Posts by Landy

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

Landy

If we could demonstrate that life could begin on its own, the upshot is, nothing would change.

JWs and other fundamentalists would just ignore it and carry on, in much the same way they did as evolution became generally accepted.

They would probably react by releasing a book entitled 'Life. How did it get here? By Abiogenesis or Creation?' It would be filled with quotes from dodgy out of date scientists, misquotes from respected scientists and that many logical falllicies it would make your head swim.

27

Directed panspermia - a plausible theory of intelligent design?

by EdenOne in

i have just read an interesting article by astrobiologist jacob haq-misra.. in this article he describes a process called "directed panspermia" as a plausible way that one form of intelligent design - one not related with religious driven agendas involving theism - could be involved in the process by which life developed on earth and possibly in other planets as well.. sounds like a speculation that's worth entertaining.

your thoughts?.

Landy

Sounds like a speculation that's worth entertaining. Your thoughts?

The bottom line is that the speculation is worthless.

In scientific terms and hypothesis that is not observable in not worth the paper it's written on and can be discarded.

If you can find a way to observe or demonstrate it then that becomes a different matter.

27

Directed panspermia - a plausible theory of intelligent design?

by EdenOne in

i have just read an interesting article by astrobiologist jacob haq-misra.. in this article he describes a process called "directed panspermia" as a plausible way that one form of intelligent design - one not related with religious driven agendas involving theism - could be involved in the process by which life developed on earth and possibly in other planets as well.. sounds like a speculation that's worth entertaining.

your thoughts?.

Landy

Sure, it's only speculative thinking. But a lot of great scientific discoveries started out as speculations too. It could be a viable path of future investigation.

And how would you propose to investigate it?

There's a difference between reasoned hypothesis leading to a theory and blind guesswork based on what you want to be true.

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

Landy

Only if you think God cannot use natural means. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Proving that life can come into existence through natural means does not prove God doesn't exist. It simply proves that a god is not necessary.

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

Landy

Viv, my rule says: Life begets life. Life brings forth life. That's the evidence before me. Please, would you be so kind as to let me know of any example, where that is not the case. Thank you in anticipation.

God? In your mind anyway.

82

meeting with elders about WT involvement in UN

by LevelThePlayingField in

i still go to the meetings because of my in wife and it came about that the elders knew of my pissed off attitude about the society getting involved in the un.

so the elders said they could help me get over that and wanted to meet with me.

now just to let you know, i have only told my wife and her mom so far about it, that's it.

Landy

Is there nothing you can do to fade away? Have to work on meeting nights, get a hobby that gives you an excuse not to go.? Something. Anything?

9

Cold war on homefront!

by LifesNotOver in

jw
friends

a few months back i let it be known to my husband that i was no longer interested in anything jw related.

when he took it to the elders, without actually divulging anything that might get me disfellowshipped like apostasy - well, he just basically told them i was all depressed and discouraged and everything and that i didn't want to be contacted by the elders about it.

i don't know what he actually told them, word for word, or what they actually said to him word for word, but he told me they told him not to do anything spiritual with me at home anymore - no bible study, praying, daily text, meetings via phone, jw broadcasting, discussions, etc.

Landy

Doesn't sound like a nice situation. The only thing I can say is that we only live once and we're not here for long. It would be a terrible thing to look back on 40 years of marriage and wished you'd got out 30 years ago. Plan for a future where you can be happy. Good luck.

76

Visit From Jehovah's Witnesses

by Vanderhoven7 in

had two lovely jws (stephen and ruth) visit this morning.

this was our second study in the last 2 weeks.

they first knocked on my door (bell is out) 3 weeks ago and i shared my testimony and we arranged to meet last tuesday which we did.. our first study went like this:.

Landy

Landy, why did you just bother to make that comment? It's obvious that some JWs do wake up.

You're correct, they do. But it doesn't happen by someone being a biblical smartarse at a door they happen to be knocking on. As Nic says, it tends to reinforce their beliefs.

When people leave the witnesses they tend to do it through self realisation, or more commonly, through apathy. It's only once they've stepped away from it they can see it for what it is.

A website like this will do a lot more to help people see the religion for what it is than standing at the door preaching at them. In this particular case the op just seems to be other side of the JW coin.

The other factor is that people who engage in this sort of confrontation often do it to service their own ego rather than it beng a genuine effort to help someone else.

34

Found Another Medieval Coin This Evening

by cofty in

i got in an hour metal detecting this evening and found this almost immediately.. it is a silver penny of henry ii minted in london by "davi" between 1180 and 1189. this adds a king i didn't have in my collection.

i now have the series of henry ii - john - henry iii - edward i - edward ii - edward iii.. i now need richard the lionheart to fill in the gap.

he was the brother of john and reigned after the death of henry ii.

Landy

Lol :)

76

Visit From Jehovah's Witnesses

by Vanderhoven7 in

had two lovely jws (stephen and ruth) visit this morning.

this was our second study in the last 2 weeks.

they first knocked on my door (bell is out) 3 weeks ago and i shared my testimony and we arranged to meet last tuesday which we did.. our first study went like this:.

Landy

I find a nice polite thank you but no thank you before shutting the door wastes a lot less of my time tbh.

Trying to reason with them or trying to make them see sense is akin to don quixote tilting at windmills.