sabastious

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Posts by sabastious

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  56

  I've been thinking the Bible isn't legitimate--long indoor mat-rant

  by sd-7 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm not sure where this thought came from (believers will no doubt say 'from satan'), but it has started to coalesce in my brain lately.

  i've often referred to the bible and argued from it to debunk jw beliefs, and still tried to consider it as a great piece of literature at the very least.

  but as my wife was listening to the meeting on a loud speaker phone at home this weekend, i just had this thought.

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  sabastious

  Elderelite is it kind of like coming out of carbonite freeze?

  -Sab
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  56

  I've been thinking the Bible isn't legitimate--long indoor mat-rant

  by sd-7 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm not sure where this thought came from (believers will no doubt say 'from satan'), but it has started to coalesce in my brain lately.

  i've often referred to the bible and argued from it to debunk jw beliefs, and still tried to consider it as a great piece of literature at the very least.

  but as my wife was listening to the meeting on a loud speaker phone at home this weekend, i just had this thought.

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  sabastious

  Sab... where have you been all these hundreds of years... we have been in need of you for the Torah's interpretation.... .. ok it took 3 years for Sd-7 to come to this conclussion... maybe next year ... maybe

  CJ, you seem to forget that I previously came to the same conclusions too, but I chose to stick with the Torah and look deeper. I discovered the cognitive dissonance that it was inducing in my brain to be by design. They are trying to get us to think about certain baseline human concepts that require indirect cognitive pathways or epiphanies for full understanding. My interpretations are not new. The creators of the Torah considered the idea of no God and they concluded that idea to be false, which is why the document exists in the first place.

  -Sab
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  56

  I've been thinking the Bible isn't legitimate--long indoor mat-rant

  by sd-7 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm not sure where this thought came from (believers will no doubt say 'from satan'), but it has started to coalesce in my brain lately.

  i've often referred to the bible and argued from it to debunk jw beliefs, and still tried to consider it as a great piece of literature at the very least.

  but as my wife was listening to the meeting on a loud speaker phone at home this weekend, i just had this thought.

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  sabastious

  sd-7, I think I totally know how you feel. I started asking the same questions over 2 years ago and it has been an interesting experience. The way I look at the Torah is that it was not originally designed to be read in chapters and verses and it wasn't written for the common man, but for the teacher. It's an ancient textbook of sorts that works by making assertions and letting the reader ask and answer their own questions. A teacher with a group of students seems to be the appropriate setting for the book. You are supposed to do battle with the Torrah ideologically as it brings up the key issues of human society. All Jewish leaders had to be well studied in Torah ethics.

  For readers today, the first issue is that of the translation of the text. Because this document is a textbook mistranslations could render it practically useless. Just as mistranslating a textbook on trigonometry would wholly compromise it's contents. This could be an issue of faith, but also a secular understanding of the preservation of the document through time. Luckily the content is rather simple, which is by design as the document was meant to be able to pierce time itself. It had to travel through oral societies before it was even written down. The preservation of a simple set of stories, in the right order and with certain key elements would prove the sufficient medium to provide what one could consider a reliable modern product. However we have corrupt translations that were developed to make money or control one's own society. Those should be considered for their value as creations of the psychopathic mind which furthers the sciences of psychology, sociology, anthropology and a number of scientific fields.

  The book opens up with the assertion of a creator of the universe and the earth we reside within. The Torah is designed to get the brain asking the big questions and it does such in the very beginning of the book. It's asking for YOU to do YOUR homework and agree with it's assertion, or move on to a contemporary textbook instead of a word of God. To answer the question of Genesis 1:1 one must delve into the sciences of cosmology and physics. In the ancient world this process could have been as easy as observing the heavens above and the earth below. A self identification of all that is the known world of creation. In the modern world, however, when we look at a light in the sky at night we have a totally different conception of the universe. Therefore, the process of Genesis 1:1 for the modern day reader of the Torah is incredibly personal and often an arduous experience that requires a dip into the secular community. Times were simpler when the Torah was created, there was much less knowledge which created a blissful ignorance.

  The document requires a stillness of mind that is not wavered by harsh criticisms of the human consciousness. The questions asked need to be weighed with a sober mind and all factors considered. Even in the ancient times it was asking for faith that the creator is out there and the heavens and the earth are in His control. If you cannot accept this as fact then the book will just remain a book and nothing more. Faith is the ignition switch for all Scripture. If we think we know that means we have stopped seeking.

  -Sab
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  6

  Watchtower Society and the stock market

  by ldrnomo in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the january wt study edition has an article about staying close to jehovah.

  i noticed this in paragraphs 14 and 15:.

  14, 15. why must we not look to the financial system for security?

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  sabastious

  Translation: Betting on economic analysts is bad. Betting on the directions of Watchtower Bible interpretors is good.

  -Sab
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  119

  My country is sick

  by sabastious in

  1. social
  2. current

  this is a melancholy day for me.

  over the past few years i have been studying american politics and have enjoyed learning perspectives from different ideologies.

  i personally lean towards conservative values when it comes to creating legislature, however i am socially liberal.

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  sabastious

  Sab, I see what you're saying about how an honest corporate structure can benefit people, but the structure itself was created in such a way that we have the rampant corporate welfare that we have. The Bush bailouts were more socialist than anything Obama has done in his tenure. Corporate welfare will continue until it sinks the FIAT system. It will be replaced by a cashless society based on the "smart" grid.

  I am all for any system that can reduce fraud. It's the morally compromisable that make it hard on everybody else. I cannot envision a society with any kind of currency without the ability to steal, you'd have to abolish money altogether. I constantly see and hear ads about identity protection. It's frustrating that so many people are OK with casual theft, they are honorless.

  -Sab
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  119

  My country is sick

  by sabastious in

  1. social
  2. current

  this is a melancholy day for me.

  over the past few years i have been studying american politics and have enjoyed learning perspectives from different ideologies.

  i personally lean towards conservative values when it comes to creating legislature, however i am socially liberal.

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  sabastious

  The sickness that you are seeing isn't new. It's been there for a LONG time. Most of us, when we exit the wt, we wake up to the real world. For many, they want to learn all about it. That's when they start discovering things like the sickness that you describe. However, MORE study is necesary. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Instaed of getting influence for the public medias, which feeds you the news product of the moment, which's shelf life is limited, change the sources of your news, info. The public news is much like an egg beater that is stuck into the awareneses of people, it disturbs their thinking.

  I realized the importance of being picky with my media diet about the time I was reprimanded on this website for using arguments derived from watching Fox. The problem wasn't that I was watching Fox News, it was that I was watching JUST Fox News. Now I make sure to fill my media plate with as many angles as possible. There are times when I watch MSNBC for a week straight because I'm interested in seeing how the liberal media covers a particular story as opposed to how an organization like Fox would cover it. I cut down my talk radio which meant less Beck and Limbaugh, but made sure I kept them in a little bit as their opinion is of great value to me. I have suspected this sickness in my society ever since I started following and studying politics, the process has only served to confirm that initial gut feeling.

  Even though I tend to agree with the Witnesses that the system is highly flawed, I disagree with them in that we should remain politcally neutral. After all James said that if one knows the good one can do and doesn't do it, that's a sin for that person. If you know that something as simple as casting a vote could positively affect the lives of your community and country then what logic could possibly stop you? You don't have to join a caucus or register for a party, you just have to keep yourself informed enough to cast a vote. That's why the Witnesses have such asinine excuses sometimes for not getting involved in the political front. They sure do act squirly about it especially since it's not a DF'ing offense.

  -Sab
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  119

  My country is sick

  by sabastious in

  1. social
  2. current

  this is a melancholy day for me.

  over the past few years i have been studying american politics and have enjoyed learning perspectives from different ideologies.

  i personally lean towards conservative values when it comes to creating legislature, however i am socially liberal.

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  sabastious

  He ain't done crap for the Gay demographic. The other that you mentioned, yes, but the Gay one, no. Just about every Gay person I know has seen through his lies. Just because he may have thrown us a pre-gnawled bone in a four year period does not mean he is concerned for us, he just wanted to try to pacify us to shut us up.

  I have noticed the same thing where I live. When Obama all of the sudden says that America is "evolving" past religious persecution against gays so close to his reelection people sniff out the play. Like I said the man seems to require a political angle in order to move forward. It's a game about people, but not necessarily FOR the people it's about.

  -Sab
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  119

  My country is sick

  by sabastious in

  1. social
  2. current

  this is a melancholy day for me.

  over the past few years i have been studying american politics and have enjoyed learning perspectives from different ideologies.

  i personally lean towards conservative values when it comes to creating legislature, however i am socially liberal.

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  sabastious

  Think of the dialectic going on in America. Oh the one hand you have cultural Marxism (dems); on the other you have corporate fascism (GOP). It's totalitarian either way. Oligarchy by government or oligarchy by the corporations.

  The corporate structure is the salvation system when well regulated by an effective government. Even countries like China are deep in the game of money, they couldn't help themselves and they are wildly cheating right now and it will not be stood for. Look how the Watchtower utilizes the corporate structure to create an impenetrable empire. Corporations are empire kits and when empires are run smoothly they benefit the people under them. Regulation is key and that means governmental leadership is where you want to be strong. Obama doesn't appear to be a strong leader. He uses divisive tactics.

  -Sab
• 
  119

  My country is sick

  by sabastious in

  1. social
  2. current

  this is a melancholy day for me.

  over the past few years i have been studying american politics and have enjoyed learning perspectives from different ideologies.

  i personally lean towards conservative values when it comes to creating legislature, however i am socially liberal.

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  sabastious

  He was against same-sex marriage. People that hate homosexuals and don't want them to have rights, are going to vote based on that hate. Romney was their guy. Obama was the first president to come out and support same-sex marriage. They could not stand him for that. They are the haters---I don't know what Romney is. He doesn't seem to have a core. I'm talking about Ohio voters.

  He's not hateful because he's against same-sex marriage, he's just religiously deluded like so many in this world. He has been known to change his stances upon coming across new information. He very well could be pro same-sex marriage in the future. Science has proven that homosexuality is not a choice so he might listen to reason. Obama needs a political angle or he won't move forward.

  -Sab
• 
  119

  My country is sick

  by sabastious in

  1. social
  2. current

  this is a melancholy day for me.

  over the past few years i have been studying american politics and have enjoyed learning perspectives from different ideologies.

  i personally lean towards conservative values when it comes to creating legislature, however i am socially liberal.

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  sabastious

  It won't be long before conservatism is a federal offence. Not that Romney was a real conservative.

  Rodger Hedgecock said that at an event he was bared from asking questions because he was not on an "aproved media" list. People who have worked for Fox News have a hard time getting jobs at other news outlets. It's scary the hate that is being thrown at conservatives. They made Romeny and Ryan out to be these soulless venture capitalists when they were just economic brainiacs looking to do some good for their country. Running them out of town was a bad idea. The democrats didn't have a record to stand on so they made it into a show about big bird and throwing grannies off of cliffs. I cannot believe the democratic party is getting rewarded for erecting an empire of smear.

  -Sab