The longest trip I've ever made was from Corpus Christi, TX, to Los Angeles, and back, in about a week. Basically, I just wanted to see California. Memories of the trip include hundreds of drunks on the sidewalks of Las Cruces, N.M., the steep uphill drive to Yuma (with 55 qallon barrels of water situated every couple of miles to refill overheating radiators), the saguaro forests in Arizona, a place near Tuscon which appeared to be manufacturing blimps, the drive through the mountains into San Diego at night, the wild variety of cars and motorcycles seen in Long Beach (including antiques, hot rods, etc), cops on the LA freeway motioning for traffic to move FASTER (already moving at or better than the speed limit), the helpful motel manager who let me have a vacant room for $10, the Pacific Ocean at Huntington Beach, and too much else to mention. I remember thinking at the time that southern California didn't seem like a bad place to live, although I never tried to actually move there.
gaiagirl
JoinedPosts by gaiagirl
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39
So whats the longest road trip youve been on? or farthest you've driven?
by doodle-v inwe just got back from spending two weeks in denver, co. call us crazy (yeah i dont know what the hell we were thinking) but we decided to drive.
from seattle to denver and back is over 3,000 miles.
we had both kids and a crap load of stuff.
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Are humans more animal like then we admit?
by free2beme inas an experiment, i dare anyone to go out on to the street and make eye contact with someone.
not just for a few seconds, i mean, look at their eyes and don't stop as they walk closer and pass by.
i would bet, that a large percentage of the men would ask you what your problem is, and ask you if you have a problem with them.
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gaiagirl
The animal origins of human behavior are strikingly illustrated in "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors", cowritten by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan. Lots of first hand observation of primate social interaction make the point beyond any shadow of doubt, human culture is just a veneer, and a rather thin one at that, laid over animal culture.
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I can't stand that 'hooray another earthquake' thing
by sass_my_frass ini think that motherdarling actually likes to hear about earthquakes, especially the ones that cause a lot of death.
i don't know why she's so excited about terrorist bombings and hurricanes though, they're not mentioned in matthew except for the faint out of fear thing.
i saw a website once with exact stats on eathquakes in the last few centuries and was delighted to learn that they only seem to have increased because of the increased population in areas where they occur and the more sophisticated technology detecting small shudders and movement in seabeds etc.
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gaiagirl
Clearly, Matthew and his editors didn't understand that earthquakes are a by-product of the mechanism which recycles carbon removed from the atmosphere by aquatic organisms, and locks it away in the crust. A lack of earthquakes would mean that the plates had stopped moving, indicating that the core was cooling off. This would lead to collapse of the magnetic field and loss of the magnetosphere, and perhaps the eventual loss of the atmosphere itself. So, in the context of keeping the planet habitable, earthquakes are a sign that Earth is still a living, and livable, planet.
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Were there any unofficial predictions in your congregations?
by badboy in.
i understand that carey barber?
once told someone that the end of the world would came before the awaji bridge was built.. were there any similiar predictions?
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gaiagirl
I heard of an elder who had claimed that "Jehovah will not allow this wicked nation to celebrate its 200th birthday", (apparantly sometime before 1976). Also, heard of many who had believed that 1984 would be the end, as "the kingdom was established in 1914", plus 70 years for 'this generation' to live. My ex-landlord, a long-time witness (for at least 50 years), visited me in 1999, asking what I thought about approaching Y2K, apparantly thinking that I would attach some significance to the date. I held up my thumb and forefinger to make a "zero", and said "THATS what will happen to this system of things in 2000".
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Tarot Cards
by free2beme ini own five tarot card decks, and use them often.
not so often that i live my life by them, but enough.
one deck is one i use more then others, as i feel more of a connection with the cards.
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gaiagirl
I've experimented with Tarot, and own several decks, although I don't use them often. I don't believe in 'destiny', in the sense that anyone has a predetermined future. Rather, our futures are determined largely by the choices we make (with genetic, cultural, and environmental factors also contributing). So, I think the cards can be helpful in showing the eventual outcome of whatever particular path or course an individual may be on at the moment. If one doesn't like the probably outcome, they can 'step off that path' by making different choices. So, to answer the question in the first post, sure, I would accept the offer of a reading.
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MYTHICAL CREATURES IN ANCIENT TIMES
by Mary indid dragons and the phoenix really exist or were they just mythical creatures?
the dragon is of course, mentioned in revelation and is symbolic, but it's mentioned so often in other old writings, that i'm not sure if they just went extinct or what.
i was reading 1 clements earlier (written around 95 ce) and it specifically mentions the phoenix as living in arabia (below)
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gaiagirl
Some mythical creatures may have actually been based on fossils of creatures which actually had lived. There are numerous real creatures, now extinct, but known from fossils found in the Middle East and North Africa. One early whale, known as "basilosaurus", is found in large numbers in one region of North Africa known as "the sea of whales" (although now far from the sea). If this region was known 3000 years ago, and bones were seen then, what explanation would have been offered? Leviathan, perhaps? Likewise, many, many locations in the Middle East have turned up skeletons of Neanderthal people. If such skeletons had been found 3000 years ago, say, while digging an irrigation canal, what stories would have been spun to explain them? Nephilim?
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What silly rules did your congregation make up?
by weinermcgee inelders were famous for making up stupid rules with no bible base at all as an ego trip i guess, what were some of yours?
i am not talking about the stupid rules that we all had to follow, just the congregation specific silly ones.. 1. having to button your jacket while on stage (this was later changed due to all the elders having a beer gut).
2. suits only or no privledges.
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gaiagirl
Regarding the cars we drove, there was a wide variation in overall condition. Some in the congregation drove decrepit "beaters", others had new Porsches. Those whose cars didn't look good enough were compelled to ride alone, or even asked to not park their car in the territory so as not to "bring reproach". There was one old pioneer brother who had been around since the '30s or '40s, who drove an old Ford which was falling apart. He was allowed to because otherwise he was otherwise so "exemplary". Also, brothers were not allowed to have "priveleges" if they didn't meet a 10 hour/month quota for field service. One brother was approached DURING A BREAK AT WORK, and informed that he had been deleted as a Ministerial Servant, because with less than 10 hours, he was no longer "exemplary". Regarding dress and grooming, in my congregation, brothers could wear coats which didn't match slacks, and ties with unusual patterns were not unknown. One brother had little dinosaurs on his tie, another had an M.C. Escher pattern on one tie. Sisters (including myself) were often counseled about dressing "too sexy", however I reasoned that there wasn't any privelege which could be taken away, so I wore what I liked most of the time.
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Pollution, the earth will die in 10-12 years.
by void ini have been reading wt quotes etc, but i have not seen this issue raised.
i dont have a big box of awakes to search through, but i distinctly remember the cover of an awake with a picture of the globe and factories producing smog.
well the mag was about pollution; the core message/prophecy was that the world will mot be survivable in 10 -12 years so we can expect god to step in the next few years.
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gaiagirl
Not really pollution, more "ruining the Earth", however I remember in the late '80s hearing a young brother say that "in 10 years there will be no more rainforests, so you KNOW the end must be before then."
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Husbands! Smack your wife across the mouth!
by PopeOfEruke ingreat advice received from a close jw relative who we visited last week.
she said that husbands are the head of the family, and if the wife doesn't support him in serving jehovah then he should give her a good smack across the mouth, thats what she deserves.
if only adam had given eve a good smack across the mouth when she proposed eating the fruit, we wouldn't be in the mess we are in now!
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gaiagirl
I have personally seen brothers in good standing threaten their wives with physical violence. Once, when returning to our cars after field service, a 20-something brother raised his voice and loudly told his wife "SHUT UP OR I'LL KNOCK YOU INTO NEXT WEEK!". She meekly APOLOGIZED to him for making him angry!! This family eventually moved from Corpus Christi, TX to Kansas City, MO, where he was soon made a MINISTERIAL SERVANT.
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How many exJWs are now pagan? Why?
by Sirona ini was just wondering how many exjehovahs witnesses are now pagan?
of the exjws i've met, quite a few either describe themselves as pagan or pretty much have "pagan" type religious views.. i wonder if it is a backlash against the control of the jws - to choose a religion which has "no rules" as such.
also, is it rebellion?
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gaiagirl
I'm a pagan, because I came to realize that the pagan worldview is closer to reality than the JW worldview. Specifically, I see humans not a separate creation, but as part of a web of existence shared by all living things. Other life forms are not our "inferiors" but our sisters, brothers, cousins, uncles, etc. I also don't see those things which we consider to be "blessings" as coming from some invisible spirit somewhere, but from the material world of which we are made and of which we are part, i.e. our bodies are made of material on loan from the Earth, and fueled, indirectly, by energy from the Sun stored on Earth. The idea of evolution as supported by evidence found in ancient rocks does not conflict in any way with this idea. I also appreciate that pagans tend to accept responsibility for their actions, rather than blaming their own actions on spirits, good or bad.