this is a scan from the march 2010 awake.
i thought it ironic that jehovah would not want people to handle snakes to worship.
him because it might cause suffering, pain, and even death, but would want his followers to refuse blood that can cause the .
This is a scan from the March 2010 Awake. I thought it ironic that Jehovah would not want people to handle snakes to worship
him because it might cause suffering, pain, and even death, but would want his followers to refuse blood that can cause the
same thing. Maybe the practice of refusing blood to save lives will be outlawed as snake handling.
It's seems to all be in the interpretation of scripture.
purps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9fana--b0q&feature=related.
yabba dabba dooooo
a couple weeks ago in the news in the sacramento, california area several billboards advertising atheism were spray painted and ripped apart with graffiti scribbled on the advertising.
things like " jesus died for you !
" and other threatening slogans were written on these billboards .
Today I’d like to talk about religious stereotypes. Well, actually, I should say non-religious stereotypes. Okay, atheists. I want to talk about atheists.
Yeah, I know. That topic sounds about as inviting as a naked soak in a cesspool with a hepatitis-infected leper, but indulge me a moment. My proposed job here is to get us to examine our assumptions and beliefs. And I would bet pretty decent money that most of us have a stereotype or two about atheists floating around our brains. Granted, those stereotypes aren’t nearly as colorful as those that attend the big three -- Jews, Christians, and Muslims – (God seems to prefer uniformity of practice). But I think any attempt to combat misconception, no matter against which group, is a noble pursuit, particularly if it encourages mutual understanding. Or at least mutual diminishment of blatant ignorance.
One of the most common misconceptions about atheists is that they are amoral; they are callous beasts driven wholly by self-interest. This misconception is born from the fallacious assumption that morality cannot exist in the absence of God (or gods). If there is no higher being to hold you accountable for your deeds, religious folk reason, then what could possibly keep someone on the straight and narrow? Why not live for the self? Why not say “screw the world, I’m living for me,” if no divine justice awaits you at the end of your days? Why should the godless ever do the right thing?
Why? Because it’s the right thing to do.
Contrary to popular belief, one can believe in a greater good without subscribing to a greater being. And it is this greater good (the betterment of society, of the environment, of man himself) that motivates the atheist to behave unselfishly. In a sense, the atheist subscribes to the fundamental tenet of most religions – to treat others with the same respect and compassion that you yourself want to be treated with – without seeking to please a divine creature in the process. The reward is the action itself, is the good it propagates here and now, not some prize that awaits one in the after life. Likewise, the punishment for wrongdoing is the harm and horror it wreaks here on earth.
Furthermore, the atheist doesn’t reserve his love and respect only for those of the same belief; he isn’t kind just to other atheists. Nor does he offer his good deeds with a sermon attached; no attempts at conversion accompany his compassion. The atheist doesn’t see saved and unsaved, believer and infidel….us and them. Instead, he sees only humans, some misguided perhaps, or even willfully blind. And yes, there are some that he may harbor prejudicial attitudes toward (atheists are human after all). But in the end the atheist respects the religious person’s right to believe as he believes and doesn’t make proselytizing the cost of altruism.
Part of what propagates the view that atheists are selfish, amoral, hell-bound savages is the fact that atheists are not organized. There is no atheist canon, no church to attend, no rituals or traditions to follow. While there are numerous atheist and secular organizations that perform and fund charitable work around the world (see the end of this article for a very partial list of such organizations), atheists have no visible institution to unite them or identify them with their shared belief. Thus, when atheists engage in good works they do so independently or under the banner of other organizations that have no atheist affiliation. As a result, atheists do not garner the credit; other organizations or sometimes even other religions do.
So what’s the take-home of my baby rant? If you think all (or even most) atheists are heartless monsters that don’t give a crap about anyone but themselves, check yourself. How did you arrive at that conclusion? What sort of experience and knowledge is that assumption based upon? More important, ask yourself how such an assumption isn’t as condescending and prejudicial as many atheists are accused of being toward the religious? If you cannot judge atheists on the quality of their character rather than on the perceived stigma of their belief, then how are you any better than they are?
http://techskeptic.blogspot.com/2007/12/atheist-charities.html
this doesn't happen a lot but every once in a while, on a day that used to be my meeting night, i'll get a weird feeling.
it happened today.
it's hard to explain what it is.
It happened to me for a long time,
I just realized the panic feelings are gone now, yea me!
purps
http://www.jw-media.org/rus/20100309.htm.
for immediate release.
march 9, 2010.
In their defence, Jehovah’s Witnesses say that they are being forced to organise their campaign because various courts in Russia have banned their publications and outlawed their activities (see “Court in Rostov bans Jehovah’s Witnesses for being religious extremists,” in AsiaNews, 17 September 2009, and “Altai court condemns Jehovah’s Witnesses for “extremism,” in AsiaNews, 5 October 2009)
Coincidentally or not, the law enforcement officers showed up to close the building the day after Jehovah's Witnesses concluded their distribution of the tract Could It Happen Again?
Please tell me, was the ban on literature and outlaw of their activities in effect when the witnesses did this campaign of distributing 12 million tracts?
http://www.jw-media.org/rus/20100309.htm.
for immediate release.
march 9, 2010.
More than 50 Jehovah’s Witnesses arrested in Russia for taking part in a public protest
Some 150,000 volunteers hand out about 12 million leaflets slamming the persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses, guilty of rejecting to military service and unfriendliness towards other religious groups. For their part, the Witnesses say that history is repeating itself with a return to Soviet-style persecution. Moscow (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Between late February and early March, Russian police arrested at least 50 Jehovah’s Witnesses for handing out leaflets that describe how their religious freedom is curtailed. They are especially critical of the way their communities are being persecuted, labelled extremist and criminal for refusing the military draft. On 26 February, the group’s national body launched a campaign to raise awareness about the violence Jehovah's Witnesses encounter in many republics of the Russian Federation. It brought together almost 150,000 volunteers in the streets of Moscow, Rostov, Sverdlovsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Omsk, Krasnodar, and Volgograd. Protesters handed out leaflets in railway as well as subway stations and at bus stops. Titled ‘Is history repeating itself? A question for Russians’, the four-page flyer quoted extensively from President Dmitry Medvedev’s speeches in which the Russian leader condemns political repression based on religion. Distributed to the tune of 12 million copies, the leaflet noted that the post-Soviet rehabilitation of Jehovah’s Witnesses had “turned to dust.” Fifteen years ago, many veteran Jehovah's Witnesses received a special "certificate of rehabilitation." Now the same people, certificates in their pocket, are being charged as "extremists," forced to go underground. According to Lev Levinson, director of the Institute for Human Rights, the current persecution is the by-product of a perverse interpretation of anti-extremism laws. As a religious group, Jehovah’s Witnesses are accused of being a “sect”, of being unfriendly towards other Churches, of rejecting military service, this despite the fact that Russia’s constitution allows for an alternative civilian service. In their defence, Jehovah’s Witnesses say that they are being forced to organise their campaign because various courts in Russia have banned their publications and outlawed their activities (see “Court in Rostov bans Jehovah’s Witnesses for being religious extremists,” in AsiaNews, 17 September 2009, and “Altai court condemns Jehovah’s Witnesses for “extremism,” in AsiaNews, 5 October 2009) Before that, they had turned to President Medvedev asking for justice (see “Jehovah’s Witnesses write to Medvedev, tell him they are persecuted like in Soviet times,” in AsiaNews, 13 November 2009), but now must try to move public opinion. Following the latest incident, Jehovah’s Witnesses were interrogated after their arrest, their leaflets seized. Most of them were eventually released after a few hours. http://www.asianews.it/news-en/More-than-50-Jehovah%E2%80%99s-Witnesses-arrested-in-Russia-for-taking-part-in-a-public-protest-17853.html
after i decide to leave the jehovah's witnesses one day,i will not look for a new religion.
the damage that the wts has caused me leads me to mistrust all men and religion.. i trusted these men from the wts .
i gave up 35 years of my life to find out that the wts is just a printing and real estate corporation disguised as a religion.
NONE!!!
i saw a story this morning about a guy who is making cheese using his wife's breast milk.. i checked a poll and 80% of people think this is gross.
i must admit there is a part of me that is repulsed too.
my scientific "geek" and curious side is intrigued and would want to try it... but then the repulsion kicks in again.
Snoozy,
It was how the book ended, I've never seen the movie.
Sorry for the confusion.
As you can see, the movie could not end the way the book did!!!
and there was much controversy over it.
purps
http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/03/10/25418.htm.
imo, this jerk doesn't have to go door to door.
he could get his time in by informal witnessing.
claiming it unconstitutionally prohibits him from practicing his religion by proselytizing door-to-door
He can practice his religion without proselytizing. Going door-to-door should be a priveledge not a requirement .
The WT has got this all messed up.
purps
i saw a story this morning about a guy who is making cheese using his wife's breast milk.. i checked a poll and 80% of people think this is gross.
i must admit there is a part of me that is repulsed too.
my scientific "geek" and curious side is intrigued and would want to try it... but then the repulsion kicks in again.
The last scene in Grapes of Wrath comes to mind,
When the new mother that just lost her baby nurses/ feeds a starving man.
purps
