I'm pretty neutral on gmo. I don't know if it's been around long enough for us to actually see how it will effect everything. But until there is actual evidence to suggest it's bad I'm not bothered.
Jonathan Drake
JoinedPosts by Jonathan Drake
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Evidence based folks: what is your stance on GMO's and why?
by cappytan inso, the anti-gmo movement scored another victory today.
chipotle has opted to only use non-gmo food items.. hooray for them.
i'm pretty neutral on the subject, mostly because, other than questionable treatment of farmers, i have seen no evidence to avoid gmo's for health reasons.. basically, my neutrality boils down to the stance that i'll buy non-gmo, so long as the price is reasonable.
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Why do religious people make claims and then refuse to back them up?
by Viviane inseveral times over the past few months i have had conversations, both here and in real life, with religious people making all sorts of interesting and conflicting claims.
i like to know how things work, so generally i will ask questions to net out what i am being told and see if it can be explained and make sense.. for instance, if someone said 2+2=4 and i asked how, there are a variety of ways that could be shown to me, a number line, physical objects being put together, counting on fingers and toes, etc.
indeed, in my personal life, i often have to explain how certain technologies work, sometimes planned, sometimes off the cuff, from a variety of group sizes to a varying degree of technical expertise.
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Jonathan Drake
If what I'm reading is as it appears (I've not gone back enough pages to catch up), I feel the need to share this quote from Sam Harris book I'm currently reading.
Tell a devout Christian that his wife is cheating on him, or that frozen yogurt can make a man invisible, and he is likely to require as much evidence as anyone else, and to be persuaded only to the extent that you give it. Tell him that the book he keeps by his bed was written by an invisible deity who will punish him with fire for eternity if he fails to accept its every incredible claim about the universe, and he seems to require no evidence what so ever.
Im starting to firmly believe people of faith have to open themselves up on their own to be reasonable. That's what had to happen with me, I had to be willing to consider other possibilities than I otherwise had been before.
Abiogenesis is a really amazing theory, one that was tested in a way in the mid 1900s. I recently read about the experiment and it's very interesting.
For more on these experiments read here.I really don't see why abiogenesis should be any less probable than the existence of God, I consider it more likely TBH because there is more evidence suggesting it's possible than there is of God.
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Question for people who believe in Evolution
by ttte36 inthough school i did religious education and my teacher who was religious ruled out evolution because humans are the only creatures who do not want to die, can anyone who understands evolution explain this?.
im 99% on to the theory of evolution, this is just the last stumbling block..
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Jonathan Drake
Has anyne considered the answer may be "Because Jesus?"
Also, drinks!@
Is this from something or are you having wine? Because it's making me laugh either way. I might just start answering my unreasonable relatives this way.
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Question for people who believe in Evolution
by ttte36 inthough school i did religious education and my teacher who was religious ruled out evolution because humans are the only creatures who do not want to die, can anyone who understands evolution explain this?.
im 99% on to the theory of evolution, this is just the last stumbling block..
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Jonathan Drake
" blame evolution for this unsettling conflict between me the world works in the way we wish it would work. The fear of death, combined with a novel ability to envision the future, enabled humanist outcompete other species. But that combination also makes us unable to believe that what we see around us is all there is. Our brains got too big to think about the world and the other way ... It looks like we came out with the most versatile brain, which could throw, catch, and hit balls-and invent the rules of games involving balls, better than they could. It looks like the same brains gave us the ability to wonder about our place in the scheme of things, and that let us to science, and then let us to the discovery of the ocean. We are products of illusion and as such, we can't believe it's all over, when it's all over. It is a great irony of the evolution of the human brain: our strength is also for weakness. Our asset is our liability..."
taken from bill nyes book undeniable, page 179-180.
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Just had a thiught
by Jonathan Drake inthe catholic church skews there numbers by counting as catholics even those who no longer attend and may not even profess to be catholic.
do jehovah's witness do something similar or even the same thing?
they seem to be very much in favor of going inactive imo.
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Jonathan Drake
The Catholic Church skews there numbers by counting as Catholics even those who no longer attend and may not even profess to be catholic.
do Jehovah's witness do something similar or even the same thing? They seem to be very much in favor of going inactive imo. I keep being told I should stop posting things on Facebook and just fade away. I think they want faders so they can count them as witnesses.
Thougts?
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Elders' Authority - Flock Book
by berrygerry inthe biggest surprise in the flock book was the hiding-for 3-years serious sin absolution provision for elders (if with "jehovah's evident blessing").. the second is the remark regarding an inactive person, and the situation:.
"is the person willing to meet with a committee, thus admitting accountability to the christian congregation?".
now, the bible says: i want you to know that the head of every man is the christ; in turn the head of a woman is the man; in turn the head of the christ is god.
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Jonathan Drake
I am not an elder. But experience tells me that they will simply states that the committee is made up of spirit anointed men - which means chosen by Jesus - so trough spiritual direction these men are going to be able to convey Jesus judgement on the matter. -
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Did God have a man to man talk with Adam?
by James Mixon ini wonder did god instruct adam about the no, no's in procreation and sex.. look adam i know you may feel a little odd, looking at the other animals.
having fun.
so i giving you a mate, but don't do like the birds, horses and .
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Jonathan Drake
I am not. I am not because of asking questions and continuing to do so beginning with what I thought first were just fun, like this one, but then eventually realized are honest to goodness legitimate questions.
keep on asking this kind of thing.
one of the last questions I asked myself as a believer was:
if im willing to honestly believe and accept that God has always been and always will be - why is it unreasonable to consider that the elements of the universe and the laws of physics weren't created but have always existed and always will be?
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Did God have a man to man talk with Adam?
by James Mixon ini wonder did god instruct adam about the no, no's in procreation and sex.. look adam i know you may feel a little odd, looking at the other animals.
having fun.
so i giving you a mate, but don't do like the birds, horses and .
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Jonathan Drake
Personally I think that the first Homosapiens made the Neanderthals their bitch until they didn't exist anymore; and did so however they pleased because they were dominant.
This is what we need to do with religion now. Make God our bitch.
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Compliment or criticism - what affects you most?
by EdenOne ina bit of introspection on this one ... just read on someone's post that a compliment makes him "float" for hours, and it got me thinking; within the spectrum of comments that people make about me, from compliment to criticism, which is the type that most affects me?.
after my experience as a jehovah's witness, i find that i've become suspicious of compliments and over-sensitive to criticism.
because a common technique of elders was to compliment someone before going down to business, that is, giving hard counseling or discipline.
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Jonathan Drake
I would say criticism affects me most, but not negatively.
I don't pay too much attention to compliments, aside from general appreciation. But if I'm receiving a compliment that's great, I'm glad the person approved of me or what I've done or said; however, I pay more attention to criticism and I always will. Criticism challenges your world, and maybe your approach is wrong. Whenever I experience criticism, whether or not its constructive, I spend a great deal of time on it. Honestly asking myself if the other person could be right.
I feel that being a Witness shuts you off to criticism. You are taught to believe that how you think, believe, and reason is right and cannot be wrong because you know the truth. That attitude affects more than just your personality in terms of religion, it makes a person have trouble recognizing when they are wrong or out of their depth.
For this reason, I have far greater appreciation for criticism, and work very hard at giving any i receive a thorough consideration.
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Scientific Proof that Evolution is NOT Scientific!
by Nicola.threeangelsmessage inbruce malone, an outstanding scientist has absolute scientific proof that evolution is not scientific!.
bruce, a leading researcher for dow chemical for 30 years; he is one of the top 100 inventors eighteen of his inventions raised millions of dollars; and has a b.s.
degree in chemical engineering.
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Jonathan Drake
You need to broaden your horizons. If all you ever read is garbage from people who just can't seem to accept reality then you'll never get a feel for reality either.
There re is a rather large group of fossils found in slate (I believe) in Canada that hold several transitional fossils with strange parts and shapes. You can go there and literally see how organisms evolved a step at a time.
Evolution is fact. The sooner every one accepts this the better off society will be.
(only read OP, CBA the many pages of debate on this subject again)