Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  25

  Is a piano inevitable?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. social
  2. current

  i was at a concert last night and the presence and stature of the piano struck me.

  and i thought: if the piano wasn't invented when it was, would it have been invented by someone else instead?

  or if there was a world the same as our, except with a different history, would it have pianos now too or would it be modern world, similar in many respects, only without pianos?

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  Half banana

  The essence of evolutionary change must be the chance of new environments opening up in which organisms and sometimes newly evolved organisms can thrive. This does not make any animal or plant inevitable as a distinct genome. Not that you suggested a parallel of nature with the development of the piano but do so would not be fair since the comparison with human cultural artefacts i.e. musical instruments or poetry are not like with like.

  Evolution has no evidence of being ‘driven’ but the design of musical instruments does.

  The former is random, the latter culturally engineered. Pianos exist because they are or refinement of earlier less tractable instruments. You could then argue that with the tendency towards mankind improving his own world, the clavicembalos of JS Bach would inevitably be supplanted by an improved form, an evolved and better-suited-to-its-purpose form.

  As Atomant has noted above; the electronic organ has partially replaced the piano...was that "inevitable"?
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  20

  Again: Where is Jesus?

  by Wonderment in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the watchtower of december 2015 reports the following reaction of a family with four teenagers in the country of rwanda with the publication of the nwt, and how grateful they were for it.

  the wt magazine said: .

  things changed when the new world translation in their language became available.

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  Half banana

  David J, yes that's the cunning plot; it's all invisible! The whole caboodle, Jesus, Big J, 1914, the kingdom, the paradise etc. It is an enormous edifice built on invisible foundations promising the most improbable rewards such as resurrection and everlasting life. Pure fantasy.

  People are duped into this madness by religious crooks like the governing body of Jehovah's Witnesses.

  Wakey wakey people!
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  32

  Apathy trolley chat

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was in a different city this weekend so i decided to natter to 2 bored jws on the apathy trolley.i just nattered, nothing thought provoking or anti witness.

  i was waiting for someone so hard time to spare.what struck me was, that no matter how many times i said that i don't believe in god, they spoke to me as if i did.

  they kept asking me how god would feel about stuff.

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  Half banana

  I know what you mean Stan.
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  475

  What is the alternative to JW?

  by Formerbrother in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i mean this with all due respect, i would like to hear from genuine people who think jw have it wrong and then what is the truth?.

  im not talking about silly little quibbles here and there.. is jehovah real?

  the the bible is word?

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  Half banana

  I guess Acts 5, 29 contains the most oppressive statement ever to be unleashed on people who have no sense of self worth.

  We are born free (as J.J. Rousseau said) but everywhere people are in chains. If you believe the Bible as words from God... your fate is sealed, you are a chained victim to the power of a priesthood.

  Acty friend, it would do you a lot of good to get out of that slave mentality and learn that the Bible is a book of folk magic only made "sacred" by the Catholic Church in the fourth century.

  Listen again to what you have asserted; there is no basis for it except in the imagination. The only information worth knowing and using is that which is measured, recorded and critically questioned.

  There is overwhelming evidence that there was no flood, it did not and could not have happened. Likewise Eden bears all the hallmarks of myth. Why believe myth as if it were fact?

  God is a concept which is not available to the five senses and therefore anything, yes anything, can be imagined to be God and what he does ...and don't the intermediaries between men and God know it! Think again please and base your thoughts on evidence in future. The Bible is literature, not evidence.

  Climate change incidentally is the norm...it just doesn't happen at the human life-scale but the over geological time. It takes roughly 100,000 years to go from the peak of the ice-age episode to the inter-glacial temperature maximum (which we enjoy today) and back again with various temperature peaks and troughs in between. The temperature graph over the long period might be illustrated by the irregularities seen in the ebbing and flowing of a tide going in and out. This is science; not conjecture.
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  20

  Again: Where is Jesus?

  by Wonderment in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the watchtower of december 2015 reports the following reaction of a family with four teenagers in the country of rwanda with the publication of the nwt, and how grateful they were for it.

  the wt magazine said: .

  things changed when the new world translation in their language became available.

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  Half banana

  Forget Jesus and Jerhoover, let's just worship the GB directly and do their sacred work.........
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  19

  "You wouldn't want to bring reproach on Jehovah's name, would you?"

  by Esse quam videri in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what would be your reply?.

  my reply: jehovah is big enough to take care of himself.. yours?.

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  Half banana

  Jehovah, a name drawn from an ancient Canaanite idol, is a total irrelevance.

  Unless that is, you believe that dumb idols have power...and if you do; there is little hope for you... and you deserve to have your life stifled and ruined by the modern priests of Jehovah! (HQ in NY should you be interested)
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  32

  Apathy trolley chat

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was in a different city this weekend so i decided to natter to 2 bored jws on the apathy trolley.i just nattered, nothing thought provoking or anti witness.

  i was waiting for someone so hard time to spare.what struck me was, that no matter how many times i said that i don't believe in god, they spoke to me as if i did.

  they kept asking me how god would feel about stuff.

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  Half banana

  Come on, we were all robotic drones.

  Just get the WTBTS message over to the worldly punters. Don't listen to what they say after all they are mere worldly ideas; trample on their well considered thoughts, just blast out the kingdom hope.

  We had taken leave of our senses because it was jolly good fun to preach alongside our fellow zombies "death to the world and we're all going to paradise". La la la I can't hear you...we're all going to paradise.

  The insanity of it all...................... oh! the shame................
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  21

  Thoughts during the meeting today

  by stephanie61092 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  while i'm politely sitting during the meeting today, restraining myself from rolling my eyes as the brother drones on about how "having an independent spirit is devilish in nature" and "independence from gods organization only results in pain and strife", i only have one thought going through my mind over and over.

  "what would happen if i pulled out a gun and blew my brains out in this kingdom hall?".

  would anyone notice or care?

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  Half banana

  Stephanie 6, there is nothing worthwhile which the JW org offers. It only uses delusion and deception to keep the members staying and paying for their pathetic cult. So please don't turn and harm yourself because of their stupidity---you are more valuable than their promises.

  I presume you have social reasons for wanting to stay but I suggest you find good like-minded friends outside of that uncaring organisation, people who will accept you for yourself not for what you believe.

  Having said that the org uses the loyalty of family and friends as a lure and a threat; this makes it so difficult for the departing JW.

  You have no reason to be polite to such a heartless bunch of zombies...enjoy your right to a fulfilling life without them.
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  63

  How the Watchtower Screws Up Your View of Scripture

  by CalebInFloroda in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  while i do not argue the stand of atheism (because as a jew i find it totally logical and acceptable), i have noticed that there are odd carryover preconceptions about scripture that some hold as axiomatic about the bible (at least the hebrew texts), misconceptions that have nothing to do with the jewish scriptures themselves.. so regardless of what you may think of scripture, whether you believe it is of g-d or not, i thought some of you might enjoy a reference to see how much the watchtower teaching on scripture might still be influencing the conclusions you are making today...at least about the tanakh.

  jews read their texts acknowledging the following:.

  1. no scriptural concept of original sin.

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  Half banana

  You're so right Freeandclear, and the upside is that religion is not necessary in the first place...what a relief!
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  75

  Evolution and Atheism - please help

  by Fernando in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  not being familiar with either, my question is:.

  what is the relationship between evolution and atheism?.

  i'd love to hear from anyone and everyone, and also from any perspective.. without limiting the conversation in any way, i would of course also appreciate comments that are simple, clear, direct and correct (as i don't have the capacity to do a phd in evolution or atheism)..

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  Half banana

  The relationship of evolution and atheism can best be seen in the historical context.

  When Darwin launched his Origin of the Species in 1859, it caused a shock wave in British and American society because it contradicted the Biblical account of divine creation. The stability and governance of both cultures were predicated on the rightness to rule by divine mandate (superior authorities) as the good book said. The Bible was believed to be inerrant; Darwin gave very good reason to believe otherwise.

  If the Bible was wrong then the right to power was not divine. Shock horror! The forces of delinquency would be unleashed and the world order destabilized. Those allying themselves with the scientific theorem of Darwin would be castigated as atheists, a perjorative term with political and anti-religious overtones rather than a simple description of a person who does not recognize a god.

  As already mentioned the reality has been that many who acknowledge the scientific soundness of evolution are not necessarily atheists but the reverse; to believe in creation and not in a god is an impossibility.