I kept my Young People Ask books and the bible my mom got for me (and signed a lovely if preachy note) when we went to Bethel. Other than that, I left it all with my parents when I moved out.
TheClarinetist
JoinedPosts by TheClarinetist
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53
What piece of WT literature is worth holding onto, or have you kept? Why?
by losingit ini have basically thrown away all of my bound volumes and loose wt and awake magazines.
i kept some bpoks, the insight to the scriptures, god's love, the reasoning book, and daniel's prophecies (this was my favorite) .
i held onto insight to the scriptures after reading some of ray franz's book, crisis of conscience.
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45
The Elusive and Shy creator god.---
by prologos inis there only a 50 / 50 chance that there is a ceator or.
assuming that there is one, and looking at it all,- it is hard to imagine that there is not,.
particularly if you tried all your life to make stuff work.
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TheClarinetist
Slightly ranty because I love statistics: This may have been covered already, but there are no "odds" that there is or is not a God. Either there is a God or there isn't. It is 100% of one and 0% of the other. However, if you randomly pick one of the possible outcomes, then you DO have a 50/50 chance of being correct (though picking a particular God lowers your odds considerably).
As it is, I'm about 95% certain, based on the evidence that I have seen/read, that there is not a God.
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24
Will gay marriage hurt freedom of religion?
by jam insorry if this have been posted before.. but in my local newspaper today an interesting article.. red blue america... the first amendment and same-sex marriage cannot coexist harmoniously.
something will have to give---and it will start with the freedom of conscience.. here's why: if the law says there can be no "rational basis" for treating the union between a man and a woman as something unique-if a union between any two(or,perhaps someday, more) consenting adults is a "marriage"----then it really doesn't matter what your conscience tells you.. we don't prosecute people for holding unpopular beliefs--yet- but the authorities do look askance at discrimination.
that's why we hear so much lately about caterers, photographers and florists running afoul of several states' civil rights laws for refusing to do business with gay couples.. it's only a matter of time before what we understand as "freedom of religion" is whittled down to little more than the freedom to worship whatever deity you choose in a special building one day out of the week.. this is not the entire article, just a few key points.
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TheClarinetist
Legalizing gay marriage has nothing to do with freedom of religion unless you are arguing that freedom of religion includes the right to impose their religious beliefs on others against the others' will.
Discrimination laws are a separate question completely. Yes, it is quite possible that certain discrimination laws would hurt the freedom of religion, but that would have to be taken on a case-by-case basis. The importance of religious freedom would have to be weighed against the public good, as, for example, it is in the case of sharia law, or as it was in the case of other religiously tinged issues such as slavery and polygamy.
EDIT: Also, as far as the Boy Scouts of America, unless something has recently changed, they are a private organization only in name. The BSA is about as in bed with the government as it is possible to be, with subsidies and sweetheart deals. The Democrats (myself included) are up in arms that a group is practicing discrimination with our tax dollars funding it, not that some random bigoted organization exists.
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Texas tornadoes, please check in!
by talesin ini was just talking to a friend, and he is in the path right now.
the town where his daughter lives was hit hard, by a mile-wide tornado.. .
please check in, texas friends .... let us know you are okay!
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TheClarinetist
Alive and well.
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136
After the cult how many reject faith in anything?
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TheClarinetist
After I left the Lie, I went and systematically looked for evidence that there was more out there and couldn't find any that didn't have a simpler answer (including a rather in-depth and ongoing study of evolution, which was a big step for me). I'm engaged to a pagan, participate in their ceremonies, and am open to their beliefs, but I haven't witnessed anything supernatural, despite much searching. After my experience with the Watchtower, I distrust faith without evidence on principle.
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14
A fourteen year-old elder set this sister straight!
by Julia Orwell ini was supervising a class of 14 year olds and there were a couple of jw kids, a girl and a boy, both of whom want to go to bethel.
i told the boy i wasn't comfortable with all the changes the gb's been making over the years.
i mean, i'm the teacher, right?
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TheClarinetist
Not sure how to put this, but was this a public school, and if so aren't you afraid of getting fired for preaching to your students?
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TheClarinetist
My personal favorite proof:
1/3 = 0.3333333
3 * (1/3) = 1
0.333333 * 3 = 0.9999999
therefore 0.999999 = 1.
Wikipedia has some more proofs (including construction of real numbers), the majority of which are significantly more complicated than my math education allows. What I find interesting is that is works in non-integer bases as well (though with different numbers, of course)
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So I'm walking through town on my lunch break and someone placed a tract with me.
by Theocratic Sedition init wasn't a jw though.
in fact, i didn't even know what it was until i got back to the office.
last friday, i was in a hurry to get to the verizon store and didn't have time to chit-chat.
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TheClarinetist
Have you ever read their tract on Dungeons & Dragons? Some of them are so ill-concieved and uninformed that they're funny.
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Do Nigerians really have bad reputation?
by His Excellency inon a recent thread here about an announcement made by the cobe, with the aim of extorting 10 grand from the servant body, different allegations were made that the request sound nigerian?..
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my question is, do nigerians really have bad reputation?.
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TheClarinetist
I had a guy from Nigeria attempt to buy a flute off of me from Craigslist. He sent a fake Paypal email saying that the amount I was asking for ($100 + shipping and handling for Nigeria) had been deposited in my account. When I called him on the fake email, he stopped emailing me... Kind of feel bad for the guy... He wanted a flute. lol. And I probably would've sent it to him myself if he had asked nicely.
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I'm an atheist and I miss the Memorial
by rebel8 inif i had not left the truthtm, right now i would be walking the mall, searching for a modest memorial dress.
probably would get a new pair of panty hose for the occassion (suntan color, of course--those extra thick ones so they don't run after you wear them once), along with a pair of attractive shoes that could still handle a full day of field servicetm.. i'd be hoping to meet a nice brothertm who would be able to pick me out of the crowd because of my spiritual modest attire.tm.
instead, here i am, with my worldly husband, not studying the ragazines, eating pagan easter candy, and watching unwholesome tv shows, in my nice house, after working hard at my job which i got because i attended evil college.
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TheClarinetist
Forget the memorial... Pagans have much better wine, and you get to drink it like 8 times a year. lol