dmouse

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Posts by dmouse

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  17

  Is it possible to 'choose' your own beliefs?

  by nicolaou in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  to my mind the answer is an obvious "no".

  what i believe is drawn from my experiences, reasoning, research and endeavour.

  my beliefs may well be wrong but i have no other choice than to believe them until evidence or superior reasoning convinces me otherwise.. it narks me to hear people say "this is what i choose to believe".. am i weird?

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  dmouse

  Good to see dmouse back - where's you been?

  Oh, I've been around. But I 'choose' not to post as much as I used to!
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  17

  Is it possible to 'choose' your own beliefs?

  by nicolaou in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  to my mind the answer is an obvious "no".

  what i believe is drawn from my experiences, reasoning, research and endeavour.

  my beliefs may well be wrong but i have no other choice than to believe them until evidence or superior reasoning convinces me otherwise.. it narks me to hear people say "this is what i choose to believe".. am i weird?

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  dmouse

  I know exactly what nicolau means, and I agree with him.

  You cannot choose what you believe. Belief is not like a switch that you can choose to turn off or on, left or right.

  You believe what you believe until something comes along to influence that belief enough to change it - you have no control.

  For example, it may be nice to believe in fairies at the bottom of the garden. I would love that to be true. But I cannot say 'I choose to believe in fairies' because, no matter what I state, say or do, I DON'T believe in fairies and NOTHING can change that ( unless a fairy knocks on my head and says 'excuse me!' ) Our beliefs are not fixed, they can change, but not without significant evidence.

  And it really narks me too when I say I don't believe in God and people say 'that's your choice'. NO IT ISN'T!!!! If I were going to choose then I would much prefer to believe that there was a God up there that cared for us.

  But we can't choose what we believe.
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  27

  no chess?

  by DannyBloem in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  no chess?

  i once had a demonstration on a circuit assembly about not going to parties with worldly people (yeck when i think of it, i basically told all: he dont have fun or jehovah is going to kill you)'.

  anyway the demonstration ended that it was better to do nice recreation things.

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  dmouse

  
  *** Awake! 1973 March 22 pp.13-14 Chess-What Kind of Game Is It? ***
  Highly Competitive Game
  However, pitting one mind against another, with the element of chance eliminated entirely, tends to stir up a competitive spirit in chess players. In fact, chess is frequently characterized as an 'intellectualized fight.' For example, dethroned world chess champion Boris Spassky noted: "By nature I do not have a combative urge. . . . But in chess you have to be a fighter, and of necessity I became one."

  This helps to explain why there are no topflight women chess players-the more than eighty chess grand masters in the world are all men. Actress Sylvia Miles observed regarding this: "To be a professional chess player, you have to be a killer. If the spirit of competition in American women ever does become that strong, then I think we'll get some major female players."

  The spirit of competition in chess may be stirred to fever pitch, which is reflected in chess players' attitudes and language. "There's no comparison in any other sport in the attempt to destroy your opponent's psyche," explains chess player Stuart Marguiles. "I never have heard anybody say that he beat his opponent. It's always that he smashed, squished, murdered or killed him."

  True, players with which one may be acquainted may not use such language. But, nevertheless, the spirit of competition between players can lead to unpleasant consequences, as the New York Times last summer reported: "Most families manage to keep the inevitable conflicts that arise in games to the chessboard. But in some homes, tensions linger long past checkmate."

  Of course, chess is not, in this respect, much different from other competitive games. Participants who desire to please God, regardless of the game they are playing, need to be careful that they do not violate the Bible principle: "Let us not become egotistical, stirring up competition with one another, envying one another."-Gal. 5:26.

  However, there is something else regarding chess that deserves consideration.

  Relation to War
  This is the game's military connotations, which are obvious. The opposing forces are called "the enemy." These are "attacked" and "captured"; the purpose being to make the opposing king "surrender." Thus Horowitz and Rothenberg say in their book The Complete Book of Chess under the subheading "Chess Is War": "The functions assigned to [the chess pieces], the terms used in describing these functions, the ultimate aim, the justified brutality in gaining the objective all-add up to war, no less."

  It is generally accepted that chess can be traced to a game played in India around 600 C.E. called chaturanga, or the army game. The four elements of the Indian army-chariots, elephants, cavalry and infantry-were represented by the pieces that developed through the centuries into rooks, bishops, knights and pawns. Thus the New York Times, August 31, 1972, observed:

  "Chess has been a game of war ever since it was originated 1,400 years ago. The chessboard has been an arena for battles between royal courts, between armies, between all sorts of conflicting ideologies. The most familiar opposition has been the one created in the Middle Age with one set of king, queen, knights, bishops, rooks and pawns against another.

  "Other conflicts depicted have been between Christians against barbarians, Americans against British, cowboys against Indians and capitalists against Communists. . . . It is reported that one American designer is now creating a set illustrating the war in Vietnam."

  Probably most modern chess players do not think of themselves as maneuvering an army in battle. Yet are not the game's connections with war obvious? The word for pawn is derived from a Medieval Latin word meaning "foot soldier." A knight was a mounted man-at-arms of the European feudal period. Bishops took an active part in supporting their side's military efforts. And rooks, or castles, places of protection, were important in medieval warfare.

  Thus Reuben Fine, a chess player of international stature, wrote in his book The Psychology of the Chess Player: "Quite obviously, chess is a play-substitute for the art of war." And Time magazine reported: "Chess originated as a war game. It is an adult, intellectualized equivalent of the maneuvers enacted by little boys with toy soldiers."

  While some chess players may object to making such a comparison, others will readily acknowledge the similarity. In fact, in an article about one expert chess player, the New York Times noted: "When Mr. Lyman looks at a chessboard, its squared outlines dissolve at times into the hills and valleys and secret paths of a woodland chase, or the scarred ground of an English battlefield."

  When one considers the complex movements, as opposing chessboard armies vie with each other for position, one may wonder whether chess has been a factor in the development of military strategy. According to V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar, it has. In his book War in Ancient India he examined this matter at length, and concluded: "The principles of chess supplied ideas to the progressive development of the modes and constituents of the army."

  The Need for Caution
  Some chess players have recognized the harm that can result from playing the game. According to The Encyclopaedia Britannica, the religious reformer "John Huss, . . . when in prison, deplored his having played at chess, whereby he had lost time and run the risk of being subject to violent passions."

  The extreme fascination of chess can result in its consuming large amounts of one's time and attention to the exclusion of more important matters, apparently a reason Huss regretted having played the game. Also, in playing it there is the danger of "stirring up competition with one another," even developing hostility toward another, something the Bible warns Christians to avoid doing.

  Then, too, grown-ups may not consider it proper for children to play with war toys, or at games of a military nature. Is it consistent, then, that they play a game noted to be, in the opinion of some, an "intellectualized equivalent of the maneuvers enacted by little boys with toy soldiers"? What effect does playing chess really have upon one? Is it a wholesome effect?

  Surely chess is a fascinating game. But there are questions regarding it that are good for each one who plays chess to consider.

  [Emphasis Added]
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  5

  The book of Genesis

  by startingover in

  1. social
  2. humour

  .

  i was unsure where to post this.

  i suppose it's safest here.. http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2006/08/ricky-gervais-live-book-of-genesis.html

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  dmouse

  Thanks, I enjoyed that!

  LOL
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  46

  fake wt covers?

  by carla in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  where are you guys getting the fake wt covers?

  or do just make them up as you go?

  love em'!

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  dmouse
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  17

  Calling all my ENGLISH Friends!

  by RichieRich in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey, i was reading online that some of the one pound coins have "nemo me impune lacessit" milled around the edges.

  are those coins in circulation there??

  cause i would like to have to have one from this year (2006).

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  dmouse

  Well, I got one in my change today - it's a 1984 one in somewhat poor condition. If you want it pm me or I'll continue looking for one in better condition.
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  17

  Calling all my ENGLISH Friends!

  by RichieRich in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey, i was reading online that some of the one pound coins have "nemo me impune lacessit" milled around the edges.

  are those coins in circulation there??

  cause i would like to have to have one from this year (2006).

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  dmouse

  Nemo Me Impune Lacessit

  No one provokes me with impunity.The Motto of the Order of the Thistle

  1984, 1989, 1994, 1999

  I'll keep an eye out
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  2

  Political Correctness Gone Mad!! JW sign must GO / UK Daily Mail

  by Latte in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  'politically correct ' police order couple to take down jehovah witness sign!

  fed up with repeated disturbances, they hung a sign outside their cottage with a dramatic but obviously tongue-in-cheek warning to would-be callers: "our dogs are fed on jehovah's witnesses".

  please click on and add your comments .

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  dmouse

  I'm putting my own sign up:

  My Chinchillas are fed on Jehovah's Witnesses
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  14

  Warning sign draws police complaint

  by Skimmer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  see: .

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  http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006340639,00.html .

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  dmouse

  http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006340639,00.html

  That's Jehovah the Top!

  LOL!
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  14

  Hidden Dangers and Accidents - UK

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. humour

  hidden dangers and accidents - uk

  it is not just work machinery, falls from heights or big explosions that cause injuries.

  in the uk around 4,000 people die in accidents at home every year, more than the number of people killed on the roads or at work and around 2.7 million a year turn up at accident and emergency departments looking for treatment.

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  dmouse

  How the hell can you be killed by a teddy bear!?

  I'm suprised trousers aren't there. Last time I saw a report like this trousers were high on the list - people fell over and banged their heads while struggling to put them on.

  Lots of scope for Awake! articles here... SPONGES, HOW SAFE ARE THEY? or FLOWER POTS, JUST HARMLESS FUN?