Posts by fulltimestudent

108

God Says Scripture is Enough

by Perry in

from the 2013 new world translation 2 tim.

all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, so that the man of god may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.. .

as jw's we must have read that scripture a thousand times.

fulltimestudent

2 Timothy 3: 16

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ... NIV

It is imagined that by the second century CE there was a movement in the early church to establish which books available within the church could be considered to be authoritative.

It seems that the document called the Muratorian fragment is one of the earliest extant attempts to provide such a list. Its called a fragment because the introduction is missing, and it starts (as you see below) in the middle of a sentence.

Found in the 18th century CE by an Italian scholar named Muratori, the date of the original is disputed, but many think it belongs to the later second century CE (i.e. between 150 to 190 CE ).

So, for at least one hundred plus years after Jesus, there was no NT, as we know it.

The document lists 22 of the 27 NT books now recognised by the church. It does not list Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter and 3 John. It also includes The Wisdom of Solomon and the Apocalypse of Peter. The then popular Shepherd of Hermas is accepted conditionally. That is, it could be read in church, but was not held to be a sacred text.

31

Large scale War in the Middle East

by designs in

is this spreading conflict, war, in syria and iraq, inevitable and some argue necessary.. new leaders rising with napoleon size ambitions, old monarchies trying to hold on to power.. religious ideologies and groups challenging one another.

battles for natural resources and redrawing lands and boundries.. are there parallels to wwi and wwii..

fulltimestudent

I posted a chart comparing World Military spending in my first post above. Its disappeared, so I guess it had some mechanism to prevent reproduction.

So I'm trying another one, its from:

http://armscontrolcenter.org/issues/securityspending/articles/US_vs_Global/

2008 Defense Expenditure (in billions of current U.S. dollars)

Country	2008 Spending
United States (including war and nuclear)	696.3
Rest of NATO	325.5
Non-NATO Europe	26.8
Russia	86.0
Middle East and North Africa	110.5
Sub-Saharan Africa	12.1
South and Central Asia	41.2
East Asia and Australasia	131.3
China	83.5
Latin America and Caribbean	58.0

Global Total: $1.57 trillion

Countries of Interest (in billions of current U.S. dollars)

Country	2008 Spending
United States (including war and nuclear)	696.3
Canada	19.8
China	83.5
Russia	86.0
United Kingdom	60.8
France	67.2
Germany	46.9
Japan	46.0
Italy	30.9
Saudi Arabia	38.2
South Korea	24.2
Israel	14.8
Taiwan	10.5
Iran	9.6
North Korea	**
Pakistan	4.4
Venezuela	3.3

Table/Chart Notes: U.S. figure includes funding for wars and nuclear weapons. Data from Congressional Research Service, Office of Management and Budget, International Institute for Strategic Studies.

31

Large scale War in the Middle East

by designs in

is this spreading conflict, war, in syria and iraq, inevitable and some argue necessary.. new leaders rising with napoleon size ambitions, old monarchies trying to hold on to power.. religious ideologies and groups challenging one another.

battles for natural resources and redrawing lands and boundries.. are there parallels to wwi and wwii..

fulltimestudent

My opinion is that China does not want any sort of war. The government has achieved great success in modernising what was a backward and chaotic country. Over 50% of the population now live in cities, and the people living in the worst of the traditional villages are being helped to re-locate to towns (rather than cities) in a program with the awkward English name of "townisation." Pew Consulting (an American polling group operating in China) suggests something like 85% support for the Central government. (But not for city governments).

However, China has a long land border which includes many countries with varying degrees of stability. Prudence would dictate that their military should be strong enough to handle any contingency.

31

Large scale War in the Middle East

by designs in

is this spreading conflict, war, in syria and iraq, inevitable and some argue necessary.. new leaders rising with napoleon size ambitions, old monarchies trying to hold on to power.. religious ideologies and groups challenging one another.

battles for natural resources and redrawing lands and boundries.. are there parallels to wwi and wwii..

fulltimestudent

This website calling itself Global Firepower (and at a cursory glance, giving little other information about itself) makes an attempt to factor in the other items that make military analysis so tricky today.

Please read the initial page first, to see where they are going:

http://www.globalfirepower.com/

I suggest that you next read the sites page for the USA, as its the USA and its massive military spend that sets the standard for the world. (Recall, how the old USSR came to the point of collapse in its attempt to keep up with USA.

http://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=united-states-of-america

And next, (in answer to your question) look at their China page:

http://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=china

Finally check out the Russia page**:

http://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=russia

** I suggest this check, because it provides another window on the Chinese experience. Further, American intransigence toward China may drive them to a deeper involvement with Russia.

31

Large scale War in the Middle East

by designs in

is this spreading conflict, war, in syria and iraq, inevitable and some argue necessary.. new leaders rising with napoleon size ambitions, old monarchies trying to hold on to power.. religious ideologies and groups challenging one another.

battles for natural resources and redrawing lands and boundries.. are there parallels to wwi and wwii..

fulltimestudent

Smiddy:

Doesnt China have the largest military personell in the world ?

just asking.

If you attempt a web search, you will likely find different figures. But, in any case, I suggest the question format too simplistic. Why? Let's attempt a shallow analysis of the NK military to see why.

Modern warfare is not dependent on sheer numbers charging across the landscape. (never has been- there are plenty of ancient examples of a smaller army defeating a larger army). But, other factors are now more important than ever. What's important now is the firepower that each highly trained soldier can use. Plus the mechanical aids (tanks, mobile artillery, rockets, airplanes) that an army will have available. NK is supposed to have about 1 million men in its army. And, I would believe that they have some good ground weaponary. But they have no airforce to speak of. South Korea, may have an army of 1,200,000, but I would imagine that their soldiers would have firepower almost equal to that of the USA military, whose ability to 'shock and awe' is probably the highest in the world.

So, I suggest, the one million man army of NK, is not likely to last long in conventional warfare, but when we factor in air support, we can start to understand that NK is like a toadfish. Facing a likely enemy, it puffs itself up to double size. Bluff aside, if NK was foolish enough (and, I do not believe they are that stupid) to make a surprise invasion of SK, a literal hell of rocketry and bombs would likely wipe their cities off the face of the earth. SK would be hurt, and Seoul would be deeply damaged, but SK would survive. NK is not likely to survive.

A better gauge is military spending:

This chart provides some idea of where the big money is being spent.

So yes, China is spending a lot of money, but some analysts believe that 10-15 years ago, the Chinese army may have been in a similar position to NK. I believe that any reasonably intelligent military analyst in China, observing the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, would have been reporting back to the Chinese government and telling them, change the way the military oeprates.

108

God Says Scripture is Enough

by Perry in

from the 2013 new world translation 2 tim.

all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, so that the man of god may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.. .

as jw's we must have read that scripture a thousand times.

fulltimestudent

2 Timothy 3: 16

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ... NIV

Since only the OT was available at that time, it is the OT that was the "All scripture," that Paul was writing about. An agreed version of the NT was not going to be available for hundreds of years. Even, then some of the decision-makers did not fully agree with the inclusions.

5

The Normal Heart (movie)

by rebel8 in

jw
friends

finally got the guts to watch it last night.

it was so heartbreaking.. i was a partially brainwashed teenager when the story depicted in the movie happened, a few hundred miles away.

i remember the advocates' angry outbursts on tv and the dying men in hospital beds, holding hands.. being a sheltered jw, i had no exposure to homosexuality and only the twisted teachings of the wts to taint my views.

fulltimestudent

rebel8:

but a penis going in an opening 2 inches south of the vagina=totally evil?

Now that sentence wakes up another issue. Its the concept of anal sex that seems to get a lot of guys disturbed. But it seems that there are claims that on any given night in the big cities of the world, there will be more male/female couples having anal sex than male/male couples.

And yet, there are no biblical grounds for saying that male/female anal sex is wrong.**

And, what about the guys who are emotionally attracted to women (heterosexual desire) and yet find anal stimulation exciting?

I hope this youtube video doesn't cause anyone offense?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w-Rhd8x6WU

But, it does illustrate how complex the whole topic can be!

** aside from the amazing theorists in the WTS.

11

Molestation in the UK.

by phats in

according to uk news reports http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28203914 institutions complicit in covering over or withholding current & historical information from the correct authorities when accusations, understandings & informations have been raised will hopefully be investigated.. this is to include all public associations including the government top brass, the police, the fostering commission as well as religious organisations.. what will be needed is for brave jw victims to come forward with there experiences & make the lo (loving organisation) accountable for there gross negligence & downright dirty tricks to protect the lo from any criticism or blame.. what do you think can be done to help these victims come forward & put there necks on the block & get this scum in court.. can this site move on something like this?.

thoughts please.. phats..

fulltimestudent

The polica will start invading churches for evidence

About bloody time !!!

5

NOT SAFE ANYWHERE - Child Abuse While Under Government Care

by fulltimestudent in

while government inquiries continue to gather evidence of sexual and physical abuse of children in various religious organisations in australia, another investigation demonstrates the depth of the problem.

even within institutions controlled by government, the problem continues, as an abc ** investigation in victoria is showing.. the problem is far more widespread than most people can imagine.. the problem stems (in my opinion) from the policy of herding children from disordered homes together.

many are already highly sexualised and seek sexual satisfaction from other inmates.

fulltimestudent

Band on the Run:

My circumstances were so bad that a social welfare agency considered a foster home for me.

Yet, in spite of the bad circumstances of your childhood, (or, maybe because of them) you seem to have made a success of your life.

27

There will NEVER be another World Power. The end is near.

by defender of truth in

"grace.

san francisco bay area.

posted 22 march 2013 - 08:14 pm.

fulltimestudent

Vidiot:

The American moneyed elite (particularly on the Right) don't give a flying f**king rat's ass about the lives of the people of the USA.

That may be true, Vidiot. But the American revolution was not as mythically imagined, a revolution against tyranny. It was a successful attempt by the rising colonial elite to grab control of the potential wealth of the North American continent.

However, starting from the end of WWI, which saw the European elites (with some exceptions, such as the UK) lose influence, and in some cases, such as Russia, their destruction. That seems to have scare the American elite sh*tless, and I suggest that you can read American politics of the inter-war era (1920s, 1930s) as being an effort by the American elite to contain the working class. I should add a caveat here, that the developing American economic system did provide 'routes' through which people with talent could move their economic status. However, the financial difficulties of the 1930s, set back the dreams of many and increased social unrest.

WW2 provided a diversion, but also provided an opportunity for wealth creation for some at least. Post WW2, increasing American dominance provided more opportunities.

And so long as a route to a better life can be perceived, the lower social classes will not rebel.