Lol BoC, I miss your honesty and straight forward spproach ;)
snare&racket
JoinedPosts by snare&racket
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38
University Application Personal Statement dilemma - Should I mention my jw past?
by will-be-apostate ini am applying to chemical engineering course in the uk through ucas (a lot of things changed since i've posted last time).. i have a lot of skills i developed while regular pioneering, like public speaking skills, ability to reason (even if it's bs), presentational skills etc.. i feel it would boost my personal statement a lot, but i'm also afraid they would say "this guy beleives in god, and loves science, he must be creationist.
away with him".. how could i mention that i gave interviews front of thousands of people and did voluntary work in my hometown without giving a bad impression?.
i don't want to go into details and start explaining myself that "however i don't beleive in god", or something like that.
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900 Top Scientists Sign Statement Skeptical of Macro-Evolution
by Perry inwe are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural .
selection to account for the complexity of life.
careful examination of the .
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snare&racket
Perry, a friend/parent/observer can be dissapointed snd ashamed with someone without being antisocial, narcissitic, and dysfunctional.
I want you to see the evidence I have seen. It is so very frustrating to come back and see you still desperate to undermine something you can still not as yet even describe or define, evidence that you simply don't understand the theory.
I have zero doubt, that if you understood the theory and saw the evidence, you would accept it as true. But deciding to not do so will result in you never having an objective, honest, appraisal on a topic you devote hours of effort to
As a human, it is dissapointing and a little sad to observe such self constricting behaviour. It is imdeed a shame. If that seems psychologically bizzare to you, then no explination will suffice for your lack of appreciation for my perspective.
I must end by saying. before you are tempted to hold this reply as a mirror up to me, I have researched and read every anti-evolution argument and issue I could find. I disagreed with and laughed at my first evolution lectures as an adult. I have stood your side of the fence, give my side a go, start by at least knowing what evolution is.
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What are the ODDS Jehovah's Witnesses are the ONLY TRUE religion?
by Terry inthe entire organization shoves all its chips into the center of the table on one bet: they are the only mouthpiece of god on earth.. what are the odds to this bet?.
the statistic for christian denominations make jw's 1 out of 41,000 opinions.. a chance of 1 in 41 thousand is a tough bet.. _________________________.
if abc tv broadcasts shark tank and your tv receives mister ed .
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snare&racket
Every single living thing and human that has ever existed......has died.
Despite watching Witnesses getting old and die all their life, all of whom felt they never would, JW's will fully believe they are destined to not die.
What are the odds?
Odd is the word indeed.
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900 Top Scientists Sign Statement Skeptical of Macro-Evolution
by Perry inwe are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural .
selection to account for the complexity of life.
careful examination of the .
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snare&racket
Scientists do not do party lines, you could not be more misinformed if you tried.
Scientists hunt for gaps in 'the party line' aka the evidence and theories.
Scientists pay their rent by finding faults and problems in theories.
Over half of scientists are religious.
If a scientist was to find A SINGLE piece of evidence against evolution, biology science would EXCITINGLY grind to a halt and they would get a Nobel prize for the finding.
Perry if you even KNEW of a SINGLE piece of evidence proving evolutiin wrong,we would hear about it.
You have it all ass backward because of your world beliefs.It is dissapointing to come back after all this time and see you still can't even define evolution Perry. Shame buddy. Have you not learned anything from your experience with Watchtower, arguments and opinions from authority are insignificant. A tiny number of 'scientists' (by what definition)of various expertise signing an a petition is simply....bizzare, a little embarassing and totally valueless.
Evidence is the ONLY reliable guide.
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900 Top Scientists Sign Statement Skeptical of Macro-Evolution
by Perry inwe are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural .
selection to account for the complexity of life.
careful examination of the .
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snare&racket
Firstly, all evolution states is that animals change over time. THAT IS IT.
We can dig down into the earth and see that modern animals aren't in earlier earths history (there are no rabbits in dinosaur times) and the animals that were in ancient times aren't here now (there are no giant sharks now) , but by chance.....lol....there are animals that look like both in between. Also by DNA we can see that these animals are all relatives and are present today in some cases. Darwin noticed that the bones found showed similarities and tiny changes over time and that there was a process in place that obvioulsy introduces small changes to species over time.
That is it!
Tha is ALL evolution is.
Now we can see DNA and cellular function and we have worked out how these tiny changes come about. When copying the dna as our cells constantly do, they sometimes read the 4 letter coding wrong, so e.g. instead of reading TACG AATT it may accidentslly get copied as TACG AATAAAAAAAAAAA and that may result in sickle cell shaped red blood cells instead of round ones, or a difference in colour of skin, or from having a hairy body to having no hair etc etc.
That is all evolution is. If that small change in DNA is no good for you in the enviroment you live you will likely not do well, if the accidental dna copying leads to something beneficial e.g. a hairy body in an enviroment getting colder.....guess what.... your genes will survive better and therefore the hairy colony will grow and eventually dominate.
Many that don't understand evolution recognise that otjers don't either and so add more to the mix. Where and how life began on earth IS NOTHING TO DO WITH EVOLUTION, and neither is the big bang. All evolution is, is the study of animals changing over time. The reason it caused a stir in religious circles 200yrs ago is that people thought the earth was 6000yrs old, that the animals as they are now were made by god in eden, therefore animals could not possibly have changed without gods hand.
As for an argument from authority and the petition.....
I have heard a doctor say that humans used to all be 600ft tall, 6000 years ago.
I have met and spoke with a world renound christian biologist expert that admitted to me that if they saw evidence that contradicted the bible, they would have to reject the evidence. Ot was the last thing he said to me. I was recording the interview as a project on medical ethics and evolution.The next day he requested I destroyed the tape and formally removed permission for me to use anything he had said. This chap contributed to textbooks as an expert in enzymes. Enzyme science is hugely based on evolution. The most embarrassing thing he said to me was that Dawkins was a fool because of his book title "The selfish gene."...why? because genes can't have feelings.... My jaw fell.
He gave me two reasons for denying evolution, one a hamster gene ( he couldn't rememeber the name or details) that he heard couldn't be explained by evolution in the 90's he admitted he had not researched it since hearing that. Secondly he said there was a rock formation in devon that in one section had an unexpected formation, indicating geological dating globally is wrong. Again he didnt have any details other than he saw it in a christian documentary once. I swear this was his evidence! I asked if it was possible the video was bias, misinformed, he said likely not. I asked when he watched the video and he said the 80's. I asked if he had in any way researched to see what geologists say about this formation now and he said no.
My point.......
"Scientist" means nothing, evidence means EVERYTHING.
It is impossible to find ANY evidence that the sun goes around the earth because it doesn't. It was believed to be true becuase of the bible and tradition. Evolution has 200 years of evidence behind it, growing by the day with NOT ONE piece of controversial opposing evidence found to this dsy. It is impossible for it to be untrue because we witness it taking place.
Evolution tales a long time and so without understanding evolution and its mechanism it is hard to see what evidence is. Every single fossil is evidence for evolutiom. If you took a photo of a human every day of its life, from conception you could look at photo one and see a single cell and the last photo and see an aged human, yet there will not be a 'missing link', a half cell half pensioner image. Every photo is a missing link and then ever photo could itself be broken down into changes taking place every hour, every minute, every second etc etc etc. So likewise looking at the fossil remains of the evolution of the whale there is no half whale half mammal, the changes in the species took place over millions of years with tiny changes every generation. Just like the imperceivable changes in a human by day but yet result in amazing change over time. A single cell became an old person. Think about how much change that is, likewise animals evolve too.
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Chlostridium difficile infectiion...
by titch ini suppose that this question falls under the topic of "personal experiences.
" so, i have a question for the members of the site: has anyone had any experience with a malady called "chlostridium dificille infection"?
either yourself personally, or a relative or a friend?
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snare&racket
C diff is very common. It is a bacteria that releases toxins causing diarrhoea and fever etc. It is a bacterium found in the bowel and it can become problomatic by two mechanisms. Most commonly, someone will take antibitics which will alter the gut bacteria present in us all in such a manner that the CDiff bacteria become a more dominant colony, with opposing bacteria colonies reduced by the antibiotics
It is a crude rule of thumb, but most of the antibiotics beginning with 'C' can cause C-Diff (by chance not design).
Secondly, it can be passed via the faecal oral route. Yes, that is when someone touches an item or area contaminated with the bacteria that then touch their mouth , nose etc.
Normal treatment is vancomycin. If vanc doesn't work, it means the colony in you has evolved resistence (yes evolution takes place right in front of our eyes) and this is becoming more common due to people not fonishing their course of antibiotics, allowing bacteria to get exposed but not killed by the vancomycin.
Faecal transplant simply rebalances the colony sizes.
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University Application Personal Statement dilemma - Should I mention my jw past?
by will-be-apostate ini am applying to chemical engineering course in the uk through ucas (a lot of things changed since i've posted last time).. i have a lot of skills i developed while regular pioneering, like public speaking skills, ability to reason (even if it's bs), presentational skills etc.. i feel it would boost my personal statement a lot, but i'm also afraid they would say "this guy beleives in god, and loves science, he must be creationist.
away with him".. how could i mention that i gave interviews front of thousands of people and did voluntary work in my hometown without giving a bad impression?.
i don't want to go into details and start explaining myself that "however i don't beleive in god", or something like that.
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snare&racket
Not at all comatose, all our opinions are legit.
I would add, contrary to what others say (sorry), I again would not try to imply that hawking Watchtowers and spreading indoctrination from the platform is voluntary work. Neither is helping carry bricks in the building of indoctrinatiin centres.
Voluntary work has the implication of doing aid work. Choosing to be a JW and all that involves is indeed voluntary and indeed work, but in no way is it offering aid to the community.
If you use that term, be prepared to explain what you mean by it. If there are interviews they will ask. Somehow through watchtower articles and personal stories within literature, the JW's had a belief that they can refer to their religious activities as voluntary work, totally misunderstanding that other religions do 'voluntary work' such as soup kitchens, helping the homeless, providing financisl charity aid etc etc.
As a JW i knew it was a cheeky thing to imply on a CV etc and I have no doubt you know what I mean by that. Academics aren't silly, they will expect to hear stories of feeding the homeless or mountain walking for cancer research, not handing out leaflets or building the property portfolio for Watchtower.
Again......just my humble opinion.
P.s. jobs where public speaking and sales are central, arguably mentioning the JW skills may be beneficial obviously. For me, I think the downside of being attached to the belief system far outweighs the benefit. I want to start teaching medicine in university and have already begun teaching on the wards and clinical skills department, but I have not and would not ever mention the 20years of bible studying I did.
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At what point will there be more ex-JWs than active JWs?
by NewYork44M ingiven the flow out of the organization and the inability to find new recruits, there should be a tipping point where the ex's out number the actives.
has there been any discussion related to this topic?.
because many within the organization are not true believers and are in various stages of exit this calculation is some what complicated.
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snare&racket
Even ten years ago, anecdotally there were far more people disfellowshipped or leaving per cong, than brought in.
The growth is almost totally reliant on JW children getting baptised, and statistically only half stay in.
Then we have all the older generation dying off.
I remember reading that the anglican church alone had over 70 million members. It puts into perspective all the constant door knocking, advertising and JW children baptisms, in 3 decades the JW's have only grown by a blip. I can think back 25 years and the same building, same hall size, same families were in the hall as are now.
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University Application Personal Statement dilemma - Should I mention my jw past?
by will-be-apostate ini am applying to chemical engineering course in the uk through ucas (a lot of things changed since i've posted last time).. i have a lot of skills i developed while regular pioneering, like public speaking skills, ability to reason (even if it's bs), presentational skills etc.. i feel it would boost my personal statement a lot, but i'm also afraid they would say "this guy beleives in god, and loves science, he must be creationist.
away with him".. how could i mention that i gave interviews front of thousands of people and did voluntary work in my hometown without giving a bad impression?.
i don't want to go into details and start explaining myself that "however i don't beleive in god", or something like that.
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snare&racket
I used to think non JW people looked fondly at such attributes and skills..... now with ten years distance from WT, I would never mention it in a million years.
Here is some perspective, imagine a smiley, clean cut guy walks in to an scientific interview and says expectantly "I'm very good with people, I audited people as a scientologist for 10 years..." or "As a mormon preacher, I developed skills to talk and interact with strangers."
Selling a cult door to door or from platforms is not a skill most are looking for. Don't get me wrong, just like a good scientologists there are Jw's out there with fantastic interpersonal and auditory skills, but it is all in the context of selling untruths, ironically it was wholly anti-science, I would 100% NOT mention it. WT has a reputation of indoctrination, dictatored manipulation without the freedom to question or think for onevself, with a mindset of suspicion for reason and science. From talking to many, many people, to my shameful realisation, when admitting connection to such a religion, at best, the average joe will just think "weirdo." With chemistry in mind, this is the same organisation that said Aluminium was a metal, literally from the Devil.
Having been through UCAS, you simply need the minimum academic grades to not get binned at the starting line, then evidence of your interest in the topic and finally, yet importantly, you need to show them you have extra curricula skills, experience and a good work life balance.
Despite what Watchrower told you all your life, they have hindered not helped.
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Looking back to what happened since sept 2012... i must say its brilliant !
by insidetheKH inwho thought in the early months of 2012 that such a rebranding would take place in only a matter of 24 months?.
they managed to go from an antique looking and boring website (watchtower.org) with hardly any attractive content to go to a fresh looking new website with stuff for everyone, families, children, teenagers.. movies, and short videos about almost everything and new ones added every month.
cartoons, animation video's , interviews, picture activities all kind of projects, many audio files like dramatic bible readings, dramas and music, online research tools, new brochures for kids (off and online) etc.
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snare&racket
Ten steps ahead because they have an app and a religious tv show in 2014.....
Apps were big 6yrs ago, religious tv channels 25yrs ago.......
Ten steps ahead of who? Ipads were banned in kingdom halls until their app lol, progressive?
My iPad is older than noahs favourite poo tree, now you're allowed one and you think you are progressive? It's hilarious!