Posts by TerryWalstrom

22

Hitchhiking robot embarking on coast-to-coast tour across US

by TerryWalstrom in

hitchhiking robot embarking on coast-to-coast tour across u.s.. .

did you hear that, honey?

i dont have time for tv!

TerryWalstrom

The Watchtower Society, almost from the very beginning, has been sending out Robots to preach their weird doctrines. So, nothing new here.

24

Baiting Dubs for fun and amusement

by TerryWalstrom in

jw: "wha-a-a-t?

mormon: "okay.

other jw: "that's just .

TerryWalstrom

JW's have become more insular, hermetic and isolated from debate, controversial writings and the dreaded Internet Apostates I can't help but think they've simply ossified.

What is used, develops and what is not used, atrophies.

13

What is the SIGNIFICANCE of the Astounding KORAN Manuscript discovery ?

by TerryWalstrom in

bart ehrman's blog reveals some very interesting facts about the recent discovery of a manuscript of the koran.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oksxmo9moqk.

"in case anyone is missing the significance of that, here is a comparison.

the first time we have any two-page manuscript fragment of the new testament is from around the year 200 ce.

TerryWalstrom

CRAZYGUY: How many actual pages were found Terry?

Consisting of two parchment leaves, the manuscript in Birmingham contains parts of what are now Chapters 18 to 20.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/world/europe/quran-fragments-university-birmingham.html

13

What is the SIGNIFICANCE of the Astounding KORAN Manuscript discovery ?

by TerryWalstrom in

bart ehrman's blog reveals some very interesting facts about the recent discovery of a manuscript of the koran.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oksxmo9moqk.

"in case anyone is missing the significance of that, here is a comparison.

the first time we have any two-page manuscript fragment of the new testament is from around the year 200 ce.

TerryWalstrom

Ehrman says this about the process of dating the manuscript:

"Let me say that carbon-14 dating is indeed a science, but it’s not a highly exact science. It dates organic material based on the deterioration of its carbon-14 isotope, and so can give a range of dates that are statistically determined to be of relative accuracy. Even so. This dating is remarkable. The dating was done by a lab devoted to such things in Oxford. It turns out that there is a 95% chance that these pages were produced between 568 and 645 CE. How good is that? The prophet Mohammed, who (in traditional Islamic teaching) was responsible for producing the Qur’an was engaged in his active ministry in 610-632 CE. These pages may have been produced during his lifetime or in a decade or so later."

13

What is the SIGNIFICANCE of the Astounding KORAN Manuscript discovery ?

by TerryWalstrom in

bart ehrman's blog reveals some very interesting facts about the recent discovery of a manuscript of the koran.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oksxmo9moqk.

"in case anyone is missing the significance of that, here is a comparison.

the first time we have any two-page manuscript fragment of the new testament is from around the year 200 ce.

TerryWalstrom

Bart Ehrman's blog reveals some very interesting facts about the recent discovery of a manuscript of the KORAN.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKSxmo9Moqk

"In case anyone is missing the significance of that, here is a comparison. The first time we have any two-page manuscript fragment of the New Testament is from around the year 200 CE. That’s 170 years after Jesus’ death in 30 CE. Imagine if we found two pages of text that contain portions, say, of the Sermon on the Mount, in almost exactly the same form as we have them in what is now our Gospel of Matthew, and suppose that these pages received a carbon-14 dating of 30 BCE – 40 CE. Would we be ecstatic, OR WHAT???"

____________

"If these pages of the Qur’an do indeed show that the text of the Qur’an is virtually the same in, say 630-40 CE as it is in 1630-40 as it is in 2015, that would suggest that Muslims are indeed correct that at least in some circles (it would obviously be impossible to prove that it was true in *all* circles), scribes of the Qur’an simply didn’t change it. "

__________________

BART RAISES AN IMPORTANT QUESTION WELL WORTH ASKING:

"If Muslim scholars over the centuries – from the very beginning – made dead sure that when they copied their sacred text they didn’t change anything, why didn’t Christian scribes do the same thing??? "

"Christian scribes did not do the same thing. We have many thousands of manuscripts of the New Testament. They all have mistakes in them. Lots of accidental mistakes (hundreds of thousands) from times that scribes were inept, inattentive, sleepy, or otherwise careless; and even lots of mistakes that appear to be places that scribes altered the text to make them say something other than what it originally said."

"For Christians the New Testament was a sacred book, the Word of God. Why didn’t they *make sure* that it never got changed? I can understand on one level why they didn’t. The scribes who copied it, especially in the early period, were not professionals. In the early centuries, the copyists were simply the local people who happened to be literate who could do a decent job. And they made lots of mistakes and changed the text in places intentionally. But why didn’t anyone go to the trouble of making sure that didn’t happen? It’s a genuine question."

Ehrman goes on to point out an important fact:

New Testament manuscripts all differ from one another and contains many thousands (hundreds of thousands) of differences among them, so that even though we can be relatively sure of what the authors wrote most of the time, there are numerous places of disagreement and some of these places really matter. There are some passages where we will probably never know the exact wording.

That may not be the case with the Qur’an.

"The fact that you do (or do not) know what a book originally said, has no bearing – no bearing at all, not a single bearing – on the question of whether you can trust it or not. It is completely irrelevant to the question. An absolute non sequitur. I wish Christian apologists would learn this, instead of continuously filling people’s heads with nonsense. Being the best-attested book from antiquity has no bearing on the question of whether the things that are said in the New Testament are true. No bearing at all."

"We appear to have evidence – better evidence than, say, for the Gospel of Matthew, or Paul’s letter to the Romans, or the epistle to the Hebrews – that the Qur’an was (at least by some scribes) very accurately copied over the centuries from the time it was produced. Does that “prove” that you can trust what it has to say? Of course not. But for historians it is an absolutely stunning, marvelous, and wonderful discovery nonetheless."

2

Dallas / Fort Worth meet up

by Israel Ricky Gonzales in

a couple of us xjws and awake jws meet for coffee and brunch every few sunday's.

im me if you are interested.

TerryWalstrom

Yes, this Sunday in Fort Worth we'll have an informal get-together at the local coffee shop.

We'd like to see some new faces. I'm sure Ricky is tired of looking at my old one :)

24

Baiting Dubs for fun and amusement

by TerryWalstrom in

jw: "wha-a-a-t?

mormon: "okay.

other jw: "that's just .

TerryWalstrom

Back in the day . . .in the 50's, 60's, 70's the J-Dubs were like

gunfighters of old. We loved a good shootout in the street! But apparently those days are long past. Pity that.

I suppose the advent of the Internet and all the secrets laid bare have made the local shootists more than adequate to wound our precious JW's when they wander in sniffing for trouble.

22

Hitchhiking robot embarking on coast-to-coast tour across US

by TerryWalstrom in

hitchhiking robot embarking on coast-to-coast tour across u.s.. .

did you hear that, honey?

i dont have time for tv!

TerryWalstrom

I just came back to re-read my story after telling my son about the actual robot.

I'm wondering if the premise might not be good for a TV series.

Each week the robot is picked up by a different kind of person in a completely contrary walk of life.

The juxtaposition of the acerbic Hitchens and ordinary or bizarre people in the midst of everyday life might make for a riveting TV series.

What do YOU think?

10

DOES "ABSTAIN FROM BLOOD" really mean "Do not murder?"

by TerryWalstrom in

20:28 - jesus' shed blood, thus related to murder.

with the words of augustine firmly in mind we now ask this important question:.

abstaining from blood(shed) preserves life!

TerryWalstrom

The Jerusalem Council has become a foundation to the thesis of the Governing Body as being the model of Organization Jehovah imposed on Christianity.

However, even a casual reading of the Jerusalem congregation's divisive confusion of dogma is sufficient to raise a red flag.

Paul seems light years ahead in understanding dogma. The Jerusalem Elders are mired in the past.

The independence of Paul's travels, commission, theology and teaching is obviously outside the jurisdiction of Jerusalem.

You have to scratch your head and wonder if some of the remaining Apostles aren't targeted by him as troublemakers. Perhaps it is these fuddy-duddy fumblers who think they are Jesus' special envoys who constitute the "superfine Apostles" Paul complained about.

24

Baiting Dubs for fun and amusement

by TerryWalstrom in

jw: "wha-a-a-t?

mormon: "okay.

other jw: "that's just .

TerryWalstrom

At a certain point in any conversation with JW's you have to figure you are going to present them

with damning evidence they've either not heard before--or--which they will doubt to be true.

At this juncture, I like to say, "IF this happened to be true---IF---would this be disturbing to you in any way? Would it make you want to find out more?"

By saying that, you carve out an important leverage on their intellectual honesty.

If they admit it would shake them up--they are open to falsifiable evidence.

If they say it would make NO DIFFERENCE, it means their mind is stone cold shut.

I like to find that out as soon as I can.