Posts by THE GLADIATOR

317

Does God's foreknowledge take away from free will?

by Christ Alone in

just by knowing what will happen, that doesn't mean that we can prevent or cause something to happen.

my knowing that does not prevent them the free will of making the choice.. it's the same with god.

if god is not restricted to existence in the present, then the future is known by god because god indwells the future as well as the present and the past.

THE GLADIATOR

Perhaps the problem with this discussion is a lack of consensus as to what God actually is. There seems to be an acceptance that God is somewhere out there sitting on his asteroid watching us and knowing everything we are about to do, even before we are born; but he can’t be bothered to stop bad things happening.

My God would be a part of everything that exists. There would be no God versus us, just a collective universal reality that is not separated. All that happens in the universe is God. Everything in the universe, whether visible to human eyes or invisible, is energy vibrating at differing speeds. Science is just beginning to comprehend how un-solid all matter is and that all that exists is energy.

For me the word God is rather redundant because it is contaminated by being used for so many thousands of years to describe an entity with fixed ideas, rules, plans and rewards to those who are faithful to a particular creed.

Does the energy that IS the universe have foreknowledge that takes away our free will? To do that it would have to have a will of its own. In which case it would not be God but an individual entity that seeks to manipulate energy to its own advantage. That sounds more like a devil than God.

317

Does God's foreknowledge take away from free will?

by Christ Alone in

just by knowing what will happen, that doesn't mean that we can prevent or cause something to happen.

my knowing that does not prevent them the free will of making the choice.. it's the same with god.

if god is not restricted to existence in the present, then the future is known by god because god indwells the future as well as the present and the past.

THE GLADIATOR

Oh dear! When I saw this thread I thought to myself - this is going to take 7 pages to sort out.

I have raised my estimate to 10 pages - God willing.

97

Pat Condell on Aggressive Atheism

by cantleave in

this is pretty much how i feel.......who disagrees with this?.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yjo4duhmrzk&noredirect=1.

THE GLADIATOR

Pat Condell’s offerings are always of great interest to me. Science has been of great benefit to mankind and cannot be compared to religion. It’s easy to confuse religion with culture? An examination of Muslim culture and its religious influence leaves us asking if religion is of benefit to mankind. An examination of Christian culture and its religious influence might bring us to a different conclusion.

97

Jehovah's Witnesses dismayed by new magazine format from Watchtower Society.

by Balaamsass in

jw
friends

wow.

i was surprised this week by calls from active jws complaining about the new magazine format, and more begging for money from the platform.. frankly i was surprized by this reaction since this is old news to jwn members.

i guess actually shuffling to the bookroom and grabbing the new "awake tracts" minus the inside cover forward ...awakened many sleepy, catatonic, bored jws who never read the things or go on the internet anyway.. any feedback from other areas?.

THE GLADIATOR

When I was ‘in it’ we had real meat to get our teeth into like The Babylon the Great has Fallen book. Ok it was chewy but if filled me up. And what about those Watchtower volumes that we could feast on for a whole bank holiday weekend?

The new literature will lead to spiritual starvation among the sheep. I would need a whole pile of them to satisfy my desire.

132

"Believers" vs. Atheists- Why this formulation?

by Band on the Run in

i believe christ is god.

when i left the witnesses i believed i had to be agnostic.

through a scheduling conflict, i studied the new testament in college.

THE GLADIATOR

Oh I think someone can be a little bit Christian if there is something to be gained from it. Best sumed up by a couple of verses from WALKING IN MEMPHIS.

They've got catfish on the table They've got gospel in the air
And Reverend Green be glad to see you
When you haven't got a prayer
But boy you've got a prayer in Memphis

Now Muriel plays piano
Every Friday at the Hollywood
And they brought me down to see her
And they asked me if I would
Do a little number
And I sang with all my might
And she said
"Tell me are you a Christian child?"
And I said "Ma'am I am tonight"

106

If There was a Cosmic Pain meter...

by cofty in

imagine that it was possible to precisely measure the amount of suffering in the world at any given moment - a cosmic "pain meter".

decide for yourself what the unit of measurement would be.. we can only imagine a fraction of the combined suffering that is being felt right now.

physical pain, emotional despair, grief, desperation, loss, terror and hopelessness.. of course if there is an omniscient god then he knows to the last iota what that theoretical meter would read right now.. the bible contains a number of answers to the question of suffering - ever since the babylonian exile one popular answer has been to blame his nemesis the devil, "we know that we are children of god, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

THE GLADIATOR

If we believe in a personal god then we are compelled to attribute some of the blame for suffering to that god. To me the idea of a personal god that has made man in his own image but not other animals is just mythology and folklore. I don't blame a personal god for suffering as it is a part of life. There are individuals who cause unnecessary suffering to humans and animal and they are to blame for their own actions.

What I ask is this - is the universe aware of itself and conscious of its existence? If a universal awareness exists that we are a part of, that would be the closest thing to a god that I can at present comprehend. It is not possible to have only joy in a physical world. Joy and pain are two sides of the same coin. If we feel we will experience both pleasure and pain. The natural world is already a wonderful and worthy expression of life on earth. It continues to do what it has always done, that is to improve and advance. Life adapts and advances, basing its progress on the experience it has accumulated.

Despite all our failings, we are as a race making progress. There is huge room for us as humans to improve but life is improving for humans. We have a long way to go, and our journey will involve suffering, but humans are brave and wonderful creatures who will meet the challenges of the future. What we experience as humans in the natural world is not a failure but a living reality that offers us the opportunity to experience life in this part of the universe.

31

Invited to Attend a J W Kangaroo Court Proceeding: Tell Them to: Put the Reason for Requesting Your Presents in Writing Along With Any Alleged Charges of Wrong Doing, So You Can Give it To Your Lawyer.

by frankiespeakin in

by doing this the elders have to contact hq to get further instructions.

in many cases they will think it just not worth the red tape to proceed any further.

unless they concider you a real bad apple or threat that needs to be delt with in which case it should hold them off for a couple of months till they get direction from hq.. the wt is being threatened with law suits, they have to deal with big legal concideration of child molestation and other areas as the public is become less and less tollerant of wacko religions with abusive behavior.

THE GLADIATOR

blondie Your response was perfect and the lack of response said it all.

I do so admire applied intelligence. You chip away on this forum with so many factual challenges to the Watchtower Society’s claims and reliability. Although you may not always receive a huge response you efforts are appreciated.

546

non believers what if your wrong ?

by unstopableravens in

i do not wish to debate anything here like i have said in the past i have much respect for most on this forum (believers and non believers) i am simply wondering if the atheist or non god believers every worry about what if your wrong?

it seems that many who were jw for so many years attach jehovah/yahweh with the watchtower and since the wt is wrong than god does not exist.

i ask this question only because i care about people and salvation thats why i want to help as many as possable come out of this cult,and since i truly believe in god i dont know what is in the cinscience of those who dont.

THE GLADIATOR

Sorry but I am giving one of those awards to PSacramento

85

Old time JW's did some very devout JW's refuse to eat pizza with pepperroni because they believed "blood" was in the pepperroni?

by booker-t in

jw
friends

i have never heard this before until i read a life story of an ex-jws and how some jws in the past refused to eat pepperoni pizza because they thought blood was in pepperoni.

i do know some elderly jw sisters would complain about eating steak if it bled while cooking.

has anybody else heard of this pizza nonsense?.

THE GLADIATOR

It’s well known where I work that it is due to Jehovah's Witnesses aversion to blood that not one of them has ever become a gladiator .

Also saluting Caesar is a big no-no.

32

Why don't Jehovah's Witnesses Celebrate Thanksgiving?

by God_Delusion in

hi guys,.

being a brit living abroad, i never really understood the whole thanksgiving business.. i think growing up as a jw didn't help either.

anyway, i've rid myself of those jw shackles and have decided to take an interest into the goings on over the pond, especially as my favourite place on earth is bar harbor.

THE GLADIATOR

No one in the UK celebrates Thanksgiving.

It would upset Allah!