GentlyFeral

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Posts by GentlyFeral

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  16

  God?!? hahaha. that so funny.

  by d0rkyd00d in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here is a little post for all you people who believe in god, or at least the god that the bible presents to us.

  first off, why would an all powerful being thrive on his creation's worship?

  that is a little selfish if you ask me, and a little childish.

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  GentlyFeral

  dorkyd00d,

  You're assuming that the Bible stories you've quoted actually say anything about any god that might actually exist. What happens if you throw the Bible out and go truth-hunting?

  Maybe humanity's purpose is NOT to worship God; perhaps he created us just to see what would happen.

  Maybe god DIDN'T tell the Israelites to murder everybody else.

  Maybe god isn't any older than the universe; maybe it and god came into existence together.

  Maybe god isn't perfect.

  Try the Norse or Greek or Roman or Celtic or Egyptian myths, the Principia Discordia (especially for the Western Onion telegram in which Jehovah's sorry ass is FIRED), or any of Aleister Crowley's books, and see if they don't tell a better story.

  Or at least a better *decorated* story.

  Gently Feral
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  6

  Poetry thread

  by Introspection in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  thought there might be different ones we enjoy and we can post it all here.

  i posted this one couple months ago but it's gone, hopefully this thread will stay active so it'll all be kept... the journey by mary oliver.

  one day you finally knew.

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  GentlyFeral

  Good idea, Introspection. Here's a favorite of mine:

  Do the Dead Know What Time It Is?

  The old guy put down his beer.
  Son, he said,
  (and a girl came over to the table where we were:
  asked us by Jack Christ to buy her a drink.)
  Son, I am going to tell you something
  The like of which nobody was ever told.
  (and the girl said, I've got nothing on tonight;
  how about you and me going to your place?)
  I am going to tell you the story of my mother's
  Meeting with God.
  (and I whispered to the girl: I don't have a room,
  but maybe...)
  She walked up to where the top of the world is
  And He came right up to her and said
  So at last you've come home.
  (but maybe what?
  I thought I'd like to stay here and talk to you.)
  My mother started to cry and God
  Put His arms around her.
  (about what?
  Oh, just talk...we'll find something.)
  She said it was like a fog coming over her face
  And light was everywhere and a soft voice saying
  You can stop crying now.
  (what can we talk about that will take all night?
  and I said that I didn't know.)
  You can stop crying now.

  Kenneth Patchen
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  2

  The Strange Kinship of Hive Minds?

  by Tallyman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  * http://intrex.net/tallyman/borebees.html.

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  GentlyFeral

  Tally, fabulous story. Thanks for linking it. And like Farkel said, good to see you again.

  Gently Feral
  aka Exuberant Potato Grrrl
• 
  63

  Suggestions for baby names please

  by hippikon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we would like to ask you good folk ( the bad ones can play as well) for suggestions for baby names.

  its getting close now and we need ideas.

  we dont know the sex yet.

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  GentlyFeral

  Mommie,

  My mother's name is Deirdre; it's not a made-up name but it's fairly uncommon, even less so in 1935 than it is today. I imagine she spent much of her life correcting people's spelling and so forth. She *never* answered to any nicknames that I remember.

  She gave me a name that she actually did make up -- a variant on Michael, her father's name. I have spent all my life correcting people's spelling AND pronunciation and have grown to find it amusing. Very few people can both spell and pronounce it. Some people can do one or the other.

  When I began elementary school, my teacher had the brilliant idea of nicknaming me "Kelly" which is a kind of truncation of my real name. I tolerated it until the eve of middle school, when I announced that it was to be deep-sixed forever.

  I have NEVER answered to "Michelle," the most common mispronunciation.

  I named my children Deirdre (and, yes, she corrects people's spelling and pronunciation) and Joel. Joel goes by the name of Ungtartog sometimes. I didn't do it!

  Miss Gently Feral

  P.S. Tell your son Isaac that Ike sounds very butch, and that I commend him on his good taste.

  P.P.S. Remember the "porn star name" game we played at Tishie's, where one of yours was Bad Ass Jones?
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  15

  Yet another caption contest

  by bboyneko in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  let's see how much fun we can have with this one:.

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  GentlyFeral

  You know.... I think my son put this up. It's just like something he would do.

  Gently Feral
• 
  15

  Give blood?

  by spike in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had a conversation with my doctor.

  i decided to use blood.

  i wanted to know my blood type.

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  GentlyFeral

  I gave blood for the first time last week, on a sudden impulse (aided by the fact that the bloodmobile was at my job that day). The procedure was just as peaceloveharmony described it. MAN! WHAT A SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE! It felt like the most direct contribution I could make toward someone else's welfare; didn't matter that I would never know who benefited. Throwing money at charitable causes is one thing, but this is something else altogether. ... I don't really know how to describe it, but I was just emotionally flyin' all the rest of the day.

  Gently Feral
• 
  86

  Submit your favorite quote!

  by Spartacus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when a difficulty is deep and painful, the triumph is glorious and jubilant.. -spartacus 2001

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  GentlyFeral

  "Religion has to give one wit, levity and command; religion that makes the believer dull, benighted and obtuse is not spiritual and has to be rejected."
  -- Fr. Don Cupitt

  ...and, from an email list I used to belong to:

  "Last year, some guy thought he'd get tough and beat up some Goths on the Mall, and they kicked the shit out of him. Never pick on pasty skinny people who wear steel-toed boots as a fashion statement." -- Magi Anderson
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  69

  Christmas Star = Satan?!

  by reagan_oconnor in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was talking with my husband the other day about the jw's belief that the "christmas star" that guided the magi to christ was the doings of satan.

  he didn't believe me; this is what i found in the "my book of bible stories" (copied verbatim from cd-rom).

  who do you think made that new star to shine?

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  GentlyFeral

  Yadirf,

  This makes sense only if you assume the story is entirely historical. I don't.

  Gently Feral
• 
  69

  Christmas Star = Satan?!

  by reagan_oconnor in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was talking with my husband the other day about the jw's belief that the "christmas star" that guided the magi to christ was the doings of satan.

  he didn't believe me; this is what i found in the "my book of bible stories" (copied verbatim from cd-rom).

  who do you think made that new star to shine?

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  GentlyFeral

  I heard a Unitarian Universalist minister teach a Sunday School class on this about five years ago. He said that in the first century, astrology was actually a respected discipline -- something intellectuals did. To write about astrologers paying homage to Jesus was a way of saying that even educated worldlings knew the Son of God when they saw him.

  The Curvaceous, Bodacious

  Miss Gently Feral
• 
  28

  A Question for You

  by individuals wife in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just a couple of quick questions, the first directed at exjws - could you ever see any reason for you to return to the organisation?

  what would have to happen for you to return?

  under what circumstances would you ever go back?

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  GentlyFeral

  OK, let’s pretend I’m [i]not[i/] brilliantly happy as a Unitarian Universalist/Pagan.

  Gosh, this is turning out to be much harder than I thought….

  Um.

  1. Ditch the damn blood policy. Besides being dangerous, it’s just ridiculous.

  2. Real, sure-nuff universalism. No more Armageddon bullshit. Reform and transformation for everybody!

  3. In fact, no more bullshit of any kind.

  4. Of course, that means most of that sappy “literature” would have to go.

  5. And we’d no longer be required to preach door to door. Or at all.

  6. True freedom of conscience: no insistence that anyone pretend to believe anything they can’t make sense of.

  7. And, of course, public renunciation of homophobia.

  8. Lots and lots of interfaith brain-picking. With, for instance, Hindus, Reform Jews, Buddhists…

  9. Redefine “separate from the world” to mean “separate from mean-spiritedness.” And nothing else.

  10. Serious do-gooding, not to earn salvation, but because it’s fun, dammit, and needs doing!

  This probably wouldn’t be enough to make me go back; I’m getting enough of it in the religious space I occupy now.

  I left the jaydubs because I wasn’t getting anything on this list.

  GentlyFeral