Welcome,you will really enjoy the usefull topics and even the not so usefull topics discussed here now especially since you will be able to put in your thoughts.
Looking foward to your post and my hat is off to you for making the move.
i understand you've met my other half - now it's my turn!
i feel as though i've known some of you for ages as we've been regular visitors to the board for a long, long time so it's nice to be able to dive in at long last and make contact!
life is good - the disassociation letters went out last november and things are unbelievably quiet, no phone calls, no visits and best of all - nobody rushing up to me in the street begging me to come back.
Welcome,you will really enjoy the usefull topics and even the not so usefull topics discussed here now especially since you will be able to put in your thoughts.
Looking foward to your post and my hat is off to you for making the move.
i recently picked up the nasty habit of smoking.
i have been hiding it from my wife for about a month now,(she is still a witness) to make a long story short i only smoke when i drink and go to the casino.
in lake charles well she busted me and was actually nice about it and said it would be our secret as long as i did not bring them in the house are ever smoke around the kids.. sounds like she might be comming around maybe, i only hope.. anyway i had to tell someone.
I have been in-active for almost 5 years now.
12. i cringe when i hear any sentence that begins with the words "life is...".
21-25 points - you're probably okay.
if you don't care that i really admire you, give yourself 5 bonus points.
This is only a test. If this had been an actual test you would have been informed where to find the right answers.
i recently picked up the nasty habit of smoking.
i have been hiding it from my wife for about a month now,(she is still a witness) to make a long story short i only smoke when i drink and go to the casino.
in lake charles well she busted me and was actually nice about it and said it would be our secret as long as i did not bring them in the house are ever smoke around the kids.. sounds like she might be comming around maybe, i only hope.. anyway i had to tell someone.
I recently picked up the nasty habit of smoking. I have been hiding it from my wife for about a month now,(she is still a witness) to make a long story short I only smoke when I drink and go to the Casino
in Lake Charles well she busted me and was actually nice about it and said it would be our secret as long as I did not bring them in the house are ever smoke around the kids.
Sounds like she might be comming around maybe, I only hope.
Anyway I had to tell someone.
right here, right now, you are experiencing what has been needed for a long time, an authoritative website that helps brothers and sisters who use the internet use it wisely, by being a guide to what is useful and skipping what is useless.. we hope to serve you as we are endeavoring to be the real reason why you get online in the first place.
we realize that there are still a number of brothers and sisters out there that are unfamiliar with the internet and all that it has to offer, good and bad.
well, we are here to help with what is good, as well as help you to avoid what is foul with the internet.
Right here, right now, you are experiencing what has been needed for a long time, an authoritative website that helps brothers and sisters who use the Internet use it wisely, by being a guide to what is useful and skipping what is useless.
We hope to serve you as we are endeavoring to be the real reason why you get online in the first place. How do we do that? We realize that there are still a number of brothers and sisters out there that are unfamiliar with the Internet and all that it has to offer, good and bad. Well, we are here to help with what is good, as well as help you to avoid what is foul with the Internet. At Witnesses Online.com, we believe that to be forewarned is to be forearmed. We have put together the best group of Internet and computer saavy brothers and sisters to assist you in whatever capacity with webpages and FAQs about whatever subject that they happen to be moderating.
Helpful and up to date information will be presented in a conversational and easy to understand way. We will feature links to some of the best websites on the Web in most any category, as well as give our take on the latest and greatest software in use out there as it relates to Jehovah's Witnesses.
Friends, we have been in need of a guide to the internet from the perspective of Witnesses since the Web was born. Some have used the Internet for a long time, while others are still "testing the waters". Some of the friends have been lost due to indiscretion as far as the Internet is concerned, and as far as that goes, as with any temptation, it remains with the individual what path he or she shall take. Some chose to do wrong regardless of what they knew to be right. But at least with Witnesses Online.com, you won't be able to say that we didn't tell you so! So enjoy the site, friends, and know that we are making as many efforts as we can to grow in knowledge about the Internet.
"Big" Ray Jacobs
Owner/Webmaster Witnesses Online.com
sensible and obvious truths .
it is not sufficient to have discovered the disease if we do not apply a remedy.
it would be better to leave the sick man in ignorance.
Sensible and Obvious Truths
It is not sufficient to have discovered the disease if we do not apply a remedy. It would be better to leave the sick man in ignorance. Error can only be cured by Truth, and since Moses, Jesus and Mahomet were what we have represented them, we should not seek in their writings for the veritable idea of the Divinity. The apparitions and the divine conformation of the former and the latter, and the divine filiation of the second, are sufficient to convince us that all is but imposture.
God is either a natural being or one of infinite extent who resembles what he contains–material without being. Either way he is neither just nor merciful, nor jealous, nor a God in any way as may be imagined, and as a consequence is neither a punisher nor a remunerator. This idea of punishment and recompense only exists in the minds of the ignorant who only conceive that simple being called God, under images which by no means represent him.
Those who use their understanding without confounding its operations with those of the imagination, and who are powerful enough to abandon the prejudice of a limited education, are the only ones who have sound, clear and distinct ideas. They consider him as the source of all beings which are produced without distinction: one being no more than another in His regard, and man no more difficult to produce than a worm or a flower.
That is why no one should believe that this natural and infinite being, which is commonly called God, esteems man more than an ant, or a lion more than a stone, or who has any regard for beauty or ugliness, for good or bad, for the perfect or imperfect. Or that he desires to be praised, prayed, sought for or caressed, or that he cares what men are, or say, whether susceptible of love or hate, or in a word that he thinks more of man than of any other creatures of whatever nature they be. All these distinctions are only the invention of a narrow mind. Ignorance has created them and interest keeps them alive.
No good sensible man can be convinced of hell, a soul, spirits or devils, in the manner of which they are commonly spoken. All these great senseless words have only been contrived to delude or intimidate the people. Let those then who wish to know the truth read what follows, with a liberal spirit and an intention to only give their judgement with deliberation.
The myriads of stars that we see above us are allowed to be so many solid bodies which move, and among which there is not one designed as the Court Divine where God is like a King in the midst of his courtiers. None is the abode of the blest, nor where all good souls fly after leaving this body and world.
What is called Heaven is nothing but the continuation of our atmosphere, more subtle and more refined, where the stars move without being sustained by any solid mass more than the Earth on which we live, and which like the stars is suspended in the midst of space.
As may be imagined, a Heaven intended for the eternal abode of the happy and of God, was the same among the pagans. Gods and goddesses were also represented in the same way, and so too a Hell or a subterranean place where it was pretended that the wicked souls descended to be tormented.
But this word hell taken in its proper and natural signification means nothing but a lower place, which poets have invented to oppose the dwelling of the celestial inhabitants, who are said to be very sublime and exalted. That is what the Latin word Infernus or inferni signifies, and also the Greek word Hades. It is an obscure place like the sepulchre, or any other low and hidden place.
All the rest of what has been said is only pure fiction and the invention of poets whose symbolical discourses are taken literally by feeble, timid and melancholy minds, as well as by those who are interested in sustaining this opinion.
18 Rules
To Take or Leave
1. Love truth.
2. Welcome folly.
3. Distrust goals.
4. Laugh deeply.
5. Farm money.
6. Die daily.
7. Give forgetfully.
8. Digest adversity.
9. Bury ambition.
10. Scrutinize motives.
11. Carry silence.
12. Befriend nature.
13. Work restfully.
14. Touch hearts.
15. Trust emptiness.
16. Avoid advising.
17. Break rules.
18.
12. i cringe when i hear any sentence that begins with the words "life is...".
21-25 points - you're probably okay.
if you don't care that i really admire you, give yourself 5 bonus points.
ARE YOU A FREE THINKER?
To find out, take this simple test. Give yourself 1 point for each of the following statements that you honestly agree with.
1. I like DOS and I hate Windows.
2. Even though I hate Windows, I like Windows 3.1 better than Windows 95.
3. I used to own a CP/M computer and I'm not ashamed to admit it.
4. I STILL own a CP/M computer and I'm not ashamed to admit it. (Give yourself two bonus points for this one.)
5. I enjoyed the movie "Ishtar".
6. I hated the movie "Tootsie".
7. I REALLY hated the movie "It's a Wonderful Life".
8. I disagree with Roger Ebert at least 30% of the time.
9. I like letterboxed videos no matter what anybody says.
10. I don't like letterboxed videos no matter what anybody says.
11. I never even thought about going to my senior prom.
12. I cringe when I hear any sentence that begins with the words "Life is..."
13. I cringe when I hear any sentence that begins with the words "All men are..."
14. I cringe when I hear any sentence that begins with the words "All women are..."
15. I cringe when I hear any sentence that begins with the words "There are two kinds of people in the world..."
16. I think that there are times, occasionally, when sexual intercourse is inappropriate.
17. I never understood all that fuss about Marilyn Monroe.
18. I don't like Elvis no matter what anybody says.
19. If Adolf Hitler told me the sun was going to come up tomorrow, I'd agree with him. (Give yourself two bonus points for this one.)
20. If Jesus told me the moon was made of naugahyde, I'd laugh in his face. (Give yourself twenty bonus points for this one.)
21. If Jesus told me the sun was going to come up tomorrow, I'd agree with him. (Give yourself five bonus points if you agree with both this statement AND No. 19.)
22. If Adolf Hitler told me the moon was made of naugahyde, I'd laugh in his face. (Give yourself five bonus points if you agree with both this statement AND No. 20. If you agree with all statements from 19 through 22, give yourself thirty bonus points.)
23. I thought the "Star Wars" trilogy was pretty lame.
24. I like "Star Trek", but I never liked Captain Kirk.
25. I think "Star Trek: VOYAGER" is the PITS!
26. I think "Star Trek: VOYAGER" is the best TV show ever. (Boy, are you EVER a free thinker! 50 bonus points!)
27. I'm interested in knowing what other people think, but my decisions are my own.
28. I think this test is highly insightful.
29. I think this test is really stupid.
30. I realize that this test is completely insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but I'm okay with that.
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FIGURING YOUR SCORE:
0-15 points - You, my friend, are a SHEEP.
16-20 points - You're a little too timid about taking unpopular stands.
21-25 points - You're probably okay.
26-30 points - You're definitely a free thinker.
31 points or higher - I really admire you. If you don't care that I really admire you, give yourself 5 bonus points.
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WELCOME TO HELL
by Lucifer B. Satan, Lord of Hades
THE DEVIL
Translated from Demon-ese by Kevin T. Rice
Greetings, souls of the damned. Welcome to Hell. In the words of Dante Alighieri, "Abandon all hope ye who enter here." I am Lucifer, your host. Allow me to introduce you to my Staff. You and they will get to know each other quite well over the next one hundred trillion years before the next staff rotation.
This is Socrates. He is my Chief of Staff, and he is in charge of all the heathen intellectuals who in life dared to practice the Damnable Art of Thinking. He was condemned to spend eterenity here for that, and for his Dreaded Homosexuality.
This is George Washington, my Chief of Infernal Security. He was condemned for his membership in the Freemasons, and for being a leader of a political revolution against tyranny, a sin condemned in Romans 13:1-2. He will be keeping all of you in line here. You would be wise not to cross him. If he or his assistant, Gandhi (damned for his Hinduism and civil disobedience) get wind that of you are practicing the holy and sanctified art of war as upheld by Jehovah in the Bible, the God who "is a Man of war" according to Exodus 15:3, they will report your activities directly to me, and I will take swift, decisive punitve measures.
This is James Joyce, condemned for leading a sinful life of fornication with his live-in lover Nora. He runs the Library, a place where you can spend all the free time you wish reading all terrible, censored, forbidden books that the people of God tried to prevent you from reading all your lives. There is a whole floor dedicated to erotic and sexually explicit material. Also, J.D. Salinger and Mark Twain each have their own shelves, and if you want to meet them you can. They are both down here.
This is Charles Darwin. Those of you who wish to engage in the sinful Art of the Oppositions of Science, as condemned in 1st Timothy 6:20, can register with him to make use of Infernal Scientific Laboratories. This is Bertrand Russell. He rules a section of hell reserved for atheists. It should surprise none of you that Russel is here, nor will you be surprised that his assitant is Charles Ingersol. They were both very verbal in their condemnation of religion and war, and as such, were Damned Blasted Heathen deserving of their own territory here in the Nether Regions of the Universe.
This is Aleister Crowley. His life also merited him to rule a layer of hell all his own - a level devoted to the Dark Occult Arts of Magic and Sorcery. Finally, meet my Minister of Anti-Evangelism, Mageria. She was the High Matriarch of an African village that no longer exists since it was torched and utterly destroyed by Evangelical Christians in the 15th century. When they arrived on her shores and demanded that she and her people all reject their ancient religion and worship only the god they brought with them, or be burned at the stake, she refused, and instead, in her last act of defiance, she smashed the crucifix the invaders' leader had been carrying. Her last words as they ran her through were "We will not worship your demon-on-a-stick!" Naturally they could not understand her, but her actions spoke louder than words. But I understood her, and I was delighted when she arrived here.
Now that you know us, and we certainly know you, it is time for your damnation to begin. This will be year daily schedule - 6 hours of obligatory Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth, 6 hours of obligatory Burning in a Lake of Fire and Sulfer, and the other 12 hours are free time. You can do whatever you want as long as it is sinful. Nothing holy or godly like war, in fact, I hope you will forgo violence entirely. I also forbid you to burn books (as in Acts 19:19) or to engage in other anti-social atrocities of a similar vein. I hope most of you will spend most of your free time engaged in the most despised of all sins - sexual freedom. Love each other freely and often. And enter hell with my blessing and God's cursing, to spend your well-earned eternity separated from Him.
"Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty! We are free at last!" - Martin Luther King, Jr. (he probably also found his way to eternal damnation for the sin of resisting political oppression)
what will occur in 2012 when the mayan calendar ends?
when people say the mayan calendar ends in 2012, they're referring to the end of one 5125-year cycle that began in 3114 b.c.
this cycle ends on december 21, 2012 (although some peg the date as the 22nd), marking the end of the mayan cyclical calendar.
WHAT WILL OCCUR IN 2012 WHEN THE MAYAN CALENDAR ENDS?
When people say the Mayan calendar ends in 2012, they're referring to the end of one 5125-year cycle that began in 3114 B.C. This cycle ends on December 21, 2012 (although some peg the date as the 22nd), marking the end of the Mayan cyclical calendar. Some theorize this will result in major "Earth changes (an idea popularized by Jose Arguelles), including severe earthquakes, coastal land sinking into the ocean, and the transporting of humankind to a "fourth dimension" state of consciousness. Others believe it will cause a reawakening of hidden knowledge in the human DNA, causing the human race to seek a path of initiation. Another theory postulates the date marks the collapse of linear time. An off-shoot of that says the date marks the discovery of "time travel," making linear time -- although still present -- obsolete.