The idea of the devil doesn't even make sense. It's an ancient relic (like most of religion) to give people some abject invisible evil to be afraid of/unite against as a common enemy. Even if you do take the whole god and bible thing seriously the idea of some abjectly "evil" entity doesn't make sense. Even if their was some super intelligent spirit creature that was opposed to god's rule, why would he be some wierdly maniacal insane boogeyman? He would be more like the world's greatest lawyer/philosopher making a case. Not some boogeyman that enters people and makes them speak gibberish and flail about like a five year old throwing a tantrum. In an attempt to make a boogieman to scare people into being good, the theologians of old invented an infantile masochist that doesn't make a lick of sense on an psychological or just regular ol' logical level. The idea of devils and demons that haunt people like casper the unfriendly ghost is just silly. Society and civilization grew up but apparently Satan and his minions are stuck in the folklore of the 1300s.
JonathanH
JoinedPosts by JonathanH
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6
Battle with the Devil...
by Snoozy inanyone watch it?
here is the full program on it.... i missed it but will watch it now.
are these people nuts or is there really such a thing as demons?.
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12
Just checking in to let people know how I'm doing.
by JonathanH ini haven't been around lately on account of having been very busy the past few weeks, and it's only going to get busier.
this place gives me a needed sense of community, so i thought i would just check in to let everyone know what i've been up to.. one thing i've been up to is matriculating.
i'm officially enrolled in college now, and my first day will be august 15. i haven't decided for certain on my major, but my advisor said that it's my first semester so not to worry too much about it, i'm just going through general college education for now anyway.
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JonathanH
I haven't been around lately on account of having been very busy the past few weeks, and it's only going to get busier. This place gives me a needed sense of community, so I thought I would just check in to let everyone know what I've been up to.
One thing I've been up to is matriculating. I'm officially enrolled in college now, and my first day will be August 15. I haven't decided for certain on my major, but my advisor said that it's my first semester so not to worry too much about it, I'm just going through general college education for now anyway. I am either going to go into an engineering field (leaning towards electrical engineering) or a Chemistry field (maybe Biochemistry), but I keep leaning toward one or the other depending on the day of the week. I'm starting with only 13 credit hours (12 being the minimum for full time status)to get my feet wet since I am also working full time to pay the bills. My first classes will be English 101, Computer Science 100, Math 150 (I was happy that after testing I qualified to go straight to 150, and didn't need to do lower math courses), and Biology 112 with Lab.
I am anxious and excited and having to wait almost another month for classes to start is killing me. I'm trying to relax and enjoy this last month of relative peace and relaxation before my schedule gets stupid hectic, but I find it hard. I really just want to get started. I'm never going to have a day off once I get going, I'm going to have to work, go to school, or both every day of the week, plus homework and projects. So I am going to be busier than I have ever been in my life. But I think I'm up to the challenge. I got my new laptop for school, and my wife took me clothes shopping so that I would look "cute" for my first day of school. She's being fantastically supportive of my efforts and is very proud of me.
Everything is going really good. But given the circumstances you'll have to understand if I am scarce around here shortly. I know I'm not exactly the center of attention around here, but I know at least a few people actually notice me around here. I'll check in every once and a while during a homework break or something, and let you guys know how I am doing, and find out how everyone here is doing on their own personal journeys. Anyway, that's what's going on with me lately. I hope everything is well with everyone else here.
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Battle with the Devil...
by Snoozy inanyone watch it?
here is the full program on it.... i missed it but will watch it now.
are these people nuts or is there really such a thing as demons?.
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JonathanH
Those people are as nuts as any pentacostal waving their jacket around yelling gibberish.
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Persecution Wanes/Banning Blood Garners Publicity
by compound complex insheer madness --- perpetuated by two madmen who prevailed over the judge [almost].
"after the judge's death, as world war ii was ending and persecution against the witnesses began declining, along with the attendant drop in news-media publicity, hayden c. covington told the author [of the four presidents] that fred franz saw the prohibition against blood transfusions as a way to accomplish two things: to continue to publicize the religion, and to create an uproar in the community.
this reaction would convince the membership they were being "persecuted" and "suffering for righteousness sake," a sure sign they were "in the truth.".
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JonathanH
I am a natural skeptic, and I would want to know what the source material for such claims are. Is it merely speculation presented as fact? Or does the writer of this book actually have something to back these accusations up?
Actually looking at the amazon page apparently it is written based on anonymous informants. The accusations may or may not be true, either way the claims of unnamed people on "the inside" isn't enough for me to tell somebody this like it's a fact. I may pick up a copy of the book though to check it out.
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Chemtrails, Seeing is believing.
by pedal power inbefore i begin, i want you to know i understand the difference between chemtrails and contrails, so lets leave those discussions behind, chemtrails exist.. what is the purpose of chemtrails ?
if it was to artificially create clouds, why come to edinburgh ?
for any of you who are unaware, 90% of the time its cloudy and rainy, so creating cloud cover, is a joke.
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JonathanH
According to a United States Air Force contrail fact sheet, contrails, or condensation trails, are "streaks of condensed water vapor created in the air by an airplane or rocket at high altitudes." [ 4 ] These condensation trails are the result of normal emissions of water vapor from piston engines and jet engines at high altitudes in which the water vapor condenses into a visible cloud. Contrails are formed when hot humid air from the engines mixes with the colder surrounding air. The rate at which contrails dissipate is entirely dependent on weather conditions and altitude. If the atmosphere is near saturation, the contrail may exist for some time. Conversely, if the atmosphere is dry, the contrail will dissipate quickly. [ 4 ]
Chemtrails, coming from "chemical trails" in the same fashion that contrail comes from "condensation trail" is a term coined to suggest that contrails are formed by something other than a natural process of engine exhaust hitting the cold air in the atmosphere. Proponents of chemtrails characterize these chemical trails as streams that persist for hours, and by their criss-crossing, grid-like patterns, or parallel stripes which eventually blend to form large clouds. Proponents view the presence of visible color spectra in the streams, unusual concentrations of sky tracks in a single area, or lingering tracks left by unmarked or military airplanes flying in atypical altitudes or locations as markers of chemtrails. [ 1 ] [ 3 ] [ 8 ] [ 18 ] [ 19 ] [ 20 ]
A news station reported the results of tests on what they called chemtrails. "It seemed like some mornings it was just criss-crossing the whole sky. It was just like a giant checkerboard," said Bill Nichols, who reportedly noticed the "unusual clouds" begin as normal contrails from a jet engine, but unlike normal contrails, he claims, do not fade away. He then noticed "it would drop to the ground in a haze", the material collecting on the ground and in water he had sitting in bowls. KSLA News 12 sampled the water at a lab and initially reported a high level of barium, 6.8 parts per million, more than three times the toxic level set by the EPA. After contacting the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, the news station was told that these levels are very unusual, but proving the source "is a whole 'nother matter". KSLA discovered during their investigation that barium is a hallmark of other chemtrail testing. [ 21 ] However the KSLA reporter had misread the reading, which was actually 68 parts per billion, well within expected ranges, and the station retracted the story. [ 22 ] The phenomenon attracted the attention of a Los Angeles network affiliate, which aired a similar investigation called "Toxic Sky?" [ 23 ] Following suit, Phoenix News Reporter Pat McReynolds at CBS KPHO interviewed Geoengineering [ 24 ] investigators and concluded that chemtrails do not exist.
Contrail testing being carried out on an Airbus A340 and much older Boeing 707 [ 4 ]
Government agencies and experts on atmospheric phenomena deny the existence of chemtrails, asserting that the characteristics attributed to them are simply features of contrails responding differently in diverse conditions in terms of the sunlight, temperature, horizontal and vertical wind shear, and humidity levels present at the aircraft's altitude. [ 1 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 8 ] [ 18 ] Experts explain that what appears as patterns such as grids formed by contrails result from increased air traffic traveling through the gridlike United States National Airspace System's north-south and east-west oriented flight lanes, and that it is difficult for observers to judge the differences in altitudes between these contrails from the ground. [ 4 ] The jointly published fact sheet produced by NASA, the EPA, the FAA, and NOAA in 2000 in response to alarms over chemtrails details the science of contrail formation, and outlines both the known and potential impacts contrails have on temperature and climate. [ 12 ] The USAF produced a fact sheet as well that described these contrail phenomena as observed and analyzed since at least 1953. It also rebutted chemtrail theories more directly by identifying the theories as a hoax and denying the existence of chemtrails. [ 3 ] [ 4 ]
Patrick Minnis, an atmospheric scientist with NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, is quoted in USA Today as saying that logic is not exactly a real selling point for most chemtrail proponents: "If you try to pin these people down and refute things, it's, 'Well, you're just part of the conspiracy'," he said. [ 1 ]
In 2001, United States CongressmanDennis Kucinich introduced legislation that would have permanently prohibited the basing of weapons in space, and he listed chemtrails as one of a number of exotic weapons that would be banned. [ 25 ] Proponents have asserted that because explicit reference to chemtrails was entered by Congressman Kucinich into the congressional record, this constitutes official government acknowledgment of their existence. [ 18 ] [ 26 ] Skeptics note that the bill in question also mentions "extraterrestrial weapons" and "environmental, climate, or tectonic weapons." [ 27 ] The bill received an unfavorable evaluation from the United States Department of Defense and died in committee, [ 28 ] with no mention of chemtrails appearing in the text of any of the three subsequent failed attempts by Kucinich to enact a Space Preservation Act.
From the wikipedia article. So far the evidence you have is that the contrails criss crossed, and were in flight paths that aren't used very often. Well that sounds like a solid case for massive global government conspiracy to poison the world's population for completely ambiguous reasons.
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Chemtrails, Seeing is believing.
by pedal power inbefore i begin, i want you to know i understand the difference between chemtrails and contrails, so lets leave those discussions behind, chemtrails exist.. what is the purpose of chemtrails ?
if it was to artificially create clouds, why come to edinburgh ?
for any of you who are unaware, 90% of the time its cloudy and rainy, so creating cloud cover, is a joke.
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JonathanH
I'm not apathetic, it's just that this is how I view chemtrail conspiracy theorists. It's not that I think you're lying for some purpose, it's that I think that much like this lady, you've just got a particular screw loose. Not all of them mind you, but at least one. Nothing wrong with that, everyone has a screw or two loose. This is your loose screw.
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482
Chemtrails, Seeing is believing.
by pedal power inbefore i begin, i want you to know i understand the difference between chemtrails and contrails, so lets leave those discussions behind, chemtrails exist.. what is the purpose of chemtrails ?
if it was to artificially create clouds, why come to edinburgh ?
for any of you who are unaware, 90% of the time its cloudy and rainy, so creating cloud cover, is a joke.
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If Jehovah Wanted Only "One Flesh" For "Mates" Why Did He Sanction The Having Of Man Wives & Concubines?
by minimus inaccording to the bible, king solomon was blessed by jehovah with riches, wisdom and women---lots of them!.
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JonathanH
I think the real issue is the number of things in god's law that result in a violent and brutal death by stoning (go watch videos of that happening in modern countries and tell me that isn't ridiculous brutality), even adultery results in death, and if a woman touches another man's genitals in a fight her hand must be cut off and they are told "to show her no pity". But a man takes many wives? Well what can you do? Boys will be boys. Given that fierce brutality is the result of so many minor or even similar offenses, why is accomadation made for having multiple wives?
You have to stand back and ask "does this look like a legal system concocted by an omnipotent all wise being of love, justice and mercy?" or "does this look like a set of laws enacted by a barbaric male dominated tribe?"
It's very difficult to explain (and much time by apologists has been spent in the exercise) of why the supposed former looks exactly like the latter. Usually it just comes down to the societies response "don't judge god." Which makes the a priori assumption that those laws are from god.
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reading a life time of WT literatrash = College education
by Free!! inor at least that's what my super jw ex-roommate told me when i try to have an adult discussion w her about the importance of a higher education... according to her (a girl that never finished hs because it was not necessary) she has a better education than any college graduate because the jehovah has used the borg literatrash to teach her many many important things.... she says her knowledge of the "truth" is the equivalent of my 4 years of college education..... .
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is there a cure for stupid???!!
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JonathanH
lol, I tried newchapter but my wife is..eh...how do you say....spoiled? She likes name brand clothes and name brand education. I know it sounds ridiculous and petty, but really she just wants the university experience too and she knows a few witnesses that went to community colleges and they were the kind of people that drop out of community college after one semester because it's too hard, and they were busy spitting out babies. So in her mind community college is where impoverished hillbillies go to drop out. I'm actually taking some courses at the community college though (to save money where I can) and transferring those credits to the local university, so hopefully when I go she'll see that it's really a nice campus and a legitimate education. I think she would really enjoy it.
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reading a life time of WT literatrash = College education
by Free!! inor at least that's what my super jw ex-roommate told me when i try to have an adult discussion w her about the importance of a higher education... according to her (a girl that never finished hs because it was not necessary) she has a better education than any college graduate because the jehovah has used the borg literatrash to teach her many many important things.... she says her knowledge of the "truth" is the equivalent of my 4 years of college education..... .
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is there a cure for stupid???!!
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JonathanH
That's awesome Newchapter. I'm definitely science oriented, but I love literature and I'm kind of jealous. As much as I love biology, math and physics, part of me wishes I could go spend four years studying art and literature. I think that would be sooo enriching and broadening. Maybe when I'm 45 I'll go back to school just for fun and get another degree. But I am definitely looking forward to just the experience unto itself. I'm looking forward to just the pure knowledge, but also just getting to have a back pack and walk around a campus and talk to intelligent professors, compete with my other classmates, stay up late studying, sit at a college coffee house with a laptop doing homework, be pushed and forced to the brink of what my brain can handle, I'm soo looking forward to all of that. I keep looking ahead to think about what I will do with my degree, what kind of career I will have but sometimes I have to slow down and just enjoy thinking about everything that comes before that. College isn't just an education, it's the experience.
Really what I want is my (still witness) wife to go to college. She really wants to, but is conflicted. On one hand she really wants to go just get her feet wet, not go for a Bachelors or anything, just take a couple classes for fun, maybe something with psychology or literature. On the other hand she feels like she needs to be going to meetings or out in service instead of wasting time with secular education, and what's the point anyway? I really wish she would just take her ACT and then just one class so she could see how great learning something in depth can be.
