on another thread that i started (http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/191731/1/a-book-on-how-the-bible-canon-was-decided-upon#3575623), palmtree asked the question of why she, while a witness, was never taught about how the canon of the bible was decided.
i commented that we catholics aren't taught that, either.
but this time i would like you people to give your opinions on a different matter.. if i were interested in converting someone to my faith, and wanted this person to be a true believer, why would it need to be wrong to let the person check on books that criticize the beliefs i'm trying to convince the person to follow?
AAAAHHH, the brains of Jewish mystics and scribes scare me.
And first century Christians were almost as varied and sectarian as they are now...which is why Paul and some of the apostles were always getting upset about it.
You can't stop sectarianism because no two people can really appreciate and understand God the same way. It's like telling everyone to like the same color or think Mexican food is better than Italian.
No need to fear atheism. I like this guy, Sam Harris he's doing it right. I always say the reason I don't embrace atheism is that I've never been that certain about anything, it's just not in my own nature to be terribly decisive in a philosophical way. I always tend to see both sides of most things.
But watch it, you'll want to go hug an atheist. *G*
well i am hitting the big one on friday and i am happy it will soon be over.
it is lovely that all my new friends are excited for me, its just a little hard to get into it wholeheartedly when i am still nervous to get our son home.. .
still i did buy 6 bottles of champagne...so there must be a party feeling coming up in me!.
I turn 50 on the 26th of this month, April.
watched hours of the masters this weekend.
great golf, beautiful course.
tiger woods played damned good.
Poor people are sluts who can't keep it in their pants and get saved down at the local church so their wife won't throw their clothes outside the double wide...rich people are sexual addicts who need to check into a rehab so their wives won't divorce them and take half their money.
hi, i had a great conversation with an elder and his wife.
i am born again and the question i asked them was what scripture they hold on to on the day of armageddon when god looks at them and tries to determine whether or not he will let them into the paradise earth or not.
he never heard that question and had no reply... he was going to do some research on it for me... .
If they think you're an interested person, they'll push to start a bible study with you out of one of the WTS publications. If you insist on sticking to the Bible alone and resisting their teachings, especially your own translation, they might persist a few more visits, but the whole point of return visits is to get bible studies and start feeding you the teachings of the WTS from specially selected scriptures used in their publications.
I know, because this is what happened to me when I asked an elder's wife to come and "discuss the Bible" with me. When I kept deviating from the publications, the study with me was eventually dropped and I was told how uncooperative I was and that I really didn't want the truth.
....or of any beliefs that require faith in an unseen god or gods?.
if humans could go back and see the primordial soup struck by lightning (or whatever it was that actually started it) and could personally observe that there were primitive man-like creatures that spread across the world coming out of africa (or whatever really happened) and that there wasn't a garden of eden ever or a worldwide flood ever.... .....would that allow some of the most staunch believers to put aside their beliefs?.
if men could go back and look for jesus and see what he really was (or was not or even if he was at all) and others could do the same for abraham, buddha and confucious and mohammad and joseph smith and c.t.
The Hebrews were in the words of a Jewish comedian, Lewis Black, "three hairs away from a baboon" when the OT was written.
Just like everyone else was then. Believe me, as crazy violent as we are now, the Bronze age was worse.
I don't see heads on stakes lining the street when I come into town, but that wasn't all that uncommon back then.
watched hours of the masters this weekend.
great golf, beautiful course.
tiger woods played damned good.
He ought to send flowers to Sandra Bullock for having a bigger scandal than his and distracting the media to some fresh meat.
even if that speech offended or disgusted you?.
If something is not true,ultimately, it can't really hurt you, unless you believe it too.
this years yearbook covers "albainia" as i read these experiences i get to around 1920-25 and i notice that 3 or 4 healthy congregations turn into just 13-14 publishers by 1926 after "a time of trouble.
" although not mentioned this "trouble" was rutherford's "millions now living will never die" campaign with the watchtower saying armagedon was coming in 1925. most european congregations by 1926 lost whole congregations with only 3-10 "faithful " remaining {e.g poland, romania yearbook experiences} notice how the graph starts from the 1940's to avoid and cover up showing the flat lined publisher figures after 1925.....{notice also dips after 1975}.
however, check out the 2006 yearbook page 80. romania graph, and you see a flat lined publisher figure at 1926. the witnesses had to start from scratch.
A Witness who had gone to Ireland to be a missionary and is now rather faded told me that there was a scandal there that had nearly whole congregations walking out of the KHs and leaving the org, but he never found out exactly what it was, because the few JWs still in that area wouldn't talk about it.
I always wondered if it were some pedophile scandal or what?
But, yeah, some of these "huge increase" numbers have to be flash in the pan things or just plain old exaggerated. How's the rank and file going to check to see if it's true or not?
I think he's probably the most handsome, intelligent charming and charismatic politician we've had in ages. Only Kennedy comes close to him in many aspects.
Based on his Harvard Law school scores, he's probably got a near genius intellect.
