Posts by inkling

56

and girls! What attracts you the most in a man?

by Newborn in

jw
friends

for me...if he's kind and considerate, dresses nice, have a nice smile, lot's of humor and is a good kisser.

where can i find him??

is he here??.

inkling

Damn, I had no idea good teeth were so high on the list!

Are you looking for a boyfriend, or buying a horse?

I mean, I appreciate a nice set of pearly whites as the next guy,
but if a girl has everything else happening, I can forgive a little bit
of snaggletooth.

I mean, less that perfect smiles havn't been a problem for Madonna,
Jewel, Kirsten Dunst...

(actually, I think Kirsten's teeth are sorta adorable)

So what's up with you demanding ladies?

(BTW, my wife is a big fan on my teeth. I have fangs.)

[inkling]

10

Proof: The Watchtower Is Run By Autistic Robots

by metatron in

jw
friends

let's examine a particularily disturbing article in the awake magazine ( dec. 2009).

it's entitled "the importance of showing affection".. it teaches that you frequently need to touch your children and that physical expressions of affection are necessary for adults, too.

so, "sincere appropriate expressions of affection" are needed.

inkling

The Watchtower Is Run By Autistic Robots

Hey! I take offence on behalf of autistic robots everywhere!

44

Evolutionists - please help!

by Georgiegirl in

ok. (taking deep breath) i am finally at that point in my recovery where i am ready to look at evolution as more than a loose theory which is clearly disprovable by the fact that all the bones proving it could be in a coffin.

or, um, some illustration like that.. i feel like first i have to "unlearn" the jw teaching of evolution to learn what "real" evolution is.

then, learn about that and then see how i feel.

inkling

And my sincere apologies for using the word "evolutionist" if it offended anyone. I had no idea that could be considered insulting - I thought it was the correct way to describe those who believe in evolution (as opposed to those who do not).

Well, I see it not so much as "offensive" as possibly inaccurate, depending on its context.

It also tends to be used most often by creationists, so tends to identify the user as one
unless the context makes to clear the are not. Not that this is a bad thing, as it is a useful
way to guess about someones history with the subject.

If anyone cares, there are two interesting discussions on the use of the word, and whether
or not it can/should be reclaimed from creationists (who hijacked it in the first place)

http://www.evcforum.net/cgi-bin/dm.cgi?action=msg&t=13862

http://forum.richarddawkins.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=92127#p2261985

From one of those threads:

--

"Evolutionist" seems to also tie in with another creationist buzzword, "evolutionism". They use it as a synonym for evolution, but to me it denotes something different, more a philosophy that purports to be based on evolution. Thus evolution would be the science, whereas "evolutionism" would be philosophical ideas or beliefs supposedly derived from the science.They are very different ideas, but by having invented their use of "evolutionism" and then conflating it with evolution, creationists bolster their claim that evolution is a religion; eg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionism):

----

44

Evolutionists - please help!

by Georgiegirl in

ok. (taking deep breath) i am finally at that point in my recovery where i am ready to look at evolution as more than a loose theory which is clearly disprovable by the fact that all the bones proving it could be in a coffin.

or, um, some illustration like that.. i feel like first i have to "unlearn" the jw teaching of evolution to learn what "real" evolution is.

then, learn about that and then see how i feel.

inkling

I think evolutionist is mainly used by creationists as a pejorative label.

Perhaps, but the OP is probably just working with the term she knows
from WT publications, and not necessarily with the same connotations.

And it's a whole lot better than "Darwinist".

Anyway, a few of my early favorites...

"Finding Darwins God" - Kenneth Miller

"Climbing Mount Improbable" - Richard Dawkins

This video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vss1VKN2rf8

[inkling]

77

How do you know the Bible is from God?

by cognac in

jw
friends

i really want to believe it, but, sometimes it is very difficult to figure out how it can be from god.

i mean, in the old testament, he seems horrible in some instances.

the adam and eve thing doesn't make to much sense to me.

inkling

I am also still curious as to your positionon an issue I brought up
a few posts back, because it's a subject close to the heart of my
personal crisis of faith:

Romans 5:12 tells us that death first came into the world when Adam and Eve sinned.

So... to be clear, do you mean that before Adam and Eve
sinned, there was NO death, even of animals?

[inkling]

77

How do you know the Bible is from God?

by cognac in

jw
friends

i really want to believe it, but, sometimes it is very difficult to figure out how it can be from god.

i mean, in the old testament, he seems horrible in some instances.

the adam and eve thing doesn't make to much sense to me.

inkling

Wow! So not even the fact that no prophets wrote Scripture in Israel for 400 years before Jesus was born is evidence that all the prophecies about His birth were written centuries before they happened?

I'm confused by your grammar here, but I am assuming you are
referring to the OT writings that are claimed to predict specific
events in Jesus' life and death?

To simplify things for example, could you point to a just few that
you find most compelling?

How about the well documented event where the Jews, having read the book of Daniel, went out of Jerusalem with a copy of the book of Daniel and met Alexander the Great on his way to destroy Jerusalem, and showed him the prophecies with his name in them which caused him not only to spare Jerusalem but to decree that Jews in his empire would have favored status?

That's a pretty specific and detailed story, especially since
modern historians date the writing the book of Daniel at
164 BCE, hundreds of years after the fall of Jerusalem.

Where exactly is this event "well documented"?

[inkling]

77

How do you know the Bible is from God?

by cognac in

jw
friends

i really want to believe it, but, sometimes it is very difficult to figure out how it can be from god.

i mean, in the old testament, he seems horrible in some instances.

the adam and eve thing doesn't make to much sense to me.

inkling

"Show me just one valid supernatural event and I will gladly believe in spirits, demons, and magic, however, for me to believe in the God of the Bible you must first prove to me that every comment and event in the Bible is true."

My standard for proof of "supernatural knowledge" is exactly the same
for the Bible as for modern day psychics, mediums, and prophets.

They would have to demonstrate clear, unambiguous preknowledge
of a non-common event, documented before the fact, with a high
enough ratio of correct details to false that I know they are not
just shotgunning plausible guesses and getting a few right.

I have not found even a single convincing case of true prophecy
in the bible that can stand up to reasonable critical thinking.

Of all the claimed prophecies in the bible, I have found that they
all fall into either the category of vague enough to be stretched
to fit, or without any good evidence that they are written BEFORE
the events they purport to predict.

So yeah, if there was even ONE prophecy in the Bible that was proven
to be ONLY possibly via supernatural intervention, I would be convinced
that SOMETHING supernatural interacted at least once with Bible writers.

Of course,, why should that supernatural information provider be god?
Maybe it was a demon, who made the prophacies come true later.
Maybe it was time traveling aliens. Why should it redeem the rest
of the book as a reliable guide, seeing how filled it is with things
which are at best wrong, and at worst dangerous?

How would I tell the difference between the true and false aspects of the bible?

[inkling]

77

How do you know the Bible is from God?

by cognac in

jw
friends

i really want to believe it, but, sometimes it is very difficult to figure out how it can be from god.

i mean, in the old testament, he seems horrible in some instances.

the adam and eve thing doesn't make to much sense to me.

inkling

Romans 5:12 tells us that death first came into the world when Adam and Eve sinned.

So... to be clear, do you mean that before Adam and Eve
sinned, there was NO death, even of animals?

Just as the literalness of the flood is a matter of faith.

So, an complete overlapping record of tree rings living straight
on back through the time of the flood means... what exactly?

What about the unbroken Chinese historical records straight
through the time of the flood?

And the absurdity (and falsifiability) of the idea that millions of
species of plants and fish could survive under (in semi-salty)
water for a year?

[inkling]

77

How do you know the Bible is from God?

by cognac in

jw
friends

i really want to believe it, but, sometimes it is very difficult to figure out how it can be from god.

i mean, in the old testament, he seems horrible in some instances.

the adam and eve thing doesn't make to much sense to me.

inkling

When it comes to literary interpretation (and that includes interpreting the Bible) very little can be proven or disproven, just studied, analyzed, assumed, alleged, believed, and disbelieved.

So, your "interpretation" of the flood account is....?
Do you think the Bible does NOT claim a worldwide
flood some 4000 years ago?

What about the creation account, in which the order
of the appearance of the various life forms are in a very
wrong order?

If god's original intent was for a paradise earth, why
did he create a planet (BEFORE human life) that was
filled with killing and pain and disease?

[inkling]

77

How do you know the Bible is from God?

by cognac in

jw
friends

i really want to believe it, but, sometimes it is very difficult to figure out how it can be from god.

i mean, in the old testament, he seems horrible in some instances.

the adam and eve thing doesn't make to much sense to me.

inkling

The most convincing thing for me is that it has never been disproved.

Wait, what exactly "has never been disproved"?

Numerous specific claims that the bible makes HAVE been, conclusively, disproved.

[inkling]