Posts by JonathanH

13

"Doubting Jesus' Resurrection" by Kris D. Komarnitsky

by bohm in

this is a very simple idea i had not encountered before, and i hope other will find it interesting to.

the essay is taken from http://www.infidels.org/kiosk/article809.html, but i would also strongly recommend the more recent answer to wlcs critisism of the argument at: http://www.infidels.org/kiosk/article835.html.

"doubting jesus' resurrection".

JonathanH

Cognitive dissonance isn't about being right, it's about holding a belief contrary to evidence, that belief can easily be modified to fit the circumstances even if it's unnecessary or counter intuitive. JWs are a fantastic example of this. They are told on an almost regular basis that their beliefs were wrong, and then they blindly accept this and go with whatever "new light" is presented. Not only that they view the fact that they WERE wrong, but now have greater insight as being even better than if they had been right all along. They were just told that the generation that saw 1914 wouldn't be alive for armegeddon, but rather a second over lapping generation would be. This makes zero sense, completely invalidates a belief they've had in some form or another for decades and they accept it blindly and willingly. Cognitive dissonance isn't about being 100% right, it's about keeping a belief alive by any means possible. If making crap up makes that belief more palatable, or more special then they will gladly modify that belief and gladly admit that they had previously been mistaken.

Adding an additional resurrection myth ontop of all the other myths that were ascribed to jesus does not some how make cognitive dissonance less likely, nor the kind of mass wishful thinking that you find in pentecostal and other churches today. Does the gentlemen anywhere in his 700 pages address why this particular ancient people was completely immune to any of the psychological phenomenon that are clearly demonstrated by the pentocostals in the video above, or really any number of religious denominations that have "supernatural" experiences that clearly aren't real?

16

Why I am afraid to admit to being and atheist in real life in the US.

by JonathanH in

i live in the bible belt in the us, atheism is a major taboo.

on the internet i occasionally feel like atheism is normal and just another accepted demographic, but that's largely because i hang around places with lots of atheists.

then i see the other side.. this is an op ed article that atheist jerry coyne wrote today, it's on how you don't need god to be good.

JonathanH

That also sucks robdar.Really it sucks to be anything but a white christian in the bible belt, though at least in urbanized areas you can be a black christian and it's still ok.

16

Why I am afraid to admit to being and atheist in real life in the US.

by JonathanH in

i live in the bible belt in the us, atheism is a major taboo.

on the internet i occasionally feel like atheism is normal and just another accepted demographic, but that's largely because i hang around places with lots of atheists.

then i see the other side.. this is an op ed article that atheist jerry coyne wrote today, it's on how you don't need god to be good.

JonathanH

I live in the bible belt in the US, atheism is a major taboo. On the internet I occasionally feel like atheism is normal and just another accepted demographic, but that's largely because I hang around places with lots of atheists. Then I see the other side.

This is an op ed article that Atheist Jerry Coyne wrote today, it's on how you don't need god to be good. It's a fine article, not his best writing, but given the brevity of the article he gets he point across.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2011-07-31-atheism-morality-evolution-religion_n.htm

The hard part to read is the comments where most commenters imply that atheists are ammoral nihilists who know god exists but deny it because of our wickedness.

Or this snap shot of the fox news audience

http://atheists.org/blog/2011/07/29/fox-news-facebook-page-on-911-cross-generates-death-threats-against-atheists

where the fox news facebook page is quickly overtaken by violent threats against atheists after one appears on fox news.

Any time I get comfortable being an atheist I am quickly reminded that most of the people in the country I live in are still extremely prejudiced against people who don't share their religious beliefs. For that reason I am still extremely wary of telling some one that I don't believe in gods in real life.

I am thankful I'm not being tarred and feathered, or curb stomped like minorities in the past, and I certainly don't think I have it as bad as minority demographics in the past have had it. But when I hear people complain about militant atheism and how horrid it is I think of the comments pages on Richard Dawkins website, or PZ meyers or jerry coyne's and notice the distinct lack of violent threats.

3

I also has a dog that could be described as "poorly" right now.

by JonathanH in

jw
friends

i was just reading sprout's topic on their poorly dog, and this comes at a time my dog seems to be having problems as well.

i have a french bulldog that's about five or six years old, and just yesterday he started acting strange.

he was trembling and shaking really bad, and i was worried at first.

JonathanH

I was just reading sprout's topic on their poorly dog, and this comes at a time my dog seems to be having problems as well. I have a french bulldog that's about five or six years old, and just yesterday he started acting strange. He was trembling and shaking really bad, and I was worried at first. But then I figured it was just a behavior he developed. He would only do it if me or my wife was watching, and he would do it really really bad if my wife was watching. He had received a scare in the yard a couple nights ago while he was doing he business, and my wife coddled him a bit while he was all nervous. So we figured "oh, he's just realized he gets alot of love and attention when he shakes, so he's just doing it so we will give him attention." The fact that my wife could walk out of the room and he would just stop, and then as soon as she stepped in he would just start trembling almost violently really confirmed it. So after reading a bit up on it, we decided we would just ignore him when he's shaking, and love on him when he's not to break him of the habit.

But then this morning he started acting even wierder. He has a bed in a little kennel in our spare bedroom he sleeps in every night (it's open, he does it voluntarily) but he was sleeping in the laundry room next to our bedroom on a towel. He's been bed ridden all day, and didn't eat his breakfast. He's not vomiting, or having any bathroom troubles but he's just been incredibly lethargic, and he still shaking like crazy whenever we are around. When he gets nervous (like at the vet's office) he pants even if it's not hot at all, and when my wife and I put him in our bed this morning to just chill out he started panting like crazy like he was really nervous, and he's done that a couple times today.

I really can't figure out if he's sick, or if he's just having some emotional issue. We called our vet and they said it might be seperation anxiety, and to just keep an eye on him. But he's never had any problems with us leaving him at home before, but before my wife went to work today he just about had a nervous breakdown. She had her shoes on, and was getting her keys and he just starting panting really heavy and shaking real bad and then whining, which he NEVER whines. It was pitiful, and kind of scary but he seems so distraught. I have no idea what's wrong with him, but he won't eat and he hasn't gotten out of bed all day except when I picked him up and took him outside to go to the bathroom. Which he did, and then came back inside and went back to bed.

He's always been well behaved, and never pees in the house, or tears things up when we're gone (aside from an occasional sock or tissue), and I really don't know if he's ill, or distressed for some reason, but I'm really worried about the little guy. Sorry, I'm just venting because I'm worried about him. Has anybody ever had a dog with the same problem?

13

"Doubting Jesus' Resurrection" by Kris D. Komarnitsky

by bohm in

this is a very simple idea i had not encountered before, and i hope other will find it interesting to.

the essay is taken from http://www.infidels.org/kiosk/article809.html, but i would also strongly recommend the more recent answer to wlcs critisism of the argument at: http://www.infidels.org/kiosk/article835.html.

"doubting jesus' resurrection".

JonathanH

I think the whole "but look at the eye witness accounts!"is an incredibly weak and naive argument that doesn't even get off the ground. It's astounding to me that any critically thinking adult could ascribe to this argument. If you accept that then there are tons of sacred writings that have to be taken at face value because they write that some person or group of people saw or did something. Of course those are myths to be intellectually disected to understand the culture, politics,and beliefs of those people at a very specific point in history, but obviously the things they attest to didn't really happen as they described them. But the christians? That shit was real, I mean they aren't liars or crazy people! Some of them were very educated (by the stndards of the day....)!!!!

These people saw something too, and experienced something. It was mass delusion based on their emotions and beliefs.

http://youtu.be/3-vASkyYcEU

I can pull videos of all sorts of religions doing this sort of thing. If you asked any of these people if what they experienced was real they would say "absolutely without a doubt". And yet even most christians would not say the holy ghost was present there and filling them with god's spirit, but rather it was something psychological occuring. And yet the jews and gentiles of old were apparently completely immune to this in all of their old timey wisdom and down to earth secular reasoning and skepticism. Clearly what THEY experienced really happened.

4

Higher education and the unemployment rate

by onemore in

jw
friends

now...here is some information (or statistics) that you won't hear at your local kh or assembly program...... "...people with higher education have weathered the economic downturn and unemployment crisis much better than those without.

the unemployment rate for americans with a bachelor's degree or higher was 4.4 percent in june, much lower than the 8.2 percent average for the general population of workers 25 and older.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/master-degree-bachelor-140616688.html.

JonathanH

This is especially true in the US if you have a marketable scientific skill. There are millions looking for jobs in the US, but at the same time there are a quarter million jobs in science and engineering fields that are simply left empty because there aren't qualified educated people to fill them. A big part of the unemployment problem in the US is really an education problem. The US lags far behind in math and science education and more and more jobs require some kind of skills in math and or science to do. Even a great deal of manufacturing jobs these days require math skills and computer literacy. But compared to countries over seas like china and india, the US has become lazy and dumb in these areas. There are only so many service industry jobs to fill that don't require modern education, but the US has a glut of people who are only qualified to fill these rolls.

A few stats on income.

Median income for a chemist with a B.S. 46k a year

For a software engineer with a B.S 56k a year

Electrical Engineer with a B.S 60k a year

For a full time retail worker 20k year

For a factory worker 32k a year

And the people looking for jobs in those last two catagories are the one's who are unemployed. And for the first three, those are STARTING salaries for people with 0-2 years of experience. It only gets higher with seniority. Go get a college education.

According to a recent article I read (I can try to find it if anyone wants the exact reference), the average student loan debt a student leaves college with was around 25k, the price of a nice new car. It's stupid not to go to college.

12

Just checking in to let people know how I'm doing.

by JonathanH in

jw
friends

i haven't been around lately on account of having been very busy the past few weeks, and it's only going to get busier.

this place gives me a needed sense of community, so i thought i would just check in to let everyone know what i've been up to.. one thing i've been up to is matriculating.

i'm officially enrolled in college now, and my first day will be august 15. i haven't decided for certain on my major, but my advisor said that it's my first semester so not to worry too much about it, i'm just going through general college education for now anyway.

JonathanH

Thanks for the support everyone, I am greatly looking forward to the college experience. I am a bit daunted by the length of the journey, I cannot lie. I've been married for five years (going on six) and I won't graduate with my B.S. for another four to five years. For a young whippersnapper of twenty six years of age, this seems like a very extended length of time. Especially given that I will be firing on all cylinders with a job, a wife, a mortgage to pay while I'm taking these courses. And the courses are only going to get harder as I go. Either direction I take, I'm guessing vector calculus or chem 450 are not walks in the park. I keep dreaming about getting my masters or my Ph.D but I need to be a bit grounded and realize the difficulty of the path right in front of me before I can even begin to take such lofty goals seriously.

I am intimidated by it, but I am up for the challenge. Either way it's going to be an enriching experience that will make me a better person for it. Wish me luck, and I'll be sure to let you guys know how it's going as I'm working on it.

6

Battle with the Devil...

by Snoozy in

jw
friends

anyone watch it?

here is the full program on it.... i missed it but will watch it now.

are these people nuts or is there really such a thing as demons?.

JonathanH

The idea of the devil doesn't even make sense. It's an ancient relic (like most of religion) to give people some abject invisible evil to be afraid of/unite against as a common enemy. Even if you do take the whole god and bible thing seriously the idea of some abjectly "evil" entity doesn't make sense. Even if their was some super intelligent spirit creature that was opposed to god's rule, why would he be some wierdly maniacal insane boogeyman? He would be more like the world's greatest lawyer/philosopher making a case. Not some boogeyman that enters people and makes them speak gibberish and flail about like a five year old throwing a tantrum. In an attempt to make a boogieman to scare people into being good, the theologians of old invented an infantile masochist that doesn't make a lick of sense on an psychological or just regular ol' logical level. The idea of devils and demons that haunt people like casper the unfriendly ghost is just silly. Society and civilization grew up but apparently Satan and his minions are stuck in the folklore of the 1300s.

12

Just checking in to let people know how I'm doing.

by JonathanH in

jw
friends

i haven't been around lately on account of having been very busy the past few weeks, and it's only going to get busier.

this place gives me a needed sense of community, so i thought i would just check in to let everyone know what i've been up to.. one thing i've been up to is matriculating.

i'm officially enrolled in college now, and my first day will be august 15. i haven't decided for certain on my major, but my advisor said that it's my first semester so not to worry too much about it, i'm just going through general college education for now anyway.

JonathanH

I haven't been around lately on account of having been very busy the past few weeks, and it's only going to get busier. This place gives me a needed sense of community, so I thought I would just check in to let everyone know what I've been up to.

One thing I've been up to is matriculating. I'm officially enrolled in college now, and my first day will be August 15. I haven't decided for certain on my major, but my advisor said that it's my first semester so not to worry too much about it, I'm just going through general college education for now anyway. I am either going to go into an engineering field (leaning towards electrical engineering) or a Chemistry field (maybe Biochemistry), but I keep leaning toward one or the other depending on the day of the week. I'm starting with only 13 credit hours (12 being the minimum for full time status)to get my feet wet since I am also working full time to pay the bills. My first classes will be English 101, Computer Science 100, Math 150 (I was happy that after testing I qualified to go straight to 150, and didn't need to do lower math courses), and Biology 112 with Lab.

I am anxious and excited and having to wait almost another month for classes to start is killing me. I'm trying to relax and enjoy this last month of relative peace and relaxation before my schedule gets stupid hectic, but I find it hard. I really just want to get started. I'm never going to have a day off once I get going, I'm going to have to work, go to school, or both every day of the week, plus homework and projects. So I am going to be busier than I have ever been in my life. But I think I'm up to the challenge. I got my new laptop for school, and my wife took me clothes shopping so that I would look "cute" for my first day of school. She's being fantastically supportive of my efforts and is very proud of me.

Everything is going really good. But given the circumstances you'll have to understand if I am scarce around here shortly. I know I'm not exactly the center of attention around here, but I know at least a few people actually notice me around here. I'll check in every once and a while during a homework break or something, and let you guys know how I am doing, and find out how everyone here is doing on their own personal journeys. Anyway, that's what's going on with me lately. I hope everything is well with everyone else here.

6

Battle with the Devil...

by Snoozy in

jw
friends

anyone watch it?

here is the full program on it.... i missed it but will watch it now.

are these people nuts or is there really such a thing as demons?.

JonathanH

Those people are as nuts as any pentacostal waving their jacket around yelling gibberish.