Rapunzel

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Posts by Rapunzel

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  72

  Who is God?

  by real one in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have read a lot of posts since coming to this site and a lot of you dont seem to have a realistic view of god.

  so tell me who do you think he is?.

  please keep your comments simple and to the point .

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  Rapunzel

  "'God is the unique, and is so perfect so to not resemble any of the things that exist or any of the things that do not exist; you cannot describe God using your human intelligence...Of the Unique, you cannot say that It is or is not, the Unique embraces all but is nothing; you can name the Unique only through dissimilarity...because whatever you say of the Unique, you will never express It. God is not body, is not figure, is not form; God does not see, does not hear, does not know disorder and perturbation; God is not soul, intelligence, imagination, opinion, thought, word, number, order, size; God is not equality and is not inequality, is not Time and is not eternity; God is a will without purpose...God is a lamp without flame, a flame without fire, a fire without heat, a dark light, a silient rumble, a blind flash, a luminous soot, a ray of Its own darkness, a circle that expands concentrating on Its own center, a solitary simplicity...God is a space that is not, in which you and I are the same thing, as we are today in this time that does not flow.'" - Umberto Eco, Baudolino
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  15

  Islam-What the west needs to know.

  by avishai in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  interesting documentary.

  .

  http://openflv.com/watch?v=ota5mzk4ma==&p=0

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  Rapunzel

  OBVES: You write that "there cannot be two books that Yahweh God accepts as sacred." And why not, may I ask? I read somewhere that only madmen and savages claim to know the mind of God. Which one are you? Do you claim to know the mind of God so well that you could propose that God accepts one single book as sacred? In my opinion, this premise is fundamentally fallacious, that is to say, false. If God is infinite, then it only stands to reason that God can be approached in a multiplicity of ways, according to the great variety of cultural traditions and mores that are currently present in the world. Simply stated, people in different cultures approach the Ineffable in various ways.

  Your second premise - that the Qu'ran contradicts the Bible - is also wrong. In fact, the two complement each other to a great degree. They share the same stories and the same cast of characters - Abraham; Moses; Issac: Job; and Mary (among others) are all found in both the Bible and the Qu'ran. And even if it could be said that the Qu'ran does contradict the Bible, one could also advance the argument that the Bible contradicts itself. This is because the Bible was written by humans over a period of many hundreds of years. It is a hodge-podge of writings, edited and redacted by people living in various cultures and speaking various languages. The people who edited and compiled the Bible were separated from each other by geography and history. It often occurred that the people who were editing the Bible at a given time did not understand the people who had edited the Bible in earlier historical eras. People often forget that Judaism, Islam and Christianity are all "Oriental imports," that is to say that they all began in the Levant - the Middle East - and spread westward into Europe and later in the "New World". People also often forget that there is a huge gulf - a separation - between the thinking and worldview of ancient middle eastern people and contemporary societies.

  There is no reason to choose the Bible over the Qu'ran, or vice-versa. At the heart of each are the two most important commandments of all - to love God [in whatever way you conceive of God] with your whole heart, and to love other people as you would love yourself. As a famous rabbi once said, that is the essence of the Torah; all else is merely commentary.
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  15

  Islam-What the west needs to know.

  by avishai in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  interesting documentary.

  .

  http://openflv.com/watch?v=ota5mzk4ma==&p=0

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• 

  Rapunzel

  OBVES: You write that "there cannot be two books that Yahweh God accepts as sacred." And why not, may I ask? I read somewhere that only madmen and savages claim to know the mind of God. Which one are you? Do you claim to know the mind of God so well that you could propose that God accepts one single book as sacred? In my opinion, this premise is fundamentally fallacious, that is to say, false. If God is infinite, then it only stands to reason that God can be approached in a multiplicity of ways, according to the great variety of cultural traditions and mores that are currently present in the world. Simply stated, people in different cultures approach the Ineffable in various ways.

  Your second premise - that the Qu'ran contradicts the Bible - is also wrong. In fact, the two complement each other to a great degree. They share the same stories and the same cast of characters - Abraham; Moses; Issac: Job; and Mary (among others) are all found in both the Bible and the Qu'ran. And even if it could be said that the Qu'ran does contradict the Bible, one could also advance the argument that the Bible contradicts itself. This is because the Bible was written by humans over a period of many hundreds of years. It is a hodge-podge of writings, edited and redacted by people living in various cultures and speaking various languages. The people who edited and compiled the Bible were separated from each other by geography and history. It often occurred that the people who were editing the Bible at a given time did not understand the people who had edited the Bible in earlier historical eras. People often forget that Judaism, Islam and Christianity are all "Oriental imports," that is to say that they all began in the Levant - the Middle East - and spread westward into Europe and later in the "New World". People also often forget that there is a huge gulf - a separation - between the thinking and worldview of ancient middle eastern people and contemporary societies.

  There is no reason to choose the Bible over the Qu'ran, or vice-versa. At the heart of each are the two most important commandments of all - to love God [in whatever way you conceive of God] with your whole heart, and to love other people as you would love yourself. As a famous rabbi once said, that is the essence of the Torah; all else is merely commentary.
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  1

  On-line Resource Material in Languages Other Than English

  by Rapunzel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my question is: how much material exists on line in languages other than english for ex-jehovah's witnesses and people doing research on the witnesses organization?

  of course, there is now an extremely vast amount of such research and reference material in english on the internet; then again, english is - at present - the predominant language used on the internet in general.

  but does anyone know the situation in regard to languages other than english?.

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  Rapunzel

  My question is: How much material exists on line in languages other than English for ex-Jehovah's Witnesses and people doing research on the Witnesses organization? Of course, there is now an extremely vast amount of such research and reference material in English on the Internet; then again, English is - at present - the predominant language used on the Internet in general. But does anyone know the situation in regard to languages other than English?. I ask this question because it seems that, in general, the Witnesses are experiencing nearly stagnant growth - and even a decline in numbers - in most developed English-speaking nations, while showing the most growth in other developing nations. As the Internet makes inroads into these societies, things can only take a turn for the worst as far as the organization's power and influence over the people is concerned. So, does anyone have any idea of the resources available to people who speak languages other than English?
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  11

  Asian-American Quiz

  by snowbird in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  since african-americans seem to be getting all the attention .... how about something about asian-americans?.

  http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/departments/homework/?page=quiz101&quizid=101.

  i scored 5/9.. sylvia.

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  Rapunzel

  6/9 - Two thirds correct isn't bad, but it isn't that good either.
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  28

  Another jest from the Watchtower art dept. (WT 07 07/15)

  by cultswatter in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the following picture is from page 17 of the july 15 2007 watchtower magazine.

  the next picture is on page 18 .

  these pictures are on opposite sides of the same page.

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  Rapunzel

  Sorry, I'm having trouble with the "p" key on my computer. In my previous post, "age" should be "page", and "uheld" should be "upheld."
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  28

  Another jest from the Watchtower art dept. (WT 07 07/15)

  by cultswatter in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the following picture is from page 17 of the july 15 2007 watchtower magazine.

  the next picture is on page 18 .

  these pictures are on opposite sides of the same page.

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  Rapunzel

  The first picture shows a group of four Pharisees angrily confronting Peter,with one of them pointing a finger at him.

  The second photo shows Peter, holding his right hand up, denying Christ. As it is stated, it is important to note that the second picture is on the page opposite to the first drawing.

  If you hold a flashlight up to the age and look at the second drawing, there is a bizarre impression.It appears that the head of one of the Pharisees in the first photo is levatating above Peter's uheld hand in the second drawing.
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  57

  If "You Think Darwin Sounds Like A Nazi, There Is A Connection"

  by BurnTheShips in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was somewhat aware of the lineage of nazi racialist ideology, but i always thought it was a misapplication of darwin's ideas.

  it turns out i was wrong.. .

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  Rapunzel

  BTS- Narkissos did not say that Nietzsche's thinking was "benign". In fact, he states that Nietzsche penned some dangerous ideas. Nietzsche's writings are especially dangerous when taken out of context. Nietzsche's writing is highly aphoristic; and, as a thinker, he is un-systematic. Therefore he resists any facile summarization. However, he was most assuredly an anti-Nazi thinker. Narkissos was spot on; Nazi ideology was anathema to Nietzsche's philosophy [and vice versa]. Neitzsche cannot be understood outside of his historical and cultural context. His thought must also be considered as forming part of an ancient continuum of thought - materialism, which goes back to ancient Greece. Nietzsche wrote about the 'spectre of nihilism" haunting Europe at the end of the nineteenth century, but at the same time, he despaired of this nihilism. He did not revel in it. With Nietzsche, context is everything, as it is with the Bible, the Koran, Darwin or Freud. All of these writings and philosohical systems can be - and have been- maliciously abused, with horrific consequences. The Bible and the Koran have been maliciously abused throughout the centuries.To quote Nietzsche we inherit both the wisdom and the madness of a thousand generations.

  And while I appreciate that the Inquirer article was a newspaper column, and not a peer-reviewed journal, I would still appreciate citations and page references. To tell the truth, I find the article highly suspicious. If you read carefully, not only are there no page references, there are no quotes regarding Darwin's supposedly racist ideas. Campolo does not offer so much as one single quote by Darwin that could be construed as racist. Campolo puts none of his [Campolo's] accusations in quotes. Thus, we are left with nothing but - at best - Campolo's subjective interpretations.
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  57

  If "You Think Darwin Sounds Like A Nazi, There Is A Connection"

  by BurnTheShips in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was somewhat aware of the lineage of nazi racialist ideology, but i always thought it was a misapplication of darwin's ideas.

  it turns out i was wrong.. .

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  Rapunzel

  In Campolo's Philadelphia Inquirer article, there are no citations offered, no page references to either of Darwin's works. So how can any of the statements be verified? Given the severity of the allegations that he makes, Campolo should have supplied page references. Exactly where [i.e., on what page] does Darwin write the things that Campolo claims he writes?

  As far as the Nazis' misappropriation of Darwin's ideas, the Nazis did the same thing with Nietzsche. The Nazis were all too happy to pervert and warp the ideas of almost any thinker whom they chose.
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  36

  Neil Young - Your Favorite Songs or Albums from Him ?

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  another musician i have really liked over the years !

  has a crazy , catatonic electric guitar sound over the years that sounds like the guitar is moaning or screaming at times .

  pretty creepy at times ; but very cool !

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  Rapunzel

  2.) Sugar Mountain