I thought of another one: "taking an interest in," as in, "I've been taking an interest in some of the young ones at the hall..." Does anybody outside of Jehovah's Witnesses use this phrase with such regularity?
B
you know, there are some things phrased that are just so, so....watchtoweresque.
what are some things you see that remind you of some wt foibles?
one thing that always cracks me up is when an article or book (or post) uses too many exclamation points.
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hello everyone,.
i would like to know who of you thinks that humans have a free will and who thinks humans do rather work like a very complex computer.. in my opinion free will is an illusion generated by our brain....what do you think?.
Addendum to my post:
I should point out that there is a difference between fatalism and determinism.
Fatalism is the belief that we are pre-destined to act in a certain way and have a particular fate decided from on high. Since I think there is a very low probablity for the existence of divine beings or a meta-phyical "new-age" realm, I think fatalism is rubbish.
Determinism simply states that every action we make is due to processes and a life-history not under our control. Every action we execute can be traced to a particular cause, which, in turn, can be linked to another cause and on and on. The philosopher Baruch de Spinoza wrote much on this school of thought (the one I lean to believe in).
Bradley
.
hello everyone,.
i would like to know who of you thinks that humans have a free will and who thinks humans do rather work like a very complex computer.. in my opinion free will is an illusion generated by our brain....what do you think?.
Ah, the free will question! Personally, I think we do not really, fully understand what a completely "free" will would be. If you decide to eat chocolate ice-cream was that free will, or did you have to pick chocolate because you had the volition to do so based on a complex series of behavioral and bio-chemical processes? If you, at the last minute, decide not to have chocolate to prove me wrong, that still is not free will -- your desire (which you cannot control, in the end) to prove me wrong by choosing some other flavor overruled your desire for the chocolate -- your choice was not free. It's an agonizingly complex thought that could be argued ad infinitum -- and has been!
Overall, whether we truly have free will or not is really rather irrelevant -- it doesn't change the fact that it feels as if we have free will. As some philosopher once said, if a theory has no practical application whatsoever, and cannnot be proven one way or another, it is pointless to think about.
So much more could be said...
Bradley
(I do not believe in fatalism, though. I do not believe we are pre-destined to a certain fate)
it's propably the most hilarious cover of all time.
it's entitled, "noah's log -- what can it teach you?
i'll try and post it if i can.
ok....it's been a while since i've posted.
i've been playing it cool...not really thinking about religion, just living life.
got a visit from my older sister & her husband.
special assemblies, special talks, special service days, special visits, special olympics, oh wait..
it's propably the most hilarious cover of all time.
it's entitled, "noah's log -- what can it teach you?
i'll try and post it if i can.
you know, there are some things phrased that are just so, so....watchtoweresque.
what are some things you see that remind you of some wt foibles?
one thing that always cracks me up is when an article or book (or post) uses too many exclamation points.
Hey, I thought of another one. Basically, the publications are written at about a 7th or 8th grade reading level, except for about one word every week in the WT which, invariably, someone would comment on: "Now, this word, "penultimate," well, I looked that up in the dictionary and it means...." Like, the boys in the Heights want to slooooooowly raise the reading level of the rank and file. Or, maybe it's some sort of signal to the elders to watch out for anyone that actually knows what the word means without looking it up -- yeah, watch out for them; they are "too smart."
Bradley
i know this has been discussed before but i think a fresh thread on this will be enjoyable.
There were good ones and bad ones. Robert DeBerrey was cool; he even laughed at the fact his pioneer JW mom watched a rated R movie ("There's Something About Mary"). He would say weird things to people like, "good luck." Won't be long till he's kicked out, I'm sure.
Chester Ruch, on the other hand, is about the most kermudgeny (hope I spelled that right) old fart I've ever met. After 9/11 he gave a special talk he worked up on his own stating how bloody the battle against Christendom would be (of 9/11 he stated, I quote, "You ain't seen nothin' yet."). I heard he told all the pionners at their pio-meetings that it was wrong to watch R-rated movies even if they were edited for public television. I could go on and on...
Bradley
you know, there are some things phrased that are just so, so....watchtoweresque.
what are some things you see that remind you of some wt foibles?
one thing that always cracks me up is when an article or book (or post) uses too many exclamation points.