Inquisitor

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Posts by Inquisitor

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  30

  Do It Yourself: The ark of the covenant

  by Nathan Natas in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the ark of the covenant was a primitive (well, it was wood) leyden jar: a capacitor.. the shekinah light was a coronal discharge between the two terminals, which were in the form of the cherubs.. my proposal: a team of aposta-engineers work together to.

  1. calculate the electrical properties of the ark of the covenant.

  2. build a replica ark and determine if it operates within the anticipated performance range.

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  Inquisitor

  We challenge the Watchtower magicians to match our magic!

  Hahahahaa... Moses and Aaron vs Jannes and Jambres all over again. Wicked!

  INQ
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  32

  Dinner with moderate Muslims

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my wife has a classmate that recently married a pakistani man.

  he's here only on a student visa and is faced with returning to pakistan as soon as he graduates.

  he has an application for greencard pending but the wheels turn slow.

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  Inquisitor

  My apologies, Peaceful Pete

  I should not have gotten carried away with the debate, hijacking your thread. I think I've said more than enough. My thoughts on this subject are clear for all to see. I'll say no more in rebuttal. Time for ice-cream!!!

  INQ
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  32

  Dinner with moderate Muslims

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my wife has a classmate that recently married a pakistani man.

  he's here only on a student visa and is faced with returning to pakistan as soon as he graduates.

  he has an application for greencard pending but the wheels turn slow.

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  Inquisitor

  Liberalism is a mental illness.

  You are arguing from a conservative point of view to condemn conservative Muslims. You and conservative Muslims share a distaste for gays, for minority rights, for multiculturalism, for feminists etc. I'm surprised you have the gall to make a peep. Doesn't your speech strike you as self-contradictory? Stay away from diagnosing psychological disorders. You're sitting on the wrong chair in your therapy sessions.

  INQ
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  32

  Dinner with moderate Muslims

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my wife has a classmate that recently married a pakistani man.

  he's here only on a student visa and is faced with returning to pakistan as soon as he graduates.

  he has an application for greencard pending but the wheels turn slow.

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  Inquisitor

  My post was not to make an apology for Islam. I do not trivialise the errors of her zealots as you have on the wrongs of fundamentalist Christianity. My aim was to highlight the fact that there are Muslims who challenge the dangerous fundamentalism in that religion, a fact that you seem to conveniently and consistently avoid. That such scholars, thinkers, reformers exist shows there are people in that religion who are rational and genuinely peace-loving. These Muslim pioneers are a minority and they need all the help they can get to persuade their fellow belivers, to redefine a new and evolving Shariah that is both socially, politically and religiously beneficial, to raise Islamic thought out of stagnation. Your scare-tactics and hate-mongering doesn't help in this process. In fact, it only seeks to do the opposite by alienating the Muslim community. Have you ever wondered if your efforts are actually aiding the terrorists or those who seek to oppose it?
  Not all Muslims who claim to be thinking individuals are hypocrites. For that kind of inconsistency, we only need to read up on your personal reflections.

  INQ
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  32

  Dinner with moderate Muslims

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my wife has a classmate that recently married a pakistani man.

  he's here only on a student visa and is faced with returning to pakistan as soon as he graduates.

  he has an application for greencard pending but the wheels turn slow.

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  Inquisitor

  "They are still gonna come after you"

  To do what? Circumcise you? Slam you down onto a prayer mat and force you to recite the Al-Fatihah?

  Puhleaase..., Chicken Little.

  I dislike malicious fundamentalists whether they are JW, Muslim, Baptist, etc. But I do not share in your unbridled prejudice towards a whole group of people. Such a delusory view is not very far from that of a racist who uses stereotypes to justify his hatred towards an entire community.

  INQ
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  30

  Do It Yourself: The ark of the covenant

  by Nathan Natas in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the ark of the covenant was a primitive (well, it was wood) leyden jar: a capacitor.. the shekinah light was a coronal discharge between the two terminals, which were in the form of the cherubs.. my proposal: a team of aposta-engineers work together to.

  1. calculate the electrical properties of the ark of the covenant.

  2. build a replica ark and determine if it operates within the anticipated performance range.

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  Inquisitor

  Were your ideas inspired by a recent periodical? Can't remember if it was the Skeptics Magazine. Anyone else know which one I'm talking about?

  INQ
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  32

  Dinner with moderate Muslims

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my wife has a classmate that recently married a pakistani man.

  he's here only on a student visa and is faced with returning to pakistan as soon as he graduates.

  he has an application for greencard pending but the wheels turn slow.

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  Inquisitor

  Peacefulpete

  You poor thing. Trying hard to be a gracious and yet aching to point out the hypocrisy.

  Your Pakistani friend sounds like a man who is moderate in his actions but by no means moderate in belief. Yet, it chills the spine to contemplate what a mob of people with his worldview would do to a gay person in a dark alley. He calls himeself a moderate Muslim only to project himself as a thinking, progressive Muslim, a migrant much preferred by Western democratic countries. Yet his ideas betray his true colours.

  Having said that however, one should not dismiss the existence of genuine progressive Muslims as if they were a myth. They are few by comparison, but they exist. Try reading works by Irshad Manji, Farish A. Noor or Scott Siraj Al-Haqq Kugle. It would be tragic if the world should become complacent towards this minority simply because of imposters. These reformers are not those who suck up to Western authorities to get themselves a green card. They are genuinely concerned about the stagnation of Muslim thought and culture.

  While a Muslim fundamentalist may go to great extremes to be heard by the world, I find it reprehensible to give pats on the back of Christian fundamentalists to the effect of saying "These kids of ours aren't nearly as bad as the ones next door. You're alright sonny".

  Xian fundies target abortion clinics and funerals of dead soldiers. But they do more.

  Who killed Matthew Shepard?

  For whose favour is Bush clamoring by appealing TWICE for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage?

  The delusional representative of which religion made a passing threat of assassination to a South American president?

  Why do so-called secular-thinking politicians oppose stem-cell research?

  Which group is trying to silence lessons on science and evolution by replacing it with Intelligent Design?

  None of these wrongs can compare with strapping yourself with dynamite and killing Israeli civilians. But don't trivialise the mistakes in your own backyard simply because there is something worse in someone else's.

  Christianity is no more a religion of peace than Islam. It depends on who's the spokesperson and what is his/her agenda.

  INQ
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  11

  "comic" strip

  by richard in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  .

  i don't know if it was ever posted before:.

  http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0026/0026_01.asp

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  Inquisitor

  I didn't like this comic when I was an active Witness ( I was given one at the doors and couldn't control my curiosity) and I still find it reprehensible now.

  What puts me off about this comic is:

  1) It portrayed the Witness elders as controlling buffoons who are out of their depth. Look at the bald head, the fat noses and the sloppy chins. That is unfair. Not all elders are as incompetent as that (or that ugly for that matter). Neither are all Witnesses insincere about their faith. Not all Witnesses put in hours out of fear of destruction at Armageddon. A good number of them do it because they genuinely believe they have the Truth. The stereotype is offensive. No Witness who realizes this would proceed to pay any heed to the message of the cartoon. I didn't. It was the main reason I burnt it in disgust so many years ago. But then again this comic wasn't made FOR a JW was it? (see point 3)

  2) The good stranger is drawn with serene eyes, spouting off expose's on JW doctrine with sagacious calm. I didn't realize the signifance then, but isn't this the same kinda imagery the WTS employs in their publications? Should we applaud this same technique at influencing people's opinions?

  3) The aim of the cartoon is not ONLY to prove the JW doctrines are wrong. No. It seeks to influence the reader to accept mainstream orthodoxy. For instance there is a pro-Trinitarian tone about it towards the end. There is nothing wrong with accepting mainstream Christianity, but I feel that the one should prove the JW beliefs are wrong on their own merit, and not because something else is the TRUTH. This comic reeks of the same kinda fundamentalistic antagonism and blind-faith that the JWs live by.

  Sorry to tear this down to pieces, Richard. My annoyance is directed to the cartoonist(s), not you.

  INQ
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  3

  JWs are planning on Inviting every one in Richmond...

  by Priest73 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  great (note the sarcasm.

  ) .

  http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/satellite?pagename=rtd/mgarticle/rtd_basicarticle&c=mgarticle&cid=1149188215810

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  Inquisitor

  Did any of our fellow apostates go picketing in that vicinity? That would have been fun.

  INQ
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  19

  Flood Legends

  by Inquisitor in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the account of noah's flood has had its credibility beaten black and blue by current understanding of ancient history, geology and biology.

  yet staunch christians, including jws, continue to assert that the existence of the many flood legends from all over the world proves that a global catastrophe must have occurred.

  how would you respond to this line of reasoning specifically?

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  Inquisitor

  Uh, NO it hasn't. You are just reasoning from the evolutionary presupposition. The 'proofs' of the scientific data at present can be successfully defended from either viewpoint!

  Link me up with "scientific data" that you feel has successfully defended the Noachian Flood account. I'm always open to new information, Shining One. Don't just tell me it is so. Your word is not Law.
  
  Oh and btw, I have not only considered arguments presented from the evolutionists' point of view. I've also looked at some geological and archeological points against the Flood. Don't YOU "presuppose" my alleged "presupposition".
  

  >Yet staunch Christians, including JWs, continue to assert that the existence of the many flood legends from all over the world proves that a global catastrophe must have occurred. That is only one observable fact and is not the 'whole enchilada'.

  What exactly is your issue with my statement (in italics)? You're not required to chime in at every full stop you know.

  >How would you respond to this line of reasoning specifically? You've just seen the answer to that!

  No, YOU'RE the only one who can see YOUR answer to my question. The rest of us are still tapping our feet for you to drop the forced metaphorical speech and try-hard witticisms and get down to dispensing some substantial information; especially when you seem to be the only person on this thread to disagree with the prevailing views. Like I said before, link me up with the information that you think I've neglected in my conclusions about the Flood. The ball is in your court, Shining One. INQ