slimboyfat

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Posts by slimboyfat

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  60

  Now I'm Convinced There Probably Is No God

  by pale.emperor in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  yesterday i made a visit to the museum in my city.

  the top floor is the planetarium, which has a connecting room with a huge dome ceiling where they project lessons and lectures and you have a 360 view of the night sky etc.. this particular lecture explained about our galaxy, and how it's only one of billions in the universe.

  and then we learned about each planet, some of their moons and the sun.

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  slimboyfat

  Everything rests on something else, but God is that upon which all ultimately rests and in turn rests upon nothing else. It's like objects in relation to gravity on earth. And God is like the earth itself.

  A hat rests on a head. A head is part of a human. The human sits on a chair. The chair rests on the floor. The floor is part of the building. The building has foundations. The foundations are secured to the ground. The ground is part of the earth's geology. The planet itself is the ultimate ground of orientation. What does the planet rest upon? The planet does not rest upon something else the way the objects on it rest upon it. It is its own source of orientation.

  God lacks contingency in a more fundamental sense, this is just an illustration. But it shows how there can be a series of things that are contingent upon each other, but the ultimate source is itself not contingent upon anything else.

  This is among the best arguments for God in my view.
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  60

  Now I'm Convinced There Probably Is No God

  by pale.emperor in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  yesterday i made a visit to the museum in my city.

  the top floor is the planetarium, which has a connecting room with a huge dome ceiling where they project lessons and lectures and you have a 360 view of the night sky etc.. this particular lecture explained about our galaxy, and how it's only one of billions in the universe.

  and then we learned about each planet, some of their moons and the sun.

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  slimboyfat

  All created things are contingent. God is said not to be contingent. That's the best argument for God in my view.
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  27

  More congregations? One of the strategies they used to inflate the numbers in my city.

  by Tempest in a Teacup in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i looked at the 2017 yearbook figures this morning, and it reminded me of something which happened in my former congregation 2 years ago.

  it was a tiny foreign language congregation with at most 25-30 publishers.

  comes and splits a 30 member congregation into....three.

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  slimboyfat

  Thanks, interesting example. So that's six congregations on the Isle of Wight down to five so far?

  Islands are interesting places to watch decline play out in microcosm.

  I note, for example, that the number of congregations in Iceland decreased from 7 to 6 over the past year, while publisher numbers remain static. Decline shows itself most clearly as congregations closing down.
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  18

  Aron-Ra: Meteorology and the Flood

  by schnell in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a few days ago, aron-ra posted a new video commencing what he promises to be a new series debunking the noachian flood.

  he did this despite the fact that every adult should know it didn't happen, and yet many do.. i'd like to remind everyone what the insight book says: .

  the genesis account of creation tells how on the second “day” jehovah made an expanse about the earth, and this expanse (called “heaven”) formed a division between the waters below it, that is, the oceans, and the waters above it.

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  slimboyfat

  Evolution is too big a thing to be a fact. Facts are small things and relatively meaningless. Interpretations are large things and full of meaning.

  For examlple take these statements about reality:

  World War 2 began in 1939 - is a fact.

  World War 2 was a result of the failed policy of appeasement - is an interpretation.

  Evolution is much closer to the second statement in terms of interpretative scope. The more focused a statement the more closely it resembles as fact. The wider in scope, and full of meaning, the more it resembles an interpretation rather than a fact. But if we want to be pedantic, ultimately there are no pure facts, as such, but only interpretations. It's all a matter of degree. Evolution is much too grand an idea to be confined within a small box labelled fact.
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  27

  More congregations? One of the strategies they used to inflate the numbers in my city.

  by Tempest in a Teacup in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i looked at the 2017 yearbook figures this morning, and it reminded me of something which happened in my former congregation 2 years ago.

  it was a tiny foreign language congregation with at most 25-30 publishers.

  comes and splits a 30 member congregation into....three.

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  slimboyfat

  The number of congregations has never been a statistic that JWs have especially trumpeted. Far behind the publisher number, baptisms, pioneers and so on. Which is another reason why it's a good one to watch for a true reflection of their position.

  I guess they could split congregations into smaller and smaller congregations in order to claim an increase in number of congregations. But why would they bother? All that administrative hassle for a number that they don't particularly focus upon anyway? And since there is already a chronic shortage of elders, they would have real trouble making new smaller congregations viable. Any CO who went around creating new congregations only for them to be later disbanded because they are unsustainable would not be very popular with the branch. And his work would be reversed out of necessity.

  The best argument in favour of the number of congregations as a measure of decline is the facts, not theory. In countries such as Japan, South Korea, Netherlands and Denmark, where there has been a decline in JWs, that decline has shown up greatest in the decline in number of congregations. So all the arguments about inflating congregation numbers does not match the reality in declining countries. The statistics show that where JWs are in decline, that decline expresses itself most clearly in the reduction in the number of congregations.

  Which is why the decline this year in number of congregations in countries like the United States and Germany is so promising in terms of the prospects for overall JW decline.
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  18

  Aron-Ra: Meteorology and the Flood

  by schnell in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a few days ago, aron-ra posted a new video commencing what he promises to be a new series debunking the noachian flood.

  he did this despite the fact that every adult should know it didn't happen, and yet many do.. i'd like to remind everyone what the insight book says: .

  the genesis account of creation tells how on the second “day” jehovah made an expanse about the earth, and this expanse (called “heaven”) formed a division between the waters below it, that is, the oceans, and the waters above it.

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  slimboyfat

  I saw/met Aaron Ra and his family in a Glasgow pub. (He was giving a presentation on creationism) They reminded me of a cross between an American JW family I once knew and the Munsters. His wife is quite cheerful by comparison with the man himself. She is a teacher. He says they met on a forum. He offered to prove to anyone that God doesn't exist. She took him up on the challenge, he convinced her, and they live happily ever since. His son is a bright young chap with similarly strong opinions. In the rest room, as Americans call it, he explained to me how Scottish swing doors that swing opposite directions wouldn't pass American regulations because they are dangerous. I guess he may be right, but I couldn't get as excited about the topic. I am not as interested in creationism either. To me, evoltution seems like a good explanation for the variety of life, whereas creationism is a poorer explanation. But I don't rule out possibilities, including ideas humans haven't devised yet, or are possibly incapable of coming up with at all because of our limited intelligence.
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  13

  Do You Believe in Fairies?

  by pale.emperor in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  before you start, i don't!!.

  http://www.healyourlife.com/do-you-believe-in-fairies.

  but i stumbled upon this article.

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  slimboyfat

  Just because fairies probably don't exist, doesn't necessarily mean fairies don't exist.

  Plus it depends what you mean by fairy.
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  18

  Aron-Ra: Meteorology and the Flood

  by schnell in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a few days ago, aron-ra posted a new video commencing what he promises to be a new series debunking the noachian flood.

  he did this despite the fact that every adult should know it didn't happen, and yet many do.. i'd like to remind everyone what the insight book says: .

  the genesis account of creation tells how on the second “day” jehovah made an expanse about the earth, and this expanse (called “heaven”) formed a division between the waters below it, that is, the oceans, and the waters above it.

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  slimboyfat

  I don't know, but doesn't anyone else find the relentless "why are believers so stupid" attitude of Aron Ra a bit tiresome?
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  117

  2017 Yearbook released

  by bohm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i saw this on reddit:.

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/5mlgsm/2017_yearbook_of_jehovahs_witnesses/.

  overall the numbers are better than last year (1.8% growth compared to 1.5% last year -- as i predicted ;-) ) with an increase in all major figures including 1300 more congregations (i assume this is not physical kingdom halls?).

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  slimboyfat

  They have lost touch with reality.

  It's amazing to think no one caught this and removed it before publishing.

  But I guess these are the same people who have been signing Bibles too.

  I think even many fully believing JWs will have trouble with this comment.

  (I made this post yesterday in response to posts a few pages back about the comment about the GB being like Jehovah on the TV. I just noticed it arrived)
• 
  117

  2017 Yearbook released

  by bohm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i saw this on reddit:.

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/5mlgsm/2017_yearbook_of_jehovahs_witnesses/.

  overall the numbers are better than last year (1.8% growth compared to 1.5% last year -- as i predicted ;-) ) with an increase in all major figures including 1300 more congregations (i assume this is not physical kingdom halls?).

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  slimboyfat

  https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/172862/british-sociologist-predicts-possible-collapse-jehovahs-witness-numbers?page=1

  I've got the book. I could send you a scan if you like.