marmot

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Posts by marmot

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  13

  Dog Owners -- Help!

  by Inkie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we have a four and a half month old chihuahua--the cutest little male dog.

  in the short while that we have had him, my wife and i have fallen very much in love with him.

  i haven't had a dog since i was a young lad of about 9 or 10 (i'm way older now) so i've long since forgotten how male dogs behave.

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  marmot

  Look up "the dog whisperer", he's got tons of information in his books and TV shows about reinforcing correct behavior in dogs.
  
  Your little stud needs to learn that he's not the alpha male, and only the alpha male is supposed to "mate" (not suggesting anything improper between you and your kids, but that's the way the dog sees it).
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  31

  Can you say SATAN?!?!

  by Uzzah in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what is your stance on the devil, satan, demons etc?

  personally i find the concept of the devil as presented in scripture to be purely symbolic of humankind's ability to chose to do good or evil.

  the development of a moral compass unique to each person.. with many ancient beliefs, people tried to humanize concepts in order to better understand.

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  marmot

  Satan is a cop-out for people who don't want to take responsibility for their own actions.
  
  Seriously, "the devil made me do it" is now a cliché but that is in effect what people are saying when they define "evil" as the result of Satan's influence on the world. The sad part about all this is that it's a part of human nature.
  
  Here's an excerpt from Dr. Stanley Milgram's report following his infamous electroshock behavior experiments from the 60s:
  
  "Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority."
  
  Well whaddya know! Having an "independent spirit" is actually a GOOD thing. It seems pretty clear that the easiest path towards "evil" is to be a conformist sheep.
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  2

  Simple answers to complicated situations

  by JH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the jw's always seem to have a simple answer to any problem.. give examples of how jw's would answer a specific problem.

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  marmot

  Unemployed? Trust in Jehovah.
  
  Depressed? Trust in Jehovah.
  
  Have doubts? Trust in Jehovah.
  
  Might die for lack of a blood transfusion? Trust in Jehovah.
  
  Feel anguished for shunning your disfellowshipped family member? Trust in Jehovah.
  
  Have a yeast infection? Trust in Jehovah.
  
  If two trains depart from Denver to New York at 9am and one train is travelling at 100mph the other at 80mph, in which state will each dining car serve dinner? Trust in Jehovah.
  
  See? Three words that can answer ANYTHING!
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  7

  Babylon the Great, is it religion or not?

  by avidbiblereader in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in a recent thread about could the wts be right about religion coming to their end, i find this thought very interesting, is babylon the great really the world empire of religion or is it something else, not saying i am right but would love your thoughts on it.. .

  i am not saying that i am right, but i have been reading rev and especially 17-19 over and over again doing research with cross references with various bible translations, i actually want to do a small paper on it for my own.

  i really think this is one that the wts has wrong again, in reading and praying and researching, it could be that babylon the great is not religion but rather the entire commerical or commerce of the world in which the political leaders throughout history have had immoral relations with and religion (which many agree, has become big business) is just a part of.. in looking at rev 17-19 take a slow look at yourself, get out of wt mindset and actually look at the scriptures and ponder with cross references, you wont get religion as babylon the great, read the context and ask yourself, .

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  marmot

  I'm siding with Thomas Jefferson on this one:
  
  "It is between fifty and sixty years since I read it [the Book of Revelation], and I then considered it merely the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy nor capable of explanation than the incoherencies of our own nightly dreams." -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to General Alexander Smyth, January 17, 1825
  
  You can make the Bible say whatever the heck you want, and an examination of history shows that it has been used countless times to do just that.
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  6

  The Bible - all heart (and kidneys), but no brains.

  by Awakened07 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  - the topic title is a little 'tabloid' i'll admit, but actually more literal than you'd think:.

  a thought - or should i say memory - from my active jw days came to me, and that was the often mentioned 'fact' that jehovah is the god who "tries our heart and kidneys".

  this was a very common expression used at meetings while i was growing up.

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  marmot

  It's only relatively recently (within the last few hundred years) that medicine has recognized the role the brain plays.
  
  It was previously believed that the physical heart had more to do with thought.
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  25

  Famous JW's

  by jwfacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have updated my page on famous jws.

  it is by far the most viewed part of my site.

  it seems michelle rod, and michael jackson are far more popular searches than 1914 or jehovah.. i still need to add some quotes that identify each individual as a jw, but i thought you may enjoy the list.

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  marmot

  One of the most influential American writers of the 20th century - Mickey Spillane - was a Witness but he ran into trouble because of the sexy hyper-violent content of his books.
  
  We can credit the modern action hero stereotype to him.
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  26

  Bets on when the UN prophecy will be dropped?

  by marmot in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  now that i'm free to bet, i figured it would be neat to start a pool on when the watchtower is going to change light bulbs on the prophecy about the united nations turning on worldwide religion.

  there is no doubt in my mind that this prediction will be dropped.

  not only is this the longest-running unchanged prediction in the wt's history (1925 and 1975 had much shorter gestations) it's the last detailed concrete prediction the society has left in its bag of tricks.

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  marmot

  Wow, I've been to all (well, most) of those Watchtower studies and I never noticed that stand creeping in. The first time I ever noticed they were distancing themselves was in the last Kingdom News tract, where they show a picture of the wild beast but they only give a vague reference to "learn more in the book 'Revelation: Its Grand Climax at Hand' - publishedbyJehovah'sWitnesses(tm)."
  
  It seems like they're laying the groundwork for a cover-my-ass campaign. Stating that "certain militarized elements within the United Nations" will turn against false religion is a completely vague cop-out. That's like saying "certain members of the human species who breathe air" will turn on false religion. The only world governments who aren't active members of the UN are Taiwan and the Vatican. Wow, I'm relieved to know they're not a part of the prophecy.
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  15

  WT study and talk about sex..

  by chappy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does anyone remember any kind of wt study or talk based on the song of soloman?

  if so, how'd it go?.

  chappy.

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  marmot

  Well, they did the "highlights from the book of..." portion on the song of solomon a few months back on the TMS. It completely glossed over the blatant sexuality of the book and instead turned everything into spiritual applications.
  
  Was very boring.
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  39

  Help needed: Killing the 'The light gets brighter' argument?

  by jah1914 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  so after the revelation study last night where the paragraph was talking about how russell's interpertation of revelation basically didn't work and got discarded, my wife comments with the same old,"the light gets brigther, that's why i respect fds because at least they will change when they figure out something is wrong.

  " (insert vomit here) afterwards, me and the book study conductor(i have to at least give him credit, he is someone i can talk to freely about my questions and he has not,as of yet, turned me in) got into a discussion of what 'the light gets brighter' really means.

  he basically says so the brothers have made changes, so what?

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  marmot

  What kind of ****ed-up teacher lets his students study WRONG examples?
  
  The only logic to that line of reasoning is if the teacher wanted to demonstrate how NOT to do something, in which case he would HIGHLIGHT the errors made and carefully examine them to teach the rest of the class how to do it correctly. Last time I checked the Faithful Slave had a habit of minimizing errors and playing revisionist historian.
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  16

  JERK

  by free2beme in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in this world there is a title, a title that makes people upset to hear mentioned.

  yet more often then not, it simply fits.

  the title is jerk, or basically someone that is a complete ass and not someone who is being nice or a good person.

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  marmot

  See, asshole I have no problem with. I find it also carries a lot more weight behind it when you're trying to convey the thought "you're REALLY not a nice person."