Merry Magdalene

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Posts by Merry Magdalene

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  2

  Curious George

  by IP_SEC in

  1. social
  2. humour

  hhahahhah <<<<clicky>>>>>

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  Merry Magdalene

  LOL
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  31

  What's up with Islam?

  by Tyrone van leyen in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is a religion i am not too familiar with.

  so forgive me where i err.

  it seems that this religion accepts jesus, but only as a minor prophet.

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  Merry Magdalene

  This is a religion I am not too familiar with. So forgive me where I err.

  Same here. I also had lots of questions, triggered by my growing friendship with a Muslim and by what I was seeing in the news and on this forum. So I took my questions to both pro-Islamic and anti-Islamic websites and did some searching. Very interesting! Here are a few I found helpful-- http://www.islamonline.net/english/index.shtml http://www.islamicity.com/education/understandingislamandmuslims/ http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/ http://whyislam.org/877/ (The "anti" sites are easy enough to find all by yourself, and while I recommend looking at them as well, there are none I recommend specifically. They tend to take certain verses of the Qur'an way out of context, like Deputy Dog did, and as do some Muslims for their own purposes, which can be very misleading.)

  It seems that this religion accepts Jesus, but only as a minor prophet. This must mean that they do not see the bible as a holy book.

  Yes, we (I say "we" because in the midst of my researching I became a Muslim) do accept Jesus as a prophet (peace be upon him), and a very special and important prophet whose return we expect and look forward to. There are no "minor prophets" in Islam, as far as I am aware, but all are equally respected. Muhammad (peace be upon him) is considered to be the final prophet, sent to all mankind rather than just one group, with a message that was promised to be protected from distortion. The Qur'an teaches that Allah sent prophets to people of every nation throughout history, but only a few are mentioned by name in it. It is believed that the messages sent through Moses and David and Jesus were distorted over time and so are no longer reliable. The Qur'an came to make clear and affirm what was sent before.

  One day I was talking to a man from Jordan. A nice enough fellow he was. I mentioned that King David probably had venerial disease as the scriptures mention a burning in his loins not to mention all the women that he slept with, that absalom his son later wanted to pork. Did he ever take offense!" Why you say that?" "Why you say that?" I said, "well, it's in the bible." He didn't dispute that, but it seems the Koran has cleaned it up a bit.

  It is important in Islam not to disrespect any of the prophets, including David.

  Was the bible borrowed from? Is Islam not aware that the enmity exists between us because God's promised seed came from Sarah rather than the slave girl Hagar. Do they reject this? Judaism was completed with Christ so why are they trying to complete Christianity was there something wrong with it?

  We believe in Jesus as Prophet and Messiah (peace be upon him) and in his promised return, as I mentioned above, but we do not believe that he was a ransom sacrifice. We believe that God guides us through the Qur'an and forgives us individually in accordance with our repentance for doing what is wrong and our attempts to do what is right.

  I find it remarkable that any religion can look in there holy books and start wars just like the crusades. Yet others can look at the same holy books and derive peace and comfort from them. Is Islam seeking world domination. It seems that christianity is only looking at the afterlife or the future for it's hopes but Islam is looking for world domination here and now and death has a different meaning as well. If that's the case I would deem it a mistake to allow the swearing in of Keith Ellison on a Koran. If I am wrong though and the Islamists see it that way, then they should be encouraging whites in their country to swear an oath of office on the holy bible. We all know of course this will never happen let alone a white ruler in the middle east. I've heard it said that if you brought a bible to the middle east in many areas it would be torn apart. What sort of tolerance is this. It's a double standard. Can you imagine what would happen if you took a koran and did that what would happen to you! Look at the outrage caused by a friggin cartoon. I beleive we are witnessing the beginning of a new trend wherin simply by numbers we will be overun.

  The rest of your comments have been addressed quite well by others, I think.

  I hope you continue your quest for knowledge and understanding

  ~Merry
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  16

  Socially Stunted?...you betcha.

  by Lumptard in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my apologies if this has been done to death, but i was just curious how many of you feel that you have been socially crippled as a result of your association with the jws?

  granted, this probably affects people who were raised as jws more than those who chose for themselves, but i just wanted to see if anyone else has had the same experience...also, how did you work through it if you were able to?

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  Merry Magdalene
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  31

  Belief Poll : Please Indulge Me

  by Morocco in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just sort of curious about this, i know it has probably been done a gazillion times but let me do it again.

  1.do you believe in a personal god who takes interest in you as an individual?

  2.do you believe that the bible was written by god?

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  Merry Magdalene

  1.Do you believe in a personal God who takes interest in you as an individual?

  Yes. Why? In all honesty, it is probably because I was taught this as far back as I can remember and it became part of the fabric of my life. I cannot speculate as to how things would be different for me if I had been taught otherwise. There are also a variety of reasons why I continued to believe some of what I was taught growing up but not all of it. I feel now that my experiences and explorations and questionings have strengthened rather than weakened my awareness of and relationship with God. I see evidence of God in everything, I feel the presence of God everywhere. And I have experienced God's guidance.
  
  2.Do you believe that the Bible was written by God?

  First, which Bible or which version(s)? Second, basically no. Why? Too many inconsistencies and impossiblities (see An Athiest's Book of Bible Stories). I do believe that God sent messengers to all peoples throughout all time with divine guidance for them, however, and the Bible we have today includes some of those messages. I also believe the Qur'an is the most recent message and is meant for all mankind rather than for one specific group.
  
  3.Do you believe the Bible is error free and is always harmonious?

  No. Reading the ones I had, it/they did not appear to be. See above.

  ~Merry
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  89

  Post your favorite saying

  by Scully in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was just pondering how the wts has, for over a century, been able to convince people to do what is contrary to their best interests with fear tactics that armageddon is coming soon, and i came up with what is going to be my pet phrase for a while:.

  "only religion has the power to compel people to embrace sheer stupidity in the name of faith.

  " ~ scully, december 28, 2006. i googled it, and didn't see that anyone else has claimed it, so until someone else finds an attribution for it, i'm claiming it as my own.

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  Merry Magdalene

  

  ~Merry
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  80

  My Mom passed away today.

  by Finally-Free in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  after a lenthy illness, 10 years in total, my mother, margaret stecko, passed away peacefully today surrounded by family.

  she was 84, and leaves behind 3 children, 5 grandchildren, and 8 great grandchildren.

  she was a jw but never shunned me.

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  Merry Magdalene

  Thank you for sharing something of your dear mother with us. My deepest sympathy on your loss.

  ~Merry
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  93

  Your favorite "bumper stickers"

  by new boy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have two.

  "please god protect me from your people".

  "if you love something let go.......if it doesn't come back, hunt in down and kill it" .

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  Merry Magdalene

  I really enjoyed some of the previous postingsThe only one I can think of at the moment that hasn't already appeared here (and probably wasn't likely to) is

  Isis Isis Ra Ra Ra (from my pagan days, it always gave me a chuckle for some reason)

  ~Merry
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  MYSPACE ... I just setup an account .. can we be friends?

  by What-A-Coincidence in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.myspace.com/_wac_ .

  tom is cool but .

  what is your myspace link??

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  Merry Magdalene

  http://www.myspace.com/oureyes

  ~Merry
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  19

  I saw a very old JW in the grocery parking lot today.....

  by restrangled in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  she was moving slowly, and her back was curved over.

  i was leaving in my car and honked my horn....i thought it was my aunt.....she turned........it was my mother!

  oh dear god, my heart broke.

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  Merry Magdalene

  ~Merry
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  199

  Otherwise Engaged...

  by LittleToe in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  just a little breaking news:.

  after several years of a great friendship with diane (previously posted as xena) things have started to really come together recently and i've succumbed to making an honest woman of her (or at least as honest as it's possible to make her.

  last night (xmas day) i popped the question and she agreed to marry me (i wonder if she knows what she's let herself in for!!!)..

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  Merry Magdalene

  WOWCongratulationsThat's wonderfulEvery blessing!!!

  ~Merry