Posts by peacefulpete

40

Is it Logical To Beleive In A Creator - GOD ? In This Scientific Age ?

by smiddy3 in

jw
friends

i don`t think so .

hasn`t science ,astronomy ,time , .....proven it an illogical beleif ?.

with the information about this solar system and it`s planets ,other stars and their planets that we have information about ,and the fact that no god has ever revealed him/her self in any shape or form 'there is no evidence that a creator / god has ever existed.. except in the minds of humans who want to control a section of humanity .. the fact that religions rely on "you have to have faith" to beleive in a god ,surely is a cop out.. i look forward to your comments .. and a happy new year to you all..

peacefulpete

To me it makes most sense to think that existence, and human consciousness, are the result of the intention of a supreme being who is outside of time and space.

To argue against the (highly speculative) scientific models of origins of space/time and matter/energy by asserting a complex deity with intention and will existing without existence in space/time matter/energy you are not just being speculative you are compounding that speculation with projections of a highly derivative Judeo/Christian conceptionualization that evolved some 13 billion years later. We know much about how religions evolved from simple animistic, totemic attempts to control the environment to more elaborate philosophical ones through millennia of human ingenuity and imagination.

IOW though we don't presently know, and may never know, exactly what mechanism spawned the spark of the physical universe (or even if that is a valid question), we do know what it couldn't have been. It's like supposing the military success of Assyrians to their having F16s.

9

Happy New Year!

by Vanderhoven7 in

may 2023 bring you happiness health and love!.

what are you thinking will happen in 2023....positive or otherwise?.

peacefulpete

Happy New Year! We're not done with Xmas yet. Doing it up tomorrow. Hey Armenians celebrate Haydnootiun on the 6th!

29

New poll shows public knows Jehovah's Witnesses and dislike them....almost as much as the Church of Satan

by Balaamsass2 in

wow.

while not a pew survey, i found these to be surprising results.

" a recent yougov poll explores americans' attitudes toward 35 religious groups, organizations, and belief systems.

peacefulpete

dropooff....I'd be willing to bet my retirement fund that not one in 10 of those who responded could tell you anything meaningful about any religion other than the ones they belonged to. Then they still know almost nothing about their religion's past, policies, and doctrine. People tend to offer opinions even when they don't have one.

In my estimation 70% of Americans are functional Agnostics or Apatheists.

9

I don't get it.

by LostintheFog1999 in

i am a historian and the period of english history from henry vii to elizabeth i is my specialist area.. i was talking to an ex-jw about the time when tyndale first translated the bible into english with his intention that everyone from the ploughboy upwards would be able to read and understand the scriptures.

it dawned on us both that this was a significant point in english history.. just having access to the bible in hi their own language allowed the common man to understand what god wanted him to understand.. it was and is, so simple.. why then oh why then do jehovah's witnesses think that they need a fds to explain it to them?

when in the 1600s just having a bible written in english was enough for people to understand the word of god?.

peacefulpete

To be fair the Bible is filled with examples of cryptic ambiguity. Mark has Jesus deliberately misleading listeners so that they don't get the message. Add to that the countless ways the messages are contradictory, and you see why most readers crave someone to tell them what to believe.

16

Clever Misdirection

by TD in

jw
friends

i was looking at the (mostly) wrong answers to a riddle that's making the rounds on social media and thought it was a good example of how something simple (in this case, grade school math) can be distorted with words.

the riddle goes like this:.

i bought a cow for $800.. i sold it for $1000.

peacefulpete

That second example is the trickiest. The key is to take what the actual bill was (25) and add the tip (27 or 9x3). add the 3 she gave back =$30. The slippery part is the tip, it's actually included in the 27 and not a separate expense.

10

listening to misinformation

by enoughisenough in

jw.org has a what's new....it's about misinformation...how you need to be careful.

the person i have sent some things too ask if i had watched it...i said i would.

i probably am ticking this person off a bit.

peacefulpete

I plead ignorant of all that. I've been out a long time. I agree it isn't acceptable, but pretty true to form, for them to have reduced the issue to "do as you're told". They should have done their best to dispel concerns using information from reputable health authorities. I suppose it's just easier to play the FDS card.

42

Just courius, some questions about the past

by Gorb in

jw
friends

curious.

time goes by so fast.

who remembers 1975, the ray franz incident, the generation change in 1995, the blood fractions, alternative service, participation in ochr, aid afrique, the historical research by james pellechia, jolene chu and johannes stephan wrobel?

peacefulpete

Just splitting hairs but the changing definitions of "generation" had another step prior to the overlapping weirdness. In the nineties they changed it to represent an era identified with certain characteristics or something similar. No one really got it or felt it was meaningful.

27

Is The Religion Of Jehovah's Witnesses Biblical?

by Vanderhoven7 in

the answer is a definite no!.

because every doctrine that is unique to jehovah's witnesses is not in the bible.

the unique doctrines of jehovah’s witnesses are the ones that only jehovah’s witnesses teach.

peacefulpete

Only Jehovah's people believe

A creepy Freudian slip?

33

Museum Pic

by peacefulpete in

a lot of ink has been spilled on the topic of the cross.

the wt felt it had uncovered some deep conspiracy when they found a number of words were used to describe how jesus was understood to have been killed.

there was an extensive thread many years ago that in short strongly supports the conclusion that at least some nt writers envisioned a cross, while others had a tree in mind.

peacefulpete

When Christians began using a cross as an identifier is a separate issue in my mind. Though your suggestion that it was inherited as the Tav is interesting. I'm foremost interested in the formation of the doctrine of crucifixion. What were the influences and rational for the belief that the Christ was destined to be hung on a tree/xylon. Traditionally it's assumed a crucifixion occurred and that was later perceived to fulfill "prophecy". However, the opposite is more consistent with the process at work in the Gospels. That is, the story was written using elements drashed from the Tanakh. The tree/wood from Deut. and Genesis seems reasonably to be the inspiration for understanding the Christ/Son figure being killed on a tree, likely (and as proposed by Doherty Et Al.) this was in a lower level of heaven or briefly and imperceptively on earth.

I'm of course also admitting the influence from myths of other deities like Attis and Silenus who were hung on a tree contributed to this anticipation/revelation. Again, perhaps a short time later this was reinterpreted as a Roman execution by crucifixion on a cross per a number of NT writers. And, as you suggest perhaps the familiarity with the Tav symbolism made it all irresistible.

10

listening to misinformation

by enoughisenough in

jw.org has a what's new....it's about misinformation...how you need to be careful.

the person i have sent some things too ask if i had watched it...i said i would.

i probably am ticking this person off a bit.

peacefulpete

peacefulpete, I am inclined to look at various sides of an issue before I form conclusions. I wasn't always this way...but then the internet wasn't available. Do you consider the JWs a reputable source?

Like most corporations and religious organizations, they are deferring to the broad consensus of medical experts and researchers when they encouraged their people to be responsible members of society and get vaccinated if possible.

We all should feel free to get multiple perspectives. The problem is we need to be selective to avoid being pawns to clickbait and provocateurs of distrust. When websites specialize in nothing but conspiracy and scandal, they are not likely to be soberly looking for objective evidence but looking for ways to spin threads into a narrative to sell.