Fernando

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Posts by Fernando

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  17

  Question du jour - How Many of God's Servants in the Bible Had No Beard?

  by berrygerry in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  question du jour - how many of god's servants in the bible had no beard?.

  legit question..

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  Fernando

  Good point.

  Probably the minority.

  Shaving daily may also have been too tedious (and risky) without modern conveniences?

  What can be wrong with a neat and well-kept beard?
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  19

  How do you think we'll be remembered?

  by rebel8 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  some day far in the future, will we be looked upon as suffragettes who abolished cults with tenacity, courage and outspokenness?.

  will future generations shudder at the backwardness of cultures that permitted cults to flourish, and not comprehend how this could have happened?.

  will they be grateful for being spared death and suffering at the hands of cults because of what we are doing to expose them and reduce their growth?.

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  Fernando

  Probably the Type-1 civilisation that will develop in the next 100 years according to Physicists will be too enlightened to be as indifferent as we are to the suffering, challenges, dangers and sacrifices faced by persons such as Martin Luther (1517) in delivering and securing the many freedoms we today take for granted.
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  14

  Jehovah's Witnesses "shut up the kingdom of heaven" Matt 23:13

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i'm sure this has been thought of before, but while i was gardening today (great time to let the mind think deeply) , i thought of this:.

  the org (gb) teaches that only a few go to heaven, therefore everyone else is prevented from entering.. so, are they the scribes and pharisees that jesus spoke of at matt 23:13?.

  "woe to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites!, because you shut up the kingdom of the heavens before men; for you yourselves do not go in, neither do you permit others to enter!".

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  Fernando

  I too believe you are spot-on stuckinarut2.

  It is for this reason that I try to look at the Bible from a very different (non-fundamentalist, non-materialistic, non-judgmental, non-legalistic, non-moralistic, non-hypocritical and non-sectarian) perspective than the Watchtower.

  For me an important aspect of the Kingdom that the Watchtower obstructs is ordinary persons dealing and hearing direct here and now instead of through supposedly God appointed middlemen and hierarchies (a clergy class, clericalism and magisterium).
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  8

  IRAN and Syria Join the Fight Against ISIL and ISIS! Russia too!

  by BucketShopBill in

  1. social
  2. current

  the powers that funded isis would be the next logical leaders to topple if they are not stopped.

  syria learned the hard way, syria gave weapons to fight against the west's (cia sponsored muslims) screwed up anti-syria's government troops.

  isis in return started to march towards allepo killing men, women and children that refused to convert to their animalistic cult.

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  Fernando

  It is wonderful that despite all our differences we can still unite against sheer brutality and evil.

  Hopefully somewhere along the line we will all learn that this is the face of religion when taken to the max.

  Spirituality, faith and the (Judeo-Christian-Muslim) gospel go in the opposite direction:

  • moderate instead of radicalise

  • liberate instead of control

  • life giving instead of death dealing

  • heal instead of afflict

  • unite instead of divide

  • reconcile instead of fuel enmity

  • empower instead of subjugate

  • enlighten instead of fostering ignorance

  • progressive instead of destructive

  • development instead of decay

  • peace instead of violence/war

  • clarity instead of confusion

  • tolerance instead of prejudice

  • love instead of hate

  • equality instead of supremacy
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  31

  What Would You Answer A JW If They Asked You If You Would Ever Come Back ?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  Fernando

  Possibly: "I will give it serious consideration if you are able to answer a few simple questions (related to the liberating gospel) from your heart and from the Bible."
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  20

  Anyone Else Havng Trouble Logging In Today?

  by Joe Grundy in

  1. forum
  2. tech-support

  or is it just me (again)?.

  getting 'server not found' etc.

  messages..

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  Fernando

  Yes, exactly the same on my end, intermittently, over the last two days, if memory serves.
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  30

  Dr. Kent Bradly and Dr. Nancy Writebol's healings Prove to me there is a God!

  by BucketShopBill in

  1. social
  2. humour

  i get tired of using the argument of "the mystery of evil" to attack god but where are we when we see heroic acts of godly courage from great humans like dr. kent bradly and dr. nancy writebols wonderful works of love?

  did you listen to dr. kent bradley's concern and loving compassion for west africa?

  he's not angry superstitious mobs destroyed several make-shift medical facilities to treat victims of ebola, no, dr. bradly implored the world to "help save west africa".

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  Fernando

  When I was still a Watchtower religionist I couldn't fathom how an (white) American couple were able to forgive the young (black) racist African thugs who killed their daughter who had travelled half way around the world to serve and help struggling black communities. This couple then did what their daughter had done. They risked their lives to travel half way around the world, enter the same community, find these thugs, forgive them, love them, educate them, support them, and give them a future and a better vision. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Biehl)

  I also did not comprehend what Nelson Mandela had similarly done and why (movie: Invictus).

  Now that I too have received the free gift of faith, like they had, I understand their seemingly counterintuitive forgiveness and compassion, and see them as my spiritual brothers and sisters, although they were as imperfect as the rest of us.
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  19

  They sure took website worship far

  by cookiemaster in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  - well, i'd be damned.

  i'm a born in jw and never in a million years i'd thought i'd see this.

  from internet is evil to website worshipping in less than a decade.

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  Fernando

  LOL, yes NewYork44M - good luck to the Sanhedrin (GB) in selling such a message to their younger or more tech savvy worshippers followers.
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  22

  So what was Microsoft thinking with Win 8?

  by TD in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i know some of you are in the field and many others are hobbyists and enthusiasts.. aside from a tablet/smart phone os, what were they thinking?.

  i don't know a single desktop user (e.g.

  architects, engineers running autocad, solid works, etc.

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  Fernando

  #1 – Steve Ballmer, Microsoft. Without a doubt, Mr. Ballmer is the worst CEO of a large publicly traded American company today. Not only has he singlehandedly steered Microsoft out of some of the fastest growing and most lucrative tech markets (mobile music, handsets and tablets) but in the process he has sacrificed the growth and profits of not only his company but “ecosystem” companies such as Dell, Hewlett Packard and even Nokia. The reach of his bad leadership has extended far beyond Microsoft when it comes to destroying shareholder value – and jobs.

  From: http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2012/05/12/oops-5-ceos-that-should-have-already-been-fired-cisco-ge-walmart-sears-microsoft

  (BTW Steve Ballmer was Microsoft CEO for 14 years until Feb 2014)
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  19

  They sure took website worship far

  by cookiemaster in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  - well, i'd be damned.

  i'm a born in jw and never in a million years i'd thought i'd see this.

  from internet is evil to website worshipping in less than a decade.

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  Fernando

  The type of person likely to respond is also likely to Google.

  When I type jw.org into Google, JWFacts is the second result.

  Fantastic free advertising for JWFacts. Great campaign. Nice one "mother".