Religion is... Exploitation and Extortion.
Posts by Heaven
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9Interesting article considering what's happening begging for money in the congregations
by JakeM2012 inhttp://www.cnn.com/2015/06/14/us/sunday-stickup/index.html.
i thought this article had some interesting interesting comments including this, "if a pastor or church leader has ever told you that the bible commands christians to tithe or give 10% of their income; hit you up for multiple offerings during one service; made you march up front to give; asked you to donate to a mysterious "building fund" or give a "first-fruit" offering; or even given special recognition to big givers in your congregation, lee and other pastors have a message for you:.
you are getting played.. these rituals, they say, violate new testament teachings about how and why people should give.
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182
The Case for Theism
by FusionTheism in"theism" here means "belief in a god" or "the worldview that an intelligent designer created the universe and life.
" ("god" here means a being with a mind who initiated and/or wound-up the universe, and designed life on earth)the most common claim that i see atheists making on twitter, is that "no evidence" exists in support of belief in a god.this post will remove any excuse atheists have for claiming "no evidence exists" in support of an initiator.
atheists can still reject this evidence as "weak," but they cannot truthfully say it does not exist.now, it is true that we do not have "observable, repeatable, falsifiable, empirical, scientific" evidence conclusively proving that an initiator exists, but we do have many lines of philisophical, experiential, and logical evidence.and... here... we... go:1:) many leading scientists, including stephen hawking, say that the space-time-matter universe had a beginning at the singularity/big bang.
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Heaven
crazyhorse said: It amazes me how atheists can be SO certain that there is no God. At least having an agnostic view is plausible.
crazyhorse, this certainty comes from an understanding of religious claims, Biblical claims, a lack of evidence to support the claims, evidence that refutes the claims, and a study of history, archeology, geology, biology, etc.
As cofty has said before, one needs to define what is meant by 'god'. There have been so many different beliefs and so many different gods, especially in the various regions of the Earth (the Celts had their Gods, the Greeks had theirs, the Middle Easterners had theirs and so on). Many of the various pantheons have similar deities. The Israelites and Jews had Yahweh (El), the Greeks had Zeus. The Bible originates in the Middle Eastern pantheon.
As a child, I was taught that 'God' was Jehovah, also called Yahweh. I have since learned that prior to the name Yahweh, he was known as El. He is supposed to be our loving heavenly father. Yet when you read the Bible, he comes across as spiteful, vengeful, and quite hateful, particularly in the Old Testament. In the ancient middle East, when one tribe overthrew another tribe, the defeated tribe would typically adopt the victorious tribe's god. After all, their god must be weaker because they lost.
I have also learned that Yahweh was the Canaanite god of war and adopted by the Israelites and Jews. For me, this is not the type of god I want to be worshipping or following.
The Israelites at one point were polytheistic. Asherah was worshipped as the consort of Yahweh and 'the Queen of Heaven'. What happened to her? What has happened to all the other goddesses?The god Ba'al (Hadad) was also worshipped. He was the son of El.
As a child, I was taught that the Bible was the inerrant, true word of God. Therefore, it follows, that if there is even 1 fact in the Bible that can be disproven, then the claim that the Bible is inerrant is false. You need look no further than the book of Genesis. The order of creation is incorrect. There are many others I won't go into as this would be quite long.
So, after all this, I am wondering .... exactly which god are you referring to, what is it that you believe in, and what is the foundation or facts you can state to support this belief?
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We are slowly moving away from that kind of preaching work
by oppostate injohn hoyle--jws go knocking on strangers doors and try to get inside homes to preach.. wt rep--we are slowly moving away from that kind of preaching work, we do more preaching by using literature carts and personal telephone calls.. .
the above quote is from john hoyle's website:http://insidethewatchtower.com/doctrine/phone-calls-to-bethel-jw-org-email-and-contacts/.
it's interesting, isn't it?
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Heaven
I guess indigenous peoples are screwed then. I mean, how is the life saving message of Jehovah's Witnesses going to make it to the far reaches of the Earth like the Amazon rain forest? I doubt these people have an internet connection:
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Richard Dawkins espouses Militant Atheism: "Mock them, Ridicule them." Attack Religious People with Insults!
by MagicMItchJensen inrichard dawkins has said frequently if we don't agree with religious or spiritual people we need to "insult them!
" tell their their out of their "fucking gourds!
" and make sure you really show them how stupid they are for believing in something they can't prove!".
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Heaven
It doesn't surprise me that Dawkins would say this. Have you ever listened to his "Love Letters" from believers? It must wear on him after a while. There's only so much crap you can take in life before you react.
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46
We are slowly moving away from that kind of preaching work
by oppostate injohn hoyle--jws go knocking on strangers doors and try to get inside homes to preach.. wt rep--we are slowly moving away from that kind of preaching work, we do more preaching by using literature carts and personal telephone calls.. .
the above quote is from john hoyle's website:http://insidethewatchtower.com/doctrine/phone-calls-to-bethel-jw-org-email-and-contacts/.
it's interesting, isn't it?
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Heaven
punky, I love your cartoon!
As for the 'we are slowly moving away from that kind of preaching'... this would explain why they aren't knocking on my door. I've been working from home full time now for a year and they aren't coming here (except once to deliver the Crapvention invite. They rang the doorbell and by the time I got downstairs, they were long gone).
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Lipstick on a pig
by hoser inthis is how i look at the regional conventions with the video monitors.
same crappy content just a little different delivery.
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Heaven
hoser... this is an insult to pigs.
I'd rather watch Moritz here than a Botchtower video any day:
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20
A Hummingbird in My House
by Oubliette inwe just had a hummingbird in our house!
it flew in through an open door.
i had been cleaning my back patio and left the screen open for a few moments when i was putting stuff away.
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Heaven
Oh wow, Oubliette! Sounds like one of those awesome moments in life that give you goose bumps. And one you'll probably not forget.
I had a female ruby throated hummer land right beside me while I was sitting outside. She zoomed by me to sip on the marigolds in the garden bed next to the patio. Once she was done she decided to take a wee rest on the patio stones right next to my foot! It was so cool. I loved looking at her feathers and beak and teeny tiny feet. I don't make a lot of sudden movements so I guess she didn't mind I was there. She stayed there for quite some time too. I was rather surprised.
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Parents under fire for failing to allow lifesaving blood transfusion to terminally ill son
by AndersonsInfo inhttp://www.9news.com.au/national/2015/06/11/19/06/parents-under-fire-for-failing-to-allow-lifesaving-blood-transfusion-to-terminally-ill-son.
there is a video that can be seen at the above link that is worth watching.. the andersons.
7:10pm june 11, 2015 parents under fire for failing to allow lifesaving blood transfusion to terminally ill son.
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Heaven
Doltologist said: It's called religious freedom. However, when the freedom of one person (the parents) impinge upon the freedom of another (their child's right to life) then that's where society should step in and either ban the practice or the cult.
I completely agree with you Doltologist. It's time for laws to be enacted that shutdown these groups that cause harm to people.
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182
The Case for Theism
by FusionTheism in"theism" here means "belief in a god" or "the worldview that an intelligent designer created the universe and life.
" ("god" here means a being with a mind who initiated and/or wound-up the universe, and designed life on earth)the most common claim that i see atheists making on twitter, is that "no evidence" exists in support of belief in a god.this post will remove any excuse atheists have for claiming "no evidence exists" in support of an initiator.
atheists can still reject this evidence as "weak," but they cannot truthfully say it does not exist.now, it is true that we do not have "observable, repeatable, falsifiable, empirical, scientific" evidence conclusively proving that an initiator exists, but we do have many lines of philisophical, experiential, and logical evidence.and... here... we... go:1:) many leading scientists, including stephen hawking, say that the space-time-matter universe had a beginning at the singularity/big bang.
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Heaven
John_Mann an hour ago
I don't like the atheist label because it was given by the very theists.
Being a negative it gives the self evident status to theism.This is a good point, John.
I find believers get very weird when the atheist term is used as well. If I tell them I'm atheist, it's almost like I told them I'm Satan the Devil himself. I've also had believers recoil at the term humanist. One person said "Don't use that. That's what Madonna uses." Um, ok.
Perhaps the more apt term is unbeliever or non-believer. I think a lot of public non-believers use the term 'agnostic' because they are pretty sure god doesn't exist. Any scientist is willing to leave the door slightly ajar on this because it is the nature of science to do so. So far, any 'evidence' (read religious or Biblical claims) that has/have been presented has not held up to scrutiny. The application of integrity, morals, logic, and reason must be abandoned when dealing with belief and faith.
In my many discussions with various people on the subject of god over the course of my life so far, I can tell you this. Everyone has a different idea of what god is. And many have very little knowledge of the Bible, its origins, and the belief systems that existed prior to the Bible.
This alone says to me that god is just a figment of the human imagination. If god really did exist, especially as this omnipotent being most believers claim 'him' (?) to be, then everyone would have the exact same knowledge and understanding of god.
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Parents under fire for failing to allow lifesaving blood transfusion to terminally ill son
by AndersonsInfo inhttp://www.9news.com.au/national/2015/06/11/19/06/parents-under-fire-for-failing-to-allow-lifesaving-blood-transfusion-to-terminally-ill-son.
there is a video that can be seen at the above link that is worth watching.. the andersons.
7:10pm june 11, 2015 parents under fire for failing to allow lifesaving blood transfusion to terminally ill son.
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Heaven
I think most JW's live in fear of a number of things, including the Blood Policy. I think they all hope like hell they never need a blood transfusion or blood products to survive.
As a teenage girl back in the '70s, blood transfusions was totally forbidden. So were the use of blood products. I definitely lived in fear of being denied this life saving treatment if I ever needed it. It wasn't until I was an older child that this 'policy' was made known to me. At the time I told my Mom I didn't think it was right. My take was that if you could save a life doing this then it should be done. We are all taught life is precious. If it is within our power to save a life, we must do it. The Watchtower's blood policy refutes this belief.
This policy was one of the factors that led me to decide not to have children.
This religion/cult messes people up. They are damaging, destructive... I do not understand how they are allowed to legally operate.
