"It was wizards of magic that were led by Satan to find the baby Jesus and reveal his wearabouts..."
I hate it when my wearabouts are revealed. Especially if I'm wearing the polka-dot ones.
BTW, duane, welcome!
Cadellin
JoinedPosts by Cadellin
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83
Sparlock Drives My Wife to the Brink of Apostasy
by breakfast of champions ini reported the other night that we sat down to watch the new video, and while my wife was smiling and laughing while watching the first part, she stiffened and became quiet during part two.
it disturbed her deeply:.
"this is ridiculous.
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36
Today's WT: A Warning To You Loyal Witnesses
by metatron init happens without warning.
you have a stroke.
you get ms. you are in a car accident.. they put you in the hospital.
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Cadellin
I thought this WT was hitting a new extreme in family shunning practices. Prior to this, they always seemed to acknowledge "necessary family business" as allowable contact. This article, however, specified, "not the slightest contact" or words to that effect. In other words, if readers are meant to take it as it says, absolutely no contact whatsoever.
Someone should make sure the Bulgarian government gets a copy...
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26
hey
by jnrtigbfxd0 inhey everybody im new here.
currently a pioneer in my early 20's, started straight out of high school, now wanting to go to college and working on getting out of pioneering.
also a former bethelite, ill make a thread on that soon.. .
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Cadellin
Welcome. Something tells me you have interesting insights to add--speak on up!! We're all ears...
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80
"We are at the end of the last day of the last days. The governing body feels strongly about this."
by BroMac in.
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Cadellin
I don't remember the hype leading up to 1975, but I do remember the big hype in the early to mid 1980's, when "The Generation" hit 70 years and the UN declared an International Year of Peace. Convention talks were along similar lines as "we are the end of the end of the last of the last days." I was pioneering then and I remember distinctly being so relieved I was because that meant I would make it through. Let's see...that was more than 25 years ago now!!
More recently, the 2009 convention talks repeated the word "imminent" to describe Armaggedon's timing, in literally--I mean literally--every talk on the program. I kept particular notice. Let's see...that was three years ago.
Imminent? I think not.
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364
New DVD "Become Jehovah's Friend"
by treadnh2o inhey peeps,.
it's been a long while since i've posted (i am completely out - wife and kids still in) but thought you might this interesting.. they came home from the district convention yesterday with the new dvd intended for kids.
they popped it in right away and this is what happens:.
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Cadellin
Alas, most JWs will take this vid as "food at the proper time" and swallow it hook line and sinker, without expending one iota of critical thinking about it. What posters on this thread have been doing is subjecting this horrible vid to analysis. Most JWs do not analyze anything published by the WT.
I feel so sorry for Caleb--he seems like a great little kid. But he's got creepy parents, even if his dad has a sexy Antonio Banderas accent. This vid only reinforces the WT's ridiculous opposition to creative imagination, equating any flights of fantasy with the occult. They take the OT prohibition against divination and grotesquely extend it to cover literally anything that isn't of the immediate, leaden reality. And yet, in a paradoxical twist, they reject measurable evidence for such things as evolution, even though it's rooted in the same naturalistic, quantifiable reality that they are supposedly so affixed to. They're so paranoid about the occult that they lump all fantastic play and literature together, making such awesome works as The Lord of the Rings, fairies, elves and unicorns equivalent to clearly occultic productions such as The Exorcist. Why the hell do they think God created imagination anyway????
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Baptisms decreased critical 26.9% in Mexico
by Gayle infor 2011, jws in mexico had the lowest baptism number in years, a critical 26.9% decrease from 2010. something is going there!?.
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Cadellin
While we're talking about Mexico, I've heard about a weird phenomenon. It's become quite the thing for Canadian JWs to spend time in Mexico as "need-greaters" in the English congs, esp. in resort areas--but in other less-touristy areas as well. From what I've heard from family members who have done this, they comb a neighborhood for anyone who speaks English, even if it's a native Mexican who can barely utter a few words. The Hall is filled with either Canadian ex-pats or locals who speak anywhere from badly broken to manageable English.
Seems to me like a colossal waste of time (even more so than regular field service). In their home cong., these same JWs would be encouraging non-native English speakers to attend a cong or group in their mother tongue, would pass the call on to someone fluent in that lang., etc. Down there, by contrast, they waste hours and hours of time trying to find ANYONE who can speak Engl and then get them to come to an English KH where they might understand a tiny fraction of what is said. Is it just me or is that plain weird? Then, in the summer, the snowbirds go home and the cong. shrinks to a quarter of the size.
And yes, there doesn't seem to be the ban on higher ed down there either--my family member was bragging that there are teachers and attorneys in the cong who are also pioneers!!!
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Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 05-13-2012 WT Study (URGENCY)
by blondie inmaintain your sense of.
how can we maintain our sense.
urgent now than ever?.
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Cadellin
Popcorn eater hit it on the head. That's exactly the message this latest stupid article contained, and it's not even exaggerated.
As evidence that the end is SOON, the WT used two points: First, that nuclear warheads exist, nuclear material has gone missing and MIGHT BE in the hands of terrorists. Second, that the world is facing devestation as a result of climate change. What do those two things have to do w/Jesus' prophecy of the last days in Matthew 24? Let's see...oh, yeah--NOTHING!!
First, the Vancouver Sun recently had a fantastic piece on the history of nuclear weapons since the fall of the iron curtain and how the West had done a superlative job (not perfect, but amazingly damn good) of keeping the stuff away from terrorists. Basically, if any had fallen into the hands of terrorists, we'd know about it by now. Moreover, the mere existence of such weapons is NOT a fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy of widespread warfare. In fact, the existence of these weapons has actually prevented any major warfare, ie armed conflict b/w major powers, for the last 70 years or so.
Second, where the hell does the NT even vaguely contemplate environmental disaster? Rev. 11:18, which is the ONLY scrip the WT trots out, refers to "ruining the earth" with violence, ie, human conflict.
It is telling that the only specific evidence that they can muster isn't even on point.
Lastly, the stupid, stupid comment about evolution made me want to barf. Right, it's just a "teaching," a "popular idea," and a secular "religion." And the only reason all those pitiful ejukated people believe it is so they can go and do all the nasties they want and no one will call them on it. Even if you don't believe in evolution and do believe in creation, that should be enough to make you blanche. How about the notion that evolution is a science, not because it's presented in scientific-sounding language, but because its claims are falsifiable?? That it explains a range of natural phenomenon? That it's been demonstrated repeatedly in the lab AND under natural conditions? That it's used to predict natural events?
Ech.
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Horrid Time for Me
by Band on the Run inmy pain has been in remission.
i have a morphine pump.
pain broke through toward the end of the medication.
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Cadellin
Band, I'm so sorry. Pain by itself is tremendously debilitating. I don't pray but my thoughts and positive energy are with you. Please keep us informed as how things are going!
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2012 July Kingdom Ministry!
by Atlantis in.
2012 july kingdom ministry*click the link below and when the next page appears scroll down and click the link in the long blue box that says: (click here to start download from sendspace).
ignore all the other buttons and symbols.
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Bethel - the house of the canaanite god El
by mP inhow ironic, that in hebrew the word for god is actually the name of a canaanite god el.
ive recently been facinated by the etymology of word, particularly those in the bible.
anyone can change the meanings or definition of words like we have witnessed with the generation, but the word itself cannot be changed.
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Cadellin
El was the chief god of the Canaanite pantheon; YHWH emerges as a son/challenger in Hebrew mythology of the Late Bronze Age so, yes, originally they were separate gods entirely. Remnants of these roles can still be identified in certain parts of the OT, and I should be able to point you to a few verses but I don't have a Bible with me at the moment.
Much of the storm god imagery used of El was gradually subsumed into the image of YHWH as Israelite monoltry progressed until finally the two entities were absorbed into YHWH alone, around the time of the monarchy (though I may be off on the timing there). Richard Friedman in The Hidden Book in the Bible aptly demonstrates the two separate lines of OT narration, complete with parallel creation, flood and Abrahamic stories, one of which used the name of YHWH ("J") and one that used simply El or Adonai ("P"). In the "P" version, YHWH does not emerge as a fully-recognized entity until his name is revealed to Moses at the occasion of the burning bush and only then and thereafter is it uttered by Biblical characters.