Posts by GentlyFeral

I once heard a Unitarian minister explain the Samson story as the ancient Israelite equivalent of Paul Bunyan (except for the tragic ending, I suppose).

If you concede there are errors in the Bible, then you cannot know which parts are true and which parts are not. It all comes down to what you want to be true.

Up to a point. Is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" true? Do you want it to be true? How far do these questions overlap in this case? Conscience is the best canon we have, yet consciences differ.

Take the rules against homosexuality- you cannot say your God didn't really mean they were sinning. On what could you possibly base that?

On the fact that parts of the Bible have been disproven. We have as much evidence for the innocuousness of homosexuality as we do for the reality of evolution, so Paul was talking through his hat on this subject. Does that make the "Love" chapter of 1 Corinthians any less useful as a guide for life? Even a [name of despised political party] is right once in a while. :)

To take the story that God made Adam and Eve 6,000 years ago from dirt and a rib, and think that means God made it so humans would evolve from other species over millions of years is astounding.

Proto-Hebrew shepherds told that story. The Creative Force carries out its own perpetually improvised plan. Smaller minds make what sense of it they can. Everybody gets a little piece of the hologram.Furthermore, not everything "we know" about the Bible is in the Bible. For instance: Cain was not black, but was enslaved; Ham was black, but not enslaved. So the Bible itself contradicts the once popular Christian conception that "the black race was cursed because it was descended from Cain." I dare say any of us could name other errors imposed on the Bible by later religious or cultural groups.]

But, again, you assume a dilemma where none need exist.

I never said that "the Bible is true." I said that "truth is in the Bible." Rather than "the Bible is God's word," I believe the Bible includes God's word: as does all the world's scripture and scientific literature and art.

To think the account of the sun being created on the 4th day really means it was created millions of years BEFORE the Earth is astounding too.

You are still assuming Biblical literalism.

By wanting the Biblical god to be true,

Well, yes and no. The creative force, the power of love, the sense that the universe is conspiring to bless us – definitely yes.

you're basically rewriting the Bible in your head!

Yes!!! Finally you get it!!!!

gentlyferal

6

Need help with Xmas presents for my kids

by purplesofa in

jw
friends

i have four sons and a daughter.

this year i am going to give them a present at christmas.

i have given them something around christmas before, not wrapped or with a merry christmas with it.

GentlyFeral

Pay attention to anything they say about things they would buy for themselves "if I could justify spending the money." Or look at their possessions and note whatever's jury-rigged, falling apart, etc.

Buy whatever-it-is and personalize that with your own unique artwork. Paint, carve, whatever.

gently feral

34

Did you try and fit your own "style" into meeting dress?

by avishai in

jw
friends

boy, i sure did.

forties suits with handpainted ties.

fifties/sixties sharkskin "rat pack" suits with the skinniest ties i could get away with, etc.,

GentlyFeral

No, dammit. I was too damn obedient.

Besides,

I had no money for nice clothes,
especially because I've always been fat, and fat-lady stores charged an arm and a leg back then,
and besides, there was no eBay back then.

gentlyferal

39

Word game fluff...what else does your JWD name spell?

by restrangled in

jw
friends

go to this anagram site and type in your name: http://wordsmith.org/anagram/.

you might be shocked!

here were my favorites:.

GentlyFeral

Way too many for me :) The best were:

Flare Gently
Angler Lefty
Tangle Flyer
Flatly Genre
Fag Lent Lyre
Flat Glen Rye
Arty Elf Glen

e taoin s hrdlu

79

You have three wishes

by John Doe in

jw
friends

no wishing for more wishes.

no wishing to know what to wish for.

i, the genie, have the authority to grant your wish or not to grant your wish as i so choose.

GentlyFeral

O Mighty Trouserless Genie,

I crave the power to grant wishes to others.

GentlyFeral

31

tired of being an apostate

by Hortensia in

jw
friends

i'm tired of being an apostate, atheist, agnostic, take your pick.

i was going to start calling myself a heretic, but then i decided to look up apostate in the thesaurus.

look at all the lovely words we have to choose from:.

GentlyFeral

A frondeur is apparently someone who belonged to the Fronde, an opposition party during a French civil war. Its purpose was not revolution, but "to protect the ancient 'liberties' from encroachments by the royal power."

More than you ever wanted to know about the subject: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fronde

GentlyFeral

22

Don't Try and Convert Me

by blondie in

jw
friends

http://www.maconareaonline.com/news.asp?id=18798.

don't try to convert me, please by: lewis grizzardtues oct 23, 2007 9:05 am edt.

macon,ga.- religious freedom is a wonderful thing.

GentlyFeral

Junction-Guy:

I agree about the note part, we dont use notes in my church, if they ever did I would bail quickly.

What about Martin Luther King, Jr.? (I read somewhere that he would spend many hours preparing a sermon, bring a folder of notes up to the pulpit – and snap the folder shut and never look at it!)

tijkmo:

you have got to be kidding

Not necessarily. In American churches, especially African-American ones, there's a long, long tradition – hundreds of years! – of sermons being *performed* like monologues. It was a high art, and a necessary skill of the preacher, to memorize entire sermons and be able to preach them without preparation.

And – but I believe this is much rarer – I once knew a Unitarian preacher who was able to improvise a sermon every week, with nothing in his mind but twenty or thirty hours of reading and thinking. It would all come together, he once said, as he was walking through the sanctuary door.

Nowadays, though, he preaches from notes; partly because it got to be too exhausting, and partly because he was afraid he was showing off.

GentlyFeral

42

OK back to fluff for a change...has anyone had success making icecream?

by restrangled in

jw
friends

i bought one of those new fangled devices, by cuisenart...pour the stuff into a prefrozen container and watch it turn into your dream homemade icecream....not!.

it comes out soft and soupy.

if you put it into the freezer it hardens into 1000 year old glacier like material.. it tastes good, but the texture is never where you want it.

GentlyFeral

I used to have the same problem with cheap ice cream makers. I used to let the ice cream freeze hard after making it and then thaw it out just slightly before serving. It was OK.

When I came to make cantaloupe sherbet (basically cantaloupe puree and simple syrup), I decided to hack the frozen mass to bits and then run it through the food processor. That was a big help, if I remember right.

gently feral

46

Name Things You Wanted To Do As A JW But Couldn't--- That You Do Now

by minimus in

jw
friends

when you were a witness, there must've been things that you really wanted to but couldn't because you were not able to.

give us some examples, please..

GentlyFeral

Almost everything that's been listed here.

And I absolutely craved to quit judging people.

gently feral