Oh, and re. the point about about saints having different faces in different icons. That's not correct, IMHO. In the Greek Orthodox, saints and others are portrayed consistently, so you can trace (without labels) who each one is supposed to be.
Joe Grundy
JoinedPosts by Joe Grundy
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13
The Orthodox kissing icons, is it paganism?
by greendawn indo you think the orthodox that kiss the icons are in fact worshipping idols?
their claim is that they are simply showing respect to the saint pictured in the icon and that it is by no means an act of worship.
it's only a little more than having photos of your beloved ones to be reminded of them.
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The Orthodox kissing icons, is it paganism?
by greendawn indo you think the orthodox that kiss the icons are in fact worshipping idols?
their claim is that they are simply showing respect to the saint pictured in the icon and that it is by no means an act of worship.
it's only a little more than having photos of your beloved ones to be reminded of them.
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Joe Grundy
I don't know if you've been in an orthodox church. I have (just to visit). Icons, and especially ancient ones, tend to be worshipped rather than just respected. I have seen (or at least as far as anyone can, it is encased in silver to protect it from the gaze of unbelievers) an icon of Mary and the infant Jesus allegedly painted by Luke. It is definitely widely worshipped, as a symbol of what it represents, I suppose. People believe what they believe.
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"the bloom of youth"
by rebel8 ingag alert!
here's a nice little thread the jw youth have got going on myspace, in case you want to go down memory lane and remember how anti-dating they are.
complete with a comment that "worldly people have cooties" (was that one of you guys?).
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Joe Grundy
It only takes a second to accidentally have sex with someone blah blah blah."
I used to have this problem, but by learning techniques, etc., I can now make it last for several minutes.
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Overheard at the June 4 2006 Watchtower Study
by under_believer inso, even back when i was a true believer i noticed this... .
this watchtower study today, i just got back from, was all about how great the elders are.
what always wigs me out about these things (because they trot this stuff out in a wt study every year or two) is how the elder conducting the study is up there talking about and praising the elders in the third person, saying how great they are, when he is an elder.
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Joe Grundy
Some brothers reached out for the office, put on their best behavior when in the hall and also became chummy chummy with some of the elders and were wrongly appointed. Also their were case of nepotism and so on. That happens everywhere, in the business world, other churches, even in families with children.... people are people.
As an outsider, this is one of my biggest problems with WTBTS.
All organisations make mistakes and while they may be criticised because the mistakes were avoidable they can be viewed with some tolerance because making mistakes happens.
But WTBTS, by claiming that it is led by divine authority (and more, that it exclusively has divine authority) and by controlling its members on that basis, cannot ask for or expect the same tolerance. If it were to admit that sometimes it made mistakes it would open the way to independent thinking and this would no doubt lead to the sort of schisms and breakaway 'reformed' groups that most other sects have experienced. Instead (it seems to me) it continues to insist that it is the only true organisation.
WTBTS cannot have it both ways.
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Parents of molester seek hit man to silence testimony by grandchildren!
by CaptainSchmideo infrom cnn:cops: couple ordered hit on grandkidswanted to stop testimony at son's rape trial, police say.
friday, june 2, 2006; posted: 12:35 p.m. edt (16:35 gmt) .
tavares, florida (ap) -- a couple tried to hire a hit man to kill their three grandchildren and daughter-in-law to stop them from testifying against their son in his rape trial, authorities said.. the couple, ages 60 and 59, were charged with four counts each of criminal conspiracy to commit murder.
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Joe Grundy
Well, they say the cost of living is cheaper in the US. That must apply to the cost of killing, too.
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Parents of molester seek hit man to silence testimony by grandchildren!
by CaptainSchmideo infrom cnn:cops: couple ordered hit on grandkidswanted to stop testimony at son's rape trial, police say.
friday, june 2, 2006; posted: 12:35 p.m. edt (16:35 gmt) .
tavares, florida (ap) -- a couple tried to hire a hit man to kill their three grandchildren and daughter-in-law to stop them from testifying against their son in his rape trial, authorities said.. the couple, ages 60 and 59, were charged with four counts each of criminal conspiracy to commit murder.
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Joe Grundy
Satanus
"Ever notice how often these kinds of things involve "undercover" cops? I have. What do cops do, go around offering to kill people? It makes me wonder about the mechanics of cases where "undercover" cops are involved."
The way it usually comes about is that somewhere along the line one of the people spoken to by the person wanting the killing done informs the authorities (often for money, reduction of sentence, but not always). The u/c officer is then introduced as the potential killer. The mechanics can be complicated, difficult, dangerous and a legal minefield.
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July 15 2006 WT - Uncleanness - disfellowshp?- details
by BluesBrother in.
hope the scans show up ok.. the article is presented as it comes, for your own assessment.
you could not make this stuff up!
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Joe Grundy
I do admire the JW terminology.
I wonder how well "Hi Honey, would you like some sexual manipulation of your genitals?" would work in conversations with women.
I also note that as a smoker I am unclean and thus would not be allowed to become a JW. This must be the only known beneficial effect of smoking.
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No Absolute Truth
by Shining One inthis one is for the politically correct crowd: .
is there no 'absolute truth'?
do you want to live that one out?
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Joe Grundy
A brief example of why 'truth' and 'morals' are relative - even as between two modern societies regarded as prosperous, developed, western cultures.
In some parts of the US, marriage for females is legal at 14, and giving her 'her marital due' is presumably not only condoned but encouraged.
In the UK, the age of consent is 16, and anyone giving a 'due' to a 14 year old would be classed as a paedophile, liable to be arrested and imprisoned and put on the 'sex offenders' register.
As my dad used to say "all is relative, and most of it's marginal".
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Funny Memory
by Synergy inwhen i was 19 i was married, for two years already.
the elders in our hall went to my husband and told him to monitor what i wear more closely because it was too revealing.
they told him that a sister in our hall came to the body of elders and complained that before she became a witness she was a lesbian and my revealing clothing made her have immoral thoughts about me and asked the elders to please have me change my wardrobe so her thoughts would stop.
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Joe Grundy
I think that you should have worn one of those Tshirts that my daughter wants (she's a liittle bit bi-) with the slogan 'Yes we are, No you can't'.
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Should I make a stink about this or not?
by merfi ini've been working at the same hospital since 1991. a jw chick is hired this past january.
the hospital friends have been and are my support system as well as my 'team'.. a nurse friend played stupid last week and talked to the jw girl.
the jw asked her what religion she was.
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Joe Grundy
Thoughts from a not-and-never-have-been-a JW (so I suppose I'm not an apostate in JW terms, just an ordinary satanic and worldly person):
My first thought was to ignore it, especially as (if I got the right impression from your post) your friends and colleagues know what she said to be a load of crap, as to do anything at all might just keep it all dragging along.
On further reflection, though, I think it may be worth taking some action because sometimes issues such as these can be very destructive in the workplace and you don't want to have to spend your time correcting false information being spread about you. Also, I get the impression that sometimes JWs are not very capable of rational thoughts and actions but can be good at presenting a (false) 'reasonable and concerned' persona.
My suggestion would be this. Prepare a brief note of what happened containing the details of what was said by the JW and to whom. Prepare a short (written) note to the JW saying something like 'It has come to my notice that you have told untruths about my personal life to my colleagues. Please do not do this again.'
Speak to your boss/manager. Explain what has happened. Give your boss the brief note and a copy of your note to the JW. Tell him/her that you hope that your request to the JW will end this problem and that you don't want any action taken unless it happens again. Ask him/her to keep the notes on file.
Hopefully, your note to the JW will put a stop to this. If it does, you have solved the problem, shown yourself to be reasonable and non-confrontational - but not a doormat. If it doesn't and further action has to be taken, the fact that you have ensured that what has happened is on file, and that you have tried in a reasonable way to deal with the issue, will make it easier for any more formal action to succeed.
Or you could write to the Jerry Springer show and pull her hair out on TV ....
Good luck.