the reason i entitled this "problems with common atheist arguments" instead of "the case against atheism" is that many atheists claim that atheism is not a belief system, makes no claims, and has no requirements to follow, so there's no way to argue against atheism itself.
i will go along with this idea, and argue against the most frequently used arguments of atheists instead of atheism itself.disclaimer # 1: this is not an argument against atheism or all atheists.
no, rather this is an argument against the most frequently used claims and arguments made by the atheists i speak to on twitter.
Fusion Theism. Your post is one of the most intelligent pieces I have seen on this sight in a long, long time, if not ever.
For many it will be like an airplane joke.
This place here is a tough crowd.
I don't see many here displaying critical thinking abilities.
so today i was asked my thoughts on the pool party incident in mcminney, texas.
my response: it shows a clash of expectations.
i saw police officers who expected citizens to listen to and follow instructions.
I was a cop. A deputy Sheriff. Now retired collecting my pension.
I don't see where Casebolt did anything wrong according to any training that I had.
I think he retired because, He lost the support of the chief. Its all politics.
And being in Texas, I am thinking they had a very poor union.
I bet you morale is very low on the department in McKinney Texas.
I bet you many officers will be leaving shortly.
Police go work where they find better benefits and support.
And the police chief in McKinney does not support his officers.
I can tell it was a mickey mouse police department because they let Casebolt wear white socks.
Very unprofessional, evidence of no muster and inspection and a mickey mouse operation.
The lack of inspection falls on the chief.
I would never work for a department that did not pride itself and inspect its officers before putting them on the street. You look like a security guard when you wear white socks.
Casebolt had 10 years in. He was probably thinking of retiring anyway. It is a stressful hectic job.
Once you get vested you are always looking for a time to leave.
august 2015 awake .
quote in title taken from article footnote.. anyone have information on who gene hwang and yan-der hsuuw in the article are?.
why do they repeatedly state that apes turned to humans when that's not what evolutionists teach at all?.
When you say science doesn't teach apes turning into men this picture is from a school text book in Australia today. And I remember seeing pictures like that back in the 60's in my school science books.
I also remember seeing pictures like that in the 80's in college science books.
That is why people who do not believe in evolution bring it up. Because that is what science taught.
Maybe some scientist are teaching something different now.
It seems like science changes like religion changes. They both try to force the current information into their world view.
would you do a ray franz deal and write a book or keep quiet and live out the rest of your life in bethel?.
would you keep reading the watchtower magazine?.
If you are 80 and living at Bethel. You don't want to be looking under rocks or behind curtains at that point of the game.
I don't think at that point in your life you would want to entertain any new ideas or possibilities.
It would behoove you to delude yourself for the remainder of the voyage.
Life could be brutal or soon over standing on a street corner begging with a tin cup at 80.
i remember the days when jws were proud of their religion, they walked tall and carried their big stick, their bibles, proudly.
now, it's embarrassing for a witness to admit their faith to others.
the average witness can't explain their beliefs, as they have changed so many times.
I think the old days defines one as an individual.
When we are young we think we know everything.
When we get old, if we are conscious we realize we don't know all the things we thought we knew.
I was born in. 1952. I don't ever remember being proud of it.
It was always a curse.
i have thought about how ttatt came full circle for me.
how the connecting the dots was simple and just made sense,.
how silos of information are literally at our fingertips today.. why is it that the ones we love cannot get ttatt?.
People don't like change. They are in their comfort zone and don't want to leave. And some have a vested interest in maintaining the lie.
Their work life and all their friends can be tied up with the deception of the watchtower.
So they live their life in denial.
I think some must also believe. They do not entertain information that disproves their position.
They are closed minded.
They feel if they were to peek behind the curtain, their house of cards would fall down and they
would not know how to cope with life.
They need the structure of the organization. They need the unnecessary business of being a witness
to give their life meaning.
this point was raised in another thread vaguely, and wanted to try and expand on it.. the wt has said (and rightly so in my opinion) "that excessive use of drugs and alcohol can ruin your life".
in my eyes this is a fact.. this is where it starts to get a little suspicious, as they also say (or subtly hint at) "that if you leave the wt you will becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol and will ruin your life".. its almost like a self fulfilling prophecy.
as there are a lot who leave the borg and they do start drinking heavy or smoking, or taking drugs...or whatever.. the wt capitalizes on the fact that people want more freedom, and they subtly ingrain the thought that.
I drank more as a witness than I do now knowing the truth about the truth.
Back in the 70's many of the JW's I knew were heavy drinkers.
when i was young we were taught to refer to other adult jws as aunt or uncle.. was this also the case in other countries and does it still happen?.
was it just a custom or has the literature ever commented on it?.
thanks.
oh, the possibilities!
there is a lot of wasted talent.
I did what I would have done Jw or not.
I was born a musician and I played music all my life.
If I was not a witness, I would have financed my music making by being a school
teacher not a deputy sheriff.
