sorry.... i'm chicken shit, ok?.
bwahahahahahaha...
. Besides it being a well known fact that he physically abused 4 of his seven kids when they were young
A "well-known fact" in that he was convicted, or a "well-known fact" of the potentially libellous sort?
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"The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion." - Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, 1794.
well guys, my mom invited me to this sunday's public talk.
my esteemed bro-in-law, who is visiting from out of state, will be the speaker.
actually, i guess technically, my sister invited me, thru my mom of course since she doesn't really associate with me *gag*.
Bring a pen and paper. The bigger your notepad the better. A big pen would help too. Ideally, you should have several different coloured pens, and highlighters - you can never have enough highlighters. Take notes throughout the entire talk. Practise nodding thoughtfully and saying "Hmmmm" loudly when he makes any points you find interesting or don't agree with and write them down in red pen and mark them with a highlighter. People will be impressed by your spirituality and your appreciation of the "spiritual food". Over lunch, you can discuss your notes with your brother-in-law, asking him lots of questions. This will show your family that you have a love of the "deeper things". Your brother-in-law will be impressed and flattered by the attention.
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"The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion." - Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, 1794.
for me, the word was "loving".. great "loving" kindness.. great undeserved "loving" kindness!.
disfellowshipping is a "loving" provision.. when the wtbts want their accolytes to swallow another bitter pill, another restriction, another rebuke, another demand on time, the buzz word is "loving".. the "loving" word, is, to the average jw, the same as the mccabe nod is to the salesman.
the mccabe nod is used by salesman all the time to get the prospective customer to agree to something that he doesn't care for too much.
I agree with BritBoy. "The Truth" is the worst phrase imaginable. They have no other name for their religion. Individuals are called Jehovah's Witnesses but what's the religion itself called? It's a classic mind-control technique because it's very difficult to get your head around the idea that "The Truth" is not true. By definition it's a contradiction and is reponsible for the cognitive dissonance many people experience when they realise that their "Truth" is built upon lies.
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"The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion." - Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, 1794.
the problem of evil ---.
a gift .
there are many who feel that jehovah is so high and dignified that it would be insulting on our part to assume that we could give him anything other than our unquestioning obedience.
Well, let's go back and analyze Satan's original challenge a little more.
OK, although I dispute that it was Satan.
Here's what Genesis says:
3:2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard;So God told them that if they ate from the tree, they would die. The serpent told Eve that if she ate from the tree, she would be "like divine beings who know good and evil." Let's see what actually happened:
3:3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, 'You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it or else you will die.'"
3:4 The serpent said to the woman, "Surely you will not die
3:5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like divine beings who know good and evil."
3:7 Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves...From reading this, it appears that what the serpent told Eve was true, their eyes were opened and they became like god. They did not die from eating from the tree. They only died because God then banished them from the garden and denied them access to the tree of life. Who's the liar in this story?
3:22 And the Lord God said, "Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."
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"The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion." - Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, 1794.
hello, again.. this is the second of three parts.
we're starting to get into the meat of the subject here, and you should find some information on many of the objections that were brought up on the first one, as well as gravedancers thread.. let me reiterate again that these thoughts are not meant to be definative answers.
they are a work in progress and reflect the direction that seems logical and interesting.
You would well know that there is no scripture that directly says that Satan was using the snake as a ventriloquist's dummy, but that there are plenty of other clues that point to that fact, not the least of which is that Satan was condemned almost immediately afterwards.
Immediately afterwards? Well, that's definitely not mentioned in Genesis, I'm pretty sure it's nowhere in the Old Testament at all. The word "satan" appears only 19 times in the Old Testament (Authorized Version), twelve of which are in the book of Job. Nowhere in the Old Testament is Satan identified as a fallen angel.
If I'm wrong, I apologize and would be happy to give you the rundown on why nearly all of the so-called christian religions believe that Satan is responsible.Please do. I know Satan appears much more frequently in the New Testament, but I couldn't find any scripture that even contains a suggestion that he was controlling the serpent in Genesis.
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"The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion." - Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, 1794.
in a recent post someone mentioned that at an assembly or convention in the u.k. they would not let him in until he showed either a blood card or convention badge.
the person then named some elders he knew and was finally allowed in.
is this typical at u.k. conventions?
You know that since conventions are open to the public, such situations could never occur, so this must be - and cannot be anything else than - a misunderstanding. Perhaps it was referred to the Annual Meeting, where invited ones are the only ones to be there, or to the Elder Training Course, where special invitation cards must be presented.
OldHippie, that's not true. In Ireland, in the early 1980s, it was impossible to get in to a convvention without a badge. This was most likely due to the apostates picketing outside.
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"The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion." - Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, 1794.
or this could be titled: "ridicule this!
" that's because the ridiculer doesn't just ridicule old men in brooklyn, or the bible, or the religion of their family; rather those so inclined ridicule reality itself.
the beauty of the truth, though, is that it is irrepressible, so much so that even some of the sons of this system can, by the power of reason, unknowingly arrive at the same conclusion jehovah forsaw centuries before.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=19366&site=3
Another false prediction by You Know!
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"The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion." - Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, 1794.
hello, again.. this is the second of three parts.
we're starting to get into the meat of the subject here, and you should find some information on many of the objections that were brought up on the first one, as well as gravedancers thread.. let me reiterate again that these thoughts are not meant to be definative answers.
they are a work in progress and reflect the direction that seems logical and interesting.
It was only later that it became evident that Satan was behind everything, as well as the scope and meaning of the events behind the scene.
When and how did this become evident? I can't find anything in the bible that claims the serpent was used by Satan. Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough. Could you point me to the relevant scriptures please?
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"The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion." - Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, 1794.
hello, again.. this is the second of three parts.
we're starting to get into the meat of the subject here, and you should find some information on many of the objections that were brought up on the first one, as well as gravedancers thread.. let me reiterate again that these thoughts are not meant to be definative answers.
they are a work in progress and reflect the direction that seems logical and interesting.
Satan (through the serpent) asked Eve:
Genesis does not say that the serpent was a mouthpiece for Satan, nor does it imply it. Satan is not mentioned at all in the book of Genesis. As far as anyone can tell from just reading Genesis, it's just a story about a talking snake.
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"The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion." - Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, 1794.
define spirituality if you can.. what does the society mean when they talk of being spiritual?.
all i could figure out is just someone who follows the rules.. so if there is no god is spirituality meaning less or something still desirable?
Spirituality in the Watchtower world is a quality measured in hours per month.
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"The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion." - Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, 1794.
