Posts by rmt1
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10Who says Perfect Humans were created, [evolved] to live forever? WT does*, genesis does not. do you?
by prologos inthe only reference to living forever, (or indefinitely long) in the genesis 2&3 account, is in reference to the "tree of life".
gen 3:22 "--eat and live to time indefinite--".
this tree must have been hard to find because wt writers opined that eventually, in their faithful course, a&e would be led to that allowed tree to gain everlasting life's symbolic confirmation.. therefore as the ancients accidentally & correctly wrote, humans did not have inherent everlasting life, but it was gained through diet.
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10
What is more important? Money or the message?
by snare&racket inimagine the dilemma..... you have a message to spread, but spreading it may cost you money when selling your property as your message is a little embarassing and weird.... do you paint over it and secure the sale or leave it be and stand by your message in the hope it saves even one more life?.
it really isn't the same religion i grew up in!
people have died defending and spreading that message from brooklyn, a message that they would now paint over for the sake of a building sale... .
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rmt1
"Brooklyn bought half a lake"
I'm curious if this was a condition of sale. I.e., was it impossible to parcel the lot smaller? Is there any real value to lake property, itself? Can they use it for boating or recreation? Just seems bizarre, like an attempt to build one of the paradise cartoons, but to never actually live that real paradise. Like they're ok, just ok, being stuck in a spiritual paradise but 'faking' living in a physical paradise, constructed, painted, landscaped to spec. (I cannot imagine bros and sis' going swimming in that area.)
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rmt1
I don't recall any sort of media, as a child in the seventies and early eighties, so passively indoctrinating with lessons learned from modern passification, baby-sitting, parental dereliction that have cropped up in the last decade. No comparison. With the My Book of Bible Stories, and a 7/8/9 year old brain, you could get sucked into another world through the well-done artwork and digestible content. These here short films are modern-day dramas from the DC boiled down to a soundbite worth of scarce insight. I always enjoyed the historical dramas as being THE escape or repreive from the general boredom of the DC, and always hated the modern-day dramas as being too immediate, too in your face, too preachy. Does jw.org do any historical cartoon/dramas for the kids? That would be evidence they at least gave a crap about engaging a genuine sense of wonder.
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rmt1
somebody hit something above.
Painting a fence is code for construction work.
Serving refreshments to a landscaper is code for construction work.
Since (), (), and () have wisely advised me not to be cynical, I'll go ahead and wonder out loud, without asserting anything nefarious:
[00:56] "Why is a picture book of third grade level fractions being visibly, recognizably, unmistakably, apparently, optically, visually, coincidentally, mysteriously, cryptically, serendipetously placed at the END of this video that is about giving and has already included signifiers of construction work?"
It can be argued that giving a fraction of a person-hour as a professional painter, or as a professional landscaper, can be easily converted by some rate of exchange into another, more portable, form of value. Human Resources has codes or cost centers where you can assign fractions of a FTE (Full Time Employee) to various tasks. Your job description may specify that 4/5 of your time goes to doing one thing in one department, and the other 1/5 goes to a related skill in some other department. Fractions are all around us and they are convenient short-hand for estimating shares of a collective good, rates of repayment, rates of monthly contribution to retirement, health insurance, taxes, and other things.
It can be argued that a flower is not a reduceable unit of giving. If the makers of the video wanted to associate fractions with giving, for some reason, then including fractions in a video about giving is an excellent way to acheive that. If the makers of the video afterwards wanted to erase the conscious association of fractions with giving, then capping the lesson with an irreducable, unfractionable unit of giving is an excellent way to achieve that (Derrida, Heidegger, sous rature, erasure).
It can also be argued that a flower is not necessarily just a flower, and is by virtue of who the makers are, a signifier of a happy, permanent, global, utopian, extensively landscaped, unerringly painted, future, state.
Fractions can also signify construction, at least in the United States where 2x4s and 1/2 or 3/8 or 3/4 inch plywood coexist. (I do miss quickbuilds. Good times, by themselves.) -
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rmt1
Using encryption terms, this video is a public key that has been carefully sterilized and is viewable by a wide audience, simply repeating a generalized version of the Golden Rule which addresses recipient people. (See selfishness and altruism.) The private key, passed carefully and guardedly among known allies, is the very non-public instruction to place resources into a wooden box that goes to a recipient corporation. Combine the two keys, public and private, and you have the authenticated message to the child. This is the glowing lure of an angler fish. The teeth are on the inside.
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Disfellowshiping: Why the Terror?
by Cold Steel inthe more i read about ritual shunning and disfellowshiping in the society, the more i wonder how the governing body and elders have pulled the proverbial wool over the eyes of the congregation.
first, the society doesnt consider itself a church (unlike the ancient christians, who did consider themselves to be part of a church).
yet, like other sectarians, they have their hands out for contributions and exercise immense power over their members.
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rmt1
"because the real currency that the WT traffiks in is the familial love bonds among family members. Instead of indulgences, they sell you your own family if you tow the line."
Clarion.
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27
How I see it in JW land
by tornapart inthey're tired... sooooo soooo tired.
they know it's all wrong but they keep telling themselves how wonderful it is.
almost as if they are trying to convince themselves.
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rmt1
"Stockholm momentum" will probably allow TWS to coast straight through this century and into the second. Can you see, with your mind's eye, people sweating together, at the Jehovah's Witnesses 2101 "The End Is Near" District Convention? It is absolutely, entirely possible that babies born into JWs this year will die in the cult in 70 or 80 years.
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Do You Think The Witnesses Actually Know What They Believe In?
by minimus ini think they know what they don't believe in, like no blood, no hellfire, no trinity....but they really couldn't explain what their beliefs are and why they believe as they do.
do you agree?
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rmt1
Can I ask what the baptism question change is? I was baptized at 15 in 1988.
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40
Now I'm not a JW, is it ok for me to...
by Julia Orwell in...drink a lot?
gosh i love wine.
i like a good bottle of wine each night, and i have a high tolerance to alcohol, though i never drank much (except for a couple of times with the vodka, but i don't keep that stuff in the house anymore, way too dangerous) as a jw because getting slightly happy is a 'sin'.
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rmt1
Why did Jesus serve, have, aid and abet wine? For its antioxidant properties?
The metric I use is lightness of being, levity, merriment, and then beyond merry into the absurd or surreal, or diminished judgement, beyond which are altered states with diminished physical coordination. The falling down states are really for the frat boy set, because they haven't done it. The absurd or surreal is for special rare occasions where you need to take a mental vacation from the draconian limits of strict rationality. RARE, like, twice or three times a year. Merriment can be more often than that but certainly is not an object of imbibing, certainly not a goal, and can be more of a tolerable accident. Lightness of being and levity are good for any time, except, don't imbibe to maintain a buzz. A buzz has a natural beginning, a natural plateau, a natural ending. Don't abuse the natural course of the molecule in the body by chasing what is inherently ephemeral. Accept and surf the zen, then be done.
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40
Now I'm not a JW, is it ok for me to...
by Julia Orwell in...drink a lot?
gosh i love wine.
i like a good bottle of wine each night, and i have a high tolerance to alcohol, though i never drank much (except for a couple of times with the vodka, but i don't keep that stuff in the house anymore, way too dangerous) as a jw because getting slightly happy is a 'sin'.
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rmt1
If I had a whole bottle with sulphites, by head would be splitting.