What do I think? Revolutionary! Did you see the news article about Goodenough's (the guy who invented the lithium ion battery) new battery technology? If that comes on stream then gas vehicles will go the way of typewriters and pagers. Even with the latest current technology, electric cars are already an attractive alternative to gas cars.
Island Man
JoinedPosts by Island Man
-
45
What do You Think About Hybrid and Electric Cars?
by Village Idiot inbattery technology has been making leaps and bounds in affordability and energy output throughout the past decade.
while pure electric cars currently have limited range, the near future holds prospects for longer ranges.
hybrids, and recently plug in hybrids, have a mileage of up to 50 mpg* giving them a range of 500 miles from a ten gallon gas tank.
-
-
-
7
J.W.'s shut their minds to this teaching
by The Searcher inone of the "elephants in the room" which j.w.
's will not and cannot question or discuss, is the org's dogma that a person's own death wipes out their sins!..
when active, i asked two c.o.
-
-
Island Man
Romans 6:7 does have a literal component to it - every metaphor does or they would have no power as a metaphor. So when it says he that has died has been acquitted of sin - that is literally true, but not in the way that Watchtower translates and applies the verse. The context shows that the writer is drawing the metaphor from the idea that when a person dies he is acquitted from sin, not in the sense that he is absolved of past wrongs, but in the sense that he is set free from being controlled by a sinful body, for the sinful body is now dead and inactive. It's talking about being acquitted from the principle or force of sin that resides in imperfect men and that compels them to sin. That's the point Romans 6:6 is making. A more equivalent rendering of Romans 6:7 could be: "He that has died has been freed from the ruling power of sin".
-
61
Would human settlement of Mars invalidate Bible prophecy?
by truthseeker ini don't think this topic has been discussed before but yesterday i read something to the effect that trump wants a human mission to mars to be completed within his presidency.. with that being said, the watchtower teaches that what started on earth ends on earth, in other words, the fall of adam and eve would end with the passing of the 1,000 year millennial reign when christ destroys all his enemies, rebellious "perfect" humans, and the devil and his demons who are let out the abyss for a short while.
he then hands the kingdom back to his father.
an elder in my old congregation once told us during a public talk that he was an ardent astronomer but then referenced the scripture where it says, "the earth he has given to the sons of men" (psalms 115:16).
-
-
Island Man
The solution is simple: When the Bible talks about the earth, it means an overlapping Earth, that is to say, whatever celestial body that humans from earth are able to reside on. Consider: if humans did establish a colony on Mars then what will one human say to another human if, while both are walking outside, they encounter an object protruding out of the Martian soil? Will the one human say to the other: "what is that protruding out of the Mars"? That hardly seems likely. No doubt the human will ask the other: "what is that protruding out of the earth?". So evidently the word earth as used in the bible, does not refer specifically and exclusively to planet earth but rather, has an overlapping application, referring to whatever solid surface of dust that humans reside on.
-
115
Could a petition to make shunning illegal work?
by aboveusonlysky inwe're currently watching leah remini's series about scientology and the main thing she seems to focus on is the shunning policies of the scientology organization which let's face it are very similar to jw procedure.. i was wondering with all that's in the media recently about bullying could a petition be put together to get the goverment to consider making religiously mandated shunning illegal?
has such a thing been tried before?.
https://petition.parliament.uk/help says the following - .
-
-
Island Man
I don't think you can make it illegal for someone to choose to shun someone. The law can't force you to communicate with someone.
But, I think a strong case can be made that it should be illegal for an organization, religious or otherwise, to coerce members to shun others. It can be made illegal for an organization to teach members to shun a certain segment of society - including ex-members. I think there is a chance that such a law can be passed since there already exist laws that make it illegal to incite hatred of certain groups.
The key factors that have to be looked at is incitement and duress. Watchtower incites the members to shun and Watchtower uses a form of duress - the the very same threat of shunning - to coerce the members to shun those who leave.
People should be free to choose whether or not they wish to shun someone, without being incited to do so against a particular segment of people - ex-JWs - and without being coerced to do so.
So this should not be approached from the standpoint of making shunning illegal. Rather, it should be approached from the standpoint of making it illegal to publicly incite by speech or in print, to shun a particular segment of people; and to make it illegal to coerce persons to shun a certain segment of people, by the threat of being punished if they refuse to do so. This is all that needs to be done.
Once this is done, more JWs will feel free to talk to ex-JWs knowing that they cannot be penalized for doing so or else those penalizing them could face legal action with legal teeth.
-
-
-
Island Man
JWs believe in a cold, psychotic kind of love called agape love, that is based on principle and devoid of sentiment. It's the kind of love that allows them to shun their own children as doing so is an expression of Jehobers love for them. It's the kind of love that allows a JW to feel justified in not giving any material assistance to the needy because filling the minds of the poor with Watchtower theology is more beneficial to them than filling their hungry bellies.
-
25
A baffling physics question
by FatFreek 2005 infor several weeks i've been treating myself to a hot chocolate milk (well, soymilk) before bedtime.
some 16 oz soymilk which i heat on high in our microwave oven.
this is just enough time where the liquid begins to bubble along the top edge.. i then take it out of the microwave and place it on my kitchen gram scale, stir it good enough to redistribute the heat, then reset the scale to zero grams.. next, i squeeze in the hershey's sytup, "special dark mildly sweet chocolate" (fat free) into the warmed soymilk till the scale reads some 30 grams.
-
-
Island Man
It's not a 10% reduction in weight. The whole thing originally weighed a 16oz then you added in the 30g of syrup. so that's a little more than 17oz. So when it drops from 30g to 26g that's not reflective of a 10% drop in mass because the scale was set to show only the difference over 16oz, remember? So the difference is actually much less than 10% - something like a little over 0.5%. I find this very believable and easily attributable to evaporation of some of the liquid owing to the heating in the microwave and exacerbated by the agitation of the hot liquid due to stirring.
-
58
Just a quick Poll...Do you think the GB is sincere?
by NikL ini've been thinking about this the past few days and curious what the honest consensus is here just for fun.. show of hands,.
is the governing body.... a: completely sincere.
they really do believe what they teach.. b: somewhat sincere.
-
-
Island Man
D: It's a mix.
They are sincere about their belief in Jehovah and the bible and much of the more sobre, "mainstream" JW teachings. But they are insincere about their tactics of manipulation and some of the more crazy Watchtower teachings. They have deceived themselves into thinking that their manipulative tactics, policies and crazy teachings somehow serve as a protection to the organization and the rank and file JWs whom they oversee. They subscribe to the philosophy of "the ends justify the means" so they feel justified in lying to the rank and file and the public to serve the greater ends of protecting and preserving "Jehovah's Organization".
If you look at first JW broadcast that Samuel Herd did, you'll notice what he said about the accusation that JWs use brainwashing. He didn't deny the accusation. Instead, he sought to put a positive spin on their use of brainwashing by saying JWs minds are washed from the filth of the world. This is a perfect illustration of how they subscribe to the philosophy that "the ends justify the means".
A part of them also enjoys the prominence and authority they have and they will resort to vulgar and unethical means to preserve and protect it - like declaring that they alone are the faithful and discreet slave. But they will rationalize such actions by deceiving themselves and saying that it's not their status they're protecting but the organization. The spanking new headquarters with amenities and living quarters that they will enjoy - is all for Jehovah, you see...
-
60
Marc & Cora on YouTube causing unnecessary divisions
by jambon1 inwhat is it with this pair?
why do they have to constantly have a bitch about guys like john cedars?
a very recent video of them shows them calling him a 'village idiot' and making other disparaging claims.
-
-
Island Man
That is one thing Wt has got over apostates. They have a united front. It may be faked, forced or phoney but Wt is united. Apostates are just to fragmented.
I disagree. True unity is the ability to work together despite having differences and while respecting others's differences. Watchtower does not have that. Watchtower has a stifling, dystopian, enforced conformity.
They foolishly think that disagreement is a bad thing. It's not. An environment in which disagreement is permitted and respected, is an environment that is friendly to new ideas - an environment that fosters creativity and innovation. An environment with enforced conformity is one of intellectual stagnation where needed changes and innovation come very, very, very slowly - perhaps too late.
I personally don't think banning is the solution. Mandatory public education in critical thinking, the dangers of coercive persuasion and cults in general, is.
-
60
Marc & Cora on YouTube causing unnecessary divisions
by jambon1 inwhat is it with this pair?
why do they have to constantly have a bitch about guys like john cedars?
a very recent video of them shows them calling him a 'village idiot' and making other disparaging claims.
-
-
Island Man
Respectful and peaceful disagreement is something that ex-JWs never learned from their time in Watchtower. They were indoctrinated to believe that there can be no harmony and unity unless all have the same beliefs. They were indoctrinated to believe that there is one correct way and those disagreeing with it are divisive troublemakers. They equate disagreement with division and rebellion and strife. They see those disagreeing with them as being bad.
-
56
"There is evidence of a Creator if you just look for it"
by unsure in(for the record, i’m agnostic who is earnestly seeking an objective, honest and concrete hope for something greater).
“there is evidence of a creator if you just look for it”.
many of us have heard similar sentences from believers regarding proof of creator, proof that their religion is the correct one, proof that their particular sect is the right one, proof that their individual sects interpretation of a certain religious text is the right one, proof that their own personal interpretation of a certain religious text is the right one; the list goes on.. in one of my previous posts, i shared the following thought of mine:.
-
-
Island Man
There is also much "evidence" for ghosts, for those who look for them. lol.
One can find
confirmation bias"evidence" for just about anything that one is looking for.