Dune and Foundation, yes yes yes!
drew sagan
JoinedPosts by drew sagan
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38
Science Fiction recommendations
by JeffT inso i have my daughter (a 33 year old choreographer turned psych student) reading rah.
so far she's read double star and tunnel in the sky, she stayed up all night friday night finishing tunnel.
she's working on the moon is a harsh mistress now.
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24
The New Agnostic Self
by AK - Jeff inthe past few months have found me in a different frame of mind.
i no longer struggle with religion.
i have adopted a self label: agnostic christianist.
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drew sagan
You may find the ideas of philosopher and "catholic atheist" Santayana interesting.
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assembly hall video
by drew sagan inseeing this video brought back some memories.
i got baptized at this place in 99'.
the guy actually takes the video camera back into the changing room behind the baptism pool (memories!
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drew sagan
Well, you remember the awful orange, yuck. Well,it's all finished now. But, I will miss the fireplace. I got baptized there too.
Well, I happened to like the orange. At least we can agree on the fireplace
Btw, where you from exactly? Western PA, Ohio?
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16
assembly hall video
by drew sagan inseeing this video brought back some memories.
i got baptized at this place in 99'.
the guy actually takes the video camera back into the changing room behind the baptism pool (memories!
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drew sagan
I can't believe they took out that beautiful fireplace. At least now it looks like a glass wall in the foyer that you can actually see outside now.
It appears that they changed all of the large wood doors in the front to glass. I too can't believe the fireplace is gone!
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assembly hall video
by drew sagan inseeing this video brought back some memories.
i got baptized at this place in 99'.
the guy actually takes the video camera back into the changing room behind the baptism pool (memories!
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drew sagan
The videographer put up a text disclaimer about the "place where they're going to beat kids during the meeting" but we know that to be the case, whether he said he was kidding or not.
lol, i caught that too
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16
assembly hall video
by drew sagan inseeing this video brought back some memories.
i got baptized at this place in 99'.
the guy actually takes the video camera back into the changing room behind the baptism pool (memories!
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drew sagan
Seeing this video brought back some memories. I got baptized at this place in 99'. The guy actually takes the video camera back into the changing room behind the baptism pool (memories! ).
The place actually had a really interesting style before the remodel. Huge wagon wheel chandeliers and a giant stone fireplace. There was this awesome statue/decoration of a bear next to a tree with a beehive hanging from it. Lots of brown and orange from the 70's, but that is all gone now. The place pretty much has no style at all anymore.
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Anti-Mormonism and the Newfangled Countercult Culture
by drew sagan inhttp://mi.byu.edu/publications/review/?vol=10&num=1&id=282.
i found this article amusing for a variety of reasons and though i would share.. many of us here are faimliar with the "countercult ministries" that seem to be popular within evangelical christianity.
these organizations make videos, books and websites, as well as hold seminars and conventions about how to "witness" to cult groups.. during my own exit from the watchtower i came in contact with a number of these organizaitons.
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drew sagan
More info on the countercult movement:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_countercult_movement
The quote from Walter Martin is worth reading:
By cultism we mean the adherence to doctrines which are pointedly contradictory to orthodox Christianity and which yet claim the distinction of either tracing their origin to orthodox sources or of being in essential harmony with those sources. Cultism, in short, is any major deviation from orthodox Christianity relative to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith.
Notice how definition of "cults" has no relation to harmful practice. Rather than focus on the use of phobias, fear, indoctrination, information control, emotional blackmale and physical isolation the christian countercult activists rather focus on doctrine.
Following this line of logic, when examining "cults" its more important to understand the errors to Jim Jones interpretation of scripture rather than his use of violent force in the Jonestown massacre.
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drew sagan
It's wonderful how you manage to squeeze Derrida, existentialism, Sartre and postmodernism in one sentence, probably ignorant (or would he really do it on purpose?) of the radically opposing views of these different thinkers.
I suppose you have never heard of this thing called "humour"...
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A Sucker Bet , err, contract, to use on "End is Near" JWs
by Open mind inso i'm getting mentally ready for the big un-thanksgiving celebration our extended jw family is planning for this friday.
turkey and all the fixings of course, but a day late, and wt-approved.. almost inevitably at our big jw family gatherings (tm), someone will make a statement or observation along the lines of "armageddon's so close" or "we're in the last minutes of the last days", you know the drill.
om: your house.
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drew sagan
Very good trick
What really defines apocalyptic belief is not the idea that the world will at some time end, but that such and end is eminent and will soon be experienced. Yet what value is there to belief in an eminent end? Without having something "on the line", as the premise of this thread suggests", belief that the world as we know it is soon to expire means very little. As open mind poitns out, even JWs that argue "we have no date" actually do have relative dates fixed in their minds.
An interesting aspect to this involves the pracitice on individual members setting relative dates. Everybody in the group is encouraged to believe that the end is extrondinarly close, but must "make up the difference" in their own minds by creating boundries. I remember one JW even joking about this, saying that no matter what year it was we were always 12 years away from armageddeon.
Of course, the real goal for the preaching of eminence is rooted in the desire to change peoples behavior. The WTS is rather open about this, believing that they are saving lives.
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THE DILEMMA FACING APOSTATES
by You Know inthe dilemma facing apostate jehovahs witnesses, or apostate dubs, as i have dubbed them, (no pun intended) is the very fact of their seeming success.
one of the great ironies of the apostate movement, that presumptuously boasts of "know the truth about the truth," is that apostates themselves are bound by the watchtower's own interpretive shortcomings, and hence are massively ignorant of jehovahs judicial decisions regarding his organization.
in that the presumption in operation is that if enough scandal and error can be brought to light regarding the governing body, the watchtower society's teachings, as well as individual jehovah's witnesses, then that somehow means that jehovah's witnesses have no connection with jehovah god.
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drew sagan
What you apostates don't realize is that comparisons built on Jehovah's wisdom apply. He is the supreme creator, and by extension, the Watchtower is a creator of sorts. Jesus said as much when he stated "do unto others". The dictionary defines "others" as "Being the remaining one of two or more". Here we can see a clear distinction between the "other sheep" and those Jehovah has chosen to lead his people. Logically then, the only reasonable way to look at this dilemma is to understand it holistically. Jehovah sure has no limit to his power,and therefore the faithful slave by extension is given a sneak preview of things to come.