I think there's a reasonable amount of evidence for the existence of James the Just. I know that its only a tradition that he was the brother of Jesus, but it isn't one that significantly contributes to the mythology. A genuine historical detail that lingered possibly? That tidbit would hint at a flesh and blood Jesus having kicked around (minus all the miraculous stuff of course).
Midget-Sasquatch
JoinedPosts by Midget-Sasquatch
-
30
Bart Erhman, transformation complete?
by peacefulpete inbart began as a fundamentalist like ourselves but in time his studious nature led him to critical bible scholarship.
his books are viewed as authoritative.
in an interesting interview he recounts this transformation and hints that he has finally left the conviction that there ever was a historical jesus, or that personage/s whose lives are reflected in certain episodes in the legend served merely as sources for the jesus character.
-
-
-
15
Did you watch "Soap Operas" while you were a JW and was it a "sin" to watch
by booker-t ini remember that in the mid to late 1980's the wt wrote a condemning article on watching "soap operas".
i was wondering if the society felt it was a "sin" for jw's to watch soaps or was it just an admonishment.
my jw "pioneering" aunt used to love watching "all my children" and mentioned it to her pioneer partner.
-
-
Midget-Sasquatch
Kinda weird, but my father would be anal about all soap operas except for Dallas. We all watched that one together. When he wasn't home, my mother would control the TV, but she only watched General Hospital and Brazilian telenovellas that were dubbed in Italian. I got hooked on some of them.
And if we're voting on which Desperate Housewife to off, it could be anyone for me except for Marcia Cross. I can't say exactly what it is but I've loved her ever since I saw her in Melrose Place. Oh God, I think I've blurted out way too much..
-
4
Ex JW's in the sex business
by drahcir yarrum ini have met a number of strip club dancers and other sex workers who have at one time or another been associated with jehovah's witnesses.
this is probably not disproportionate to the number of other previously religious people of other religions in the sex business, but has seemed rather coincidental.
i have wondered it this is because of the sexual repression of the jw organization on its members.. anyone care to venture a guess?
-
-
Midget-Sasquatch
Most of the ex dubs I know aren't into that scene, except for two blood brothers. They became strippers at some gay club.
edit: If I kept the city name in this post it would probably be too easy to ID them
-
84
without God what would humanity do?
by BlackSwan of Memphis inwhat would humanity do without some belief in an almighty, in a divine in something?.
how has it shaped the way modern man thinks?.
would we better off or worse, without a belief in that which is divine?.
-
-
Midget-Sasquatch
Elderwho
No one is saying they have sure answers. But if we're talking about where we've gotten our moral laws, its plausible that many human social behaviours (including those we invest with moral values) evolved because of their pragmatism. They contributed to positive group selection. Now thats not to say that this has to be an all or none attribute. Like other traits (e.g height, acuity of different senses, intelligence), "helpfulness" in a population could have a range of degrees to which its expressed. One person's own expression of "helpfulness" can be variable. e.g. not giving someone all tha much assistance if they don't care for them. Like Satanus and others mentioned, there are all sorts of factors (situational or experiential) that can affect this. That doesn't mean it couldn't be some small part of most people's makeup.
-
20
Systematic Watchtower Revision in 2005 WTCD
by VM44 inunclebruce made a posting in this thread http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/7/109480/1.ashx in which he made the following quotes from the reasoning book and the watchtower concerning the obsolete teaching of the separation of the sheep and goats.
"the judgement and separation work by jesus was proof of his presence since 1914.
" reasoning from the scriptures 1989 p. 344. .
-
-
Midget-Sasquatch
I've confirmed Lot's finding.
The 1993 bound volume has no such quote in it. Since articles written quite some time in advance, it may have been theoretically feasible that the WTS decided to make the change in the volumes ahead of time. I don't have the individual WT to check that.
However since the quote supposedly found in the 1989 Reasoning book ISN'T actually there, nor is it in the 1985 printing, I'd question all of it.
-
27
CO discusses: Higher Education, Baptism Nullification, No Sense of Urgency
by doinmypart inhere are my notes from the biannual co visit.
the notes are from the co meeting with elders & ms 2006 service year outline.
the topics from wts are sense of urgency, higher education, independent thinking, marital arrg, invalid baptisms.. sense of urgency - concern among fds that some are losing their urgency, they don't believe we're in the last days.
-
-
Midget-Sasquatch
jambon1,
I think the society may have favoured using, where available, an elder with a university degree, to do those parts just to add legitimacy to the WTS' position. There was one elder I'm very familiar with, who had his degree in commerce/business, and also gave that part at last year's school. ( I heard from a reliable source that the representative from the Canadian bethel, who also talked at that school on this topic, was quite upset about the trend towards higher education. It looked like he was about to burst a vein.)
-
27
CO discusses: Higher Education, Baptism Nullification, No Sense of Urgency
by doinmypart inhere are my notes from the biannual co visit.
the notes are from the co meeting with elders & ms 2006 service year outline.
the topics from wts are sense of urgency, higher education, independent thinking, marital arrg, invalid baptisms.. sense of urgency - concern among fds that some are losing their urgency, they don't believe we're in the last days.
-
-
Midget-Sasquatch
Figures they'd want to nix any chances of baptism annullments. They know all too well that alot of rank and file would then keep on associating with them, thereby weakening the Borg's hold on everyone involved.
-
10
Scientists Find Water on Saturn Moon
by bavman inthe cassini spacecraft has found evidence of liquid water spewing from geysers on one of saturn's icy moons, raising the tantalizing possibility that the celestial object harbors life.
the surprising discovery excited some scientists, who say the saturn moon, enceladus, should be added to the short list of places within the solar system most likely to have extraterrestrial life.. recent high-resolution images snapped by the orbiting cassini confirmed the eruption of icy jets and giant water vapor plumes from geysers resembling frozen old faithfuls at enceladus' south pole.. "we have the smoking gun" that proves the existence of water, said carolyn porco, a cassini imaging scientist from the space science institute in boulder, colo.. if enceladus does harbor life, it probably consists of microbes or other primitive organisms capable of living in extreme conditions, scientists say.. the findings were published in friday's issue of the journal science.. david morrison, a senior scientist at nasa's astrobiology institute, cautioned against rushing to judgment about whether the tiny moon could support life.
scientists generally agree habitats need several ingredients for life to emerge, including water, a stable heat source and the right chemical recipe.. "it's certainly interesting, but i don't see how much more you can say beyond that," morrison said.. scientists believe mars and jupiter's icy moons might have or once had conditions hospitable to life.. saturn is around 800 million miles from earth.
-
-
Midget-Sasquatch
Leolaia
I had to smile about that reference to Hoagland in 1979. Thats a funny find. I don't distinctly remember following the Jupiter flyby, but I definitely followed the Saturn flyby. I got the National Geographic on it with the photosupplement. It also had a small writeup on its moon Titan and how life may be possible on it. Wish I still had that issue, if anything just to see if Richard was mentioned in there too.
-
10
Scientists Find Water on Saturn Moon
by bavman inthe cassini spacecraft has found evidence of liquid water spewing from geysers on one of saturn's icy moons, raising the tantalizing possibility that the celestial object harbors life.
the surprising discovery excited some scientists, who say the saturn moon, enceladus, should be added to the short list of places within the solar system most likely to have extraterrestrial life.. recent high-resolution images snapped by the orbiting cassini confirmed the eruption of icy jets and giant water vapor plumes from geysers resembling frozen old faithfuls at enceladus' south pole.. "we have the smoking gun" that proves the existence of water, said carolyn porco, a cassini imaging scientist from the space science institute in boulder, colo.. if enceladus does harbor life, it probably consists of microbes or other primitive organisms capable of living in extreme conditions, scientists say.. the findings were published in friday's issue of the journal science.. david morrison, a senior scientist at nasa's astrobiology institute, cautioned against rushing to judgment about whether the tiny moon could support life.
scientists generally agree habitats need several ingredients for life to emerge, including water, a stable heat source and the right chemical recipe.. "it's certainly interesting, but i don't see how much more you can say beyond that," morrison said.. scientists believe mars and jupiter's icy moons might have or once had conditions hospitable to life.. saturn is around 800 million miles from earth.
-
-
Midget-Sasquatch
I would love to see the day when (even microbial) life was confirmed on another celestial sphere. Thank you bavman for the interesting post.
Thanx to you too cosmic, for linking to Richard Hoagland's website. I didn't realize he was still chasing this angle. Not that I'd take much stock in anything he says. I see I haven't really missed anything new. Hoagland jumped on the bandwagon with The Face on Mars, then he continued with hunting down supposed alien structures like the Martian "city" at Cydonia, and he even was swearing there were structures on our moon.
-
67
Film Scenes that got burnt onto your memory
by greendawn inwhat were some film scenes that pleased or horrified you so much that they stayed vivid in your memory for a long time?
the one i always recall is the scene where anthony hopkins (playing as hannibal lector) lobotomised ray liotta (paul krendler) cutting off pieces of his brain and giving them to him to eat.
he also took some of liotta's cooked brain in a plane and gave them to an unsuspecting passenger boy sitting next to him to eat.
-
-
Midget-Sasquatch
The original exorcist movie had a few scenes that scared the bijeebees out of me. Like where the little girl's head twists around. I was young when I first saw it ( thanx(?) to my older cousins ).
A touching scene for me was the ending to Life is Beautiful, where the boy was riding on the American tank, he reunites with his mom, the voice of his older self whose narrating lovingly reflects on his father, and the little boy raises his hands in joy shouting "Ho Vinto! Ho Vinto!".