Posts by fulltimestudent

Faith flops in a heap of bull-crap - A presentation demonstrating how impossible it is to logically believe in a global flood.

by fulltimestudent in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4ohxqtmoec

fulltimestudent

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4OhXQTMOEc

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Social changes- 50% of British youth think they may be a 'little' bit gay

by fulltimestudent in

this is an amazing social change, and bring humans closer to reality.. from the independent - a british newpaper.

a survey reports:.

read the full story at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/yougov-poll-homosexuality-half-young-people-10458032.html.

fulltimestudent

Gotta love the way that Lily Rose Depp (daughter of u know who) expressed herself on her sexuality:

She is quoted in today's issue of the UK Independent, as saying that she 'does not identify as completely heterosexual.'

link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/lily-rose-depp-does-not-identify-as-completely-heterosexual-in-lgbtq-campaign-10469113.html

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i've had approval for the topic of my capstone essay (which is supposed to demonstrate how far i've travelled in my years of study.. after some negotiation, the unit convenor has approved the topic as: "an investigation of hellenic influences on representations of divinity in daniel 7.".

he was kind enough to suggest that i may find some interesting thoughts in this book, the human and divine in history: herodotus and the book of daniel by paul miskanen.. some may recognise the topic as similar to a thread i started some four months ago, "polytheism in the book of daniel, a late second temple religious document.

that thread* had some interesting reactions, it was based on an idea in a book by jewish scholar, daniel boyarin called, the jewish gospels: the story of the jewish christ.

fulltimestudent

Half banana: I will look forward to a summary of your essay (if not the whole thing!). I think the choice is excellent, an area I would love to investigate in depth myself.

Yup, I'll at least post key points and arguments

It is a critical area of study capable of busting anyone's trust in the divinity of scripture.

I agree HB. The JW view of scripture (and, most fundy churches) cannot be sustained once you see that the chain of inspiration that they claim exists, does not exist.

So much of adventist and therefore JW belief comes from Daniel and the facts as you have mentioned about the Persian and the Hellenic world is very germane to the development of messianic belief.

Part of the topic will be to test that possibility and compare it to both Egyptian and Iranian sources. As far as Hellenic influence is concerned. Aeschylus was an ancient Greek tragedian (playwright). Think about this quote from his play Eumenides, I'm not claiming any great spiritual knowledge of him, but note the language he used.

" ... I, as a prophet, cannot lie. Never from my prophetic shrine have I said anything of city, man or woman But what my father (Zeus) has commanded me. This plea of mine must override all othres, Since it accords with our great father's will."

Aeschylus was born around 525BCE, withing a couple of hundred years, Greeks ruled over Palestine and Greek colonies were established in Galilee and other Palestinian provinces. Think of the affect this likely had on young Jewish men.

Relics of a nearly forgotten (cold) war.

by fulltimestudent in

a recent bbc feature has some fascinating images of forgotten (nearly) structures built during the glory (sort of) days of the soviet union.. on those pages you can see the world's largest diesel powered submarine and a strange looking amphibian built for anti-submarine warfare.. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150819-restricted-areas-eerie-relics-of-a-forgotten-russia.

and .

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/soviet-unions-bartini-beriev-vva-14-plane-2015-1.

fulltimestudent

A recent BBC feature has some fascinating images of forgotten (nearly) structures built during the glory (sort of) days of the Soviet Union.

On those pages you can see the world's largest diesel powered submarine and a strange looking amphibian built for anti-submarine warfare.

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150819-restricted-areas-eerie-relics-of-a-forgotten-russia

and

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/soviet-unions-bartini-beriev-vva-14-plane-2015-1

3

My Capstone Essay-

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

i've had approval for the topic of my capstone essay (which is supposed to demonstrate how far i've travelled in my years of study.. after some negotiation, the unit convenor has approved the topic as: "an investigation of hellenic influences on representations of divinity in daniel 7.".

he was kind enough to suggest that i may find some interesting thoughts in this book, the human and divine in history: herodotus and the book of daniel by paul miskanen.. some may recognise the topic as similar to a thread i started some four months ago, "polytheism in the book of daniel, a late second temple religious document.

that thread* had some interesting reactions, it was based on an idea in a book by jewish scholar, daniel boyarin called, the jewish gospels: the story of the jewish christ.

fulltimestudent

I've had approval for the topic of my capstone essay (which is supposed to demonstrate how far I've travelled in my years of study.

After some negotiation, the Unit convenor has approved the topic as: "An investigation of Hellenic influences on representations of divinity in Daniel 7."

He was kind enough to suggest that I may find some interesting thoughts in this book, The Human and Divine in History: Herodotus and the Book of Daniel by Paul Miskanen.

Some may recognise the topic as similar to a thread I started some four months ago, "Polytheism in the Book of Daniel, a late second temple religious document."

That thread* had some interesting reactions, it was based on an idea in a book by Jewish scholar, Daniel Boyarin called, The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ. In which he called into question the idea that Second Temple Judaism was solely and exclusively monotheistic.

In this essay I propose to investigate the source of this polytheism that we see in Daniel 7, Boyarin argues that it was native to Judaism, a kind of hangover from Canaanite days. I will investigate alternative influences ranging from Egyptian Judaism to Iranian ideas, which arrived in Jewish thinking during the exile, but also from the influence of Babylonian Jews who did not return to Jerusalem, before finally examining how deeply Hellenism had infiltrated the Judaism of that period, so that what we see in Daniel 7 is a Messianism re-told with Hellenistic overtones.

Not sure how well I'm going to handle this. But its challenging and in line with my Libran instincts (haha)

* http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/208020001/polytheism-book-daniel-late-second-temple-religious-document

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Social changes- 50% of British youth think they may be a 'little' bit gay

by fulltimestudent in

this is an amazing social change, and bring humans closer to reality.. from the independent - a british newpaper.

a survey reports:.

read the full story at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/yougov-poll-homosexuality-half-young-people-10458032.html.

fulltimestudent

Umm! Posters like that can be annoying, however in the case of the poster DJS and cantleave are referring to, this topic is so disturbing to them that I suggest something very deep is an issue in their deepest psyche. Therefore I recommend being kind to them, as we don't really know who they are, or what is going on in their lives, or the extent to which their lives have been damaged by Christian ideology,

The issue of same sex attraction clearly causes some people great anguish. Why else would we see the terrible crimes that some homophobes have committed, or the violent, excessive language that is sometimes posted. I'm not sure precisely why that is the case, but think it likely, that since a satisfying sex life has much greater importance in our lives than Christian ideology allows, that the internal psychological rifts brought about by Christian attitudes to same sex attraction causes an emotional state approaching hysteria.

I recall an idea perhaps originating with Michel Foucault. That the causes of hysteria (i.e. exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement ) are to be found in the disorders of a person's pscyo-sexual life.

I cant claim an expert knowledge of Foucault's ideas, but can see where the idea (which I just attempted to express) may take us.

20

Social changes- 50% of British youth think they may be a 'little' bit gay

by fulltimestudent in

this is an amazing social change, and bring humans closer to reality.. from the independent - a british newpaper.

a survey reports:.

read the full story at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/yougov-poll-homosexuality-half-young-people-10458032.html.

fulltimestudent

snugglebunny: It's probably true of early teens. Back in the day many of my school mates would indulge in same sex relationships, however it was generally regarded as a "make do" stop-gap until a willing female was encountered.
JW boys were no different. Although we were aware that sexual intercourse resulted in disfellowshipping, it didn't occur to anyone that same-sex play was any more serious than masturbation. The WT only talked about fornication, little else.

Grin!!! - Interesting point, snugglebunny! My gayxjw friend once belonged to a gayxjw group (I think it was called 'Common Bond" or something like that). The members used to swap experiences, and quite a few stories emerged (he says) of future circuit overseers and missionaries, at least allowing another young man to perform oral sex on them. (Bill Clinton's defense was a common concept).

A former Aussie branch overseer told me once that the branch had to send two young men who roomed together home, because they had fallen in love with each other and started having sex together.

I also know of two young Aussie missionaries assigned to Cambodia (thus on their own - i.e. no organisation around them) who 'fell in love with each other.'

That story has a sad ending. One of these men fell sick and died of some infection. With little money, the surviving guy had to dispose of the body of his friend (lover) by the usual method in Cambodia, cremation. He did not have enough money to buy sufficient wood for the fire, so not only had to build the funeral pyre, place his lover on it, and set the pyre on fire. Maybe because he lacked the skill to build the pyre correctly, but more likely because he had not bought enough wood, the body kept slipping out of the fire, and he had to keep pushing it back into the fire. Unsurprisingly, he had an emotional breakdown and returned to Aust. A representative from the Hongkong branch went to Cambodia to end the lease on the (so-called) 'home,' and found some incriminating evidence of their relationship. Confronted in Australia the surviving young man confessed.

And, recently the Percy Chapman story emerged again. I meant to post some much greater detail that has been published online, but did not get around to it.

It all demonstrates the essential truth of the initial report I posted. Human sexuality is not as black and white as the gay/straight dichotomy suggests, or the male/female dichotomy suggests.

Left to themselves without the evil of Christian teachings on human sexuality, humans will (as LoveUniHateExams hopes) cross and re-cross gender lines, in both their sexual and romantic experiences.

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Davies suggests the maps had a deeper function that military use. He suggests they were used to manage everything the Russians (then) knew about the world.

2

Do you live in San Diego, USA? Check how accurately Soviet Union mapmakers knew your city.

by fulltimestudent in

http://www.wired.com/2015/07/soviet-militarys-eerily-detailed-guide-san-diego/

fulltimestudent

The information is from an article,

Inside the Secret World of Russia’s Cold War Mapmakers

http://www.wired.com/2015/07/secret-cold-war-maps/