When I was disfellowshipped, most of my things were still in the French Bethel (I had resigned from there a few months before). I went back there to take some of them, but of all the books I just kept the Bible translations. My car (an old French "deux chevaux") was the only home I had at that time, and I couldn't take everything anyway. So I picked the first guy who came by (he didn't know me, for he was a new Bethelite) and gave him my whole WT library (including very old books). He was kind of surprised, but obviously happy!
Narkissos
JoinedPosts by Narkissos
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31
Throwing out Old Watchtowers
by Okram inwhen you were a jw,.
did u feel guilty about throwing out old copies of the watchtower even if you had the yearly bound volumes?
my mom won't do it.
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homosexuality
by wilton inim am a 19 year old male who is thinking of leaving christianity for another religion.
i am looking at jw first and before i really start studying it i want to know how the religion works on homosexuality because i have a boyfriend and dont want to leave him.and would i be able to go date and have sex with someone not in the religion.. thank you .
wilton
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Narkissos
Welcome Quill!
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How important is the Devil to God?
by Narkissos ina few days ago, on the thread about ?a new view of the trinity?, rubadub voiced his disappointment as to the lack of any really new view, such as a fourth member who could turn it into a quadrinity or replace any of the members of the trinity in case of emergency.
at the moment i just laughed, but later on i thought the devil could be a very good candidate.
just think: under the influence of persian dualism, shortly after yhwh, the god of ancient israel, became god in the absolute sense (say in the 6th century bc, with second isaiah), satan (from a common hebrew noun meaning ?opposer?
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Narkissos
Thanks RunningMan and FrenchBabyFace (ma voisine!): I agree with your comments. As Sartre had the Devil say: "The good is already done. I do invent."
I also thought of the Devil (etymologically) as a kind of principle of diversification or drifting ("différance" as Derrida spells the word), watching that nothing is ever perfectly "accurate", "true" or fitting any satisfying system. In that sense the action of Yhwh at Babel seems very "diabolic" to me...
Stillajwxelder: about the feminine element in God, Yhwh's probable consort Ashera (in the old polytheistic context) was mentioned a few days ago on several threads. Even the orthodox Trinity may retain something of it. The theme of Yhwh's Wisdom, personified as a woman in Proverbs and Wisdom of Solomon, is an essential part of the textual background for the (masculine) Logos Christology. In Hebrew the Spirit (ruach) was feminine. Although Trinitarian thinking first works in Greek where the Spirit (pneuma) is neutral, it still associates it to a feminine representation of the Church, or to Mary's figure as you said. Even Protestants who deny any role to Mary can develop a very similar "motherly" talk about "Grace"... Seems the feminine in God is always repressed and re-emergent in Western tradition...
Back to the Devil, I really hope we'll get comments from believers. Because I feel many who believe in God wouldn't readily accept believing in the Devil too. Can it work though? I wonder.
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How important is the Devil to God?
by Narkissos ina few days ago, on the thread about ?a new view of the trinity?, rubadub voiced his disappointment as to the lack of any really new view, such as a fourth member who could turn it into a quadrinity or replace any of the members of the trinity in case of emergency.
at the moment i just laughed, but later on i thought the devil could be a very good candidate.
just think: under the influence of persian dualism, shortly after yhwh, the god of ancient israel, became god in the absolute sense (say in the 6th century bc, with second isaiah), satan (from a common hebrew noun meaning ?opposer?
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Narkissos
A few days ago, on the thread about ?A new view of the Trinity?, RubaDub voiced his disappointment as to the lack of any really new view, such as a fourth member who could turn it into a Quadrinity or replace any of the members of the Trinity in case of emergency. At the moment I just laughed, but later on I thought the Devil could be a very good candidate.
Just think: under the influence of Persian dualism, shortly after Yhwh, the god of ancient Israel, became God in the absolute sense (say in the 6 th century BC, with Second Isaiah), Satan (from a common Hebrew noun meaning ?opposer?) also emerged as a permanent antagonistic figure (in Chronicles, Zechariah, or Job ? and even more obviously in the so-called ?intertestamental literature?).
The new monotheistic deal of early Christianity, which eventually led to the Trinity synthesis in the main Church, did not change much to that. The Satan character, mostly under the Greek adjective/noun diabolos (meaning etymologically ?divider? but more commonly ?slanderer? , and from which the English ?Devil? derives), remained as a ?fourth person? in the metaphysical drama. He was generally thought of as external to God, but not always. Luther, for instance, seems to identify the Devil to ?God?s left hand?.
So my question is: how important is the Devil to God? Or, can monotheism avoid being a practical dualism? Could a really absolute God (such as Second Isaiah meant him to be, saying: ?I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe; I the LORD do all these things?), be tenable in the long run?
On this question comments by theists and atheists would be equally welcome. Thanks to all!
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It's AZTEC'S BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!
by iiz2cool inhappy birthday aztec!!!!!!!
hope you have a great one sweetie!!!!!
walter.
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Narkissos
Happy birthday Aztec!
Narkissos (graphic school 1st grade)
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My father is reading Crisis of Conscience...
by logansrun inmy father dad himself for purely emotional reasons when my parents got divorced seven years ago.
it was a rash decision to say the least.
i re-established contact with him about three months ago.
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Narkissos
That's great, Bradley.
CoC remains the only book I would wholeheartedly recommend to a believing JW.
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What is heaven like?
by greatteacher inwhen i was a jehovah's witness i believed only 144,000 people were going to heaven, so i am curious about what others feel about heaven.
this question is for those who believe in heaven.
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Narkissos
Sorry Greatteacher, I'm of the "no heaven only sky" class.
But it reminds me of a joke:
"What is heaven? -- Old friends talking about memories."
"And what is hell? -- The same, but they have brought their slides with them."
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How much of the bible do JW's really use?
by blindfool ini've noticed over the last several weeks how often the same scriptures are used in meetings at the kingdom hall.. anytime galatians is mentioned you can just about be sure you are going to look up chapter 5 ver.
19.. 2 timothy is going to be 3: 16. i can't remember considering any addional text to get the context of the verse, just reading the same verses over and over.
i'm sure most of you can name lots more scriptures used by jw's.. i think i'm going to start taking notes at meetings and listing which verses are used, then i can look from week to week and see how often the same old verses are considered.
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Narkissos
Good point Cypher: welcome!
Gumby: You make me remember we started a little group reading Bible texts just before I was disfellowshipped (1986). We began with the Passion narratives a few weeks before the Memorial, and at the end of May we were studying Romans when two of us (including me) were called before a Judicial Committee and quickly disfellowshipped... Bible reading and understanding is quite alien to most JWs.
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Calling all - PLEASE!!! Big Step For Me.
by Doubtfully Yours innow, please remember, jw my entire life.
therefore, many prejudiced and warped ideas.. the deal is that a very nice co-worker invited me to a 'christmas play' at her baptist church and i accepted.
the play is tonight, and i have all these messed-up ideas that perhaps it's wrong to step foot into another church; or that perhaps since i've been taught all my life that demons reside in the false religion churches that i'll be bothered by these demons if i attend this event tonight.. please, help me win over these live-long thoughts.
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Narkissos
DY, there may be demons in Baptist churches: I actually preached in one of them several times!
But now it's over, so I think they're safe.
Enjoy it, but don't forget your critical mind!
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homosexuality
by wilton inim am a 19 year old male who is thinking of leaving christianity for another religion.
i am looking at jw first and before i really start studying it i want to know how the religion works on homosexuality because i have a boyfriend and dont want to leave him.and would i be able to go date and have sex with someone not in the religion.. thank you .
wilton
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Narkissos
LOL @ Brummie!
Wilton: just don't. And, btw, welcome!