However you look at it if you're religious, you are dependent on magic events and magic spirits.
Half banana
JoinedPosts by Half banana
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33
Child sacrifice and Jesus' sacrifice
by Whynot injeremiah 7:31 says, "they have built the high places of toʹpheth, which is in the valley of the son of hinʹnom, in order to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, something that i had not commanded and that had never even come into my heart.’".
according to this scripture it's unthinkable for jehovah to be pleased with child sacrifices.
but yet he sent his son to be killed as a sacrifice for all?.
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33
Child sacrifice and Jesus' sacrifice
by Whynot injeremiah 7:31 says, "they have built the high places of toʹpheth, which is in the valley of the son of hinʹnom, in order to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, something that i had not commanded and that had never even come into my heart.’".
according to this scripture it's unthinkable for jehovah to be pleased with child sacrifices.
but yet he sent his son to be killed as a sacrifice for all?.
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Half banana
It is no way to make progress in our lives or our world by taking Jewish superstitions as literal truth.
You may choose to have Adamic sin but I would rather use rationality with compassion as a way forward.
Humans are animals with a highly developed brain capable of insights and misconceptions, that is why we need logic and scientific scrutiy to determine reality-- and fellow feeling for the needs of others to live together in harmony.
In the historical past religion with blood sacrifices, beneficially held small groups in a kind of psychic equilibrium but today we live in an interconnected, nationally interdependent planet where religion divides not unites.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee does not kill people, dogmatic religious belief has killed millions, it is time to forget superstitions like the one about Jesus' death.
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33
Child sacrifice and Jesus' sacrifice
by Whynot injeremiah 7:31 says, "they have built the high places of toʹpheth, which is in the valley of the son of hinʹnom, in order to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, something that i had not commanded and that had never even come into my heart.’".
according to this scripture it's unthinkable for jehovah to be pleased with child sacrifices.
but yet he sent his son to be killed as a sacrifice for all?.
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Half banana
Perry, in context I was thinking of Adamic sin: the inborn, inherited imperfection-- cured some think, by the sacrificial death of the "second Adam".
I don't know about you but I feel no need for anyone's death to help me get this 'sin' out of my system.
Really, does anyone else feel the urge to be "redeemed from sin" here?
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33
Child sacrifice and Jesus' sacrifice
by Whynot injeremiah 7:31 says, "they have built the high places of toʹpheth, which is in the valley of the son of hinʹnom, in order to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, something that i had not commanded and that had never even come into my heart.’".
according to this scripture it's unthinkable for jehovah to be pleased with child sacrifices.
but yet he sent his son to be killed as a sacrifice for all?.
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Half banana
omission: Theodosius was the last to hold the Eastern and Western empires together.
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33
Child sacrifice and Jesus' sacrifice
by Whynot injeremiah 7:31 says, "they have built the high places of toʹpheth, which is in the valley of the son of hinʹnom, in order to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, something that i had not commanded and that had never even come into my heart.’".
according to this scripture it's unthinkable for jehovah to be pleased with child sacrifices.
but yet he sent his son to be killed as a sacrifice for all?.
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Half banana
Perry you are imagining that the words of the Bible are actually true and meaningful!
They are most certainly words from leaders of religious cults over time. At least Venus sees them as metaphor-- but we can go deeper. To understand the texts selected by the religious authorities it is necessary to be sceptical and not gullible religious consumers, fearful of displeasing an unknowable deity.
What the Bible says about sacrifice is drawn entirely from secular pagan folk belief.
God has never spoken or given dictation hence when the BIble says "God says" with reference to child sacrifice it was "a thing which never came into my mind", they were the words cult leaders used to inform their devotees of the new turn in contemporary dogma.
To be more specific, the Phoenicians were cheek by jowl neighbours of Israel sharing their religious superstitions. Israel were enormously influenced by them. It was the Phoenicians who probably introduced them the Canaanite pantheon including Yahweh, which Israel took on as their totemic god. Unlike the economically hamstrung Israelites they were successful seafarers and traders in the Mediterranean-- but like Israel, also practitioners of child sacrifice. Having seen a Phoenician topheth (a place of burning) on a small island off the coast of Sicily, I could not feel other than overwhelming pity for the ignorance of our forebears. Imagine that deliberately sacrificing your child could have benefits? Clearly pagan ritual also included adult human sacrifice as the most potent ritual to balance the spirits of the tribe. Only by this revolting precedent could any later parallel for the benefits of Jesus' sacrifice have any symbolic meaning.
Christian belief is built fairly and squarely on pagan and astrological motifs. It was only after the unscrupulous Roman Imperial rule sanctified the Bible and Christianity in the fourth century to bolster its influence, that the pagan source documents of Christian texts were proscribed and destroyed. This programme began in the late fourth century under the 'Christian' soldier Emperor Theodosius l, who was the first emperor to accede to the demands of church authority and the last to the Eastern and Western empire together.
However by proscription and destruction of the pagan sources of the new Catholic Bible and Christ doctrine, it does not mean the folk myths had not been the foundations of modern Christianity. The notion that one man Jesus died sacrificially for all men is only part of the mumbo-jumbo capitalised on by religion and state to garner political power. Fairy tales have a resonance with our behaviour because they come from a collective human imagination born of common experience-- but that does not make them either sacrosanct or true.
Sin has no meaning for most people today and that is a good and liberating advance. There is no need for a magical, sacrificial "saviour".
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2018 Convention :The Cry for "Peace & Security"
by jwdoctrine inhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzsk2k9y7qs&t=835s.
the talk of the cry for "peace & security" from the sunday morning program.
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Half banana
Firstly remember that the Bible is the world's most unreliable forecaster of events and sharing the prize equally in first place is the JW Organisation.
Secondly that what it says is always ambiguous, exactly like all popular prophetic utterances such as those by Nostradamus and Mother Shipton etc, its holy baloney.
Thirdly humans are so perverse by nature that conspicuous "peace and security" as a sign for "the end" is not likely to happen for many generations yet--not before mankind grows up and dispenses with religious holy texts as a guide for organising themselves. Religious dogma is at present the greatest threat to peace!
For JW cult members, they will now be focussing on "peace and security" utterances in the press and on TV and looking for signs instead of getting a proper and fulfilling life...........spare us!
(Sorry I couldn't bring myself to watch the convention video, it might make me ill.)
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Is There Life After Death
by Brokeback Watchtower ini think this is a well developed discussion, of ian stevenson's work in investigating people's past lives claims.
it's a little long.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0attm9hgcdw.
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Half banana
There is no reason to believe there is life after death.
There is no evidence for us to believe that humans have been singled out for this extraordinary experience.
There is not one securely recorded instance of any of the one hundred and five billion people who have ever lived who are known to have lived after they have died.
To believe in a resurrection you have to believe in magic events and explanations which defy common sense and everyone's collective experience. Books which have characters coming back from the dead are called fairy tales.
To live after you die is wishful thinking sustained by the human terror of death and the snake oil teachings of religion.
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Youth and Spiritual Goals in this week's WT study (Are you F-ing kidding me?)
by TerryWalstrom ini regret following the wrong goals when i was a young person.
such as?such as spending a hundred hours a month of my precious youth rapping my unwrinkled knuckles on doors and waving soon-to-be-obsolete religious messages in front of aghast householders.such as spending my 20th, 21st, and part of my 22nd years in prison imagining anything useful was happening or that i was pleasing the big guy in the sky.such as taking a crappy job as a janitor and trying to support my family on beans and rice while i peddled cult materials, arguing with people who were better educated about fantasy scenarios i was brainwashed into parroting.such as making excuses for my depressing existence for my empty feeling of constant depression by consoling myself that soon billions of people would be annihilated--except for me and those i was able to convince to waste their time too.thanks, watchtower for twenty years of dry rot for my brain, a jehovah sized hole in my heart, and a great big "thank you" in the form of shunning from all my wonderful spiritual brothers and sisters for all my efforts.sure am i glad i didn't "waste" my youth on education, career, lifelong friends, and (gasp) fun!i was 12 years old when i was introduced to the watchtower and the kingdom hall.23 years later, i walked out a free man.the emotional damage took decades to reconcile.i'm 71 and i'd be thrilled to have those 23 years back!the watchtower is one of the most insidious time-devouring organizations on our planet.thanks for nothing!____________________the above is in answer to:.
this week's wt-study:.
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Half banana
I'm with you Terry, all those years wasting one's youth telling people the Watchtower message of doom. The unbelievable waste of time, youth, energy, with the loss of worldly experience and education, it was actually an impoverishment of life not a "blessing".
" youths who today keep focused on theocratic goals will well into adulthood be deeply satisfied with the choices they made"
This same lie is trotted out at assemblies until the poor suckers believe it is true. In fact I know of no one who believes it --but notice the qualifier; it only lasts until "well into adulthood" they claim. I suggest it there is little deep satisfaction at all for however long. It is a tired JW slogan and from personal experience I would say that it is profoundly untrue. Fortunately I think even JWs are realizing it!
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33
Child sacrifice and Jesus' sacrifice
by Whynot injeremiah 7:31 says, "they have built the high places of toʹpheth, which is in the valley of the son of hinʹnom, in order to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, something that i had not commanded and that had never even come into my heart.’".
according to this scripture it's unthinkable for jehovah to be pleased with child sacrifices.
but yet he sent his son to be killed as a sacrifice for all?.
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Half banana
There never can be a harmonious agreement of all teachings within the Bible. It was drawn from eclectic sources, out of different cultures and over a long period of time. It has been refined continuously to achieve a correspondence but fails.
The only glue is the false belief that since it is held to be sacred, it must agree-- but it plainly doesn't. Logic is suppressed when the religious mind comes into play.
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"One drop of poison in a glass of water"
by stuckinarut2 intime to revive this well known, and often used jw illustration!.
"if you are in desperate need of a drink of water, and the glass in front of you is 99% clean, but contains just 1% poison, would you drink it??".
how often we heard this trotted out from the platform.. recently though, i have heard many examples of still-in jws sharing their observations about things that don't seem quite right with the current activities, direction and culture of the organization.
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Half banana
The idea of avoiding things with a drop of poison is interesting.
It can supply awakened JWs with the reason to leave as they come to realize that many Watchtower doctrines contain more than just a drop of poison.
However on the matter of what constitutes a poison, salt, pepper, apricot kernels and juniper berries are all poisons but It was the Swiss physician Paracelsus who explained in the sixteenth century that the key is in the dosage.