I think this story highlights the theme of man's interaction with nature and with carving out a place for himself. Abraham seems to be faced with tough choices. He is quite a pivotal figure and it is quite interesting to see how many different aspects of culture he confronts. I wonder if he is a composite figure?
quietlyleaving
JoinedPosts by quietlyleaving
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abraham , a question for those who still believe in god
by looloo inwhy did god ask him to kill his own child ?
my ex dub hubby is put of god by that story alone ,and my 21 year old daughter thinks it was very cruel of god to play mind games with abrahams head if its true ,why would a loving god do such a thing and what was the reason ?
i still believe in god myself but can not give an explanation for that one at all ..
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Newbie here, need some input
by FollowerOfSet ini wanted to introduce myself, and need some advice.. i dissassociated myself back in 1995. haven't had much of anything to do with my family since then.
they are all witnesses, and very dedicated to their beliefs.
so after 15 years without a simple howdy from them, now they are coming around again and being very nice, but it reminds me of when people would have parts in the ministry school...it seems rehearsed and fake.
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quietlyleaving
Here are some reasons why they may be calling
1. Jehovahs witnesses are more convinced than ever before that the end is coming. So your family may be very concerned about you.
2. If they are still believers and if they think you disassociated for reasons other than apostacy they may feel sufficient time has passed for you to have come to your senses.
3. They may be trying to move away from the religion themselves and are putting out feelers to see if you still believe or not. Many who have DA 'd still believe. Time will tell.
4. They love you
Your gut feelings are kosher - JWs as a group have not changed but individuals within the org are changing all the time.
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Trieste, Italy: JW elder charged with running a brothel
by behemot infrom an italian newspaper:.
http://ilpiccolo.gelocal.it/dettaglio/tenutario-di-giorno-testimone-di-geova-di-sera/1845231.
translation:.
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quietlyleaving
Those who tried to get out from under the yoke to set up on their own, were heavily threatened. I guess the elder was trying to practice what he preached then
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Engineer: "This was not an earthquake disaster"
by betterdaze inthe audience at last tuesdays uc berkeley lecture given by eduardo fierro, one of the first u.s. earthquake engineers to visit post-quake haiti, collectively cringed as fierro showed slide after slide of haphazard columns, brittle frames, and slipshod rods and joints.
this was not an earthquake disaster, fierro said.
fierro, a peruvian native who has worked around the pacific rim, arrived in haiti within two days of the earthquake to investigate the destruction caused to the countrys built environment.
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quietlyleaving
Is Fiero representing some company or other trying to sell something to the poor Haitians? I don't like his sneering attitude. Sounds like he has got a whiff of money to be made. I guess there is nothing wrong with making money, as this won't be Haitian money but money pouring in from others. He could drop the sneering attitiude though
Thanks for the link Leo - it gives us some perspective
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A honest question to all creationists
by bohm inhey!.
i have a question regarding creation thats burning me.
i dont have any clever arguments depending on what is answered, i am just curious.. first off i want to say that i think people are free to believe whatever they want.
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quietlyleaving
thank you frankie - I'm glad we're all being taught moreorless the same stuff.
Restrangled you may be interested in this (taken from the same article)
It is worth noting that individual humans generally differ by about 0.1 percent genetically. Thus, chimps differ from humans by about 15-fold more, on the average, than humans do from one another. The 0.1 percent human divergence certainly results in significant variation in physical appearance and traits between different humans. Therefor, perhaps we shouldn?t be so surprised that chimps could be 98.5 percent related to humans. Relatively small genetic changes can produce major phenotypic changes.
And I agree that from a human perspective there is a huge gulf between humans and apes. If apes could speak our language they would probably say the same.
Another thing is that it is probably that we had a common ancestor rather than that we came from apes. So we are related to apes just as we are to other living things only more so. The genesis account of creation does agree that we are all of the earth.
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Mill Hill Disfellowshippings
by BorgHater ina few months ago there was a thread about a couple of elders at the mill hill bethel being disfellowshipped because they disagreed with some wt doctrine (i can't recall exactly what it was) and that several other betheliteswere under 'investigation'.
i haven't heard anything since, does anyone know anything more about this?.
borghater xx.
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quietlyleaving
well this thread certainly seems to be hotting up. When I was first leaving I did contact reachout trust and they gave me the tel no of an individual nearby. However as I already had JWD support, and was very restricted in meeting people anyway as I have many witnesses everywhere in my area, I did not take up the kind support offered.
At the moment I occasionally attend Unitarian meetings and I find the absence of proselytizing such a refreshing change. Many are atheists and agnostics, some are budhists, muslims etc
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A honest question to all creationists
by bohm inhey!.
i have a question regarding creation thats burning me.
i dont have any clever arguments depending on what is answered, i am just curious.. first off i want to say that i think people are free to believe whatever they want.
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quietlyleaving
frankie
Restrangled,
Humanzee:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanzee#Feasibility
Quiet,
More closer study reveals chimps have 95% of our dna.
And humans have up 1% difference throughout the species where it was onece thought we had 99.9% same and .1% difference.
frankie I was relaying whats in my text book - 99% ape - 1.6 % difference to be more accurate. Plese show me where you got your figures.
restrangled - the answer probably lies in the 30 million genetic letters that separate us
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A honest question to all creationists
by bohm inhey!.
i have a question regarding creation thats burning me.
i dont have any clever arguments depending on what is answered, i am just curious.. first off i want to say that i think people are free to believe whatever they want.
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quietlyleaving
DNA reveals that humans are 99% ape! The 1% difference consists of 30 million genetic letters that are different from that of apes.
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A honest question to all creationists
by bohm inhey!.
i have a question regarding creation thats burning me.
i dont have any clever arguments depending on what is answered, i am just curious.. first off i want to say that i think people are free to believe whatever they want.
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quietlyleaving
hi bohm - this has become quite a complex discussion - quite above my scientific understanding. But in answer to your post
quietlyleaving: i see your point, but many think the bible is compatible with evolution/no ark, and i feel those people allow themselves to be led more by evidence (or as an id advocate may say: popular oppinion). At any rate, it is not impossible to imagine a bible which supports both viewpoints, to some it allready exist. basically you just need to throw out genesis and make some statements more vague :-)
I find looking for common recurring themes quite helpful. So the theme of human survival in the bible is similar to the theme of survival in a concept such as natural selection. Thus a disaster like a flood, is significant from the standpoint of how an individual would make sense of his/her survival.
For obvious reasons we can see why such a recurring theme would be deeply ingrained into the psyche of every living thing. Furthermore each stage of a persons life would then add another thematic layer. I find that the bible is very good at preserving themes while a study of the facts as in science fertilizes these themes and pushes them to be reworked according to how one must make sense of them. Science of course reminds itself not to stray from the facts while the bible tends to keep civilizing behaviours, conventions and ethics in sight while at the same time enabling one to transcend feeling like an unfortunate survivor.
So it is very interesting to see how Peter revitilizes the flood story by drawing somewhat different conclusions to Genesis at 1 Peter 3:21.
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A honest question to all creationists
by bohm inhey!.
i have a question regarding creation thats burning me.
i dont have any clever arguments depending on what is answered, i am just curious.. first off i want to say that i think people are free to believe whatever they want.
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quietlyleaving
Assuming the bible never talked about evolution or creation. It was completely neutral on the issue. Yet you knew all the arguments you do now both for and against evolution and creation. Would you then believe that the species on earth came about by an evolutionary process, or by creation?
Second question:
Assuming the bible never mentioned Noahs ark and the global deluge. It was completely neutral on the issue. Yet you knew all the arguments you do now both for and against a global deluge. Would you then believe that there had been a global deluge a couple of thousand years ago?
bohm, somehow I think you are putting the cart before the horse. The bible supplements evolutionary thinking
And secondly the bible is the bible because it deals with man's origins and his place - it would not be seen as an authority if didn't, imo.