fulltimestudent

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Posts by fulltimestudent

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  26

  If the historical Jesus was simply human, would YOU be a Christian ?

  by EdenOne in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been reading a lot lately about the historical jesus, and the latest archaeological findings and what a comparative, horizontal, reading of the 4 canonic gospels actually do tell us about the historical jesus and his teachings.

  pick your side, but let me ask you this, because that's the core question i have been asking myself lately:.

  if the historical jesus wasn't the son of god, but simply a human prophet with no previous super-human existence, hence, merely the "son of man", with very appealing teachings, but no previous super-human existence, hence, not "son of god" as we commonly believe as jw's, would you still be a christian?

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  fulltimestudent

  I'm thinking?

  ermmm!!

  the standard teaching is that only the body came from Mary

  still thinking , umm! if the body came from Mary, and it developed as a standard human embryo, which as a default embryo is female unless the standard human thing happens to kill the development of the female organs and to initiate the development of male organs.

  That 'standard human thing' is that the Y chromosone kicks in and starts producing hormones that stop the development of female organs, etc.

  But if the body came from Mary only, where would the male Y chromosone come from?
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  A very self-possessed Chinese kid on a talent show

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdcuaeyv9om.

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  fulltimestudent

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdcuaeYV9oM
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  51

  Are JEhovah's Witnesses reaching out to the Gay community ?

  by Watchtower-Free in

  1. social
  2. humour

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  apostate & ex-jehovalarious meme collection.

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/jwmeme/.

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  fulltimestudent

  

  I wonder why the focus on Inter-racial homosexuality ?

  Are they suggesting that its OK when it occurrs between two white people or two black people, but not OK when its mixed race?

  The mind turns to jelly when considering their question.

  I wonder if its OK between two Jewish boys? (quick mental review of 2 Samuel 1:26)

  Jonathan my brother; you were very dear to me. Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women.
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  13

  If someone refers to the "greek scriptures" is that a sign of JW indoctrination?

  by scotoma in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i recently had a casual conversation at a bar on the subject of atheism.

  they used the expression "greek scriptures".

  i didn't pursue it but it made me wonder..

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  fulltimestudent

  Terry's right. If you could talk to first century Christians and ask them what their "Geeek Sciptures" were, they would produce the Septuagint. That was the "Greek Bible" back then.

  I agree. Without question, the early Christians made the Greek Septuagint version, their own Bible.

  But more, the key Textbook I'm using this semester is entitled, Introducing the New Testament - Its Literature and Theology (Eerdmans, 2001) The authors are Achtemeier, P.J., Green J.B., Thompson M.M. Check it out- its a respected textbook.

  And in ch. 2, the first sentence is: The New Testament is in Greek. Important in the eyes of the authors, because the fact that the NT is written in Greek is evidence of the massive cultural transformation that shaped the era just prior to early Christianity and the next centuries. Christian thought as we have inherited it, is as much a product of Greek/Hellenic thought as was Jewish/Hebrew influence.

  Is Freddie's term, the Christian Greek Scriptures demonstratably wrong? No! its actually quite descriptive. The term, Christian Greek Scriptures is as descriptively correct as the more commonly used term, the New Testament.
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  127

  OK..Seriously..Has GOD ever answered your prayers????

  by DATA-DOG in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  look...i am not an atheist.

  even so, i have never had one prayer answered my entire life.

  the only thing that would even come close was learning ttatt.

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  fulltimestudent

  Grin- Twice!! and both times the path indicated led to the Jws.

  According to that view I am now disobedient.
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  1

  That's a worry- Double post

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  sorry-double post.

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  fulltimestudent

  Sorry-double post
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  1

  That's a worry- Nine US Military Commanders sacked from US Nuclear Air Force

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  foreign policy magazine reports:.

  i cant afford subscriptions to all the magazines i'd like to read, so i make do with overviews and summaries.

  fp is one.

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  fulltimestudent

  Foreign Policy Magazine reports:

  I cant afford subscriptions to all the magazines I'd like to read, so I make do with overviews and summaries. FP is one. If anyone has a subscription to Foreign Policy you may like to post more detail

  Foreign Policy magazine reports:

  AIR FORCE TO REVIEW BOMBER UNITS

  By Gordon Lubold with Nathaniel Sobel

  The Air Force is going to begin (CHECKING-fts) nuke units in the wake of the cheating scandal.FP's Dan Lamothe from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana with this exclusive: "The Air Force will scrutinize its units that fly dozens of bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons across the globe, the latest aftershock of an embarrassing cheating scandal in its nuclear missile force that led to the unprecedented removal of nine commanders from their jobs and the resignation of a 10th in March.

  "The review, which hasn't previously been reported, is the next phase of the service's nuclear 'force improvement program,' and will operate in a similar fashion to the ongoing assessment of the beleaguered missile units, said Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, who oversees both forces from here as the chief of the Air Force's Global Strike Command. The general said the first review found an array of areas that needed improvement, from old equipment to poor morale, and that he hopes the new internal study will identify parts of the bomber fleet that can be fixed to avoid future problems. Global Strike Command's forces include Boeing's massive eight-engine B-52H Stratofortress bomber and Northrop Grumman's stealthy, bat-wing shaped B-2 Spirit, each of which can be equipped with conventional or nuclear weapons.
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  19

  Churches (and other religious buildings) in China - Picture story

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  i'm busy organising my trip to china, ticket purchased.

  the cheapest ticket was on australian airline qantas, whose fallen on hard times.

  my ex-qantas friends warned me not to fly qantas - they predict disaster.

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  fulltimestudent

  There are of course two sides to the story.

  Here's a (recent) French version:

  Note that this French web-site, is discussing a Chinese fan that a Chinese (possibly a businessman) had distributed after the incident referred to above. The images on the fan, showing graphically the burning of the church, won't reproduce here (French copyright) but you can see them on the website at: http://eventail.pagesperso-orange.fr/martyrs/martyrs1e.htm

  The two treaties of Tien-Tsin, the first non-applied, the second imposed after the victory of British and French troops and the regrettable, reprehensible and inexcusable "Summer Palace sacking" open in 1860 many places in China, to official (presence of consuls), commercial and religious westerners. Tien-Tsin (Tianjin) is one of them. A Lazarist Chinese priest, Father Joseph Tsiou, a skilled doctor, begins the roman catholic mission there. " He specializes in baptism of dying babies. " He meets a strong opposition from a part of the population before dying of illness in August 1861. He is replaced by another French missionary and also by a group of nuns send by the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity. Most of them are French , with the exception of one Irish and one Belgian sisters.

  These nuns come of course with in mind and heart the best intentions: saving the souls of many Chinese from the Devil and barbarism ! To "add to the turnover" (May the Martyres forgive us!), they continue as their predecessor did to baptize children on the brink of death, including in a Chinese orphanage where that they had gained access. "From the first year, ... we could send six hundred little angels to heaven "(Sister Dutrouilh ).

  But very quickly, some Tien-Tsin inhabitants are annoyed by their activity, and at the end of 1863, Sister Martha says "Thousands of fabulous rumours run on our behalf, and the Christians here are a too small number to refute them." After the purchase of a new house to a mandarin, things seemed to improve a bit: "... The pagans are beginning to understand that we are not coming here to tear their eyes, or to make a trade advantage" For that was the kind of rumours some people where spreading ! (And note that, "the day of the killings were to be found ... a jar of pickled onion, and the people claimed that it was a can (of) eyes torn from children" ...).
  
  The sisters were soon assisted by two Catholic Lazarists priests, one French, Claude-Marie Chevrier (appointed in late 1864 after a mission in Mongolia), the other Chinese, Ou Vincent. Also in line with a charity then in vogue, the so-called "Holy Childhood", they too sought to baptize and to teach young children (sometimes sick or stunted) when their families were unable or unwilling to deal with.

  Father Chevrier did a lot in order a church was built. He insisted, (as a former soldier !) that it was dedicated to Notre-Dame des Victoires (Our Lady of Victories), which perhaps was not so much a good mark in psychology. This is the very church showed on our fan. It was completed on December 8th 1869 ... a nd experienced many difficulties : destroyed in 1870 during the events we are now evoking, it was rebuilt but very soon devastated again during the well known "Boxer War" in 1900. Rebuilt again, it was more recently victim of the 1976 earthquake and rebuilt one more time, always with the same appearance : that of a North of France church

  !
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  19

  Churches (and other religious buildings) in China - Picture story

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  i'm busy organising my trip to china, ticket purchased.

  the cheapest ticket was on australian airline qantas, whose fallen on hard times.

  my ex-qantas friends warned me not to fly qantas - they predict disaster.

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  fulltimestudent

  Now think of that church in June 1870:

  

  What was happening?
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  19

  Churches (and other religious buildings) in China - Picture story

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  i'm busy organising my trip to china, ticket purchased.

  the cheapest ticket was on australian airline qantas, whose fallen on hard times.

  my ex-qantas friends warned me not to fly qantas - they predict disaster.

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  fulltimestudent

  Here's some more images of the above Catholic church in Tianjin.

  It looks so peaceful in this view:

  

  And this view was taken between 1910 and 1915

  

  (Title from unverified data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards. Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress) ).

  And at night-

  

  

  The church was severely damaged in the great Tianjin earthquake of 1976 - repairs took until 1980. Which likely explains why the church looks in such good condition, but maybe its also because in 1981, the church was listed on T ianjin’s cultural relics protection list.

  It's still an active church, here's a view of the Easter service in 2010