In fact, masturbation can lead into homosexuality
How would they know?
I wonder if Silvio Berlusconi did this often. He said that, deep down, he is a homosexual - only lesbian.
Posts by dgp
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47Wachtower says 97% of teens masturbate....is it realistic that 100% Witness teens don't?
by Witness 007 in"young people ask" book admits 97% of youths masturbate...to put it into perspective, it's like saying 97% of the worlds population own a phone or a t.v!!
so is it realistic to believe these witnesses going thru puberty and teenage years won't on penalty of death?.
i always thought, if nearly 100% of teens do it isn't it normal?.
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..People you Expect to Die.....While Watching them on TV..
by OUTLAW inadam richman... host of..hit tv show... .
"man vs food"... .
every show he eats 5-7lbs of food..in 1 sitting!!...
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dgp
Geronimo EKIA:
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Hemoglobin and red blood cells
by TJ Curioso inin a debate i'm having in a forum, i am discussing the subject of fractions of blood and the watchtower's position with respect to acceptance of some fractions while refusing others.. .
in that debate i mentioned that hemoglobin accepted by the watchtower as a matter of conscience is in fact most of the red blood cell (think about 97%) and the other 3% is the membrane lining the red cell.. .
am i correct in this view?
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dgp
Nem português nem brasileiro. Sempre gostei da língua. Um prazer.
I think that thread is VERY interesting and it would be worth adding some of that content here. It's a pity it can't be just copied because it is huge.
I personally found it very interesting that you guys managed to find a point where the Watchtower (the magazine) actually says something the Bible doesn't say with regard to blood. Namely, that the magazine contains this statement:
The Bible clearly condemns the misuse of blood. (Acts 15:28, 29). This you can find in the Watchtower of April 15, 2011, page 14, paragraph 4. It appears in Portuguese as "A Bíblia condena claramente o mau uso do sangue. (Atos 15:28, 29)", same edition, same page and paragraph. But, according to Ademar, the active witness, "the Bible forbids using blood". Someone made the comment that if there is "misuse", there is, then "good use"? Would Ademar (the active witness) please expand on that?
I don't think I need to add much that the people on this forum will not know about, but Acts 15:28-29 reads as follows (New World Translation):
28 For the holy spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to YOU , except these necessary things, 29 to keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication. If YOU carefully keep yourselves from these things, YOU will prosper. Good health to YOU !”
I haven't read the rest (work) but this is interesting. I am sorry, but I see no reference to "misuse".
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Hemoglobin and red blood cells
by TJ Curioso inin a debate i'm having in a forum, i am discussing the subject of fractions of blood and the watchtower's position with respect to acceptance of some fractions while refusing others.. .
in that debate i mentioned that hemoglobin accepted by the watchtower as a matter of conscience is in fact most of the red blood cell (think about 97%) and the other 3% is the membrane lining the red cell.. .
am i correct in this view?
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dgp
Obrigado, TJ Curioso.
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Where the need is great
by noontide in[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:donotoptimizeforbrowser /> </w:worddocument> </xml><![endif].
wow, havent been around here in a while and it's nice to see some familiar names as well as new ones.. .
well, its that time of year again when some members of my family decide that they need to go preach where the need is great.
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dgp
I wouldn't really know, but I think it's a combination of factors.
Because of the indoctrination, Jehovah's witnesses everywhere tend to have low income. Now, low-income in the United States or Canada is something completely different from low-income in, say, Honduras, where some of these need greaters go. So anyone moving there has to think that, unless he or she contributes with a particular skill that has a market there, their income will be very, very bad. It helps if you sell your small apartment in, say, Spain, and use the money to live in a poorer country, where the money becomes a small fortune.
Also, I believe that in the larger countries all the preaching is basically done. I assume it's very difficult to make a convert everywhere, but it must be a lot more difficult to get someone into the organization in countries where Jehovah's witnesses have preached longer and where people are better informed. So, poorer countries, there we go!
Besides, I also speculate that missionaries tend to think of themselves as people accepting pain and hardships "for God". So, it doesn't feel like you're a missionary if you go to, say, France. Cynics would say you moved to where comfort is greater. Therefore, you move to an area where you won't have the same niceties as you'd have at home, and thus you can claim that you're going an extra mile. Which is sort of the case.
And then, people in those areas are less informed, and the level of discussions is certainly much lower. People in those areas are more used to seeing The White Missionary bringing God's Word. That used to be the case with Catholics as well, until not so long ago (these days, it's not that easy to find a Québécois, say, as a missionary). It's not that people are stupid; certainly they are not. They are simpler folks who may know something is wrong with a straw man argument, for example, but can't find the words to say what they mean and why they feel it's wrong.
On the other hand, these people can also be a much tougher cookie to convince. They were told that staying away from "the Church" is bad, and they are stubborn.
Again, Mormons have it easier than Jehovah's witnesses. They invariably look friendly, are well-groomed (not always the case with Jehovah's witnesses, believe it or not) and seem to walk tirelessly.
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Hemoglobin and red blood cells
by TJ Curioso inin a debate i'm having in a forum, i am discussing the subject of fractions of blood and the watchtower's position with respect to acceptance of some fractions while refusing others.. .
in that debate i mentioned that hemoglobin accepted by the watchtower as a matter of conscience is in fact most of the red blood cell (think about 97%) and the other 3% is the membrane lining the red cell.. .
am i correct in this view?
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dgp
TJ Curioso, I would appreciate it if you sent me that link.
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Where the need is great
by noontide in[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:donotoptimizeforbrowser /> </w:worddocument> </xml><![endif].
wow, havent been around here in a while and it's nice to see some familiar names as well as new ones.. .
well, its that time of year again when some members of my family decide that they need to go preach where the need is great.
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dgp
Anyone interested in checking this page?
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Where the need is great
by noontide in[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:donotoptimizeforbrowser /> </w:worddocument> </xml><![endif].
wow, havent been around here in a while and it's nice to see some familiar names as well as new ones.. .
well, its that time of year again when some members of my family decide that they need to go preach where the need is great.
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dgp
Mormons are also an American thing.
They actually have success cross-culturally because poor people in struggling nations want the material success that they seem to have.
Yep. For some, an American spouse would be good, too. Een-gleesh esspawkenn.
Mormons also don't seem as pushy. I have personally never been invited to join the Church of Latter Day Saints. Plus, they leave the impression that they do "own" a State, one which is successful (or so it seems). Plus, Donny and Marie Osmond, weren't they so nice and Mormons?
Marie looks (looked, maybe) great to me.
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Religious Reform
by Maze inas a bible based organization, how do feel jehovah's organization should be reformed?
the answer is quite simple in christendoms churches:.
1. reject false doctrines like the trinity and 'all christians go to heaven' and use of images in worship.. .
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dgp
LOL Outlaw!
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Do you know of any other religious organization that ex members try to put an end to it?
by jam ini have heard ex members of the mormon faith speak about.
the injustice once they leave, but it,s not about the doctrine.
but the shunning.
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dgp
About the Opus Dei. Sounds familiar?
http://www.mond.at/opus.dei/opus.dei.uo.faq.html#bad
The Unofficial Opus Dei FAQ
Franz Schaefer, [email protected]
v0.24
This document is copyrighted by Franz Schaefer except for the definition of Fascism (which is from Chip Berlet). Permission to copy this document verbatim for any purpose is hereby granted. The latest version of this document can be found at: http://www.mond.at/opus.dei. Please forgive me any grammatical mistakes or misspellings, as English is not my mother tongue. (But I am always happy if someone tells me where I have made mistakes.) Also note that this is ``Work in progress'' and I am still adding material and changing things where I found that I was not accurate enough. The next thing planned is a chapter about the ``late'' Escriva to see if he learned from his faults when he grew older. Credits: Dr. Thomas Wilson for language screening and numerous people for sending me their opinions about my pages. En Español: http://opusdei.port5.com/faqs.htm
1. Q: What is Opus Dei?
A: Opus Dei a fundamentalistic sect which operates in a Catholic environment. Officially it is part of the Catholic church and so they claim that they are not a sect. Well, it all depends on how you define the word ``sect''. It would be best for you to derive your own opinion by reading this FAQ.
2. Q: Why have I written this FAQ:
A: A friend of mine got sucked into this cult and I had to explain to her why it is a bad thing. When I was searching on the Internet for information I found very little. There is their official home page "http://www.OpusDei.org/", which does not reveal much about their true nature. Since I also want to prevent other people from falling into Opus Dei's traps I have written this document. I once was a religious person and a Catholic myself, though I have always been an extremly critical person and did not accept all the positions of the Church. In my opinion, the Catholic Church has accumulated a lot of dust that covers the message of Jesus. Opus Dei is an organisation that adds to this dust and mistakes the dust for the message in a lot of ways. Where one could argue that the original ideas from Jesus made some sense it is already rather questionable what the Catholic Church makes out of it. Even more questionable is the dangerous ideology that the Opus Dei spread in their name. But since the Opus Dei is successfull in taking over the Catholic Church there is less and less distinction between them every day.
3. Q: What kind of people are they?
A: Mostly good people. People with good hearts who love God and want to do good things and sacrifice themselves for the work of God. Only/mostly good people are attracted by them. These people are all a bit naive because they make one big mistake: They think that the Opus Dei can not be bad, because the people there are good people and they are all very religious. Therefore, they do not see all the evil ideology which is in the teachings of Josemaria Escriva (founder of Opus Dei). Most of these people are rather intelligent, as the Opus looks for intelligent people because they want to increase their influence on society this way and they can get more money from them. But intelligence does not always go along with a critical mind. Particularly when it comes to religious topics, many people refuse to use their intellect at all.
4. Q: Are you supposed to use our intellect on religious things?
A: Of course you are. Even though the fact that most religious teachings contain some irrationality most of the teachings are usually accessiblt to the rational mind. e.g: Think of Jesus, he always explained his ideas to his followers in the way of telling parables which he hoped that they would think about and understand. In fact jesus never tought any misterious or magical things at all. No dogmatic believes that someone has to follow without understanding them.
The Catholic Church has made many bloody mistakes in its history (crusades, burning of witches, the Spanish inquisition, etc ... , etc ... see http://spunky.paranoia.com/~wcs/victims.htm) ), so why should we assume it is perfect now? If we do not use our minds on religious things we might as well follow the sect that committed collective suicide with the California cult when the comet came close to earth because they thought there would be a starship to bring them to God. (Of Course, who knows: maybe they were right and Catholic people are wrong?)
Well, if you believe in God then you have to believe that God has given you our brain to use it and a conscience to decide right from wrong. In opposition to this the Opus Dei demands us to sacrifice our intellectuality to them and to completely trust their teachings as they claim these teachings are all God's will. Criticism is not wanted and not allowed. They will tell you that this only covers the religious field and that the members are otherwise completely free to do what they want. While I do believe that we should not completely trust humans in religious fields this is belittling. For a man who takes his religious beliefs seriously, almost any decision in life will be covered by his beliefs. So do not sacrifice your rational mind to any human organisation regardless of how holy they seem.
5. Q: What are the positive things in Opus Dei?
5.1 Q: What is the ``childhood in front of God'' about?
A: The idea of ``childhood in front of God'' has been nicely covered in the main book of the founder of Opus Dei (Josemaria Escriva: ``The Way''). Unfortunately, like every thing that is meant for God the Opus tries to utilise it for itself. So out of the ``childhood in front of God'' the ``childhood in front of the Opus'' is developed - so that their members do not act on their own responsibility, but leave every important question to the Opus, like children do with their parents.
5.2 Q: What about ``becoming a saint in every day life''?
A: I think every one here on earth should make this world a better place, so there can never be enough "saints". Making the world a better place can be done by charity and love. Unfortunately the Opus Dei view is that becoming a Saint is mostly a question of prayer; the topic of charity and love is of secondary importance to the love of God. (If Escriva, the founder of the Opus, had been a person with a little understanding of the Bible he would have known that there is no difference between these two types of love at all:
And the King will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.' Matthew 25.45
5.3 Q: What about the development of a deeper spirituality
A: This is also one of their good points. Keeping up a high level of spirituality in our modern world is not an easy task and they do have some good concepts of how to do this. Of course it depends on what is meant with spirituality. If spirituality means a "dedication to too good and useful things for humankind" then it would be a good thing. Here the problem starts with the Opus Dei ideology....
6. Q: What are the negative things in Opus Dei?
A: In short:
- The Fascist ideology in Escriva's teachings. The fundamentalism. The
- Intolerance towards other religions.
- The dishonesty.
- The danger inherent in the undemocratic structure of blindly following orders.
- The danger inherent in the psychological control they have of their members due to the ``weekly chat'' where they have to tell the innermost details of their souls to their spiritual leaders.
- The aggressive and manipulative way in which they try to catch new members.
- The evil character of the founder.
- The fact that they do not reveal their true goals and keep a lot of material secret from the public.
- The smug thinking of belonging to an elite
