Posts by marmot

17

Tower of Babel - /another thing/ God didn't have to do.

by Awakened07 in

we all know the story of the tower of babel, and there are lots of things one can discuss around the topic, like for instance how god actually didn't allow mankind to 'experiment' with governing themselves, but chose to intervene whenever they seemed to get close to being united.. however - that is not the topic of this thread (and has been covered in other threads already).. .

so - what do i mean when i say "another thing god didn't have to do"?.

the first of the things i'm referring to, is the diversity of life itself, as it happens through evolution by cumulative steps of naturally selected, inherited traits over the generations of a population (i'm not going to go into detail here).. so - over to the other thing that god didn't have to do:.

marmot

I don't have the cognitive dissonance safety net to fall back on anymore when I hear the theory that the god of the bible did all this "because he loves us". Does not compute, regardless of how many tortuous theological arguments you can dredge up.

19

What Religion Do you Follow Now?

by luna14 in

jw
friends

i am new to the site.

i wish i had known about it earlier, it would have avoided a lot of the guilty feelings i felt when i was df in 1998. it's so cool to see so many members.

anyway i wanted to ask what religion do you follow now that you are no longer a jw?

marmot

I'm a Pastafarian.

All hail FSM!

17

Tower of Babel - /another thing/ God didn't have to do.

by Awakened07 in

we all know the story of the tower of babel, and there are lots of things one can discuss around the topic, like for instance how god actually didn't allow mankind to 'experiment' with governing themselves, but chose to intervene whenever they seemed to get close to being united.. however - that is not the topic of this thread (and has been covered in other threads already).. .

so - what do i mean when i say "another thing god didn't have to do"?.

the first of the things i'm referring to, is the diversity of life itself, as it happens through evolution by cumulative steps of naturally selected, inherited traits over the generations of a population (i'm not going to go into detail here).. so - over to the other thing that god didn't have to do:.

marmot

My take on this is that it was a myth created to explain the variety of languages present in the world to the writers of Genesis. Linguistic shift is a fascinating subject and it occurs entirely naturally from birth onwards, it doesn't need some miracle to confuse the languages and - no - humanity did not all speak Hebrew at one point.

That's why I also shake my head at people who lament over all the "dying" languages in the world today. There's this unwholesome fear that if these languages are lost then everyone is going to speak English and all individuality and culture will be lost.

We couldn't MAKE that happen if we wanted to. Just look at the Roman empire where the majority spoke Latin as the lingua franca and consider how many languages and unique cultures evolved from that.

7

Has anyone read THE CHRIST CONSPIRACY ??

by OnTheWayOut in

jw
friends

this looks like a highly controversial book, but loaded with facts.. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/asin/0932813747/qid=1011422472/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_3_1/103-3310739-4927820.

i haven't ordered it yet, and wanted some opinions if there are any here.

the following are comments and excerpts:.

marmot

Looks interesting, but I have a question. I'm no Bible apologist (I believe it's a fascinating piece of very significant literature, nothing more) but how would these late gospel writers have gotten the genealogies correct after all the chronologies had been lost during the destruction of Jerusalem?

8

has anyone ever been DF'd for voting?

by inkling in

jw
friends

like the topic says: have you ever heard of someone.

being disfellowshipped or reproved for voting?.

[ink].

marmot

My cousin's husband was essentially disfellowshipped for supporting the Liberal Party. He owns a fairly large company and once you get that big it's inevitable that you have to start currying favors to get ahead.

Thing is, he wasn't really disfellowshipped but was considered "disassociated by his actions" to avoid the legal loophole.

8

New Canadian here...What is Boxing Day all about?

by Saoirse in

jw
friends

can someone please explain to me what you are supposed to do on boxing day?

i keep hearing different things.

one person told me that i'm supposed to give baked goods to the neighbors, another told me to re-gift and another told me that i'm supposed to give presents to the mailman.

marmot

It's all the crass commercialism of Christmas but without the veneer of festive legitimacy.

Basically all the stores have big discount sales and it's a mad shopping spree everywhere. Some stores are even extending the sales all the way to New Year's day and calling it "boxing week." You have to hunt around, but there are definitely some good bargains to be had.

I'm surprised the U.S. hasn't picked up on it yet.

77

What's the big deal with Jesus' "sacrifice"?

by bluesapphire in

what was the big deal with that dam tree to begin with!

marmot

I'm sure Hungary's tourism industry is doing quite well but I doubt billions are going every year.

;)

77

What's the big deal with Jesus' "sacrifice"?

by bluesapphire in

what was the big deal with that dam tree to begin with!

marmot

BA, the problem with that reasoning is that he (supposedly) already had 100% confirmed foreknowledge that he would be resurrected, not just nebulous "faith", so what exactly did he sacrifice?

It's like someone telling me they're going to crush my car, but they're giving me a Rolls Royce in 3 days.

8

White Man build big fire.....sit far back......

by oompa in

jw
friends

apache build little fire....sit real close.

i have no idea why i felt like posting this.

it reminds me of early enviromentalism..........oompa.