Posts by lalliv01

26

Illegal Immigrants in Congregations

by joelbear69 in

jw
friends

on a recent trip home to valdosta ga, my father stated that 1/2 of the local .

spanish congregation were illegal immigrants.

a friend this morning whose mother is a witness has heard similar things .

lalliv01

This matter of undocumented immigrants, does it matter to some of us because they are here illegally or because they are "brown" and of a different culture? Europe is a pretty decent place to live and many Europeans don't want to come to America to clean motel rooms, toilets, and change beds - not to mention every other job these undocumented workers are willing to do. We need to accept this fact, that legal or illegal, it's not going to be Europeans picking strawberries here for us.

"They" are going to be here legally or illegally. Once they are forced to obtain proper documentation, then what excuse are we going to use to send them back? Do you really want them to have "papers"? Many with proper documentation will not wish to return back home as most with no documents now wish to do.

lalliv01

11

WHO is authorized to pronounce judgement? Those WITHOUT sin?

by Terry in

jw
friends

"let him who is without sin cast the first stone.".

the above statement by jesus was directed at a throng of men about to stone a prostitute in accordance with the law of moses.. jesus did not say the law of moses was wrong or that the men should not carry out the judgement against the prostitute.. jesus did single out a qualifying eligibility which stopped the execution by an appeal to conscience.

"let him who is without sin....".

lalliv01

aguest said:

Anyone who judges another without the authority of holy spirit... judges... and condemns... him or herself. Anyone who does it "in the name of the Holy Spirit" but does not possess such spirit... or by saying they have such spirit... when they do NOT... blasphemes... against the Holy Spirit . Which is quite serious

I agree. Judging anyone, in a religious or secular matter is a very serious matter; and being mis-judged is very painful experience and one which could have bad consequences.

aguest, what a good response to this post.

Terry, as usual, a fine, thought provoking post.

43

Reasons for change in meetings and book study

by JWRESEARCH in

there were already a few topics and posts about the motifs behind the changes, but i think we can unite them all in just one topic.. for a start i will say thar the letter that is going to be read next weekend, says that gb wants to reduce the burden (quotes acts 15:28), and adds that in many countries the gas (petroleum) is at a very high cost for some families.

then it makes a suggestion to use the same day for study at home with family.. of course that the text of hebrew 10:25 is not quoted!

- if we are more close to the end it should be taken the opposite measure!.

lalliv01

JWRESEARCH, thanks for the information. I hope to see more of you on this board.

lalliv01

9

The Strangest Secret... revealed 52 years ago.

by AK - Jeff in

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8448018326921957619.

though it has been elaborated on, tweaked, and challenged, the ideas included are priceless and timeless, if applied.. jeff .

lalliv01

Very good information, thank you for posting it.

lalliv01

21

We are fiction(s).

by Narkissos in

jw
friends

this is the truth.

hidden in plain sight.. know thyself.. we were made in the image of god after all.. not only fiction, but also fiction.

biology and fiction.. not basically a "bad" thing to repent from.

lalliv01

The Internet has a way of helping people to "know themselves" again. *Thinking of Hillary*.

384

A STUNNINGLY simple question about JOHN 3:16 "For God so Loved the world."

by Terry in

on what basis did god so love the world?.

the world of mankind had been condemned to death by god's curse in eden!.

god viewed mankind as "dust on the scales".

lalliv01

Terry, how about this? God loved the world so much that He provided a "whipping boy" to accept the punishment in lieu of the world. Why? Well, just as in days of old, a noble person was too important to be literally whipped for a misdeed so a substitute, a scapegoat, was used to receive the punishment meant for the "important" person. So then, "the world" must be so important in God's eyes that a scapegoat had to be produced to receive the alloted punishment.

How is the world of mankind important to God? Well, to a dead person the universe does not exist, God does not exist. The scriptures tell us that God is not a God of the dead but of the living. This makes sense since the dead know not that a god exists and hence could not worship him. Without "the world" of mankind there is no god, no fulfillment of His intended purpose for creating mankind. His purpose, reverting everything back to Him, making Him the "decider", then is the reason for Gods repentence and thereby making Himself the basis for "justice" in this matter.

God wants a world of perfect humans to exist on this earth and this could only happen if He, and only He, contravened to put a halt to mankind's eventual extinction.

No world=No God=A God that cannot fulfill His purposes. Can't have that, where's the whipping boy?

60

DID GOD CREATE THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS???

by Terry in

is this the best of all possible worlds?.

had god created a world in which he invested humans with adherence to inner, god designed morality guidance--wouldn't an obedient (and far better off human race) world not have been "better" than the one we are in?.

free will is only the freedom to screw up.. think about this.. everything man designs is designed to function properly.

lalliv01

If GOD COULD create the BEST of all possible worlds--is this world it?

Terry, I think He's trying again. It's called the "new creation, the annointed, the bride........" I understand they are supposed to be immortal AND incapable of commiting a mistake. As for free will, well, how does one explain that?

384

A STUNNINGLY simple question about JOHN 3:16 "For God so Loved the world."

by Terry in

on what basis did god so love the world?.

the world of mankind had been condemned to death by god's curse in eden!.

god viewed mankind as "dust on the scales".

lalliv01

A very interesting thread. Sadly, to me, so anticlimatic. I've been reading and reading hoping to see a truly convincing answer to the question posed in this thread, so far, none. I read an article, some time back, which stated that when newspapers receive a lot of mail, feedback, concerning an article written in that paper's 'op-ed' section, that makes them very happy and they consider it a sucess, no matter whether the feedback is pro or con. Even when people write in to say how unhappy they are with the opinion stated in said article and that they are going to cancel their subscriptions to that newspaper. They have succeeded in stimulating people, and that's what they (newspaper and author) wanted. In this, TERRY, I would say you have succeeded.

Now, my attempt to answer the question posted on this thread. I would say God cared. He cared, maybe, in the same way a soldier cares about an enemy soldier he has just shot trying to kill that soldier that is now a wounded soldier. He just tried to kill that enemy soldier, now he is concerned in trying to save that same soldiers life. Why? Because he is now concerned, interested in that person's condition in the same way hospital workers are concerned with the state of infirm people coming into their sphere of influence. Why? It would immoral not to care, to not be concerned with those in need.

lalliv01

37

PERSPECTIVE is largely a matter of everyday conditioning

by Terry in

jw
friends

what seems normal and natural to us comes from what we are around every day.

the things we hear and see are familiar.

even the wildest, weirdest things are commonplace when they are common around our place!.

lalliv01

Terry asks:

Is it possible--ever--to escape our perspective?

Terry,I don't believe that we can escape our perspective, no! But I do believe we can and should change our perspective when appropriate. I find that when something happens in my life that brings sadness or disappointment to me, if I just remember to take the perspective that in a few years I'm going to be gone and that nothing bad that is now making me feel bad is going to matter then, I begin to heal.

I remember when my son scratched my new automobile with his bike, oh how that scratch hurt me (this happened some 30 years ago). I was so angry with my son and I was sad and quite depressed. My defense to this unhappiness was to remember that that car was someday going to be an ugly piece of junk, no sense in wallowing in that, at the time, present day depression.

I suppose perspective is what we can make of it, sort of like walking a mile in someone else's shoes.

18

On the futility of everything

by Qcmbr in

jw
friends

once again i'm in a philosophical mood: .

we spend our time in avoiding death as though the absence of being was our primary reason or motivator and yet our mere existence is clearly not fulfilling in and of itself (for a nightmare example ask yourself- would you rather die or live in a fully conscious state but be totally paralysed and unable to communicate.

if existence alone is not enough yet we will give almost anything to continue to exist what is it that we are actually aiming for?

lalliv01

If the permanence of the achievement is inversely proportional to the enjoyment of such achievement then we can track this back simply to a claim that we crave novelty -

For a God that knows all, sees all - is all there is to be - He must surely be a very bored god. He's seen it all, done it all; For God there is no such thing as novelty.

It pains me to even think about it. At least we have the "hope" of death, Not He.

Lalliv01