Nice thread, Warlock, and great post Abaddon. I think I post to these sort of threads because it's a chance to debate and discuss ideas that I consider important - something I don't get a chance to do all the time. I love that we have a full spectrum of viewpoints here, and I love the give and take of open debate.
Now to throw in a little controversy!
In general, the higher your IQ and the more education you have, the greater the probablity that you'll not believe in god. Therefore, in general again, atheists tend to be very bright, well educated people, people to whom reasoning and ideas are very important.
That would tend to make atheists eager to debate ideas that they see as illogical, and to point out logical fallacies when they see them.
For me, growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, I was exposed to a huge amount of fuzzy New Age thinking. It was appealing at first, and some of it still is, but most of it is simply silly stuff taken way too seriously. Much religious thinking is the same. So when these topics come up, it's an opportunity to discuss these ideas and see how their defenders deal with logic and reason and fact.
Let the attacks begin!
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Seeker4
JoinedPosts by Seeker4
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I REALLY DON'T CARE...............................
by Warlock ini believe in god, but i also realize he may not exist.. if you don't believe in god, i really don't care, i'm just curious.. i don't have this need to start threads like "why you must believe in god", or other such nonsense, but some of you still have this "control" issue that you thought you left in the org.
it seems like you must still try to control what others think.
"think like me, or you are an idiot.
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DEBATE AL SHARPTON vs CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS....GODISNOTGREAT...
by fedorE inhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejecvwe4faw.
hitchens 1 - (are we to believe that murder and adultery were ok until they reached the foot of mt sinai?.....priceless).
sharpton 0 -( sharpton "what does the bible have to do with god"!
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Sharpton is so out of place on that debate! At least he's not a fundie.
Sharpton doesn't follow the ideas at all. He's sort of clever at some aspects of debate because of his oratorical ability, but he's not the "sharpest" tool in the shed!
Love Hitchens.
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Since when?!!!!
by mjs mouse, ben inrecently one of my brothers sons who is a 22 yr old jw mentioned to me rather excitedly that he just got back from ozzfest 2007, telling me him and his gf who is also a jw (elders daughter) rocked to bands such as "ozzie ozbourne" "lamb of god" "three inches of blood" and "static x" to name a few.
i was astounded by his "revelation" that he and his gf among many other younger jw kids attended this event with jw parental consent.
i remember when i was growing up around the jw religion even mentioning the name of ozzie ozbourne was reason for a trip to the back room for a "talk" with the elders.
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Seeker4
Tons of the young JWs I knew attended concerts all the time. I think that is one reason a lot of them stay in. They do what they want, sort of stay out of trouble, go with the flow, don't make waves, and being a Witness becomes a nice little social part of their lives.
A lot of people remain Witnesses and don't take the truth all that seriously.
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Seeker4
How was Atlantic City? Win or lose?
Were you here for the news about the release of Barbara Anderson's CD of JW pedophuile court case documents? That was pretty big.
What thread??
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what official body appoints elders in the UK?
by besty inis it wtbs of great britain, ibsa or some other entity?
or are they appointed by a us based incorporation?
cheers .
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Seeker4
Elders are in general, appointed by the service department. I'm not sure if the branch in England has it's own service department, but I would assume it does.
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WHY BARB DID WHAT SHE DID.
by seven006 ini posted this explanation on my old buddy outlaws thread, barbara read it, sent me a pm, and asked me to post this all over the internet because she wanted people to know why she produced the cd.
ya,.. sure barb, like little bit of flattery will get me to become a cut and paste monkey..again.
not this time you evil breaker of watchtower balls.
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Dave,
I actually was influenced by you long before I ever heard of Barbara Anderson. Your writings about your visit to the Bethel art department had a huge affect on me, and even before that I remember cutting out an article about you that I found in some national magazine, that mentioned you were a JW. I have had friends in the art department at Bethel since I was a teenager.
Barbara and I got to know each other through e-mails and phone conversations. We had many mutual friends at Bethel and in the traveling work. From what she wrote me about them, I knew I could trust her. What she wrote about people I had known since I was a teenager rang quite true and accurate. I knew I was dealing with someone like myself, someone who had totally committed to the WTS and JW view, but who had come to see it for what it really was.
I very reluctantly withdrew from the Witnesses. Much of my family - a wife, a daughter, my mother, my in-laws whom I had come to love more than my own flesh and blood - all of them would remain in the WTS organization. I knew I was going to lose a huge amount of my life. But, I had no choice. I had to go, no matter what the cost.
People like you and Barbara have faced the same issues, and dozens of other old friends here on JWD and the old H2O.
I don't feel vindictive as much as I feel the need to just get the truth out there, and hope that more folks wake up. This is a fine post, and thanks for creating it. You're a good man, and a talented man. Barbara is a terrific woman, and I know she feels your post really represents her for what she is.
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How does the WT pay for sending Bethelites to University?
by nvrgnbk inare they so hypocritical that they would dare to use publisher donations to send bethelites on to higher education, while discouraging said publishers from obtaining such an education themselves?.
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5000 PAGES OF DOCUMENTS OF JW PEDOPHILE CASES AVAILABLE! B ANDERSON BOOK
by Seeker4 inbarbara anderson has just released a new book on cd that contains some 5000 pages of public court records from the nine lawsuits involving 16 victims that the wts settled secretly in may of this year, plus documents from two other cases the society settled in 2000 and 2006.. .
its called secrets of pedophilia in an american religion: jehovahs witnesses in crisis.. .
the book, and more info from barbara about it, is available here:.
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Seeker4
slimboy;
Sorry if the thread title was misleading. Saying Barbara had put out a CD might have led some to believe she'd cut a greatest hits album or something!
This is really an archive intended for others to use for research and study. As has been mentioned on this thread, Barbara herself has hardly had a chance to check out all this material. It really needs a few hundred or thousand sets of eyes poring over it to see what gems might be hid in there.
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How does the WT pay for sending Bethelites to University?
by nvrgnbk inare they so hypocritical that they would dare to use publisher donations to send bethelites on to higher education, while discouraging said publishers from obtaining such an education themselves?.
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Seeker4
I've posted about this before.
Rob Pollock was a Bethelite that the Society sent to college to get an engineering degree. I also know that it was kept pretty hushed up. I happened to be in the congregation his father was in, and I knew Rob and his wife fairly well.
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THE ENEMIES OF REASON;RICHARD DAWKINS ON CHANNEL 4 TONIGHT
by badboy inhe will challenge pseudo-science in this programme tonight.
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Seeker4
greendawn,
Once again, you reveal you don't understand what you're talking about because you misunderstand the most basic concept of what a scientific theory is.
It is the best explanation of the facts. Evolution is a fact. Natural selection is the best explanation of how evolution works. We are constantly learning more and more about evolution, and thus constantly refining the theory. That's what science does. It constantly self-corrects and improves itself.
In science, there is electronic theory, nucler theory, evolutionary theory - which are simply the best explanations of the facts we know. Those explanations are constantly being improved.
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