just by knowing what will happen, that doesn't mean that we can prevent or cause something to happen.
my knowing that does not prevent them the free will of making the choice.. it's the same with god.
if god is not restricted to existence in the present, then the future is known by god because god indwells the future as well as the present and the past.
God's knowing the future forces no choice.
It seems to me like Schrodinger's cat. If you don't ask God about your personal future, he will correctly forsee it. If you were somehow able to question it, and he respond to you, you would obviously change course, just to prove God wrong, though you cannot, because God is immutable. At the end of the day, a paradox would result, and you would end up doing the very thing you set out not to do.
i believe christ is god.
when i left the witnesses i believed i had to be agnostic.
through a scheduling conflict, i studied the new testament in college.
Such tension in your state, BOTR! Great things should be written about it. Indeed great things have been about this state you inhabit... this sentimiento trajico de la vida.
Indeed, Botch. I find myself feeling like this a lot, and nod at etude's comments as well.
i know for a fact i only used 10% as a jw.lol.
how can you use only a percentage of a functioning.
brain.
Jam, you currently use 100% of your brain. We all do. The beautiful thing about plasticity is that it means your brain isn't static. It can grow and shrink in size and neural density. The day to start growing your brain is now. As we get older, our brain tends to become more 'fixed', more static. In fact, without stimulation, it begins to shrivel. We must exercise our brain, daily if possible.
Also, avoid stress, depression, anxiety, or anything that is mentally and emotionally draining.
the magazine sabado (saturday) launched yesterday (11/22/2012) an issue where the unknown world of jehovah's witnesses .
is revealed, and not for the bestreasons.
from the false prophecies, doctrinal inconsistencies, pedophilia and absurd prohibitions .
I just wanted to bump this point...
They must marry without ever having kissed during courtship (I've only heard this as an extreme practice, it isn't universal to my knowledge)
Was this customary in your area? I think this isn't a universal rule... Where I'm from, I guess it was just the time spent kissing, or the way you kissed... but lip kissing wasn't prohibited from my knowledge.
with the book crisis of conscience detailing the turbulence at bethel during the early to mid 70's, the transformation from autocratic rule to governance by committee or a body of men, many of us can speak to how that felt among the rank and file of the local congregations during those years.
we learned new concepts based in large part to research done for the aid to bible understanding volume, then we were asked or coerced into unlearning those principles, going back to the old ways.
some of us never readjusted, finding ourselves very different from our more hardline compadres.. the inertia for the changes that eventually were initiated in the congregations came from the discovery that the greek words episkopos and presbyteros were used biblically to refer to all qualified men in a congregation, not just one.
I get the sense that the current Witness congregation is a gaggle of lonely individuals, keeping social connections at arm's length...just in case they must shun someday.
Wow, Jgnat. You have a way with "nailing it".
Not much different than 1984's senario. You never knew if one of your 'friends' would give you away. You always had to play the part.
i know for a fact i only used 10% as a jw.lol.
how can you use only a percentage of a functioning.
brain.
Now, as to brain potential and its plasticity, that is another question. Can we improve brain power, even if our current IQ is low? I think that is demonstrably so.
for any old-school ex-jws here that remember my many posts about my abusive jw mother and my sister committing suicide because of it...she passed away this morning because she began to bleed out and refused a transfusion.
she had been in the hospital for a month.
it appears she suffered a stroke and wasn't found by the brothers & sisters for three days (they missed her at the meetings).
I feel for you, Tatiana. I wonder if my relationship with my mother will ever change for the better. I sympathize.
I'm glad at least she asked for you. Deep down, she cared. Too bad she was blinded all her life by the religion...
is it the united states of america?
is it democracy?
is it communism?
And I think it won't even be disastrous or untenable.
Untenable, in the sense that cheap labor will no longer come from people, but machines... dependent on fossil fuels or hopefully by them some alternative fuel.
Upper income countries, for example, do a far better job protecting the environment these days than poor countries. -BTS
Tell that to the US and China... They are the main reasons for Global Warming...
Morality is based on objective truths not opinions. -Cofty
And these objective truths are material truths.
Biggest issue right now to solve, would definitely be finding alternative fuels. I wonder how massive migrations due to Global Warming flooding will affect our moral compass. When we are faced with the grim realities of sharing our space with people we don't necessarily agree with... whoooo boy.
is it the united states of america?
is it democracy?
is it communism?
Yes there will always be gaps between the rich and the poor, but for the sake of social harmony, isn't it in our best interest to reduce the gap? - Jgnat
I won't argue with you there. The problem is in the overall consumption these countries will now begin exhert on the earth.
is it the united states of america?
is it democracy?
is it communism?
I don't understand. I am talking about morality and you are talking about resources.
The best thing the Taliban could do for the prosperity of their own society is to emancipate and educate their women. - Cofty
Once those women are educated, along with the Muslim society in general, they will demand and want the same luxuries we take for granted. This puts a huge strain on what is already a taxed world.
You can't separate morality from economy, Cofty. Sorry.
