Expanding on this train of throught, why couldn't God simply FORGIVE those humans who demonstrated that they wished to serve him (such as Abel, etc). Wouldn't forgiveness be the LOVING thing to do?
gaiagirl
JoinedPosts by gaiagirl
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18
How do witnesses answer the following?
by sandy ini seriously forgot many of the teachings of jw's.
the more i read your posts and do research on my own the more i realize how little i really know about the bible and jw teachings.. .
my question is this: if able and even enoch proved to be true followers of god even though imperfect why was it necessary for god to send his son to die for us?
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I did it ! I told my JW mother that I am pagan !
by Sirona inyes, i did it.. after the thread in which i asked how i could possibly tell my jw mum that i'm pagan....i decided to take the bull by the horns and tell her.. her reaction made me wonder if she reads this board.. firstly, to "ease" her in, i mentioned that i'm doing a course in reiki.
reiki is a complimentary therapy - basically hands on healing.
well, she said she knew a little about reiki and thought it was a good idea.
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gaiagirl
Some good titles for those interested in learning more about pagan or wiccan beliefs include:
Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions, by Joyce and River Higginbotham
Principles of Wicca, by Vivianne Crowley
Principles of Paganism, by Vivianne Crowley
Wicca: The Old Religion in the New Millenium, by Vivianne Crowley
Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, by Scott Cunningham
Living Wicca, by Scott Cunningham
Life Magic, by Susan Bowes
Witches, by Erica Jong
The Spiral Dance, by Starhawk
Drawing Down the Moon, by Margot Adler
(Titles are in no particular order other than that in which they came to mind)
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All Time FAVORITE Singer Or Band
by minimus inwho or what is your all time favorite singer or band?
even if you never saw them, if you could---you'd spend big bucks to see them.
i love anita baker.
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gaiagirl
Wow, what a tough choice, especially since my favorites have varied throughout my life. I've liked
QUARTERFLASH for many years, and am probably the only person I know who likes them.
PAT BENETAR has also been on my playlist for years, and just released a new CD titled "GO", highly recommended.
WEIRD AL YANKOVIC always makes me laugh, his music is a hysterical satire of American culture. Most people don't know that roughly half of every album he releases is original material, NOT a parody of someone elses work.
BLUE MAN GROUP is better to watch than to listen to, but their show is astonishing.
I could go on, but probably shouldn't....
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What is "Faith"?
by LittleToe inso many times the word "faith" is touted around, especially in debates concerning "blind faith" (and usually levelled at "believers"), but what is it really?.
heb 11:1 defines it as follows:"now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
" kjv.
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gaiagirl
As I see it, "faith" is something which is accepted as being true, without objective and repeatable evidence. So if someone says "the Bible is the inspired Word of God", and I accept this as being true without any evidence to support this belief, then I am demonstrating faith in their statement.
To elevate this statement from an article of "faith" to confirmed fact, I might choose to test the Bible for accuracy by comparing claims contained within to observed reality;
Does the geologic record really indicate that, within the last 5000 years, all the land on the planet was covered by water?
Do fossils preserved actually indicate that flying creatures existed before land animals?
Did plant life exist before the existence of the Sun and Moon?
I might also check the Bible for consistency within its own pages. Does it contradict itself? (were humans created before or after the creation of green vegetation?)
Does the God described deal consistently with people?
Does what is acceptable before God change over time?
Are his judgements in accord with the severity of the offences? (death penalty for collecting firewood?)
Does the God described sound like a reasonable god? (did he really command execution of women, children, and babies, as well as the elderly, in the conquest of Canaan?)
Thinking about questions of this sort demonstrates pretty clearly why so many churches exhort their members to demonstrate "faith", i.e. just believe what we tell you, rather than thinking about it too much. Faith is another word for "opinion".
Reasoning can lead to different beliefs, not based on "faith", but on observed reality. Pretty much everyone agrees that sufficient evidence has demonstrated convincingly that Earth is spherical, despite scriptural verses referring to "four corners", and to mountains sufficiently high that all kingdoms could be viewed from their summit, and to more than 1000 years of official Christian dogma that the surface of the planet was flat.
Reasoning also led to accepting that Earth is NOT the center of the universe, and that the Sun does NOT revolve around the Earth. For centuries, "faith" required Christians to believe otherwise, despite evidence which had been available since the time of the ancient Greeks. Christians simply chose to ignore such evidence, and to burn libraries where such evidence might be viewed by the undecided, as well as burning anyone who might dare to disagree with their "revealed knowledge".
In sum, "faith" is a tool used by religious leaders to lead those who don't possess the ability to reason or think for themselves. They simply accept what they are told, nodding their heads in unison as they look up the "confirmatory" verses in their edited texts.
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The Red Tent
by GinnyTosken inlong before i started on the mental road toward xjwism, soft-voiced misgivings whispered to me as i read bible stories.
why did jehovah like abel's offering better than cain's?
wasn't it cruel of abraham to banish hagar and ishmael?
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gaiagirl
Another book in the same vein is "The Moon Under Her Feet", by Clysta Kinstler. This book deals with the life of Mary Magdelene, and provides a rich picture of her life and times.
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This is just getting stupid
by spiritwalker inthis a quote from cnn.com.
in which they are talking about a new movie that is about the last ours of jesus christ ... .
the movie, whose dialogue is in latin and aramaic, covers the final 12 hours in the life of jesus christ and has come under fire from some jewish groups who claim its story could foment anti-semitism by tying christ's death to jewish authorities.. .
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gaiagirl
What I fail to understand is why Christians don't PRAISE whoever they think killed Jesus. According to Christian teaching, Jesus HAD to die in order to pay the ransom which 'pays off' their inborn sins. This was the whole point of his earthly existence. Had Jesus not died, then no believer would be eligible for everlasting life, because there would have been no payment of 'the ransom'. So instead of accusing Jews, Jewish leaders, Pilate, etc, Christians should be THANKING them.
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gaiagirl
You might also like "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan. It explores the amazing similarites between various primate and human social structures, etc. Carls writing style is quite enjoyable. "What is Life" by Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan (Carl's son), is fascinating, and should be required reading for all biology majors. "The Ages of Gaia" by James Lovelock is a history of the evolution, not just of biological life, but of Planet Earth herself. The book explores how processes and structure of Earth have changed over time, and the interrelationship of these evolving processes with biological life. If you have the opportunity to watch the original "Fantasia" by Disney, there is a 20 minute segment, titled "Rites of Spring" which shows evolution of Earth and life on Earth, up to the extinction of dinosaurs. Disney had planned to make it longer, to come up to the time of humans, but fundamentalist preachers promised to tell their congregations to boycott the film if it implied anything about HUMAN evolution, so Disney chose to leave out the last part.
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Should jws go surfing?
by badboy in.
i understand that it has pagan religious connections.. there4 should a jw use a surf board or surf electronically in view of surfing pagan origins?
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gaiagirl
When I lived in coastal Texas, I would take my surfboard to gatherings at the beach. I was never counseled for surfing, but was for my bathing suit being 'too revealing'.
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Weird Things Only Jehovah's Witnesses Do
by minimus inwhat weird things do only jehovah's witnesses do?
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gaiagirl
' Couldn't use words like "lucky" instead use "fortunate". ' I once heard someone refer to a certain cereal manufactured by General Mills as "Fortunate Charms". No doubt, the slender character wearing the green derby on the box was just an agile dancer, and had no particular magical abilities.
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RELIC FROM GARDEN OF EDEN?/ancienct DNA
by badboy in.
i understand that a chicago museum holds the supposed skin of the serpent that tempted eve.. the story goes that adam slain the serpent and keep the skin,noah took the skin in2 the ark.. certain dna sequences may b very ancienct.. a certain beta-globolin(sp?
) arose 230,000 years ago in asia.. c every1 in the new year.. have a good xmas and happy new year
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gaiagirl
I would be interested in knowing exactly which museum in Chicago has this skin. Working and living in the area, I've been to just about all of them, and have never seen this anywhere. Of course, this might be an urban legend, similar to the one which claims that NASA found "proof" that the Earth once stopped turning. Sure they did. Here is something to think about: If a museum DID have an ancient snake skin, how would they know it was from the serpent in Eden?