Posts by konceptual99

205

Mathematically Measuring Evolution.

by towerwatchman in

mathematically measuring evolution.. when judging relationships in terms of morphological characteristics we will always be bound by the subjective.

morphologically one cannot exactly measure the distance between two organisms strictly in mathematical terms.

using the standard method of taxonomy we cannot quantify the difference between a horse and a mouse, or know which is closer mouse to cat, or mouse to fish.

JW Russia Ban Threat Being Reported on BBC

by konceptual99 in

just for information really.. the bbc is reporting the jw ban.

they have a news article and have been running a video report amongst headline items on the bbc world news channel.

the article is below, i cannot find the video report online yet.

The BBC is reporting the JW ban. They have a news article and have been running a video report amongst headline items on the BBC World News channel. The article is below, I cannot find the video report online yet. The video report highlights the wider impact of the law on extremism on free speech including an atheist and political activists.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39304984

70

Apologists saying that the JWs shouldn't be banned, what the hell!??

by Crazyguy in

it's been brought to my attention that there are xjw that say they support the witnesses and don't think russia should ban them.

i would just like to remind all of you that jws are guilty of murder, causing higher rates of suicide, covering up child molestation, and keeping members in prisoned because if they leave they loose family, financial support, possible employment etc.. sure their not strapping bombs to their chests but they easily get members to kill themselves with their blood policies.

they are an extremist group!

konceptual99

Criminalising 150,000+ people does not protect Russia.

The undermining of human rights and the abuse of the legal system to do so by the government is far more dangerous to the Russian people. Extremism is growing in Russia but it's actually government sponsored thuggery and a growing sense of freedom for right wing and nationalistic groups that is the real concern.

70

Apologists saying that the JWs shouldn't be banned, what the hell!??

by Crazyguy in

it's been brought to my attention that there are xjw that say they support the witnesses and don't think russia should ban them.

i would just like to remind all of you that jws are guilty of murder, causing higher rates of suicide, covering up child molestation, and keeping members in prisoned because if they leave they loose family, financial support, possible employment etc.. sure their not strapping bombs to their chests but they easily get members to kill themselves with their blood policies.

they are an extremist group!

konceptual99

The WTS as an organisation is guilty of many things and I welcome any legal pressure put on this structure and representatives. Banning the Witnesses in Russia will do nothing to weaken the organisation and criminalise individual Witnesses, many of whom are essentially harmless on a day to day basis.

This law is not being used solely against the Witnesses either. It's being used against many other organisations and is a reflection of an insidious culture of legalised oppression and suppression of some basic freedoms that seems to be increasingly endemic inside the Russian political machine.

Nobody is apologising for the WTS as far as I can tell, it's just there is a bigger picture around this ban that is far more worrying for the human rights of many, many people in Russia that have nothing to do with the Witnesses.

22

Bible writers ignored their own principle

by venus in

bible gives a very beneficial principle when it states “too much talk” is problematic whereas “anyone who holds his tongue is prudent.” (proverb 10:19) in harmony with this if bible had given us just enough verses like this: “remember god always and do everything as an offering to him” (ecclesiastes 12:1; colossians 3:17), it could have kept itself invincible.. instead, it started to speak “too much” which often backfired.

1) too much information on a too less important subject (such as woman’s menstruation) and yet too less information on too important subject such as creation which comes in just one sentence: god created “the mankind in his image.” (genesis 1:27).

2) jesus was taken to a mountain top so that he and satan could see “all the kingdoms of the earth” [which is in support of flat-earth belief], and satan tried to tempt jesus by offering them all in exchange of an act of worship to him.

konceptual99

Thanks for the info DJ. I am happy to accept that if the events are not historically accurate then God's permission for it is equally bogus. It remains an issue for Christians who accept the accounts to be accurate (eg. JWs) but if you don't believe it happened in that way then what you are saying makes sense.

I am slightly confused however since my original comment which sparked this too-ing and fro-ing was in response to a post you made which appears to be attempting to contextualise the accounts of slavery in the OT/Torah (and I apologise for the simplistic crossover but time is limited) and mitigate them by reference to laws that provide a measure of protection from very harsh treatment.

If I have understood the overall point of your original post then why attempt to defend or explain OT slavery rather than simply say that Jews don't believe any of it happened in that way and all these accounts are false?

39

July's watchtower leaves out some important info from a quote!

by stavro in

jerome over on discuss the truth has picked up on something interesting.. in the july watchtower on page 28 of the article entitled “winning the battle for your mind” the following statement is made “keep in mind that satan does not want you to think clearly or reason things out well.

because propaganda is likely to be most effective, says one source, if people… are discouraged from thinking critically.”.

the quote comes from a book entitled: “media and society in the twentieth century: a historical introduction by lyn gorman, david mclean" the watchtower however, chose to leave out a portion of the quote.. the full quote is "therefore, it is likely to be most effective if people do not have access to multiple sources of information and if they are discouraged from thinking critically.. the following sentence which the watchtower also decided was best not to include states,.

konceptual99

No - by quoting an outside source it gives the pretence of suggesting that the article is an open and transparent document, supported by secular sources. It provides a faux aura of being serious journalism.

They rely on the lack of research done by the vast majority to allow the potentially embarrassing editing of the original quote and it's context to slip by unnoticed.

22

Bible writers ignored their own principle

by venus in

bible gives a very beneficial principle when it states “too much talk” is problematic whereas “anyone who holds his tongue is prudent.” (proverb 10:19) in harmony with this if bible had given us just enough verses like this: “remember god always and do everything as an offering to him” (ecclesiastes 12:1; colossians 3:17), it could have kept itself invincible.. instead, it started to speak “too much” which often backfired.

1) too much information on a too less important subject (such as woman’s menstruation) and yet too less information on too important subject such as creation which comes in just one sentence: god created “the mankind in his image.” (genesis 1:27).

2) jesus was taken to a mountain top so that he and satan could see “all the kingdoms of the earth” [which is in support of flat-earth belief], and satan tried to tempt jesus by offering them all in exchange of an act of worship to him.

konceptual99

You are right DJ - I don't have any real knowledge of how Jewish scholars and theologians interpret the Torah and I bow to your superior knowledge on this however would you agree that the ancient Israelites had God's authority to subjugate other nations or not? Either they took captives or not.

It's not about the so called rights under the law of the time. It's not about retrospective interpretation of so called holy books. It's certainly not about some kind of relativism where this sort of stuff happened all the time in those days and those people enslaved by the Israelites were bloody lucky they'd not been captured by one of the other nations around them.

I am no Hebrew scholar but I don't need to be to know that type of slavery attested to in the Bible cannot be justified as some kind of pretend or pseudo slavery. People were forceably removed from their homes and made to work for others without any freedom of movement. It's wrong when it happens to women from Eastern Europe when they are forced into being sex slaves. It was wrong when it happened to Africans for 200 years. It was wrong when it happened to the Israelites and it was wrong when it happened to people captured by the Israelites.

22

Bible writers ignored their own principle

by venus in

bible gives a very beneficial principle when it states “too much talk” is problematic whereas “anyone who holds his tongue is prudent.” (proverb 10:19) in harmony with this if bible had given us just enough verses like this: “remember god always and do everything as an offering to him” (ecclesiastes 12:1; colossians 3:17), it could have kept itself invincible.. instead, it started to speak “too much” which often backfired.

1) too much information on a too less important subject (such as woman’s menstruation) and yet too less information on too important subject such as creation which comes in just one sentence: god created “the mankind in his image.” (genesis 1:27).

2) jesus was taken to a mountain top so that he and satan could see “all the kingdoms of the earth” [which is in support of flat-earth belief], and satan tried to tempt jesus by offering them all in exchange of an act of worship to him.

konceptual99

Well in my book slavery is slavery is slavery. The Bible shows that the Israelites were permitted by the laws they claim came from God to subjugate others. Any relativism in their treatment compared to any other example of slavery is meaningless.

233

Number of Muslims protesting London terrorist attack = ZERO. Number of Muslims protesting forced Mosque closure in France = HUNDREDS

by kpop in

so it is now two days after another islamic terrorist attack.

how many muslims are in the streets protesting and condemning this evil?

how many are marching in all the big cities condemning this in mass protests?.

konceptual99

If you are not clear about the issue with Islam then consider the situation with JWs.

Many people who perhaps know a Witness but have never engaged with the organisation would be quite prepared to say that Witnesses are nice people. They are law-abiding, don't cause a fuss, peaceable and so on.

What they fail to recognise, however, is that every Witness, other than a very small minority of those on the edge, subscribes to a whole set of fundamental norms that are built into their core perception of how the world should be organised from a moral and theological perspective. These norms do not align with what would be considered modern, progressive attitudes to human interaction. For example:

Women are in subjection to men and have been conditioned to willingly accept the situation as their God given role. Non Witnesses are condemned to the prospect of destruction at a global war yet this threat is publicly downplayed. Those who fail to meet the standards of the organisation or choose to formally leave are completely shunned yet this behaviour is blamed on the person as something that they have brought on themselves and ultimately will be good for them. Homosexual relationships are completely unacceptable yet this again is publicly downplayed to try and avoid claims of homophobia.

The same is true of Islam. Of course most Muslims we are likely to meet in our day to day lives are not violent Jihadists however the vast majority essentially subscribe to a set of moral and cultural norms that do not encourage tolerance and diversity.

What is worse is that it's highly unlikely that any Witness will ever resort to violence and terror in support of their brand of Christianity however this is absolutely not the case with Islam.

It's good to see some Muslims taking a stand, for example by their support of public events related to the Westminster attack last week however there really does need to be much more done from the inside out to bring real reform.

22

Bible writers ignored their own principle

by venus in

bible gives a very beneficial principle when it states “too much talk” is problematic whereas “anyone who holds his tongue is prudent.” (proverb 10:19) in harmony with this if bible had given us just enough verses like this: “remember god always and do everything as an offering to him” (ecclesiastes 12:1; colossians 3:17), it could have kept itself invincible.. instead, it started to speak “too much” which often backfired.

1) too much information on a too less important subject (such as woman’s menstruation) and yet too less information on too important subject such as creation which comes in just one sentence: god created “the mankind in his image.” (genesis 1:27).

2) jesus was taken to a mountain top so that he and satan could see “all the kingdoms of the earth” [which is in support of flat-earth belief], and satan tried to tempt jesus by offering them all in exchange of an act of worship to him.

konceptual99

DJ

You know nothing about me, my ancestors or my culture. You don't even know if I am white, black, Asian or a bloody martian.

Over the course of history there will have been few cultures that have not been the instigators and victims of slavery, sometimes at the same time. It's still happening now FFS. Dragging white led, imperialist slavery of Africans into the mix misses the point completely.

It's not about who was least bad at being slave owners. It's the fact that slavery went on at all. Just because those enslaved by the Jews had some limited rights does not make it right. It does not lessen the injustice and it certainly does not lessen the nonsensical situation where a supposed God of love provides the framework for one group of people to subjugate another.