Justitia Themis

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Posts by Justitia Themis

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  5

  Judge outlaws prison group's Bible program

  by daniel-p in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  interesting - could this cause problems for meetings and bible studies held at prisons by jw's?

  judge outlaws prison group's bible program .

  des moines, iowa (ap) -- a judge has ruled that a bible-based prison program violates the first amendment's freedom of religion clause by using state funds to promote christianity to inmates.

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  Justitia Themis

  KWR is correct. JWs, and all other religious groups that hold services in prisons, are protected under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). These acts state that prisoners must be accomodated so that they can practice their faith despite being incarcerated.

  The Des Moines case differs in that state funds were being used, in essence, to promote one religion over another, thereby establishing a state religion, which violate the Establishment Clause.
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  26

  Former sisters, remember the pant suit controversy in the seventies?

  by Sunnygal41 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was in my late 'teens, working for my own money, and polyester pant suits were all the rage in fashion.

  working at mc'donald's, i was able to afford two nice matching suits, with the jacket and vest, and a matching shirt...........these i wore to meetings, when i went.

  then, the jw grapevine went into action, regarding the suitablity for a sister to be wearing pants at a meeting.

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  Justitia Themis

  I have friends in Denmark. The sisters there wear pants all the time, even out in service. I have determined that I will start wearing pantsuits this fall...should prove interesting.

  My reasoning is that if Condoleeza Rice can meet heads of state in a pantsuit, it has become more than appropriate business wear. Since the "official" stance is that we should match the business attire of our locality, there should be no problem with it. If there is, I will place the onus upon the elders to articulate and explain that "problem."

  I remember touring Bethel in the mid-70s as a teenager, and I wore pants. Now, sisters have to wear skirts. A friend went to Patterson last year to be in a friends wedding. She packed pants, in addition to meeting clothes. Upon walking out of her bedroom in the "hotel," she noticed a sign alerting sisters that they are to wear dresses at ALL times. She was disgusted, AND that left her with almost nothing to wear.

  I will not be checking into THAT hotel any time soon!
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  14

  Any Ex-Bethelites with Stories to Share??

  by Lady Liberty in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  many of you have read barbara andersons experiences at bethel.

  and if you haven't, dogpatch recently posted it, and elsewhere put in pdf format.

  i encourage you to take the time to read it.

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  Justitia Themis

  Any idea on when you will no longer be black ops?
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  38

  Are JWs Discouraged From Seeing The Da Vinci Code?

  by Seeker4 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in another post on the da vince code, it starts by saying that the wts doesn't want the witnesses to see that movie.

  does anyone know if this is true?

  where has it been stated?

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  Justitia Themis

  Most in our congregation took the opposite view. Since is was on the bestseller list for months, we read it so that we could speak intelligently about it at the door. I loved the book. However, I preferred "Angels and Demons."

  I haven't heard of anyone being told not to read the book or see the movie, however, I have a pretty liberal congregation.
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  26

  Do you think that the Book of "Genesis" is a fairytale?

  by booker-t in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i mentioned before on another post that i am in college working on my ba degree and i am having such a "hard" time with believing in the bible since taking my science class.

  the information that i am learning is totally destroying my faith in the bible.

  i still believe in jehovah and jesus and would never chose the "atheist" way but i am wondering if maybe the bible is just a book of fairytales to teach us a lesson.

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  Justitia Themis

  About those two creation accounts in Genesis:

  • If you believe that the Bible is the Word of God, ask yourself: Why do you need the creation accounts to be literal? If they are figurative or allegorical, does that somehow threaten your faith in your God? If indeed they are entirely of human manufacture and bear no relation to the truth, does THAT somehow threaten your belief? The Bible is full of poetic language, allegory, parables. Why would anyone NEED for the creation account to be literal?
  • Conversely, if you accept the overwhelming scientific consensus that life on earth did indeed evolve from bacteria, does the fact that Genesis doesn't specify this somehow threaten your belief? I cannot find the quote, but recently a Vatican official said something to the effect of: "We don't feel that science and the Bible are contradictory. Genesis is remarkably silent on the development and speciation of Galapagos finches."

  Personally I think everyone's best bet is to just step away from the Scriptures and ask themselves "Is this really that important?"

  Under_believer:

  Profound and succinct...pretty much what I was trying to say, albiet poorly, in my original post. Nothing is ruled out in Genesis; therefore, if you have strongly entrenched beliefs EITHER way, you must question why.
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  26

  Do you think that the Book of "Genesis" is a fairytale?

  by booker-t in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i mentioned before on another post that i am in college working on my ba degree and i am having such a "hard" time with believing in the bible since taking my science class.

  the information that i am learning is totally destroying my faith in the bible.

  i still believe in jehovah and jesus and would never chose the "atheist" way but i am wondering if maybe the bible is just a book of fairytales to teach us a lesson.

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  Justitia Themis

  Thanks Narkissos and Leolaia. I knew you guys would have more concrete information/definitions.
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  26

  Do you think that the Book of "Genesis" is a fairytale?

  by booker-t in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i mentioned before on another post that i am in college working on my ba degree and i am having such a "hard" time with believing in the bible since taking my science class.

  the information that i am learning is totally destroying my faith in the bible.

  i still believe in jehovah and jesus and would never chose the "atheist" way but i am wondering if maybe the bible is just a book of fairytales to teach us a lesson.

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  Justitia Themis

  If we wanna get nit-picky 'bout it... it also says "proceeded to make"...& NOT finished...

  just sayin'

  Pardon me. I didn't realize discussing languages/words/meanings was being "nit-picky."
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  26

  Do you think that the Book of "Genesis" is a fairytale?

  by booker-t in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i mentioned before on another post that i am in college working on my ba degree and i am having such a "hard" time with believing in the bible since taking my science class.

  the information that i am learning is totally destroying my faith in the bible.

  i still believe in jehovah and jesus and would never chose the "atheist" way but i am wondering if maybe the bible is just a book of fairytales to teach us a lesson.

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  Justitia Themis

  If you are speaking of Genesis 1 (the order of creation being completely different in Genesis 2, man -> plants -> animals -> woman), what about the "correctness" of light before the sun, moon and stars?

  Narkissos:

  I love reading your responses; you have proven yourself to have deep understanding, and clearly, you know more about the languages than I. Perhaps you can help us all here. Genesis 1 says that God proceeded to "make" the luminaries (sun, moon, stars), not create them. The word used is waiyaas (make) versus bara (create). Any thoughts on the difference?
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  26

  Do you think that the Book of "Genesis" is a fairytale?

  by booker-t in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i mentioned before on another post that i am in college working on my ba degree and i am having such a "hard" time with believing in the bible since taking my science class.

  the information that i am learning is totally destroying my faith in the bible.

  i still believe in jehovah and jesus and would never chose the "atheist" way but i am wondering if maybe the bible is just a book of fairytales to teach us a lesson.

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  Justitia Themis

  Personally, I think the ENTIRE freaking bible is a Fairy Tale. Then Moses must have been fantastically intelligent to get the creative epochs in the correct order.
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  26

  Do you think that the Book of "Genesis" is a fairytale?

  by booker-t in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i mentioned before on another post that i am in college working on my ba degree and i am having such a "hard" time with believing in the bible since taking my science class.

  the information that i am learning is totally destroying my faith in the bible.

  i still believe in jehovah and jesus and would never chose the "atheist" way but i am wondering if maybe the bible is just a book of fairytales to teach us a lesson.

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  Justitia Themis

  Dear booker-t:

  Only fundamentalist Christian religions believe that the earth is only a few thousand years old. Some will argue JWs are fundamentalist; however, they do not believe that the earth is that young. I found my college science courses had the opposite affect on me. I sad down with my books and compared and Genesis account of creation with the evolutionary account and its epochs. They match, even including the "oxygen holocaust." (and God created green vegetation)

  Genesis is a pretty good explanation to someone who, like Moses, is totally lacking of any notion of science and the universe. I see the bigger debate as 'did God use evolution' to create? I don't see that Genesis rules this out.