JP, I wonder if your mammoth was actually a mastodon as the distribution of the former was mainly further north?
The mammoth had a distinct high crown bump on the top of the head whereas the mastodon had a flat head.
Half banana
JoinedPosts by Half banana
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22
Do you have a place to get away from it all?
by compound complex inis your retreat .
an actual location, or simply a quiet place in your mind?.
i attended a concert on sunday, a featured piece having been commissioned by a composer who lives in the city but retreats to an island in the puget sound (usa) to write his music.
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2005 Big Announcement (Disappointment)
by Fred Franztone ini remember around 2005, there was an announcement made from the platform that in a few weeks time we would have to remain at the end of the sunday meeting for a big announcement, directly from the society.. i remember all the murmuring, people thought maybe this was going to be related to armageddon.
everyone was excited, people were speculating.
only the po in each congregation had any idea what was going on, and they were frequently pestered for information, but sworn to secrecy, which only hyped things up even more.. then the meeting came, anticipation was in the air, the announcement started, you could hear a pin drop.
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Half banana
Put all these disappointments in the context of all of their promises; every last prediction of the Watchtower and JW organisation has led only to disappointment. Never have they come up with the goods--they never deliver--they are completely USELESS!
Why on earth do people remain in this religion?
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Half banana
Thanks ILTTATT2 much appreciated. The really telling figures will be those given for each country. I wonder how the org will show them? Africa and Brazil heavily bias the overall figures. One million memorial attendance in the Dem. Rep. of Congo, a land of 84 million. Atheism is not an option in central Africa.
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Israel (Is Real?)
by TerryWalstrom inevery nation is a kind of weird intellectual construct.
when we say: china--all of us get some kind of fictional mental snapshot in our head.
sure, there is a country called "china".we just don't really know a soul living there.
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Half banana
Israel is a secular state and needs no help from the US fundamentalist right wing. It has done very well with its own self serving myths.
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Work Colleague Went To a JW Funeral - His Experience
by pale.emperor inso the guy in my office on the desk next to me has just got back from the funeral of his wifes sister.
this was his first time in a kh and full on exposure to jwdom.. bit of background: the deceased jw was not a born in, she was a convert when she was in her teens.
she died last week at the age of 82. the poor old dear was still zealously knocking on doors while in ill health.
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Half banana
The only ones who are valued at a JW funeral is the Governing Body.
Forget the sucker who died, (but check first to make sure we have their family inheritance bequeathed to us) it's loyalty to the GB which must be highlighted. Yes visitors and JWs alike, remember: it's LOYALTY to the GB. GB loyalty is the slogan to go home with. Heck if there was no "loyalty to the GB" the whole cult would crumble to dust and the GB wouldn't get their ticket to a cushy life.
What a disgusting and ignorant cult! At least they don't always hide their stupidity-- it will be their downfall.
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What if the crucifixion never took place..
by Jayk ini googled it and pretty much my understanding is the same as what i imagine.
no one really knows, your guess is as good as the next.
interesting thought to consider imo..
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Half banana
What if the crucifixion never took place
Not a scrap of difference because it was only a belief.
It was a crumb of comfort for people without hope-- as was the story that the Saviour Dionysus, who was also called the Lamb of God and the Great Shepherd. He was crucified centuries before Jesus was and for the same reason to redeem mankind and with the same outcome: nothing at all.
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Do You Feels That Your Life Was Ruined Because of Ypur JW Experience?
by minimus ini know that some are upset because of the time lost because of ever having been a witness.
have you moved on as an ex jw or are you stil devastated because of your past jw lige?.
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Half banana
Not ruined Minimus, but greatly delayed in development and with a vast amount of time and effort wasted for no good purpose. Also slightly scarred but not where it shows... I hope.
In minor compensation there has been the pleasure of waking up and enjoying the freedom from feeling beholden to an undeserving cult. To be a JW is like being forced to carry a burdensome weight with you wherever you go. Afterwards, as long as you understand why the weight has been cast off, you can experience the lightness of living a normal life without the heavy baggage.
To be POMI must be a complete drain on a person, still carrying the Fear and Obligation but an even larger dose of Guilt for not doing anything about it.
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Is this life all there is?
by Fisherman inwhat do you sincerely think?
do you nurture any hope?.
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Half banana
Beliefs without facts are meaningless. The facts are that this wonderful experience of life has been shared by about 105 billion people before us; our grandparents and ancestors. If this experience has another dimension why has no one supplied concrete evidence for it? Not one person has returned from the dead. Enough people have lived and died, you would have thought one of them might show some proof?
It's making this life, the only one we know, a good one -- savour what you have.
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Half banana
It's about asking the right questions and not being satisfied with "perfect" conclusions... but it's good that you are already asking good questions Jrjw, that is the road to mental freedom!
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The Netherlands: Minister for Legal Protection wants Jehovah's Witnesses to conduct an independent investigation of sexual abuse
by jochie inmeanwhile in the netherlands:minister dekker: jehovah's witnesses must review abuse policyin order to protect children better against abuse, the jehovah's witnesses must look back on catholics, according to minister dekker.
but abuse victims think that this approach will not work.. minister sander dekker for legal protection wants the jehovah's witnesses to conduct an independent investigation of sexual abuse within the community, just like the catholic church.
this is stated in a letter he sent this week to the parliamentary committee for justice and security.
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Half banana
How interesting that the Dutch government imagine that the JW leadership in Holland is a responsible group who are actually interested the protection and welfare of its members. This is not the case historically and it is not the case institutionally as directed from HQ in New York State. The JW belief in an imminent apocalyptic destruction of the world precludes focus on individual welfare concerns.
The second consideration they should be aware of is that the JW administration has no experience or incentive for objective self-assessment. Their modus operandi is the cultivation and practice of doctrines sustained by constant propaganda. The only real world problems they organize are financial ones. When it comes to spending time or money on matters for individual members well-being; it does not exist. Its stratagems of policy are about avoiding bad publicity and maintaining a squeaky clean public image.
It will be interesting to see what the Dutch government do and what they are able to enforce with the JW org.
The Dutch government does not realize that Jehovah’s Witnesses are an irresponsible cult which is not interested in membership welfare however much protest they may hear to the contrary. The religion's primary concern is for fidelity to its governing body and even for those counted as loyal, no money is spent on humanitarian benevolence except in rare cases where to do otherwise would be considered a loss of good publicity.
Rehabilitation of those who have been abused does not exist in any official compassionate form by Jehovah's Witnesses organization, reading the victims a few scriptures is hardly a serious response to deep psychological damage. The religion hopes the abused will get better or go away but certainly they should keep quiet, again for avoiding bad publicity.
The selective Biblical literalism which empowers JW belief system is totally inadequate for maintaining the high standards expected in the developed world. So the Dutch government should be apprised of these matters and also of the ARC child abuse investigation of Jehovah's Witnesses and it findings.
It will be interesting to see what the Dutch government can actually do.