John_Mann

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Posts by John_Mann

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  583

  What is the purpose of life?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

  because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

  i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

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  John_Mann

  Why not?

  And most important: what is the correct definition of positivism?
• 
  583

  What is the purpose of life?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

  because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

  i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

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• 

  John_Mann

  Just tell me your definition of positivism.

  Please.

  I say positivism is the philosophical system that affirms the only valid knowledge is the scientific method.

  Why this short definition of positivism is wrong?
• 
  583

  What is the purpose of life?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

  because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

  i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

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  2. 
  3. 
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  John_Mann

  Burden of proof?

  You said my definition of positivism is wrong but don't showed why (just replied with a laughter).

  I'm asking you why my definition of positivism is wrong.

  You have the burden of proof to show why my definition is wrong.

  You better stop to deny you're a positivist. It's just like a JW denying to be a cultist.
• 
  11

  interesting question

  by jayjay78 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  firstly i'm a df'd witness.. i was in the org all my life.. vividly remember out witnessing as a kid in the 80s with my mum and having apostates jumping houses before we could get to them ..all the way up the street.. remember it because the guy looked like tom baker from dr who - frizzy hair and long colourful scarf.. i think the people at the doors were made more curious by them actually, so when we knocked ,they were inclined to have a listen.. anyway i'm out and cant see myself ever going back,because my family has fully shunned me..and even if i was to go back and be a member..i don't think i could forgive them...totally scarred me.. anyway my question is :.

  if you were head of this religion and you wanted to keep it clean and pure etc..how would you deal with people who delib broke the rules?.

  no shunning of course..but whats the alternative?

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  John_Mann

  Maybe a cerimonial shunning. The shunning could be made only inside Kingdom Halls. This would work well because a d'fd would just attend the meetings and leave.

  Outside KH the members could be orientated to just have a basic communication and always talk about their "good news".

  But total shunning outside KH and inside families is a pure evil act.

  That's would be a fine solution to me.
• 
  583

  What is the purpose of life?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

  because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

  i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  John_Mann

  Ha ha! Do your own research.

  Why the appeal to ridicule fallacy?

  I insist, please show me why my definition of positivism is wrong. You can post a link if you wish. Thank you.
  
  
• 
  583

  What is the purpose of life?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

  because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

  i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  John_Mann

  @Viviane

  So tell me what is positivism...
• 
  583

  What is the purpose of life?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

  because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

  i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  John_Mann

  'To Be Happy'

  This the motto of every cult in the world.
  
  
• 
  405

  Origin of Life

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

  as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

  there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

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  John_Mann

  Occam's Razor and epistemology are philosophy.

  Occam was a Catholic friar BTW.

  Well, my job is done in this topic.

  Cofty you still are using science methods to things that don't belongs to science. I told that is exactly what a positivist does. From now on you know you is a positivist. And positivism is more than wrong and false, is evil.
• 
  405

  Origin of Life

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

  as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

  there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

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• 

  John_Mann

  @cofty

  "What is this thing you call a soul?"

  I know you want a scientific evidence to this question.

  You maybe not be aware of that but you're blindy following a philosophical system called Positivism.

  Positivism says that the only valid knowledge is science. They deny any other philosophical insight. Some even deny psychology. But Positivism is absurd because they see science as a magical wand (existing by itself) and can't see that science itself is a philosophical system. Positivism is pure absurd.

  The soul can't be a problem to science because science is the quest for material properties and the soul is immaterial. But we can find material interactions with the soul.

  The soul is a problem of philosophy.

  When you ask for scientific evidence to a philosophical problem you're following the Positivism.

  Positivism is the base of modern Atheism too. When someone says he's an atheist because there's no scientific evidence for God, for example. That's a positivist atheist and that's why atheists are always trying to hijack science.

  The problem of soul have a lot of debate in philosophy and one of the definitions of the soul is it doesn't have any parts but it's responsible for high mental functionalities.

  The soul have functions without organs. So when you see evidence for the sense of beauty in human behaviour (like art) and does not find the exact part of the body that produces it you're seeing a function of the soul. The non instinctive memory is another function of the soul. In other words no matter how hard you try you would not find the 9th symphony in Beethoven's brain.

  Cofty I'm not trying to offend you. I admire your love for science and I think you're very intelligent. I'm just trying to exchange some philosophical knowledge with you.
• 
  583

  What is the purpose of life?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

  because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

  i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  John_Mann

  Some positivists would ask for scientific evidence of "meaning" or "purpose" of life. Positivism is very flawed and are everywhere lately with blind followers (usually they even don't know they're following it).

  But this is a philosophical question.

  In philosophy field one will inevitably reach the Absurdism when trying to answer this question. Because our desires, including the purpose of life, does not come in shiny scientific packages of answers. In other words we are the only animals that desires things that doesn't grow in the trees of the material world. We are like fishes wishing for fire.

  After Absurdism you have only two options: Nihilism and Existencialism.

  Nihilism says life have no purpose and more: life can't have any purpose.

  Existencialism says life can have purpose and it divides in two options: one says you can give any purpose you like and the other says the purpose is metaphysical and is already planned.

  These two subcategories is called Atheistic Existencialism and Theistic Existencialism.

  With this philosophical explanation we can label any answer in this topic.

  I'm a christian existencialist. So that's my answer to the purpose of life.