Posts by EdenOne

83

Stands For True Worship. I am turning myself in......

by DATA-DOG in

just answer this question in an honest and unbiased way, free from any circuitous reasoning or speculation.

if you do so, i swear to my heavenly father, that i will call the elders tonight and turn myself in.

any active jw may answer this question.

EdenOne

*blink*

must ... stay ... awake ..

*blink*

zzzzz zzzzzzz

83

Stands For True Worship. I am turning myself in......

by DATA-DOG in

just answer this question in an honest and unbiased way, free from any circuitous reasoning or speculation.

if you do so, i swear to my heavenly father, that i will call the elders tonight and turn myself in.

any active jw may answer this question.

Favorite JW URBAN LEGEND?

by Separation of Powers in

the story of why the new bible has a grey cover (silver sword) moved me to ask you all what your favorite jw urban legend is?.

one of my favorite jw urban legends.

a sister is out in service alone.

EdenOne

I've heard many urban legends over the years ... and believed a few of them, actually.

The "John Denver" one? Yes, but in this case, the artist was Andrea Boccelli, who couldn't sing because the demons were being put at bay by the presence of JW's amongst the audience. Supposedly an announcement was made, JW's called to backstage, their tickets were refunded and the concert went on. This was told to me by a CO, go figure.

Also heard the one about Annie Lennox being in a demon-worship cult.

Also heard that every artist signed to the Atlantis record label had to agree to sing/play under demonic infulences. This included folks like Brian Adams, etc. I know many JW's who threw away their records and stopped playing these songs in wedding receptions because of this urban myth.

Here are two of my favourites:

This one from South Africa: A couple was having marital problems. Someone told them that they should look for demonic influences within their household. They narrow it down to a painting of two horses that someone had offered them as a wedding gift. So the man goes to his backyard and attempts to destroy the paiting and oddly enough, he is unable to. So he decides to take it to a field and burn it. As he sets the painting on fire and prays to Jehovah, two horses rise from the painting and start running away across the field.

This one from unknown origin, but possibly from Africa too: A faithful JW woman had a terrible unbeliever husband who opposed her JW routines, beated and abused her. One day, out of the blue, he offers himself to take her to a meeting. Instead of taking her to a meeting, he takes her to the bushes, where he draws a gun and points it to her head and says he's going to terminate her. The woman is kneeling, eyes closed, and prays to Jehovah. Then she hears sounds as if a sword is being used, and the next thing she knows, her husband is slashed to slices by her side. When the forensic police examined the body, they tell her that the cuts were so perfect that no human hand could have done it.

Eden

83

Stands For True Worship. I am turning myself in......

by DATA-DOG in

just answer this question in an honest and unbiased way, free from any circuitous reasoning or speculation.

if you do so, i swear to my heavenly father, that i will call the elders tonight and turn myself in.

any active jw may answer this question.

EdenOne

*blink*

192

New Homo erectus Skull Shakes up Palaeontology

by cofty in

a fantastic homo erectus skull has been found in georgia - no not our former colony, the one in asia.. it is one of 5 that have been found at a site in dmanisi, it's the first homo erectus to be found outside of africa and it is in excellent condition.

the fossils are dated at 1.8 million years ago and comparisions of the specimens have thrown doubt over the details of human evolution.. it is possible that species previously named as h rudolfensis , h gautengensis , h ergaster and possibly h habilis were actually all h erectus.

the natural variation withing the species may be greater than thought previously.. the "lumpers" and the "splitters" are going to have plenty to argue about for years to come.. note to creationists - please read the article carefully.

EdenOne

Adamah:

(...) the process occurs when some members of the species just happen to be pre-equipped to survive a change in their environment due to possessing the variability that's present in the entire genome. Thus some members are already genetically-gifted to be prepared for the challenge, and the process doesn't require them to be aware of that fact. (...) it actually would be more accurate to think of natural selection as "survival of those who just happen to be better-adapted to survive" since the factor(s) that allows a differential in survival rates has to be present in the population BEFORE the selection pressure is applied, thanks to random mutations.

Well, now here is something VERY useful. One of my main issues with the evolutionary theory (obviously I come from social sciences, I don't come from a biology science background) was precisely the notion that species "adapted themselves" to their environmental challenges, as if they had some sort of conscientiousness that would direct them into doing those morphs, when, in fact, all happens, as I suspected, entirely by accidental causes ... in a way, "happy anomalies" that happen to equip certain species to cope with environmental challenges more successfully than others. Thank you Adamah for explaining that in a way that someone like me can understand.

Eden

20

DubYap - What is it ?

by EdenOne in

jw
friends

from wikidub:.

"dubyap is the technical terminology or characteristic idiom of the very special religious group known as jehovah's witnesses.

as philosopher condillac observed in 1782, "every [religion] requires a special language, because every [religion] has its own ideas ... it seems that one ought to begin by composing this language, but people begin by speaking and writing, and the language remains to be composed.

EdenOne

"spiritual feast" = any meeting that takes longer than 2 hours

"the three enemies" = Satan, the flesh, the world

"system of things" = the world outside the Jehovah's Witnesses ecossystem

"the anointed remnant" = those last few remaining members of the anointed 144.000.

"the Slave" = An abreviation of the "Faithful and Discrete Slave", previously all anointed as a group, now onlythe members of the Governing Body.

"spiritual food" = any publication or public talk originated from the Watchtower Society and its Governing Body.

Eden

83

Stands For True Worship. I am turning myself in......

by DATA-DOG in

just answer this question in an honest and unbiased way, free from any circuitous reasoning or speculation.

if you do so, i swear to my heavenly father, that i will call the elders tonight and turn myself in.

any active jw may answer this question.

EdenOne

You know....the same reasoning that was used in another thread for what constitues 'scientific fact' (I believe Adamah brought that one up) can be used here to justify the "new light" contradicting the "old light". Thread carefully on this one.

Eden

192

New Homo erectus Skull Shakes up Palaeontology

by cofty in

a fantastic homo erectus skull has been found in georgia - no not our former colony, the one in asia.. it is one of 5 that have been found at a site in dmanisi, it's the first homo erectus to be found outside of africa and it is in excellent condition.

the fossils are dated at 1.8 million years ago and comparisions of the specimens have thrown doubt over the details of human evolution.. it is possible that species previously named as h rudolfensis , h gautengensis , h ergaster and possibly h habilis were actually all h erectus.

the natural variation withing the species may be greater than thought previously.. the "lumpers" and the "splitters" are going to have plenty to argue about for years to come.. note to creationists - please read the article carefully.

EdenOne

My orange example above ties with the OP in this:

Apparently, the recent finding of a very complete skull of a Homo Erectus in Georgia, with other 4 presumably contemporary skulls suggests that there was a considerable variety within the species, raising the possibility that other "homo" that were previously considered different species (homo habilis comes to mind) may in fact be simple variations within the same species.

So what, I ask?

The observable facts (the several skulls in various locations across the globe) are still subject to various interpretations, just as the "heavy/not heavy" or "sweet/acidic" qualities of the orange are interpretations of hard data. All of them may well be considered "truth". Perhaps the 'truth' (in scientific terms, that is) is a combination of several interpretations or different interpretations of the very same facts may be simultaneously true.

Eden

192

New Homo erectus Skull Shakes up Palaeontology

by cofty in

a fantastic homo erectus skull has been found in georgia - no not our former colony, the one in asia.. it is one of 5 that have been found at a site in dmanisi, it's the first homo erectus to be found outside of africa and it is in excellent condition.

the fossils are dated at 1.8 million years ago and comparisions of the specimens have thrown doubt over the details of human evolution.. it is possible that species previously named as h rudolfensis , h gautengensis , h ergaster and possibly h habilis were actually all h erectus.

the natural variation withing the species may be greater than thought previously.. the "lumpers" and the "splitters" are going to have plenty to argue about for years to come.. note to creationists - please read the article carefully.

EdenOne

Original topic anybody?

Oh, yeah....THAT

Eden

192

New Homo erectus Skull Shakes up Palaeontology

by cofty in

a fantastic homo erectus skull has been found in georgia - no not our former colony, the one in asia.. it is one of 5 that have been found at a site in dmanisi, it's the first homo erectus to be found outside of africa and it is in excellent condition.

the fossils are dated at 1.8 million years ago and comparisions of the specimens have thrown doubt over the details of human evolution.. it is possible that species previously named as h rudolfensis , h gautengensis , h ergaster and possibly h habilis were actually all h erectus.

the natural variation withing the species may be greater than thought previously.. the "lumpers" and the "splitters" are going to have plenty to argue about for years to come.. note to creationists - please read the article carefully.

EdenOne

If it's a well-established fact (a 'scientific fact') that we have 23 chromossomes, wouldn't it also be true that we have 22 chromossomes?

For example, I can have an orange in my hand and ask: What is true about this fruit?

If I'd say: "It's spheric", it would be considered an observable fact, therefore, truth.

If I'd say: "Its colour is orange", it would be considered an observable fact, therefore, truth.

If I'd say: "It's heavy", we might start to have different opinions. How much weight constitutes the quality of being "heavy"? What is a fact, therefore, truth, about it? The measurable fact is that this orange is 0,2 Kg. Some will interpret this fact as "heavy" and others will interpret it as "not heavy".

If I'd say: "It's sweet", then we start getting into really controversial territory. Sure, we can measure the quantity of sugar in it, the degree of acidity, etc etc. those are all measurable facts, but each person's palate and experience will be different. For some, it will be "sweet", for others it will be "acidic", etc etc.

So, at what point an observable fact generally accepted as "truth" may become subject to different, even opposing interpretations?

Eden