paranormal stuff is common where my family is from it's almost expected.
native american background, my great grandmother was a witch doctor a damn good one too, my non witness relatives dabble in it.
so i have seen stuff and experienced stuff.
After living and working in Papua New Guinea for many years, I am less inclined to dismiss all such events out of hand as nonsense.
The ability of many Papua New Guineans to easily locate missing items bordered on the uncanny. If this was “intuition” at work, then it certainly raised the meaning of that term to a whole new level.
No trickery, definitely no mind-altering drugs involved (I certainly wasn’t taking any!) But whatever was at work, I was more than once grateful for it!
i am interested in the approach this forum takes to money.
apart from sex, (which i am quite relaxed about) it seems to me that wealth is the surest divider between those who are moral, and those who are not.. it seems jesus thought so, also.
luke 16:19-31 kjv describes well enough his dusty attitude to the rich who do not succour the poor.. and this world has many poor: so many, it might seem that we can do nothing about it, and twist his words; 'the poor ye shall have always with you, but me, ye shall not have always.
A very informative read is to be found in the New York Review of June 7 2012 (www.nybooks.com. 2012/06/07).
In this, the reviewer (Jared Diamond) examines the work of Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson “Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty.” The authors are very much of the opinion that these differences in wealth distribution, country by country, are solely the result of good or bad “institutions”.
As the reviewer goes on to show, however, when it comes to the question of why nations differ in wealth, “The factors are multiple and diverse”. There is certainly no “silver bullet”! The one advocated by the OP would only serve to drag everybody down to the same level of poverty.
(I have witnessed this in Papua New Guinea, where the traditional “Wantok” system, when used in a modern industrial society, only serves to impoverish everybody).
facts we don't want to know.
the purpose of war is to kill humans.. .
which humans?.
When it comes to this sort of thing, I very much doubt if any country is squeaky clean. While Britain didn’t “ invent” concentration camps (that dubious honour fell to Spain in the Cuban War of Independence), it came a very close second in the Second Boer War (1899-1902). If ever there was a “Banker’s War”, that would have had to have been one - being fought for nothing other than the Witwatersrand Goldfields of the Transvaal.
Also, Britain’s atrocities in its own backyard bear scrutiny. For example, look up on YouTube Peter Watkin’s 1964 documentary “ Culloden”. For another example, look up just about anything you like on the Irish War of Independence (1916-1921).
No, the “White hats” - “Black hats” business is by no means as clear cut as we might imagine.
i am a born in jw for over 30 years now and have been in various positions in the organization.
now i'm guessing most of us recognize that older generations tend to be more fundamental and less reasonable when it comes to their outlook and beliefs.
i find this to mirror the differences you see outside of the organization as well (older people less tolerant of other religions, newer technology, lgbt, etc.).
It does seem to me that those who endure with the JW religion pay lip service to all the demands of the GB, but quietly ignore its more extreme requirements.
PS: Many thanks to my eldest daughter and my grand-daughter.
hi friends one and all i just thought i would let you know it`s our 57th wedding anniversary today .
and we are setting off this morning for 3 nights in eden nsw i think it has more to offer than the one in genesis.. with a bit { or a lot } of luck we will make our fortune .
have a good day everybody.
Happy Anniversary, Smiddy.
we have had another shooting.
many are blaming trump and the republicans and the nra.. is it because of guns that there are so many massacres or could it be that these killers are mental?.
do you think guns should be removed from our society so that these atrocities never occur again?
People's mental health and anger don't stay constant throughout their lifetime.
That is why in this country, Firearms Licences are issued for a maximum of ten years, after which the licence holder has to once again go through the whole background check / vetting / safety testing process.
anyone here into guns.
i know alot of the euros here hate the idea but i wonder if there are any other members who are collectors or who are into hunting, target shooti g etc.. no shame zone?.
I grew up around firearms.
There were very practical reasons why this was so. On the family farm, pest control was (and stilll is ) a major issue. Also, during the 1950s, my father worked for a time as a professional hunter (I still have his old skinning knife).
Later on, after moving to the city, I took up small-bore shooting as a hobby.
Over the last two years, though, my housing situation has made firearm ownership exceedingly difficult. Two years ago, I disposeded of all my rifles. While my housing situation is about to change, I probably will not now renew my gun licence, as my eye sight has deteriorated badly, (typical for those of us over 60!)
As to keeping a firearm for protection, I have grave doubts.
The only two people I know who have been shot were also licensed to carry a 9 mm automatic, and both knew how to use it. That did not, though, prevent them from getting shot! (Thankfully, neither received a fatal wound - although one out of the two came within a millimetre or two of being left paraplegic).
just though i'd start a thread devoted to languages, dialects/sociolects and accents, with the idea being that posters can comment on any language, or dialect or accent of any language, on this thread.. any phrases, expressions or idioms that you find interesting are also welcome.
first, the subject of english accents came up on another thread.. the british isles have many different types of accent (although many of the dialects may be dying out), and if i start to take a closer look, i can't help but see 'patterns' .... in received pronunciation of standard english, the letter r is pronounced initially, between vowels, and after consonants, e.g.
red, arrow, break.
@dropoffyourkeylee,
In the Tok Pisin language, "us" = "yumi" (i.e. You - Me).
Also, "this" = "dispela" (i.e. This fella).
@LoveUniHateExams,
They do use the expression "bagarap" to describe injury or illness, but would generally apply it to a (slightly, anyway!) more specific problem.
e.g. "Lewa (from 'liver') bilong mi i bagarap"
- where "lewa" is a generic word used to describe all the internal organs, except those of the gastro-intestinal tract (which are collectively referred to as "bel", from 'belly').
Coming from the UK, you might appreciate this one:
The Tok Pisin equivalent of the term "Prince of Wales" is "Nambawan pikaniny bilong Misis Kwin".
i.e. The Queen's eldest (Number One) child.
don't know if this a belief or scandal.
did you get the guy who had raised his family while serving?
it didn't say how he or his wife became witnesses, but;;;;;; he is a doctor, was invited to be a doc for the wt, sold out his home (at loss ((i bety)), moved, but you can be sure he didn't get a room at bethel.
Then has the gall to knock higher education when he had to have spent 15 to 20 years getting to be a doc
These are the guys I really like: "I have got mine, but you cannot have yours. "
Noteworthy, too, that the GB don't trust their health care to the level of a "slug of brandy and a smack over the head with a rubber mallet." No bloody way! Only the best for them; the product of a university education and yay-number of years as an intern at a hospital, something they vociferously condemn. I completely run out of unpleasant adjectives to describe what I think of that attitude.
i haven't been to a meeting in 15 years but my mother and sister are hard as j.w's.
the brothers they are appointing elders are at best suspect like one guy from my old hall made elder,big time drug used before becoming a j.w his talks are all over the place and would have struggled to make m,s years ago but with at least 60 to 70 % of young ones leaving the pool to pick from is at best reduced.. 2 other recent elders both young and zero life experience both on benefits one not well at all falls asleep all the time.. the decent,kind elders mostly older and are decent people with alot of life experience are burning out fast as there are so few of them left like 3 per congro of 100 publishers.. then you have the rich elders who wouldn't ever think of inviting some poor older or mis-fit person out to the expensive placers they go to as they couldn't afford to go so they are above the r&f and the r&f get pissed off with them.
then we have the ones who have "put the kingdom 1st" who are now old worn out and barely getting by from welfare cheque to welfare cheque that are saying "the system should have been over many years ago" it's still here and they are struggling everyday.. then there are the pioneers who have a low payed reduced hour job that seem to think anyone who has anything is totally materialistic and looks down on anyone getting a new car buying a house ect.. along with the child abuse issues,the generation change,access to information the the g.b don't want anyone to know ,not to mention the issues around blood.. is there a tipping point coming????
While I would very much like to think that they had reached this "tipping point" , I have my doubts. Many have been predicting for over ten years that the "tipping point" (or similar) had been reached, but it hasn't yet.
It seems that this lot is are a bit like the cockroaches and rats that survive a nuclear explosion - whatever else happens, they still remain. (e.g. Britain's nuclear tests on Christmas Island in the 1950s).
Something I do notice, though: those that remain long term with the JWs tend to pay lip service to whatever the GB /WTS says, but quietly ignore the more extreme demands of their religion.
So perhaps a decline in extremism, rather than sudden death, is how it will progress from here?
