A Ha

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Posts by A Ha

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  54

  where have the demons gone?

  by aboveusonlysky in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does anybody remember some of the sensational demon stories jw's would tell back in the day?

  i was a kid in the early 80's and i remember a few times hearing of people having real life encounters with demons.

  for example, one sister claimed that before she became a jdub she would regularly talk to demons and they would even fix stuff like her washing machine!

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  A Ha

  Yes, we were warned all the time against getting things at garage sales and thrift shops. I was told of someone who bought a piece of furniture at a garage sale which was home to some demons.* There were increasing supernatural events culminating in the dresser being in the basement raising a huge ruckus, going full Jumanji, when the faithful witness had the brilliant idea of writing "Jehovah" on paper plates and sailing them down the steps. That quieted those demons.

  * Man, that would suck being a spirit creature; you're not tethered to a physical body, you should be able to go anywhere you want... down to the earth's core for a quick tan, soaring through the skies, zipping over to watch a star go supernova, then watch other stars being born.. but instead you're limited to living in a dresser.
  
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  32

  Evolution Gap - Where's the Fur? Redux

  by shadow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am posting a second topic on this subject since the first one became overrun by snakes.. cofty posted a link to a published paper discussing this topic and referred to the information in it as "facts".

  here is my summary of that paper along with comments on it.. one of the opening statements says that:.

  two frequently debated aspects of hominin evolution are the development of upright bipedal stance and reduction in body hair.. so for those who believe this is a stupid topic, it is a subject of interest to many stupid people including the authors of the paper referred to by cofty.

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  A Ha

  cofty: Any naturalistic answer that works proves that supernatural answers are unnecessary.

  shadow: The arch example does not prove that God did not do it.

  Shadow, there is a big difference between saying "this shows God is unnecessary as an explanation" vs saying "this proves God could not be the explanation."

  We have millions/billions of confirmed (repeatable) examples of natural explanations for phenomena, and precisely zero supernatural explanations for any phenomena. This alone is enough to say that a plausible naturalistic explanation for any one phenomenon is sufficient to render a supernatural explanation extraneous and unnecessary. (That's a long-winded way of saying "Ockham's Razor FTW!")

  As Viviane said, the article you posted lists problems with a number of ideas about the evolutionary reason for our loss of fur, but even if those problems are insurmountable by proponents of those various ideas, it still leaves the 12th idea, from the article you quote approvingly, as a valid explanation. So, rather than undermining evolution, you've only undermined the thermoregulatory theory of fur-loss and helped establish the some-other-theory theory of fur-loss.

  What you need to do is show that there is no possible evolutionary explanation for humans losing their fur--that the only possible explanation is a supernatural one. If you can't do that, then you've only changed the status of the question from "Probably because X" to "unknown (for now)."

  
  

  Edit: In other words, what 2+2=5 said.
  
  
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  59

  Can you prove that our entire universe and existence is not a computer simulation?

  by EndofMysteries in

  1. social
  2. current

  if you were a computer programmer and you were to create a simulated automated world, that would constantly evolve and self run after initial designs.

  first you would have to code the rules, laws, and core elements of this world.

  while this is being coded, the program is not run yet, so none of it exists.

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  A Ha

  we could actually be a computer simulation speculating if we are a computer simulation. While that is not true as far as I can see, we could well have a computer program running in our brains that is like RAM in a computer and that this is our soul. Atheist hate this idea because computer souls would need programmer to set the code. And if this is true then we are forming new souls as we compute, and perhaps one day our computers will say hello to us, and ask where did I come from. Somebody tell Tyson that he is proving God, in his own image.

  No, atheists hate this idea because there is no reason we should think it's true, yet once one person utters any silly old idea, other theists jump on it because it's a life raft for their vacuous beliefs, then they perform the typical theistic miracle of transmutation where possible magically becomes probable, as you've done here
  
  
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  29

  [Generic evolution vs. creation thread]

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  to save us all a lot of time and effort..... [some complex structure in living organisms described].

  [i can't imagine how this could be the product of evolution].

  [therefore god created it].

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  A Ha

  Even if it can be explained by science, I won't be listening,

  Well, I guess thanks for the honesty.

  Edit: my pony is not as evolutionarily fit as cofty's pony
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  51

  Can’t cope with being disfellowshipped…..Need some advice

  by xxBettyBoopxx in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  this site is great, i have been lurking for a while now.

  but i can’t get reinstated and have used some of the advice already given.. i was df’d many months ago and go to all the meetings and do all the preparation for the meetings, but the jc committee keep refusing me.

  tomorrow at the clam meeting i am puting yet another letter in and will be called for another dreadful jc meeting.. 1. what can i say to the elders to show that i am truly repentant?.

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  A Ha

  Does he talk to you often? What does his voice sound like?
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  29

  [Generic evolution vs. creation thread]

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  to save us all a lot of time and effort..... [some complex structure in living organisms described].

  [i can't imagine how this could be the product of evolution].

  [therefore god created it].

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  A Ha

  And let's not forget, "Darwin admitted in his own book, Origin of Specialties, 'I do not accept evolution.'"

  [Actual quote "I do not see how, once we've examined all the evidence, one could do anything but accept evolution."]
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  87

  Evolution Gap - Where's the Fur?

  by shadow in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  evolution paints human ancestors covered with fur.

  fur has several benefits as stated by britannica "the pelts of fur-bearing animals are called true furs when they consist of two elements: a dense undercoat, called ground hair, and longer hairs, extending beyond that layer, called guard hair.

  the principal function of ground hair is to maintain the animal’s body temperature; that of guard hair is to protect the underlying fur and skin and to shed rain or snow.".

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  A Ha

  In which case I'd say entropy is the house--you need it to have a venue in which to play, but in the end it always wins.
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  29

  [Generic evolution vs. creation thread]

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  to save us all a lot of time and effort..... [some complex structure in living organisms described].

  [i can't imagine how this could be the product of evolution].

  [therefore god created it].

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  A Ha

  I couldn't imagine how an electron could sometimes behave like a particle and sometimes behave like a wave. Then I read a book (well, a number of books) written by scientists writing in their field, summarizing the results of thousands of experiments.

  (And now I'm more confused than ever, but that's just Quantum Mechanics--if Quantum Mechanics makes sense to you, then you don't understand it.)
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  87

  Evolution Gap - Where's the Fur?

  by shadow in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  evolution paints human ancestors covered with fur.

  fur has several benefits as stated by britannica "the pelts of fur-bearing animals are called true furs when they consist of two elements: a dense undercoat, called ground hair, and longer hairs, extending beyond that layer, called guard hair.

  the principal function of ground hair is to maintain the animal’s body temperature; that of guard hair is to protect the underlying fur and skin and to shed rain or snow.".

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  A Ha

  Consider a poker tournament, if you have any familiarity with them... There is much variance in a poker tournament, and the largest ones can have thousands of entrants. The "best" poker players aren't guaranteed to win, but they have a much better chance of winning than the 97-year-old guy who is playing his first tournament. When they get down to the final players, the majority of the final-table players are the ones who were considered the "best" tournament poker players before it started.

  It seems like you have this idea that if we could number the snakes from 1 to 10,000 in order of "fitness," we should see them finish in precisely that order in a mating contest, and anything else disproves evolution. That's just not how it works.

  Consider this scenario (I'm not saying this is what happens, just making something up based on the article): Let's say you have a snake that is much stronger than the others; when he wraps himself around something, he can squeeze with more force than the other males. In these mating balls, the males wrap around the female and she rolls to get them off her. Maybe the rolling process is to test for the stronger males, since she won't be able to roll them off. Or in a related scenario, maybe the "fittest" males are the ones with more endurance. The weaker males get tired quickly after being rolled off the female a few times and they give up. But the fitter males have more endurance and they get to mate because they don't give up as quickly. In these scenarios, these fitter males, who may be in a mating ball with 100 other males, don't have a 1/100 chance of mating (which, as you say, would seem to negate his "fitness advantage")--they have more like a 1/10 chance or something like that.
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  8

  Who can I contact to have an old forum post removed?

  by tsunami_rid3r in

  1. forum
  2. tech-support

  i'm not able to find a list of moderators.

  from browsing the forum news & announcements section, it appeared to me that the user, simon, is either the admin of this website or a forum moderator.. i sent simon a message 2 days ago and did not receive a response and the forum post in question has not been removed.

  then i sent simon another message 8 hours ago and did not receive a response and the forum post in question has not been removed.. who else can i contact to have an old embarrassing 11 year old forum post removed?.

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  A Ha

  I'm also less inclined to move fast if I'm badgered because, well, I'm just like that. Patience is a virtue.

  Besides, now that tsunami has posted this, the rest of us needed time to go through 11 years of his posts to find the embarrassing one.