bohm

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Posts by bohm

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  5

  The machines helping to build China's vast network of high speed rail

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  high speed rail (in china, anyway) is a railway that travels faster than 200 km/hour.

  while other countries in europe and japan have developed high speed rail, china now has the largest network in the world, with both mainlines and connecting links often providing 300km/hour travel.

  the network now comprises more than 16,000 km of dedicated track and another approx.

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  bohm

  "So if they go around a tightly curved platform the middle bit will scrape on the platform edge. It's simple physics."

  lol, the mental imagery is hilarious. Imagine being the guy who first got the idea to check this, talk about awkward :-).
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  212

  Why Do You No Longer Believe in God?

  by Tenacious in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i know this question has popped up from time to time but i really would like to know how you guys, those that no longer believe, came to that conclusion?

  was it the wts and all its crap?

  was it something you read?

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  bohm

  stuffwotifink:
  All knowledge and facts are beliefs, the rub lies in the justification

  bingo! I think it is possible to give an endless list of reasons to reject the claims about the (literal) christian God depicted in the bible (evolution being a particular rich source), however the reason i feel very confident this conclusion is true is consistency. For instance, to accept what the bible has to say about Jesus as literal truth, I would have to lower my standard of evidence to such a degree I would have to accept all sorts of things which are incompatible and which I consider absurd, for instance the inspiration of the book of Mormon which is much better attested historically. Or to accept the various cosmological arguments for gods existence I would have to lower my standard of evidence by such an amount I would have to accept a number of incompatible (and thus mostly false) physical theories.
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  32

  Yearbook - will they drop figures that show a decline?

  by freddo in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  do you think the yearbooks will stop showing negative information as the numbers stagnate or even drop?

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  bohm

  I think they will keep publishing numbers as long as the org grows overall which it no doubt will continue to do in the coming years. A possible stagnation in the western world will be there but simply not highlighted.

  If the overall growth do go in red at some point who knows? My guess is the way the numbers are recorded will change and they will simply not be highlighted, rather they will focus on building projects, new renovations, etc. and report that as a measure of progress. Scientology (and the mormons?) have been shrinking for a long time and it does not seem to affect them too much.
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  26

  Why doesn't God need a creator, while the Universe does?

  by Bloody Hotdogs! in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i asked this question of a jw that called on me yesterday: "if the universe requires a creator, why doesn't god?

  if the universe must have a beginning, why doesn't god?

  he claims to have an answer, but it must wait for next time he calls.. i'm hoping you guys can give me a heads-up as to what he will say.

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  bohm

  Bloody hotdogs!:

  Great question! I agree with everyone on this page the argument he present will be special pleading, however you should be aware there are ways to postpone the special pleading which he may pursue.

  If you are interested in this type of stuff, you should really check out the christian philosopher William Lane Craig who has done much to popularize this type of argument. The way he would answer the argument would properly be: "Because God is eternal, so it does not make sense to ask where he came from anymore than it makes sense to ask for a square circle".

  Now, this does not really answer the underlying point your question raised: "If god can exist eternally why can't the universe (or some other reality)?" and this is in my opinion too a fatal flaw.For this reason the argument is typically presented so as to first establish the universe *is not* eternal but must have had a prior cause -- which can then be god. Notice this shifts the discussion to discussing cosmology and specifically what *cannot* be the case in cosmology rather than presenting a positive argument that god is eternal and created the universe. This is a nearly universal tactic in modern apologetic and I imagine your elder is going to go down that route.

  The arguments that the universe is *in fact* not eternal are based on bad physics (a miss-application of the Borde Guth Villenkin theorem or the second law of thermodynamics), bad math (miss-application of transfinite mathematics) or quote-mining (the big bang is often said to be the beginning of the universe so this proves the universe began to exist). Notice these are rhetorically *very* effective arguments and you should be well-prepared to what he might say.

  The best way to counter these arguments is that whenever he present and argument why the universe cannot be eternal you must turn it around and ask yourself (and eventually him) how *theism* solves this problem. For instance, he might say the universe cannot be eternal because it would then have to contain an eternal chain of cause and effect and such an actual infinite chain cannot exist because it would be absurd (his reason to think this is absurd does not matter at this point). However if this is absurd, supposedly god has existed for infinitely long time, and thought an infinite number of thoughts, so why does this argument not just rule out God?

  At this point even William Lane Craig resorts to special pleading: Because time works different for god than for our universe.
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  50

  The NEW "Bible Teach" book

  by Oubliette in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the new "bible teach" book is out!

  thetruthbr has posted links for this and several other of the new publications.

  as an educator, i am very interested in where the society is heading with their alleged "bible education" program.

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  bohm

  For the Europeans, 5th grade in the US school system corresponds to 10-11 year olds, lol.

  Oubliette: What site did you use? It might be fun to rip the entire text and calculate it's score.
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  6

  In the news: Warwick gets more money?

  by LevelThePlayingField in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  source:http://www.warwickadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?aid=/20151001/news01/151009998/warwick-seeks-amendment-to-town-code.

  [at the end of the article] does this mean they are getting more money???.

  sweeton also sought a resolution to reduce the performance bond from pledged collateral account control agreement with the watchtower bible and tract society of new york, inc. from $22.6 million to $7.3 million and to authorize the release the difference to the organization.. the watchtower bible and tract society jehovah’s witnesses world headquarters is advancing in its new construction.

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  bohm

  so to translate, they withdrew $15.3 million from other investments?
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  106

  2015. Annual meeting

  by obarac in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  any news?

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  bohm

  That brother doing the presentation of the new meeting, he looks like he once heard someone say that his eyes were opened to the TATT and thought to himself: "I am going to make sure that never happens to me".
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  106

  2015. Annual meeting

  by obarac in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  any news?

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  bohm

  okay the new book reads like a childrens book (short sentences, small vocabulary, simple grammatical constructions). A random sample:

  The demons trick people in many ways. When people contact the demons they do it either directly or through someone else, such as a witch doctor or a psychic. Contact with the demons is called demonism or spiritism. But the Bible commands us to stay far away from anything that has to do with the demons. (Galatians 5:19-21) Why? Just as a hunter uses a trap to catch animals, the demons use tricks to trap and control people.

  is this really what a book for adults is supposed to read?
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  52

  Let's Consolidate World Branch Layoff Threads - Oct 2015

  by TheListener in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there has been many threads from various posters around the world about recent bethel layoffs.. so far i remember threads about:.

  south africa.

  united states.

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  bohm

  Any information about the Scandinavian branch? (iirc in denmark)
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  15

  More rumors, 500 families laid off from South African bethel.

  by bohm in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  from a recent reddit thread:.

  i just received confirmation from a very trusted source in south africa bethel that up to 500 "families" (i imagine couples or singles) are getting let go from that branch.. also confirmed is the special pioneer cull.. what really strikes me about the layoffs is that the south african bethel provides literature and other needs for most of africa, a huge growth area for the org.. .

  link:.

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  bohm

  Afrikanman: wow sounds like you hit a sore topic.. I am sorry about your friend, if there are really only 800 families currently the reductionist do sound exaggerated. Dont do anything that will strain more friendships