without getting their panties in a wad over whether there are any greater implications
So which "greater implications" are we supposed to get our panties in a wad over? The ones that involve much greater mental acrobatics than this rain discussion?
Like most believers, Jesus and the audience understand that God, as the Creator, is to be recognized for such blessings as beneficial rain.
Yes, we should by all means recognize God for such blessings as the beneficial rain. By that same token we should also recognize God for the destructive hurricanes and tsunamis that kill thousands. Or does he only cause the good rain?
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Here's my interpretation of the scripture in question:
"However, I say to you: Continue to love your enemies and to pray for those persecuting you; that you may prove yourselves sons of your Father who is in the heavens, since he makes his sun rise upon wicked people and good and makes it rain upon righteous people and unrighteous."
"since he makes his sun rise upon wicked people and good and makes it rain upon righteous people and unrighteous." - You're good, you're wicked, it doesn't make a damn bit of difference as far as God is concerned, he'll still send the sun and the rain. Both the beneficial sun, and the burning, drought-inducing sun. Same with the rain, he'll give you good rain, and then he'll mix in some crop-destroying downpours and a few hurricanes for good measure. The lesson: God's an extremely unbalanced individual with too much time and power at his disposal. So the best thing for we humans to do is band together and figure out how to survive God's violent mood swings. When the parent is wildly erratic, the best thing for the kids to do is put aside their differences and figure out how they're going to deal with Dad's insanity.
He's pulling the old "I'll make a man out of you yet" technique by messin' with our heads. But in the end, I'm sure we'll all be better, stronger individuals as a result. So let's thank God for the insanity. He knows what's best.
Either that or I'm way off base and just not employing any common-sense analytical skill, which is to say "using my brain."
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Cognitive_Dissident
JoinedPosts by Cognitive_Dissident
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BIG LIE IN THE BIBLE!
by Gill ingod makes the sun shine and the rain fall on the righteous and the unrighteous!.
that's what it says in the bible, (paraphrased to more or less).
matthew 5 :45. so, that being the case, why does he not make it rain in drought stricken areas?.
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Cognitive_Dissident
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!!!!!!!!!! New Elder Video !!!!!!!!!!!!!
by SickofLies inthis time they really did call the police on me lol!
they backed out though, they called, then canceled the call after a while and the police never came to charge me with recording them, pitty really.. http://www.quad-central.com/~dan2007.
there is the link, i was unable to edit the audio file like i usually do to take out the blank spaces and amplify the volume, so if someone could do that with the wav file on the server that would be great!.
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Cognitive_Dissident
SOL, you've got a PM.
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!!!!!!!!!! New Elder Video !!!!!!!!!!!!!
by SickofLies inthis time they really did call the police on me lol!
they backed out though, they called, then canceled the call after a while and the police never came to charge me with recording them, pitty really.. http://www.quad-central.com/~dan2007.
there is the link, i was unable to edit the audio file like i usually do to take out the blank spaces and amplify the volume, so if someone could do that with the wav file on the server that would be great!.
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Cognitive_Dissident
Holy crap, gonads of steel doesn't even begin to describe it. My favorite part was when he told you that you had to leave because you were violating their rights. Now if that's not the pot calling the kettle black I don't know what is.
I'd be more than happy to clean up the audio files.
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need Help! not sure what to do.
by confuuused inhi all, hope that someone can help!
i was recently studying with the jw's and i'm just not sure on what to do.. i feel guilty because i canceled study for the time being.
i just have so many questions.
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Cognitive_Dissident
Welcome to the board Confuuused! As many have already said, don't let the guilt influence your decisions. Jehovah's Witnesses are a cult, pure and simple. Guilt and fear are two of the powerful tools they use.
Here is some interesting reading on what makes a cult. It's taken from the following website:
www.religio.de/cudef.html
CULT - Any group which has a pyramid type authoritarian leadership structure with all teaching and guidance coming from the person/persons at the top. The group will claim to be the only way to God; Nirvana; Paradise; Ultimate Reality; Full Potential, Way to Happiness etc, and will use thought reform or mind control techniques to gain control and keep their members. This definition covers cults within all majopr world religions, along with those cults which have no OBVIOUS religious base such as commercial, educational and psychological cults. Others may define these a little differently, but this is the simplest to work from. THE 'ORTHODOX BIBLE-BASED CULT'
A group is called a cult because of their behaviour - not their doctrines. Doctrine is an issue in the area of Apologetics and Heresy. Most religious cults do teach what the Christian church would declare to be heresy but some do not. Some cults teach the basics of the Christian faith but have behavioural patterns that are abusive, controlling and cultic.
This occurs in both Non-Charismatic and Charismatic churches. These groups teach the central doctrines of the Christian faith and then add the extra authority of leadership or someone's particular writings. They centre around the interpretations of the leadership and submissive and unquestioning acceptance of these is essential to be a member of good standing. This acceptance includes what we consider non-essential doctrines e.i. not salvation issues (such as the Person and Work of Christ.) The key is that they will be using mind control or undue influence on their members.
An excellent book on this subject is "Churches that Abuse" by Dr Ronald Enroth.
Using these guidelines of definition, Bible-based, Psychological, Educational and Commercial aberrations can easily be identified.
OTHER IDENTIFICATION MARKS
(a) The group will have an ELITIST view of itself in relation to others, and a UNIQUE CAUSE. e.i. THEY ARE THE ONLY ONES RIGHT - everyone else is wrong. THEY ARE THE ONLY ONES DOING GOD'S WILL - everyone else is in apostasy.
(b) They will promote their cause actively, and in doing so, abuse God-given personal rights and freedoms. This abuse can be THEOLOGICAL, SPIRITUAL, SOCIAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL.
HOW THEY DO THIS
1. Their leader/s may claim a special, exclusive ministry, revelation or position of authority given by God.
2. They believe they are the only true church and take a critical stance regarding the Christian church while at the same time praising and exalting their own group, leader/s and work.
3. They use intimidation or psychological manipulation to keep members loyal to their ranks. This could be in the form of threats of dire calamity sent by God if they leave; certain death at Armageddon; being shunned by their family and friends etc. This is a vital part of the mind control process.
4. Members will be expected to give substantial financial support to the group. This could be compulsory tithing (which is checked); signing over all their property on entering the group; coercive methods of instilling guilt on those who have not contributed; selling magazines, flowers or other goods for the group as part of their "ministry".
5. At the same time bible-based cults may ridicule churches that take up free-will offerings by passing collection plates and/or sell literature and tapes. They usually brag that they don't do this. This gives outsiders the intimation that they are not interested in money.
6. There will be great emphasis on loyalty to the group and its teachings. The lives of members will be totally absorbed into the group's activities. They will have little or no time to think for themselves because of physical and emotional exhaustion. This is also a vital part of the mind control process.
7. There will be total control over almost all aspects of the private lives of members. This control can be direct through communal living, or constant and repetitious teaching on "how to be a true Christian" or "being obedient to leadership". Members will look to their leaders for guidance in everything they do.
8. Bible-based cults may proclaim they have no clergy/laity distinction and no paid ministry class - that they are all equal.
9. Any dissent or questioning of the group's teachings is discouraged. Criticism in any form is seen as rebellion. There will be an emphasis on authority, unquestioning obedience and submission. This is vigilantly maintained.
10. Members are required to demonstrate their loyalty to the group in some way. This could be in the form of "dobbing" on fellow members (including family) under the guise of looking out for "spiritual welfare".
They may be required to deliberately lie (heavenly deception/theocratic strategy) or give up their lives by refusing some form of medical treatment.
11. Attempts to leave or reveal embarrassing facts about the group may be met with threats. Some may have taken oaths of loyalty that involve their lives or have signed a "covenant" and feel threatened by this.
Refugees of the group are usually faced with confrontations by other members with coercion to get them to return to the group.
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JW's TORTURES DAUGHTER TO DEATH
by DannyHaszard ingirl's brother testifies father fatally beat her
chicago tribune, united states - 20 minutes ago .
... avenue, chicago.
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Cognitive_Dissident
The Slack's five other children all showed indications of physical abuse. They were taken into state custody and placed with relatives, authorities said.
I wonder if they got placed with JW relatives. Probably. Aarrgh! Hopefully somebody at the state level had some knowledge of the cultic practices of the witnesses and got the other kids in to some sort deprogramming therapy, in addition to the dozens of other kinds of therapy that a kid would have to go through to try to deal with this.
I just can't imagine the emotions that the other kids must be going through. All of the guilt at being forced to take part in that unspeakable act.
"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
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Secret Bible on National Geographic
by Hellrider in...has started now.
the episode that aired tonight was about early christianity, all the differing views on jesus, and about all the other messiahs.
gnosticism was also mentioned.
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Cognitive_Dissident
I don't have cable. The only time I miss it is when I hear about shows like this. Although I did catch the special on the Gospel of Judas on the History channel at a friend's house. That was very interesting.
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JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES: DISFELLOWSHIPPING AND SHUNNING
by Lady Lee incanada
library of parliament.
research branch
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Cognitive_Dissident
We can educate the public about such actions taken by the WTS. Every time someone reads about how the WTS treats ex-Members they become "immunized" against the WTS.
Exactly. Think of it like word of mouth opinion on whether or not to go to a restaurant. If you hear from someone you know that the service and food were horrible, you're probably not going to go. Or at the very least you'll be a bit skeptical if you do.
That's my main avenue of action at this point. Whenever I talk to friends about the Witnesses, I usually drive home a couple of main points, protection of child molesters, child sacrifice due to heinous blood policies, and treatment of rape victims. If every one of us can educate those we know about the reality of the Organization, when the JW's come up in those people's conversations, they'll at least be able to put a bug in someone else's ear about some of the majorly destructive issues.
I consider it informal anti-witnessing.
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Your first "worldly" heroes?
by apfergus inone of the first things that i realized after i left the organization was that i could actually have human heroes who weren't bible characters.
now this will give you an idea of how much of a nerd i am, but the first person i began to idolize as a 17-18 year old teenager was richard p. feynman, the mid 20th century theoretical physicist.
of course, now i'm on my way to becoming a physicist myself, although i'm going into the experimental side instead of theory.
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Cognitive_Dissident
Tom Waits
"Are you pretending to love
Well I hear that it pays well
How do your pistol and your Bible and your
Sleeping pills go?
Are you still jumping out of windows in expensive clothes?" -
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A Poll for all to participate in:
by Honesty in.
how many jw's visit this site and remain 'in good standing' in the 'christian (their word not mine) congregation of jehovah's witnesses after six months of perusing various topics?.
i didn't, how about you?
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Cognitive_Dissident
I joined after I made the decision to leave. Joining helped immensely however, in working through the different waves of emotion that came, and still come, after leaving.
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Cognitive_Dissident
See, the two can coexist peacefully.