Posts by WhatshallIcallmyself

24

The Jehovah’s Witness bagged themselves a Big One when they got Professor Raj Kalaria, to speak about his belief

by Watchtower-Free in

uk scientist helps christian cult to promote creationism.

the jehovah’s witness bagged themselves a big one when they got professor raj kalaria, above, to speak about his belief in creationism in a new video posted online by the cult.. keralia is currently a deputy director of the newcastle centre for brain ageing and vitality, newcastle, and a professor of neuropathology at newcastle university, uk.. when ex-jehovah’s witness lloyd evans, who runs jwsurvey, discovered that an april 2016 jw broadcasting episode featured keralia, he decided to:.

reach out to newcastle university to find out whether it endorses the academic’s stance on evolution, and found myself in a rather frustrating email exchange with helen rae, the media relations manager at the university’s faculty of medical sciences .. after much to-ing and fro-ing, an official statement was finally forthcoming ….

WhatshallIcallmyself

Assertions without evidence are just that, assertions. Despite his high academic ranking all this professor is providing, in this instance, are various logical fallacies, not least of which is the personal incredulity fallacy. And all the watchtower are doing is their usual argument from authority fallacy.

I notice neither party says anything that can be remotely tested (i.e. have the evidence flung in their faces) and instead relies on science-like phrases that will impress those without the understanding to know better...

43

I was disfellowshipped because of Satan

by elbib in

during co visit, i took him for a bible study i was conducting.

during the session, the householder said he believed satan was not a person, but personification of evil within us.

i left co to handle householder’s doubt.

WhatshallIcallmyself

If Satan is not an actual person/entity, who is God talking to in Job? Or is this another case of the Bible giving conflicting accounts?

43

Evolution is a Fact #34 - Hiccups and Tadpoles

by cofty in

hiccups are a weird phenomena.

they are a combination of two involuntary actions - firstly a rapid inhalation of breath followed 35 milliseconds later by the glottis at the back of the throat suddenly closing off our airway.. our normal breathing is controlled by a "central pattern generator" in a small region of the brain stem close to the boundary with the spinal cord.

a signal is sent along the vagus and phrenic nerves resulting in a rhythmic contraction of muscles in chest, diaphragm and throat.. these nerves branch off right at the top of the spinal cord and follow a convoluted path through the chest cavity.

WhatshallIcallmyself

Here's a response, "I'm not interested", (door closes) - Quarterback

And while you wallow in your self induced ignorance the world moves on without you. Perhaps that is a good thing if you are not willing to learn about something before dismissing it.

And yes, discussions of this topic are certainly valid on this site because of what the JWs have wrote about it. Were it not for their lies (yes they are lies...) these topics would not be necessary...

43

Evolution is a Fact #34 - Hiccups and Tadpoles

by cofty in

hiccups are a weird phenomena.

they are a combination of two involuntary actions - firstly a rapid inhalation of breath followed 35 milliseconds later by the glottis at the back of the throat suddenly closing off our airway.. our normal breathing is controlled by a "central pattern generator" in a small region of the brain stem close to the boundary with the spinal cord.

a signal is sent along the vagus and phrenic nerves resulting in a rhythmic contraction of muscles in chest, diaphragm and throat.. these nerves branch off right at the top of the spinal cord and follow a convoluted path through the chest cavity.

WhatshallIcallmyself

Good Post. Thanks

13

Would crime rate go up if we were 100% positive this is the only life???

by James Mixon in

no resurrection, no 70 virgins, no 7 millions jw's living for thousand of years, no coming.

back as dog or cat you are dead and done..

WhatshallIcallmyself

“With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.”
― Steven Weinberg

I think that quote just about sums up a logical answer to the OP. I suppose you could say that religion allows evil people to be good but the evidence suggests that despite being religious evil people are still evil...!

25

Update - Talk # 6 THE FLOOD OF NOAH’S DAY AND YOU

by ttdtt in

instead of scraping this talk they updated it.. so they still try and make this look like it happened, and that there is plenty of evidence.to do that they refer to the (w08 6/1 8) found at http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2008411the main evidence is that floods have happened in the past, including.... geologists studying the landscape of the northwestern united states believe that as many as 100 ancient catastrophic floods once washed over the area.

one such flood is said to have roared through the region with a wall of water 2,000 feet [600 m] high, traveling at 65 miles an hour [105 km/hr]—a flood of 500 cubic miles [2,000 cu km] of water, weighing more than two trillion tons.

similar findings have led other scientists to believe that a global flood is a distinct possibility.. i could not find such an event, except for remembering one of those "disaster" shows on discover about that.

WhatshallIcallmyself

Hi,

Not only is there no evidence for a global flood a few thousand years ago but there is actually evidence that there wasn't...

1 - Contemporary societies of those times did not notice that this happened. That is a massive red flag to the claim of a worldwide event.

2 - A global event like the one described in the flood story would leave traces that are obvious flood deposits all over the world. They would be very obvious and in your face, being so recent geologically speaking (consider the KT boundary deposits that show the global effects of the asteroid that most likely killed of the dinosaurs).

3 - There isn't enough water on the planet and even if there were the amount of energy that would be released during such an event would vaporise all life on the planet (Did the ark have climate control??).

As for the fossil record: There are events captured that indicate an animal, or groups of, died due to a flood/mudslide event. It is a stretch, though, to conclude "Therefore Noah's flood is true!". Also, the sizes of animals indicate that a rather long time would be need for the mineralisation process to have completed (i.e. fossilised). Also the rocks that house the fossils have been dated as being many millions of years old... Nothing in the fossil record indicates a global flood a few thousand years ago; unless you want to ignore reality and make a story up of course...

Flood legends: They aren't all the same, are they...

I think we can see why higher education is frowned upon in the "truth"...

4

Skin of My Teeth

by WhatshallIcallmyself in

an evidence for divine origin that has often been used (at least to me) is where job describes "...escap[ing] with the skin of my teeth".

science is quoted as having discovered that teeth are covered in skin and therefore how would job have known something that modern science has only just discovered.

i was reminded of this at this weeks meeting when this verse was quoted but was surprised when a commenter said how it wasn't necessary to mention this in light of other "evidence" in the bible.

WhatshallIcallmyself

Hi

An evidence for divine origin that has often been used (at least to me) is where Job describes "...escap[ing] with the skin of my teeth". Science is quoted as having discovered that teeth are covered in skin and therefore how would Job have known something that modern science has only just discovered.

I was reminded of this at this weeks meeting when this verse was quoted but was surprised when a commenter said how it wasn't necessary to mention this in light of other "evidence" in the Bible. It stood out as odd as the usual MO is to tout any and all perceived inspirations in the Bible.

Having just looked up the official reasoning I see that this line of thought is now being encouraged: " It does not seem to be necessary to endeavor to explain Job’s statement in the light of discoveries that scientists have made in recent times with the aid of microscopes.". So what has changed? Or has this always been the official line?

Incidentally I always thought equating a biofilm to the epidermis was extremely tenuous...

28

UFO's might be real.and what does it mean if they are?

by atomant in

for some reason this subject has not received much attention over the years which surprises me.theres many conspiracy theories floating around on the internet and lve done my fair share of due diligence on the matter.the school is still out on this one.l find it very hard to believe humans are the only intelligent beings out there.has anyone on this forum ever seen a ufo or experienced a close encounter?

WhatshallIcallmyself

talesin - The fact that there are unidentified things seen in the skies is one thing and I doubt anyone would suggest there aren't such things. However it is the conclusions that some people jump to that stretch credulity...!

14

Thoughts

by thinker11 in

as much as i want to believe in the bible and wish for a god that is watching over us and love us; i find it difficult to comprehend that a loving god will erase mankind with fireballs, earthquakes, and kill childrens, mothers, and fathers who refused to believe in the bible.

and i can’t help but to take their side in all these.

i mean: what has god really done to show that he is love and that he exists and is watching how we act.

WhatshallIcallmyself

A lot of these questions become moot with the realisation that this just did not happen. We know Adam and Eve did not exist (at least as a beginning of humankind) because genetic evidence demonstrates that quite succinctly. We know the flood did not happen because there is no evidence of a world wide flood as described (yes it would leave some trace; consider the KT boundary in the geological record that exists because of one asteroid) and because contemporary civilisations at the suggested time of the flood seemed to have not noticed they were wiped out... We know the creation story does not tally with the evidence. We know that the bible is wrong about so much that we now take for grated as common sense (Earth hangs on nothing? No, the Earth is held in place by gravitational and centripetal forces; Pi is 3? No, Pi is 3.14 and so on..).

Long story short: If the Bible is wrong on those things we can test then it does not matter how you interpret the rest because it has demonstrated itself to be fiction...

20

A Sincere Question Regarding Macroevolution

by jacobm in

jw
friends

i have a sincere question related to macroevolution:.

microevolution happens on a small scale (within a single population), while macroevolution happens on a scale that transcends the boundaries of a single species.

despite their differences, evolution at both of these levels relies on the same, established mechanisms of evolutionary change:.

WhatshallIcallmyself

Hi,

I hear this definition a lot from creationists and also use these terms myself, although generally only when talking to creationists...

These terms can be good if understood in terms of evolutionary theory but confusing if coming at it from a creationist background. Often it is believed, by the creationist, that macroevolution applies to instances of species changing into another species in one step; they see 2 types of evolution where 1 describes how things change a little bit so we are not all the same and the other describes why there are a lot of different species. They then sincerely believe macro evolution cannot happen and that science cannot prove it. And they would be right of course!

An analogy of what micro and macro evolution actually is is this: A step describes a small movement a person makes when moving in any particular direction. An large accumulation of steps is known as a journey. Micro evolution is the step and macro evolution is the journey. Now nobody thinks a journey happens in a single step (unless you are wearing the mythical 7 league boots...), they know a journey is the accumulation of many steps and so it is with macroevolution. In fact, when enough steps are taken a journey is not just likely, it is inevitable...