after the recent awake dealing with gambling(still with no biblical reason not to) i still feel that gambling in moderation is fine.
i know in the "flock" book gambling is not the sin, greed is.
it also says that we should try not to see gambling for entertainment as good, however it does not come out and say "dont gamble or you will be in trouble".
Englishman, please tell...biggest I've won is $3750.00 Canadian.
I confess, I love it!!!!!! I have a periods of time where I go a lot and then I don't go for months.
Mulan, I'm going to Las Vegas first time in October!!! I can't wait..but I do want to see the shows too..anyone recommend any and what not to see!!!
for yadira, here is my thought provoking thread .
people have been asking what simon is really like, so here is a quick profile of him.. .
he spends a lot of time working on his computer you should be glad you dont hear the language when he discovers a bug in his programs .
Thank you Patio for bringing this back..I've never seen it!
And Simon, I'm sure you can use your imagination with or without your light saber!
there has been so many in the news as of late - in the usa and the uk.
some of the poor girls were taken right from their beds.
do you think there is more of this happening, or that it is just being reported now?
An expert was on Oprah who has worked on numerous sexual abuse cases. She said, after all the work she's done, it kinda makes her paranoid about predators. Oprah and her agreed in the case of children, this is a good kind of paranoia: diligent protection of our children.
My experience can second that motion. My sister and I were both abused by two different men (one being our father). Just in my father's case alone...I couldn't count how many homes this guy has been in since the 60's when he started abusing us. He was in countless Witness homes before he was disfellowshipped but since the 70's he has been in countless non-Witness homes. Amazingly after people knew of his abuse of 4 children, they still let him into their homes, served him coffee and cookies! They believed this man because he claimed to be born-again.
If people would let in their homes known abusers, how do we convince them to protect their children from strangers? I should state that my father didn't wear trench coats and look out of the ordinary. Unfortunately I think people don't realize the face of a predator/kidnapper/molester can take the form of sheep without wolves' clothing.
In the Oregon case, the girls knew their abductor. Their siblings played with his children.
i think most of us at some time have had the experience of overhearing a conversation while travelling, or in a coffee shop, and realizing that we are listening to a crafty jw in the middle of preaching.
you know the type of thing, "wont it be nice when god steps in and clears up all these problems", problems incidentally that they have just spent the past thirty minutes listing to their hapless listeners in morbid detail.
no-one cherishes their collection of grim news quite like a jw.
Thanks for bring this back up. I missed it the first time.
Hillary, that is hilarious! And exactly what's it's like. You should see when my siblings and I are together visiting our Witness Mom. Yikes!
on friday night i watched a report by abc tv's john stossel (in the normal 20/20 time slot) that dealt with how humans are influenced by looks.
it was a re-broadcast, and even though this was the second time i've seen it it was still fascinating.
to demonstrate whether we are influenced by appearance, several scenarios were set up, involving people considered attractive and those considered more 'plain'.
Thank you Jack 2 for posting this. I wanted to see that segment but missed it. This is one of my favourite topics because I'm amazed how unfortunately the real world judges everything by looks. My sociology professor told our class how he studied how judges treated the poorly dressed and well-groomed accused. In almost all cases, the well-dressed were treated better.
But I've been studying people for decades on this point as well. This is one area in which Witnesses probably treat less-good looking people better than society as a whole. On the other hand, they have their own particular twist on this. They encourage their members to be well-groomed (which is external) but downplay their looks. I think of it as the Stepford Wives syndrome. Mass clones who lack individuality. Standing out is not a good thing in that world. I know...you should have seen some of my outfits!!!
One female Witness proudly bragged that she never died her hair to my mother who did. One Elder spoke from the platform 25 years ago about seeing this young man (20s) walking down the street with disgusting long hair. (He was gorgeous and his mane was in perfect condition). Even as a Witness, I sat there wondering, why is this a negative? Didn't Jesus have long hair?
I could go on and on....without a doubt the number one thing people have commented on me about is my looks for bad or good...
I'll give you one good example of what it's like. I interviewed people for a tv program and newspaper. One time I interviewed a homeless person. People commented how I looked in the picture.
But there's hope ...I'm 6'2" and I've always liked short men! Ha Ha.
did anyone see mike musto last nite on greta van susteren?
my wife and i were wathching fox news and they were talking about martha stewart's debacle, and low and behold there is mike commenting on how she is going to have to go from 9 houses to 8. anyway did not know we had a celebrity among us.... you did good mike.
A couple of months ago, when I first saw his face I recognized him from the Village Voice and on several tv programs. I immediately asked him in a post if he was THE famous diva's best friend. NO RESPONSE.
Then I read all his posts about being a ministerial servant which would not really be probable if he is a girl's best friend of the New York party scene!
I would say he's an imposter except for the fact he's got "bitch fag thing" down pat!
am i the only shmuck on this board watching this every week?
please say i'm not.
I try to catch the show when I can. I think the fact that Tamyra got booted is an important lesson. Do people who come out number one always deserve it? I doubt it. It also show how fickle the public is...anyone who stars in a show, writes a book, etc, knows that you're only as good as your last output. Unfortunately that's the way it is.
I think Kelly and Tamyra have amazing voices. But I think Nikki is so gorgeous, so individual in style, she just glows! I have never cared for Justin. I don't know why...
I'd like to see more honesty from the winners. "God, I'm glad I was chosen!"
I also don't think Simon (one of 3 hosts of the show) is as bad as he is painted. I've been on tons of auditions and he's nice in comparison. Paula kinda bugs me. She's nice and all that but I think she does more acting as Paula then she ever did in her videos!
simon your catching hell, sorry about that.
i don't know you from adam (remember that saying?
),but from what i have seen you have done a hellof a job here!
3M's...my, you're awake this time of night! Could we be the 3 musketeers?
By the way, Mimilly, in a freaky coincidence sort of way, my molester lives in the Phillipines with his new 3 young children. He's a born-again Christian again (the first 3 times didn't take)...God strike me dead for saying this...why couldn't he have been selling Avon/firey torment in the murderers' territory?
I only say this to you, because you would understand.
simon your catching hell, sorry about that.
i don't know you from adam (remember that saying?
),but from what i have seen you have done a hellof a job here!
Monster & Mimilly
Can I join the fun? I'm with you. I think Simon tries to be fair to all - this is not a guy who would hurt a flea. But for some who post here, saucers of milk please. Meow, meow.
If I want to watch a cat fight, I can turn on Jerry Springer! [That didn't come out the way I had intended it to!]
I did think it was nice to see some compassion on this forum for the Witness victims of the horrible crime in the Phillipines.
muslim rebels in the southern philippines have beheaded two christian hostages, part of a group of jehovah's witnesses seized on tuesday.
the two severed heads were found by the philippines military on the remote southern island of jolo.
the army chief on jolo, brigadier general romeo tolentino, said that a note was attached to one of the heads, saying: "those who do not believe in allah will suffer the same fate.
I was watching CNN at 10:35pm and Aaron Brown announced this. Shocking. For me it's like a knife in my gut..hearing the loss of a family member. I can't explain it.
It happens to me when I hear something terrible happen to Witnesses in my area, even if they don't talk to me.
