If sceptics indeed did get an amazing message with an awsome supporting sign, how would they know where it's coming from?
Exactly.
SweetBabyCheezits
JoinedPosts by SweetBabyCheezits
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182
It makes no sense whatsoever that a" CREATOR" would only communicate with a minority of the population then put the onus on them to convey this life saving message to the WHOLE wide world
by smiddy ini now find it idiotic that i could ever beleive the bible to be the inspired word of god.....,throughout the bible "god"has only dealt with a few of his favoured spokespersons to deliver his messages to a minority populace.individuals at first,..... then, patriarchs,nomads,a small nation,ignoring all other nations that had sprung up.......,abandoning his chosen nation,sending his "son"to a small nation, only giving them his pearls of wisdom,much of what was not even recorded for prosperity and remember he never wrote a word,it was left up to other imperfect humans to record what he was supposed to have said,just a smidgen......,again ignoring the bulk of humankind keeping them in ignorance of his plan for universal salvation,leaving it all up to imperfect humans to spread this message of salvation, whom he has already condemned for their sinfullness and disobedience.i just find it so unbeleivable.
in the 6000 years of recorded history only a fraction of the earths population,maybe less than a third have ever heard of the god of the bible, or his so called plan to redeem humankind ,thats millions and millions of people.
( india,arabic,afghanistan,pakistan etc.etc.).
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SweetBabyCheezits
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182
It makes no sense whatsoever that a" CREATOR" would only communicate with a minority of the population then put the onus on them to convey this life saving message to the WHOLE wide world
by smiddy ini now find it idiotic that i could ever beleive the bible to be the inspired word of god.....,throughout the bible "god"has only dealt with a few of his favoured spokespersons to deliver his messages to a minority populace.individuals at first,..... then, patriarchs,nomads,a small nation,ignoring all other nations that had sprung up.......,abandoning his chosen nation,sending his "son"to a small nation, only giving them his pearls of wisdom,much of what was not even recorded for prosperity and remember he never wrote a word,it was left up to other imperfect humans to record what he was supposed to have said,just a smidgen......,again ignoring the bulk of humankind keeping them in ignorance of his plan for universal salvation,leaving it all up to imperfect humans to spread this message of salvation, whom he has already condemned for their sinfullness and disobedience.i just find it so unbeleivable.
in the 6000 years of recorded history only a fraction of the earths population,maybe less than a third have ever heard of the god of the bible, or his so called plan to redeem humankind ,thats millions and millions of people.
( india,arabic,afghanistan,pakistan etc.etc.).
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SweetBabyCheezits
Wouldn't it be so much more effective to communicate this way?
Yeah, but since when has god's goal effective communication, George?? If he was an effective communicator, more people on this planet might actually get to know him and understand what he really wants out of this relationship. Then they might follow those clear instructions to the tee. Then how would he justify frying people in hell?
To be honest, I think you want reduce god's weekend to a chick flick at the house, George. How dare you.
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It's official!
by lilbluekitty intonight i just got my certificate: i'm officially a member of my church and a baptist.
(i think of myself as just a general christian, but i like the laid-backishness of the baptists.
i definitely don't think one denomination is better than anyone else though, and my church is multi-cultural, so i'm not a hater of other races like some southern baptists).
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SweetBabyCheezits
Congratulations!!
Unrelated and completely off-topic, I just removed the last of the asbestos from my home yesterday.... so to celebrate, we painted the walls with a beautiful lead-based paint! Hooray!! Sure, it poses a health risk but this new brighter color is soo much prettier than the old blah color. And at least the asbestos is GONE now. It's so cheery in here!
And now I shall prepare to be flamed for cynically illustrating what I suspect at least half of the other posters were thinking. That concludes my Internet douche-bag post for the week. Stay classy, San Diego.
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It makes no sense whatsoever that a" CREATOR" would only communicate with a minority of the population then put the onus on them to convey this life saving message to the WHOLE wide world
by smiddy ini now find it idiotic that i could ever beleive the bible to be the inspired word of god.....,throughout the bible "god"has only dealt with a few of his favoured spokespersons to deliver his messages to a minority populace.individuals at first,..... then, patriarchs,nomads,a small nation,ignoring all other nations that had sprung up.......,abandoning his chosen nation,sending his "son"to a small nation, only giving them his pearls of wisdom,much of what was not even recorded for prosperity and remember he never wrote a word,it was left up to other imperfect humans to record what he was supposed to have said,just a smidgen......,again ignoring the bulk of humankind keeping them in ignorance of his plan for universal salvation,leaving it all up to imperfect humans to spread this message of salvation, whom he has already condemned for their sinfullness and disobedience.i just find it so unbeleivable.
in the 6000 years of recorded history only a fraction of the earths population,maybe less than a third have ever heard of the god of the bible, or his so called plan to redeem humankind ,thats millions and millions of people.
( india,arabic,afghanistan,pakistan etc.etc.).
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SweetBabyCheezits
N. Drew: I veiw communication like a tree.
Ahh, I get it now.
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SweetBabyCheezits
Neon, would you agree that as a matter of logic all religions cannot possibly be right, due to conflicting doctrine? Take the two leading faiths: Christianity and Islam. They've got a pretty big chunk of the religion market right now, with around 2 billion and 1.5 billion adherents respectively.
Logically, they can't both be right because they are in clear conflict. But they could both be wrong (again, just as a matter of logic). No, that alone doesn't mean that they're both wrong but it's clear, using only the top two religions, a massive chunk of the human race is clutching false beliefs and should NOT allow chance (geography) to set their perspective. And I think the same should be said of ALL world views, even for those raised in atheistic homes/cultures. Who says atheists shouldn't apply critical thinking to their own views?
The geography argument makes that point well: the method we use to assess our beliefs and suppress bias is absolutely critical if we're really trying to cut throught the mountains of bullshit.
It's also why I always say "happy" or "lucky" to be Canadian, instead of "proud". It is only an accident of birth that I am here. (ie, I don't get patriotism.)
I couldn't agree more, Talesin. I'm not proud to be American anymore than I'm proud to be white or proud to have a massive... nose. It is by no hard work on my part that I happen to be/have any of those things, nor do I feel those things make a person superior to the next.
Like I've heard others say, I'm a citizen of this planet, first and foremost.
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JW net ....We all have something in common.
by snare&racket ini talk to jw's, i talk to many religious people.
i also spend all day everyday with educated people due to my career.
one thing stands out to me for sure, by far the majority of the regular posters here are intelligent and informed.
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SweetBabyCheezits
Were you the type to ask questions as a JW? How many here left because it didn't add up and not booted out for having frisky hands (jokes!) ?
As a born-in, I was a sheeple type dub. I kept the ol' joystick in my pants until marriage and believed as I was told. Any minor doubts that crept up were ignored.
In 2005, while highlighting studying to sub for our conductor at a Daniel's Prophecy bookstudy, I cracked an encyclopedia to get a little clarification on Nebuchadnezzar and surrounding kings' reigns. I got a rude awakening when I found the 20 year discrepancy and put together that the WT was using shoddy proprietary chronology to support 1914. I reached that conclusion on my own but later Googled it and read up on the correspondence between Carl Olof Jonsson and the Society. That tipped my first domino.
Just a couple months prior to that, I played the role of Timothy in a shitty DC drama. (Complete with my own shitty acting.) Five years later, m'lady and I were DF'd on charges of apostasy. It was pure thoughtcrime, nothing else.
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british press have knifes out for Richard Dawkins
by highdose insince that great atheist heavy weight christopher hitchens left us.
it seems the british press have had their knifes out for richard dawkins.
mostly trying to discredit him and smear his name.. his exasperated "oh god!
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SweetBabyCheezits
BTW, we are going through The Magic of Reality iPad book/app with my kids (during Family Worship Night) and we love it. Can't recommend it enough! Fantastic.
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british press have knifes out for Richard Dawkins
by highdose insince that great atheist heavy weight christopher hitchens left us.
it seems the british press have had their knifes out for richard dawkins.
mostly trying to discredit him and smear his name.. his exasperated "oh god!
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SweetBabyCheezits
Cofty, would you say that using a term like "precious feelings" could be considered a bit more... uh, acerbic than, say, "personal beliefs"? I'm not coming down on you at all (because that would make me a hypocrite). Just trying to get a fix on why Dawkins and the like are so abrasive to some believers.
I know when I get into a heated debate with creationists, my frustration is much more likely to bleed through in my choice of words, than when I'm talking to a non-pushy believer who can say "I don't know." But if the non-pushy Christian friend read some of my words of frustration on this forum, he'd probably consider me a real douche canoe. EDIT: Nvm, I think that's what you were saying about context.
FWIW, when I was just starting to doubt the Bible, I was a bit irritated by Bill Maher's sarcasm the first time I heard him mock Christians who mock Scientology as ridiculous, yet have no problem with a talking snake and virgin birth. Now I see his point as valid and no more condescending than a Christian who mocks Scientologists, since that is the context.
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british press have knifes out for Richard Dawkins
by highdose insince that great atheist heavy weight christopher hitchens left us.
it seems the british press have had their knifes out for richard dawkins.
mostly trying to discredit him and smear his name.. his exasperated "oh god!
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SweetBabyCheezits
Dawkins is not for everyone. What I've personally seen/read of his is, in my opinion, typically informative and factual, usually reflective of the person he's speaking to or about, and naturally condescending to those holding a contradicting view. (EDIT: I think that's at least in part because we tend to see criticisms of our beliefs as criticisms of ourselves.) But I can see how he might rub someone the wrong way - even those who are in the same camp, occasionally.
Nobody will mistake him for Jesus or Gandhi, nor should they. I think there's plenty of room for a personality like his in the League of SuperAtheists since the other side of the debate warrants it at times. (Kent Hovind, anyone?)
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Died and came back with memories !
by oldflame infriends,.
i have a story to share with you and i hope that it does not bore you as it did just the opposite for me .
after hearing what i was told i was so pumped up with holy spirit i thought i was going to crawl right out of my own skin .
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SweetBabyCheezits
Just google near death experiences and there are 2 sites with many, many stories much like the woman had and some very different. You can read about nde's from Christians, Hindu, etc... there is a questionaire at the end for the person and you can read how or if it has changed the way the person lives their life now and how it has or has not affected their religion.
The same could be said of studies in which subjects were administered Psilopsybin (magic mushrooms) at Johns Hopkins University.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/press_releases/2006/07_11_06.html
In the study, more than 60 percent of subjects described the effects of psilocybin in ways that met criteria for a “full mystical experience” as measured by established psychological scales. One third said the experience was the single most spiritually significant of their lifetimes; and more than two-thirds rated it among their five most meaningful and spiritually significant. Griffiths says subjects liken it to the importance of the birth of their first child or the death of a parent.
Great news, huh? If you want to get really spiritual and see some stuff that will enhance your relationship with the nether realm, you no longer have to wait for God to almost kill you.