Jeffro

Joined

• started 46 topics
• posted 6,922 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Jeffro

• 
  16

  Probability of Earth and life being how it is

  by ballistic in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there are some things we don't know about existence and whether the earth is a simulation or even a creation.

  but we can do some statistical analysis on it.. the probability of a planet like earth existing in the goldilocks zone and having a moon that perfectly eclipses the sun is extremely low, but it's not impossible.

  the habitable zone (or goldilocks zone) around a star is the region where a planet could potentially support liquid water on its surface.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Jeffro

  Sea Breeze:

  I think that if someone were to predict their own death and then claim that they would resurrect themself from the dead afterwards, then do it - that would pretty much do it for me.

  Sheesh. Not this drivel again. The stories about Jesus were written much later than his lifetime. We know that to be a fact. They are unverifiable stories, many of them (especially in Matthew) desperately trying to make things in the Old Testament falsely appear to be ‘prophetic’. It is entirely unremarkable that someone with access to older stories could make up other stories based on those. And as for the supposed ‘proofs’ of the ‘resurrection’, dealt with at https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/280710/how-would-you-define-religion-why?page=8#4884876684165120.
• 
  16

  Probability of Earth and life being how it is

  by ballistic in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there are some things we don't know about existence and whether the earth is a simulation or even a creation.

  but we can do some statistical analysis on it.. the probability of a planet like earth existing in the goldilocks zone and having a moon that perfectly eclipses the sun is extremely low, but it's not impossible.

  the habitable zone (or goldilocks zone) around a star is the region where a planet could potentially support liquid water on its surface.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Jeffro

  The probability of things being the way they are is precisely 1.

  The chance of a shuffled pack of standard playing cards being dealt in order is less than one in 10⁶⁷. But the chance of it being in any particular order, including all the ones that appear to be ‘random’, is exactly the same. This means that something with the chance of less than one in 10⁶⁷ happens not only every day, but millions of times every day. It’s only ‘remarkable’ if the order it happens to be in is predicted in advance. All ‘fine tuning’ arguments fail for the same reason.
• 
  9

  Bible Reading Schedule, Dumbed Down?

  by Slidin Fast in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  has any body noticed that the bible reading schedule has been reduced to one chapter per week.

  does any one know if this is a policy change or something temporary?

  at this rate the complete cycle will take 22 years plus..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Jeffro

  They’re doing one chapter per week for Proverbs, but then returning to multiple chapters per week for subsequent books.

  https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1102025214?q=Bible+reading+schedule&p=doc

  Strange (“from a human standpoint” 🤣). I couldn’t be bothered examining it more deeply (subject to change without notice), but I suspect there will be longer passages to read for books of the Bible that they recognise as having problematic verses or historical context that conflict with JW doctrines. (Chapter length will likely also still have some bearing, but that alone doesn’t explain the inconsistency.)
• 
  88

  What does the Catholic church think of JW?

  by Halcon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  on a trip to rome a few years ago i asked my friend (who is roman and jw) what the catholic faith thinks of jw.

  he simply stated that jw is tolerated by the church but that really not much thought is given to them.

  is there an official stance on jw by the catholics?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Jeffro

  I see that Earnest changed their ‘That is not how maiden names work’ post after I pointed out their error about Brzakovic’s maiden name. 😒 Perhaps I should have waited until after the edit window ended.

  Fact remains that until there is evidence, there is no reason to accept the unverified anecdote.
• 
  88

  What does the Catholic church think of JW?

  by Halcon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  on a trip to rome a few years ago i asked my friend (who is roman and jw) what the catholic faith thinks of jw.

  he simply stated that jw is tolerated by the church but that really not much thought is given to them.

  is there an official stance on jw by the catholics?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Jeffro

  Earnest:

  Brzakovic's maiden name was Berger. It is unlikely that her mother's maiden name was Berger.

  🙄 Try to keep up. Brzakovic’s maiden name was Blabst. Her mother’s maiden name was Berger. 🤦‍♂️

  Bored now. It’s tedious that people need details spoon fed to them. Get back to me when you have evidence that Katharina’s mother was a Rieger or Peintner by birth (i.e., the sister of Maria’s father or mother).
• 
  88

  What does the Catholic church think of JW?

  by Halcon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  on a trip to rome a few years ago i asked my friend (who is roman and jw) what the catholic faith thinks of jw.

  he simply stated that jw is tolerated by the church but that really not much thought is given to them.

  is there an official stance on jw by the catholics?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Jeffro

  In the unverifiable anecdote, it is claimed the Pope said "you are doing the work that we should be doing" (a statement that would be entirely uncharacteristic of Ratzinger). Note the similar tone in JW publications offering the same types of unverifiable anecdotes:

  The Watchtower, 15 June 1993, page 26:

  Upon learning the purpose of their visit, the priest invited them in, and they had a fine discussion. The priest then said: “I envy you but not in a bad way. We should be doing the work that you are doing. It’s too bad that the Orthodox Church is a sleeping giant”!
  

  The Watchtower, 1 January 1997, page 12 (recycled from Awake!, 8 February 1982, page 10 below, and also recycled in The Watchtower, May 2016, page 12):

  WHILE preaching from house to house, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses met a Pentecostal lady who commented, ‘We have holy spirit, but you are the ones doing the work.’
  

  Awake!, 8 February 1982, page 10:

  A pastor of a Pentecostal church once said to a Witness: “It makes me cry when I think that we have God’s spirit, but you people are doing the work!”
  

  So even if the claim of being a first cousin (later revised to second cousin) were true (though it remains unverified and implausible given the absence of any Bergers in Ratzinger's family tree) and there was a phone call (which also remains unverified), it's still possible that the lady (who supposedly only reported the phone call 4 months later) mixed the details of the conversation with things she read in JW literature.
• 
  88

  What does the Catholic church think of JW?

  by Halcon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  on a trip to rome a few years ago i asked my friend (who is roman and jw) what the catholic faith thinks of jw.

  he simply stated that jw is tolerated by the church but that really not much thought is given to them.

  is there an official stance on jw by the catholics?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Jeffro

  so until we do there is no reason not to accept her word on the connection.

  That’s not how burden of proof works.

  I hope for your sake that you don’t get any emails from a Nigerian prince.

  When researching genealogy, you have to be cautious even accepting that a person with a known family name is actually a correct match, let alone assuming that someone with no matching family names is related based only on an anecdote.
• 
  88

  What does the Catholic church think of JW?

  by Halcon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  on a trip to rome a few years ago i asked my friend (who is roman and jw) what the catholic faith thinks of jw.

  he simply stated that jw is tolerated by the church but that really not much thought is given to them.

  is there an official stance on jw by the catholics?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Jeffro

  One other gem that I picked up was that Betty (Elizabeth Maria) Tauber, the Pope's great-grandmother, was the daughter of Jacob Tauber (b.1811) and Josefina Knopfelmacher (1819-1886). Josefina Knopfelmacher's nickname was Peppi. I can only think that this gives credence to Stefanie Brzakovic's recall of the Joseph Ratzinger's nickname.

  ‘Pepi’ is a Germanic diminutive of ‘Joseph’. It isn’t an obscure reference in any way unique to an ancestor born over 100 years prior. The similar use of a common diminutive form is trivial.
  
• 
  88

  What does the Catholic church think of JW?

  by Halcon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  on a trip to rome a few years ago i asked my friend (who is roman and jw) what the catholic faith thinks of jw.

  he simply stated that jw is tolerated by the church but that really not much thought is given to them.

  is there an official stance on jw by the catholics?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Jeffro

  slimboyfat:

  Then you go on to say: “He may have been polite (because he was a gentleman), but to interpret a passing kindness as some hidden theological endorsement is naive at best and deceitful at worst.”

  Passing that off as a contradiction is a straw man argument. aqwsed12345 acknowledged that if the anecdote has any truth at all, it’s possible that Ratzinger might have been polite about Brzakovic’s religious views, which is not an ‘admission’ that he said ‘exactly what Brzakovic said he did’.
• 
  88

  What does the Catholic church think of JW?

  by Halcon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  on a trip to rome a few years ago i asked my friend (who is roman and jw) what the catholic faith thinks of jw.

  he simply stated that jw is tolerated by the church but that really not much thought is given to them.

  is there an official stance on jw by the catholics?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Jeffro

  
  

  🤣🙄