yes, sonny afro, it is farfetched. Criticism of modern times stems from ignorance of history. The past always looks better than the present no matter how terrible the past was. You must still have the witness fear instilled in you. When I look at the future, I see challenges, but also something too bright to imagine. The darkness you see is the fear the WT put into you.
JonathanH
JoinedPosts by JonathanH
-
66
Eurozone crisis- the jw's are crowing about it like mad!
by highdose inover the past few weeks i've been told that the eurozone will go into melt down and that this will be the start of armargeddon because the goverments will then turn on religon to get their money instead.. i have been told that the greek pm almost rejecting the greek bailout plan would lead to armargeddon.
of course much to the jw's disapointment the greek pm resigned and the greeks did accept the bail out.
thus saving the greek banks from collapse and thus the rest of the european banks.. i have been told that italys debt will mean they will plunder the vatican for its wealth!
-
-
-
48
Why are so many JWs and exJWs unaware of the New World Order and the World Goverment?
by Infowarrior inwhy are so many jehovahs witnesses and escpecially ex-jws so unaware and ignorant of the new world order and the world goverment?
and is the watchtower a part of the new world order and the world goverment under the united nations and the vatican?
my rrsearch says this is the case.
-
-
JonathanH
By visiting this site I am actually compelled to believe that per capita more ex-witnesses and witnesses are inclined to believe such conspiracy theories than the general public. I don't have hard scientific statistics to back this up, so much as the feeling that I see way more talk and topics on this here than I do on any other message board. My hypothesis would be that since witnesses are trained to think that the world is rotten and there is an invisible spirit conspiracy secretly controlling the world behind the scenes they are more likely to accept such inanity as illuminati and the like. Some Ex-witnesses while realizing that the religious aspect of the organization is wrong, still retain the mindset they had while still inside. Namely that the world is rotten, and there are powerful secret forces pulling the strings.But sense the Society is so obviously wrong on factual grounds, they need to replace one end of the world doomsday scenario with another.
Enter chemtrails, world governments, conpiracy plots and the like. That way they get to keep the feeling of "being in the truth" that feeling of exclusive knowledge and understanding in a world blinded to the true plot, but with none of that nastly falsifiable bible mumbo jumbo, just pure assertion and vague disparate chords tied together into one of a million fanciful tales that suit the personal psychology and politics of the individual. Who's taking over the world? Is it the aliens, the homosexual liberals, the communists, the government, big business, the banks, the oil companies? Depending on the person, it's most likely some combination of those. No two conspiracy theorists can agree, they only agree on some monikers such as bilderburg group, or illuminati that act as catch all umbrellas for whatever sinister amalgamation of evils is out to destroy goodness. Sounds an awful lot like something...something I can't put my finger on....oh, yeah. A religion.
-
7
A secular website/podcast interviews an ex-elder
by JonathanH ini just stumbled onto this by accident.
i was reading pz myer's blog, and just on a larf clicked on a link to another blog.
one of the first entries was "view from the watchtower" in which an ex-elder is interviewed about his past experiences as a jw.
-
-
JonathanH
I just stumbled onto this by accident. I was reading PZ Myer's blog, and just on a larf clicked on a link to another blog. One of the first entries was "view from the watchtower" in which an ex-elder is interviewed about his past experiences as a JW. I haven't listened to it yet, but you can go to this link...
http://freethoughtblogs.com/reasonabledoubts/2011/09/29/episode-91-view-from-the-watchtower/
Or go on iTunes and look up "Reasonable Doubts Podcast" and it's episode 91 "view from the watchtower.
I'll be back later when I get a chance to listen to it, but just a heads up for anyone interested.
-
173
What is the spark that powers Evolution?
by N.drew ini have no idea, that is why i'm asking.
i did mention on another thread that need might be involed, but they said no.
so what powers evolution?
-
-
JonathanH
The appendix had a function in primitive primates, change in diet made it redundant and thusly is gradually being phased out.
You don't need 100,000 dollars, you need about 400. You don't have to complete college, just take a class. Don't complain that you have a short attention span, want an answer in a couple of paragraphs and then argue with people that give you just that. You either need to spend time actually learning what you're talking about, or not argue about things you don't understand. This is not a discussion, it is not a debate, it is a forced education on the unwilling.
-
173
What is the spark that powers Evolution?
by N.drew ini have no idea, that is why i'm asking.
i did mention on another thread that need might be involed, but they said no.
so what powers evolution?
-
-
JonathanH
@Newchapter
Khanacademy is fantastic for math. At the beginning of this year I bought a book on algebra, a book on geometry and found khanacademy. I didn't know jack about math. I had to start at the beginning and remind myself how to work with fractions, decimals, and negative numbers before I started on basic algebra. I took my placement exams six months later and got placed in advanced college algebra, and I've got a nearly perfect score in that class. I'll be starting in on calculus next semester. Some of it was my aptitude for logic, but khan academy helped TREMENDOUSLY. Because it's set up as short 5-10 minute lectures on various topics starting with arithmetic and ending in calculus, trigonometry and linear algebra (which is very advanced algebra), and there are excercises for you to do and it tracks your progress. There is no better tool out there for teaching yourself math. If I had just jumped right into college I would've been in remedial math as well. But a bit of preperation and hard work got me where I needed to be to start working on my B.S. in Engineering and/or Mathematics.
-
173
What is the spark that powers Evolution?
by N.drew ini have no idea, that is why i'm asking.
i did mention on another thread that need might be involed, but they said no.
so what powers evolution?
-
-
JonathanH
*sigh* one last thing I can't let go. When do you think the heart developed? How about the liver? Blood? Lungs? How long do you think those things took? Three hundred years is not enough time, geologic time operates in millions of years, not hundreds. Read my previous post, and then go to fucking college.
-
173
What is the spark that powers Evolution?
by N.drew ini have no idea, that is why i'm asking.
i did mention on another thread that need might be involed, but they said no.
so what powers evolution?
-
-
JonathanH
No, I am sorry, you are beyond help. I tried, if you really want to learn then you need to take a biology course. The monkeys should be developing speech so they can take us to court was too much. If you have a problem with evolution, please recognize it is due to your own ignorance of biology and not because you have some valid "gotcha" point that biologists simply can't answer. Saying you have a short attention span is not an excuse. If you want an answer, go learn about it instead of asking insane questions on a message board. Go learn some fundementals of biochemistry, learn a bit about cellular biology, get a good handle on genetics, and the principles of evolution. Then come back to this topic and laugh at your questions with the rest of us. You will find it immensely rewarding. Saying you have a short attention span is not an excuse.
-
173
What is the spark that powers Evolution?
by N.drew ini have no idea, that is why i'm asking.
i did mention on another thread that need might be involed, but they said no.
so what powers evolution?
-
-
JonathanH
New chapter points out an important fact, development depends on environment. What may look like a "finished product" in one environment may be an "unfinished product" in a different environment. That is to say it is not as well suited and needs to change for that environment. Our blood is one such example of a "developing system." A single point mutation in the gene that codes for hemoglobin changes the shape of our red blood cells from round, to sickle shaped. In the US or other developed countries the sickle shape is a bad thing, we call it sickle cell anemia. But in african countries sickle cell anemia is growing in the population because it protects against malaria. But Sickle cell anemia still is still not great for the body, but it improves reproductive success. If that spread through the population, then malaria would no longer be a problem, and future mutations would probably be able to weed out the negative symptoms of sickle cell anemia while keeping the benefits of preventing malaria. Our blood is a developing system, flawed and improvable.
-
173
What is the spark that powers Evolution?
by N.drew ini have no idea, that is why i'm asking.
i did mention on another thread that need might be involed, but they said no.
so what powers evolution?
-
-
JonathanH
N.Drew, what you want isn't an answer or understanding. What you want is somebody with knowledge of biology to throw their arms up and say "Nobody knows! It's a bizarre mystery! It's completely illogical that things would evolve like they would given our current understanding of chemistry, physics, and biology! It's almost like there is some secret X factor that we can't pin down driving the whole thing.....strange....."
That isn't going to happen. You need to (A) stop anthropormophising biology. Asking how does something "know" to evolve a "finished product" is like asking how a ball "knows" to fall to it's "most desired position." A ball doesn't know to fall, and it doesn't desire to be anywhere. It's physics. Evolution doesn't know anything, and it's not working towards anything. It's chemistry and natural process. and (B) pay attention, and do it honestly. Your questions have been answered a hundred times in a hundred topics like these. If you can't see the answer, it's because you don't want to.
But in good faith I will give it another shot. There are no "unfinished" products in evolution. In order for a trait to be carried forward it either has to be so benign that it can hitch a ride by means of genetic drift, or it has to be beneficial. Which means any trait is already a "finished" product, no matter how flawed it might be. You don't see any "in development" traits because you don't know what they will be a million years from now. Your appendix is virtually useless, your eyes are a mess of engineering, your back isn't built for bipedal movement, the list goes on. But you don't see those as "unfinished" because they still work. In a million years human vertebrate may be vastly superior and better suited for upright bipedal movement, but right now that is not the case. If we were the finished product, then fuck us because our bodies are riddled with anatomical and biochemical problems. But we still work, at no point have we been an "unfinished product" and at no point will we be a "finished product." But all through our genetic legacy that has been the case. A light sensitive patch was not an "unfinished" eye, it was a useful aspect that helped an organism's reproductive success, and it just so happened that after a hundred million years or so, it was an eye. It's like asking for a transitional form, when everything is a transitional form, because there is no final or finished products. You're not going to find a lizard with only half a leg evolving into a whole leg, that doesn't even make sense. But you can find animals like the yellow bellied skink, that are gradually evolving to be more like snakes than lizards over a long period of time.
I don't know what you expect to see when you say you want to see something new evolving. I can point to monotremes that are mammals with venomous claws, duck bills, and lay eggs but you will probably just say "Well that's already a finished product, I want to see something NEW evolving." There are no finished products.
-
20
After one semester it's very easy to see why the society is so afraid of university education.
by JonathanH init is so antithetical to their way of doing things, and forces you into a state of mind they hate.
it gets you out of whatever bubble you live in.
you're expected to be an adult, which is the exact opposite of what the society wants from you.. in my english 101 class we have watched r rated movies, talked about religion, learned how to recognize and dissect propoganda and my professor openly states that his goal is to challenge our prejudices and ways of thinking.
-
-
JonathanH
It is so antithetical to their way of doing things, and forces you into a state of mind they hate. It gets you out of whatever bubble you live in. You're expected to be an adult, which is the exact opposite of what the society wants from you.
In my English 101 class we have watched R rated movies, talked about religion, learned how to recognize and dissect propoganda and my professor openly states that his goal is to challenge our prejudices and ways of thinking. Plus I have group projects that require me to *gasp* meet with people with different ideas and backgrounds in a semi-recreational manner.
My biology class openly teaches evolution and all the evidence for it, and much to my surprise even though I am in the bible belt and alot of my classmate are people returning to college later in life, most of the students accept evolution as a fact after class. In all of my classes, debate and questions are encouraged, my professors make themselves available and are open to answer any questions personally, and don't just refer you to the text book.
My professors openly do not give absolute reverence to the bible. My english teacher stated that in any research bible, the bible or other holy books are not a citable source. If you're in a philosophy or religion class, then in may be acceptable depending on context, but other wise your holy book is not a reference. This mind set is so vastly different from anything in any kingdom hall. He's not berating the bible, or saying it's a lie. He just wants to to learn to face the world objectively outside of your personal interpretation of your holy book of choice. That is a radically different paradigm that would scare the society's socks off.
If I was a witness that secretly harbored doubts, (like I was five years ago), it would only take a semester or two to make me question my entire system of beliefs and examine it with the tools I had been given. The society hates college because they know that an educated person will almost certainly reject their absolute authority.
