betterdaze

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Posts by betterdaze

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  7

  New Trademark (tm)

  by bats in the belfry in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

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  betterdaze

  "Look! I am making all things new."
  
  
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  5

  Jesus- Messiah or Agent of the Roman Empire

  by designs in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  several modern scholars doubt that a real yeshua ben yoseph lived but was rather a literary device, fiction if you will.

  other sources maintain that yes there was someone like this person but much has been lost and distorted to create a history for certain followers and its religious influence on cultures in the region.

  a more cynical approach, if you will, comes from the victims of the 'propaganda' contained in the new testament.

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  betterdaze

  I was discussing this with a relative about "turn the other cheek" and "go the extra mile" other not-so-original teachings that had their origins in the occupying Roman army. Just a little too convenient!
  
  
  

  Imagine losing your ancestral lands that went back over a thousand years.

  
  
  You mean like the natives of Palestine for the past 2,000 years who lost their ancestral lands to Europeans?
  
  
  "Ancestral lands" for the ancient Hebrews? Their very own scriptures celebrate murdering their merry way across Canaan to steal grazing land, when they weren't wandering around aimlessly in the desert.
  
  Primitive tribal nomads moving flocks around in tent clans, up to their ankles in goat crap. There's a certain resentment in the OT for settled city dwellers (builders and tool-users), the same way the Watchtower resents educated people.
  
  Where is their distinct Hebrew art, architecture, pottery, etc. until they came into contact with more civilized peoples? Even their alphabet was adapted from others. Jerusalem itself was built by previous "pagan" inhabitants.
  
  They were pirates and pillagers. Probably the best thing that ever happened was the civilizing influence of Babylonian captivity. Agriculture, mathematics, technology, all sorts of shiny pretty things they could never dream of on their own.
  
  The Romans gave them much leeway to operate their disgusting animal sacrifice bank-and-barbecue system. But I can see the Romans eventually saying "enough is enough" and creating a scenario by which there is one last sacrifice for all time.
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  64

  A great picture for proving that JWs aren't weird and cultish...

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it's a shame this is only in the study edition, so the general public can't see how normal and down-to-earth the witnesses are in how they perceive themselves.... .

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  cedars.

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  betterdaze

  The open hostility of the "angels" is over the top!
  
  Supporters and protectors? They're more like brute enforcers in a slave labor camp… Mr. Hefty on the right is just jones'n to crush that worldly woman's skull if she doesn't accept the tract.
  
  Oh, and the dragons are adorable.
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  34

  Pronouncing it RIGHT

  by Christ Alone in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what rules do you follow when pronouncing foreign names/places/things?

  i was remembering that when we were studying the daniel book for the book study back in the day, someone released a pronunciation guide.

  i remember studying it closely so i could pronounce all the names right (especially on the section of daniel 11).

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  betterdaze

  If you want to hear the Divine Name pronounced correctly, visit any congregation on Long Island, NY

  Which is properly pronounced, LAWN-GUY LIND.
• 
  64

  more abuse in today's watchtower study

  by solomon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  today's study picks on the most vulnerable among us.

  the mentally ill. .

  the watchtower apparently hasn't learned that depression and mental illness are that a medical condition.

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  betterdaze

  
  
  When you face adversity, take advantage of the help Jehovah has provided

  Bible study, meetings, field service. Hmm... Where are the spirit-appointed "gifts in men" when you need them?

  Could this be just another legal department article to avoid liability because clueless, uncaring elders dole out bad advice?
  
  From the following article, What Kind of Spirit Do You Show?:
  
  Elders may make mistakes that affect us personally. If that happens, how inappropriate it would be for any member of the congregation to react according to the world’s spirit, vehemently demanding “justice” or that “something be done about this brother”! Jehovah may choose to overlook certain minor failings. Can we not do the same? Because of what they perceive as defects in the elders, some individuals who engage in serious wrongdoing in the congregation have refused to appear before a committee of elders assigned to help them. This could be likened to a patient who loses out on the benefits of a treatment because he does not like something about the doctor.
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  30

  Go ahead, tell me how you really feel - Modern Christian Art

  by jgnat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've stumbled across a most creative artful photography, placing jesus in contemporary scenarios.. http://www.thejourneysproject.com/c-294-fine-christian-art.aspx.

  for a mere $1,000 i too, could have jesus working his makeover in my bedroom.

  ooh, la la.. i am having strong and mixed reactions to this work, and i welcome your input..

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  betterdaze

  
  
  Please, lady, we're scared. This creepy guy keeps following us around!

  Just pretend you're our mommy?
  
  Run along and quit touching children! I'm running late for my manicure.
  
  
  
  
  Man-Diaper Jesus ponders: Should have listened to mother and become a fireman.
  If only I could attach my high school guidance counselor to one of these things…
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  30

  Go ahead, tell me how you really feel - Modern Christian Art

  by jgnat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've stumbled across a most creative artful photography, placing jesus in contemporary scenarios.. http://www.thejourneysproject.com/c-294-fine-christian-art.aspx.

  for a mere $1,000 i too, could have jesus working his makeover in my bedroom.

  ooh, la la.. i am having strong and mixed reactions to this work, and i welcome your input..

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  betterdaze

  
  
  OnStar™, safely connecting you in ways you never thought possible.
• 
  205

  Mother Teresa attacked by Atheist/Anostic group -

  by james_woods in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  while i am no fan of mother teresa after reading some of the revealed facts about her life and work - i thought this was just a little out of the realm of polite conversation (but was interesting):.

  atheist group at dartmouth plans anti mother teresa event.. .

  http://www.campusreform.org/blog/?id=4503.

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  betterdaze

  James, I think it's self-defeating for the more militant of modern atheists to launch organized attacks against entrenched believers' heros, even if those heros are exposed frauds.
  
  Instead of focusing on the many documented negatives, we agnostics would do better to focus on the profound *positives* of post-deity secular living here-and-now in the 21st century, and moving forward.
  
  
  

  How many here would do that? would do the one thing that a leper has the least of, the pleasure of human touch.

  
  
  PSacramento, I love your question. Father Damien! He "won recognition for his ministry to people with leprosy, who had been placed under a government-sanctioned medical quarantine on the island of Moloka'i in the Kingdom of Hawai'i."
  
  Author Robert Louis Stevenson's defense of the man, regardless of Damien's certain human flaws, is well worth a read.
  
  But Mother Teresa? Like the many sad RC nuns my ancestors knew, she was a dysfunctional unit. On overdrive. That wretched witch became drunk on her growing power to deceive the faithful. I regard her in the same "class" as Judge Rutherford: Deliberate Psychopath.
  
  
  Although I no longer count myself amongst "believers," I am willing to give credit where due for selfless acts, for lives given over in service and sacrifice to help others who are doomed not by their own hand, but by circumstances they cannot fix, change or control.
  
  Father Damien appears (to me) to have achieved that as best he could, and if he was able to accomplish so much within the framework of a church that pretty much abandoned him as an individual, well, no one else was stepping up to the plate. The government's penal colony solution was less a solution than a further punishment when you examine the particulars.

  Stevenson was a man after my own heart. He CHOSE not to differentiate. Yet held the naysayers to task, on just the same exact same PERSONAL level that they attacked Damien. When he SAW Damien's miserable lifework, he recognized what it meant to be a human helping humans regardless of church affiliation. I'd like to think that today, I could add "or none at all" to that last sentence: Church affiliation, or none at all.
  
  Damien ran the race, may he rest in peace. There is no doubt in my mind, that he too came full circle to understand that "God" was not there in the end.
  
  Teresa, that hustler and swindler? She figured it out early and knew it all along.
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  21

  Now that the Storm is over in the Northeast,

  by ldrnomo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  can we hear from any of you that went through it?.

  do you have power yet?.

  are you staying with friends?.

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  betterdaze

  We were well-prepared, and grateful the house is still standing.

  Some of the stories coming in (as we are able to get more news day by day) are truly horrifying. Our hearts go out to those who lost family and homes, businesses, pets.

  The storm is not really "over" for at least half a million of us yet. Day 11, no heat, power or internet access and no given timeframe for when we shall rejoin civilization.

  The only reason this library is open is because it's on the same grid as healthcare and police/fire facilities. Otherwise it's been like Little House on the Prairie.

  Today I see the media's finally addressing lies utility companies have been telling all along. Now it's all the Nor'easter's fault. Um, yeah, whatever. At one point they said 80% of my town was back up when they hadn't even started assessments yet. That was over a week ago.

  All we can do is wait it out, and do what we can to support one another in the meantime.
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  15

  can't make this up

  by pontoon in

  1. social
  2. humour

  so this 70 something yr old brother, ex bethelite, ex spec pioneer, current pioneer with over 50 yrs of full time service is lamenting he might have to step down as an elder because he is computer ignorant.

  i guess the org uses the internet to communicate with elders and having internet access is required of elders.

  anyway he's going to dunkin donuts with his wife and he sees free wifi.

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  betterdaze

  Overheard at a quirky little film fest of independent shorts: Youtube pronounced,
  
  You: To Be
  
  
  

  I volunteer for a program that reaches out to the elderly and helps them get computer training, if they want that. We help them develop any skill they would like to pursue.

  
  
  LisaRose