Posts by peacefulpete

62

Probability of Earth and life being how it is

by ballistic in

jw
friends

there are some things we don't know about existence and whether the earth is a simulation or even a creation.

but we can do some statistical analysis on it.. the probability of a planet like earth existing in the goldilocks zone and having a moon that perfectly eclipses the sun is extremely low, but it's not impossible.

the habitable zone (or goldilocks zone) around a star is the region where a planet could potentially support liquid water on its surface.

peacefulpete

Good men don't victim shame. Your father (and many, many others) chose to ignore 100% proof of something false yet to still characterize it as the "truth".
My question to you is: Do you think it is possible that you might have inherited a similar illogical approach to life?

My Father, like most people, likely assumed others thought/felt they way he did. He probably was somewhat surprised/disappointed others took it all so seriously. His choice was 'logical' just like yours seems to be to you. Up till now you have been inoffensive, don't change that by attacking the character of others you didn't know.

62

Probability of Earth and life being how it is

by ballistic in

jw
friends

there are some things we don't know about existence and whether the earth is a simulation or even a creation.

but we can do some statistical analysis on it.. the probability of a planet like earth existing in the goldilocks zone and having a moon that perfectly eclipses the sun is extremely low, but it's not impossible.

the habitable zone (or goldilocks zone) around a star is the region where a planet could potentially support liquid water on its surface.

peacefulpete

ballistic...The computer simulation pseudoscience is messing with your head. We exist on a macroscale where quantum effects have no meaningful relevance. Our minds are biochemical machines. Your mind is not a quantum supercomputer or an astral projector. The little yellow dog next to me and the chipmunks in my yard are also biochemical machines. The chipmunk perceives the world and reacts to it, his mind is not creating it, projecting it. The imagination can get lost in 'what ifs' and impossible thought experiments. The question is what evidence suggests such an incredible hypothesis is true. The answer is none. It is a provocative imaginative idea akin to the idea of gnomes moving things when we aren't watching or Steven King's Langoliers.

62

Probability of Earth and life being how it is

by ballistic in

jw
friends

there are some things we don't know about existence and whether the earth is a simulation or even a creation.

but we can do some statistical analysis on it.. the probability of a planet like earth existing in the goldilocks zone and having a moon that perfectly eclipses the sun is extremely low, but it's not impossible.

the habitable zone (or goldilocks zone) around a star is the region where a planet could potentially support liquid water on its surface.

peacefulpete

How do you know you are not just believeing something as far fetched as 1975, then living in denial of the facts like your dad did? Is it possible that you are more like your dad than you care to admit?

First, my father was a good man. He was a very intelligent man. I wish in many ways to be more like him. His choice to accept a compromise was his to make. The choice not to is mine to make.

SBF...The point of God is that he doesn’t have a location in space or time and is self-caused.

You are again obfuscating the point. The argument being made was cause and effect proves a god. That is just rhetoric if your god and the dimension he exists in are exceptions. If you imagine god is 'outside time and space', you have not answered what is outside time and space. If there is an outside, it too must be explained. Another dimension? where did that dimension come from? If something exists, it exists somewhere. A god, or anything, that is said to exist nowhere is nothing but a grammatical placeholder.

Science too has placeholders, our knowledge of the infinitely small is limited and likely always will be. I simply pointed out the emptiness of these arguments for a god being made.

54

1975 !

by Sea Breeze in

how many of you here remember 1975?

i hope the newer generations never forget.the true believers got shamed for it.

those who were hedging their bets, fared much better.

peacefulpete

In a few frank conversations with my dad through his last years I got the impression that he assumed I got the subtext. He was an intelligent adult convert, and I think that gave him a perspective I lacked. It worked for him because he saw it as, on balance, better than his old church. It really only now impresses me just how little I understood him growing up.

62

Probability of Earth and life being how it is

by ballistic in

jw
friends

there are some things we don't know about existence and whether the earth is a simulation or even a creation.

but we can do some statistical analysis on it.. the probability of a planet like earth existing in the goldilocks zone and having a moon that perfectly eclipses the sun is extremely low, but it's not impossible.

the habitable zone (or goldilocks zone) around a star is the region where a planet could potentially support liquid water on its surface.

peacefulpete

Notably, some sources highlight that he fulfilled 27 prophecies in a single day.

It's almost as if the writers of the Jesus story were using the Old Testament as a source.

62

Probability of Earth and life being how it is

by ballistic in

jw
friends

there are some things we don't know about existence and whether the earth is a simulation or even a creation.

but we can do some statistical analysis on it.. the probability of a planet like earth existing in the goldilocks zone and having a moon that perfectly eclipses the sun is extremely low, but it's not impossible.

the habitable zone (or goldilocks zone) around a star is the region where a planet could potentially support liquid water on its surface.

peacefulpete

Cause and effect arguments for a God simply end with special pleading in the case of God. Not just God himself but the space/dimension it which that God exists. Which came first the space/dimension in which God exists or God?

54

1975 !

by Sea Breeze in

how many of you here remember 1975?

i hope the newer generations never forget.the true believers got shamed for it.

those who were hedging their bets, fared much better.

peacefulpete

My family dealt with the disappointment/relief like most JWs. Carry on, pretend it didn't happen. I recall my father the PO at the time telling others that they had read too much into it.

93

Jephthah's Daughter

by cantleave in

i have read somewhere that jephthah's daughter did not really go into temple service but was a victim of ritual sacrifice.

the bible says that after weeping over her virginity that the maidens would visit her annually.

how could they visit her if she was killed?.

peacefulpete

An interesting crossover with another recent thread discussing Micah 6:8 and the word 'chesed'. Verses 6-7 describe the potential offerings to be made to Yahweh. Included is his firstborn son.

With what shall I come before the Lord
and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly[a] with your God.

Here the writer at least makes acknowledgement of the idea of sacrificing the firstborn. Dating the work is notoriously difficult. It may retain elements from an 8th century prophet, however if so, the failed predictions were revived and reworked during the 6th/5th century. So, while the author of the passage above seems, like Ezekiel and other prophets, to disparage the idea of making sacrifices in favor of acts of loyalty/kindness, the mention of the sacrifice of the firstborn as a sin offering betrays the historical realities.

13

Loyalty to the Governing Body? Timeline to Change

by blondie in

jw
friends

https://jwfacts.com/watchtower/governing-body.php .

here is an example how the wts has "adjusted" scripture.

the governing body has gone as far as to change the text of micah 6:8 in their 2013 new world translation of the holy scriptures (nwt) in order to be able to demand loyalty.

peacefulpete

I see I hadn't completed my comment earlier. The Hebrew 'chesed' (and its Aramaic cognate) had over time taken on broader meaning, allowing for the LXX translation and fresh interpretations (such as the Gospel and Rabbinic use) along with it. This doesn't suggest 'loyalty' or 'loyal love' is incorrect, it might be closer to the intended meaning in context. It does illustrate the under appreciated, but inevitable, role translating plays in shaping theology, not just recording it.

13

Loyalty to the Governing Body? Timeline to Change

by blondie in

jw
friends

https://jwfacts.com/watchtower/governing-body.php .

here is an example how the wts has "adjusted" scripture.

the governing body has gone as far as to change the text of micah 6:8 in their 2013 new world translation of the holy scriptures (nwt) in order to be able to demand loyalty.

peacefulpete

"Once as Rabbi Yohannan ben Zakkai was coming forth from Jerusalem, Rabbi Joshua followed after him and beheld the Temple in ruins. "Woe unto us!" Rabbi Joshua said, "that this, the place where the iniquities of Israel were atoned for, is laid waste!" "My son, " Rabbi Yohannan said, "be not grieved. We have another atonement as effective as this. And what is it? It is acts of loving kindness as it is said: 'For I desire mercy (chasda Aramaic) and not sacrifice.'" Aroth de Rabba Nathan, 6