So Leo, is your last post an example of what you like to do on New Year?
LOLOL
Excellent post, along with several others on this thread.
onacruse
JoinedPosts by onacruse
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Paul's Letters: Part of "All Scripture ..." ?
by compound complex ingreetings, friends:.
a friend - a former jw - gave me thomas paine's the age of reason: being an investigation of true and fabulous theology.
the mind boggles as i begin, haltingly, to fathom what many of you have already learned and shared here on jwd: the authenticity of the bible is seriously in question.
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..Rock`n on the Mountain!!..
by OUTLAW in..happy new year jwd!
!.........the music is cranked!....and ..the satelite dish is bringing in some of the best music on the planet!........jeff healy was just on......that man can play a guitar!!........
"the band"is on now..and..levon helm is working his magic............jwd!
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onacruse
WHERE'S YOUR DAWG?????????
Did you scare him off with all those firecrackers and six-shooters? LOL
Gawd, I'm so glad it's 2008. I'm gonna win the lottery, and I'll give bikerchic a penny or two, and I'm gonna ignore OUTLAW all year, and I'm gonna get a hair transplant, and a liposuction.
Life is good!
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Will Carnivorous Jehovah Establish A Vegetarian New World?
by TMS ingod jehovah has had a preoccupation, if not an obsession with meat.
although cain worked hard to produce an offering of vegetables, it was rejected because it was not meat.
priests were instructed to save certain cuts of meat for jehovah, the fatty portions.
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onacruse
Oracle:
a female spider deciding to chow down down on her male partner following her impregnation...
And then there are praying mantises, where the female not infrequently consumes the male partner even as the impregnation is proceeding.
there seems to be a major disconnect.
She, of course, disconnects the head first, and works down slowly to the "vital" organs.
I know...TMI.
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How do angels and demons influence mankind?
by onacruse inwts publications, and indeed virtually all religions on this planet, assert that angels and demons have regular influence on mankind, on individual human beings as well as on the general course of human events.. but i've never read anything specific about how they supposedly accomplish this.. do they tweak our neurons?
do they fiddle with our hormones, thereby making us feel good or bad about a certain course of action?
do they inject thoughts into our brains, perhaps in such a subtle way that we think those are our own thoughts?
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onacruse
Dear michelle:
For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to THE Spirit will of THE Spirit reap everlasting lfe...For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision or uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. Galatians 6:8,15.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this scripture has nothing whatsoever to do with angels (or demons), as neither of these 'classes' of beings are subject to the benefits of Jesus' ransom. Paul is here talking about humans, not spirit beings.
In addition, my point in contrasting these two types of beings is that they are so different from one another that it's virtually impossible (either conceptually or scripturally) to determine how there could be any real interaction between them at all. A poor analogy would be like trying to mix oil and water, or plasma with chocolate brownies.
However, insofar as the Bible indicates, the only demonstrable influence angels have had on humankind is when they directly interceded in certain material ways, as with Moses, Abraham, Lot, Elisha, Daniel, Joseph and Mary, Paul, etc...providing stone tablets, physically ushering believers from danger areas, wiping out opposing armies, stopping the mouths of lions, causing a palpable blindness, etc. Hence the continuing popularity (even as it was once popular within the WTS) of "guardian angels."
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Will Carnivorous Jehovah Establish A Vegetarian New World?
by TMS ingod jehovah has had a preoccupation, if not an obsession with meat.
although cain worked hard to produce an offering of vegetables, it was rejected because it was not meat.
priests were instructed to save certain cuts of meat for jehovah, the fatty portions.
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onacruse
blondie:
I always wondered why Abel killed sheep...
A question that never came to my mind until you just mentioned it! (giving self yet another slap on the forehead). And it ties into what BTS said:
At first(until the flood) no meat could be eaten.
I would like to see that statement substantiated. I always believed it as a JW.
That proof would be Genesis 9:3, about which (among other things) the WTS says:
*** w90 5/15 p. 30 Questions From Readers ***
Questions From Readers
? Is it appropriate for a Christian to go hunting or fishing?
The varied reactions to hunting often involve deep feelings. So it is best for Christians to strive to understand and apply Jehovah God’s thinking on the matter as found in the Bible.
God gave mankind dominion over both "wild" and "domestic" animals. At first, humans did not have the Creator’s permission, nor perhaps any physical need, to kill animals for food. (Genesis 1:24, 29, 30) Only after the Flood did God give mankind the right to eat animal flesh that was properly drained of "its soul—its blood." (Genesis 9:3, 4) That could be meat from either domestic or wild animals.
Which then would mean that Abel killed animals simply and solely to offer up their carasses to Yahweh as a sacrifice that Abel assumed would be pleasing to his God:
*** w02 8/1 p. 28 Questions From Readers ***
Questions From Readers
Did Abel know that an animal sacrifice was needed to gain God’s favor?
The Bible account of Cain and Abel making their offerings is very brief. At Genesis 4:3-5, we read: "It came about at the expiration of some time that Cain proceeded to bring some fruits of the ground as an offering to Jehovah. But as for Abel, he too brought some firstlings of his flock, even their fatty pieces. Now while Jehovah was looking with favor upon Abel and his offering, he did not look with any favor upon Cain and upon his offering."
There is no mention in the Bible that prior to this event Jehovah had given any specific information about sacrifices or about what kind of sacrifices would be acceptable to him. Thus, Cain and Abel evidently made their offerings solely of their own volition. They were barred from access to their parents’ original Paradise home; they began to feel the effects of sin; and they were alienated from God. In their sinful and pitiful state, they must have felt strongly the need to turn to God for help. Offering God a gift was likely a voluntary gesture on their part toward gaining God’s favor.
As matters turned out, Abel’s offering was accepted by God, but Cain’s was not. Why? Was it because Abel offered the right things and Cain did not? We cannot be sure that the type of offering had no bearing on matters, since neither of them had been told what was acceptable and what was not. However, it is likely that either type was acceptable. In the Law that Jehovah eventually gave the nation of Israel, acceptable sacrifices included not only animals or animal parts but also roasted grain, sheaves of barley, fine flour, baked goods, and wine. (Leviticus 6:19-23; 7:11-13; 23:10-13) Evidently, it was not the substance alone of the sacrifices of Cain and Abel that caused God to accept one and reject the other.—Compare Isaiah 1:11; Amos 5:22.
Based on this QFR, Abel could just as easily have made a vegetable salad for God.
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onacruse
LOL w/ WAC.
Here's a little secret: I'm actually the reincarnation of Clayton J. Woodworth.
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onacruse
Where is he??
He's on the second leg of his vacation.
In his best Schwarzenneger impersonation he told me: "I'll be back!"
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"Letters From The Earth" (Mark Twain, 1909)
by onacruse inas is his wont, farkel keeps hammering me about thinking 'outside the box.
' i'm beginning to suspect that doing so is almost becoming his favorite past-time.
lol.
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onacruse
As is his wont, Farkel keeps hammering me about thinking 'outside the box.' I'm beginning to suspect that doing so is almost becoming his favorite past-time. LOL
He mentioned these letters by Mark Twain (of which I'd never heard).
Here's letter #1:
The Creator sat upon the throne, thinking. Behind him stretched the illimitable continent of heaven, steeped in a glory of light and color; before him rose the black night of Space, like a wall. His mighty bulk towered rugged and mountain-like into the zenith, and His divine head blazed there like a distant sun. At His feet stood three colossal figures, diminished to extinction, almost, by contrast--archangels--their heads level with His ankle-bone.
When the Creator had finished thinking, He said, "I have thought. Behold!"
He lifted His hand, and from it burst a fountain-spray of fire, a million stupendous suns, which clove the blackness and soared, away and away and away, diminishing in magnitude and intensity as they pierced the far frontiers of Space, until at last they were but as diamond nailheads sparkling under the domed vast roof of the universe.
At the end of an hour the Grand Council was dismissed.
They left the Presence impressed and thoughtful, and retired to a private place, where they might talk with freedom. None of the three seemed to want to begin, though all wanted somebody to do it. Each was burning to discuss the great event, but would prefer not to commit himself till he should know how the others regarded it. So there was some aimless and halting conversation about matters of no consequence, and this dragged tediously along, arriving nowhere, until at last the archangel Satan gathered his courage together--of which he had a very good supply--and broke ground. He said: "We know what we are here to talk about, my lords, and we may as well put pretense aside, and begin. If this is the opinion of the Council--"
"It is, it is!" said Gabriel and Michael, gratefully interrupting.
"Very well, then, let us proceed. We have witnessed a wonderful thing; as to that, we are necessarily agreed. As to the value of it--if it has any--that is a matter which does not personally concern us. We can have as many opinions about it as we like, and that is our limit. We have no vote. I think Space was well enough, just as it was, and useful, too. Cold and dark--a restful place, now and then, after a season of the overdelicate climate and trying splendors of heaven. But these are details of no considerable moment; the new feature, the immense feature, is--what, gentlemen?"
"The invention and introduction of automatic, unsupervised, self-regulating law for the government of those myriads of whirling and racing suns and worlds!"
"That is it!" said Satan. "You perceive that it is a stupendous idea. Nothing approaching it has been evolved from the Master Intellect before. Law--Automatic Law--exact and unvarying Law--requiring no watching, no correcting, no readjusting while the eternities endure! He said those countless vast bodies would plunge through the wastes of Space ages and ages, at unimaginable speed, around stupendous orbits, yet never collide, and never lengthen nor shorten their orbital periods by so much as the hundredth part of a second in two thousand years! That is the new miracle, and the greatest of all--Automatic Law! And He gave it a name--the LAW OF NATURE--and said Natural Law is the LAW OF GOD--interchangeable names for one and the same thing."
"Yes," said Michael, "and He said He would establish Natural Law--the Law of God--throughout His dominions, and its authority should be supreme and inviolable."
"Also," said Gabriel, "He said He would by and by create animals, and place them, likewise, under the authority of that Law."
"Yes," said Satan, "I heard Him, but did not understand. What is animals, Gabriel?"
"Ah, how should I know? How should any of us know? It is a new word."
[Interval of three centuries, celestial time--the equivalent of a hundred million years, earthly time. Enter a Messenger-Angel.]
"My lords, He is making animals. Will it please you to come and see?"
They went, they saw, and were perplexed. Deeply perplexed--and the Creator noticed it, and said, "Ask. I will answer."
"Divine One," said Satan, making obeisance, "what are they for?"
"They are an experiment in Morals and Conduct. Observe them, and be instructed."
There were thousands of them. They were full of activities. Busy, all busy--mainly in persecuting each other. Satan remarked--after examining one of them through a powerful microscope: "This large beast is killing weaker animals, Divine One."
"The tiger--yes. The law of his nature is ferocity. The law of his nature is the Law of God. He cannot disobey it."
"Then in obeying it he commits no offense, Divine One?"
"No, he is blameless."
"This other creature, here, is timid, Divine One, and suffers death without resisting."
"The rabbit--yes. He is without courage. It is the law of his nature--the Law of God. He must obey it."
"Then he cannot honorably be required to go counter to his nature and resist, Divine One?"
"No. No creature can be honorably required to go counter to the law of his nature--the Law of God."
After a long time and many questions, Satan said, "The spider kills the fly, and eats it; the bird kills the spider and eats it; the wildcat kills the goose; the--well, they all kill each other. It is murder all along the line. Here are countless multitudes of creatures, and they all kill, kill, kill, they are all murderers. And they are not to blame, Divine One?"
"They are not to blame. It is the law of their nature. And always the law of nature is the Law of God. Now--observe--behold! A new creature--and the masterpiece--Man!"
Men, women, children, they came swarming in flocks, in droves, in millions.
"What shall you do with them, Divine One?"
"Put into each individual, in differing shades and degrees, all the various Moral Qualities, in mass, that have been distributed, a single distinguishing characteristic at a time, among the non-speaking animal world--courage, cowardice, ferocity, gentleness, fairness, justice, cunning, treachery, magnanimity, cruelty, malice, malignity, lust, mercy, pity, purity, selfishness, sweetness, honor, love, hate, baseness, nobility, loyalty, falsity, veracity, untruthfulness--each human being shall have all of these in him, and they will constitute his nature. In some, there will be high and fine characteristics which will submerge the evil ones, and those will be called good men; in others the evil characteristics will have dominion, and those will be called bad men. Observe--behold--they vanish!"
"Whither are they gone, Divine One?"
"To the earth--they and all their fellow animals."
"What is the earth?"
"A small globe I made, a time, two times and a half ago. You saw it, but did not notice it in the explosion of worlds and suns that sprayed from my hand. Man is an experiment, the other animals are another experiment. Time will show whether they were worth the trouble. The exhibition is over; you may take your leave, my lords."
Several days passed by.
This stands for a long stretch of (our) time, since in heaven a day is as a thousand years.
Satan had been making admiring remarks about certain of the Creator's sparkling industries--remarks which, being read between the lines, were sarcasms. He had made them confidentially to his safe friends the other archangels, but they had been overheard by some ordinary angels and reported at Headquarters.
He was ordered into banishment for a day--the celestial day. It was a punishment he was used to, on account of his too flexible tongue. Formerly he had been deported into Space, there being nowhither else to send him, and had flapped tediously around there in the eternal night and the Arctic chill; but now it occurred to him to push on and hunt up the earth and see how the Human-Race experiment was coming along.
By and by he wrote home--very privately--to St. Michael and St. Gabriel about it.
Satan's Letter
This is a strange place, and extraordinary place, and interesting. There is nothing resembling it at home. The people are all insane, the other animals are all insane, the earth is insane, Nature itself is insane. Man is a marvelous curiosity. When he is at his very very best he is a sort of low grade nickel-plated angel; at is worst he is unspeakable, unimaginable; and first and last and all the time he is a sarcasm. Yet he blandly and in all sincerity calls himself the "noblest work of God." This is the truth I am telling you. And this is not a new idea with him, he has talked it through all the ages, and believed it. Believed it, and found nobody among all his race to laugh at it.
Moreover--if I may put another strain upon you--he thinks he is the Creator's pet. He believes the Creator is proud of him; he even believes the Creator loves him; has a passion for him; sits up nights to admire him; yes, and watch over him and keep him out of trouble. He prays to Him, and thinks He listens. Isn't it a quaint idea? Fills his prayers with crude and bald and florid flatteries of Him, and thinks He sits and purrs over these extravagancies and enjoys them. He prays for help, and favor, and protection, every day; and does it with hopefulness and confidence, too, although no prayer of his has ever been answered. The daily affront, the daily defeat, do not discourage him, he goes on praying just the same. There is something almost fine about this perseverance. I must put one more strain upon you: he thinks he is going to heaven!
He has salaried teachers who tell him that. They also tell him there is a hell, of everlasting fire, and that he will go to it if he doesn't keep the Commandments. What are Commandments? They are a curiosity. I will tell you about them by and by.
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Baptismal vows in Norwegian?
by kifoy indoes anyone know how the baptismal vows are worded in norwegian?
i think they can be found in wt june 1, 1985. but i don't have wts that old.
i also need the page number in the norwegian edition of the 1985 wt.
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onacruse
Norm, thanks!
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So For The XMAS thru New Years, I have tried to do this....I need HELP
by Sparkplug inafter today i really have to tell you that it was so sweet to come here and see that i had something that someone likes.
i needed that.
i can say for everything you like, there is something in each one of you i am sure i see that i admire back and if not, i have not yet spent any time with you.
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onacruse
If you were a woman, bet you'de find yourself marrying him...lol
On bended knee I fervently pray:
Oh my dear God in heaven, have mercy on my soul, and save me from such a terrible fate as this!