Posts by Leolaia

49

Evolution Question(s)

by Cassiline in

if we have evolved my assumption is we still are evolving correct?

or am i wrong in this assumption as well?

with all that was wrought on jws this is one teaching i can not get past that of evolution v. creation.

drawcad...that's exactly it....the WTS does teach evolution....and MASSIVE amounts of evolution in just a few thousand years. Hehe, I guess the loss of the water canopy let in enormous amounts of radiation. --Leolaia

24

Bloody E-Watchman!

by czarofmischief in

e-watchman has decided to embrace the unholy watchtower whore and uphold her disgusting burdens on blood transfusions.

for the record, i now have e-watchman's email address and will be sending him copies of my commentary shortly after they are posted.

i have edited the content where necessary for sheer space (his verbiage is excessive and tiresome).

Leolaia

I would not want to jump to any conclusions. It would truly be amazing if the whole You Know/e-watchman thing was a WT conspiracy, much less the solo efforts of a WT branch official, but either way would almost be impossible to prove. If the WT wanted to set up a fake apostate website, why give the phone number of the branch office? Does that make any sense? -- Leolaia

49

Evolution Question(s)

by Cassiline in

if we have evolved my assumption is we still are evolving correct?

or am i wrong in this assumption as well?

with all that was wrought on jws this is one teaching i can not get past that of evolution v. creation.

Leolaia

With evolution, "it's all over when the fat lady sings." This is a serious point to understand, because it means that evolution has no direction.

I think you mean evolution has no purposeful telelogical direction (i.e. progress). Genetic drift can and does move in a particular trajectory of change.

Leolaia

49

Evolution Question(s)

by Cassiline in

if we have evolved my assumption is we still are evolving correct?

or am i wrong in this assumption as well?

with all that was wrought on jws this is one teaching i can not get past that of evolution v. creation.

Leolaia

also English soldiers have different shaped heads than they do now. When making helmets the shape had to be changed. How do these facts fit with evolution I would have thought these time periods would make no difference to the long periods required of evolution. Barry

Head shape modification is cultural. Many cultures still do it. You start at a young age and bind the head in a way that allows the skull to grow in a skewed, oblong shape. Nothing whatsoever to do with evolution. Babies are still born with normal heads. And evolution is not Lamarckian.

Leolaia

49

Evolution Question(s)

by Cassiline in

if we have evolved my assumption is we still are evolving correct?

or am i wrong in this assumption as well?

with all that was wrought on jws this is one teaching i can not get past that of evolution v. creation.

Leolaia

I think what evolutionists say is that human culture has been enormously advantageous and has basically compensated for and rendered moot all the many minor physical and cognitive variances we find from person to person. Never mind the "scientific advancements," just the fact we people have language, culturally-transmitted knowledge of how to make homes, fire, produce our own food, and regulate our own behavior with laws and so forth means as a species we are not living at extremes of survival and we can afford the "luxuries" of having a certain portion of our population disabled, take care of our elderly, hungry, and so forth. And probably because of our wonderfully adaptive culture and intelligence which has allowed people to live at almost any climatic extreme all over the world, and continually mixing our gene pool in our global society, I don't think there is any significant selective pressure to evolve in any particular new direction. Maybe the next stage in evolution would be if humans start permanently living in space which presents a whole host of new environmental challenges which certain variances might be better suited for. But we've pretty much covered the planet as is.

And anyway, "scientific advancements" have only been around for a handful of generations at most. That's a drop in a very deep bucket, evolutionary speaking.

24

Bloody E-Watchman!

by czarofmischief in

e-watchman has decided to embrace the unholy watchtower whore and uphold her disgusting burdens on blood transfusions.

for the record, i now have e-watchman's email address and will be sending him copies of my commentary shortly after they are posted.

i have edited the content where necessary for sheer space (his verbiage is excessive and tiresome).

Leolaia

I think it is quite possible that he is being framed.....it would exactly be the sort of thing e-watchman would do to protect his identity and e-watchman would surely know that his info would be publically available via domain registration. What I am curious about is the address that is NOT affiliated with the Watch Tower....115 Front St. E. Suite #192. I think that is quite possibly the real person's address, but i haven't a clue what business is at that address. There are quite a few different offices in that building.

Leolaia

4

Cold Comfort for Asaph

by uriah in

you may remember the psalm where asaph complains about the wicked 'seemingly' (tm) wts getting away with it.

the psalm goes on and finishes with asaph saying that on unsteady ground you (jehovah) have placed them.

the jw often quote this (i did) and consoled myself with it.

Leolaia

The ascriptions mean almost nothing. I'm not sure if "none" are by their supposed composers, Ps. 18 is regarded by most as "probably Davidic" since it is a close version of the hymn in 2 Sam. 22. Also, Psalm 29, another "Of David" psalm, on internal evidence certainly dates back to Davidic times and is probably is only a lightly revised Canaanite hymn to Baal.

Leolaia

24

Bloody E-Watchman!

by czarofmischief in

e-watchman has decided to embrace the unholy watchtower whore and uphold her disgusting burdens on blood transfusions.

for the record, i now have e-watchman's email address and will be sending him copies of my commentary shortly after they are posted.

i have edited the content where necessary for sheer space (his verbiage is excessive and tiresome).

Leolaia

So he actually gave the phone number of the Watch Tower branch in Canada? Very interesting. What are the chances that he is actually someone at the branch? Is there a Walter Reyes at the Georgetown, ON branch? --Leolaia

4

News article: The last days? Drought, fires, and Jehovah's Witnesses

by Leolaia in

the last days?

local clergy doubt recent drought, fires signify apocalypse

by lynn arave

Leolaia

The last days? Local clergy doubt recent drought, fires signify apocalypse

By Lynn Arave
Deseret Morning News

Are Utah's current five-year-plus drought and Southern California's recent wildfires "signs of the times" ? the end of the world and the nearing of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?

Deseret Morning News graphic

No, according to most local churches.
"The fact that you have to ask that question tells you that we're not there yet," said the Rev. Neal Humphrey of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Fruit Heights.
"Other generations have had it tougher," he said. In Europe during the 1300s, for example, the black plague killed one-third of the population.
The Rev. Humphrey believes the current drought and the wildfires last month are part of fairly routine cycles. He also doesn't believe there will be any mistaking the calamitous events before the Second Coming that are mentioned in the Book of Revelation.
Some religious leaders say people also have a role in the workings of the world. "I don't think that we should seek apocalyptic explanations for what has to do with greenhouse gases," said Bishop George Niederauer of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake. "God created us and the world for a purpose, but we need to be responsible stewards."
Pastor Steve Goodier of Christ United Methodist Church of Salt Lake also said these events are more stewardship issues and the key is how we use what God has given us wisely.
"We're not an apocalyptic type of religion," he added.
Pastor Steve Klemz of Zion Lutheran Church said the events are a sign that we live in a broken world that came into being after the fall.
"They do remind us that we are creatures that depend on God's grace," he said.
The Rev. Tom Goldsmith of the First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake said there is no sense these natural events are prophetic of anything to come.
"We believe men and women have control over their own fate and destiny," he said.
Jehovah's Witnesses are more focused on the Second Coming. Witnesses believe this is an age of upheaval and unrest. However, their faith doesn't blame God for such natural disasters but believes humans have made the environment more prone to them. For example, man's greed and mismanagement have amplified some of the effects of droughts today.
A Jehovah's Witness Watchtower magazine article on "Natural Disasters ? A Sign of the Times?" stated, "Natural forces may have provided the triggers, but it is human activity ? social, economic, political ? that must bear the responsibility for the large difference in the loss and life and destruction of property that resulted."
Jehovah's Witnesses believe famine, great earthquakes, wars and lawlessness are all signs of the end of the world and that they are now occurring."Many other things were foretold to occur during the last days, and all of these also are being fulfilled," the Witnesses' official Web site states. "This means the end of the world is near. But, happily, there will be survivors. After saying, 'The world is passing away,' the Bible promises: 'He that does the will of God remains forever.' " (1 John 2:17).
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints states that the whole earth will be in commotion during the last days (Doctrine & Covenants 45:26). This presumably could include droughts and wildfires.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie in his book "Mormon Doctrine" stated that natural elements of the earth will be in commotion and disasters and calamities will abound in the last days, an unknown amount of time because only Heavenly Father knows when the Second Coming will take place.
"Many of these signs are being fulfilled," an LDS Gospel Principles lesson states on signs of the Second Coming. "Wickedness is everywhere. Nations are constantly at war. Earthquakes and other calamities are occurring. Many people now suffer from devastating storms, drought, hunger and diseases. We can be certain that these calamities will become more severe before the Lord comes."

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,565035169,00.html

41

Comments You Will Not Hear at the 11-9-03 WT Study

by blondie in

comments you will not hear at the 11-09-03 wt study

review comments will be in black and parentheses ().

wt quotes will be in

Leolaia

Latest news:

This article was published by F18News on: 24 November 2003
TURKMENISTAN: President falsely claims no religious prisoners
By Felix Corley, Editor, Forum 18 News Service

Under pressure from a draft UN resolution sponsored by the EU and US, the Turkmen president, Saparmurat Niyazov, has defended his record with the claim that Turkmenistan has never had religious prisoners of conscience and cooperates fully with international human rights bodies. However, Forum 18 News Service knows of Jehovah's Witness prisoners and an imam in internal exile. Also imprisoned for his faith was Baptist Shagildy Atakov. Turkmenistan has both consistently failed to cooperate with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief and other UN human rights agencies and also has this month introduced a harsh new religion law outlawing all unregistered religious activity, which defies international human rights agreements it has signed.

Turkmenistan's president, Saparmurat Niyazov, has claimed - wrongly ? that the country has never imprisoned anyone on religious grounds and that it cooperates fully with international bodies on human rights. Forum 18 News Service is aware of six current Jehovah's Witness prisoners - five sentenced for refusing military service on grounds of religious conscience and one on fraud charges believed to have been trumped up - as well as one imam in internal exile. Turkmenistan has also consistently failed to cooperate with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief and other UN human rights agencies.
Three Jehovah's Witness young men were sentenced in May one and a half years' imprisonment for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of religious conscience (Turkmenistan has no provision for alternative service). One young man was sentenced in July on the same charges to one and a half years' imprisonment (See F18News 2 October 2003 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=151 ).
An official of the Jehovah's Witness headquarters in the Russian city of St Petersburg told Forum 18 on 24 November that they were not releasing the names or home towns of the four prisoners for fear of making their situation worse. The official said at least one Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector (whom they did not identify) has been subjected to homosexual rape in prison in the past few years and all others have been threatened with the same fate.
The religious prisoner serving the longest prison term is Jehovah's Witness Kurban Zakirov, sentenced to eight years' imprisonment in 2000 and believed to be held in a labour camp in the Caspian port of Turkmenbashi (Türkmenbashy) (formerly Krasnovodsk).
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=194