Midget-Sasquatch

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Posts by Midget-Sasquatch

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  108

  Is Islam a religion of Peace?

  by Perry in

  1. social
  2. current

  http://answering-islam.org.uk/quran/themes/jihad_passages.html

  the above link shows 164 verses in the koran that instructs the faithful to kill infidels.

  in light of this, how can some still spout the mantra that this is a religion of peace and that it's only the "radical fringe" that are causing problems?

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  Midget-Sasquatch

  Abbadon and others made a very good point about the barbaric and violent actions of nations that called themselves christian. It just shows that people or groups will act according to their dispositions first and foremost. Then they'll seek to justify their actions by whatever means gives them the most support. Now for the militant islamists, its many of the passages in the qu'ran. I don't care about being politically correct. It is very plainly commanding the killing of all infidels wherever they may find them. Then there are many hadiths that reinforce these thoughts as well as a few ones that are anti-semitic.

  Many moderate Muslims though, a handful of which I spent more than a year with while I was at university, will take the same qu'ranic passages and try to interpret them with the historical context of their origins in mind. They don't see the need to apply those passages in the conditions of today's world. IMHO because they are not inclined to violence and intolerance. If I got it right, they reason that the "lesser jihad" ( to which all those passages refer to) was sanctioned at the time to prevent the complete obliteration of the umma. With a less threatening world, they can make the "greater jihad" of the heart and on social injustices the important focus.

  Work on eliminating the perceived (dare I say real) injustices and exploitation of many muslim populations, and the fanatics will have less causes to which they can rally like-minded ones. Then the umma, who are as a whole mostly peaceful, can work on reforming and reinterpreting their religious world view in accord with the current world order.

  As to economic prosperity, the islamic states really started falling behind from the industrial revolution onward. Qutb was a very influential writer that kindled the aversion to western culture and unfortunately "modernity" has been equated for all practical purposes to many facets of the west. So that definitely has contributed to the disparity but much of it also has to be blamed on the rulers of those states as well.
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  22

  Ozzie's Weekend Poll #123

  by ozziepost in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  how's this weekend going for you?

  stinking hot downunder - and humid too.

  really draining weather - y'know what i mean?.

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  Midget-Sasquatch

  Mostly because it was expected of me from my father (got me going in it since I was about 5). Inlater years, I did it primarily so as to not tarnish his standing in the congregation (he was a MS) and to keep that trickle of an exchange between us going.

  But I also enjoyed spending the time with others my age without the clique crap getting in the way.
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  18

  Do Skeptics Draw Conclusions?

  by Blueblades in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

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  i say, they do.what do you think?.

  blueblades

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  Midget-Sasquatch

  This person is a bible skeptic, although this person has drawn his own conclusions about the bible.

  That point deserved repeating.

  A balanced skepticism is the most practical approach in separating fact from fiction. The extreme form of it leaves you with nothing to build on so you'll have no useful paradigm.
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  23

  What is Mankind's Greatest Mystery?

  by Blueblades in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  is it the mind / body riddle?

  or, the material brain / and consciousness.

  what to you is mankind's greatest mystery?.

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  Midget-Sasquatch

  1st: Is there really Life after Death?

  2nd: Is there life on other planets?
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  12

  Artificial Life Closer

  by Satanus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/4104483.stm

  researchers at rockefeller university in the us have made the first tentative steps towards creating a form of artificial life.

  the soft cell walls are made of fat molecules taken from egg white.

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  Midget-Sasquatch

  Satanus,

  I think you're right about the possible dangers in the very near future. Extremely virulent designer pathogens developed and spread by " " is one scary scenario.

  But it looks like the stage where these experiments are now at, isn't too worrying. And it just may give us new leads on the abiogenesis of life.
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  18

  Do Skeptics Draw Conclusions?

  by Blueblades in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

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  i say, they do.what do you think?.

  blueblades

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  Midget-Sasquatch

  Yes. Why wouldn't they?

  Are you thinking of skepticism so extreme that a person can't ascertain anything? That'd be useless.
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  8

  The Golden Age Of A JWs Warfare Technology!

  by Dogpatch in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i wish to extend my appreciation to the united states marine corp., united states air force, united states army, united states navy.

  and a picture of the "chummy" airplane can be seen here:.

  to see a picture of the taylorcraft army tg-6 glider, go here and scroll 3/4 of the way down and look for the plane under an old picture with a high tower 51 pictures down: go here:.

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  Midget-Sasquatch

  HaHa! Loved it! Maybe Taylor was trying to impress his warrior-king JC so that he'd get a better CENTCOMM position for A-Day?

  Nice research to whoever did it.
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  3

  article on origin of religious belief

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  http://www.acampbell.org.uk/essays/skeptic/narrative.html

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  Midget-Sasquatch

  I think religion was the product of ancient people's dialectic with their world, and trying to understand it better so as to navigate through it successfully.

  Since we have a knack for thinking symbolically and metaphorically about even the very concrete, it wasn't that hard a leap to postulate the invisible or spiritual.

  I'm with Elsewhere and Poztate, the gods have been ascribed to smaller and smaller gaps in our understanding of nature.

  But I'd have to say that religion probably also came about as a means to comfort a mind that realized its mortality, and maybe even to offer the hope of justice to a developing moral being within this rather amoral universe.
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  39

  Education - How encouraging low self esteem creates better witnesses.

  by BigG in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  funny title you might think but consider this point and apologies if i am covering old ground here...its not intentional.. i was raised by my mother who was and is a devout jw and as such until i was 20 (10 years ago) i was the same...trying my best to fit into the social environment i clearly was not made for but benefiting from good wholesome association with fellow brothers and sisters (note the sarcastic tone...make what you will of it).. althought at the time i didnt realise it but i was what others consider intelligent and quite academically able; i had a mind like a sponge and would spend hours in the jw library at the kh (which surprisingly enough contained non jw literature)...it was this that i read and would digest endlessly where i could.. one of those books (why it was there i dont know), was what i later undertood to be criminal law reports concerning cases that had gone before the courts.

  my childish thirst for knowledge was intrigued...(i was then about 12).

  the legal arguments i hadnt a clue what they meant but the facts surrounding these crimes were good reading.. i then knew i wanted to be a lawyer and that was what i said when an elder asked me what i wanted to do when i grew up; i mentioned trusting this man that i had read a book in the kh library and found it interesting...and that i wanted to be lawyer...i remember him smiling and saying that it was better to pioneer rather than seek a highly paid job...personally i didnt know what he meant properly but i felt a bit sad...and demotivated...i later in the week went back into the library and found the book had gone...!!.

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  Midget-Sasquatch

  "Anyone who knows history, particularly the history of Europe, will, I think, recognize that the domination of education or of government by any one particular religious faith is never a happy arrangement for the people." ----- Eleanor Roosevelt.

  I completely agree with you.

  Any organization that survives on slave labour will try to regulate the level of critical thinking among their drones and the information they're exposed to.
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  23

  Did you pray because you felt like it or because you were told to?

  by JH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  witnesses pray many times a day.

  at the field service, at the meetings, before each meal and even more.. i don't know if you're like me, but i didn't pray because i felt like it, but because i was told to.. personally, 1 long honest prayer a week would have been much better than 20 routine prayers.

  did you feel that it was natural to pray 3 times a day or more?.

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  Midget-Sasquatch

  I was made to pray as a child. Talking to nothing was just plain weird, so when my Dad stopped supervising me I never bothered with that routine again. Every so often I felt compelled to try and reach out to something out there and poured my feelings out. But with continual silence, I eventually gave up on that too (well before my teens).

  When I was older, I was called for prayers at meetings. So I did much like Elsewhere, pieced together typical phrases to form an acceptable prayer. A few times though, I again really wanted to try and connect with the divine, and maybe on account of all of them, maybe there'd be an open ear. I'd ignore stuff like thanking God for the "spiritual food prepared by the FDS", and asked instead for stuff like inner strength to face our personal demons, and help us realize where we need to change in how we treat one another. About a half dozen of those of prayers and I wasn't asked anymore, except for a couple of times at some book studies when they had no other brother.

  Nowadays, from time to time I simply reflect on my actions, my motives and my mistakes and what I think I should change. If there is God, then I'm sure my feelings for people I know who are in pain and my wishes for their succor are the key thing. No words needed. Although a swift kick in my butt to help this cold bastard actually do something himself to help out is also verymuch in order.