Posts by LittleToe

147

Merry Becomes A Muslim (a bit long)

by Merry Magdalene in

who is merry?

i was born in 1965, the same year that malcolm x was assassinated.

my father had committed suicide a few months into my mother's pregnancy so we lived with her parents until she married again when i was about 18 months old.

LittleToe

Merry:
If I were you I wouldn't go defending the Prophet on this one. Aisha was most likely 9, with 10 being an upper limit. It was acceptable to the mores of the day, but indefensible by modern standards. Frankly I wouldn't even go there.

Glitter:
If the brand of Islam that Merry were supporting were encouraging paedophilia then you'd have a point, but as it is your comments seem misplaced. Should I reject all Christian denominations because the Catholic church has had its problems (which it appears to be seeking to address)? It would be a very black and white approach to life, much akin to the attitude we learnt from the WTS!

Kerj:

From the inside of what? Please explain.....

I hope you're not being intentionally obtuse. From the inside of those religions, of course... a mile in someone else's shoes, and all that.

I take no brook with his desire to avoid other religions, but acknowledge that it is still a self-emplaced fence due to his belief that they are unworthy of his attention.

147

Merry Becomes A Muslim (a bit long)

by Merry Magdalene in

who is merry?

i was born in 1965, the same year that malcolm x was assassinated.

my father had committed suicide a few months into my mother's pregnancy so we lived with her parents until she married again when i was about 18 months old.

LittleToe

While I remember, pertaining to Aisha, it isn't really that long that we've been so discriminate in Britain about the age of consent. At the start of the Victorian era it was still 10, as maintained in the 1861 Act. The earliest age for marriage was 12, as it had been since the "First Statue of Westminster" in 1285 and continually reaffirmed up to and including in1576, however this later date accepted age 10 as discretionary for carnal knowledge and distinct from rape.

From a modern-day perspective its sick, but those were different times and people certainly didn't live so long, so as a proportion of their life it was comparable. No less inappropriate, though.

How does that compare to laws in the Puritanical USA?

147

Merry Becomes A Muslim (a bit long)

by Merry Magdalene in

who is merry?

i was born in 1965, the same year that malcolm x was assassinated.

my father had committed suicide a few months into my mother's pregnancy so we lived with her parents until she married again when i was about 18 months old.

LittleToe

Merry:

That's kinda what I was going to say, but then again isn't "limited" a lot like "confined?"

Yup. I guess I struggle with the concept of attempting to stay still in the "flow" of development for anything more than a breather. When you're ready come back in, the water's lovely

Kerj:

Who says WAC has limited himself, like Merry?

I do. He's limited himself by his own set of beliefs which currently won't let him explore Islam or Christianity from the inside. A limit is a limit, whichever side of the fence you place yourself...

Didier:

Yes that was beautiful Ross.

I was feeling poetic

I suppose what I most like in Islam is a certain sense of fate that our Western culture has lost with its exhausting ideal of free choice (what the Greeks called heresy);

That could be why I have a penchant for Scottish Calvinism, with its predestination and generaly Stoicism in the face of providence.

I personally feel that my only way to be a muslim, in the etymological sense, is accepting who I am and the path I am treading, no matter how strange and self-contradictory it may get.

Nicely put

Does that make you a "revert" to Islam?

zeroday:I agree with your comments, but find your tone a little aggressive. It might just be me, or your terseness (which I'm usually guilty of, too), or a lack of emoticons, or something else. Can't quite put my finger on it.

Hillary:

...such a variety of people from the cynic to the lunatic and back again...

Mea culpa

Anyhow back to Merry - this is a good thread..

30

Defining Christianity

by Carmel in

jw
friends

it seems i constantly am confronted with those who are trying to make a "christian" out of me.

in various threads on this forum the term is used as if everyone understands what it means and there is no fuzzy edges.. i wonder if all here assume that only those that follow "jesus" are to be considered "christian"?.

consider that the title "christ" was not the name of the nazarene, only a title!

LittleToe

An old thread, indeed. It even predates my time here!

If the appelation "Christ" means anointed, then is should rightly apply to all Christians "anointed with the Holy Spirit (and I don't mean just those abusing the title "born again" and/or speaking in tongues). Few would call themselves a Christ, but they'll happily reserve that title to Jesus and call themselves Christians. I guess its akin to when we were called Jehovahs by kids at school.

In a gnostic sense, attaining gnosis might be deemed this point.

In one sense (though I'm loath to admit it) the WTS has it right in that there are folks who are "anointed" and come into a relationship with Christ as their mediator. Where they have it wrong is in restricting it and assaulting peoples' sensibilities by actively discouraging folks from attaining this.

My own opinion os that it includes anyone who has a personal relationship with Christ, no matter how slowly that realisation came upon them (for not all have a "Damascus Road" experience).

As for Christ as the only door, I like how CS Lewis puts it (and I paraphrase) "might it be that folks access God through Christ, even if they don't know it?" I certainly know that I access many rooms in my house without even acknowledging the doors that I pass to get there. And as for the "Names" of God - well there nearly as many as there are languages!

So many opinions...

49

Doctor who?

by IP_SEC in

anyone else looking forward to this besides me?.

i sure hope arrmmaaggeeddoonn doesnt come before this comes out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/scifi.shtml

LittleToe

Blonde:

Eccleston has popped up on the new NBC show Heroes playing a man whose power is invisibility and was part of the organization that has been tracking down other "heroes."

So are you telling me that half the time you can't see him? That's fitting!

Minor spoiler alert: Rose's character only takes off once he leaves...

147

Merry Becomes A Muslim (a bit long)

by Merry Magdalene in

who is merry?

i was born in 1965, the same year that malcolm x was assassinated.

my father had committed suicide a few months into my mother's pregnancy so we lived with her parents until she married again when i was about 18 months old.

LittleToe

WAC:
You have a set of beliefs, yourself, even if you don't call them "religion". Why do you choose to limit yourself?

49

Doctor who?

by IP_SEC in

anyone else looking forward to this besides me?.

i sure hope arrmmaaggeeddoonn doesnt come before this comes out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/scifi.shtml

LittleToe

I'm a Tom Baker fan, I'm afraid, but I have to give kudos to David Tennant as he's really made the role his own. I have to put him in second place, which is a reasonable accolade.

I think it was deplorable for Peter Eccleston to give up after a single series. He should be shot at dawn!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_actors_who_have_played_the_Doctor

Now maybe someone who is more into trivia than I could tell me if the "dark Doctor" (yet future, but then we are talking about Time Lords, after all, and I can't remember the character's name) was between the 12th and 13th? Its going to be interesting to see if they remember that and weave it into the storyline at some future date.

147

Merry Becomes A Muslim (a bit long)

by Merry Magdalene in

who is merry?

i was born in 1965, the same year that malcolm x was assassinated.

my father had committed suicide a few months into my mother's pregnancy so we lived with her parents until she married again when i was about 18 months old.

LittleToe

anewme: Somehow I have the feeling this will be but a stepping stone in your religious journey Merry.
You and LittleToe both! Thanks for reading.

LOL - yes, I think this was also part of our conversation about six months ago, wasn't it? Well, credit to you in that you've survived over six months. I hope you're not just trying to go the distance because of my comments

Hehe, I know you're not, and I'm glad that you are enjoying your studies and finding fulfillment. But I stand by my "stepping stone" comment of yesteryear. Your soul is too celtic to remain confined for long...

... I hear call of the sea, in the whispering song of the breeze, the roar of the fire, and the heartbeat of the soil beneath...

Slainte Bha.

8

Anyone have a parent who is gay?

by Ziggy in

jw
friends

good afternoon!

my apologies if this has been asked before, but i am wondering:.

(1) if there is anyone on this forum, who has a mom or dad who opened up that they were gay?.

LittleToe

Scots:
But at least you don't believe in the Trinity - that really would be the unforgivable sin

10

Did non-Isrealites eat of the Passover meal?

by *jeremiah* in

some "aliens" or non-jews aligned themselves with the israelites,...right?

like,...moses,...he wasn't jewish,...right?

so did non-isrealites eat of the passover meal?

LittleToe

Israelites and Proselytes (including the Nethinim) could eat of it. It wasn't just for the Levitical priesthood.

Kinda makes a complete mockery of the WTS view of the Memorial, given their restricting it to their so-called "Priestly" class, doesn't it?