Posts by cofty

48

Does prophesy negate free will?

by Tim207 in

not sure if this is in the right subject but here it goes.

i’ve asked this question to a few elders and bethelites but they don’t seem to understand or like the question.

to start off we have to agree that jehovah is all powerful.

cofty

The choice causes the pre-knowledge - MMM

But that is not what christians & JWs believe.

They teach that god knows every tiny detail of your life - every single thought word and action - BEFORE your birth. Indeed that is what the bible teaches if read literally. JWs believe the same except they insist god doesn't choose to read The Great Big Book of You; He COULD know but prefers not to. Perhaps Jehovah likes surprises.

Anybody theist who insists on god's omniscience cannot square this circle. There is/was a school of thought called Open Theism led by men like Clark Pinnock that tried to unpick this puzzle by teaching that God does not know the future perfectly as he cannot know our free choices in advance.

I had a falling out with our Baptist pastor over this issue and became an apostate for a second time.

48

Does prophesy negate free will?

by Tim207 in

not sure if this is in the right subject but here it goes.

i’ve asked this question to a few elders and bethelites but they don’t seem to understand or like the question.

to start off we have to agree that jehovah is all powerful.

cofty

You could choose otherwise - MMM

How?

If the entire book of me life is written in stone before I was even conceived then my 'choices' are no more free than Macbeth was free to choose not to commit regicide. His every word and action was scripted by the Bard.

Life would be 100% deterministic and no genuine relationship with god would be possible.

17

Why do Jehovah`s Witnesses Shun fellow believers When God and Jesus never shunned even Satan ?

by smiddy3 in

scholars generally agree that it was written between the 7th and 4th centuries bce, with the 6th century bce as the most likely period for various reasons.

the book of job .. so according to jw`s about 6,000 years ago satan rebelled against jehovah god ,did jehovah disown him there and then shunning him ?.

apparently not as we can read from the book of job centuries later that satan could still come and go freely before the throne of jehovah in heaven .job 1: 6. and apparently he could still do this for centuries later ,that is coming to and fro before jehovah because according to the jw religion he wasn`t cast out of heaven for another 2,000 years until the 20th century .. now in the case of jesus much of what is said about jehovah and satan also applies to jesus before he came to earth.. but even when he was on earth he didn`t shun satan either in fact he allowed satan to lead him around according to the bible account.luke 4:13 so the devil having concluded all the temptations retired from him until another convenient time .so it wasn`t jesus calling the shots here it was satan .. mark 1: 13 he ,jesus, also shared 40 days in the wilderness with satan letting him tempt him .. so their was no way either jehovah or jesus ever shunned satan the devil according to the bible writings.. and when jesus ascended to heaven after his sacrifice he along with his father jehovah still had association with satan the devil until he was cast out of heaven 2,000 years later ,according to the jw`s..

cofty

What Phizzy said

All cults isolate their apostates.

That's also why they use synonyms of cleanness and contamination.

656

Covid-19 (Coronavirus) - Status Update Thread

by Simon in

jw
friends

this topic is to focus on status updates & advice (no opinion or politics please).. status.

latest status is that it's serious, probably isn't going to be contained and most large companies are making contingency plans, cancelling large events etc... which i don't think would happen if it was just people being alarmist.

the incubation period means it may have already spread further and infected many more people than are currently known, so expect jumps in the numbers over the coming days and weeks.. tracking.

cofty

deliberate Policy - State Genocide - Phizzy

If it is state policy to kill of the vulnerable why the actual fuck are we all in lock-down with not even a hint of when it will end?

Criticism of the government is important. These sort of vile conspiracy theories spread on social media are more damaging to society than the virus.

40

Naturalism is Dead - Why Are Believers Stuck in the Past?

by Perry in

sigmund freud, karl marx and charles darwin are considered the pillars of modern western thought.

they differed in many ways but had one thing in commonthey were reductionists who claimed that all higher realms of existence could be explained by lower natural causes.

they were the pillars of naturalism.. but their ideas were tested during the twentieth century and found wanting.

cofty

Carnby - If I wrote a satirical post pretending to be an especially ignorant fundamentalist xtian misrepresenting the naturalist position as egregiously as possible, I could not hope to match your post.

Well played and welcome to the forum.

51

YOU are the Proof God exists!

by MuchCloserLook in

.

cofty

Contrast and compare the facts and information in my posts in this thread with yours.

The difference is in the years spent learning new things.

41

EVERY Religion has Hypocrites- even the TRUE One!

by MuchCloserLook in

so, if you expect to find 'saints' with halos, you will never find real christians.. after over 30 years of being a jw, there are many things about the org that disturb me- yet no one else even acknowledges the only true god, as jesus referred to him.. not a 'they' or 'them' ('trinity')- but him!and he has always had the name jehovah (yehovah in hebrew)- even though the koine greek had no version of it when the nt was written.. so among the many things real christians have to endure- is often each other!

.

cofty

The best way to expose the ignorance and evil at the heart of the Watchtower is to let a JW speak.

51

YOU are the Proof God exists!

by MuchCloserLook in

.

cofty

MCL - I offered to share my considerable knowledge with you and answer your questions with patience and respect.

You chose mockery and facile memes.

If you ever think better of it and decide that a mature conversation might be interesting the offer stands.

51

YOU are the Proof God exists!

by MuchCloserLook in

.

cofty

An electron is the source of life? Did you buy the Golden Gate Bridge?

I didn't say that did I?

Every living thing on earth consumes energy. The key to understanding life and its origins is to unlock how something non-living began to use energy to sustain its processes. In other words how geochemistry became biochemistry.

How much do you know about cellular respiration? You could ask thoughtful questions about that or you could shout and mock and expose your ignorance of the topic. You chose the latter.

What is so difficult about design being the result of intelligence?

It's not 'difficult' it's simplistic, it's just a non-answer. There was a time people thought rainbows were painted in the sky by god as a promise that he will not repeat the Noachian flood. Then along came the Enlightenment and we learned about optics which led to all sorts of useful inventions.

Evolution is similar. We want to know how many species evolved from a common ancestor. Beating the coronavirus will depend in part on knowledge of evolutionary genetics.

ETA - The study of abiogenesis and bioenergetics has already led to advances in transplant medicine.

41

EVERY Religion has Hypocrites- even the TRUE One!

by MuchCloserLook in

so, if you expect to find 'saints' with halos, you will never find real christians.. after over 30 years of being a jw, there are many things about the org that disturb me- yet no one else even acknowledges the only true god, as jesus referred to him.. not a 'they' or 'them' ('trinity')- but him!and he has always had the name jehovah (yehovah in hebrew)- even though the koine greek had no version of it when the nt was written.. so among the many things real christians have to endure- is often each other!

.

cofty

so spent months in the Library studying the background of the Bible

During these months did you notice the appalling morality and ethics of people who are held up as examples of faith?

How do you feel about the infanticide prescribed by Yahweh? The kidnap and rape? How about the advocacy of slavery? Do you think it is ever okay for one human to own another as chattel?