barry

Joined

• started 127 topics
• posted 1,729 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by barry

• 
  33

  Apart from JW's, do others still feel 1914 was a turning point in history?

  by jwfacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the watchtower claims that hisorians say 1914 was when the world changed forever.

  as a jw the year 1914 is repeated so endlessly that it seems it must have been the turning point in history and hence the beginning of the last days.

  but i have never really heard anyone else ever mention that year, apart from the odd history lesson on ww1.. do people in general ever think of or discuss 1914 as being a year of any significance?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  barry

  Not ever been a JW but 1914 is an important year many see it in Australia as when Australia became a nation and the time when they proved themselves at gallopoly. that being said 1914 cant be found in the bible
• 
  28

  Summer Solstice - 2006

  by diamondblue1974 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for as long as i can remember and certainly more so since my exit i have always felt the need to visit stonehenge.

  even more so tonight which some already know is the longest night and the pagan celebration of summer solstice.

  well tonight i will be there, i will be sure to get some photos and try to post em too.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  barry

  Here in OZ we are haveing our winter solstice beleive it or not
• 
  28

  Kia or Hyundai?

  by confusedjw in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  kia spectra 5 or hyundai elantra gt hatchback?

  any experience with either of these cars?

  they both drive great and are much more affordable than the honda and toyotas.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  barry

  I try to not buy anything I cant pronounce , personally I like Holden
• 
  184

  Celebrated WT scholars? :)

  by Augustin in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  prof lester l. grabbe on rolf furuli's "oslo chronology":.

  "once again we have an amateur who wants to rewrite scholarship" (jsot 28:5 [2004], p. 42).. ...celebrated wt scholars?

  --augustin --

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  barry

  I dont understand the term "Celebrated WT scholars"because the WT to my knowlege doesnt print articals with anyones name on them, unless they have changed there position on this. Also scolars usually if they are scolarly do a doctorate before they are realy considered a scholar.
• 
  131

  Guantanamo Bay Suicides - a PR Move

  by eyeslice in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  quote from bbc website .

  a top us official has described the suicides of three detainees at the us base at guantanamo bay, cuba, as a "good pr move to draw attention".

  colleen graffy told the bbc the deaths were part of a strategy and "a tactic to further the jihadi cause", but taking their own lives was unnecessary.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  barry

  
  Today Abu Baka Bashia was released from jail in Indonesia after only 2years of detension. He is the spiritual leader of the bombers who attacked the people in Bali where in excess of 200 were killed including 70 Australians.

  Here in Australia I have a muslim friend who has lived here for 35 years and he beleives that ultimately all non muslims should be made to submit to god or be executed.

  There is an Australian in guantanamo bay who has been held there for 4 years David Hicks and will be charged because he was an illegal combatant in Afganistan. I understand most of those in detension there are classified as illegal combatants.

  So the sort of things I am hearing here is

  1 The prisoners should have legal representation , which they will have in due course.

  2 They are inocent until proven guilty. This is a principle of English common law but does not apply to these prisoners in guantanamo bay because they are outside the us. In fact this principle doesnt apply in many other countries of the world including many developed european countries.

  Should they be treated as POWs and be under the geneva convention? I dont so the reasons being that the Genevia convention is agreements between countries whereas in this instance we are dealing with illegal combatants. In a war countries make agreements about treatement of prisnoers and when hostilities end prisoners are returned to their respective countries.The situation we have with the war on terror is if these illegals are released the hostility by them does not necessarily end in fact some have returned to the battlefield.

  We are not dealing with POWs we are dealing with sub human filth and only have themselves to blame for the situation they find themselves in.
• 
  8

  Will only Christians be saved?

  by greendawn in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i asked a catholic priest if one needs to be a catholic to be saved, to compare with the jw belief that one has to be a jw to be saved.

  his answer was interesting and based on romans 2:12-14 (nlt version) .

  "14 even when gentiles, who do not have god's written law, instinctively follow what the law says, they show that in their hearts they know right from wrong.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  barry

  Greendawn thats the same explanation you would get from an SDA but the reason is not everyone beleives in th esecond chance theory as the JWs do. The SDAs beleive in a mixture of pre millenelism and A millenelism
• 
  25

  Higher Education: Is The Issue Really That Important?

  by Warlock in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  the catholics think they have the true religion, but they don't discourage higher education.. the protestants think they have the true religion, but they don't discourage higher education.. the j.w.

  's think they have the true religion, but yet they do discourage higher education.. why?

  do they really think there would be a mass exodus from the org.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  barry

  
  In SDA church higher education is promoted to the extent that in the US a college education amoungst SDAs is twice the national average.

  I would have to dissagree with most of you about how the WT society fears higher education. They should rightly fear there members being educated although with larger incomes they would certainly get more donations.

  The SDAs have had all sorts of problems with the creation -evolution debate and there young earth theorys with scientists going against there teaching even at there own institutions and has resulted in church meetings at general conference level over the last three years. Needless to say I dont beleive anything will come of such meetings .

  One Scientist made a statement during these meetings that while the universe started about 15 billion years ago God has only been a theologin for 6 thousand years. he got the biggest laught that particular day .
• 
  26

  Once saved always saved?

  by greendawn in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  at one extreme are people like the jws that we criticise for relying too much on works for their salvation and so they have to live through a lot of anxiety day after day out of fear of failing.

  at the other extreme are those that say "i am saved by faith alone, once saved always saved, that's why jesus died for us" and seem to ignore completely the good works factor.

  obviously the right balance is somewhere between the two but we need more sophisticated thinking to grasp it than just: i need works to be saved or i need only faith to be saved.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  barry

  
  The truth is qcmbr none of those works will save you because even if we do all those works and are perfect until christ comes what about our imperfect lives up until now Also we were born in sin and are sinful. It is our very nature.

  The confusion is we are talking about two different things here one being Justification which is 100% and is the free gift of Salvation the other is Santification which is the growing up of the christian into maturity and is never 100% until christ comes when the faithful are glorified and there sanctification = there justification.

  Those that would say a person must be perfect for salvation usually say if pressed on the issue 'Well God wouldnt expect us to do something we are not capable of' Isnt that a bit like lowering the high jump bar for the Olympics when God expects perfect obediance? The truth is we are perfect in our representitive because his righeousness is imputed to us though we may fail and we do fail 1000 times a day.
• 
  4

  How to make $360 in three minutes

  by Elsewhere in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  today i needed to update some payment information for my cable service.

  after taking care of that with a billing rep i asked her to transfer me to the sales department.

  when i got the sales rep i simply asked her if i might qualify for any promotional discounts right now... and she immediately said yes!

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  barry

  Gday Mate, You didnt make 360 in 3 minutes you only saved it. Just like my wife when she goes to the sales she doesnt make anything because she actually spends money.
• 
  32

  Dinner with moderate Muslims

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my wife has a classmate that recently married a pakistani man.

  he's here only on a student visa and is faced with returning to pakistan as soon as he graduates.

  he has an application for greencard pending but the wheels turn slow.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  barry

  I had a mate who said he was an extremest muslim at one time. One night we were all together at a club we used to attend on a regular basis. He came up with the idear the world would be a better place if the rubbish was gotten rid of in the world. The way he proposed this would happen is that Islamic nations should get nucleur weopons and tyears and haveing been taken as a immigrant for a better life here could say such rubbish. I went home and couldnt sleep the rest of the night. Barrry