DJS

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Posts by DJS

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  147

  Challenge to Creationists

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in response to the 37 threads in my evolution is a fact series - see bottom of op for links - perry posted a link to an article "44 reasons why evolution isn't true".. i offered him a challenge on the thread and by pm.

  predictably he is totally ignoring it, so i am offering the challenge to any evolution-denier who thinks they have evidence to support their position.. please present one specific piece of evidence for creationism.. my task will be to refute it with evidence within 24 hours.. then i will present one piece of evidence for evolution and your challenge will be the same.. all posts must be as succinct as reasonably possible.

  entirely in your own words, without copy-paste, videos or links.. please post your interest to take part and we will set it up before the first actual post in the exchange.

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  DJS

  Cofty,

  I think they were mistaking you for me. I resemble that remark.
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  147

  Challenge to Creationists

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in response to the 37 threads in my evolution is a fact series - see bottom of op for links - perry posted a link to an article "44 reasons why evolution isn't true".. i offered him a challenge on the thread and by pm.

  predictably he is totally ignoring it, so i am offering the challenge to any evolution-denier who thinks they have evidence to support their position.. please present one specific piece of evidence for creationism.. my task will be to refute it with evidence within 24 hours.. then i will present one piece of evidence for evolution and your challenge will be the same.. all posts must be as succinct as reasonably possible.

  entirely in your own words, without copy-paste, videos or links.. please post your interest to take part and we will set it up before the first actual post in the exchange.

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  DJS

  @shepherless: "Actually, the scientific method starts with an observation, not a postulation. Step 2 is coming up with as many hypotheses as possible. Step 3 is the process of elimination hypotheses by testing and further observation, etc.

  I mention that, because if you start with one "postulation", then you are vulnerable to carrying out an exercise in confirmation bias, not the scientific method, because (human nature being what it is) you tend to just gather the evidence in support of your postulation, and you ignore the rest."

  Thank you and well stated. When I conducted my first research project paper as part of a semester long class in my undergrad, our profs configured the class in the same manner as a PhD dissertation. It was critical to start with a blank slate to avoid bias. The one thing they stressed was to start your research with a question, such as "what are the effects of intelligence on religiosity?"

  The possibilities include: no impact, undetermined, a negative impact, or a positive impact. If you start your research under the premise that intelligence has a negative influence on religiosity, for example, then the results may be biased. Once completed and presented for review, the question becomes a statement: "The Effects of Intelligence on Religiosity."

  That's what slays me when Perry and others post 'research' from x-tian apologists who started their project with the premise that we live on a young earth or that god created everything. It isn't research; it is confirmation bias of the worst kind, and it will never be viewed seriously by the scientific community.
  
  
  
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  147

  Challenge to Creationists

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in response to the 37 threads in my evolution is a fact series - see bottom of op for links - perry posted a link to an article "44 reasons why evolution isn't true".. i offered him a challenge on the thread and by pm.

  predictably he is totally ignoring it, so i am offering the challenge to any evolution-denier who thinks they have evidence to support their position.. please present one specific piece of evidence for creationism.. my task will be to refute it with evidence within 24 hours.. then i will present one piece of evidence for evolution and your challenge will be the same.. all posts must be as succinct as reasonably possible.

  entirely in your own words, without copy-paste, videos or links.. please post your interest to take part and we will set it up before the first actual post in the exchange.

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  DJS

  Being a root cause analysis type person, let’s get to the heart of the matter regarding this OP in general and the responses from Snowbird and a few others in particular. From Google Scholar – all recent studies from experts (with those PhD thing-eys).
  
  

  1. Intelligence and religiosity: Within families and over time, Tel Aviv Univ: Yoav Ganzach, Chemi Gotlibovski, 2013

  The results suggest that intelligence has a strong negative effect on religiosity. In addition, results also suggest that intelligence interacts with age in determining religiosity: the more intelligent the person, the stronger the negative effect of age on religiosity.

  2. The relationship between intelligence and multiple domains of religious belief: Evidence from a large adult US sample, Gary J. Lewis, Stuart J. Ritchie, Timothy C. Bates, 2011

  A model of the association of religiosity with intelligence openness using a large adult US sample and 6 measures of religious belief and behavior. Lower intelligence was significantly associated with higher levels of faith. Lower intelligence was most strongly associated with increased fundamentalism.

  3.The intelligence–religiosity nexus: A representative study of white adolescent Americans, Helmuth Nyborg, 2009

  The study examined whether IQ relates systematically to denomination and income, using representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY97). Atheists score 1.95 IQ points higher than Agnostics, 3.82 points higher than Liberal persuasions, and 5.89 IQ points higher than Dogmatic persuasions. It is suggested that IQ makes an individual likely to gravitate toward a denomination and level of achievement that best fit his or hers particular level of cognitive complexity. Ontogenetically speaking this means that contemporary denominations are rank ordered by largely hereditary variations in brain efficiency (i.e. IQ). In terms of evolution, modern Atheists are reacting rationally to cognitive and emotional challenges, whereas Liberals and, in particular Dogmatics, still rely on ancient, pre-rational, supernatural and wishful thinking.
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  57

  RUSSIA: Jehovah's Witnesses face possible liquidation

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2181.

  24 may 2016. russia: jehovah's witnesses face possible liquidation.

  by victoria arnold, forum 18. if prosecutors proceed with their threat to liquidate the jehovah's witness headquarters near st petersburg, thousands of local congregations across russia could also face prohibition of their activities and individuals could be vulnerable to criminal charges for expressing their beliefs, forum 18 notes.. the jehovah's witnesses' principal body in russia is under threat of dissolution as an "extremist" organisation after the deadline in an official warning from the general prosecutor's office expired on 10 may, forum 18 notes.

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  DJS

  Fish,

  Barb’s links would help you understand this issue if you would read them.

  Russia enacted its extremism law in 2002, just months after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the US. Two of the law's provisions defined religious extremism as promoting the "exclusivity, superiority, or lack of equal worth of an individual" and "incitement of religious discord" in connection with acts or threats of violence.

  Officials began to interpret the first provision as promoting the superiority of a belief, and in 2007, Russia amended the law to allow prosecution for inciting religious discord even in the absence of any threat or act of violence.

  Since every group believes its own dogma to be in some sense superior, any group could face an extremism charge. And since inciting "religious discord" is no longer linked to advocating or perpetrating violence, those advocating religious views face potential criminal charges of incitement. Other religious groups wishing to practice openly in Russia either don’t have these teachings as part of their religious dogma or they have removed them from materials distributed in Russia. In other words, they complied with the law.

  In early 2014, a regional court overturned a 2012 ban of the JW website, and in 2015 the Russian Justice Ministry allowed the Jehovah's Witnesses to operate as a legal community in Moscow. So it is clear the Russian judicial system is trying to be fair minded with the dubs. The Dubs continue to place themselves in the cross hairs of Russian laws because they won’t completely remove teachings related to end of time and the complete destruction of all other religions and governments and their own superiority, which Russian law views as extremist and dangerous.

  It’s not just the dubs. A court in 2007 banned the Russian translations of 14 Quran commentaries by Turkish theologian Said Nursi due to his asserting Islam's superiority. It is important to note that followers of Islam in Russia have disavowed Nursi’s writings, distanced themselves from ISIS and other Islamic extremists who preach jihad, the forced spread of Islam, end of time armageddons and superiority over other religions. In September 2013, the Novorossiisk District Court banned a translation of the Quran itself and ordered its destruction, a ruling that was overturned three months later.

  The Dark Lords can’t be the Dark Lords without preaching and teaching that they alone have god’s spirit and every other religion and government will soon be destroyed. That is why they are in trouble; they do not deserve our sympathy, and the Russian judicial system has shown restraint and patience, systematically trying to get the Dark Lords and others to comply.

  Does Vlad protect the Russian Othrodox Church? Of course. Is Russia reverting back to the pre-Cold War days of suppression and oppression? Perhaps a bit, but the Russian courts are acting like courts in other democratic countries; some interpret the laws one way, and other courts interpret the laws in a different way. The process is working so far; the only thing not working is the arrogant self appointed narcissistic ego driven Dark Lords, who will be forced to re-write every publication distributed in Russia and every teaching proselytized in public in order to comply with the law and avoid being dissolved. My money is on Vlad and his Impalers, and unless the Russian law is changed, which is unlikely to occur, the Dark Lords are going to be on the losing side of this in Russia and unlikely to gain sympathy from the EU. X-tian apologists may whine about it, but Russia has shown restraint, patience and is well within its rights to place reasonable limits on religious freedom.

  Religions in Russian and everywhere else are free to believe what they wish. Teaching these beliefs to others and acting on them are a much different matter. I may believe I can fly. But I don’t act on it because I can’t, and I don’t teach others that they can fly because they can’t either. There are many cities that have laws against trying to fly off of buildings, with or without parachutes or mechanical aids and irrespective of one’s attempts to kill one-self. The reason is that your stupid falling body may harm others.

  In early US history, Puritans routinely publicly humiliated ‘sinners’ in stockades, burned a few ‘witches’ at the stake and killed a few heretics and children for various ‘crimes’ against the church. Churches supported bans on blacks marrying whites and marriages between gays and lesbians. Religious ‘freedom’ is not a guarantee and every nation/state has a compelling interest and right to place appropriate, rational limits on religion. Warren Jeffs is in prison for a reason.

  Governments have an inherent right to establish laws that will limit a group’s abilities to harm others. That is all this is about. Vlad and his Impalers believe the Dark Lords are dangerous and can bring no long term good to his country.

  And they are right.
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  29

  Help - I'm going to be conducting the watchtower study

  by Saltheart Foamfollower in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it looks like i'm going to have to take the watchtower study for a while so i thought i'd seek help.. i wont be outing myself or stating anything too controversial, but so far i have come up with the following tactics : 1) ask questions which will get people thinking even if it is about something insignificant - developing a questioning mind is the key to discovering ttat as far as i am concerned.

  2) highlight any extreme points so that some might realise they are extreme.

  3) highlight any good points - helping others in need for example - just because it is the right thing to do.. if anyone has any general comments which could help, please post them here.

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  DJS

  
  
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  57

  RUSSIA: Jehovah's Witnesses face possible liquidation

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2181.

  24 may 2016. russia: jehovah's witnesses face possible liquidation.

  by victoria arnold, forum 18. if prosecutors proceed with their threat to liquidate the jehovah's witness headquarters near st petersburg, thousands of local congregations across russia could also face prohibition of their activities and individuals could be vulnerable to criminal charges for expressing their beliefs, forum 18 notes.. the jehovah's witnesses' principal body in russia is under threat of dissolution as an "extremist" organisation after the deadline in an official warning from the general prosecutor's office expired on 10 may, forum 18 notes.

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  DJS

  Yes, Fish, those dub families are all just peachy and thriving.

  A conservative estimate suggests 20% of current members would leave tomorrow if the shunning policy was abolished. Shunning destroys families, contributes depression and other mental problems, contributes to drug and alcohol abuse and an increase in government services. Exiting from this hate filled cult is similar to the Von Trap family getting the hell out of Austria lest they be outed to the Nazis. Does that not register with you? Let me say this again; those leaving this vile, nasty cult have to act like the Von Traps as they fled the Nazis and Hitler. Get it?

  The religious group in the US and likely every other W or Industrialized country with the lowest education level is the Jehovahs Witnesses.

  
  

  The religious group in the US and likely every other W or Industrialized country with the lowest family income is the Jehovahs Witnesses.

  
  

  It is only rational to suggest that the JWs utilize government benefits at the highest level.

  
  

  The following conscience matters can get you DFed: Voting, Celebrating Birthdays, Halloween, Christmas, Valentines Day, etc. Fish, these are CONSCIENCE matters, yet the old white males (and one token) have made laws out of all of them.

  
  

  The following conscience matters can get you marked, provisionally 'shunned' and have you judged and avoided by your fellow dubs: music, hair, clothes, sports, education, profession, extra-curricular school actives such as proms, dances, attending YMCA, joining civic clubs (Optimist, Kiwanis, etc.)

  
  

  The dubs are similar to the Southern US in the 1950s and 1960s. White flight is occurring at an enormous pace. The % of whites in the religion has dropped from 48% to 36% between 2007 and 2014. They are also bleeding men. 65% of dubs are female. The Jehovahs Witnesses have the 3rd oldest group of members and the least amount of young people of all US religions.

  
  

  There is no reason to think that the same demographic changes are not occurring in every other industrialized nation.

  
  

  This cult is dangerous. Their young leave; their males leave; their educated leave; their whites leave. Many of their older members are economically disadvantaged due to sitting around and waiting on the Big A rather than working, saving and investing.

  
  

  None of that suggests a healthy environment and there is nothing, absolutely nothing on the horizon that suggests these trends won't continue. There isn't a kinder gentler group of Dark Lords waiting in the wings to fix all of this. This isn't a matter of suggesting the remaining demographic makeup is somehow inferior as children of a lesser god. That isn't the point. The point is that this hateful cult is driving away several demographic groups due to its policies and practices.

  
  

  As for Vlad the Impaler, he has every right to view this end of time hate filled segregationist, conscience, goal, ambition, hope, dream and aspiration killing cult as extreme.

  
  

  Let's hope that other nations will follow suit. Soon.

  
  
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  114

  Evidence for a Young Earth

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for additional information:.

  for additional information:.

  for additional information:.

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  DJS

  Hello. Newman. I mean Rat Again. Long time no smell.

  Thank you so ever so much for dropping off that bit of scriptural wisdom on your way to summer bible camp. Would you mind sharing with us empirical sources of the evidence you reference so that those of us not biblically inclined can compare it with, oh I don't know, actual experts and actual science?

  Thanks ever so much.
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  5

  The world is about to come to its end and what does the Watchtower do?

  by Crazyguy in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  they buy a hotel!

  yep in 1975 when the world was about to come to its end the borg buys the brooklyn hotel for 2 million dollars.

  this information has come out now do to the fact they have put up this property for sale.

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  DJS

  Crazyguy,

  I think we can credit (blame?) the influence Prince had on the Dark Lords. They are partying like it's 1999.
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  57

  RUSSIA: Jehovah's Witnesses face possible liquidation

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2181.

  24 may 2016. russia: jehovah's witnesses face possible liquidation.

  by victoria arnold, forum 18. if prosecutors proceed with their threat to liquidate the jehovah's witness headquarters near st petersburg, thousands of local congregations across russia could also face prohibition of their activities and individuals could be vulnerable to criminal charges for expressing their beliefs, forum 18 notes.. the jehovah's witnesses' principal body in russia is under threat of dissolution as an "extremist" organisation after the deadline in an official warning from the general prosecutor's office expired on 10 may, forum 18 notes.

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  DJS

  FIsh,

  Ouchey. That hurt, especially all of the keen insight in support of your disagreement. Cruel, man. Just cruel.
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  114

  Evidence for a Young Earth

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for additional information:.

  for additional information:.

  for additional information:.

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  DJS

  WhatshallIcallmyself,

  Ditto. I see Todd Starnes, I mean Perry, is up to his old tricks. ”Many scientists”? Really Todd?

  From Wiki: The vast majority of the scientific community and academia supports evolutionary theory as the only explanation that can fully account for observations in the fields of biology, paleontology, molecular biology, genetics, anthropology, and others. One 1987 estimate found that "700 scientists ... (out of a total of 480,000 U.S. earth and life scientists) ... give credence to creation-science". That is 0.14% Perry. In other words, 99.86% of the scientists from the 1987 estimate do not believe in either creationism or a young earth biblical teaching. It is likely even fewer in 2016.

  A 1991 Gallup poll found that about 5% of American scientists (including those with training outside biology) identified themselves as creationists. That’s called an appeal to authority Perry, where a scientist makes statements or conducts ‘research’ outside of their subject matter expertise in order to push their personal beliefs or agenda. As others have noted, these ‘studies’ are considered junk science by the scientific community and these ‘studies’ are rarely if ever published in scientific journals or presented for peer review. I wonder why?

  Additionally, the scientific community considers intelligent design, a neo-creationist offshoot, to be unscientific, pseudoscience, or junk science.

  Todd, I mean Perry, enough please?