btt because I thought it was a good idea.
I have skype. I've sent you a pm thinking_1
Anyone who'd like my skype can send me a message :) Remember folks, Skype is a text chat program too, you don't need to have a mic/webcam to use it!
i haven't been able to actually talk to any "apostates" yet, haha.
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i'm not much of a poster, mostly read alot, but would like to have a good conversation..
btt because I thought it was a good idea.
I have skype. I've sent you a pm thinking_1
Anyone who'd like my skype can send me a message :) Remember folks, Skype is a text chat program too, you don't need to have a mic/webcam to use it!
i talk to jw's, i talk to many religious people.
i also spend all day everyday with educated people due to my career.
one thing stands out to me for sure, by far the majority of the regular posters here are intelligent and informed.
It was just a fluke for me, really. I was getting ready to commit myself to being a JW, and I saved myself, just by looking past the dogma.
I think if a witness just has the chutzpah to take off the blinders and do some research of his or her own, they'll see the truth, they don't need to necessarily be intelligent. Maybe there's such an astounding amount of ignorance in the religion, when we see someone making logical arguments it can come as a surprise xD (no offense to any of our smart members here).
I wouldn't be surprised though, if many of the folks who really know what they're talking about, only began learning after they left the borg.
the following is from jw.org, but first, one observation: why they are putting all the importance in the bible teach book and not in the bible?.
also, if you look on the home page, on an image they have, you see all the witnesess holding the bible teach book in the foreground, and in some pictures, a witness holding the bible in the background.
so much for putting the bible first.. .
Oops. I almost read the title as 'Special Pleading Campaign'. My bad.
Glad to say I won't be joining them this year. My parents will be, however.
Keep tooting that trumpet fellas, the plaster's about to fall off!
hi guys,.
i am currently making critique based on the book life - how did it get here, by evolution or by creation?
i was wondering if there is somewhere already made critique from that book, so i wouldn't do job that has already done.
So you are obviously a scienfitically minded person, Masterpiece. Do you study biology? That'd be great if you went in depth on these things. Dawkins brought the book up in the God Delusion and I hoped he'd examine it more thoroughly, but alas.
hi guys,.
i am currently making critique based on the book life - how did it get here, by evolution or by creation?
i was wondering if there is somewhere already made critique from that book, so i wouldn't do job that has already done.
I think it's a worthwhile effort. JW's will still resort to this book even though it's almost 30 years out of date. So a well thought out critique wouldnt go amiss.
There is a small section dedicated to this book on talkorigins, I don't know if it'll be of use to you.
ok... i know the answer... absolutely not..... but where does the watchtower get this idea that satan will be released in the year 2914 (1914 + 1,000) to test the faith of jws who have been cleaning up the planet for a thousand years?
which bible texts have they taken out of context to arrive at this bizarre and exclusive jw teaching?.
also, what are they saying will happen to the those who fail this "final test"?
I cannot wait for 2015 to roll around just to see the look on their faces. ;D But I always thought it was funny that in the Revelation book, all the rebels in the new world have red bandanas and are carrying sticks. What's the problem with bandanas!!
since my awakening from the mind control of the wts, it has been an exciting also frigthening journey of exploration and free thinking.. i would say, today i try to be open to anything, i ll go whatever direction facts show.
while i`m no scientist, i think i have a glue about the scientific method.
i also agree with the statemant, that some extraordinary claim needs extraordinary proof.. so far, it is a difficult question whether god exists or not, and probably in my lifetime i will not get a conclusive answer.. however, my concerns are about evolution, since even a confirmation of evolution does not necessarily exclude the existence of a god, it just proivdes an alternative explanation, in case there is no god.. even though i did not really read a book yet about evolution, i read other books of people, whose reasoning i can agree to, and they believe in evolution.. .
Hello Inbetween, glad you're open to new ideas. I'll try and answer these questions, but someone else can probably add to them.
1) missing link: I do not have to go into the fossil report, what puzzles me is, that there are no missing links alive today.
Firstly, it's inescapeable that there were missing links. Fossil records prove this beyond doubt. You can study the evolution of the Horse, or the evolution of sea dwelling mammals, or even our own ancestry to get a broader picture of this. For instance, inherent in dolphins are two very small bones at the base of the spine. They are too small to have a usage, and are not connected to the rest of the skeleton, but they are the remnants of the ancient anscestors of dolphins, who originally lived on land, but over time moved out to sea (which, I might add, are visible in the fossil record).
You should also think about the term 'missing link'. If you go further forward in time, then probably every animal on the earth now would be a missing link to some new future species. But the process is so incredibly slow that we would barely notice this change. Therein lies the problem with the 'missing link' terminology. If scientists could find each and every stage of evolution in the fossil record, it would be impossible to put a defining mark between what constitutes a human, for example, and what constitutes an ape-like anscestor.
Third, when two varying branches of an individual species co-exist, one will probably go extinct. This is because of things like food competition, and struggles over territory. It's also quite probable that the Neanderthal, which was a separate branch, not related to humans, may have died out because of interbreeding with our ancestors.
2) our brain
I'm not sure whether this is more of a philosophical question than an evolutionary one. Nevertheless, our brains are capable of learning, understanding, creating and storing information. Because of this we are able to create a necessity for answers to questions like 'Is there a God' and 'Why are we here'. It is our brains that give the universe purpose. But truth is objective. There are some things that we can find the answers to, and that's where science comes in.
u.s. sees iran attacks as likely if israel strikes.. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/world/middleeast/us-sees-iran-attacks-as-likely-if-israel-strikes.html.
bangalore.
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I just like the idea of all these Military leaders sitting around a table going: "So if Israel attacks Iran, do you think they'll retaliate? Gee, I dunno."
Seriously? Of course they're going to attack if Isreal destroy their Nuclear program.
The news article should have been called - Everyone Sees US Attacks as Likely if Isreal Strikes
this is a bit of a rebuttal to greybeards ("lack faith in a creator.... watch this") post and the reason why many people lack any faith in a loving creator.
granted, there could be a superior intelligence that could have set certain events in motion but i do not believe there is a loving heavenly father who gives a rats ass about humanity!
its just that in all of recorded history, the human race has suffered (and continue's to suffer) a great deal.
Howcome Jehovah didn't trap Satan and the Demons on Mars anyway? What's up with that? So much for letting man rule on his own WITHOUT supernatural meddlings. Just a random thought I had. I'm going to bed now. Toodles.
will it put pressure on politicians to approve the keystone pipeline.. should the nation's refineries stop selling as much gasoline as exports.. how does +$4.00 gasoline affect your monthly budget, how do you adjust..
But it doesn't matter how much Oil is produced locally - correct me if i'm wrong but drilling in the US is at an 8 year high. And according to the EIA, the %age of imported oil in the US has decreaced since 2005. So domestic drilling isnt the problem, neither is it the answer. This is a world issue, not just an American one - it extends beyond political name calling.