Maximus

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Posts by Maximus

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  42

  Sci-Fi Fans Only: A.I.

  by Maximus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i hear tell there are some aficionados out there.. as a young man i secretly loved ray bradbury, isaac asimov, l. sprague decamp, poul anderson, arthur c. clarke and others.

  loved brian aldiss' "super-toys last all summer.".

  when the movie "2001: a space odyssey" premiered, i sneaked into a theater all by myself, and was blown away.

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  Maximus

  OK, I started this when the movie first opened.

  Now that you've seen it,

  Is the whole human race searching, crying, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy,
  Mommy, ...?

  Max
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  81

  Nourishment for the Spirit

  by Maximus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my observation is that persons who 1) heal/adjust the most rapidly from their jw experience and 2) seem to have the most joy in life are those who read, read, read, in pursuit of what i call nourishment for the spirit.

  i've really enjoy the pithy aphorisms you use here, which suggests you've distilled some wisdom from somewhere.

  i'm going to ask your help in this thread.

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  Maximus

  A very warm welcome, bobby!

  Maximus
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  81

  Nourishment for the Spirit

  by Maximus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my observation is that persons who 1) heal/adjust the most rapidly from their jw experience and 2) seem to have the most joy in life are those who read, read, read, in pursuit of what i call nourishment for the spirit.

  i've really enjoy the pithy aphorisms you use here, which suggests you've distilled some wisdom from somewhere.

  i'm going to ask your help in this thread.

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  Maximus

  Beautiful, Alan. You got me started with all this, you rascal. It's been fun and a few more grays. One day the full story will be told. (ED: Just saw your post, Randy; you are special to me too.)

  I've also soaked up Stephen J. Gould and Carl Sagan. Finally finished "The Elegant Universe," a delightful gem on string theory.

  My discovery of the various documents embedded in the Pentateuch was an eye-opener for me too, and my view of the Bible has never been the same. The redactor had no problem fitting them together without explaining the inconsistencies, because he did not see any need to--that's not how the Hebrew mindset worked.

  A book of fact? No.

  Book of faith? Yes.

  That's my take-home message too: It's the journey not the destination.

  Maximus
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  81

  Nourishment for the Spirit

  by Maximus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my observation is that persons who 1) heal/adjust the most rapidly from their jw experience and 2) seem to have the most joy in life are those who read, read, read, in pursuit of what i call nourishment for the spirit.

  i've really enjoy the pithy aphorisms you use here, which suggests you've distilled some wisdom from somewhere.

  i'm going to ask your help in this thread.

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  Maximus

  Exactly. Difficult for me to come to terms with, even painful ... That may sustain them when they eventually contemplate the ceiling tiles in the nursing home at the end of the road.

  Some need other kinds of crutches. Should I kick them away because in my wisdom I see them as unnecessary?

  Max
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  1

  Isaiah's Prophecy Volume II

  by Wolfy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well...i was skimming throught the new isaiah book released at the dc.. read the chapter entitled "true worship expands worldwide".

  starting on page 316 it talks about organizational progress and makes use of isaiah 60:17 "instead of the copper i shall bring in gold, and instead of the iron i shall bring in silver, and instead of the wood, copper, and instead of the stones, iron: and i will appoint peace as your overseers and righteousness as your task assigners".

  in the explanation it is said that replacing copper with gold is an improvement as are the other material mentioned.in harmony with this jehovah's people have been experiencing improved organizational arrangements throughout the last days.. what a load of ##@@@@...talks about the way elders and deacons were appointed and how it was improved and changed down through the years.. then it makes mention of changes at the gb level and gives this example---"an example of the latter was seen on october 7,2000, when it was announced that members of the gb who were serving as directors of the wts and affiliated corps had voluntarily stepped aside.

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  Maximus

  Total crock indeed. Gold? Silver?

  Caca.

  Textbook stuff:

  Sociologists have long pointed out the inherent
  tendency of institutions to develop increasingly complex
  structures. The division of labor, established initially to
  improve efficiency, ends by fragmenting interpersonal, human
  connections. Relationships are replaced by communication
  channels and chains of command, and before you know it you have
  huge, faceless bureaucracies where no one takes responsibility
  and the quality of the enterprise -- whatever it is -- steadily
  deteriorates.

  QED.

  Maximus
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  81

  Nourishment for the Spirit

  by Maximus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my observation is that persons who 1) heal/adjust the most rapidly from their jw experience and 2) seem to have the most joy in life are those who read, read, read, in pursuit of what i call nourishment for the spirit.

  i've really enjoy the pithy aphorisms you use here, which suggests you've distilled some wisdom from somewhere.

  i'm going to ask your help in this thread.

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  Maximus

  Mark Twain. Yes! Skewered the arrogant windbag, punctured the pompous with wit. So you thought he just wrote Huckleberry Finn?

  From "What Is Man?" -- On conscience and our duty to teach "truth"

  "We are creatures of outside influences—we originate nothing within. Whenever we take a new line of thought and drift into a new line of belief and action, the impulse is ALWAYS suggested from the OUTSIDE. Remorse so preyed upon the Infidel that it dissolved his harshness toward the boy's religion and made him come to regard it with tolerance, next with kindness, for the boy's sake and the mother's. Finally he found himself examining it. From that moment his progress in his new trend was steady and rapid.

  "He became a believing Christian. And now his remorse for having robbed the dying boy of his faith and his salvation was bitterer than ever. It gave him no rest, no peace. He MUST have rest and peace--it is the law of nature. There seemed but one way to get it; he must devote himself to saving imperiled souls. He became a missionary.

  "He landed in a pagan country ill and helpless. A native widow took him into her humble home and nursed him back to convalescence. Then her young boy was taken hopelessly ill, and the grateful missionary helped her tend him. Here was his first opportunity to repair a part of the wrong done to the other boy by doing a precious service for this one by undermining his foolish faith in his false gods. He was successful. But the dying boy in his last moments reproached him and said: 'I believed, and was happy in it; you have taken my belief away, and my comfort. Now I have nothing left, and I die miserable; for the things you have told me do not take the place of that which I have lost.' And the mother, also, reproached the missionary, and said: 'My child is forever lost, and my heart is broken. How could you do this cruel thing? We had done you no harm, but only kindness; we made our house your home, you were welcome to all we had, and this is our reward.'

  "The heart of the missionary was filled with remorse for what he had done, and he said: 'It was wrong--I see it now; but I was only trying to do him good. In my view he was in error; it seemed my duty to teach him the truth.' Then the mother said: 'I had taught him, all his little life, what I believed to be the truth, and in his believing faith both of us were happy. Now he is dead--and lost; and I am miserable. Our faith came down through centuries of believing ancestors; what right had you, or any one, to disturb it? Where was your honor, where was your shame?' The missionary's anguish of remorse and sense of treachery were as bitter and persecuting and unappeasable, now, as they had been in the former case.

  "The story is finished. What is your comment? Y.M. The man's conscience is a fool! It was morbid. It didn't know right from wrong. O.M. I am not sorry to hear you say that. If you grant that ONE man's conscience doesn't know right from wrong, it is an admission that there are others like it. This single admission pulls down the whole doctrine of infallibility of judgment in consciences."

  M
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  13

  April 2001 Service Report for Canada

  by comment in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  special pioneers (59): 118.2 av.

  hrs., 83.3 av.

  r.v., 3.0 av.

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  Maximus

  Did they get the peak pubs they were after?

  Any idea what the peak was last year and the year before?

  Best,
  Maximus
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  9

  Who paid for Beth-Sarim?

  by VM44 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had asked this question in the chatroom, "who contributed the funds for rutherford's.

  san diego house known as beth-sarim?".

  (i also asked this question in maximus' thread, "need assistance re judge r").

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  Maximus

  Bringing this up for larc.

  Maximus
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  11

  Need Assistance re Judge R

  by Maximus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just received a telephone call from a non-jw close friend who does not post on the board.

  for some time he has been writing a very detailed biography of judge rutherford that will be meticulously documented.

  he's spent many weeks visiting the judge's roots in missouri and elsewhere, with very informative results.

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  Maximus

  You're correct, my language was not clear, referring to the total Braeburn property as Beth-Sarim. I copied photocopies of quit claim and deeds pertaining to the second purchase, and just referred to the factory servant's name on the initial. See my other post today in which I too comment about the "ancient worthies."

  WH (Heath rather than Boyd; that was her maiden name) was a family friend and did little to counter the Coca-Cola wealth stories, but was clear in private that the depression-era huge sums of money was not his. Covington was also a family friend as well, and I had many conversations with him in his post-Bethel years--at his office at 50 Rockefeller Plaza. He flat-out stated monies were made available through the Society. I haven't looked at Gruss' book for details, but he may have them.

  The situation reminds me of COHI, the group that purchased property in behalf of the Society in Brooklyn and elsewhere.

  Have connected with DB, and curiously enough I had written you a couple of e-mails on something completely different. There was an earlier post from an RR.

  Maximus
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  81

  Nourishment for the Spirit

  by Maximus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my observation is that persons who 1) heal/adjust the most rapidly from their jw experience and 2) seem to have the most joy in life are those who read, read, read, in pursuit of what i call nourishment for the spirit.

  i've really enjoy the pithy aphorisms you use here, which suggests you've distilled some wisdom from somewhere.

  i'm going to ask your help in this thread.

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  Maximus

  SJ, I've done the same with the Apocrypha, Gospel of Thomas, and suchlike as well.

  Know where you're coming from, and your sincerity always refreshes me.

  Peace. Not many have examined that wonderful word Shalom, which had even a far richer meaning in Bible times, as I'm sure you know--not just the absence of strife. Please expand about it.

  Max
  Who has served in ghettos and learned many priceless lessons there