Posts by rem

41

Is evolution a fact or theory?

by sleepy in

jw
friends

is evolution a fact or a theory?.

i suppose it depends on what you mean.. evolution in the sense of change from one generation to the next seams to be fact.. is well observed that offspring from a given creature will differ from the parent in different ways and thus after many generation can come to be quite different.. also that the genes of a creature can be affected by radiation from the sun and be alter in a novel way producing new and unique features in its offspring ( as long as the mutation is in the sperm or the egg).. that we came about via changes in the genes that eventually created a very different creature than that existed many generations ago , is that a fact?.

this requires that not only that there are changes between generation but also that these changes could be directed by different environments to such a degree that only certain specialised features could survive and reproduce offspring whilst other creatures have died out and only remain in fossilised form.. what evidence is there that such environments can and have existed?

rem

sleepy,

Evolution has a lot less to do with chance than you may know. Natural Selection is the driving force and it is the opposite of randomness and chance. Mutations aren't always as random as we might think - there are limitiations to their randomness, but evolution through natural selection would work even if mutations were completely random. Natural Selection selects the good and discards the bad and keeps the benign along for the ride.

There have been many many different environments on Earth throughout time. Perhaps you are not realizing the magnitude of billions of years. For billions of years life has been evolving, adapting to various environments and niches. To me it is quite obvious why we have such diversity in life right now. Remember, evolution does not happen to individuals, but to populations. There have been millions, even billions of populations of plants and animals and stuff in between over the billions of years of Earth's history.

I think you are focusing too much on randomness and chance when that is not what Evolution hangs on. Evolution works with random mutations and with nonrandom mutations. That is what makes natural selection so powerful.

I would recommend some books by Richard Dawkins including The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, and Climbing Mount Improbable for a good explanation of Natural Selection.

rem

"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so."
..........Bertrand Russell

20

Tornado almost got me yesterday :(

by bboyneko in

jw
friends

geez, this is friggin maryland, we never get tornados..anyway at around 5:30pm (quittin time at work) i got notified that a tornado had touched down in college park, (my college, university of maryland college park) and had killed 2 people already and was headed directly in our path, it would arrive in like 10 minutes.. i went outside and it was black..the funny thing was you could see very clearly where the black ended and see clear sky right after that border.

the clouds where movin fast.

i talked to saffron online and told her to grab the kitty cats and head for a basement.

rem

bboy,

Glad you are alright! We had a pretty spectacular thunder storm over in the Bay Area last night. That was exciting, but I wasn't afraid for my life or my property. It must be a scary thing to hunker down while a life threatening storm blows over.

Just remember: There's no place like home....

rem

"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so."
..........Bertrand Russell

33

October 7th Ex-JW gathering in San Francisco

by Stacey in

jw
friends

i hadn't seen any recent posts about this event.

tonight i spoke to paul thomason, the organizer of the event.

he said that last year they had about 18 in attendance.

rem

My wife and I are planning on attending. It would be neat to have a "great crowd" of apostates in such a paridisaic setting. LOL

rem

"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so."
..........Bertrand Russell

9

nned to be frustrated and entertained? Try...

by bboyneko in

jw
friends

this, it's a crazy puzzle..figure it out if you dare.

i got stuck at the snowman for a loooong time till i got a little creative and figured it out.. .. http://www.vectorpark.com/levers.html

rem

There is another 'game' on the site called park or something. I'm not sure what it's all about. It seems that you can explore things, but I really don't see any object to it.

http://www.vectorpark.com/park.html

rem

"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so."
..........Bertrand Russell

46

Jay Dubs right about 1914

by FrightMare in

jw
friends

please study this chart very, very carefully: http://www.sru.edu/depts/artsci/ges/d-3-2.htm.

why has such an unprecedented boom in population and technology occurred during the specific time the bible points to the 'last days', 1914?

rem

I think i just might have a nightmare and tremors tonight!

How could he look into the future and know what would occur? More specifically, how was he able to pinpoint the 20th century and beyond as the time when it would occur? (Or at least the witnesses were able to)

That statement is just hilarious. How exactly did John pinpoint the 20th century? The Witnesses are just like every other apocolyptic cult/sect throughout history claiming that the end is coming in their generation. No big surprise here.

rem

"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so."
..........Bertrand Russell

9

nned to be frustrated and entertained? Try...

by bboyneko in

jw
friends

this, it's a crazy puzzle..figure it out if you dare.

i got stuck at the snowman for a loooong time till i got a little creative and figured it out.. .. http://www.vectorpark.com/levers.html

rem

After playing with it a little more, it seems the object is to keep all of the items out of the water for a period of time. Man, if I had known that before, that would have made it so much easier! :)

When you run out of places to hang things, there will be a hint at the top of the screen every so often.

rem

"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so."
..........Bertrand Russell

9

nned to be frustrated and entertained? Try...

by bboyneko in

jw
friends

this, it's a crazy puzzle..figure it out if you dare.

i got stuck at the snowman for a loooong time till i got a little creative and figured it out.. .. http://www.vectorpark.com/levers.html

rem

Hmmmm....

I finished it, but I'm not exactly sure what the object was. Was it to keep the lever balanced or just to keep all of the objects out of the water? The last move I made seemed to keep all of the objects out of the water, but it did not seem to be balanced. Strange.

Fun puzzle, though!

rem

"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so."
..........Bertrand Russell

53

Christians and dubs/treated same here

by gumby in

jw
friends

hey guys.

i got an idea as to why there is the same bitterness by many/not all, on this board twards christians like there is to dubs.

you feel you have found it to be a crock just as the borg is and it makes you madder than crap to see people duped a second time.

rem

Little Toe,

To my mind it takes as much faith to be an atheist as it does a believer.
It's a process of using your own reason to establish your own beliefs, based on the information that you let your own senses take in.

Does it take as much faith to disbelieve in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy as it does to believe in them?

I didn't start out as an atheist. I finally had to admit I was one after much study and research. That was one of the scariest days of my life because of my Christian upbringing. I have nothing against a concept of god - if he/she/it/they exist then that's great. But the problem is that there is no evidence for the existence of any gods. I don't find tradition and obvious myth as evidence.

It is true that we establish our beliefs upon what information we decide to take in. I contend that atheists have decided to take in more information and have a broader data base from which to draw conclusions. We don't shy away from information that could potentially shatter our world view. That is how we got here in the first place. To me, that takes real courage.

rem

"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so."
..........Bertrand Russell

53

Christians and dubs/treated same here

by gumby in

jw
friends

hey guys.

i got an idea as to why there is the same bitterness by many/not all, on this board twards christians like there is to dubs.

you feel you have found it to be a crock just as the borg is and it makes you madder than crap to see people duped a second time.

rem

Siegswife,

>>How can you assert that the sources that you use are facts?<<
All sources use the same facts. Facts are facts. They are only interpreted differently.

>>Did you come to these conclusions by your own physical research into these things, or are you basing your assumptions upon the research of others?<<
All research is built from the research of others. You weed out the wheat from the chaff by objectively examining all sides of an issue an selecting the position which best fits the universally accepted facts.

>>If you didn't actually do the research (other than reviewing the research of others) aren't you putting your faith in the words of others also?<<
Not really because other's research can be verified. The facts that I value the most are usually universally accepted - that means that both sides accept the validity of the fact. It is only the interpretation of the facts that must fit. This is difficult to figure out objectively without honestly researching all sides of an issue. This argument does not give your side any support anyway.

>>Can you provide me with irrefutable facts that are based on your own observations and arrived at AFTER you have a complete understanding of that which you are refuting (the Bible)? <<
I don't suppose there is anything that is irrefutable. There are only varying degrees of likelihood. After objectively looking at the data and calculating the likelihood of certain interpretations of facts, a position can be taken. I know many facts about the Bible. Do I have a complete understanding of the Bible? Probably not. Neither do you. I understand it fully as a creation of man - you see it as a creation of god. I say the facts are in my favor.

>>How can you disprove something if you don't fully understand it?
I don't have to understand every theological argument to see that most of the books of the bible were not written by their namesakes. Do you need to completely understand the Book of Mormon to disprove it? I think not.

>>Why should I be first to prove the basis of my faith if you can't first provide the basis of yours? <<
We have provided the basis of our understanding. It is not based on faith but evidence. This has been shown countless times in previous posts. Never have we seen the same from Christians. Why are you afraid of discussing factual information and evidence? There is no fear on the non-Christian side.

>>Why should I have to read the writings of other men to understand your position? <<
You don’t, but you will see more detail and be shown references to look up the facts yourself if you do. You don’t need to take my word for it, the information is out there.

>>If I don't believe the words of other men, aren't I being more skeptical and inclined to want REAL proof more than you? <<
What is real proof to you? What make the words of the men you do believe better than mine? Because they “feel” right? You don’t know what being skeptical is. You can’t be skeptical if you don’t at least look at the other side of the coin. You are confusing skepticism with stubbornness.

>>It appears to me that we ALL base our beliefs on just that - belief. How are you different than me in that respect? <<
There are beliefs based on facts and there are beliefs based on myth. That is the difference.

>>Do you claim to have a complete knowledge of the Bible, as your starting point, that you can then disprove it? <<
I know enough to know that it is false. Ask yourself the same question regarding the Book of Mormon, or the Koran.

>>And are you claiming that you have FACTS that have not been otherwise refuted by other secular sources?<<
I certainly have facts in which people have unsuccessfully tried to refute. There are others that are not so clear cut, but are still very convincing. Those are not really facts, though, but interpretations of facts. I think it’s a good thing that people try to refute things. It keeps us all honest.

rem

"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so."
..........Bertrand Russell

53

Christians and dubs/treated same here

by gumby in

jw
friends

hey guys.

i got an idea as to why there is the same bitterness by many/not all, on this board twards christians like there is to dubs.

you feel you have found it to be a crock just as the borg is and it makes you madder than crap to see people duped a second time.

rem

siegswife,

I question your beliefs because that is what we do when we discuss such topics as Christianity v. Atheism. It is a natural extension of the topic of discussion to ask for facts when a Christian makes claims. Time and time again we have found that facts are few and far between in Christian argumentation. If you had any desire to do some research you would know this.

Do you understand why it is frustrating to converse with someone who is confident they have the truth, but they are not interested in checking out the facts? Do you see how exhausting it is to discuss issues with people who have no doubts because they looked at "many sides" long ago, but they can't seem to defend their position with facts?

I have every right to question your faith. Your faith requires you to defend it. I just ask that you do it honestly and use evidence based on fact. Is that too much to ask? If so, then why are you taking part in these discussions?

rem

"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, they do so."
..........Bertrand Russell