ringo5

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Posts by ringo5

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  15

  Power of Prayer Demonstrated

  by Carmel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  last night i took one of my daughter's highschool friends to the rodeo with me since noone else was interested.

  we had a good time with the freebee vip tickets, barby and then the rodeo.

  before the first event there was a half hour of pagentry which was okay, but it was interrrupted by an "invocation" by one of the local baptist ministers.

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  ringo5

  Good one Carmel! I tried explaining that problem to a believer here, but unfortunately God doesn't love me enough for a decent rebutal... http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/116796/2048644/post.ashx#2048644
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  167

  District Overseer put out to pasture with no $$$ - sad

  by Dogpatch in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  anyone know this poor soul?

  randy

  a brother who served as a curcuit and district.

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  ringo5

  All good points Frank. The more time one has invested in the organization, the more courage it takes to remove oneself. I for one, am glad you showed it is possible.
  
  

  And what about the former district overseer? Will he have to do more than say he's sorry before he's forgiven? Instead of fending for himself to make a decent living, will he now have to spend his old age raising money for various charities in order for us to feel compassion for him? Will he always be just a plain old evil man because he made an unwise choice as a child when he knew no better? I'm saddened by the feeling that some will say yes, according to some of the above entries. But as for me, I'm not so sure.

  
  
  At times I’ve seen even worse sentiments expressed, even rejoicing about fatalities that befall individual witnesses from time to time. I think there's probably several reasons for those kind of responses, but I think the emotions that drive these responses do the most harm to the ones carrying those emotions.
  
  Perhaps they haven’t learned yet that good people can do things they normally wouldn’t do because of being a slave to religion. (maybe not all religions though, I don’t think you're evil :))
  
  

  With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
  -Steven Weinberg, winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize in physics
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  49

  How Does the WT Explain this verse

  by XBEHERE in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  (john 2:18-22) 18 therefore, in answer, the jews said to him: "what sign have you to show us, since you are doing these things?

  " 19 in answer jesus said to them: "break down this temple, and in three days i will raise it up.

  " 20 therefore the jews said: "this temple was built in forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?

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  ringo5

  no no no Jesus didn't mean what he said, 'cause, 'cause, lots of times the Bible says things that it doesn't mean , right?

  
  
  

  It's easy to mock when you're not thinking deeply.

  If you notice I was quoting the “ Questions from Readers” and mocking their explanation of that scripture. Sorry if I offended you, but perhaps that is because this type of explanation is all too common among believers, Trinitarians included.
  
  This seems to be the process to explain dogma, taking all the scriptures and accounts that touch on a particular subject and look for a common theme or idea.
  Divide up the scriptures into “ for” and “against” columns in regards to a certain doctrine according to a literal reading of the scriptures.
  
  Now from our first reading, not all the scriptures are going to end up in one column. But if we believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God, we have to get all of the scriptures either in one column or the other, because obviously the Bible can’t contradict itself [ that would indicate human writers].
  
  Here’s where the fun begins. The column with the greatest amount of scriptures, will be our dogma of choice [ unless we already have a bias toward a certain dogma]. Now we take the scriptures that don’t agree, and try to determine what other possible ways they could be interpreted. These could include metaphors, hyperboles, illustrations or any other creative possibilities, that would either cast doubt on the literal interpretation of these, or even better, lend credence to dogma we have chosen.
  
  

  The Bible is so plain, and I wish you could open your eyes to see what it actually says:

  
  
  This has to be the most ironic statement so far in this thread.
  
  Thanks to Leolaia, as her post shows the whole gospel of John helps out the Trinitarians and is a problem for our friend, Frank, and I can see why he didn’t address it.
  Cheers
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  35

  Contacting the "other side"

  by sinis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i find it very interesting that the bible and mythology are very close, when speaking about god.

  also the statement made by god in the bible to worship no other god but him, in effect saying that there are others gods.

  has anyone actually looked into the occult, for lack of a better word, and actually made contact with an entity?

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  ringo5

  Now, I do work with alternate "realities". I would encourage anyone interested in the occult to study it (you know when you're being called). If it scares you, then you probably are not being called or not ready to engage. It also, imo, requires a more mature (not to be insulting) relationship with the Universe/god/gods. "They" do not require or respect groveling or fear of any sort. You will attract darker spiritual energies if you approach the veil with a fearful, grovelly energy. It is just like meeting other beings on this plane. You will attract what you put out. Sometimes that's good and sometimes that is bad.

  
  
  "Not to be insulting" Brigid, but do you have any evidence that shows this?
  You make these statements very matter of factly, without any reasoned argument to back them up.
  In trying to reach these "alternate realities", does it help to believe without questioning their existence?
  In other words, is it "mature" to expect a response from an unseen and unproven entity, and less "mature" to question their existence and attribute any supposed "contact" to your own very subjective experiences?
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  49

  How Does the WT Explain this verse

  by XBEHERE in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  (john 2:18-22) 18 therefore, in answer, the jews said to him: "what sign have you to show us, since you are doing these things?

  " 19 in answer jesus said to them: "break down this temple, and in three days i will raise it up.

  " 20 therefore the jews said: "this temple was built in forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?

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  ringo5

  Accordingly, Jesus Christ simply could not have meant that he would raise himself up from the dead.

  
  
  
  
  
  Therefore we will tell you what he meant to say because what he said was kind of confusing, right?
  
  Jesus H. Christ! (lord's name in vain )
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  18

  In memory of Jeff...

  by nsrn in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  i was just remembering a childhood friend.

  jeff was 2 years older than me, and our mothers were good friends, lifelong witness sisters.

  jeff's dad was 'worldly,' and i can remember being envious that jeff didn't have to go out in service and was allowed to miss many meetings.

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  ringo5

  No, that story wasn't too long at all. I also feel as another poster does, Jeff was fortunate to have you, if nothing else, to make his time here feel more human.
  
  

  I won't bore you all with the details of my intense grief at age 15. I'm tearing up thinking about it. I'll always remember how Dad and I went out to that grape arbor and scraped up all that bright red snow by flashlight, so Jeff's mom wouldn't have to see it again.

  
  
  I can't imagine what this must have been like, I just know that took courage.
  
  All the best....
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  35

  Contacting the "other side"

  by sinis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i find it very interesting that the bible and mythology are very close, when speaking about god.

  also the statement made by god in the bible to worship no other god but him, in effect saying that there are others gods.

  has anyone actually looked into the occult, for lack of a better word, and actually made contact with an entity?

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  ringo5

  I contact a diety each time I pray to God. He answers every single one of my prayers. His answer is either, Yes, No or Later but they all get answered. Have you ever thought that maybe you're praying for the wrong things and his answer is just no. OR Maybe he's shown you the answer and your eyes are closed to it? God is very personal and will be as personal as you want him to be to you. But he doesn't go where he's not invited. Invite him into your life, not just certain parts of it and see if he doesn't really show himself.

  
  
  I'm going to apologize in advance, synergy, because you sound like a nice lady with a good heart . But your feelings on prayer remind me of my time as a dub, as I would hear similar views expressed then. (And it's not just a JW thing)
  I would hear things like, a pioneer was looking for a better car for service, because their last one had finally bit the dust. They would make it a matter of prayer, feeling of course it was in line with God's will, as they were involved in a preaching work. Whether or not they got one of course, is irrelevant, because no matter what the outcome was, they felt God answered their prayer.
  
  a- they found a car in their budget so God blessed them ( God said yes )
  b- they had to rely on others for transportation and for a while until something turned up ( God said later )
  c- they couldn't find a car, so they changed their style of ministry to suit i.e. telephone or street witnessing ( God said no )
  
  Again with either a, b, or c as an outcome, the recipient or non recipient would feel God answered their prayer and find evidence of that:
  
  a- God blessed their efforts in the ministry
  b- God saw fit for them to enjoy the association and buildup others in the ministry
  c- God chose a different area of the ministry for them to pursue
  
  Well you might say this is a silly example of of a pretty mundane and petty prayer. Nevertheless, many feel as you do, that God is actively involved in very personal details of their life.
  
  Apparently this is of great comfort to them, as they feel close to the divine and they feel a certain divine protection .
  
  However I could not help but think of people who were living on the very thin edge between life and death, just barely surviving from day to day in third world countries. Not to mention the thousands of people that die every day due to " acts of god” .
  
  I guess you could say that if they were praying, they were praying for the wrong things.
  I guess you could say that if they were praying, God said no .
  I guess you could say that if they were praying, that perhaps God gave them the answer, but their mind was closed to it.
  
  -but as you say, maybe they hadn’t prayed, maybe they hadn’t invited God in that day, and they paid the price.
  
  If you had God’s power Synergy, could you possibly say no to those starving children and Africa for example?
  
  Would you be tapping your fingers on your desk waiting for them to say the proper prayer?
  
  Would you say, sorry I’m a little busy right now, try again later when I’m finished helping out all these people in first world countries deal with the stress of day to day life?
  
  As you can see, believing that God is answering your prayers, begs the question, where are God’s priorities?
  
  Perhaps he’s saving your life on a daily basis, perhaps every second of your day is a life and death struggle and you need constant divine intervention . ( I doubt that is the case )
  
  For me, I can’t imagine a God like that, even though you could say parts of the Bible depict a god that very same way.
  I much prefer to think that we’re all in this together, and we should stop looking for divine intervention, we should stop looking at the skies for answers, we should stop listening to the wind for clues.
  Perhaps some personal responsibility and a humanistic approach to life would get us out of a lot of problems and hopefully help others along the way.
  
  
  When did I realize I was God? Well, I was praying and I suddenly realized I was talking to myself.
  -Peter O’Toole
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  28

  Reading the Bible Made Me Leave "The Truth" – & Christianity

  by Seeker4 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was looking up a couple of verses the other day in my nwt reference bible the one with larger print, footnotes, cross references, etc.

  in my day i was quite a diligent student - the bible is filled with my notes and comments, and i'd already worn out another one earlier.

  one of the things that i found surprising as i was reading my notes, was how often they were pointing out inconsistencies, contradictions and obvious lies in the biblical text.

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  ringo5

  No, but I have run the numbers, nand it appears that irreligion is by far more fatal than religion. Have you done that?

  
  
  If you have those numbers on hand, I'd be interested in hearing them...
  
  
  
  
  
  It always seemed to be the kind of worship that was way over the top, you know, GLORY, GLORY, GLORY, with the every living thing stopping everything constructive, and bowing down, prostrating themselves, or ripping their garments apart, because that was our purpose in life, that was why he created us.
  
  Just didn't seem like a very fulfilling existence to look forward to, and also didn't present God as someone that I would like to emulate.
  
  
  Good thread.
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  16

  Hello To Everyone! I'm new here...

  by tremoka in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it has been a cycle of being a full fledge witness then reverting to a state of total inactivity for my family and i. we do awesome for a month or 2, then we're missing in action for another 6 months.. where i am breaking this cycle, i say no more, my husband who was raised in the 'truth', remains inactive yet devote in heart.

  i respect that.

  this is all he's ever known.. however, i was raised a good little mormon girl, left one church claiming to be the only true religion, i know i can do this too.

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  ringo5

  I’ve never understood how God could expect His creatures to pick the one true religion by faith—it strikes me as a sloppy way to run a universe.
  -Jubal Harshaw, Stranger in a Strange Land

  
  
  Robert Heinlein
  
  Welcome tremoka!
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  112

  Great Tribulations Starts December 20, 2002

  by proplog2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  2300 days from december 20 2002 brings you to april 8 2009. april.

  8, 2009 is nisan 14 - memorial /passover.

  daniel 8:13 "and i got to hear a certain holy one speaking and.

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  ringo5

  No one said you weren't interesting proplog, and it would be especially interesting to hear what happened to this prediction?
  
  Perhaps there was some flaw in the gregorian calendar that wasn't taken into account?
  
  (psst, I'm trying to help you out here....)