Posts by notsurewheretogo

56

If God exists, what would be a good reason why he never communicates or helps his creation by intervention?

by pistolpete in

you have probably heard all kinds of excuses why god doesn’t communicates with his creation or why he doesn’t intervene.. some examples.. no one can see god because he is a spirit.. but we can hear god---yet he chooses not to talk to humanity.. god only communicates with certain people.

moses, samuel, abraham, etc.

but there are many people today who also claim that god spoke to them yet we ignore them but believe god spoke to people who lived thousands of years ago and we can’t really verify if that was so.

notsurewheretogo

Because the fact is that religious experiences are commonplace in this world.

They are not, that is not a fact, what you mean to say is:

According to peoples perception they believe they experienced a religious experience and these religious experiences perceptions are commonplace in this world.

Billions believe in a god with no evidence, you are always then going to have people say they have communicated with god, many people saying this does not constitute evidence god is communicating with anyone.

As I say it is all to do with circumstantial evidence and beyond reasonable doubt because there is no concrete evidence either way.

The circumstantial evidence points to no god if you are neutral and free from cognitive dissonance.

56

If God exists, what would be a good reason why he never communicates or helps his creation by intervention?

by pistolpete in

you have probably heard all kinds of excuses why god doesn’t communicates with his creation or why he doesn’t intervene.. some examples.. no one can see god because he is a spirit.. but we can hear god---yet he chooses not to talk to humanity.. god only communicates with certain people.

moses, samuel, abraham, etc.

but there are many people today who also claim that god spoke to them yet we ignore them but believe god spoke to people who lived thousands of years ago and we can’t really verify if that was so.

notsurewheretogo

@SBF:

you first need to explain why you claim that God doesn’t communicate with humans when a significant number of people do experience communication with God.

Because they are interpreting god is communicating with them that is something else...it really is that simple...people want or wish something then something happens that then makes them think god is communicating with them...and of course you cannot prove otherwise...convenient.

But again that is not my point, where is the bigger picture? IF a god did exist why not, logically speaking, make yourself manifest to all in a tangible way...why "communicate" with few people in weird ways when mass amounts of suffering is occurring on the planet.

Wouldn't many or all humans be relieved that a powerful deity exists and there is hope etc?

Would a parent not respond to ALL of its children if they needed help.

Fact remains when you consider circumstantial evidence and "beyond reasonable doubt" god simply does not exist.

56

If God exists, what would be a good reason why he never communicates or helps his creation by intervention?

by pistolpete in

you have probably heard all kinds of excuses why god doesn’t communicates with his creation or why he doesn’t intervene.. some examples.. no one can see god because he is a spirit.. but we can hear god---yet he chooses not to talk to humanity.. god only communicates with certain people.

moses, samuel, abraham, etc.

but there are many people today who also claim that god spoke to them yet we ignore them but believe god spoke to people who lived thousands of years ago and we can’t really verify if that was so.

notsurewheretogo

Communication with God is apparent to those who have experienced it. Around a third to a half of people report some kind of communication with God when surveyed. That’s a lot of communication going on for a supposedly hidden God. If you’re going to ask why God doesn’t communicate with humans, it would seem reasonable first to answer the rather obvious point that he does communicate with an awful lot of people. Or if you don’t believe them, why don’t you believe them.

Because that communication is not proper communication. You saying people who claim God talked to them and number in the many gives weight to the fact god is communicating with them?

Do you believe the many who believe in the flat earth or ghosts or aliens are right because there are many to do so?

Given the need to believe in something then I'd expect many to say they have heard a god much like many say the earth is flat.

But let us go with your point...let us say god IS communicating with these people...why is he not revealing himself to ALL? Why doesn't he communicate and show himself? Seems he is a pretty shoddy guy if he talks to people one on one with zero evidence he exists.

Just think what could be done on this planet if god revealed himself and communicated.

But he hasn't...

Which means beyond reasonable doubt he doesn't exist.

56

If God exists, what would be a good reason why he never communicates or helps his creation by intervention?

by pistolpete in

you have probably heard all kinds of excuses why god doesn’t communicates with his creation or why he doesn’t intervene.. some examples.. no one can see god because he is a spirit.. but we can hear god---yet he chooses not to talk to humanity.. god only communicates with certain people.

moses, samuel, abraham, etc.

but there are many people today who also claim that god spoke to them yet we ignore them but believe god spoke to people who lived thousands of years ago and we can’t really verify if that was so.

notsurewheretogo

Many people believe God does communicate with them in a wide variety of ways. The question posed assumes that those who believe God does communicate with them are all mistaken. What is the basis for this assumption?

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The point is IF there is a god why is it not apparent he is communicating with us.
Imagine being a parent but hiding your communication to your children. The point here is that it seems the lack of any considerable communication lends weight to the side that a god does not exist or a god who is a dick.

19

How on earth can WT lawyers continue to believe WT has God’s backing, when they see all the deception play out in Court.

by pistolpete in

here is a post on reddit from mark and kimmy o’ donnell, from the crusaders documentary,.

ask us anything.. mr. o'donnell gives his assessment of why wt lawyers continue to defend the child sex abuse cases that the organization continues to fight, even though they see firsthand the deception, the lies, the withholding of facts and dirty tactics used in court.

by an organization that claims to be god's earthly representative, and the only one to hold the truth.

notsurewheretogo

It’s not an experiment I would recommend, but if any one of us committed for one year to: go back to all the meetings, lots of preaching, pray often, Bible/Watchtower reading, watch all the videos, really put sincere effort into it, and completely avoid any apostate or hostile media, and never say a word against the society and refuse to listen to anyone else with any remotely critical comments about the truth.
At the end of a year, if you do those things faithfully and without exception, you will probably end up believing JWs have the truth all over again. In fact, you will be confused about how you could ever have been fooled by apostate lies in the past!

Nah no way. It really depends why you left and why you stopped believing.

Jerusalem was not destroyed in 607 BCE and with that comes tumbling down the house of cards that this group are "chosen".

Going back a year and doing everything will not change that because they offer zero proof that Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 BCE.

19

How on earth can WT lawyers continue to believe WT has God’s backing, when they see all the deception play out in Court.

by pistolpete in

here is a post on reddit from mark and kimmy o’ donnell, from the crusaders documentary,.

ask us anything.. mr. o'donnell gives his assessment of why wt lawyers continue to defend the child sex abuse cases that the organization continues to fight, even though they see firsthand the deception, the lies, the withholding of facts and dirty tactics used in court.

by an organization that claims to be god's earthly representative, and the only one to hold the truth.

notsurewheretogo

When JW's, legals or not, are "captive to the concept" that they are gods chosen channel as are the GB then it matters not what they teach or do because they are held captive to that concept.

It's cult mentality.

29

The bus stop analogy

by slimboyfat in

suppose we were naïve observers, given the following data, and asked to draw a conclusion.

we see people gather at a busy bus stop several times a day.

at first one person, then another, and another, until they form a group.

notsurewheretogo

"There may be a deeper process at work here which accounts for the correlation of brain activity and thoughts that doesn’t necessitate one being caused by the other."

But whatever that deeper process is it will be related to the physical, biological and chemical components of the brain because if you take away the brain there is no thought or consciousness.

Consciousness is not separate from the brain. The relationship between the physical, biological and chemical makeup of the brain and "thoughts" or consciousness are clearly not understood fully but you cannot separate that process from out with the brain, its matter, its chemical and biological processes either.

50

What would happen if the Watchtower decided no more meeting at Kingdom Halls, only Zoom?

by pistolpete in

i’m seeing my hard core believing relatives slowly losing faith that the watchtower is the organization that “god” is using to represent him on earth.. just about all the churches in their area have opened up.. but not the watchtower.. this is having an affect on the faith of even the old timers.

now the only ones who are still holding the faith are the female jws and only those past 70 years of age.

even my old male jw relative past 70 are starting to say that it can’t be jehovah’s organization because the other churches are all open and god supposed organization who is supposed to preach the warning message is still closed with no open in sight.

notsurewheretogo

The GB will see Zoom working to some degree and sell off the KH's and they will see the cash as more important than anything then a KH will then be shared among many congs and perhaps once a month they meet in it?

47

The Evidence of Human Evolution keeps getting stronger and stronger

by Disillusioned JW in

despite the wt's and young earth creationists' teachings against human evolution (namely macroevolution from non-humans) being a reality, the evidence of human evolution keeps getting stronger and stronger.. consider for example two science news articles and one other science article, each pertaining to the fossil that is nicknamed "little foot".

below are links to three science articles, listed in order of the articles from oldest to newest (except i don't see a date for one of the articles).

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2187639-exclusive-controversial-skeleton-may-be-a-new-species-of-early-human/.

notsurewheretogo

JW's dismiss evolution along with many folks because they think evolution is a) a theory not proved and b) is the origin of life.

Facts show that evolution is true but it is simply the terminology of the word "theory".

A scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world, based on a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment. Such fact-supported theories are not "guesses" but reliable accounts of the real world.

Thus the theory of gravity, relativity and evolution fall into the above definition.

Most folks confuse the terminology of "theory" with "hypothesis" but a scientific hypothesis is the initial building block in the scientific method. Many describe it as an "educated guess," based on prior knowledge and observation. A hypothesis also includes an explanation of why the guess may be correct.

Evolution is NOT a "hypothesis" in the above definition.

Then there is the confusion between the origin of life, or more accurately the arrival of living matter from non living matter and evolution which discusses literally no part of that conversation.

The origin of living matter is Abiogenesis and whilst some disagree is mostly "hypothesis" by definition.

150

Nebuchadnezzar's 37th year matches the year 588 or 568 BC?

by Vanderhoven7 in

anybody know something about vat 4956?.

nebuchadnezzar's 37th year matches the year 588 bc?

any independant astronomer can test it and it only matches 568 bc.. .

notsurewheretogo

Eventually he openly opposed their doctrines and is now disfellowshipped.

True but he still supports 607 BCE as the destruction of Jerusalem.