Posts by TD

141

My Prediction Regarding New Space Telescope That Will See Back to 100 Million Years From the Big Bang

by Sea Breeze in

a new space telescope launched a few days age that will supposedly be able to see to within 100 million years of the big bang.

wow... only 100 million years from the big bang.

that is pretty early given the 12 billion year age of the universe assigned by scholars who adhere to naturalism.

TD

Maybe I didn't explain very clearly. Let me give it another go.

Our sun is roughly 93 million miles away. The speed of light is roughly 186,282 miles a second. Therefore when we observe our sun we are actually looking roughly 8 minutes into the past.

The farther away a source of light is, the farther back into the past we're looking.

The farthest galaxies from us are the ones that are moving away the fastest. (Hubble/Lemaître's law)

They're receding so fast that the wavelength of the light is "stretched" out of the visible spectrum and into the infrared.

That's red shift. Observing it is the mechanism of seeing some of the earliest objects in the history of our universe. The infrared light reaching us today was produced billions of years ago as visible light.

But it doesn't work without light. The JWST is not going to be able to see anything prior to earliest stars and galaxies. The earliest stars are theorized to be non- metallic and shorter lived and it would be cool if that could be observed, but they're not going to look much different than what we see today.

So the prediction in your OP is actually a pretty safe bet.

141

My Prediction Regarding New Space Telescope That Will See Back to 100 Million Years From the Big Bang

by Sea Breeze in

a new space telescope launched a few days age that will supposedly be able to see to within 100 million years of the big bang.

wow... only 100 million years from the big bang.

that is pretty early given the 12 billion year age of the universe assigned by scholars who adhere to naturalism.

TD

Given the fact that the mechanism of "seeing" into the past is via the extreme red shift of the most distant galaxies, I'd say that's probably a pretty safe bet.

I'm not trying to be facetious here. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean by a big mess.

30

Why it takes a long time to bring a religious cult down.

by pistolpete in

i think the first thing to consider is that it takes a while for humans to wake up to the truth.

this is not just a jw thing.

around 1600 ad, galileo challenged the catholic church's long held view that the earth was the center of our universe.

TD

I'm a little more pessimistic, I guess

In 1995 the "Generation" was redefined to be the "wicked" who take no note of the sign of the end

In 2008 the "Generation" was redefined to be the "Anointed" which was nearly a 180 degree about-face.

In 2010 the "Generation" was redefined to be overlapping generations of the "Anointed" since 1914.

It would be nice if the average JW understood that four (Counting 1942) understandings of a pivotal scripture in less than twenty years is not "new light." It's incompetence and ineptitude on the part of the leadership.

It would be nice if the average JW understood the anachronism in the leadership's abandonment of typology vis-à-vis the Olivet.

It would be nice if the average JW understood the semantic legerdemain at work in these explanations.

Hell, it would be nice if the average JW even understood that there were in fact four separate explanations.

I'm about the same age as your uncle, Pete, and I watched my own relatives become disillusioned later in life. One of them was actually quite high in the JW hierarchy. It made no difference.

Don't misunderstand though. I really hope you're right. Maybe the "escaped mouse syndrome" of the pandemic (i.e. A perfectly tame mouse will become wild very quickly outside of his cage.) will push things over the edge this time.

27

I think the Jw Religion is getting better. Not by choice.

by pistolpete in

one of my jw family member had a big get together.

he invited a lot of his jw friends.

there was teenage kids, couples, singles.

TD

Interesting.

I've noticed that JW's who are active on Facebook and Instagram seem to be fairly normal these days, but I just assumed it was because they were more laid back to begin with.

I didn't realize it was more than that.

16

R movies

by road to nowhere in

jw
friends

witnesses never watch r movies.

but they understand references to wood chippers and banjo music.. other than that the rating system is not worldwide .

TD

Movie ratings have never made a lot of sense to me.

The Andromeda Strain (1971) is rated 'G' despite scenes of mass death and suicide including a deceased young woman, naked to her waist on the floor and an elderly woman who has hung herself in a stairwell and is gently swinging in the breeze.

Paprika (2006) an animated adaptation of Yasutaka Tsutsui's book by the same name is rated 'R' for god knows why. Some of the scenes are surreal, there is an implied sexuality here and there and a very brief scene of androgynous nudity (i.e. The figure has no genitalia)

I'm not sure how one could make a value judgment about a movie based on such an arbitrary system.

To be fair, both Fargo and Deliverance are like The Exorcist in the sense that the references in pop culture are everywhere.

6

An animated walk through of Watchtower's history

by The Old Testicle in

170 years of watchtower history.

this video was made using material researched from their own publications as well as outside sources.. this wasn't produced to bash the organisation but provide a background to its origin and path to today.

the organisation's falls on the merit that this is factual and not sensational.

TD

Good approach

Only a couple of minor pedant points:

Jonas Wendell restored Russell's wavering faith in God and the Bible, but Russell, by his own testimony, rejected Wendell's dates because he couldn't stomach the idea of the burning of the world. (c.f. The Watch Tower July 15, 1906, p. 230)

In Russell's own words, he "looked with pity" upon Mr. Wendell's teachings.

Russell did not accept Adventist chronology until he met Nelson Barbour in 1876 and Jehovah's Witnesses today are indebted to Barbour for the one, single element chronological element of that era that they still accept today. (i.e. 1914)

-----

Out of curiosity, I wonder what edition of The Plan Of The Ages / The Divine Plan Of The Ages is 424 pages? I would guess that this is the expanded, "As Revealed In The Great Pyramid" edition and not the one Russell wrote in 86

-----

The first condemnation of transfusion was in 1944, not 1945

53

New World Translation is not much different other translations

by Abraham1 in

key scripture 2 timothy 3:16 should have been translated as “every scripture inspired of god is also profitable for teaching” like many other serious translations (such as american standard version ; douay-rheims bible etc) as it is what the greek text says.. this is in harmony with the contents of bible and also with the writer paul himself who knew after his departure ‘even from his own number men will arise and distort the truth.’ (acts 20:29-30) for example, verses such as romans 7:19 is such distortion.

such verses cannot originate from real paul who was “holy, righteous and blameless.” (1 thessalonians 2:10) hence paul had the freeness of speech to tell others to be “blameless” like him (1 thessalonians 5:19-23; ephesians 5:24) there are many things in the scriptures which are not inspired such as words of satan, words of job’s wife and his false friends, words of judas, lot’s daughters …etc.

apostle peter never disowned jesus because if he had done so, his contemporaries would have interrupted him when he rebuked jews, saying: “you disowned the holy and righteous one and asked that a murderer be released to you.“ (acts 3:14) his listeners would have asked him “what right do you have to reprove us for ‘disowning jesus” when you yourself have done it first?” all such verses or accounts were later adoptions.

TD

Well he kinda, sorta has a point. A translation that bills itself as literal shouldn't be attempting to interpret idioms. That's what free translations are for

19

If Ever GB Members Deserved To Be Thrown in Jail It's When ...

by smiddy3 in

it was when the governing body started to disfellow-ship jehovah`s witnesses from taking blood transfusions in an effort to save their lives .. resulting in many hundreds if not thousands of needless deaths of men women and children who by this coercion died from this doctrine.. and to this day they still go unpunished .

.

TD

Brock,

Suppose I were to tell someone casually, "Hey, why don't you jump off that bridge? You know, just for kicks?"

The average intelligent (i.e. Mentally competent) adult would have no trouble grasping the risks of jumping off a bridge.

The average intelligent adult does not and cannot reasonably be expected to understand a subtle misrepresentation of an esoteric medical study.

Hell - Even if all you're doing is writing a fluffy article about a diet or exercise program for a trendy health magazine, you still have to disclaim it with, "Always consult your physician first." (Or something to that effect.)

It is only the distaste for prosecuting a religion for anything except the most heinous crimes that allows JW leaders, policy makers and writers to get away with something that you or I would certainly be prosecuted for.

Free will is a good and sound principle, but taken to an extreme, non-coercive crimes like fraud, swindling and misrepresentation cease to exist.

40

Congregation in PA sues over mandatory reporting

by Corney in

ivy hill congregation of jehovah's witnesses is currently suing the pa department of human services.

it requests "a declaration that its elders are entitled to" clergy privilege, or, in the alternative,.

to the extent that the clergyman privilege is determined to exclude its elders on the basis that they are "members of [a] religious organization[] in which members other than the leader thereof are deemed clergymen or ministers," the court declare the statute to be unconstitutional.

TD

The quote from the '94 Watchtower was from page 11, paragraph 4

19

If Ever GB Members Deserved To Be Thrown in Jail It's When ...

by smiddy3 in

it was when the governing body started to disfellow-ship jehovah`s witnesses from taking blood transfusions in an effort to save their lives .. resulting in many hundreds if not thousands of needless deaths of men women and children who by this coercion died from this doctrine.. and to this day they still go unpunished .

.

TD

Free will is a good and sound principle, but people can be misinformed to the point where their free agency is compromised.

--That's why practicing medicine / law / engineering / architecture without a license are illegal.

If the JW's had presented their views on blood as purely a matter of doctrine / faith / biblical interpretation it would be one thing.

But they have not.