Hortensia: That story is a hoot. Have you ever thought about writing essays of your experiences? You can start a blog for that. Create one each month or however often you choose. It would be fun to read them.
Posts by Etude
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22first T-day dinner this year
by Hortensia ini live in a seniors-only apartment complex.
management has a tendency to patronize us, which is interesting and rather entertaining.
today we had our annual t-day dinner for the seniors, catered by a local church.
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24
10,000 year old spear point found in FL - man is only 6,000 years old?
by Comatose inhttp://www.cnn.com/2013/11/16/us/florida-spring-artifacts/index.html?hpt=hp_c2.
as evidence piles up, will we reach a tipping point where people begin accepting the age of humans existence?.
he described as "phenomenal" the preservation of the finds, whose location as many as 5 feet deep in oxygen-free sediment had protected them from decay.. they include a suwannee projectile point -- a spear point -- whose estimated age of 10,000 years puts it "right at the cusp of the end of the ice age," arbuthnot said.
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Etude
What you all don't understand is that when Adam was cast out of Eden, many of his descendents retired in Florida. Let's face it, land was easier to get and there where lots bogs and everglades to hunt in, especially after the Great Flood. That tradition of retirement remains to this day.
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Etude
I don't know how true that account is. It just seemed to me that it's much like many instances I've heard about and situations the WTBTS itself uses to convince that the shunning practice works and can make people return. Here are a few examples:
"The situation is different if the disfellowshipped or disassociated one is a relative living outside the immediate family circle and home. It might be possible to have almost no contact at all with the relative. Even if there were some family matters requiring contact, this certainly would be kept to a minimum, in line with the divine principle: 'Quit mixing in company with anyone called a brother that is a fornicator or a greedy person [or guilty of another gross sin], . . . not even eating with such a man.' " —1 Corinthians 5:11. http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/1988/4/15/article_01.htm
From the same article as I cited above, consider how the practice of alienation is encouraged:
“Lynette's sister later told her: 'If you had viewed the disfellowshipping lightly, I know that I would not have taken steps toward reinstatement as soon as I did. Being totally cut off from loved ones and from close contact with the congregation created a strong desire to repent. I realized just how wrong my course was and how serious it was to turn my back on Jehovah.'
In another case, Laurie's parents were disfellowshipped. Yet she says: 'My association with them never stopped but increased. As time went on, I became more and more inactive. I got to the point of not even attending meetings.' Then she read material in The Watchtower of September 1 and 15, 1981, that stressed the counsel of 1 Corinthians 5:11-13 and 2 John 9-11. "It was as if a light bulb were turned on in me," she writes. 'I knew I would have to make some changes. I now better understand the meaning of Matthew 10:34-36. My decision was not an easy one for my family to swallow, for my son, five, is the only boy, and they love him dearly.' It is hoped that losing such association will touch the parents' hearts, as it did Margaret's. Still, the discipline involved helped Laurie: 'I am back out in the field ministry. My marriage and family are stronger because of my change, and so am I.' ”
The example is designed to show how shunning within a family works. No kidneys donated in the story, but the situation and the pain is the same.
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64
Is JWN an unforgiving place
by usualusername inover many years i have looked at jwn.
in fact barely a day goes by without my fix.. .
it is a site of contradictions.. .
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Etude
I have seen enough name-calling and attempts to belittle individuals for their views here to agree that sometimes it can be hostile on this forum. But that doesn't make the forum a complete place of hostility. A lot of caring also goes on in here, a lot of sympathizing, a lot of understanding and even friendships. I'm willing to put up with disagreement. But, I must admit that when people resort to insults, I give it right back. If they can dish it out, they should be able to take it. What I do afterwards is think about those negative people and try to picture them in their daily life and think about what type of individuals they are. That makes them more human and makes me think that they may not be so negative just because they say negative things. Others can be complete assholes and attack people instead of ideas. That's just how some people are. Still, I have seen many apologize for something they said that was insensitive. I'm not sure I would use one description to categorize this place. I would say it's all of the above and anything else you find it means to you.
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I like you more if you are literratte
by usualusername inas a daily visitor of this site i am shocked by how judgemental i am.. .
if someone makes a valid point but does not spell well it colours my judgement.. .
if someone who is a clown has excellent grammar i give them leeway.. as an aside i am a gramaphobe.. .
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Etude
I can illustrate my problem this way. In my post above (414) started to write: "I'm suddenly reminded of a joke regarding a grammatical Nazi..." I changed the sentence to say "I'm suddenly remembering a joke regarding a grammatical Nazi..." What happened is that is that I changed "reminded" to "remembering" and left the "of" in place. So the sentence looks really awkward. I think the site gives you like 10 seconds to edit or the post commits. And so my bad grammar will linger in perpetuity.
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85
Dawkins Chapter 2 - Dogs, Cows and Cabbages
by KateWild ini have to say, i am afraid i found this chapter labourious to read in most places.
imo i felt he just wasn't getting to the point.
i don't get why dawkins felt the need to teach me all about platoism, essentialism and rabbits.
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Etude
tec:
The reason I commented about you and that other interminable thread was that I identified you views here on this post. I’m also basing my comments and a return to that old thread based on what Qcmbr said in his post 3205 and 3207. It’s just like something I said to you about a year ago. snare&racket (Post 1932) reiterated the issue here that I presented to you then. My ultimate conclusion was that your certainty about God (or something that speaks to you) is purely contained in your head and cannot be substantiated by any means possible to others. Even if others express the same thing to you that you feel, that other person’s feelings cannot be confirmed outside of his or her mind. You would have to simply trust him or her. My main point is that this is indistinguishable from illusion.
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I like you more if you are literratte
by usualusername inas a daily visitor of this site i am shocked by how judgemental i am.. .
if someone makes a valid point but does not spell well it colours my judgement.. .
if someone who is a clown has excellent grammar i give them leeway.. as an aside i am a gramaphobe.. .
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Etude
Thanks. In the last few days, I've been enjoying a bit of Scotch a friend brought from a trip to Paris. It should have been Cognac, but I'm not going to quarrel with that. So, without implying I'm a lush, my errors grow proportionately to the number of drinks. I do find them, the errors. I wish I could go back and correct them. I learned to speak French many years ago and I realized I had it when I started dreaming in French. I still cross words between all three languages, Spanish, English and French, even though I've forgotten a lot of French. My handle Étude is not simply a reflection of a French word but because, as jgnat points out, it's a musical form and I play some on the piano.
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54
Religion vs. Spirituality
by Oubliette inreligion is for people who are scared to go to hell.
spirituality is for people who have already been there.
- bonnie raitt .
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Etude
Whatever it is, it seems to serve a purpose, in at least the fact that the reduced stress and longevity observed in some individuals may be the result of prolonged and regular spiritual experiences. In one case, they tested a nun. She was close to 90 years old and had achieved a way, via a lot of rote and practice, to enter a contemplative state. Another case used a Buddhist monk. Buddhists are not necessarily religious and achieve a similar (often deep) state of contemplation via meditation techniques. The findings are significant enough that it’s taking some re-education to cause Drs to consider it in their diagnosis. Here’s an abstract of such findings.
No. It is profound contemplation as opposed to mild or casual contemplation. You know, like your attention span, like when you temporarily space out.I posted about this topic 8 years ago and had a picture of that helmet. It’s really not that new. The link is broken now but it was the same crude helmet. The studies I mentioned had nothing to do with that helmet, so I take it the reference about the flaws in methodology involving the helmet are not an issue since the experiments I’ve seen were done in medical facilities by researchers either from academia or independently sponsored.
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194
Bethel Rules
by brotherdan inthis was brought up just in passing on another thread.
but i wanted to see if there are any bethelites or ex bethelites that remember some of the crazy rules we had to follow when we were there..
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Etude
Yeah, this thread really deserves a bump. I read it all and I'm reminded of how much I've forgotten. I'm still so cloudy about my 2 1/2 years (mid 70s) that I'm going to need a hypnotist to retrieve my suppressed painful memories. I do remember the following:
- No bulletin boards (at least when I was there)
- No bear bottles to decorate anything
- No pressed blue jeans (at least at the farm, but you could in Brooklyn)
- No extra furniture in your room (unless it was authorized, which was seldom)
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I like you more if you are literratte
by usualusername inas a daily visitor of this site i am shocked by how judgemental i am.. .
if someone makes a valid point but does not spell well it colours my judgement.. .
if someone who is a clown has excellent grammar i give them leeway.. as an aside i am a gramaphobe.. .
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Etude
I'm suddenly remembering of a joke regarding a grammatical Nazi: A man walks up to another on the street and asks, “Can you tell where the library is at?” The other person says: “You should never end a sentence with a preposition.” “OK”, says the first man. “Can you tell me where the library is at, asshole?”