cappytan

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Posts by cappytan

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  109

  The Confederate Flag

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  the latest controversy over the confederate flag just sums up to me the state of dysfunction that exists in american society.. in summary: a white supremacist nutter shoots 9 black people dead in a church.

  he's clearly inspired by the messages of others which the confederate flag is often a symbol of.. it seems like a no-brainer to remove it.

  not only isn't it removed, it isn't even lowered at all as a mark of respect.. and of course now there are the people who want to defend their right to have it.

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  cappytan

  ...the same basic use of imagery used by the same type of mentality as the neo-nazi knuckle-heads of Europe.

  It really is sad that the imagery of the confederate flag has been commandeered by hate groups.

  In my mind, it's a piece of history, and promotes that heritage of telling Washington to mind their own business.

  In the 80's my favorite TV show was The Dukes of Hazzard.

  Whenever I see the confederate flag, the last thing I think about is hate and slavery.

  If I ever get a 1969 Dodge Charger, it's gonna have the General Lee paint job and that has nothing to do with hate.
• 
  109

  The Confederate Flag

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  the latest controversy over the confederate flag just sums up to me the state of dysfunction that exists in american society.. in summary: a white supremacist nutter shoots 9 black people dead in a church.

  he's clearly inspired by the messages of others which the confederate flag is often a symbol of.. it seems like a no-brainer to remove it.

  not only isn't it removed, it isn't even lowered at all as a mark of respect.. and of course now there are the people who want to defend their right to have it.

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  cappytan

  The Confederate States of America only existed for ~4 years.

  Slavery existed under the U.S. flag longer than the Confederate flag.

  When it comes to issues of the Civil War, though slavery was a tipping point, there were also issues of State's rights and a fear of losing political clout on a federal level that were in play.

  Lincoln won the election, the secession started.

  The Emancipation Proclamation happened well after the outbreak of the Civil War. Slavery was still federally legal in the U.S. when the first shots were fired.

  So to equate slavery as the sole issue in the civil war is to be uninformed and ignorant of the other political issues of the time.

  Comparing it to the Swastika is also a false equivalency. The German Government of the WWII era took specific steps to exterminate the Jews. The Confederate Government only had a policy of keeping the status quo. Yes, it was a horrible status quo, but the atrocities committed against slaves were committed by private individuals, plantations and not by official state action.

  The idea of allowing that private activity to continue is reprehensible. However, it is very different than having an official state sanctioned policy of extermination.
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  2

  Interesting Article on Bart Erhman's Blog about Papias beliefs about a Paradise Earth!

  by skepticSam in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i doubt the early wt thought papias had much to say when the subject came to the transformation of the earth in to a paradise.

  there's some strange things he claims he heard by close associates with jc, bart erhman has up on his paid blog more information about this topic.

  the basics are that papias claimed jesus said "the earth will sprout so much food" that those gigantic cluster of grapes brought in by joshua and caleb are nothing compared to what's in store for followers of jc.

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  cappytan

  The idea of a paradise came from the Egyptians, they thought after they died and went threw the underworld going through some triles and tribulations that after thier last test having thier heart weighed if they past the test they would live forever. This place was called the field of reeds. If they did not past the test and thier heart was unpure they would be eaten by a beast and die a second death forever gone.

  I can see the Watchtower taking this factoid and twisting it to "prove" that it was well known among the nations that a Paradise Earth was God's original purpose for mankind.
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  174

  The Bible is NOT Error-Free

  by FusionTheism in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  for many christians, the bible is viewed as the 100% error-free, perfect book straight from god, where every single word was carefully chosen by god for a reason.

  but, usually, when you have a discussion on the topic, these christians will end up saying that only the original copies written directly from the hands of the prophets and apostles were error-free, and all manuscript copies since then are subject to copyist mistakes and other errors.. since zero original copies are in existence, how do we know the originals were error-free?

  why should we think the originals should be error-free to begin with?

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  cappytan

  Are you honestly suggesting that the Golden Rule and Good Samaritan and Prodigal Son morality has no place in the 21st Century?

  That morality is not exclusive to Christianity. The Bible does not have a monopoly on morality.

  Also, if you can pick and choose through the Bible, a book that as a whole is morally bankrupt, to put forth the premise that it is a source of good morals, then can't you do the same with Mein Kampf? I'm sure there may be one or two things in Mein Kampf that amounts to common sense and we can all agree on. But does that mean that the overall message of Mein Kampf is positive and moral, just because of a couple of passages?
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  29

  Royal Commission into Child Abuse - Australia

  by biometrics in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  saw this in the paper today:.

  the jehovah's witnesses church in australia is the latest religious group to come to the attention of the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.. the child sex abuse royal commission will hold a public hearing into controversial christian group the jehovah's witnesses, next month.. the inquiry, to be held in sydney, will hear from people who were allegedly sexually abused within the jehovah's witnesses church in australia.. it will examine how the jehovah's witnesses church and its company, the watchtower bible and tract society of australia, responded to claims of child sexual abuse within the organisation.. a victorian inquiry into how churches handle child sex abuse claims has previously taken submissions from former jehovah's witnesses who alleged instances of paedophilia, sexual assault, blackmail and death threats.. the organisation has 64,000 active "disciples" in australia but has also been described as a cult.. jehovah's witnesses believe their church is the one true religion and all others are wrong.

  they are among a number of religious groups which have been examined by the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse including the catholics, anglicans, australian christian churches and the salvation army.. the jehovah's witnesses australian headquarters has been contacted for comment about the inquiry which is scheduled to begin on july 27.. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/nsw/jehovahs-witnesses-to-appear-before-sex-abuse-royal-commission-20150622-ghue73.html.

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  cappytan

  How much you want to bet that the comment the organization makes in response to this news release includes the words, "We abhor child abuse."

  They're using that "abhor" word too much. Change it up a bit...it's starting to sound like what it is.... a canned response.
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  25

  these books, want any? if not they go in the trash

  by sowhatnow in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  worldwide security under the prince of peacegods eternal purpose now triumphinglife does have a purpose babylon the great has fallen gods kingdom rulesyou can live forever on a paradise earththe secret to family happinessdid man get here by evolution of creationlet your kingdom comechoosing the best way of lifecommentary on the letter of jamesi have one of each.. the bible gods word or mansis the bible really the word of godsurvival into a new earthknowledge that leads to everlasting lifereasoningunited in worshipholy spirit the force behind the coming new orderthe two babylon'sparadise lost originalyou can live forever on a paradise earth first large print edition 1982 revelation book 1988 large print.

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  cappytan

  I know Cedars is looking to expand his physical library.
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  32

  If you were put in charge of the Governing Body tomorrow...

  by FusionTheism in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  if you were somehow magically put in-charge of the governing body tomorrow, by jesus, with the rules being, you could not teach anything that would be considered outright apostasy and you could not teach anything that would be considered to cause doubt about god's existence... (so as not to arouse suspicion).

  what "new light" or "clarified understandings" would you introduce first?.

  and which later on?.

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  cappytan

  I would start making it even more culty so that more people wake up. Publicly contradict myself. Start talking about how we should be ready to drink the Governinf Body's kool aid if we say so.

  Start requiring women to wear burkas.

  anything and everything to create doubt in the organization
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  16

  What is their position on IVF?

  by voodoo lady in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for example, if a married couple had fertility issues relating to the male partner's sperm, could they use a donor?.

  is it frowned upon in a more general sense because people should be preaching rather than procreating?.

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  cappytan

  What the actual f-ck? That's porneia?

  Bull. The scriptures quoted have nothing to do with porneia. A case could be made for uncleanness, but Jesus H Christ, what the hell is wrong with these people? AI isn't sex!

  How could I have believed this Bullcrap as long as I did?
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  24

  Has anyone had a jw hack into their email/tablet/phone etc to spy?

  by purrpurr in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i note stillin has had a recent problem with this.

  i also know of two cases were an elder went through a brothers phone to get dirt on him.

  and another were a sisters email was hacked into to get dirt on her.. in both cases apparently it was for their spiritual protection (!

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  cappytan

  Cappytan do we know if this spying behaviour is encouraged by the GB?

  I don't know.
• 
  24

  Has anyone had a jw hack into their email/tablet/phone etc to spy?

  by purrpurr in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i note stillin has had a recent problem with this.

  i also know of two cases were an elder went through a brothers phone to get dirt on him.

  and another were a sisters email was hacked into to get dirt on her.. in both cases apparently it was for their spiritual protection (!

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  cappytan

  A ministerial servant in a neighboring congregation logged into his Google account in the congregation computer (can't remember what for...probably to get a document off of Google Drive to print out or something).

  Well, he forgot to log out and an elder went through all his e-mails, and his Google+ social media account.

  The brother ended up getting removed as an MS because the elder found some things that weren't exemplary in there. (Pictures of him drinking beer, slightly off-color jokes, etc. It was all pretty tame stuff, though.)

  That elder is now no longer an elder, although for completely unrelated reasons.