John_Mann

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Posts by John_Mann

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  210

  Morality Without Deity

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  one of the most persistent arguments for belief in god centres on the necessity of an ultimate law-giver and epitome of goodness.. a softer version is seen in the genuine concern that a loss of faith will result in a corresponding loss of a moral compass - a more strident argument links the existence of good and evil with proof of the reality of god.

  it is often asserted that without god, moral decisions degenerate to nothing more than personal preferences and the victory of "might is right".. i want to succinctly lay out my response as an atheist, and show that a supreme being is not required for objective morality.. it is helpful to distinguish between absolute morality, objective morality and subjective morality.

  christian apologists frequently conflate the first two, and secular debaters often fail to point out the difference.. theists who disagree on everything else, are unanimous that god is perfectly good.

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  John_Mann

  Cofty

  Why humans evolved to perceive evil at all?

  We are the only specie to perceive evil, justice, mortality, etc.

  BTW no other species have consciousness at all...
• 
  210

  Morality Without Deity

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  one of the most persistent arguments for belief in god centres on the necessity of an ultimate law-giver and epitome of goodness.. a softer version is seen in the genuine concern that a loss of faith will result in a corresponding loss of a moral compass - a more strident argument links the existence of good and evil with proof of the reality of god.

  it is often asserted that without god, moral decisions degenerate to nothing more than personal preferences and the victory of "might is right".. i want to succinctly lay out my response as an atheist, and show that a supreme being is not required for objective morality.. it is helpful to distinguish between absolute morality, objective morality and subjective morality.

  christian apologists frequently conflate the first two, and secular debaters often fail to point out the difference.. theists who disagree on everything else, are unanimous that god is perfectly good.

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  John_Mann

  • fukitol3 hours agoHowever, if the source of all morality is from God and is not something outside and independent of God then objective morality does not exist, since it is only a reflection of Gods divine commands. It would mean morality is arbitrary and that might is right after all, as Satan claimed.
    

  • It's an intractable dilemma

    What's the problem to a Christian if morality comes from directly from God's nature (as opposed from His will or intellect as you put as "divine command"). I don't see any dilemma in this.

    To understand Christianity you must understand at least the concepts of nature, intellect and will in Christianity.
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  22

  Absolute moral standards and fiction.

  by The Rebel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  not all beliefs are worthy of respect, but when we read a book of fiction in my mind it's easier to travel outside ourselves and our absolute moral standards.

  fiction allows our imagination to be free.

  i haven't read " fifty shades of grey" but i read " romeo and juliet" at school,and juliet was 13, romeo i believe was supposedly around 18 or 19.

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  John_Mann

  Good point. If there's no absolute moral standards our standards are just random mental constructs and we could be able to create any standard.

  This is not the case even in fiction.
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  39

  Why the resurrection must be true

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  okay i was thinking about it.

  and it is a transhumanist argument and nothing new, i do realise that before anyone points it out.

  but it struck me afresh today that the resurrection must happen.. firstly, to state the obvious, a rational materialist conception of reality seems to exclude resurrection.

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  John_Mann

  https://youtu.be/p08_KlTKP50
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  39

  Why the resurrection must be true

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  okay i was thinking about it.

  and it is a transhumanist argument and nothing new, i do realise that before anyone points it out.

  but it struck me afresh today that the resurrection must happen.. firstly, to state the obvious, a rational materialist conception of reality seems to exclude resurrection.

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  John_Mann

  Things like laminar flow makes me think about the possibilities of past scanning.
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  39

  Why the resurrection must be true

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  okay i was thinking about it.

  and it is a transhumanist argument and nothing new, i do realise that before anyone points it out.

  but it struck me afresh today that the resurrection must happen.. firstly, to state the obvious, a rational materialist conception of reality seems to exclude resurrection.

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  John_Mann

  If we are purely ordinary matter so it's possible to scan the spacetime through quantum entanglement and reconstruct anything from past or future, including human bodies and brains in an atomic level.

  This could be done by a super artificial intelligence.

  What we know today makes resurrection something not physically impossible.

  It's a matter of technology not theoretical possibility (based on current physical models).

  I don't think time travel is possible but spacetime scanning is. So that's why we don't see time travelers around.
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  50

  If "the Truth" is the truth, why are witnesses so scared of research?

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it is an often asked question i know, but it perplexes me.. if witnesses are so convinced that they have "the truth", why is the act of researching information from external sources so taboo?

  didn't the bible itself tell people to "use their powers of reason" and also praised ones like the boreans for researching things they were told??.

  seriously, if there is no doubt about the organization being "god's channel" on earth, and it alone having the "truth", surely researching would only enhance such 'facts'?.

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  John_Mann

  If you have the ultimate truth, why bother to research lies?

  Of course fear is involved, but fear of Jehovah and not fear to read about lies from demons.

  That's how I used to think when I was a JW.

  JWism is a mental trap full of loops and dead-ends.

  I'd found the TTATT through a research in Wikipedia about the biblical Babylon.
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  45

  Are there any doctrines which all Christian religions follow.

  by jwfacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i cannot think of a single doctrine that is so clearly laid out in the bible that every christian sect teaches the same point.

  are there any doctrine where there is total consensus amongst all christian religions, including jehovah's witnesses?.

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  John_Mann

  Baptism and crucifixion of Jesus is universal even in secular history.
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  35

  How long did people like Methuselah really live?

  by dubstepped in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i was working today and my brain was working in circles like it often does and i started wondering about what i was always told about people like methuselah in bible times, and their incredibly claims of longevity.

  i've tried researching things but have a hard time getting through all of the bible thumpers to some real evidence, and figured that some here may be more informed or have done the research previously.

  so, did people really live longer way back when?

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  John_Mann

  It's called poetic license.
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  36

  An interesting reasoning for the existence of God (from JW public talk)

  by anointed1 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was on an official tour last week to another part of my country.

  on my way to the hotel, i noticed sign-board of jw kingdom hall.

  i thought i would attend sunday meeting as i knew no one would recognize me.. seeing “a new-comer” in the audience, public speaker adapted his material making it especially appealing to me.

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  John_Mann

  That should be a subtle clue as to the evolutionary development of consciousness....

  Can you trace our sense of own mortality in evolutionary terms?

  Do you know any animal that wonders about its own natural death?

  And what about our sense of justice? There's no justice in the jungle so why and how did we developed something not found in nature?

  BTW the OP analogy sucks.