Moxy

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Posts by Moxy

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  3

  I'M BACK AND FEELING GREAT!!!!!

  by exodus in

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  it has been six months since my disfellowshipping from the jw org.

  and let me tell you that i'm doing greeeeat, it is amazing.

  life is so different when you are no longer a slave of the wts.

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  Moxy

  i thought this was more viagra spam
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  9

  Near Death Experiences - How do JWs explain

  by Double Edge in

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  i'm not a jw, but it is my understanding that jw's don't believe in an immortal soul that passes on after the body dies...that when a person dies, they 'sleep' until called forth in the resurrection if they were found worthy.

  is that correct?

  if so, what do they think of the numerous documented near-death experiences over the centuries?

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  Moxy

  same thing as real medical science.
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  7

  American Religious Identification Study

  by mikepence in

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  see http://www.gc.cuny.edu/studies/key_findings.htm.

  some highlights.... jw's famous for their apostates ;-) almost 1/3rd leave!...

  "some groups such as mormons and jehovah's witnesses appear to attract a large number of converts ("in-switchers"), but also nearly as large a number of apostates ("out-switchers").

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  Moxy

  i was surprised by that number too joel. but i think it can be better explained like this: people are more likely to become religious later in life, the age breakdown published showed religions generally have higher percentages in the 65+ range. however, JWs are one religion that doesnt benefit from that boost as much, since very few people suddenly become JWs late in life for obvious reasons. so whereas most mainstream religions will have a good representation of recently converted 65+ members, such a person is almost unheard of in JW.

  i also thought it quite significant that during the 10-year period in which US publisher numbers saw a 15% increase, the number of professed members actually dropped by 3.7%.

  mox
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  25

  Diary of an Armageddon Survivor

  by GinnyTosken in

  1. jw
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  i was sorting through my files today and found this piece from 1996 and thought i'd share.. ginny.

  diary of an armageddon survivor.

  ed thorn, our presiding overseer, told us that those who were missing should have spent more time in field service.. day 2. brother thorn called a special meeting this morning.

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  Moxy

  very cute in a very orwellian style. so many issues to be addressed that i cant believe even i have never really thought about...

  mox
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  14

  Genetic evidence for "macroevolution"?

  by fodeja in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  first genetic evidence uncovered of how major changes.

  in body shapes occurred during early animal evolution.

  biologists at the university of california, san diego have uncovered the first genetic evidence that explains how large-scale alterations to body plans were accomplished during the early evolution of animals.. in an advance online publication february 6 by nature of a paper scheduled to appear in nature, the scientists show how mutations in regulatory genes that guide the embryonic development of crustaceans and fruit flies allowed aquatic crustacean-like arthropods, with limbs on every segment of their bodies, to evolve 400 million years ago into a radically different body plan: the terrestrial six-legged insects.. the achievement is a landmark in evolutionary biology, not only because it shows how new animal body plans could arise from a simple genetic mutation, but because it effectively answers a major criticism creationists had long leveled against evolutionthe absence of a genetic mechanism that could permit animals to introduce radical new body designs.

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  Moxy

  REM: "Every animal existing or that has existed is in transition"
  LOL!! Yea, right, like the whales? ho boy, we really got a winner here, folks!

  i dont even understand what the joke is here

  Can you imagine trying to improve a computer program, to give it new, more complex functions, by relying on copying mistakes?

  no need to imagine. its been done. people do it. its called Genetic Algorithms. you might argue the significance of it if you like but dont just pretend it doesnt exist, with a have of your hand.

  mox
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  40

  Why God cannot have existed forever.

  by sleepy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  why god cannot have existed forever.. this is something a friend of mine brought up a number of years ago.at the time i just thought that to understand how a god existed forever was just beyond our little brains.. well now after reading a lot more physics books i think its evidence a god couldn't have existed forever and therefore would had a begining (if there was a god).. basically if god had lived from infinity in the past we wouldn't have been created yet as there would always be forever untill we were created.. do you get that?.

  at any point in time we could take, if time went back forever then you could never get to that point in time.

  you would always have infinity infront of you.. sorry if this doesn't make much sense as it is not easy to describe.

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  Moxy

  ok one more thing i will say. we should not take the cop-out that the question is beyond our puny understanding. it goes without saying we will not be able to fully grasp the realities of the universe in the everyday sense we grasp the reality of process cheese. but we can understand the ideas. flatlanders are quite capable of understanding 3D space, just as we are fully capable of understanding space of 4 or more dimensions. we dont quite 'grasp' it the same way, but we can describe it perfectly, performing all manner of geometrical calculations in n-dimensional space, so its not fair to say its something beyond our understanding. same thing with infinity. we cant comfortable contain the thought in our head, but we understand the concept perfectly. mathematics deals with infinities all the time, even distinguishing between different 'sizes' of infinity, aleph-nought being the absurdly named 'smallest infinity.' so lets not just throw our hands up in the air and say 'to heck with it.' lets give ourselves a little credit.

  mox
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  40

  Why God cannot have existed forever.

  by sleepy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  why god cannot have existed forever.. this is something a friend of mine brought up a number of years ago.at the time i just thought that to understand how a god existed forever was just beyond our little brains.. well now after reading a lot more physics books i think its evidence a god couldn't have existed forever and therefore would had a begining (if there was a god).. basically if god had lived from infinity in the past we wouldn't have been created yet as there would always be forever untill we were created.. do you get that?.

  at any point in time we could take, if time went back forever then you could never get to that point in time.

  you would always have infinity infront of you.. sorry if this doesn't make much sense as it is not easy to describe.

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  Moxy

  i think this question falls under the domain of philosophy rather than physics and math.

  one thing i will say. whether we are figments of gods imagination or whether we really exist is a meaningless question. by defintion, there is no possible way to distinguish the two.

  mox
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  12

  Splinter Groups

  by Kenneson in

  1. jw
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  the watchtower bible and tract society was born in dissent.

  charles taze russell, its founder, (was a presbyterian, then a congregationalist, then a skeptic, then an adventist, and finally originated his own brand).

  see http://watchtower.observer.org/.

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  Moxy

  theres a reference book at the library that has an extensive bibliography of items published by russellite-offshoot groups. it lists something on the order of 30 groups, when all the variants are included. i might transcribe some of it out sometime if someones interested.

  mox
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  22

  Brother Where Art Thou?

  by Smoldering Wick in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a quick introduction then on to my 2nd post *smiles*.... general greetings & well wishes.....i'm new to jwd, but not new to xjw/jw chat.

  i'm 36 years old (and yes...i'm wearing a bonnet and a pink outfit in my pic) (that means i'm a chick for all you lusty men)i've spent the last 3.5 years online laughing, crying, generally healing from my watchtower divorce.

  so now that i've let go of all the spit n venom...i sit here worried that my posts will lack the sarcasm and general wicked tone necessary to keep your interest...maybe i should invest in some semi-nude glamour shots?

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  Moxy

  well, its not me. but welcome to the board. hope you now feel free to share your thoughts on some of the many subjects that find their way thru here. you sound like an interesting and intelligent person.

  mox
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  13

  Human Anatomy;a Question for JWs

  by badboy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if god created man,why is the modern vocal tract posited so people are more likely to choke to death.. cf.

  eve spoke-human language and human evolution,pp139-140.

  the position of the larynx means that modern humans are more likelier to choke to death.. would a loving god create man in such a way that he would be likely to choke to death

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  Moxy

  i think those are some good questions mozzer. the part about sin altering law gets me thinking. this is something i had a lot of trouble with. i always understood imperfection to be a natural consequence of sin, not something that god sort of injected into us as a punishment. of course, it gets tricky to distinguish between what is natural and what is an act of god, or between what god causes and what he allows to happen. but i would have a big problem with finding out that when Original Sin took place and god had to decide what to do, he sat down and invented a whole bunch of horrible diseases to unleash on our poor ancestors, or that he took the Human blueprints back out of the file drawer and started thinking of things to mess with to make our lives worse. so any explanation of sin and imperfection has to address issues of disease, biological imperfections such as mentioned in this thread, and also the overwhelming simliarity between man and animal. after a lot of research, i found that biological evolution provides a much more consistent and plausible explanation of these items than theology.

  thats just an overview of my thoughts on this. if you want to pursue that, or think you have an especially insightful theory on sin and imperfection, lets talk.

  mox