B_Deserter

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Posts by B_Deserter

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  1

  Latest Blog Post - A Farewell to JWD

  by B_Deserter in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i posted a farewell to everyone on my blog, godless-heathen.com.

  here it is:http://www.godless-heathen.com/2008/08/jehovahs-witness-discussion-obituary.html.

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  B_Deserter

  I posted a farewell to everyone on my blog, godless-heathen.com. Here it is:

  http://www.godless-heathen.com/2008/08/jehovahs-witness-discussion-obituary.html
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  42

  Keep In Contact - Email Addresses

  by hillary_step in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello,.

  rather than each person starting a thread and cluttering the board, perhaps we can keep this thread for posters email addresses that we may want to stay in contact with.. mine is: [email protected].

  cheers - hs.

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  B_Deserter

  My blog at www.godless-heathen.com is a good way to reach me.
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  Can You Imagine the Outcry

  by XJW4EVR in

  1. social
  2. current

  if the republicans had done this.

  sadly, nary a peep from the liberal controlled msm.. dems throttle debate.

  house dems turn out the lights but gop keeps talking.

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  B_Deserter

  Here's some more news. The Democrat-led congress has even LOWER approval ratings than the President does. It means that Nancy Pelosi and the party-line Democrats aren't doing the job we elected them to do. The Democrat congress has betrayed the Democrat voters just as the neo"conservative" movement has betrayed the ideals of true conservatism. I think the next few years are going to be banner for third-party candidates.
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  McCain Touts Nuclear Power's Safety At Plant That Had a Partial Meltdown

  by beksbks in

  1. social
  2. current

  (newport, mich.) to show his support for nuclear power, john mccain toured the enrico fermi nuclear plant here today, comparing the safety of the plant to the navy's warships he was stationed on.

  "my experience with nuclear power goes back many years to being stationed onboard the uss enterprise, the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier," he said.

  "i knew it was safe then, and i know its safe now.

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  B_Deserter

  The plant, 30 miles outside Detroit, hasn't always had the best safety record. One of the reactors had a partial meltdown in 1966, and although there were no injuries or release of radiation, the accident allegedly led to the term “China syndrome,” after an engineer said the nuclear reaction “could go all the way to China.”

  No injuries or release of radiation...so what that's telling me is that the safety of nuclear technology 40 years ago could endure a partial meltdown, cause no injuries and release no radiation. So even when something goes wrong, the safety protocols of, again, 40-year-old nuclear safety technology can easily prevent a major catastrophe. I'm sorry but that sounds like pretty darn safe technology to me.
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  Canadian poll shows Canadians giving creationism the boot.

  by kwintestal in

  1. social
  2. current

  i read this article while sipping some coffee this morning and thought it was interesting.

  one of the things that got me the most is that 69% of men believe in evolution ... which would mean that there would be a highly disproportionate number of women who believe in creationism.

  http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2008/08/06/6364086-sun.html.

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  B_Deserter

  This is pretty much how it is in every Industrialized country except for the U.S. It's not really surprising. America was the place to go for all of Europe's bizzarre Christian minorities. Our freedom of religion unfortunately attracted all the crazy ones!
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  Does "The Dark Knight" prove that Hollywood is kind of conservative?

  by Preston in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i saw "the dark knight" again last saturday and after a second viewing what suprised me is... how a film like this could have actually been made.. it tackles..... .

  (spoilers!).

  ) torture - notice how batman beats the joker within an inch of his life before he reveals to him the "ticking time bomb scenerio" of harvery dent's and rachel dawes' location..

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  B_Deserter

  Yeah I agree, I think this movie highlighted the importance of the rule of law. That even Batman saw himself as a temporary, necessary evil until someone uncorrupted and legitimate could take over for him. He saw Harvey Dent and the law of the land as the permanent solution, and himself as the means to take Gotham from being beyond saving to salvageable. Fox used the surveillance just once, but then destroyed it when he was done, making the point that having that much power for anyone is too much.
  
  I think though that there are some conservative elements in the movie, but very good ones. What do you do when the person who's attacking you doesn't play by the rules? What if the rule of law isn't enough? The rule of law isn't enough in some situations, and exceptions have to be made, boundaries have to be crossed in order to get the job done.
  
  Even so, the movie stressed the importance of making sure those compromises can't be permanent. Temporary measures have to stay temporary. The difference between Batman and the War on Terrorism is that the Joker was a real, legitimate threat. In the so-called "War on Terror," the threats are manufactured, the evidence fabricated. One could look into the eyes of the Joker, see directly what he was doing. There was no question whether the Joker was real. Terrorists on the other hand are these shadowy, untangible figures the government assures us exist and that we need to keep them indefinitely without trial or charge in secret prison camps. Certainly, there is a threat of terrorism, but the government hides the details of most threats, and we the people are unable to verify the information. When the information IS scrutinized, a serious history of lying and deception on the part of the government is found.
  
  EDIT: I also like to point out that the torture had no effect on the Joker. Everything he did was meticulously planned, and he was enough of a sadist to ENJOY the torture. He told Batman where Harvey and Rachel were because HE wanted to. But, if you didn't catch it, he also REVERSED the addresses. In the end, the torture accomplished nothing because it reaped bad information, and the one Batman wanted to save was killed as a result.
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  Garden of Eden: A Biosphere Project?

  by cameo-d in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  though not explicitly stated, there seems to be allusion to a population outside of the garden of eden.

  if the words of genesis 1:28 is correct, could this be considered evidence of a prior population?.

  genesis 1:28 and god blessed them, and god said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:.

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  B_Deserter

  See, they're taking the name "Nephilim" and some basic information as if it gives some creedence to the Biblical story. If one actually reads what the Bible says about the Nephilim, that they were "giants" and "bullies," the idea starts to unravel. The evidence shows that Neanderthal was no taller than cro-magnon, in fact most of them were shorter. It is odd that the Bible would describe a race of human/angel hybrids as "giants" when they are, on average, shorter in stature. Also, the most recent fossil of Neanderthal found is 24,000 years old, not just a few thousand as the Bible claims.
  
  If there is a Neanderthal-Nephilim connection, it probably is extremely faint. Oral tradition has a way of evolving on its own. If there is a connection, it is most likely bred from archetypes started by oral accounts of cro-magnon/neanderthal conflicts. Thousands upon thousands of years of storytelling may have warped them into inhuman giants I suppose, but it seems like this article is trying to force the square peg of evidence into the biblical literalists' round hole by ignoring key elements like the fact that Neanderthal died out long before Noah was supposed to have existed, and they weren't giants.
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  23

  Oh my god, just oh my god

  by B_Deserter in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  okay, something weird just happened, but now i have not one, but four possible dates, with four different ladies in the near future.

  is it really this simple?

  all i'm doing is being honest and funny.

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  B_Deserter

  Okay, something weird just happened, but now I have not one, but four possible dates, with four different ladies in the near future. Is it really this simple? All I'm doing is being honest and funny. It's so...easy. Man, when people complain that nice guys finish last, well, I just don't know. Not this nice guy at least.
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  44

  Anti-College/Pro-Pioneering Convention Interviews

  by Rohag in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  here's the text of interviews from the friday afternoon "young people - walk by holy spirit in the congregation" presentation at a 2008 jehovah's witness district convention.

  this transcription approximately covers the second half of the presentation.

  i've omitted names and locations to preserve individuals' privacy.

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  B_Deserter

  I have on good authority that at least some of those "experiences" weren't even had by the people giving them. I remember an elder's wife who was interviewed and she said they brought their future son-in-law into the "truth" when he knocked on their door selling insurance. Since I knew them personally, I caught up with her later and said "I didn't know Dan sold insurance." She looked at me blankly, so I reminded her of her convention part. She responded, "Oh no, that didn't happen to me. Sometimes when they have an interesting experience, they'll just have other people give it as if it was their own."
  
  I remember thinking, "hmmmm, sounds an awful lot like lying to me."
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  24

  Your thoughts on Wicca?

  by Texman55 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  somebody who's become a friend is an ex catholic....pretty knowledgeable on all the mainstream christian doctrines and history etc....now into wicca beliefs....not a actual member, but in tune with the ideas....mediation, incense, being close to the earth yada yada.

  not real wound up with it, not pushing it on me.....and theres no way i would ever go there.....just not my style, and think i am over any organized religion at this point.. a good friend, good person.....he cant really explain why he's into all that except it feels good....but i'm a little uncomfortable.....sad to say i think it's a holdover from the jw fear and loathing of anything remotely "demonic"......i'm a good researcher, and in 15-20 minutes on the internet i know i could dig up all the lowdown on wicca beliefs/practices/history etc.....and i know without looking it up that its all just a made-up job like so many other groups we know.....but i hold back because i'm afraid if i knew more i'd feel really uncomfortable with my friend.....i know, i know that's so lame....lol.

  just wondering if any of you have any experience with the wicca thing, and what you think about all that.

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  B_Deserter

  I've talked with a few Wiccans. They're a pretty open-minded bunch. I might have been interested in it but I just don't accept the concept of "spirituality" or believing in any Deities to begin with. Other than that, it seems to be a pretty decent moral code to follow, and advocates total freedom to the point where it doesn't encroach on others. Of course that's taken from Zoroastrianism, but most Wiccans are likely aware of their religion's origins.