I think it might be good to use averages instead of totals - the average number of upvotes per post vs the average number of downvotes per post. Vote totals can be a bit misleading if the thread is very long - it would speak more to the length of the thread than how positive it is, and you already indicate the length of the thread by displaying the number of posts.
Island Man
JoinedPosts by Island Man
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12
Post votes rolled up to topics
by Simon injust an experiment to see if it's useful or not .... the likes and dislikes for posts are now rolled up to the topic so you can see whether a topic is mostly positive or negative (or maybe a battleground?).
with some 'decay' to the votes built in this might evolve into "most vibrant topics" based on more than just the number or recency of replies (ideally all will factor in).. ps: don't worry if some topic totals are wrong right now - i need to run a job to put some of them right..
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David H. Splane: The “Slave” Is Not 1900 Years Old (Matt. 24:45)
by ToesUp indavid splane video.
morning worship.
david splane attempts to explain why the "slave" is not 1900 years old.. warning...video may cause drowsiness!.
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Island Man
So Jesus spoke to his 12 disciples about an entirely future matter that had absolutely nothing to do with them, whatsoever, and had everything to do with the leadership of an obscure cult that would come into being in the 19th century and would be headquartered in New York, USA. Really?!
There are few examples in the religious world, of such stupendous delusion and narcissism on the part of cult leaders.
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Which Scripture "don't judge others customs"?
by Drifting Away ini am starting to get to the boiling point, to make a long story short, i am getting hounded from alot of family and elder visits.
i sorta put a halt on the elder visits, but the family is starting in on me now.
anyway to get back to topic, what scripture is it that says something to the affect of that do not judge how some celebrate there customs or beliefs or something like that?.
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Island Man
And if they ask you if you believe that the GB is the FDS you can read 1 Corinthians 4:1-6 at them. Just keep reading at them over and over again until they get the point.
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Paranormal Warning
by Cold Steel ini've heard some weird stories coming from jws about the paranormal.
i know about the warnings about items that come from unbelievers -- those don't interest me as much.
what i am interested in are actual experiences in stories of the paranormal you've heard or experienced yourself.
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Island Man
Sevan, evil does not exist - not in the sense that you seem to be thinking of it. Evil is a word that we invented to refer to occurrences and conditions that we find extremely unpleasant and undesirable. It's an abstract label that we attach to events around us. We have also attached superstitious and religious connotations to it. Evil is a subjective, abstract concept. It does not exist objectively in the real world.
What many people label as evil can be seen happening in the animal kingdom as part of the normal everyday cycles of life and death. Evil as often used today, is a word invented by the religious and superstitious minded as a way to ascribe purpose and agency to unpleasant events. It's a way for the superstitious to ascribe ethereal or supernatural motives and agency to highly unpleasant and undesirable events. It's a way for the superstitious to allude to satan or demons without explicitly mentioning them.
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Paranormal Warning
by Cold Steel ini've heard some weird stories coming from jws about the paranormal.
i know about the warnings about items that come from unbelievers -- those don't interest me as much.
what i am interested in are actual experiences in stories of the paranormal you've heard or experienced yourself.
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Island Man
neat blue dog said: "Tell me, were you using any drugs at the time?"
This is a very insightful statement. Watchtower has claimed that the use of mind-altering drugs leaves ones mind in a vulnerable state to be possessed and influenced by demons. Why do they say this? In part because of the fact that it is a documented fact of secular history that ancient seers and oracles used mind altering drugs. It is also very, very, very revealing that the koine Greek word translated as "spiritism" in the book of revelation, actually literally means "druggery".
So put it all together folks: mind altering drugs + seeing and experiencing paranormal activity = natural explanation for so-called supernatural experiences. They are products of the mind and thus the use of mind altering drugs to initiate them. But they can also occur without the use of such drugs, albeit far less frequently. I find it extremely funny that Watchtower has seen the evidence for the natural explanation of these things and rather than come to the obvious, rational conclusion, decides to concoct the ridiculous, hopelessly-blinded-from-seeing-the-obvious, comical idea that drugs make the mind more amenable to demon activity.
It's like a mechanic in south america finding a dead snake tangled up in the mechanisms under the hood of a malfunctioning car and, rather than stating the obvious - that the snake is the cause of the problems - he states that the snake attracted a gremlin which caused the problems. Then he warns all his customers to not park near areas with snakes since snakes attract gremlins. lol.
Sometimes they are natural events that are misinterpreted as paranormal activity under certain peculiar circumstances - like the mental equivalent of an optical illusion - a cognitive illusion.
Sometimes they are strange rare natural occurrences that the one experiencing them is completely ignorant of and so decides to believe it's the work of demons. For example, I have heard several persons talking about being attacked by demons and describing an attack that takes the form of waking up in the middle of the night and being completely unable to move. But this is a completely normal and documented biological phenomenon call sleep paralysis.
When a person falls asleep the brain normally paralyses his voluntary muscles. This natural mechanism serves to protect the body from harm during dreams by preventing the person from moving about like walking and running and crashing into obstacles or walking off cliffs, etc. In some people the paralysis mechanism doesn't work well. This can causes sleep walking. In other people - even in normal people, on rare occasions - the paralysis mechanism can fail to shut off when the person has awakened. So the person awakens but is still under sleep paralysis. I have heard several theists describe this phenomenon to me and ascribe it to the work of demons or witchcraft. lol.
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Paranormal Warning
by Cold Steel ini've heard some weird stories coming from jws about the paranormal.
i know about the warnings about items that come from unbelievers -- those don't interest me as much.
what i am interested in are actual experiences in stories of the paranormal you've heard or experienced yourself.
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Island Man
Paranormal = mystical paranoia resulting in the misinterpretation of normal events.
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Who was the founder of Jehovah's Witnesses? JW Org states it was not Russell
by ToesUp infound this article in the about page on jw org.
i was a born in and was always taught charles taze russell was the founder.
guess i was wrong!
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Island Man
I don't think it's a case of trying to distance themselves from Russel, specifically, as much as it's a case of them trying to deny the fact that they're a "Johny-come-lately", man-made religion started by an imperfect man. They always have to keep saying that Jesus is their founder to hide from the ugly fact of history that they started as a cult following the teachings of one man. It's similar to the JW spin that says: "we don't have human leaders - Jesus is our leader".
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JW and the Sabbath
by Andromeda inhello brothers and sisters and truth seekers,.
i am an active jehovah's witness.
i don't believe in 1914 and i'm tototally against their way of dealing with abuse cases.
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Island Man
If I'm not mistaken, a JW cannot be disfellowshipped for observing the sabbath provided he does not promote sabbath adherence to other JWs. I recall hearing talks where it was mentioned that if a JW chooses to observe the sabbath he can do so as long as he does not promote it and speak negatively of those that don't.
But there is actually more biblical support for not needing to observe the sabbath, than there is for 1914. So I find it odd that it is the sabbath issue that causes you to want to leave and not the far more unscriptural 1914 issue.
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Island Man
Evasive, deceitful, obfuscating JW: "Well we're not here to share any sales pitches, fund-raising stories or religious messages. We're just discussing with our neighbors some of the problems we see in our world today and where they think the solutions lie. We think the solutions can be found in a special government that is mentioned in an ancient, well-respected book - not in any fund-raising efforts, commercial products or man-made religion."
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I conclude evolution is guided
by KateWild inyour qualifications are way above mine so i'd love to hear more about the specifics of what you have researched and how that supports the existence of a deity.
k99, i am not really convinced that you're interested in my conclusions.
in nature amino acids formed to then form dna.
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Island Man
Kate, I think it's time we stick a fork in it.
I already just did Simon. It's still a bit hard. I say the baby should be well done in about another 20 minutes ... wait why would you be telling Kate to ... Kate isn't one of us and she wouldn't know about the you-know-what cooking in the oven ... oh, you weren't talking about that baby ... pig ... the baby pig - the piglet that we're roasting in the oven - I mean, who would be roasting an actual baby, right?