BurnTheShips

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Posts by BurnTheShips

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  23

  Jesus vs Satan

  by scary21 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my daughter, who's not a jw,is visiting me.

  both her grandmothers are jw, so she went to.. meetings while growing up.

  she is now telling me that she was told ......and always believed ,jehovah created satan first, before jesus.she says the bible speaks of satan in the book of genesis, but not jesus.

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  BurnTheShips
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  70

  Acts 10:19, 20 - Destroying the Holy Spirit personification argument

  by GOrwell in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  this set of scriptures pretty much demolishes "the holy spirit is only god's active force and is only personified throughout the bible" argument (as if the rest book of acts doesn't already).

  these verses pretty much put the nail in the coffin of that argument :.

  acts 10:19,20 - nwt.

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  BurnTheShips

  Acts 10:19,20 - NWT

  "As Peter was going over in his mind about the vision, the spirit said: “Look! Three men are seeking you. However, rise, go downstairs and be on your way with them, not doubting at all, because I have dispatched them.”

  Some passages in Genesis are also suggestive:

  "Now the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. When Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth" Genesis 18:1-2

  BTS
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  38

  Did you have higher ed when you were in? If so how were you treated as a result?

  by highdose in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i went to both collage and uni when i was a jw, i got marked and shunned as a result.

  it seemed like every week there would be some dig made from the platform about " those that chose higher education" , my so called "freinds" were constandly on at me " why don't you pioneer highdose?!!".

  i even had the ciruit overseer denounce me from the platform as being "spirtualy weak" never mind that most of the peers i grew up with had got themselves reproved or disfellowed and that i was the only who had been good!.

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  BurnTheShips

  I got higher ed while I was in. I was not openly treated in a bad way....but I did get shepherding calls from the CO and elders. I told them I had to do this, and I also had to work long hours for a couple of years to clear up some financial troubles. I stood my ground, and they backed down with a virtual shrug.

  However, this is before the thumbscrews on higher ed were tightened in the mid 00s. The Watchtower's higher ed position was softer in the late 90s, than it is now.

  BTS
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  23

  Biocentrism - Revolutionary theory of looking at existence/reality

  by TastingFreedom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been reading a book for some time that i find fascinating.

  the book is biocentrism, how life and consciousness are the keys to understanding the true nature of the universe by robert lanza.. .

  it proposes a theory that is certainly different than how we look at the world.. basically our reality is only a perception that is not absolute but only relative to our life and existence in this particular coordinates of the universe, meaning that our senses perceive space and time only in relationship to our relative existence.

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  BurnTheShips

  Life is indeed grand, doofdaddy. Your journey parallels mine in many respects. It is good to dream and keep an open mind, this is where new directions emerge. However, it isn't a good idea to relinquish the anchor of real science, either (as you note).

  BTS
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  21

  David Cameron's speech on Islamic extremism and the implications for JWs

  by Mickey mouse in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  david cameron (prime minister of britain) gave a speech today at a security conference in munich.

  the transcipt is here.

  he made some interesting points.

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  BurnTheShips

  then it should not be taxpayer subsidised.

  Charitable status does not meet the definition of "subsidy." Let's at least keep our terminology accurate.

  BTS
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  21

  David Cameron's speech on Islamic extremism and the implications for JWs

  by Mickey mouse in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  david cameron (prime minister of britain) gave a speech today at a security conference in munich.

  the transcipt is here.

  he made some interesting points.

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  BurnTheShips

  I'm not clear on exactly what your position is with this BTS?

  I really don't have a position. What I said is what I said: Here in the US, charitable status has advantages for those that want to control expression. If a religious outfit is deemed to cross into political expression, it gets threatened with a removal of 401c status.

  As for a public benefit test--that exists in the eye of the beholder. Neither of us might like some of the the outcomes.

  BTS
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  23

  Jesus vs Satan

  by scary21 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my daughter, who's not a jw,is visiting me.

  both her grandmothers are jw, so she went to.. meetings while growing up.

  she is now telling me that she was told ......and always believed ,jehovah created satan first, before jesus.she says the bible speaks of satan in the book of genesis, but not jesus.

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  BurnTheShips

  but there was a time... before he was brought forth... from the womb [Ark] of the Woman... when the Father was without him, per se.

  I mistook your post to indicate our Lord as having no beginning, like the Father, which I can see now you didn't mean.

  Rather than accept your interpretation, rather, I accept what the Christian Church affirms.

  There was never a Father without the Son or the Holy Spirit.

  All are God, all exist in eternity.

  God has not changed, and will never change. God has always been what God is, and will always be what God is.

  I the Lord do not change.

  Since we are quoting Hebrews here:

  In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
  and the heavens are the work of your hands.
  They will perish, but you remain;
  they will all wear out like a garment.
  You will roll them up like a robe;
  like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.”

  And,

  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

  Additionally,

  Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM.

  "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity."

  Before me there was no God formed nor is there after me.

  Before the mountains were born

  or you brought forth the earth and the world,

  from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

  The Son was in existence when there was no time, when there was such no such thing as "before" or "after."

  Who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.

  The coming of Jesus in the flesh did occur in time, our time.

  BTS
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  8

  Confession iPhone app blessed by Catholic bishop

  by unshackled in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a confession app for your iphone is just absurd.

  can humans get any nuttier?

  but really...this is not a whole lot nuttier than confessing to a man dressed up in robes proclaiming to be your mediator between you and some supreme invisible being.. http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2011/02/08/technology-confession-app-catholic-church.html#socialcomments.

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  BurnTheShips

  From your article, the app is intended as an aid to make a good confession, not as a replacement.

  BTS
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  21

  David Cameron's speech on Islamic extremism and the implications for JWs

  by Mickey mouse in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  david cameron (prime minister of britain) gave a speech today at a security conference in munich.

  the transcipt is here.

  he made some interesting points.

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  BurnTheShips

  Isn't he basically arguing that adherence to national identity should be stronger than any other facet of our identity?

  I took it differently. I took it as him saying that "preferential" treatment ends up being harmful and should go out the window.

  Preaching adherence to a national identity seems just too damned...nationalistic. It's just like another religion.

  As for removal of charitable status, here in the US it has been a tool for muzzling political expression in religious organizations going back 60 years to Lyndon B Johnson (who cynically enacted it to stifle opposition speech).

  Remove the charitable status, and you will remove the means for silencing such expression. This is a double edged sword.

  By the way, we here in the US are bemused when we watch, in the UK, the way Christians are deprecated in the public sphere while backs get bent over in reverse for Muslims.

  BTS
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  23

  Biocentrism - Revolutionary theory of looking at existence/reality

  by TastingFreedom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been reading a book for some time that i find fascinating.

  the book is biocentrism, how life and consciousness are the keys to understanding the true nature of the universe by robert lanza.. .

  it proposes a theory that is certainly different than how we look at the world.. basically our reality is only a perception that is not absolute but only relative to our life and existence in this particular coordinates of the universe, meaning that our senses perceive space and time only in relationship to our relative existence.

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  BurnTheShips

  The problem with the theory is: How do you falsify it?

  I don't see how you can.

  You can't call it properly scientific otherwise.

  I hate quantum theory, it opens a can of worms.

  And hey, they haven't found the Higgs Boson yet, have they?

  No, no they haven't, and the Standard Model predicts it.

  BTS