Joseph Joachim

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Posts by Joseph Joachim

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  11

  Will Cloning Disprove the Resurrection?

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok, we take a skin cell from you.. we use its nucleus to create a clone - of you.. we train it in all your memories and abilities.

  we use "false memory" techniques to convince the clone.

  that its memories are real.. is it you?

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  Joseph Joachim

  Metatron,

  There's no "you" appart from your neural conections. If someone could manage to reassemble each and all of your neural conections 100 years after you pass away, that person would feel the same sense of continued existence that you feel each morning when you wake up. It would be "you", in other words. Now, if someone put together two identical copies of your brain, then both persons will see themselves as "you". I think the problem arises when the concept of "you" is contemplated in a prospective way; in my opinion, it only makes sense in a retrospective way.

  J.J.

  PS: This post should not be interpreted as an endorsement of any sort of Christian belief in afterlife, JW-type or other.
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  125

  Criminal , new US ally

  by Norm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the norwegian newspaper vg, reports: iraqi general nizar al-khazraji was the man behind the butchering of 180,000 iraqi kurds in 1988. he was one of saddam's faithful generals.

  he later had to flee iraq and is living on a secret address in denmark.

  he is under investigation by the danish police.. ---------------------------------------------------.

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  Joseph Joachim

  Has it slipped your collective minds that each and every one of America’s friends across the sea would be speaking German as its native language if America had not taken the actions it has in the past?

  Freeman, I have little to add to Abaddon post; just wanted to remind you that the US didn't enter WWII just to help their European friends but to protect itself after Pearl Harbour, when you realized that you were not invulnerable. Exactly the same thing happened after 9/11. Do you remember the TV series Babylon 5? Well, I think Americans are like the Vorlons. You basically defend your own interests; helping others is just a side effect. This is perfectly legitimate, on the other hand; the problem is that you don't want to admit it.
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  125

  Criminal , new US ally

  by Norm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the norwegian newspaper vg, reports: iraqi general nizar al-khazraji was the man behind the butchering of 180,000 iraqi kurds in 1988. he was one of saddam's faithful generals.

  he later had to flee iraq and is living on a secret address in denmark.

  he is under investigation by the danish police.. ---------------------------------------------------.

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  Joseph Joachim

  Well, Osama bin Laden himself was supported by the US when Afghanistan was under Soviet ocupation. But it seems that americans have now learnt the lesson.
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  57

  SEX, LIES, DEMONS, & APOSTASY

  by You Know in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  the issue is as old as eden itself, that being: does god have the right to tell us what to do?

  that core question, more than anything else, defines what jehovahs witnesses are about, in that we are outspoken advocates and supporters of jehovahs right as sovereign to require obedience from his creatures.

  the flip side of that is, of course, rebellion against god, which is expressed in numerous ways and on all levels of society.

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  Joseph Joachim

  Interestingly, verse 10 goes on to say: “Yet these men are speaking abusively of all the things they really do not know ...”

  Interestingly, verse 10 applies to you but you can't see it.
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  4

  Revelation and a time line?????

  by lydia in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been studing the book of revelation for some time now... the understanding i have of the dubs is that it is a time line...i have always had a hard time with that since so many of the visions give the similar description about it.. recently i have read the augsburg comentary on the new testament revelation..... it gives the opinion that it is not ment as a time line but as a cycle of viions that are giving a diffrent version of the same idea...and the main theme is worship... anyone have a diffrent pespective?

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  Joseph Joachim

  Lydia, the book of Revelation is not a profetic book, it's an apocalyptic book. Actually, there are no profetic books in the Bible, there are books writen by Profets (or their associates), which is not the same thing. Anyways, that's besides the point. It turns out that I've been reading some serious books about the topic to reply to my father, who recently sent me a letter saying that the recent world events are in accordance with the WT explanation of Babylon the Great, blah blah blah (perhaps I should post the letter here because it's really funny). OK, to make the story short, this is the book I recommend: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0664253636/qid%3D1012325779/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F0%5F1/002-5805857-8268815 There must be some others, but this one is the one I know (in english) that I can recommend.
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  16

  The Pope...

  by Abaddon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ... well, in addition to condoms being bad, now the pope says lawyers who work on divorce cases are doing something bad.. poor old guy; he should retire, but he really believes and will likely die in harness or become so decrepit that he is no longer capable and will be replaced.. however, at least jw's don't corner the market in saying stupid things!.

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  people living in glass paradigms shouldn't throw stones...

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  Joseph Joachim

  I thought the dead Popes were more interesting as they are preserved and presented in glass caskets inside St. Peters.

  Dang, I didn't take a picture of John XXIII's mummy because I thought it was a replica. I was there for Christmas too (not for the Mass, though). The church in Rome that I liked most was not San Pietro but San Paolo fuori le Muri, where the aposle Paul is buried. I bought a cross there, that I wear every day. Heck, I think I've definitely turned into an apostate.
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  16

  The Pope...

  by Abaddon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ... well, in addition to condoms being bad, now the pope says lawyers who work on divorce cases are doing something bad.. poor old guy; he should retire, but he really believes and will likely die in harness or become so decrepit that he is no longer capable and will be replaced.. however, at least jw's don't corner the market in saying stupid things!.

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  people living in glass paradigms shouldn't throw stones...

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  Joseph Joachim

  Abaddon said: or become so decrepit that he is no longer capable

  In my opinion he already is decrepit and incapable. It's been like that for at least a decade. He's just a figurehead, the real power behind the curtains being the Vatican curia, specially Cardinal Ratzinger when it comes to "traditional family values". The sad thing is that this Pope has outlived most of the cardinals that were around when he was elected, so that the present College of Cardinals was almost entirely apointed by him, and are as conservative as he is. So I don't think the next Pope will be much better. And I don't agree that he is better than his predecessors; certainly not than John XXIII.

  Anyways, Catholics couldn't care less, they just do what they feel like doing. They are not "book-oriented" like Protestants; their religiosity is more "adaptive", so to speak. That's why I think Catholicism has "The Truth" about Christianity (which is not to say that it is the true religion).

  Joseph Joachim,
  an overly-enthusiastic pundit of borderline reality
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  19

  Ordered Complexity necessitates Design

  by gravedancer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just a short question which probably was raised before.. the favorite argument of creationists: since there is such abundant complexity in the world around us and within us - doesn't this point point to design and therefore a designer (i.e.

  god)?.

  much info abounds on both sides of the answers to the question.

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  Joseph Joachim

  Gravedancer, you should read the book "Finding Darwin's God", by Kenneth Miller:

  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060175931/qid=1012148975/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_2_1/002-5805857-8268815

  He completely debunks Behe and other neo-creationists, like Johnson.

  As to your specific question "since there is such abundant complexity in the world around us and within us - doesn't this point to design and therefore a designer (i.e. God)?", the answer is YES, there was a designer. The identity of that designer was uncovered about 150 years ago by someone called Charles Darwin.

  Joseph Joachim,
  an overly-enthusiastic pundit of borderline reality
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  49

  The Baby and the Bath Water

  by NeonMadman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the other day, i was messaged by a young jw guy (using yahoo messenger, where i am breezyone2001; chat me up, gang!).

  his opening line to me was, "why are you attacking the witnesses?

  " i responded by asking him in what way i was attacking the witnesses, and he said that he saw my name in a yahoo club for ex-jw's.

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  Joseph Joachim

  larc, you have to keep in mind the asymmetry of the situation. An atheist/agnostic can understand a believer because he's been there, but a believer tipically can't put himself in the place of an atheist/agnostic. Seen in that light, I think NeonMadman post was OK.
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  30

  Is there a burning hell???

  by sadiejive in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm just curious what everyone's view of hell is.

  i know that most of you were at one time jws and i was wondering if you still held to the no-hell doctrine or if you had found scriptural reasons to believe otherwise.

  if the latter applies, would you be so kind as to share the scriptures that have enlightened you?.

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  Joseph Joachim

  You protistant amirikins are so amusing ... Mainstream Christianity (a.k.a. the Holy Roman Catholic Church) has NEVER believed in a burning hell, so this much-beloved fundamentalist doctrine is a non-issue for them. The real JW heresy (for them) is to deny the existence of an inmortal soul.