Posts by Apognophos

6

Closing in on the Genetic background to Same Sex Attraction

by fulltimestudent in

many christians keep insisting that homosexuality is a choice, and they are 'right' to insist on legal prohibitions (in spite of living in a pluralistic society).. they claim divine revelation as basis for these legal prohibitions.

sadly for them, it does look their god is somewhat schizoid on this matter.. if yahweh is the source of sanctions against those who are sexually attracted to the same sex, then we would not expect any genetic indications for that attraction.

if you think along those lines, the this report from the uk independent will interest you.. largest ever study into the gay gene 'erodes the notion that sexual orientation is a choice'.

Apognophos

LOL @ DATA-DOG.

Unfortunately, proving that there's a genetic basis doesn't end the argument. The comparison that some fundies make is to alcoholism. "Sure, it can be based in genetics, but that doesn't preclude someone from fighting against it or mean that it's okay to give in to it. It's just one of many possible sinful tendencies that we might inherit through these imperfect genes of ours."

However, the difference is that the sex drive is more or less the most basic instinct of all, and it cannot be suppressed or redirected by sheer willpower. Trying to do so will only damage a person.

8

JW with cart in front of White House today! It was 32 degrees!

by GrreatTeacher in

jw
friends

well, then, if it was so cold, what was i doing there?

i was on a field trip with a bunch of 8th graders.

i volunteered to chaperone and i was in charge of seven 13 year old boys who demanded to see the white house since the bus dropped us off on the national mall and we had 2 hours to look at the war memorials before we had to be back on the bus.

Apognophos

Heh, I get what you mean. SS would have jumped on him if they thought he was a threat.

5

Is it really allowed for a JW to listen to radio or look at TV??

by Mr Fool in

if almost every song, every radio host, every actor is influenced by satan it should be forbidden for every jw to listen to radio and look at tv, right?!

or have i missed something?.

Apognophos

Nice, QB, I almost didn't get that.

29

Family Gathering ( or the day also known as Thanksgiving)

by Theredeemer in

jw
friends

every year on a certain thursday in november my family and close witness friends would get together, eat menudo ( hispanic stew) and other foods, watch football and then get dressed to go to the meeting.. sister so and so would bring her famous pie, bro and sister so and so would bring their gross punch and bro and sis so and so would bring mexican sweet bread.

sometimes we would go to "worldy" aunt's and pick up plates of turkey and fixins.. this was every year on a certain date, on a certain thursday in november.. this continued until my mom got alzheimers.

by that time i was married and had my own house.

Apognophos

Exactly, BizzyBee, I came here to post the same thing, "but turkeys are on sale now!" Funny stuff.

8

JW with cart in front of White House today! It was 32 degrees!

by GrreatTeacher in

jw
friends

well, then, if it was so cold, what was i doing there?

i was on a field trip with a bunch of 8th graders.

i volunteered to chaperone and i was in charge of seven 13 year old boys who demanded to see the white house since the bus dropped us off on the national mall and we had 2 hours to look at the war memorials before we had to be back on the bus.

Apognophos

So, let me get this straight, there was a guy with a suitcase publicly praying to Mecca and walking toward the White House, and you went towards him? Snipers on the roof were probably watching that guy through their scopes.

I'm surprised any 13 year old would say that Watchtower is a publisher and not mention the JWs, I wonder where he came by that knowledge.

127

I'm sitting here listening to a JW try to recruit somebody

by Terry in

jw
friends

i'm at starbucks .

just outside in the courtyard.. i'm trembling.

my hands are shaking.. wow!.

Apognophos

I'm glad to hear this update. It's natural that he will be conflicted over his pending reinstatement, but even if he decides to immediately start fading, at least he'll have some freedom from shunning. It seems like he knows too much now to be reindoctrinated by the meetings, esp. since I assume he has already been attending all this time in order to be reinstated, and it clearly hasn't taken his critical thinking from him.

116

Creationist Should Dismiss Genesis Quickly

by Coded Logic in

chris tann,.

in your earlier post you seemed to be under the impression that genesis and science were somehow compatible .

however, the truth is the two are not reconcilable at all.

Apognophos

My personal stance is that I cannot conceive of how a God could come into being on its own, and I cannot conceive of how a universe can come into existence on its own. Talking about zero-sum energy fields is not satisfying to me because the theory still posits that something very potent existed from the very beginning and something caused a disturbance in that field.

Therefore our existence is, according to our current knowledge, inexplicable. Without enough data, we have no right at this time to say which of those two causes, God or random energy fluctuations, is more likely, nor whether there might be additional options besides those two that we haven't thought of yet.

Occam's Razor is not useful in a situation where we lack so little knowledge. Besides that, if a god exists, then the universe's degree of complexity simply is a result of the pre-existing complexity in his mind, and therefore the sum complexity of god+universe is not greater.

23

Separation of the sheep and goats

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

separating of the sheep and the goats you can live forever in paradise on earth, 1982, p 183, states: since christ returned and sat down on his heavenly throne, all humankind has been on judgment... during the presentjudgment people are being separated as goats to christs left hand or as sheep to his right.. the wt of jan. 1, 1988, p 16, confirmed this: yes, all mankind is being scrutinized to see who are sheep and who are goats.... the messages are broadcast by human mouthpieces under angelic direction.

a person is identified as a sheep or as a goat by the way he responds to the angelic messages.

during this 20 th century, only jehovahs witnesses have cooperated with the angels in this vital work.. .

Apognophos

Wow, I didn't know this change was a flip-flop.

9

Lightbulbs

by PhilJonesIII in

im sure someone must have posted this before but here goes.. q: how many jws does it take to change a lightbulb?.

a : jws are not allowed to change lightbulbs.

anyone attempting to introduce new light gets disfellowshipped.. .

Apognophos

All of them. Seven to convince everyone that they changed the bulb, while standing in the middle of a dark room, and the rest of the JWs to agree that it's much brighter now.

50

My friends don't believe dinosaurs existed ....

by wannabefree in

i just found this out last night.

(preface: this is a husband and wife that i have come to be friends with after leaving the borg, they are christians).

we were sitting around visiting last night and having a good time when my friend starts in on illegal immigration and politics and starts throwing out his hate speech which eventually turns to homosexuals.

Apognophos

What is crazy is that dinosaurs don't even disconfirm JW beliefs in the first place since they don't teach a 6,000 year old earth. So I don't even know what's going through the head of a JW who denies dinosaurs.