Posts by BurnTheShips

38

of weed

by inkling in

do you know of any current witnesses who smoke marijuana, even rarely?.

did you ever smoke weed while you were still a witness?

do you smoke it now?.

Genesis 1 KJV 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed. Just my opinion. I don't think it is harmful in moderation. Burn

14

A question for the Christians.

by BurnTheShips in

i think that for christians there are two ways of viewing the religious history of the world.. 1) that god has always tried to reveal himself to all peoples, and that people have understood him imperfectly at different times, until he revealed himself perfectly in his son.

all religions have prophecies that point to similar ideas about god because he has tried to speak to them and they have tried to seek him.

the human spirit is designed to seek certain symbolic ways of representing the divine, and, while god has placed limits on these to avoid us worshipping the representation instead of the reality, common religious rituals and symbolism can be understood by looking at the psychology of the human mind that god created in all of us.. 2) (the basic jw view) that god only ever spoke to moses, jesus, st paul etc.

BurnTheShips

Nicolau,

That does not mean that God cannot choose to save someone who is unable in conscience to believe God exists but lives as best he can according to the knowledge he does have.

Gaudium et Spes, a document of the Second Vatican Council, stated about atheism:

Undeniably, those who willfully shut out God from their hearts and try to dodge religious questions are not following the dictates of their consciences, and hence are not free of blame; yet believers themselves frequently bear some responsibility for this situation. For, taken as a whole, atheism is not a spontaneous development but stems from a variety of causes, including a critical reaction against religious beliefs, and in some places against the Christian religion in particular. Hence believers can have more than a little to do with the birth of atheism. To the extent that they neglect their own training in the faith, or teach erroneous doctrine, or are deficient in their religious, moral, or social life, they must be said to conceal rather than reveal the authentic face of God and religion (GS 19).

This section implies that the culpability for atheism is not necessarily entirely the individual atheist's. To the extent that belief in God has been made impossible for him by others, there may be some mitigation for his culpability for unbelief. For the atheist , ultimately we must trust that even he too is not beyond the reach of God's mercy if he strives to live morally.

The second great commandment is love of neighbor and Christ said of those who serve others, even if they do not explicitly do it for Christ's own sake:

Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?" And the King will answer them, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me" (Matt. 25:37-40).

19

What to really expect from the JW's from the latest News

by restrangled in

jw
friends

as wonderful as the coverage was concerning abuse of children in the watchtower organization, i think most of us deep down know that it will be ignored, denied and/or described as apostate lies.. the most we can hope for is enlightenment of the general public to the fact that jw's are no different than any of the other religions they point fingers at.

it will make it more difficult to get a listening ear at the door.. the jw's exist in a very small world.

they are taught anything not coming from headquarters is basically lies.. any mistakes made were due to old light, or as i have heard from my own relatives...."well, the entire world didn't know any better so the "organization" is just catching up like everyone else.

BurnTheShips

Every little bit helps.

44

Why God permits wickedness..the argument and counter logic

by wherehasmyhairgone in

when i was a pioneer i used to get the comment a lot, as i am sure most here have.. my stock answer was the analogy.... wt 2002 10/1 page 7 as an example.

imagine a father allowing his child to go thru a painful operation in-order to get better...hence why god permits suffering.

anyway i used to trot this out without any counter arguments.. even when i left, it still seemed a reasonable explanations, then something clicked.

BurnTheShips

I still do not think they are compatible. The article is so long, it contains so many premises and assumptions that are debatable, that I would not know where to start to begin to compose a response.

14

Book of Matthew

by bite me in

here's a question that came up in a bible study... why would matthew include a lineage at the very begining of his book?.

.

BurnTheShips

The phrase "House of David" only confirms the common self-designation of the Judean dynasty. It doesn't of itself solve the issue whether its eponym is a legendary or a historical character.

But it is highly suggestive especially when regarding the antiquity of the records and their temporal proximity to the supposed figure, don't you think?

Burn

14

A question for the Christians.

by BurnTheShips in

i think that for christians there are two ways of viewing the religious history of the world.. 1) that god has always tried to reveal himself to all peoples, and that people have understood him imperfectly at different times, until he revealed himself perfectly in his son.

all religions have prophecies that point to similar ideas about god because he has tried to speak to them and they have tried to seek him.

the human spirit is designed to seek certain symbolic ways of representing the divine, and, while god has placed limits on these to avoid us worshipping the representation instead of the reality, common religious rituals and symbolism can be understood by looking at the psychology of the human mind that god created in all of us.. 2) (the basic jw view) that god only ever spoke to moses, jesus, st paul etc.

BurnTheShips

I think that for Christians there are two ways of viewing the religious history of the world.

1) That God has always tried to reveal Himself to all peoples, and that people have understood Him imperfectly at different times, until He revealed Himself perfectly in His Son. All religions have prophecies that point to similar ideas about God because He has tried to speak to them and they have tried to seek Him. The human spirit is designed to seek certain symbolic ways of representing the divine, and, while God has placed limits on these to avoid us worshipping the representation instead of the reality, common religious rituals and symbolism can be understood by looking at the psychology of the human mind that God created in all of us.

2) (The basiC JW view) That God only ever spoke to Moses, Jesus, St Paul etc. That every other religion are worshipping gods that are really different images of the devil. All religions have prophecies that point to similar ideas about God because the devil is so good at mimicking God to draw people away from Him. God has left this tiny number of witnesses in the world, and is content to let the devil control all of the other world religions, and to let him successfully deceive people who earnestly desire to serve God devoutly into devil worship so they get sent to hell.

I know which version of events I'd go with. How about you?

27

Should we unbelievers respect your faith? Warning another video!

by 5go in

i can not say it better.. .

BurnTheShips

OK Sero, maybe I am not understanding you correctly, but it seems to me you are saying this (correct me if I am wrong):

You don't have a problem with supernatural things, you just believe specific instances are deluded?

In other words, supernatural things exist, but things like fairies and such do not?

Or do you believe that there are no supernatural things, everything is material (be it matter or energy)?

I mau not have much time today to continue much further,

Burn

27

Should we unbelievers respect your faith? Warning another video!

by 5go in

i can not say it better.. .

BurnTheShips

I think there are things beyond our senses, but I don't think they should be called supernatural. I still think they would be natural things, like sounds humans can't hear yet still exist, or lightwaves that were outside our realm of knowledge until we created the technology to sense them.

OK, so you are basically a Naturalist, these you describe are all natural things, even if they are not immediately detectable to the senses. In other words, that there is only the Natural, and no Supernatural. That would seem consistent with posts of yours that I have read (and hence your atheism, since God is the "ultimate supernatural")

Burn

71

Creationism is Stupid, Stupid, STOOOOPID!

by Farkel in

ok. i used to believe in creationism even after i left the dubs.

i was a braindead window washer at the time.

i don't believe in creationism now, but i do believe in a creator and that is different.

BurnTheShips

Shawn,

I tend to agree with you on this, we need to be open minded, but don't you think that many of us here "have our minds made up" and post to debate or confirm what we believe? For example, the topic poster evidently is convinced of his viewpoint hence the vehemence of the subject line.

Burn

27

Should we unbelievers respect your faith? Warning another video!

by 5go in

i can not say it better.. .

BurnTheShips

98% of the world may believe in the supernatural

I take it that you do not believe in the supernatural (or the subnatural)? The natural only?

Burn