made it totally about my feelings and wishes for myself, family, friends and humanity, I got a lot of people telling me how much they appreciated my extremely heart-felt prayers.

39

Richard Dawkins gets interview with Revelation TV, a religious network!

by dark angle in

this interview gets ridiculously hilarious as it nears at the end .

.

simon17

How does one actually run like a girl away from a discussion. Do you mean like Florence Griffith-Joyner in the 100m dash or like Julie Andrews in the "Sound of Music"? Or is this rejoinder a reflection of a particular belief/view of the female gender? Oh, Man up and stop crying.

81

WT Mar 15th 2012 - 144,000 no longer a literal number?

by dozy in

reading idly through this magazine , i read the study article "rejoicing in our hope" which discusses the two "hopes" according to the wtbts ie heaven & earth.. a couple of points were of interest:.

(1) absolutely no mention at all of the 144,000 or rev 14. usually an article like this would be filled with references , but it isn't even mentioned.

it does discuss the "limited number" , but only in contrast with the "no man can number" great crowd.. (2) a much more laid back attitude towards the two hopes.

simon17

Hopefully they can make this change pretty quickly because as a Memorial attender for the family, its really annoying to hear a hour long talk about Jesus' death be 90% ON WHY NO ONE HERE TONIGHT WILL LIKELY PARTAKE and oh yeah, 10% on this sacrifice thing that happened.

148

Who designed cancer?

by snare&racket in

jw
friends

one thing i regret, is not listening to the questions in my head whilst a jw.

one i didn't ask until years after leaving was....who designed disease?

of course the first thing to realise is the complexity of disease, the histology, pathology and aetiology.

simon17

No one designed cancer. Cancer is the product of genetic mutation. Cancer happens when cells evolve selfish genes that allow them to multiply at the expense of the rest of the organism. Multicellular organisms have evolved defenses both inside and outside individual cells to prevent them from "going rogue", thereby allowing cooperative activity on the part of billions of cells. There are molecular pathways that act to maintain a level of stability for the genetic material inside a cell, such as the P53 pathway. When these pathways are compromised by a mutation for those genes that code for the stabilizing kinases themselves, or for other proteins that act in concert with the proteins those genes code for, the cell is no longer controllable. It won't repair genetic damage, and won't commit apoptosis if damage occurs. It is then free to mutate further, since the "guardian of the genome" has been handcuffed.

This. Ask the same question but don't use cancer. Use ebola virus, or parasites or things of that nature which are tangible things that are destructive by nature.

86

A little example of how severely the contributions for the Society are drying up

by sir82 in

jw
friends

just a little tidbit from the congregation i attend..... the congregation has approximately 120 publishers.. well over 1000 magazines per month are picked up, not to mention all the books, brochures, and tracts that are picked up.. there was a "local needs" part on the service meeting recently, asking for more contributions.. it seems our congregation has averaged just about $300 per month contributions to the "worldwide work" over the past year.. .

assuming 1500 magazines / month, that's just 20 cents per magazine - and that completely ignores all other literature that is picked up.. the last price the magazines had, 20+ years ago, was 25 cents per issue.

with inflation that would have been about 50 cents each now.. just another sign of how severely the contriutions to the society are drying up..... .

simon17

Like with most religions, the general rule is that contributions are mostly from those who can least afford to contribute. Not surprised to see a flimsy donations in a wealthy area. California is probably the worst for this. No one gives anything from the prosperous areas!

19

Tebowing in the Kingdom Hall... Funny? Not funny?

by oppostate in

tebowing is defined as "to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different.".

http://tebowing.com/about.

here's tim tebow in full tebowing stance:.

simon17

I wonder what will happen during losing streaks... prostrating himself and ripping of garments? Perhaps a chalice?

24

Thanking God For Food?

by dontplaceliterature in

jw
friends

have you ever considered the fact that by implication, when we thank god for food (if you do), we are also saying that he is responsible for the lack of food in the case of others who are not as fortunate as we are?

if you are acknowledging that it is god who is responsible for your physical well-being, and that you don't have plenty because of your own sensibility and hard work, then what about those who are not physically well?

what about those who do not have enough to eat?

simon17

I rememeber a few years actually listening to prayers (others and my own) and about 90% of the the things said in prayers are pure nonsense if you think about it. The other standbys: "Please watch over the brothers worldwide", "Please be with xxxxx dealing with xxxxxx". THink about these things for a sec. Does God need our prayers to watch over his servants? If he did, that would be ridiculous, if there was some critical mass of prayers before God decides to help a brother out. And if not, there is no need to ask God to do something that will be done either way, based on its natural goodness. "Bless out efforts in the ministry." What? Does our prayers make God allow the people to listen to us? Is their free will determined by our praying for our own success in communicating the message? Nonsense.

165

evolution question

by outsmartthesystem in

it has taken me almost 2 years to get to the bottom of the watchtower society rabbit hole.

being fully convinced that i was duped....i am still a little ashamed of myself for being so narrow minded.

i have vowed never to close off my mind like that again.

simon17

Of course science is ostensibly based on experience, so one would imagine that the experiences be repeatable and verifiable by others. To date, not even one thought experiment has demonstrated how this random walk purportedly at the base of the novelty we see can defeat the inexorable laws of chemistry and physics as these operate in accordance with the mathematical probabilities observed.

I'm not sure what you're even saying here. Plenty of experiments and observations have shown examples of speciation and also of the mechanisms of evolutionary change. Examples of species which have diverged from a common ancestor are numerous, just look them up. The E-Coli experiment shows the process of evolution in work before ones very eyes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._coli_long-term_evolution_experiment). Of course, is this macro-evolution? No, we've only been observing things for a 100 years or so. Macro-evolution doesn't happen on that time scale. If you don't accept genetic, chemical and physical evidence that this DID happen, in spite of evidence of every sort of predicted micro-evolutionary mechanism, then you're a lot like someone who doesn't accept continental drift. "Sure" you may say, "continents tend to move 6 inches here or there, but has anyone shown any actual evidence of continents moving across the entire globe? I didn't think so!".

13

Do Movie Ratings Make Any Sense to You?

by TD in

my wife and i have a "movie night" once a week where we watch two movies.

she picks one and i pick one.

here's the two movies we watched tonight and their ratings.. .

simon17

All the Presidents Men I think was PG and it had F-bombs all over the place. I never understood that one, especially since its like 30 years old.