Posts by Jonathan Drake

274

Indiana "Religious Freedom" (right to discriminate)

by Simon in

sickening to see the photo of the religious zealots all stood around the governor signing into law the right for people to discriminate against others (gay, lesbian, trans-gender) based purely on religious dogma.. if religious people want those freedoms then the can't have it both ways - they cannot complain if *they* are discriminated against.. "sorry, we don't like zionists, get out".

"oh, it's some special mass and you can't work your shift?

you're fired!"..

Jonathan Drake

Viv, how do you not recognize that you have a problem. I said this some time back- this is what you do. I rarely see you post and not get involved in some argument. and I honestly think this is why:

there is a difference between being intelligent and being smart. Smart means you know things. Intelligence means you have the ability to learn and apply. Personally I think you have an abundance of the former and a lack of the latter. This results in you getting in arguments all the time, some of which you crush people with your smarts but a majority of which you get shown up and just don't want to concede that you aren't that intelligent. Being extremely smart is just as usefule as being intelligent, and if you'd stop trying to be intelligent and use your smarts to actually learn then you may actually start sounding and behaving intelligent.

http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-smart-and-intelligent/

27

Ex-Christians being angry

by Jonathan Drake in

jw
friends

i know i'm angry.

i was curious if others are too.

i feel completely justified in my anger as well.

Jonathan Drake

I know I'm angry. I was curious if others are too.

i feel completely justified in my anger as well. I was angry enough at the Jehovah's witmess religion for causing me to throw away the potential I had to be anything. Now I'm angry about Christianity being a big huge lie. The relatives I've lost and can never see and won't have a relationship with makes me angry. The way billions still believe it makes me angry, and the fact that all of those people are being victimized by a lie, robbed of their intelligence and stripped of their reasoning ability makes me angry; but the fact that I was one of them just pisses me off.

I can completely understand the reaction of some ex Christians to posts about faith and God and the future now. I'm not even sure I can post on such topics without coming across as aggressive to that person when I'm honestly just trying to help in what small ways I currently can.

274

Indiana "Religious Freedom" (right to discriminate)

by Simon in

sickening to see the photo of the religious zealots all stood around the governor signing into law the right for people to discriminate against others (gay, lesbian, trans-gender) based purely on religious dogma.. if religious people want those freedoms then the can't have it both ways - they cannot complain if *they* are discriminated against.. "sorry, we don't like zionists, get out".

"oh, it's some special mass and you can't work your shift?

you're fired!"..

Jonathan Drake

I recently read this and I thought it helpful in explaining the difference between a theory in general and a theory in science. It also speaks to the danger of teaching creationist views in school or even merely not teaching the reality of science and evolution. In my own view, with the very real danger of climate change, we cannot afford the cost of retarding society the way we are by teaching lies or ignoring reality.

In science, something can be both theory and fact. We know the existence of pathogens is a fact; germ theory provides testable explanations concerning the nature of disease. We know the existence of cells is a fact and that cell theory provides testable explanations of how cells function. Similarly, we know evolution is a fact and that evolutionary theories explain biological patterns and mechanisms. The late Stephen Jay Gould said it best: “Evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world’s data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts.”
Theory is the most powerful and important tool science has, but nonscientists have perverted and diluted the word to mean a hunch, notion, or idea. Thus, all too many people interpret the phrase evolutionary theory to mean evolutionary hunch. Not surprisingly, I spend the first week of class differentiating theory from fact, as well as defining other critical terms.

Taken from:

http://tinyurl.com/ojfdqz3

274

Indiana "Religious Freedom" (right to discriminate)

by Simon in

sickening to see the photo of the religious zealots all stood around the governor signing into law the right for people to discriminate against others (gay, lesbian, trans-gender) based purely on religious dogma.. if religious people want those freedoms then the can't have it both ways - they cannot complain if *they* are discriminated against.. "sorry, we don't like zionists, get out".

"oh, it's some special mass and you can't work your shift?

you're fired!"..

Jonathan Drake

Deleted for weird error cutting off sentences.

36

Calling all lovers of Jehovahs and His Christ

by vinman in

i must say that i have always loved jehovah and his son jesus christ.

i have a 12 inch diameter telescope.

i would go outside and listen to the psalms that praised to my god.

Jonathan Drake

Your God let this happen:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30034501

Your God is letting this happen:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ebola-death-toll-rises-in-west-africa-while-us-interest-wanes/

43

Atheism

by Jonathan Drake in

jw
friends

recent events and book reads (one suggested by cofty i believe- thank you) have lead me to the only logical and acceptable conclusion:.

there is no god.. simple logical reasoning: matter can neither me created or destroyed.

so the amount of mass in the universe is constant.

Jonathan Drake

@enigma haha no I didn't even realize it was April fools. I'm not accustomed to remembering it's a holiday. Except Christmas, because it's always so in your face.

@marvin I guess I should say, logical to me. i can't believe I ever accepted faith in God TBH. It no longer makes sense to me for the reason I posted.

43

Atheism

by Jonathan Drake in

jw
friends

recent events and book reads (one suggested by cofty i believe- thank you) have lead me to the only logical and acceptable conclusion:.

there is no god.. simple logical reasoning: matter can neither me created or destroyed.

so the amount of mass in the universe is constant.

Jonathan Drake

@cappy It is liberating. And I look forward to learning more.

@cantleave lol.

43

Atheism

by Jonathan Drake in

jw
friends

recent events and book reads (one suggested by cofty i believe- thank you) have lead me to the only logical and acceptable conclusion:.

there is no god.. simple logical reasoning: matter can neither me created or destroyed.

so the amount of mass in the universe is constant.

Jonathan Drake

Recent events and book reads (one suggested by Cofty I believe- thank you) have lead me to the only logical and acceptable conclusion:

there is no God.

simple logical reasoning: matter can neither me created or destroyed. So the amount of mass in the universe is constant. This more complex reality is dumbed down in the idea of a God that has always been and always will be- but it's more accurate to say that mass has always been and always will be. It will change over time what it's made of: matter or energy. When matter, it is made up of elements, all the same elements all across the universe. With infinite time, a highly improbable possibility becomes 100% guaranteed and thus somewhere, sometime the elements mix just right and we get life. That life micro evolves over an incredible amount of time leading to macro changes and over a very long period of time we get here, today.

This is is logical. And religion must die so that we can survive before we all kill each other.

31

the Witch of Endor

by Magnum in

1sa 28:3-25 (nwt - not revised version).

7 finally saul said to his servants: seek for me a woman who is a mistress of spirit mediumship, and i will go to her and consult her.

then his servants said to him: look!

Jonathan Drake

Back to Saul and the witch of Endor. If it was a demon, the demon would have refused to comply or would have given better news to Saul even if it was false information. Since the message from the woman came true it had to come from God. It would have to be God speaking through the brain pattern of Samuel.

I disagree with the premise that if it were demon it must have then refused to comply or give better news. Just because demons are fallen angels who rebel against God doesn't mean that they also must all have purely evil intent or be mischievous inherently. This would be akin to stating that a person who doesn't follow the bible or doesn't believe in God (hence rebels to various degrees) is always evil and mischievous but we know that isn't true. demons may have rebelled and may have a certain death awaiting them, but assuming that they then must behave in certain ways because it would make sense I don't think is logical.

117

Is homosexuality ever justifiable? I say YES!!!

by TimothyT in

in the january 2012 awake, pages 28-29 there is another article about homosexuality.. .

the writers argue that genetics, the environment, and sexual abuse do not justify homosexuality.

the bible clearly states that homosexuality is wrong and is an abhorrent sin.

Jonathan Drake

WOW! JD is totally obtuse! - DD
Yep.
"tabernacle" = skene NOT naos.
Rev 7:15 naos - Strongs 3485 = a temple, a shrine, that part of the temple where God himself resides.
Only the priest could enter the naos.
Rev 21:3 skene - Strongs 4633 = tent

Omg. And where was the tent that the priest entered? Was it in heaven or was it on earth? Where was the temple IN JERUSALEM where GODS HOUSE was? Was it in Jerusalem, in Israel, on earth AMONG MEN or in heaven?

In both cases, the tent or tabernacle and the temple were on earth among men in the midst of the people. This is exactly where the book of revelation places it as well, hence the crowd, Ochlos, is in the Naos where God resides in the same sense as he always does/has in the bible among his people on earth. They are in the temple because they no longer have priests to represent them on earth and have been made clean and thus are holy and may enter the temple (check Hebrews chapter 7, where paul states there would no more be any priest succession as Christ is said to be the king priest for eternity who will never die).