cobweb

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Posts by cobweb

• 
  40

  Do you air on the side of caution?

  by compound complex in

  1. social
  2. humour

  well, that would be an airer.

  it's all in how we hear the spoken word.

  when a little boy, one fellow thought "world peace" was "whirled peas.

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  cobweb

  Someone told me about a man who for years called them the brown volumes

  
  Ha ha. They literally were brown volumes so I can see the confusion.
• 
  184

  Outcome - Banned in Russia - Final

  by OrphanCrow in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just watched the live feed from the russian court room and followed the updates on the russian exjw forum.. just waiting for confirmation from other sources...but, it looks like the final (and expected) result is:.

  banned.

  which means that the wts property in russia now belongs to the russian state..

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  cobweb

  I would like to see the WBTS banned everywhere for the sake of innocent children and adults who know no better.

  
  

  Personally I would rather my elderly parents stayed out of jail.
  
  
• 
  184

  Outcome - Banned in Russia - Final

  by OrphanCrow in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just watched the live feed from the russian court room and followed the updates on the russian exjw forum.. just waiting for confirmation from other sources...but, it looks like the final (and expected) result is:.

  banned.

  which means that the wts property in russia now belongs to the russian state..

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  cobweb

  So the Russian Headquarters are shut down and liquidated. But what about the individual kingdom halls? These were set up as separate legal entities. Do they get seized, liquidated and money taken?
• 
  115

  UC Berkeley orders cancellation of Ann Coulter speech

  by freemindfade in

  1. social
  2. current

  uc berkeley administrators canceled a scheduled speech by right-wing pundit ann coulter, saying they can’t protect participants from rioting if it goes ahead.

  http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/uc-berkeley-orders-cancellation-of-ann-coulter-11084299.php.

  now i am no ann coulter fan (although the sjw police on here will accuse me of being a fan shortly after posting this), but i am a fan of free speech!

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  cobweb

  When I lived in Brighton UK, the English Defence League (a far right organisation) used to travel there every year in order to march. This is because Brighton is a famously liberal town and there there was always a counter protest by the masses.

  The upshot of this is that it used to cost Brighton half a million pounds for the additional policing required for the three or four hours that they were marching. Personally I used to resent the fact that a small number of marchers was costing the town so much money as there were better uses for it, particularly as most of these people were complete bastards.

  Freedom of speech is all very well but sometimes there are practicalities to consider.
• 
  40

  Do you air on the side of caution?

  by compound complex in

  1. social
  2. humour

  well, that would be an airer.

  it's all in how we hear the spoken word.

  when a little boy, one fellow thought "world peace" was "whirled peas.

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  cobweb

  I have a guy on my twitter feed who sometimes likes to retweet mistakes like this.Typical examples are:

  chester draws

  colon (instead of cologne)

  die of beaties

  lack toast and tolerant

  A quick check on twitter and here they are in context:

  I just spray a few drops of his colon on my pillow

  I eat way too much candy, I'm definitely going to die of beaties

  I feel bad for people who are lack toast and tolerant bc they can't have milkshakes

  There are lots more of these common mistakes but I forget them now.
• 
  5

  Eschatology based faith

  by Steel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my wife recently took a week off work to pioneer which really pissed me off because it kind of pissed away our summer holidays.

  of course i asked my typical questions about " do you actually know what the new covenant is ?

  or what is the point of all this time with the new understanding of the faithful slave.

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  cobweb

  Currently reading a book about the Apocalyptic movement. When you view apocalypses as a genre with a set format and ingredients such as dreams, visions of heaven, a judgement of good and bad etc and compare it with other apocalypses, like the book of Enoch, fourth Ezra, 2nd Baruch, Daniel too of course; compare it too to apocalypses of Babylonian and Persian origin, it is hard to view any of the book of Revelation as in any way unique or special. It just happened to be included in the bible.

  The book of Revelation does not apply to our time. It was describing an imminent end just as Paul also expected an end in their lifetime. It has references to the Roman Empire. The mark of the Beast 666 or 616 as they think it is now, is a code number that identifies a specific Roman emperor. Just like Daniel wasn't referring to our time either. The King of the North and the King of the South - it is the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucid's of Syria, literally to the North and South of Israel in the second century when Daniel was written. These biblical apocalypses are failed prophecy and they have not relevance for us.
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  10

  Indoctrination or insistence on being right?

  by OutsiderLookingIn in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  nobody likes to be wrong.

  so after being taught that they have "the truth" for so long, is it that jws just don't want to admit that they are wrong so they'll keep going in the same direction rather than reversing course?

  this is different from indoctrination when you truly believe what you're saying.

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  cobweb

  The JWs are not alone in being affected by cognitive dissonance. I think the persistence of the Israelite religion itself as well as the birth of Christianity can be greatly explained by it.
  

  When Jerusalem was destroyed the Israelites didn't admit they were wrong about YHWH, but believed in him more devotedly, coming up with explanations for why he had them destroyed. Monotheism was born.

  The disciples who believed Jesus as their messiah, couldn't face up to the prospect that they were wrong when he was suddenly executed as a criminal. They created an entirely new religion in order to maintain their sense of correctness, rather than admit they had made a colossal mistake. Christianity was born.

  When Jesus didn't come in 1844, many Millerites didn't abandon their belief but created a scenario where they were correct after all. Jesus had come, but invisibly, and those that believed that, believed all the harder. The Seventh Day Adventist's were born.

  Then you have Russell. People on bridges in white outfits ready to be taken up into heaven. Did Russell or those that came later admit they were wrong about Jesus coming in 1914? No,those that stayed, used the very same explanation as the Seventh Day Adventists.

  The ones who stay despite all contrary evidence are the most psychologically invested. They would be the most damaged by having to acknowledge they were wrong. They will have been in the longest, given up the most, their sense of identity and self worth fundamentally linked to their belief system. When that belief system is threatened, their brain will distort reality in order that they remain right. Because admitting you are wrong about something fundamental is psychologically painful - traumatic even, and the brain will protect itself.

  In this way, I think, Judaism, Christianity and the JW's can all thank cognitive dissonance for their continuing survival.
• 

  A new Scientology Channel?

  by cobweb in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  this popped up in my google news feed.

  if tom cruise and kirsty alley really do create a scientology channel and tom presents a variety show, how bizarre would that be.

  i don't know how seriously i can take it, its hard to imagine anyone watching other than as a car crash.

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  cobweb

  This popped up in my google news feed. If Tom Cruise and Kirsty Alley really do create a Scientology channel and Tom presents a variety show, how bizarre would that be. I don't know how seriously I can take it, its hard to imagine anyone watching other than as a car crash.

  http://celebrityinsider.org/take-that-remini-tom-cruise-to-start-scientology-cable-tv-channel-this-summer-32321/
  
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  29

  New "paradise" video preview? "Will you be there?"

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my wife (unstuck) just saw a new 2-3 min video in her ex jw facebook feed, depicting a "paradise" scene preview.. it was complete with aerial shots and slow motion montages, with moving music.. scriptures were quoted across the screen, such as rev 21:3,4. i shazamed the music, and it came from another "worldly" album called "world of dreams.future world music" (you should see the song titles from that album!).

  is it an official wt video, or some private persons production?.

  if it is official, they seem to have once again resorted to desperate emotional manipulation tactics..... anyone else know?

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  cobweb

  You don't need to take a trip in the future. You don't need to imagine these places with your minds eye.

  You can go there RIGHT NOW.

  Also, that singing sounded very Lord of the Rings to me.
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  18

  Colossians and The Gospel of Thomas - a work in progress

  by Doug Mason in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  as i prepare the pre-draft stage of my study into the evolutions of salvation, i have drafted a chapter on colossians and on the gospel of thomas.

  http://www.jwstudies.com/colossians_soteriologies.pdf.

  http://www.jwstudies.com/the_soteriology_of_thomas.pdf.

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  cobweb

  I cannot hope to offer anything beneficial to your project. I just have a few personal reflections which i have had very recently.

  The similarities of the Gospel of Thomas and Buddhism are striking. I can see why it was not deemed appropriate to be put in the bible canon because it was not amenable to creating a power structure which must have been desirable for the Roman Empire. If one can be the same as Jesus by searching within oneself, then there is no place for external power structures.

  Also, if one considers that there were many competing versions of Christianity in the early days that were fighting for domination, a version that emphased fellowship and creating group structures would seem to have an advantage over one which focused on a more individualised salvation.

  On another note, regarding what Paul may or may not have written. I have had a negative view of Paul in some respects, particularly the way he spoke of women. I have only recently started to consider that those parts of the bible where he says these things probably were not written by him. They are found in Timothy which are highly disputed and a few verses in Corinthians which I read seem to be additions made at a later time, perhaps as a result of a margin note getting accidentally copied into the text. Its been stated that he actually spoke positively about women teaching and I think that is right, and now that I reassess the verses about women not speaking as not coming from him, it builds a picture of a man who I feel less antagonistic toward.