it was dull.
i could have sworn that i heard the same talk 20 years ago.
witnesses look tired, bored, lifeless.
Soledad,
"I desisted from eating/drinking only because of the dullness of the whole event, not for any other reason. I want the pageantry of a mass or of a revival if I'm going to eat the body of Christ and drink the blood of the Christ........I believe his sacrifice merits that. This is not worth doing in JW land; I'll definitely take my business elsewhere."
Excellent. I enjoyed your entire post as refreshingly honest, spot on, and especially the point quoted.
Thanks.
The Douay-Rheims Bible says: 1 Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 By this is the spirit of God known. Every spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God: 3 And every spirit that dissolveth Jesus, is not of God: and this is Antichrist, of whom you have heard that he cometh, and he is now already in the world. 4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome him. Because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 5 They are of the world: therefore of the world they speak, and the world heareth them.
Clearly, this gives a different flavor to speak of every 'spirit' verses 'everyone.'
Catholic commentary on the above scripture is quite interesting and would make the heads of many ex-JWs spin right off:
1 "Try the spirits"... Viz., by examining whether their teaching be agreeable to the rule of the Catholic faith, and the doctrine of the church. For as he says, (ver. 6,) He that knoweth God, heareth us [the pastors of the church]. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
2 "Every spirit which confesseth"... Not that the confession of this point of faith alone, is, at all times, and in all cases, sufficient; but that with relation to that time, and for that part of the Christian doctrine, which was then particularly to be confessed, taught, and maintained against the heretics of those days, this was the most proper token, by which the true teachers might be distinguished form [from] the false.
3 "That dissolveth Jesus"... Viz., either by denying his humanity, or his divinity.
Blondie:
"I actually preferred this scripture because it says that even if an angel (who outranks the jw anointed on earth) were to say something beyond what the bible says, not the heed them."
Historic JW dogma holds that the Anointed are above the angels, most especially once they reach heaven and rule as kings with Christ. Has something changed recently in JW beliefs that would have lowered the JW Anointed?
this is a good sign.
this must have the legal department worried.. .
http://www.independent.com/news/2009/apr/09/victory-suit-against-pedophile-priests/.
whereami,
I can say as a Roman Catholic that it is good that this issue of such priests is being dealt with, both in the courts, and finally within the Church. To become a Priest or Deacon today, one must undergo a criminal background check and psychological profiling. The requirements were always stringent with respect to education and a trial period, usually about 3 to 5 years ... but the added background checks and profiling will help.
Catholics are not only free to speak out against such Priests and Bishops, but are expected to do so ... and there is no backlash for suing the Church. In fact, various Parish Priests will address this at Mass, and cntinue to openly and publicly consol those who have been so harmed.
The Watchtower could take a few lessons from Catholics on how to properly deal with such a crime.
Let's see ... some unspecified "European" companies ... clever way to not upset the specific guilty party or company ... sent $80 Million to some Somalie leader for permission to haul a bunch of barrels of bad stuff, from medical to nuclear waste, to Somalia shores (read beaches) to await a tsunami to rush in and break open all those rusted barrels and expose the waste ... and then suddenly every illness nearby is attributed thereto ... never mind that radioactive energy goes right through barrels ... all leading up to some Somalie fishermen to form a voluntary coast guard of various vessels, with heavy arms, to seize an American ship loaded with food and supplies to aid the people of Somalia ... hold a hostage and negotiate for $millions more ... in order to protest said rusted barrels and their toxic contents ... it all make sense now ... or does it?
How about these are thugs who, when caught, use a negative issue to disguise their wicked greed and willingess to harm innocent humans who were there to do good ... why did they not instead seize one of those many toxic "European" ships and hold those rascals for ransome to pay for the clean up of said toxic waste? Or re-steer said toxic ships back to where they came and dump it on the shores of say France, Italy, or Britain or the unspecified "European" beach? Now that makes a little more sense, eh? Better yet, why not sell the waste to Al Qaeda to make dirty bombs ... such an opportunity to make a double-ended sale ... charge $80 million to dump it ... and then make another $80 million to sell it off. I sure as hell do not buy into the bleeding heart story that these thugs are acting in the best and noble interest of the Somalie people.
BurnTheShips,
Another reason that I do not believe the article is that it costs a tremendous amount to send a ship through the Mediterranean, through the Suez Canal, down the Red sea to the coast of Somalia just to dump some toxic waste. It would be far cheaper and faster to go out to the North Atlantic where the ocean bed is far deeper, and take a dump.
If the waste that supposedly washed up onto Somalia shores is nuclear waste ... then false claim red flags really pop up. If the waste is uranium or an isotope thereof, it will be so damn heavy - heavier than lead - that it will sink deep into the ocean floor and a tsunami is not going to just lift it up and send it to shore. If it is low level waste, such as that taken from nuclear plants, such as paper covers, booties, gloves, head covers, masks, tape, etc. it will not cause the illnesses described. As French and American plants have proven, it is far cheaper to safe store the waste using vitrification technology, store the stuff on site as is being done.
We need more specific data than some unspecified "European" ship dumping something toxic off the coast of Somalia when other methods and locations are far better.
PS: Nuclear waste does not result in malformed babies ... that is urban myth. Instead, it causes sterility.
PPS: Wikipedia is not a good source to use. Any college professor worth his salt will prohibit its use as a reference on students papers. Wikipedia is getting better, but it is not peer reviewed by professionals, and has no consistent controls to assure that information supplied is accurate. I am not saying the above Wikipedia quote is wrong, but it is just a note for the future.
BurnTheShips,
One needs to be more specific than "European Ships." Europe is made up of many nations that have vessels, Italy, France, Britain, Germany, Norway, Sweden, etc. There are too many good and safe dumping areas out far at sea in the Southern Ocean, without going off the coast of Somalia. I suspect the story is bogus. The French, for example, pioneered safe storage of nuclear materials ... the same method the USA uses. The only nation I would ever suspect of such a thing is the former Soviet Union.
The US and the EU are made up of nations that have sympathy for the underdog ... news media love to embarass the US and other well off nations. The case being made could be true, but I suspect it as false until some credible evidence shows otherwise. I guess we can wait until the media says more and provides facts.
Yes, they are vicious pirates for taking ships and people for ransome ... they are crooks playing on people's sympathies. I get email everyday from someone in that part of the world who says that they lost their leg or arm or money, and they need me to send them money, blah, blah. Or they claim to be related to barrister so-and-so of the United Bank of Somalia, and they have Ten Million in US currency to give me if I let them use my bank account ... blah, blah, blah.
My sister, in the medical field, was part of an effort to ship free medical supplies and food to help the people of Somalia, and to go there and provide free medical services. The warring factions took the supplies, would not let the volunteers in the country, and let the food rot at the docks. My trust meter is very low right now.
BurnTheShips,
Interesting article ... I question people who claim that they are acting to protect civilized interests and then do barbaric things like take hostages. They can get lots of sympathy from the UN and the Media around the world to their cause ... and talk to western nations to work out a deal. Once they take hostages, and pirate merchant ships, they are liars and need to be sunk ... whether they approach in ships or lifeboats.
Of course if the US or other nations are dumping illegally, or harming their fishing interests, that has to stop ... in the 1960s, local Turks tried to sue the western nations for poking holes in the sky with rockets used to send satilites into space. They claims that it caused a draught. One needs to understand why these people blame shipping, as there may be other factors causing problems.
... but, pirates who plead such a case cannot be trusted or believed. Their credibility is worthless. I don't believe them, any more than I believe men who take hostages in a bank because they claim to have a grievance with the bank or the city it is located.
Min: Good to see you too ... yes, I thought I would drop in and pay my yearly visit for a while. - Thanks!
BurnTheShips: You are right ... talk enough to get the Captian free ... then drag the animal pirates out to sea, kill them, tell the whole world ... make sure to have ABC, BBC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, and FDN (France Daily News) there to film it all. It will send the message that there is no more talk ... only killing. It will work if the USA stops trying to always prove it is the nice guy, gets serious, and shows some real spine. In the future, when such vessels approach American ships of any sort, sink them before they board. Period ... no apology ... no comment ... no arms race. French and British ships should do the same. Pirate and terror cowards will shrink when they know that they are dealing with strength ... the only language their warped minds understand.
Min,
Around 200 years ago, the US sent war ships to the Barbery coast area and sunk pirate ships. The pirates got the message, and thereafter American vessels were left alone for 200 years ... except for a period just before and during WWII when German U-boats sank American merchant marine supply ships and then that nasty little seizing of the US Navy Ship, Pueblo by North Korea.
In all cases, when America reacts with calm and tries to talk ... these rascals take advantage ... and push to the limit. When America takes strong and swift military action, the bad guys tend to leave her alone. The Obama administration is being tested to see if it has a spine, or simply wants to talk, and talk, and talk. Time will tell.
Do we see a pattern here? What do you think Minimus?
there is something bothering me about the whole partaking thing.. .
isnt it kind of contradictory that for a religion that doesnt promote the use and eating of blood, the most important ritual and date in their calendar involved the ceremonial drinking of blood as part of it?.
it's like going to a rape victim support group and celebrate their anniversary by ceremoniously raping the founder.
I can understand your point, and to some extent there seems to be a contradiction because of the way that JWs emphasize not drinking blood ... but, I am not sure that there is a real contradiction, even in the context of the JW dogma. The JWs could argue that there are "proper" and "improper" uses of blood, much the same as arguing the "proper" and "improper" use of sex, e.g. sex is okay within marriage between a man and woman, but prohibited to non-married people. They can make the argument that symbolically drinking Jesus blood is authorized and encouraged. by Jesus himself. As a Roman Catholic, I don't agree with the JWs on their Memorial teaching or their stand on blood transfusions ... but that is another topic for another post.
