AhHah

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Posts by AhHah

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  18

  The lost books of the Bible

  by Kristen in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  and the lost books of eden.

  books that didn't make the cut into the official 66 we have now.

  anyone ever read or research them?

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  AhHah

  Zep,

  Excellent find! Thanks.

  Does anyone here have any impressions about either of the sites referenced on this thread?

  How about you, Seven? What do you make of it?
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  12

  Research and Honesty

  by TR in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i was a jw, i thought i knew enough about the religion to try to convince others to join.

  in reality, i only knew what other jw's and the wts told me.

  i admit to being gullible and naive when at a young age i wasn't sure what i wanted out of life.

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  AhHah

  Tom,

  You are right. The WT indoctrination demonstrates how very powerful the cult influence is. One is taught to dismiss or filter out every contradictory thought, as not even worthy of consideration, since it could not possibly be true if it did not come from God, as revealed by God's only true spokesperson, the cult leader, in the JW experience, the Governing Body.

  I believe that the best interests of society are served when cults are exposed for what they truly are. I hope that we are doing our share. Sometimes, I feel that I should do more.
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  18

  The lost books of the Bible

  by Kristen in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  and the lost books of eden.

  books that didn't make the cut into the official 66 we have now.

  anyone ever read or research them?

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  2. 
  3. 
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  AhHah

  Seven,

  That is an extremely interesting site! In view of recent posts about the so-called Christian suppression of women in the Church, I have pasted the following:

  Indeed, the Church's own apostolic constitutions were compiled on this basis. They state, "We do not permit our women to teach in the Church, only to pray and to hear those who teach. Our master, when he sent us the twelve, did nowhere send out a woman; for the head of the woman is the man, and is it not reasonable that the body should govern the head?".

  This was rubbish, but it was for this very reason that dozens of gospels were not selected-because they made it quite clear that there were very many active women in the ministry of Jesus. Mary Magdalene, Martha, Helena-Salome, Mary Jacob Cleophas, Joanna. These were not only ministry disciples; they're recorded as priestesses in their own right, running exemplary schools of worship in the Nazarene tradition.

  In St Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Paul makes specific mention of his own female helpers: Phoebe, for example, whom he called a sister of the Church; Julia; Priscilla, who laid down her net for the cause. The New Testament is alive with women disciples, but the Church ignored them all. When the Church's precepts of ecclesiastical discipline were drawn up, they stated, "It is not permitted for a woman to speak in Church, nor to claim for herself any share in any masculine function". But the Church itself had decided that this was a masculine function.

  The Church was so frightened of women that it instituted a rule of celibacy: a rule for its priests, a rule that became a law in 1138; a law that persists today. Well, this rule has never been quite what it appears on the surface, because, when one reads the rule, when one studies history, one can see that it was never, ever sexual activity as such that bothered the Church. The specific definition that made this rule possible was priestly intimacy with women. Why? Because women become wives and lovers. The very nature of motherhood is a perpetuation of bloodlines. It was this that bothered the Church: a taboo subject-motherhood, bloodlines. This image had to be separated from the necessary image of Jesus.

  But it wasn't as if the Bible had said any such thing. St Paul had said in his Epistle to Timothy that a bishop should be married to one wife and that he should have children; that a man with experience in his own family household is actually far better qualified to take care of the Church. Even though the Roman Church authorities claimed to uphold the teaching of St Paul in particular, they chose completely to disregard this explicit directive to suit their own ends, so that Jesus' own marital status could be strategically ignored.

  But the Church's celibate, unmarried image of Jesus was fully contradicted in other writings of the era. It was openly contradicted in the public domain until the perpetuation of the truth was proclaimed a punishable heresy only 450 years ago in 1547, the year that Henry VIII died in England.

  It's not just the Christian New Testament that suffers from these sexist restrictions. A similar editing process was applied to the Jewish-based Old Testament, and this made it conveniently suitable to be added to the Christian Bible. This is made particularly apparent by a couple of entries that bypassed the editors' scrutiny.

  Also, very intersting is the assertion that Jesus married and established a bloodline that exists to this day.

  **********************************************************************
  I just finished reading most of parts 2 and 3. This research is really radical. I will defintely look into this and try to find some additional evidence for or against these arguments. This could really explain much of the seeming discrepancies of the Bible. Why haven't I heard about this before? Does anyone else here know any more about this?

  Edited by - AhHah on 26 October 2000 2:42:0
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  12

  Research and Honesty

  by TR in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i was a jw, i thought i knew enough about the religion to try to convince others to join.

  in reality, i only knew what other jw's and the wts told me.

  i admit to being gullible and naive when at a young age i wasn't sure what i wanted out of life.

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  AhHah

  Tom and Grunt,

  I agree whole-heartedly.

  I hope that any JWs who read this forum will find validation for feelings of being betrayed by an organization of men.

  I hope that they will find the courage to reclaim their lives and their spirituality.

  I hope that they will know that they are not alone -- that others are willing to listen and help the best they can.

  I hope that they know that people of other religions and no religion are also ready to reach out to them in love, with a better understanding of what religious freedom means.

  I hope that they will read Ray Franz's books and still have the fine Christian attitude that he has.

  I hope that, after they have gained their Christian freedom, they will try to reach out in support to others.

  Edited by - AhHah on 26 October 2000 12:20:21
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  3

  Existentialism anyone?

  by AhHah in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  this was pasted from the following site:.

  url http://www.connect.net/ron/existentialism.html.

  special thanks to the microsoft corporation for their contribution to our site.

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  AhHah

  This was pasted from the following site:

  url http://www.connect.net/ron/existentialism.html

  Special thanks to the Microsoft Corporation for their contribution to our site. The following information came from Microsoft Encarta. Here is a hyperlink to the Microsoft Encarta home page. http://www.encarta.msn.com

  Existentialism, philosophical movement or tendency, emphasizing individual existence, freedom, and choice, that influenced many diverse writers in the 19th and 20th centuries.

  Major Themes

  Because of the diversity of positions associated with existentialism, the term is impossible to define precisely. Certain themes common to virtually all existentialist writers can, however, be identified. The term itself suggests one major theme: the stress on concrete individual existence and, consequently, on subjectivity, individual freedom, and choice.

  Moral Individualism

  Most philosophers since Plato have held that the highest ethical good is the same for everyone; insofar as one approaches moral perfection, one resembles other morally perfect individuals. The 19th-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, who was the first writer to call himself existential, reacted against this tradition by insisting that the highest good for the individual is to find his or her own unique vocation. As he wrote in his journal, “I must find a truth that is true for me . . . the idea for which I can live or die.” Other existentialist writers have echoed Kierkegaard's belief that one must choose one's own way without the aid of universal, objective standards. Against the traditional view that moral choice involves an objective judgment of right and wrong, existentialists have argued that no objective, rational basis can be found for moral decisions. The 19th-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche further contended that the individual must decide which situations are to count as moral situations.

  Subjectivity

  All existentialists have followed Kierkegaard in stressing the importance of passionate individual action in deciding questions of both morality and truth. They have insisted, accordingly, that personal experience and acting on one's own convictions are essential in arriving at the truth. Thus, the understanding of a situation by someone involved in that situation is superior to that of a detached, objective observer. This emphasis on the perspective of the individual agent has also made existentialists suspicious of systematic reasoning. Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and other existentialist writers have been deliberately unsystematic in the exposition of their philosophies, preferring to express themselves in aphorisms, dialogues, parables, and other literary forms. Despite their antirationalist position, however, most existentialists cannot be said to be irrationalists in the sense of denying all validity to rational thought. They have held that rational clarity is desirable wherever possible, but that the most important questions in life are not accessible to reason or science. Furthermore, they have argued that even science is not as rational as is commonly supposed. Nietzsche, for instance, asserted that the scientific assumption of an orderly universe is for the most part a useful fiction.

  Choice and Commitment

  Perhaps the most prominent theme in existentialist writing is that of choice. Humanity's primary distinction, in the view of most existentialists, is the freedom to choose. Existentialists have held that human beings do not have a fixed nature, or essence, as other animals and plants do; each human being makes choices that create his or her own nature. In the formulation of the 20th-century French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre, existence precedes essence. Choice is therefore central to human existence, and it is inescapable; even the refusal to choose is a choice. Freedom of choice entails commitment and responsibility. Because individuals are free to choose their own path, existentialists have argued, they must accept the risk and responsibility of following their commitment wherever it leads.

  Dread and Anxiety

  Kierkegaard held that it is spiritually crucial to recognize that one experiences not only a fear of specific objects but also a feeling of general apprehension, which he called dread. He interpreted it as God's way of calling each individual to make a commitment to a personally valid way of life. The word anxiety (German Angst) has a similarly crucial role in the work of the 20th-century German philosopher Martin Heidegger; anxiety leads to the individual's confrontation with nothingness and with the impossibility of finding ultimate justification for the choices he or she must make. In the philosophy of Sartre, the word nausea is used for the individual's recognition of the pure contingency of the universe, and the word anguish is used for the recognition of the total freedom of choice that confronts the individual at every moment.

  History

  Existentialism as a distinct philosophical and literary movement belongs to the 19th and 20th centuries, but elements of existentialism can be found in the thought (and life) of Socrates, in the Bible, and in the work of many premodern philosophers and writers.

  Pascal

  The first to anticipate the major concerns of modern existentialism was the 17th-century French philosopher Blaise Pascal. Pascal rejected the rigorous rationalism of his contemporary René Descartes, asserting, in his Pensées (1670), that a systematic philosophy that presumes to explain God and humanity is a form of pride. Like later existentialist writers, he saw human life in terms of paradoxes: The human self, which combines mind and body, is itself a paradox and contradiction.

  Kierkegaard

  Kierkegaard, generally regarded as the founder of modern existentialism, reacted against the systematic absolute idealism of the 19th-century German philosopher G. W. F. Hegel, who claimed to have worked out a total rational understanding of humanity and history. Kierkegaard, on the contrary, stressed the ambiguity and absurdity of the human situation. The individual's response to this situation must be to live a totally committed life, and this commitment can only be understood by the individual who has made it. The individual therefore must always be prepared to defy the norms of society for the sake of the higher authority of a personally valid way of life. Kierkegaard ultimately advocated a “leap of faith” into a Christian way of life, which, although incomprehensible and full of risk, was the only commitment he believed could save the individual from despair.

  Nietzsche

  Nietzsche, who was not acquainted with the work of Kierkegaard, influenced subsequent existentialist thought through his criticism of traditional metaphysical and moral assumptions and through his espousal of tragic pessimism and the life-affirming individual will that opposes itself to the moral conformity of the majority. In contrast to Kierkegaard, whose attack on conventional morality led him to advocate a radically individualistic Christianity, Nietzsche proclaimed the “death of God” and went on to reject the entire Judeo-Christian moral tradition in favor of a heroic pagan ideal.

  Heidegger

  Heidegger, like Pascal and Kierkegaard, reacted against an attempt to put philosophy on a conclusive rationalistic basis—in this case the phenomenology of the 20th-century German philosopher Edmund Husserl. Heidegger argued that humanity finds itself in an incomprehensible, indifferent world. Human beings can never hope to understand why they are here; instead, each individual must choose a goal and follow it with passionate conviction, aware of the certainty of death and the ultimate meaninglessness of one's life. Heidegger contributed to existentialist thought an original emphasis on being and ontology as well as on language.

  Sartre

  Sartre first gave the term existentialism general currency by using it for his own philosophy and by becoming the leading figure of a distinct movement in France that became internationally influential after World War II. Sartre's philosophy is explicitly atheistic and pessimistic; he declared that human beings require a rational basis for their lives but are unable to achieve one, and thus human life is a “futile passion.” Sartre nevertheless insisted that his existentialism is a form of humanism, and he strongly emphasized human freedom, choice, and responsibility. He eventually tried to reconcile these existentialist concepts with a Marxist analysis of society and history.

  Existentialism and Theology

  Although existentialist thought encompasses the uncompromising atheism of Nietzsche and Sartre and the agnosticism of Heidegger, its origin in the intensely religious philosophies of Pascal and Kierkegaard foreshadowed its profound influence on 20th-century theology. The 20th-century German philosopher Karl Jaspers, although he rejected explicit religious doctrines, influenced contemporary theology through his preoccupation with transcendence and the limits of human experience. The German Protestant theologians Paul Tillich and Rudolf Bultmann, the French Roman Catholic theologian Gabriel Marcel, the Russian Orthodox philosopher Nikolay Berdyayev, and the German Jewish philosopher Martin Buber inherited many of Kierkegaard's concerns, especially that a personal sense of authenticity and commitment is essential to religious faith.

  Existentialism and Literature

  A number of existentialist philosophers used literary forms to convey their thought, and existentialism has been as vital and as extensive a movement in literature as in philosophy. The 19th-century Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky is probably the greatest existentialist literary figure. In Notes from the Underground (1864), the alienated antihero rages against the optimistic assumptions of rationalist humanism. The view of human nature that emerges in this and other novels of Dostoyevsky is that it is unpredictable and perversely self-destructive; only Christian love can save humanity from itself, but such love cannot be understood philosophically. As the character Alyosha says in The Brothers Karamazov (1879-80), “We must love life more than the meaning of it.”

  In the 20th century, the novels of the Austrian Jewish writer Franz Kafka, such as The Trial (1925; trans. 1937) and The Castle (1926; trans. 1930), present isolated men confronting vast, elusive, menacing bureaucracies; Kafka's themes of anxiety, guilt, and solitude reflect the influence of Kierkegaard, Dostoyevsky, and Nietzsche. The influence of Nietzsche is also discernible in the novels of the French writers André Malraux and in the plays of Sartre. The work of the French writer Albert Camus is usually associated with existentialism because of the prominence in it of such themes as the apparent absurdity and futility of life, the indifference of the universe, and the necessity of engagement in a just cause. Existentialist themes are also reflected in the theater of the absurd, notably in the plays of Samuel Beckett and Eugène Ionesco. In the United States, the influence of existentialism on literature has been more indirect and diffuse, but traces of Kierkegaard's thought can be found in the novels of Walker Percy and John Updike, and various existentialist themes are apparent in the work of such diverse writers as Norman Mailer, John Barth, and Arthur Miller.

  Edited by - AhHah on 25 October 2000 18:27:44
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  20

  H20 Never Knew what Hit Them

  by HAL in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  first off, we want to thank everyone who emailed us in response to our last post.

  yes, your concerns are being addressed, and what went on at the annual meeting was only the first step.. h2o and many similar sites were thrown in disarray as they were forced to admit that they were blindsided by the reorganization announcement.. so much for their claims of higher ups in the reform movement, funneling them inside information.

  the truth is that reform consists of isolated embittered individuals with an ax to grind.

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  AhHah

  Ah ... one of the little people. More static noise. Irritating, but if you just wait a while it goes away. They can't even stand the sound of their own noise for long.
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  43

  Feeling sorry...

  by TR in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ...for the average jw as i see them out in door to door work.

  i shake my head and think; they just don't know.

  or maybe they do, but are in a dilemma similar to thousands if not millions right now.

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  AhHah

  Seven Often (but not now),

  If you really believe the b.s. you just posted then you haven't even bothered to read many recent posts here, or, if you have, then your motives for posting here are pathetically obvious.

  Did you not even read my last post, questioning why you plagiarized my previous post?

  Your posts remind me of the noisy static that must be endured to tune a distant, but otherwise valuable station. Glad to hear that you are clearing the airwaves of your noise.
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  20

  H20 Never Knew what Hit Them

  by HAL in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  first off, we want to thank everyone who emailed us in response to our last post.

  yes, your concerns are being addressed, and what went on at the annual meeting was only the first step.. h2o and many similar sites were thrown in disarray as they were forced to admit that they were blindsided by the reorganization announcement.. so much for their claims of higher ups in the reform movement, funneling them inside information.

  the truth is that reform consists of isolated embittered individuals with an ax to grind.

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  AhHah

  Simon,

  What was the post/emails he refers to? What other profile names has HAL posted under here?

  The profile name HAL seems very appropriate for the last post. The main spaceship computer of '2001 - A Space Odyssey', dramatizes the tragic results when an inflexible program must be followed and enforced. Surely, the irony must be intentional.

  ???
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  15

  Israel / Palestine ??

  by AhHah in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  carmel,.

  since you are there, care to let us in on what's the deal?

  is it primarlily a religious dispute?

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  AhHah

  Zep,

  Thanks for the stratfor.com link. I spent some time checking it out tonight. Nice to see in-depth news analysis without the rhetoric.

  What do you think their sources are? They really don't say, do they? Have you noticed that there doesn't seem to be any named credits on any of the analyses?

  Edited by - AhHah on 25 October 2000 20:42:50
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  20

  H20 Never Knew what Hit Them

  by HAL in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  first off, we want to thank everyone who emailed us in response to our last post.

  yes, your concerns are being addressed, and what went on at the annual meeting was only the first step.. h2o and many similar sites were thrown in disarray as they were forced to admit that they were blindsided by the reorganization announcement.. so much for their claims of higher ups in the reform movement, funneling them inside information.

  the truth is that reform consists of isolated embittered individuals with an ax to grind.

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  AhHah

  Hal,

  First off, we want to thank everyone who emailed us in response to our last post. Yes, your concerns are being addressed, and what went on at the annual meeting was only the first step.

  I am new here. I don't know what post you are referencing. Who are you? Many here seem to already know who you are.

  Are you actually defending the JW positions on the ever-changing and contradictory rules on blood components and their cult controls such as disfellowshipping (which includes "apostates")????

  Someone help me out here. Who is this guy??