Most biblical scholars agree that the tale of Jonah is an allegory designed to offset the harsh and cruel policy laid out in Ezra and Nehemiah. It was included in the canon of Jewish scriptures for that very purpose. Some of the returning exiled Jews from Babylon had intermarried with the indigenous females. Those in the second wave were pretty racist and demanded that those women be "put away" even though divorce was terrible thing for women in that day. ;As I recall, the account in Jonah doesn't mention a whale. The need for the WTS to make the bible literally true is an indication that they don't really understand what it is saying.
Navigator
JoinedPosts by Navigator
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17
Another Urban myth Perpetuated By the WTS
by BluesBrother init is funny how some things stick in your mind .
this little point about a man supposedly swallowed by a whale, then rescued, stayed with me and i certainly used it in the "field ministry" in order to support the jonah account.
*** g70 5/22 p. 11 the great sea monsters ***.
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Thinkin' of moving to Texas......
by target inmy little family of xjws are thinking of moving to texas, kind of looking at the area north of houston.
there seem to be plenty of apostates from texas on this forum.
is there anything i should know that is good or bad about that area?
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Navigator
I have lived all over the U.S. after 21 years in the military service and much prefer Texas over all the rest. The lack of an income tax really helps, but property taxes can be high. I agree with others about Houston. I would have to be pretty desperate to live there because of the humidity. I live in Fort Worth and really like it. We have a saying in Fort Worth that life is too short to live in Dallas. Fort Worth is very laid back and there are at least 20 Home Depots in the City and surrounding surburban cities. Taxes are much lower in the suburbs than in Fort Worth itself. Plenty of culural opportunities in the area. Lockeed/Martin employs a lot of computer engineers but job cuts can be severe when funding for the F-16. F-22 and F-35 gets tight. The DFW area is under the gun from EPA to clean up the pollution and allergies are a problem for some folks. There is now good rail service between Dallas and Fort Worth and it will likely be extended to DFW airport in the not too distant future. Dallas has a good local rail system. Lots of ex JWs in the DFW area, more than in any other area in Texas.
The hill country in Texas is beautiful, but job opportunities are slim. I can't recommend Abilene due to low wages (too many military retirees and dependents and college kids). Allergies are a real problem in Abilene. As has been mentioned, Texas is a very big state and the weather varies widely. I would visit during the summer if I were you. I agree with a previous poster comments regarding Austin. Probably more transplanted folks from other states than native Texans there. Very progressive, but more heavily taxed.
Remember that regardless of where you live, happiness is an inside job.
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Forgiveness, How Far Do You Take It?
by prophecor inhas it ever happened to you, something so dispicable you would rather go to your grave, not having forgiven someone a wrong they had done you, hopeful that god would sort it out in the end?
mind you, i know things like child molestation, rape and murder are things for which it is difficult, if not impossible, to be forgiving of.
that being said, where does one draw the line on forgiveness?
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Navigator
Real forgivness is much more than overlooking an imagined wrong that someone has done to you. It is coming to the realization that the real you, the immortal you, is untouched by that event or circumstance. It can only come when you stop thinking of yourself as a human being who happens to have a spirit, and start realizing that you are a spirit that happens to be temporarily occupying a body. It also means realizing that not everything that seems to be a wrong at the time really is. I was once fired unjustly from a job that I really did enjoy. It turned out to be a wonderful blessing. Should I forgive the bastard that fired me. Of course. He was actually blessing me. I just didn't realize it at the time.
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who is who on here??
by holly ini know there are mostly ex jw's on here.
i just wondered how many of you are ex jws, left or df'd, how many are still in but have lost heart?.
are there any jws on here who still believe its all the truth, go to meetings and trust the organisation?.
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Navigator
Never was a witness, but did study for awhile. My wife became a witness in 1962 and decided she was one of the "annointed". I was on active duty in the USAF at the time. She raised all of our kids as JWs. I was away from home a good deal of the time on various military assignments. After I retired from the USAF in 1979 I became an elder in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and began to try to get my kids to "open their eyes". The fact that 1975 turned out to be a "dud" helped. Five of my six kids are out now and several post on this board. That put quite a strain on our marriage and my wife left for a short time. She found out that the support structure among the witnesses wasn't what it was cracked up to be and came back. She is currently a full time pioneer. We just celebrated our 46th anniversary. She is able to maintain a sort of relationship with the kids through me (Respecting my headship). I left the Christian Church while we were undergoing the "strain" mentioned earlier and joined the Unity movement. I am a leader in that church now and attend every Sunday. I teach a class in Metaphysics every week. The one kid still in would like to be out but is married to a JW and doesn't want to experience divorce. He doesn't associate with his brothers and sisters except when his wife is out of town.
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Million Dollar Baby
by carefully faded ini just saw million dollar baby tonight.
wow, that was a powerful movie!
i won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet, but i wasn't prepared for that ending.
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Navigator
Well she did get the Oscar didn't she! That should add to the film's gross.
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How Good Are Those Young-Earth Arguments?
by hawkaw ini am not sure if alan f. or others have posted this but the following is from talk origins.. .
i thought some of you may find the following interesting with respect to young-earth creationist arguments:.
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/hovind/howgood.html.
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Navigator
I understand that a recent discovery has shown the the rate of expansion of the universe is actually increasing rather than decreasing as one would expect Eventually the sky will be completely dark as the bodies will be so far away that light cannot reach us at all.
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The old "in the days of Noah" guilt trip refuted
by Ticker inok here goes again grrr i had started posting this before and finished it but a dang phonecall screwed it up and it didnt post, frustrating.
oh well heres take 2 lol.
i wanted to bring this up and show in my opinion a solid refutiation to the watchtowers reasoning of "in noahs day all were destroyed even children because of their parents".
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Navigator
A Course In Miracles deals with the question of God's final judgement in the section called Manual For Teachers by answering the Question, Is Each one to be judged in the end?
Indeed, Yes! No one can escape God's Final Judgment. Who could flee forever from the truth? But the Final Judgment will not come until it is no longer associated with fear. One day each one will welcome it, and on that very day it will be given him. He will hear his sinlessness proclaimed around and around the world, setting it free as God's Final Judgment on him is received. This is the Judgment in which salvation lies. This is the Judgment that will set him free. This is the Judgment in which all things are freed with him. Time pauses as eternity comes near, and silence lies across the world that everyone may hear this Judgment of the Son of God:
Holy are you, eternal, free and whole, at peace forever in the Heart of God. Where is the world, and where is sorrow now?
Is this your judgment on yourself, teacher of God? Do you believe that this is wholly true? No; not yet, not yet. But this is still your goal; why you are here. It is your function to prepare yourself to hear this Judgment and to recognize that it is true. One instant of complete belief in this, and you will go beyond belief to Certainty. One instant out of time can bring time's end. Judge not, for you but judge yourself, and thus delay this Final Judgment. What is your judgment of the world, teacher of God? Have you yet learned to stand aside and hear the Voice of Judgment in yourself? Or do you still attempt to take His role from Him? Learn to be quiet, for His Voice is heard in stillness. And His Judgment come to all who stand aside in quiet listening, and wait for Him.
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? about GLOBAL FLOOD if ARK FOUND
by one inany expert or geologist wanabe in this forum that can relate the recent tsunami to the above question?
take into consideration what i mentioned in a previous topic
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/83981/1.ashx
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Navigator
The "fact" that people around the globe have an interesting story about a flood is not evidence for a global flood. It has been shown clearly that humans are the ones that spread out from the "fertile crescent" and not the water. The flood was almost certainly a highly localized event. Speaking of doing the math, figure the volume of ark required to contain even pairs of all the types of animals in the world. Actually, only the unclean animals were in pairs.
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JW Funerals
by Low-Key Lysmith ini have been disfellowshipped for 13 years.
last april, my mom passed away from pancreatic cancer.
she was still a very active witness until the day she died as is the rest of my family.
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Navigator
I have advised my children that if anyone attempts to give me a funeral in a Kingdom Hall or by a JW Elder, I will come back and haunt them. Although I have a large number of JW friends, the majority of people that would attend would be non-JW. There is no way that I would want them subjected to the JW bullshit that I hear at almost all JW funerals. As has been indicated, there is very little said about the deceased, and the Elders see it as an opportunity to recruit new members.
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United Church of God.....jw carbon copy
by little witch ini found this site today and noticed the similarities including "good news" instead of gospel.
anti christmas (follow the links).
heavy emphasis on literature.. i wonder which came first, the chicken or the egg.
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Navigator
I can remember listening to H.W. Armstrong on the radio when I was a teenager. It was a very controlling group. My father received "Plain Truth" magazine which was not put out by The Worldwide Church of God but by a group led by HWA's son who broke away from his father's organization and formed his own "association". My father had a lot of respect for HWA's son but was never tempted to join his group.