It's more than a little ironic that many people are incapable of even estimating Feynman's level of intelligence, let alone the things he comprehended. Here is a man of excruciatingly detailed understanding of some of the most mysterious aspects of the reality in which we live and who saw clearly that the tiny, insignificant gods of the ancient middle east have absolutely nothing to do with it all. His observation of the provincial nature of religious thinking cuts deeply into the matter. He died before the Hubble telescope images expanded the horizons of people of normal intelligence but he already comprehended the scope of the problem of Christianity. There is now overwhelming evidence of billions of galaxies each with billions of stars and billions of planets and God chose this one in particular? No, folks, we're just not that special.
Nickolas
JoinedPosts by Nickolas
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"I can live with doubt and uncertainty, and not knowing."
by leavingwt inrichard feynman on god .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylteym9h0x4.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/richard_feynman.
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"I can live with doubt and uncertainty, and not knowing."
by leavingwt inrichard feynman on god .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylteym9h0x4.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/richard_feynman.
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Nickolas
What a dynamite video. Bells rang when he said:
"But I don't have to know an answer. I don't have to feel frightened by not knowing things. By being lost in a mysterious universe without having any purpose - which is the way it really is as far as I can tell - possibly- it doesn't frighten me."
Says it all.
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Simon... has the WTBTS ever tried to hack this site?
by Alfred ini've only been on this site for 10 months or so and i've already received 2 pms from members of this site (who have no posts)requesting my friendship and providing an email address where i can request a photo of the person... i happen to know that i am "marked", so i wonder if this is just a ploy to match my personal email address to the one the elders in my congo have... this also makes me wonder if the wtbts is behind some theocratic warfare strategy to obtain proof for judicial committees.
i realize this is purely speculative, but i would be interested to know if the wt or any other party has ever tried to hack this site for the purpose of obtaining members' personal email addresses...
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Nickolas
Unlikely. It would be a criminal act and too easy to detect. The resultant scandal would rock Brooklyn to its core. Sounds more like someone doing some private sleuthing trying to out your identity.
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Intolerance Watchtower Style
by Marvin Shilmer inintolerance watchtower style .
today i uploaded a new article to my blog showing how watchtower betrays its bigotry.
as it turns out, watchtower has published an illustration showing bigotry, and the illustrated behavior is precisely how watchtower treats its own.
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Nickolas
Well done, Marvin. Bravo.
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Bad day in Athiest/Jehovah's-Witnessville
by Nickolas inbear with me for a day or two, ok?
if i don't vent a bit i'll leave gray matter spontaneously spattered all over my office walls..
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Nickolas
This has been expressed by several:
Not as much as seeing that the man I was planning to marry couldn't stand up to his mother.
And on greater reflection I have come to think the same thing. It was probably, at least, a contributing factor. We have had a three way conversation and my wife calmly explained to our son that it was his responsibility to have brought up the issue either before or after it arose and, surprisingly, she said she would not have objected had he insisted on shared accomodations, so long as I had no objection either. He is a grown man and she is not his spiritual keeper. Whether or not the two of them would be sufficiently comfortable with the arrangement afterward, thinking perhaps they would be judged according to Watchtower moral standards (which my wife insists she would not) would be a consideration, but the onus was on my son regardless.
I have overreacted, but my ire was directed not so much toward my wife but the Watchtower, or more precisely her association with it. It is a label, maybe even a prejudice I need to acknowledge. If you are a Jehovah's Witness you cannot help but project an image of intolerance toward the morals of those who do not believe as you do whether or not that image is justified which, in this particular case, it is not and probably never has been. That label has on other occasions got in the way of the course of my life but this time it did not have to.
This has been a worthwhile conversation. Thank you all for being up front and generous with your perspectives and advice. Time to move on.
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Bad day in Athiest/Jehovah's-Witnessville
by Nickolas inbear with me for a day or two, ok?
if i don't vent a bit i'll leave gray matter spontaneously spattered all over my office walls..
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Nickolas
Great discussion on everyone's part. Thanks. Lots of food for thought.
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Bad day in Athiest/Jehovah's-Witnessville
by Nickolas inbear with me for a day or two, ok?
if i don't vent a bit i'll leave gray matter spontaneously spattered all over my office walls..
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Nickolas
I hope this does not come across as awfully irrelevant or unsupportive..
not at all. Helping to change my paradigm, maybe.
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Bad day in Athiest/Jehovah's-Witnessville
by Nickolas inbear with me for a day or two, ok?
if i don't vent a bit i'll leave gray matter spontaneously spattered all over my office walls..
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Nickolas
What I am hearing is a great deal of Christian moralism in the previous posts, but I'm prepared to hear more. Should not 30-somethings who are already intimate expect to have consistent accomodations when they visit the folks? It seems that's the question.
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Bad day in Athiest/Jehovah's-Witnessville
by Nickolas inbear with me for a day or two, ok?
if i don't vent a bit i'll leave gray matter spontaneously spattered all over my office walls..
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Nickolas
Thank you, Shelby. Do you not think being presented with a strong willed, devout Jehovah's Witness as someone who is about to occupy an important niche of your life would have an impact on you?
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Bad day in Athiest/Jehovah's-Witnessville
by Nickolas inbear with me for a day or two, ok?
if i don't vent a bit i'll leave gray matter spontaneously spattered all over my office walls..
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Nickolas
Thank you for your patience.
Context. My wife and I live in a house much too large for two people but we entertain a lot. Friends and family, most of the time overnight guests. My wife handles the living arrangements. She does the linen and the washrooms and the allocation of who gets what bedroom and I do the cooking, the entertainment and the beverages. There's overlap but that's pretty much the allocation of workload. We trust one another to get the job done right and for the most part it works out. My elder son, mid-30's, has finally met the one and he wants her to meet us. So, we plan a long weekend and make arrangements to fly the two of them up. My son has been living with this lovely young woman for some months. They are obviously intimate and in love, but when they arrive they are allocated separate bedrooms. It becomes the elephant in the room. Mom is oblivious, Dad's body language says "it's your call, son" and son doesn't have the medal to confront mom.
Now a couple of months later they are separated and my son is devastated. He and I talked about what changed and it was after the visit. It could be construed that his young woman saw her future mother-in-law as a strict Jehovah's Witness and she has bolted. I have quoted him before in this board but it bears another. Emerson: "Who you are speaks so loudly I can't hear what you're saying". My wife is a good, loving person but she's still a Jehovah's Witness. She goes door-to-door telling people that any day now Jehovah God is going to destroy the earth along with almost 7 billion people but you can be saved if you only believe in the Watchtower. It's obvious what the Watchtower says about co-habitation before marriage, but it is antiquated Christian moralism. And now it may have contributed to another breakup, even if only by association.
I frankly wonder how it is that Jehovah's Witnesses can't be feeling conflicted. How do you people rationalise fucking up families? If you can't see it then why can't you just wake up?