Posts by Hisclarkness

286

Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Baker Who Refused to Bake Cake for Gay Couple

by Simon in

seems like such an obviously correct decision to overturn the previous overreach - it should never have been necessary to go to the supreme court but happened because the rights of the religious were being ignored.. as the fundamental level, no one should be able to compel you to work for them or to provide services that go against your beliefs, and certainly not have the government be able to force you to comply.. if this was allowed there would be so many unreconcilable situations that would clog up courts over nonsense.. i also have little patience for these activists that intentionally look to be offended.

it really doesn't do their cause any good to go round looking to make trouble for people.

it's also misguided because it ends up strengthening religious rights over effectively stupid issues.. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/04/us/politics/supreme-court-sides-with-baker-who-turned-away-gay-couple.html.

Hisclarkness

It should be pointed out that the decision was a “narrow” one in that this decision applied specifically to this Baker in this case. The court made it a point to say that this case would not necessarily set any precedent and that future similar cases might possibly swing a different way.

This case should not not be taken as opening the door for people to refuse services to gay people based on religious beliefs. As was pointed out earlier, the baker did not refuse services to the couple; he only refused the custom wedding cake.

Also to be pointed out is that this took place in 2012 before gay marriage was legal, so the court had to take in to consideration all of the context and laws in 2012. This is why the court emphasized that future similar cases could potentially be different.

43

Did You Ever Luke ANY Songs From The “Songbook “?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i went on line looking for old jw songs and some of them were pretty good and some were just awful!.

did you ever like any of those songs?

.

Hisclarkness

As a musician I will say that many of the songs from the old songbook had great structural harmonizations. Many radical and progressive key changes that made for interesting listening - just from a purely musical perspective. They really stood out against “Christendom”’s bland hymnals.

Unfortunately, with the new songbook and the whole “simplication” theme, they managed to erase all of those nice musical nuances in favor of bland sounding material.

For example, look at the slight musical change they made in “Make the Truth Your Own”. They took out the one line of radical key changes (that was awesome) and replaced it with a bland progression. No true musician would have favored such a change so I have no idea what the thinking was behind those types of change.

9

If they made 14400k symbolic how many jws would start to claim to be anointed?

by purrpurr in

jw
friends

since there's debate here about wether the literal interpretation of the 14400k could be changed to symbolic, i was thinking such an announcement would allow for any jw to claim to be going to heaven... in which case i wonder how many jws would suddenly claim to have "been called"?.

i can think of many arrogant holier than thou types who would be jumping on that bandwagon immediately!

.

Hisclarkness

Put all your feelings about JW beliefs aside for one moment. And put aside your current beliefs for a moment. The Bible ACTUALLY teaches that ALL Christians are “anointed” and are to be partakers of Christ. This is also a very valid reason of why the numbers are rising as more and more witnesses are starting to realize this. Not everybody is crazy or “holier than thou”. A lot of witnesses, many of whom I personally know, are simply following what the Bible says in regards to ALL Christians partaking. There is no such thing as two separate classes of Christians.

96

Oh Boy! Beards are "stumbling blocks" again ... from Stephen Lett

by freddo in

jw
friends

so this week's midweek meeting video about stumbling others has lett spouting and gurning rubbish again.. if you can't take the whole 9 minutes go from 5:50 to get the context and 6:45 for the "beard" mention.. https://youtu.be/ezv1ici5cwo.

oh, well - at least they shoot themselves in the foot with this doublespeak.

single.

Hisclarkness

The irony of this situation is that it’s the GB that is stumbling others from becoming JWs because of this stupid beard rule. No witness EVER left the organization because brother so and so decided to start wearing a beard. But I’m betting there’s many who will never become witnesses simply because they don’t want someone telling them they have to shave.

26

Serena Williams after marrying rich baby daddy: I am a Jehovah's Witness

by Wild_Thing in

jw
friends

but how??????

.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/serena-williams-mom-encouraged-her-with-scripture-after-emotional-struggles-with-motherhood-213273/.

Hisclarkness

Update:

i apologize. It wasn’t the vogue article. It was an Enews article back in August! Here is the link:

http://m.eonline.com/amp/news/874837/inside-serena-williams-and-alexis-ohanian-s-unique-world-how-the-couple-are-getting-ready-for-baby-making-it-work-long-distance

Here’s the direct quote:

"Being a Jehovah's Witness is important to me, but I've never really practiced it and have been wanting to get into it. Alexis didn't grow up going to any church, but he's really receptive and even takes the lead. He puts my needs first."

26

Serena Williams after marrying rich baby daddy: I am a Jehovah's Witness

by Wild_Thing in

jw
friends

but how??????

.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/serena-williams-mom-encouraged-her-with-scripture-after-emotional-struggles-with-motherhood-213273/.

Hisclarkness

Lost in the fog,

there is another vogue article about a month or so old. Vogue had exclusive rights to cover serena’s Wedding. It is in this interview where she talks about being raised a witness but never taking it too seriously.

I apologize for not providing the link. Perhaps someone else could find it. It was either November or December.

26

Serena Williams after marrying rich baby daddy: I am a Jehovah's Witness

by Wild_Thing in

jw
friends

but how??????

.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/serena-williams-mom-encouraged-her-with-scripture-after-emotional-struggles-with-motherhood-213273/.

Hisclarkness

Wild_thing

i believe it was from the vogue interview that specifically covered her wedding a month or so ago where she made the statement about being raised but never getting serious about it.

26

Serena Williams after marrying rich baby daddy: I am a Jehovah's Witness

by Wild_Thing in

jw
friends

but how??????

.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/serena-williams-mom-encouraged-her-with-scripture-after-emotional-struggles-with-motherhood-213273/.

Hisclarkness

I myself used to be one of those people. Growing up, my mom studied off and on but never did anything about it but as far as I knew in my mind we were “ jehovah’s Witnesses”, even though I still did all kinds of things that JWs aren’t supposed to do like saying the pledge or going to the school Christmas parties, etc. It wasn’t until much later that we all got serious and got baptized.

So I know exactly how Serena Williams is thinking. She is not concerned with being baptized or following the rules to the T. She is probably blissfully unaware of all of the WT’s problems, doctrinally, financially, socially, etc. All she knows is that’s how she was raised and so that’s what she identifies as in her mind, nevermind the technicalities of it all and the associated consequences.

26

Serena Williams after marrying rich baby daddy: I am a Jehovah's Witness

by Wild_Thing in

jw
friends

but how??????

.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/serena-williams-mom-encouraged-her-with-scripture-after-emotional-struggles-with-motherhood-213273/.

Hisclarkness

Those quotes where she talks about being a witness are from 2002.

Secondly, as recently as last month she said that although she was RAISED as a witness she never got too serious about it.

The Williams sisters were raised as witnesses but never got baptized. Nothing new here. No need to criticize or scrutinize someone who was never baptized.

44

Verifiable proof of Jesus' existance outside the Bible

by unsure in

thought i'd start a separate discussion on the subject.. those who know me know i'm struggling with faith; i want to believe, some days i do but it becomes difficult.. many believers say there is verifiable proof of jesus' existence outside of the bible.. please post this proof..

Hisclarkness

Hi unsure,

i don't know that there is much debate over whether or not a man named Jesus of Nazareth actually existed, despite the little recorded evidence outside the Bible that was already mentioned on other threads. It seems the debate is more over whether he was just a regular man or the actual Son of God on earth.

May I ask why your faith is so dependent on whether or not this man actually existed? Why not consider the fact that there was clearly a huge shift in the first century where hundreds of thousands and even up to millions of people were willing to die and be persecuted over a minority faith both within the realm of Judaism and the Roman Empire. For such a shift in consciousness to have occurred so suddenly within one generation would suggest something real took place.

You can debate whether or not this thing has any real meaning or significance to you or humanity but I think it's pretty evident that something real actually did happen.

I don't know if this will mean anything for you. I really hate to see people lose faith. So much of faith is equated to religion and authoritarianism when it should be more about your individual personal journey through life with God.