fulltimestudent

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Posts by fulltimestudent

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  21

  A problem with the book of Daniel

  by wozza in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  left the wts some years ago, but just before i left we were studying the daniel book that they produced in the book study .. i noticed something wrong in the bible account of daniel and brought this up at the end of the study when the conductor asked if everyone understood that nights study,.

  i think i may have started a topic here some years ago about this event ,it was a time when i started to question the wts in my heart and mind.the scriptures are lengthy so i will just shorten things by describing the stories in daniel and how one point really got me thinking about things and perhaps made the brothers wierd out about me sand distance themselves ,here it is..........dan ch 1-4. daniels ( who came to be called belteshazzar)in babylon along with shadrach,meshach & abednego ,daniel,after praying with these 3, interprets and states what nebuchadnezzars dream is( we all know this ,the image with the head of gold body of iron and copper etc) and they are rewarded by being positions of authority.

  daniel made ruler of the province and chief prefect over babylons wise men ,the 3 were made overseers of the administation of the province ,all very important jobs ,.

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  fulltimestudent

  CalebInFloroda: To begin with, when the First Temple fell, according to Jewish history and tradition, Nebuchadnezzar took the House of David and cared for it in a special place where the descendants of the monarchy could still retain some freedom as well as the dignity afforded royalty. According to tradition and Scripture, the Babylonians had control of the Iberian Peninsula, which is Sepharad or modern Spain and Portugal.

  There does not seem to be any secular reference to Nebuchnezzar's political or military authority reaching as far as modern day Spain.

  The web-site Livius, which may be regarded as speaking with some authority, certainly does not mention it, not, at least, in my rather hurried scanning.

  Link: http://www.livius.org/articles/place/babylonian-empire/

  I think the confusion has arisen, somewhere, somehow, between the Iberian peninsula and the Kingdom of Iberia located in Asia, near Georgia.

  Wikipedia is not the best reference in the circumstances, but I choose it because it has a reasonable map.

  Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Iberia

  

  As you can note, both the location and the dates of this Asian Iberia fit the historical details.

  BTW, If we are seeing the bible as a historical record, it is quite specific as to the numbers of people deported to Babylon, actually not a very large group of people in total and clearly comprising the elite, who ( from their own viewpoint) comprised the 'nation'. The common people were not deported and the land was never left physically desolate, although in the view of the elite, it may have been spiritually desolate.

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  2. This is not an argument that there were no Jews in what we now call Spain. There are many references to Jewish migrants in many locations in both the Hellenic and Roman empires. The Jews who refused to return to Jerusalem and stayed behind in Babylon became famous as traders, with groups of Jews in all the major trade markets of the east-west trade network (the silk road). One collection, known as the Radhanites (although that may have been a tag that referred to all) were particularly active in the Euro-Asian slave trade and are reputed to have maintained a facility in Verdun for castrating boys for the eunuch market.

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  3. At this link: ( http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/40-daniel-nets.pdf ) there is a copy of, 'A New English Translation of the Septuagint,' published by Oxford University Press. The Introduction may be of interest to some readers here.

  http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/40-daniel-nets.pdf
  
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  A young kid with determination

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  i've posted about this chinese kid before.

  i think he was around the age of 8 when he had an accident with hi-voltage power and lost both arms.

  since then he's taught himself to deal with life without arms.

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  fulltimestudent

  btw, that blog (the Shanghaiist) and I understand (though, I've never seen it) a hardprint version is 'owned' (if that's the right word, by a New York company (another strange NY company), called the Gothamist.

  The namesake blog, Gothamist, focused on New York City, was founded in 2003, with launches in other cities shortly thereafter. Other blogs operated by the company As of June 2014 include LAist, DCist,Chicagoist, and SFist in the United States, as well as Shanghaiist internationally.[2]

  See Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothamist
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  A young kid with determination

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  i've posted about this chinese kid before.

  i think he was around the age of 8 when he had an accident with hi-voltage power and lost both arms.

  since then he's taught himself to deal with life without arms.

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  fulltimestudent

  I've posted about this Chinese kid before. I think he was around the age of 8 when he had an accident with hi-voltage power and lost both arms. Since then he's taught himself to deal with life without arms. In 2014 he failed the tough gaokao (University entrance) exam, But tried again this year, this time successfully and won a place at Sichuan Universities Law School.

  Here's some piks from a Shanghai newspaper, the Shanghaiist. (It was originally published on Netflix, but that version is in Chinese, so the Shanghaiist version is better here.

  http://shanghaiist.com/2015/09/16/student_lost_both_arms_first_day_of_uni.php
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  21

  Saturday morning us newly weds visited by closet gay Special pioneer see why we stayed home!!? WIERD!!

  by Witness 007 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  first let me tell you about george (his real name) the special pioneer.

  not that good looking...a bit goofy, he had spiritual sisters literally ask him to date and flutter eyelids because of his positon.

  he always made excuses about why sisters were "not his type"...had a bedroom full of pics of him hugging other brothers with a content strange look on his face....like this is my girlfriend look!

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  fulltimestudent

  Witness 007: Point number 2 was I'm sure he had sexual issues but was not allowed to "come out" or be himself be gay which must have been awful for him yet he judged us for taking some time off together. I resent him for that NOT for being gay

  OK, but isn't that what Christianity does in general (and not just the jws)? Western culture is riddled with "judgementalism," just look at the public discussion over equal marriage rights.

  This poor bastard, whether gay or not gay, but more particularly if he was gay, is told in many subtle and not subtle ways that he's got to do this and do that, if he wants the Yahweh/Jesus combo god to 'heal' him of his perversion, and if he doesn't then he's finished because the monstrous Yahweh/Jesus combo god will kill him.

  All of us that were involved in that organisation likely became judgemental, if not all the time, then sometimes.

  Postscript:

  A comment on stereotyping gays:

  Through my gayxjw friend, I've had the interesting experience of being able to meet a lot of gay men and a few gay women, some 'out,' some not. I want to say that some of the masculine people I've ever met, are gay. Even, if not so aggressively masculine, most gay men cannot be stereotyped. That's why its often a shock when they do come 'out.'

  Those who are judged, in conversations like this one, as 'gay,' are usually stereotyped, because they are seen as effeminate, and unless you are using the term 'gay' to cover a whole range of alternative sexualities that can be misleading, as they may be transexual or transgender and have a different genetic make-up.

  For some research on 'gaydar,' the ability to see people as 'gay,' read:

  The science of stereotyping: Challenging the validity of 'gaydar'

  Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150903160505.htm
  
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  38

  Hysterically tragic - the west stuffs up in Syria

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a former lebanese (christian) terrorist once told me a story (meant to be funny) about west asian politics.. a turtle was swimming past the shoreline of the red sea.

  on the shore a scorpion calls out,"hey!

  give me a lift over to the other side.

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  fulltimestudent

  Perry: They did that for years for the people of Iran. When the US troops left, their US trained/supplied army fled like girls when faced with battle.

  I think you may have confused Iran with Iraq.

  The US Army has not been recently involved in training Iranian troops, at least not since the Shah (who had regained the throne after a MI5/CIA organised coup overthrew the elected government of Dr Mossadegh) was expelled for the second time.

  It is interesting though (in the whole confusing picture), that when Saddam Hussein was America's bumboy in the Middle East he fought a war with Iran, in which he was a proxy for the USA, and received military information and technical assistance from the US.
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  38

  Hysterically tragic - the west stuffs up in Syria

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a former lebanese (christian) terrorist once told me a story (meant to be funny) about west asian politics.. a turtle was swimming past the shoreline of the red sea.

  on the shore a scorpion calls out,"hey!

  give me a lift over to the other side.

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  fulltimestudent

  Xanthippe: One thing's for sure until all humans have enough to eat and no longer have to watch their children die from hunger and easily curable illnesses, none of us are safe.

  Yup! That's about it. Sadly acknowledging that is, of course, just the start of the journey.

  And, what we have talked about is only a small part of a complex problem, and the propaganda and counter-propaganda is extremely confusing.

  The small boy in the first posts has become a political football. Think of the implicit message in this claimed 'expose' of the drowned boy story:

  http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/09/08/the-5-awkward-questions-they-wont-answer-about-the-drowned-boy-syria-and-our-moral-duty/

  I'm under some pressure this week (a uni assignment) so I wont expand, except to say that this 'expose' does ask one excellent question. And that is, that if the Muslim world is one BIG BROTHERHOOD, where are all the Muslim Relief Agencies? And from that flows another question, how difficult would it be for a Syrian to get to Egypt or Malaysia or Morocco or Saudi Arabia or Indonesia to build a new life?
  
  
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  72

  Arctic Ice Increasing

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  arctic has gained hundreds of miles of ice the last three years.

  red shows the september 2012 minimum extent.

  green shows the current extent, which is likely the minimum for 2015. the arctic has gained hundreds of miles of ice over the past three years, much of which is thick, multi-year ice.. article.

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  fulltimestudent

  • Village Idiot5 hours ago

    Post abandoned.

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  Yeah! I think I understand why!

  In Australia, we have the unfortunate situation where a sort of a 'Perry' is in control of the state. The current Prime Minister, one Tony Abbott, was educated in a Jesuit College and later trained for the priesthood in a Catholic seminary. Since becoming PM he has demonstrated an ideologically biased opposition to any steps previous governments have taken to overcome this climate crisis, all apparently based on a belief that god will not allow a human disaster. (sour smile).

  Which leads us to ask why is it that these fanatical christians think this way?

  You can read (and then think) about possible reasons in this Huffington Post Australia discussion. (I'd like to elaborate but I'm under a bit of pressure at the moment).

  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/g-elijah-dann/christians-climate-change_b_3668179.html?ir=Australia
  
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  38

  Hysterically tragic - the west stuffs up in Syria

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a former lebanese (christian) terrorist once told me a story (meant to be funny) about west asian politics.. a turtle was swimming past the shoreline of the red sea.

  on the shore a scorpion calls out,"hey!

  give me a lift over to the other side.

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  fulltimestudent

  A former Lebanese (Christian) terrorist once told me a story (meant to be funny) about West Asian politics.

  A turtle was swimming past the shoreline of the Red sea. On the shore a scorpion calls out,"Hey! give me a lift over to the other side." The turtle, wise to the way's of scorpions refuses. The scorpion begs him again, saying: "You think I'm going to sting you and kill you, but why would I do that when all your doing is helping me? After a lot of discussion the turtle agrees to give the scorpion a ride across the Red Sea.

  As they get near the other side, they thank each other, the scorpion for the ride and the turtle because the scorpion had not stung him. At the other side, as they reach dry land, the scorpion suddenly stings the turtle. Shocked and dying, the turtle gasps, "why did you do that, all I did was help you?" The Scorpion replies, "Why? I stung you because this is the middle east, and that's what we do."

  In the surreal, nightmarish world produced by western political agencies since 1919, the story makes no sense, because there is no more sense in that world. Every possible side has made promises and then broken them.

  An Australian columnist wrote today:

  The body of a little boy washes up in the surf on a Turkish beach is photographed and broadcast around the world. The world is appalled.
  But what if the world were to see the real scale of the sectarian civil war dismembering the Arab world? About 12,000 children have been killed in Syria alone.
  Twelve thousand children. This is the estimate of both the Oxford Research Group and the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. The United Nations has a smaller but still horrific estimate.
  What if the world were to see the faces of the thousands of young girls abducted and raped by members of Islamic State?
  The world only sees glimpses of the atavistic bloodletting carried out in the schism between Sunni and Shia Muslims, compounded by secondary guerrilla wars between moderate and fundamentalist Sunni Muslims.
  The wreckage extends far beyond individual tragedies and destroyed communities. To traverse the arc of nations in the Arab world is to traverse a disaster zone that is spreading, not contracting. Where once Australian tourists used to travel overland to Europe via Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, that entire route is now too dangerous. Much of it is a disaster zone.
  Syria is finished. It will never be put back together as a single state. Eleven million Syrians have been displaced.
  Iraq is now three states, Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish. The lines on the map of the region drawn by European colonisers have proved to be ephemeral compared to the real borders formed by religion, ethnicity and geography.
  The list of failed states now extends to Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The rest of the Arab states are dictatorships by various names, at best monarchies or emirates, with Egypt under military control.
  There is no end in sight. The Arab spring was a Western fantasy. Saudi Arabia and Iran continue to mobilising resources to fund their proxies in the Sunni-Shiite struggle, a reason why the Saudis are pumping as much oil as they can and Iran is desperate to re-join the international oil marketplace.
  Syria is thus the eye of a broader storm and the Muslim world is exporting its instability to Europe, via a mass exodus of people.

  Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/operation-rescue-the-christians-of-the-middle-east-face-extinction-20150906-gjg9p2.html#ixzz3l0BYqLaz

  
  

  There is no more logic as different (Black) groups in western nations aid opposing groups in the west Asian nightmare.

  
  

  Think of the stupidity evident in this British court case, (as reported in the UK Guardian):

  A Swedish citizen is arrested by the Brits and charged with aiding a terror group in Syria. The case goes to court, and then collapses> Why?

  Because the Syrian faction the man was accused of helping, was also being supported by British Intelligence. Further revelations in the court, would (apparently) have been deeply embarrassing for the British Government.

  Details at: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/01/trial-swedish-man-accused-terrorism-offences-collapse-bherlin-gildo

  The west, reluctant to put their own troops on the ground, have been attempting to halt the advance of ISIS by bombing, Rambo Abbott the Australian PM, a deeply committed Christian, is now going to send Australians to join in that fun. At least one year ago, there were rumours swirling that the American government had been involved in arming and supporting the Islamic State group.

  Here's today's headlines in, first, "The Guardian."

  Now the truth emerges: how the US fuelled the rise of Isis in Syria and Iraq

  
  More details at: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/03/us-isis-syria-iraq
  

  and second, the "Examiner."

  Obama ordered CIA to train ISIS jihadists: Declassified documents
  Link to story: http://www.examiner.com/article/obama-ordered-cia-to-train-isis-jihadists-declassified-documents
  A final question: Who is the turtle?
  
  
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  Ummm! The UK Independent comments on American Presidential Politics.

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current
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  fulltimestudent

  
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  The personal cost of Great Power Politics

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current
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  fulltimestudent

  kaik: ISIS is not solvable in the present distribution of the coalition forces. The only better resolution is to give a Kurds own statehood at the expense of Syria, Iraq, and Turkey. Turkey does not want it and is fighting Kurds. Arabs, Irans are also against each other. Russia is supporting own fraction in Syria, while West another. Any direct land intervention would only mean escalation of war into states friendly to USA like Turkey and Jordan.

  I agree also, because there will not be a realistic solution until the Kurds can gain independence. You are quite right, Turkey is the main opponent of Kurdish independence, because they would lose part of their territory.

  
  

  Thank you for pointing out the great power role in the conflict. The west began to enter the conflict when (see the comic strip explanation I posted earlier) when they saw a chance to overthrow the existing Syrian Assad government. They were supported in this by the Saudi Arabians who saw a chance to weaken Iran who were supported by the Assad government.

  We can further note that the West always acts on short term impulse, never with a long term goal in mind. Everything they have done in the Middle East from 1919 onward has contributed to the rise of a vicious and fanatical Muslim determination to end western influence. Ninety years of chickens (which have morphed into monsters) are coming home to rest for failed western policies, and I fear for the consequences.