Posts by Rational Witness

2

Take A Walk Down Memory Lane...

by SWALKER in

17 years ago

to the 1960's:.

http://moreoldfortyfives.com/takemebacktothesixties.htm.

swalker.

17 years ago

BETHELITES - Whatever Became of?

by Black Man in

jw
friends

18 years ago

i often times wonder what happened to certain bethelites that i ran around with during my 1990s tenure there.

while there are still a few left there, the greater majority of them aren't there for various reasons (marriage, disillusionment, left the borg, etc).

a couple of cats i wonder about - there was one brother who i believe was from kansas, who got his fingers cut off in a printing press.

9 months ago

Last I heard Howard Zenke had been demoted from the Service Department to the Kitchen. (This was quite a few years ago.) Evidently he followed his conscience one too many times. His wife's name is "Bena"--one of the few wives of 'heavyweights' at Bethel who had a sense of humor.

Cheers

Link

+1 / -0

70

Talk by brother Herd (long)

by moomanchu in

18 years ago

the stars fall from heaven?

~sigh~ and youll fall across the finish line into the new world!

we dont want that brothers.

16 years ago

Rational Witness 18 years ago

Ha! Now THAT's what I call "playing the race card"! JW's are desperate to believe this sort of "us versus them" polemic because so many have sacrificed so much--or simply were never going to have much--in this world. It appeals to the worst in human nature, offering them vindication over the ones who have enjoyed what they did not (an education, a career, an enjoyment of family life, etc.). Rational Witness

Link

60

Witnessing at the WalMart in Evansville, Indiana(pics)

by Jourles in

jw
friends

19 years ago

.

for your viewing, uh, pleasure?

18 years ago

Rational Witness 19 years ago

Where are the pictures of Armageddon? I want to see pictures of Armageddon! RW

Link

8

Anyone read William Barclay's works?

by eyeslice in

jw
friends

22 years ago

i wandered into a "christian" book store the other day, i was out of town on business, not sure that i would do it in my own town, where i might get spotted and ratted on to the elders.. i bought a copy of one of william barclay's book, a study of john's gospel.. as i read it, i keep thinking how good it is compared with the watchtower!

the society bangs on about the abundance of spiritual food but i find the watchtower and most other society literature shallow and unchallenging.

i can speed read a watchtower in about 5 minutes and still keep abreast with "new light".. this guy, barclay, however really knew his stuff and was not afraid to go into detail.

22 years ago

Rational Witness 22 years ago

eyeslice,

Actually, it was not uncommon to find Barclay's books among the desk-jockeys at Bethel back in the 60's and 70's. I don't recall discovering C. S. Lewis until after I left there, though. Both fine authors, and Lewis is one of my half dozen favorites. If you enjoy Barclay and Lewis, may I point you in the direction of G. B. Caird and Lesslie Newbigin? Caird was one of the 20th century's foremost Biblical linguists (he was one of the translators of the New English Bible). His The Language and Imagery of the Bible is a fascinating read. Like Lewis, Newbigin led me away from the turgid authoritarianism of The Watchtower to a more personal view of Christianity.

Cheers,
Rational

Link

47

Falsifiability

by donkey in

jw
friends

22 years ago

i pose this challenge to believers: what would it take for you to stop believing in god?.

this is an interesting challenge.

well, it may sound paradoxical, but in order for any claim to be true, it must be falsifiable.

22 years ago

Rational Witness 22 years ago

Donkey,

You said:

I pose this challenge to believers: What would it take for you to stop believing in God?

I will first answer this question, then I will ask you one.

I would stop believing in God if science could answer the question, Why is there something rather than nothing? ... and do so in a provable, reproducible manner that provides purely material efficient, necessary and sufficient causes of the universe (i.e., without resorting to any metaphysical theory of origin).

Now that I have answered your question, I'm sure you will answer mine. You said:

This is an interesting challenge. Why? Well, it may sound paradoxical, but in order for any claim to be true, it must be falsifiable.

For that statement itself to be true, it would have to be falsifiable, otherwise it is self-refuting and hence incoherent. So my question to you is, How would you falsify your statement?

RW

Link

18