Posts by Moxy

16

awake 4-22-02 "spider masquerades as ant&q...

by Moxy in

jw
friends

there is a rather fascinating article at the end of the april 22nd awake concerning a certain spider that is able to imitate an ant so convincingly that it can live among ants and escape detection.

(puzzlingly the article fails to either name the spider or indicate its native habitat.

looking up some info myself, i see that there a several species of ant-mimicing spider, especially of the genus myrmarachne.

Moxy

there is a rather fascinating article at the end of the april 22nd awake concerning a certain spider that is able to imitate an ant so convincingly that it can live among ants and escape detection. (puzzlingly the article fails to either name the spider or indicate its native habitat. looking up some info myself, i see that there a several species of ant-mimicing spider, especially of the genus Myrmarachne.) it imitates ants by raising 2 of its eight legs and waving them around to look like antennae. interesting stuff. the article tells us that this spiders mimicry serves a few purposes. it is able to live among ants and avoid detection by its natural predators, birds and such. also, it is also able to roam the anthill freely at night and catch ants for food.

the article closes with the following:

Undoubtedly there is much more to learn about this spider. Yet, the same can be said of most other species of animal life on earth. How fine it will be in the future to learn more about God's intriguing creations!

yes, i would like to learn more about this god who created a spider whose very appearance and behaviour are so clearly adapted for the sole task of fooling ants, other creations of gods, that there can be no doubt that this is their sole raison d'etre. i would also like to know why this spider has been seemingly built to be skilled at avoiding being eaten by other creations of god. the article doesnt mention that when a spider catches its prey, it does not normally kill it immediately. it paralyzes it, using its stomach chemicals to gradually liquefy the prey's tissue and ingest it, presumably while its prey is conscious and aware. yes, i would like to learn more about this wondrous god who sat down sometime on the fifth day of creation. made some ants and then said to his helpers, 'hey, you know what would be really cool? you remember those ants we just made? lets make some other bugs to really mess with their minds, see if they catch on or not. if they dont, they will be killed and eaten in the most excruciating manner we can come up with.'

in the words of richard dawkins, is he a 'schizophrenic god?'

mox

13

Question about Bible Translations

by spender in

i've been looking for the past couple of days for a study bible with relatively un-biased commentary, and an accurate translation.

i'd also like to get the strongs concordance...is this a good idea?.

any opinions on bible translations you particularly like and why are appreciated.

Moxy

i will pass on the suggestion of ginnytosken, who i consider one of the most intelligent denizens of j-w.com. she says The New Oxford Annotated Bible is one of most valuable books she has ever owned. it is a fully commented RSV, including apocrypha. i havent obtained one yet as shes suggested i do, but i have looked at it and it looks like an excellent resource if serious scholarly study is what you are looking for.

mox

29

Dateline story

by Smitty in

jw
friends

we can probably forget the dateline story for a while.

if it came out now, jw's would look like saints in comparison to the catholics.

at least jw's delete the servants and not move them from congregation to congregation.

Moxy

amazing, i really dont want to get into a numbers debate with you. since you went over your post and redid your sums, im not sure what you are now asking me. i guess i dont understand why your analysis changed from 'Comparatively, the JW problem is over 350 times worse than the Catholic problem' from 'Rather they are likely about the same, or the JW problem is worse' in one day.

anyways, let me just ask some general questions about your last post that are hopefully more constructive. comments from anyone welcome:

The issue is Watchtower policies that contribute to the problem. I agree. That said, unless we establish WHAT THE PROBELM IS, then the policy will seem pointless ... Example, if only one molester exist among all JWs, it would mean that their policy is NOT the problem. However, 23,000 JW molesters worldwide, with about 5,000 JW molesters in the USA means that their policy is TRULY a SERIOUS PROBLEM ... you can't say that the issue is only that molesters exist "without" discussing WHY they EXIST! That is the issue.

this makes pretty good sense just conjecturally. now what number between 1 and 23,000 would you consider the cusp between 'problem' and 'not a problem?' on what do you base this answer?

secondly, do you consider the problem of catholic pedophile priests to be a crisis? why? this might seem an odd question given the media focus. but i think consideration of this topic might help focus attention on how to truly identify problems in the WT. since there is much more information available on catholics, it provides a much easier study too.

im certainly not an expert on the subject. i believe if i wished to educate myself on the matter (and i may) the first thing i would do is get a copy of Pedophiles and Priests by Philip Jenkins, a professor of history and religious studies at Pennsylvania State University. look around the net a bit for some comments or reviews of this book to get the gist of it. above all, it underlines to me the difficulty in objectively understanding the problem of child abuse.

mox

29

Dateline story

by Smitty in

jw
friends

we can probably forget the dateline story for a while.

if it came out now, jw's would look like saints in comparison to the catholics.

at least jw's delete the servants and not move them from congregation to congregation.

Moxy

So far about 10 Preists have been exposed as pedophiles. Let's assume that the problem among Catholics in the USA is 100 times worse, say 1,000 Preists ... for 62,000,000 Catholics. That means only 2/100ths of 1% of Catholics are Pedophiles (0.000016129). Whereas if we take 5,300 JW pedophiles for 930,000 JWs in the USA means just over 1/2% or 0.005698925.

amazing, im sorry. youre just not very good at it. this single paragraph contains so many errors i dont even want to touch it. just error piled on top of error....

mox

9

BIBLE STORIES WITH LEGOS!!!

by spender in

http://www.thereverend.com/brick_testament/index.html .

i found this link hilarious...i hope some of you do too :) the one about judas is great, as well as the one about women, and the one about marriage :) check it out!

;)

Moxy

i was also reminded of monty python in legos, one of the funniest things ive seen on the net. i forgot to post the link so im getting around to it now:
http://www.lego.com/studios/screening/movie.asp?title=montypython

mox

29

Dateline story

by Smitty in

jw
friends

we can probably forget the dateline story for a while.

if it came out now, jw's would look like saints in comparison to the catholics.

at least jw's delete the servants and not move them from congregation to congregation.

Moxy

amazing, i truly value your remarkable insights, experiences and writing skills, but maybe for everyone's sake could you please lay off the statistical analysis for a while.

mox

16

How much of our brain do we use?

by sleepy in

jw
friends

this was from another post.. apostate man "the human mind is a wonderful healing device and we only use about 10% of it.".

xander '*bzzzzt* sorry, urban legend.

we use 100%.. now i've heared this being discussed a few times here before,.

Moxy

heres another good write-up: http://www.snopes2.com/science/stats/10percnt.htm

how would you possibly measure the total 'potential' of a brain and the current used 'potential?' while it might be meaningful to say that someone has an under-used mind, to try and place a percentage on it betrays a lack of understanding about how the brain actually works.

mox

132

Can any Witness possibly anwser this question?

by jerome in

hello all... i came across this line of questioning many months on the inet so i decided that i would submit just this once to peer pressure and make a usefull contribution to the board.. here is the question... is jesus just "a god?".

many of the regular inet surfers would have come across this line of questioning before so if you have you could just sit back and relax and read the replys.. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>.

me: so is he a 'lesser true god' or a 'lesser false god?'.

Moxy

ill wander back into this thread since alan has made it interesting. couple points:

apostate man said to alan:

There is ONE AND ONLY ONE according to the Bible and if you do not believe in the Bible, then what are you doing here?

i object to this. what alan is doing, as i had been earlier in the thread, is discussing the question of what a particular person who wrote a particular passage was expressing, e.g. what did the author of john 1:1 believe the relationship to be between god and christ? aren't we equally capable of discussing that question whether or not we believe that the author of john1:1 was also inspired to write down god's thoughts? if not, then i think your whole argument is kind of meaningless, inasmuch as it is an argument that is not accessible by epistemic reason but only by faith. faith should be based on reason, not the other way around. personally it is an argument that i still enjoy delving into, despite my changed views on the bible.

alan said:

The earliest writings contain no trace of the trinity, and they can be read quite understandably from a non-trinitarian point of view. By the time of Paul's writings, traces of a "Jesus is theos" idea are seen

by this sequence, i can only assume the 'earliest writings' are those in the old testament, is that right? i think i wouldve expressed this differently, ignoring the hebrew writings: first, the pauline epistles i dont think contain any traces of christs deification; neither do the synoptic gospels tho they are approaching it. john's gospel does but is fuzzy as you say, with formalization to come of course by the post-apostolic fathers.

I wholeheartedly agree with M. James Penton's assessment: they're all pups from the same bitch.

great quote - i dont remember hearing this one. where is it?

mox

3

another sunken city in india

by Moxy in

jw
friends

for those oh you following the archeological finds in cuba, heres another interesting one:.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/england/newsid_1923000/1923794.stm.

excerpts:.

Moxy

for those oh you following the archeological finds in cuba, heres another interesting one:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/england/newsid_1923000/1923794.stm

excerpts:

The myths speak of six temples submerged beneath the waves with the seventh temple still standing on the seashore.
The myths also state that a large city once stood here which was so beautiful the gods became jealous and sent a flood that swallowed it up entirely in a single day.
One of the expedition team, Graham Hancock, said: "I have argued for many years that the world's flood myths deserve to be taken seriously, a view that most Western academics reject.
"But here in Mahabalipuram we have proved the myths right and the academics wrong."
Scientists now want to explore the possibility that the city was submerged following the last Ice Age.
If this proves correct, it would date the discovery at more than 5,000 years old.

mox

33

Molestation accusation.

by refiners fire in

i got a phone call from an ex dub i used to hang out with 20 years ago when we were young bucks.

i hardly seen him in the past 15 years.. weve gone different ways and his family was always a bit..you know... tainted.

a bit nutso.. anyway, the guy calls me on tuesday night all distressed and wanting desperately to see me.

Moxy

this is a very complex problem, as evidenced by the variation in state laws. im sick of certain ones who give trite answers between cries of 'MY GOD! THE CHILDREN! WONT SOMEONE PLEEEEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!'

mox