The quote that Open Mind cites was attributed to Socrates by Plato. Socrates was born four and a half centuries before Christ. As the Bible says, there is nothing new under the sun. I would not be surprised if the Neanderthal people expressed similar laments about the "kids nowadays." I can just hear them: "Today's youth are spoiled by modern technology. Nowadays, it seems that every kid is clamoring for fire - 'Daddy, make me a fire! Mommy, cook my meat on the fire!' When I was a kid, we ate our meat raw - right off the bones. And, I'll tell you, we were damn happy to have it! When I was a kid, it was the meat that got spoiled rotten. Nowadays, it's the kids who are spoiled!"
Rapunzel
JoinedPosts by Rapunzel
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30
What do you think of todays youth?
by dawg inas many of you know, i live in a college town and therefore i'm around people much younger than me almost all day.
here's one thing i've noticed, the youth today have left the god of the bible behind.
they have been brought up in a world where information is available at a very rapid rate and have already figured out the biblical god is a fairy tale.
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10
Calling all JWD Geniuses!!!
by momzcrazy infor every word you correctly define on this game, they will donate 20 grains of rice to the un world food program.
the ads pay for the rice.. http://freerice.com/index.php.
fight world hunger and play!.
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Rapunzel
Yes, you called? I'm here. How may I help you?
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Watch Tower Bullies Theft Society
by R.Crusoe inwho would think inviting a jw into ones house was inviting them to steal away your family and friends?.
who would have imagined jw s coming into your home was inviting them to steal your soul?.
dictating life and afterlife on allcomers like some ruthless killer snatching dreams and love from all they choose and ruthlessly destroying lives of all they touch with their poisoned intent to subdue and enslave any they can deceive with their forked tongues!.
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Rapunzel
R.Crusoe - The very same denunciations that you make against the Witnesses could also be made against any other religion. In other words, anyone who disapproves of a given religion might say exactly what you say. Besides, didn't Jesus explicitly say that he had come to divide families? Didn't he say that in order to follow him, people would have to hate other familiy members ["hate" in the sense of love them less than him]?
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Do you enjoy listening to music from another generation?
by JH insome people only like recent music, maybe because they don't want to identify themselves to an older generation.. often, i'll listen and download music that played when i was a kid, and really enjoy it..
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Rapunzel
I like all kinds of music, including bluegrass, country, folk and singers of the so-called "folk revival" of the 1960's - singers like Pete Seager; Bob Dylan; Joan Baez; Joni Mitchell; and Odetta. A lot of folk songs go back hundreds of years; their variants have origins in Elizabethan times. Just think of "John Barleycorn" by the group Traffic. Both Odetta and Led Zepplin sing versions of "The Gallow's Pole." Baez has sung versions of "Silkie" and "Barbara Allen," Both songs are very old.
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Do you feel reading through the bible in the past has benefited you at all?
by Hope4Others inputting the doctrine aside do you feel it has given you any advantages?
case in point my son posts on university sites and often the topic about the bible.
and god come up.
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Rapunzel
The Bible is the foundational text of Western civilization and culture. As such, there are nearly countless allusions and references to the Bible in much of the world's litertature, in many languages. The problem is when people forget that the Bible is a human artifact; problems occur when people develop an exclusionist and dogmatic attitude with respect to the Bible. Problems occur when people come to view it as the " inerrant Word of God." The Bible is actually an anthology of many books; the English word "Bible" is derived from the Greek word meaning "books" [biblia]. The Bible contains a lot of sound moral principles which remain valid even today. It also contains a lot of curious, vulgar, and abhorrant nonsense. The Bible was written, edited and re-edited over at least a millenium by people living in various cultures and speaking various languages. These people held a pre-modern viewpoint very different from that of modern society.
However - like it or,for good or for bad - the Bible is indeed the foundational text of Western culture. Ideally, everyone should have a knowledge of it. Moreover, I think that people should also have an awareness and knowledge of the foundational texts of other cultures, such as the Qur'an, the Vedas, and Buddhist texts. It's been estimated that Christians make up only from 20 to 25% of the world's population. Therefore, it becomes important for them to read and learn about other cultures and religious traditions by reading their foundational texts - their scriptures and wisdom literature.
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Future = Will we find "religion" on other planets! Will it survive on earth
by Witness 007 inif an alien visited earth in the 1600's he would find a culture deeply rooted in religion with little scientific knowledge.
if we travelled to other planets in 2080 will we find jehoovers witnesses??
or some other form of religion...or will they be scientific and logical....will we still be religious in 1,000 years due to scientific breakthroughs in the last 100 years?
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Rapunzel
This is a very interesting question that you bring up - the general question of whether there is life on other planets, and the specific question of what - if any - religion these extra-terrestrials might practice. The French author, Fontenelle, wrote Entretiens sur la pluralite des mondes, in which he dealt with this issue. And another author [I think it was Mark Twain, but I'm not suie] wondered if the whole Adam and Eve saga played itself out on other planets as it had on earth. Did God and the snake have a sort of "running bet" on whether the beings on other planets would fail or pass the test of obedience? Did they agree to make it the best out of 10, or the best out of 100,000,000?
There's one thing that I intuitively know, and that is that religion on earth probably could not survive if ever there ever contact between humans and extra-terrestrials. If anyone studies the various historical encounters between technologically advanced societies and those that are less advanced, he or she will see that it always turns out badly for the less advanced society.
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Absurdity in the Bible
by darth frosty innot to diss anyones beliefs, i thought this was humorous.. .
absurdity in the bible .
if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.--1 cor.14:38 .
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Rapunzel
It should be noted that in the account of Noah's Ark, it is chaos that gets the upper hand over cosmos, with the Creator's complicity in the matter. In the account, it speaks of how God allows for the "waters from above and below" to inundate the earth, God's creation. Water in general, and the sea in particular, are almost universally seen as symbolic of the forces of chaos. In the Bible, Leviathan represents the chaotic force of the sea and water. In the Bible, Leviathan is God's "enemy."
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Absurdity in the Bible
by darth frosty innot to diss anyones beliefs, i thought this was humorous.. .
absurdity in the bible .
if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.--1 cor.14:38 .
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Rapunzel
The ancient Greeks distinguished between two fundamentally different "ways of knowing-" mythos and logos. The events narrated in Genesis fall definitely within the category of mythos.
Mythos has ancient roots; this way of knowing relies on superstition, intuition and other non-rational ways of knowing. The language of mythos is symbolic and aesthetic. The Genesis account is not - and never was - intended to be scientific. It is, essetially, poetry. As such it cannot be judged or evaluated according to rational or scientific criteria, nor more so than can be the poetic phrase - "My love is a rose." It does no good to assert: "How can you establish a link between an emotion and a flower? That's absurd!" Poets often use simile and/or metaphor to connect an abstraction with something concrete and tangible. Of course, poets' language should be understood as figurative and not literal. It is the same with the Genesis account. As I interpret it, I think that the author(s) of the Genesis narrative was (were) making a distinction between another ancient Greek dichotomy - that of chaos as opposed to cosmos. The author was trying to point out that, in the act of creation, the Creator achieved victory over the forces of chaos by imposing cosmos, or a heavenly-mandated order.
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Anyone here collect foreign currency as a hobby?
by AK - Jeff ini would like to begin a collection - but i am not sure the best resources so that i don't get ripped off.
anyone know of a forum that discusses this hobby?
i did a google and the category is so broad i don't know where to start.
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Rapunzel
Jeff - I do! I do! I collect foreign currencies, old and new. Psst! Have I got a deal for you! If you want, I'll exchange old Turkish lira for American dollars. If you give me $10,000 U.S., I'll give you 10,000 old Turkish lira. This is a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But act now, the offer soon expires
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Promotional Watchtower stickers.
by edmond dantes insuppose you are a witless and are really keen on putting "theocratic" logos and stickers onto your personal items ,where would you stick them for best effect and can you think of any kingdumb messages you would like to advertise on such items?.
any thoughts?.
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Rapunzel
How about a tee shirt that says: "What hapened in 1975? I'll tell you what happened in 1975!!!!"
Or how about: "Beth Sarim? Why, that was our dear uncle Joe's place!!!"
Or maybe: "The end of the world did come!!! Except that it was invisible, like...you know...talking pink elephants with wings, and unicorns."