i dislike the commercialism, the music, the incessant "happy holidays", and the church's insistence to put "jesus back in christmas.".
but i really like xmas lights.
i put up a 7 foot tree and three small trees in my yard and strung lights around them, strung up lights on my gutters, and put candles in my windows.
I dislike the commercialism, the music, the incessant "Happy Holidays", and the church's insistence to put "Jesus back in Christmas."
But I really like Xmas lights. I put up a 7 foot tree and three small trees in my yard and strung lights around them, strung up lights on my gutters, and put candles in my windows. The look is just peaceful.
i've been reading the jesus puzzle and something interesting was this re-ordering of q. its seems like the various pieces of q in luke and matthew have different contexts.
this would support that the contexts for the q sayings were invented.. it seems that paul doesn't reference the gospels in any form.. does this support a late writing for the gospels and therefore calls into question how close the gospels were written to the alleged events of jesus' life?.
how would someone who believes in the gospels reconcile these differences?
I'm reading "Jesus and Yahweh - The Names Divine" by Harold Bloom and it asks a lot of these same questions. Some may never be answered. We might be stuck with a New Testament with a nameless author(s). It's an interesting study, to be sure, to try to find out where the material came from and investigate clues to determine who, what, where, why. But only if there's no hockey game on and in 20 minutes there will be.
Seriously, I believe there was a source "gospel", call it Q or whatever. And synoptic authors borrowed from each other. But in 100 years I'm pretty sure fundy beliefs will be gone, and if the human race is still here it might be on its way out too. We live in a precious time in history. Let's not blow it by worrying too much about some fictional "be good go to paradise" book. Of course the Bible isn't alone in that category. Just see it for what it is -- myth designed (?) to teach some lessons and yes, it's perfectly okay to pick and choose what you want, like Navigator here, or like AA and his complete disbelief.
my brother is a self proclaimed apostate.
i see now that there is a wide variety of posters here.
so to those that have left the witnesses what would it take to get you back?
It is my whole-souled dedicated decision to never worship the god of the Hebrews, as he is distasteful to me, and I am 99.9999999999% he does not exist. If he does exist he is among a pantheon of other (competing?) gods. I find there to be much satisfaction in devoting my time to learning what other people speculate on. When I quit being a JW, I dabbled in various forms of christianity and other theistic ideas and came to the conclusion they are not true. Thomas Paine's "The Age of Reason",an old book, was one of my first steps towards critical thinking. I find it is better and wiser (and often fun) to accept that we just don't know much of the esoteric and much of it is mere guesswork. I believe strongly that family and friends are what we're supposed to cherish, not any invisible men in the sky. Life is too short to waste on people wrapped up in rules that command them to drop you in an instant - without even knowing why. Make peace with your brother while you still can, please. We don't want to die but we do and will, and in the short time we inhabit this planet we should be happy. Happiness, true happiness, enduring happines, mental and emotional, is fleeting, and is not to be found in the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses.
i've been reading the jesus puzzle and something interesting was this re-ordering of q. its seems like the various pieces of q in luke and matthew have different contexts.
this would support that the contexts for the q sayings were invented.. it seems that paul doesn't reference the gospels in any form.. does this support a late writing for the gospels and therefore calls into question how close the gospels were written to the alleged events of jesus' life?.
how would someone who believes in the gospels reconcile these differences?
Read you "All Scripture is Inspired" book. You'll see so much special pleading it'll make your head spin. A lot of canonical signs are: did the church fathers use them/know of them? do they harmonize with other parts of what are considered sacred/canonical writings? do they/did they have any real import to their intended audience and might they be useful in the future?
The bible is a product of man. Useful in some respects (the study of history, language, theology). Completely unneeded for morality, determining the ultimate purpose of life, finding inner oeace. Very destructive when used to back ideologies of warfare, legislated moral codes, and any intrusion into governmental affairs.
i want you to know that you have destroyed a family because of your lies about jehovah and his organization.
a family member went apostate and has turned his back on jehovah.
he told us he is never coming back and i know he went and visited internet sites.
*** w50 11/1 p. 428 Dominican Republic Persecutes Christians ***
It was into such a republic that the Watch Tower Society sent its first missionaries in April of 1945. Early in June of that year two additional missionaries were sent, and on the 26th of that month the Dominican Republic signed the Charter of the United Nations. . . By the end of 1946 there were 18 missionaries in the country in addition to 5 local publishers, and as they continued to preach many more people heard. . .
U.
N. VOWS BROKENThrough it all Jehovah’s witnesses have continued their peaceful work of visiting the people with the comforting message of hope from the Bible. After all, the Dominican Republic is a charter member of the United Nations and hence these distressing conditions should be corrected. Under its "Purposes and Principles", set forth in Chapter I, Article 1, this Charter declares that its signatory powers, and the Dominican Republic is one of them, are determined to achieve international co-operation "in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion".
Do you consider this Watchtower article apostate material? Through the years JWs were an NGO and signed the UN Charter did they promote and enourage freedom for its adherents to respect religious choice?
as many of you know, i have a myspace.com account.. apparently, while i was out last night, someone called my mother and informed her of my activities on myspace.
my mother called and asked me for my login info, and was shocked to see me, and around 40 witnesses in my area having active profiles.
contents of these profile ranged from a few pictures to downright self-incrimination.
Yeah I had Verizon wireless DSL broadband on my laptop so I could get online from anywhere at any time. Unlimited use was 80 bucks a month but I think it might be 60 now.
As the wimpy guy in Mel Gibson's "Payback" said, "Don't let the bastards get you down."
the standard christian story on the bible is that god wrote it to let us humans know what's going on, lay down some rules, and tell us how to get saved from our pitiful state.
as everyone knows, i don't buy any portion of this.
but i have a question for the believers.
Why would he want to 'off himself' in the last chapter?
you may be referring to "The Devil's Advocate"
That's what I was thinking.
Kevin (Keanu Reeves): "In the Bible, you (we?) lose."
The Devil (Al Pacino): "Well consider the source, son!"
ironic isn't it that such a fuss was made about saddam possible having / using them and how terrible that would be.
seems ok for us to use chemical weapons though.. such sickening hypocrisy.. .
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4442988.stm.
Trace, a word to the wise: you might want to be careful what you say to the board administrator. To put text in quote boxes copy and paste it from the original post or the list of posts underneath the posting box, highlight it like you're going to copy it again, and hit the little quote balloon located to the right of the smiley emoticon above and between italics and underline ( I U ). I'll demonstrate.
How about that it proves that America is the "King of the North" according to WTS interpretation of the bible ...
Well, that's not exactly a very good argument.
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***
dp chap. 14 The Two Kings Change Identities ***[Chart/Pictures
on page 246]KINGS
IN DANIEL 11:20-26The King of the North
Daniel 11:20 Augustus
Daniel 11:21-24 Tiberius
Daniel 11:25, 26 Aurelian. The foretold breakdown of the Roman Empire leads to the formation of The Germanic Empire
The King of the South
Daniel 11:25, 26 Queen Zenobia. Britain, followed by the Anglo-American Empire World Power
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(red mine, for clarity to indicate that the WTS teaches the current and last king of the SOUTH is Britain/America)
Or, put more simply.......
***
w93 11/1 p. 21 The Final Victory of Michael, the Great Prince ***So who is the king of the north now? Is he to be identified with one of the countries that were part of the old Soviet Union? Or is he changing identity completely, as he has a number of times before? We cannot say.
http://www.postchronicle.com/news/entertainment/article_2121522.shtml .
michael jackson = anti-jew muslim.
by j. grant swank, jr.. nov 27, 2005. .
I'm not a big fan of MJ or Islam, but that article reeks of misinformation, innuendo, suggestion, and is just asking to be rebutted by a faithful and peaceful Muslin.
