It's such a weird feeling, isn't it? I remember going to see Iron Maiden in the arena where we used to have our assemblies. Iron Maiden was a thousand times better, hands down.
My brother said that he saw Slayer perform at the same arena two days after the assembly. 3 days of boredom followed up by an evening of trash metal, mosh pits, and guys punching each other for fun...yeah, I'll take the concert.
i just had to share something i found fascinating and faith building.
i know it's not specifically related to the topic of this forum but i think it would be useful to anyone lacking faith in a spirit world and a god such as those who have been stumbled by false religion.. i do not personally believe that the existence of complex life provides evidence of a creator as evolutionists have done a very good job at explaining how life has evolved into the complex forms that exist today.. so instead ive looked to the supernatural to provide me with evidence of a spirit world.
if i can prove to myself that a spirit world exists, this would provide sufficient evidence for the existence of a god, since it is reasonable to assume that one cannot exist without the other.. without dabbling in the occult myself i have carried out research into the paranormal and i am always keen to watch documentarys that provide convincing evidence and credible eye witness testimony.. one such documentary which was aired on tv can now be watched on youtube.
It all sounds like standard magic tricks to me. It's common for magicians to have the observer sign something or perform a few actions to let the audience know that there is no trickery involved. The example with the roll of film with the Latin engraved on it is standard slight of hand. Magicians and tricksters know how to distract people so that they don't notice them switching things out or doing things that will deceive them later.
Go watch a Penn and Teller show. They do cold readings as part of their show, and are very accurate. The only difference is, they're upfront about the fact that they're bold-faced liars.
If someone can claim the million dollars from the James Randi Challenge, then I'll start to believe these people's claims. Otherwise, they're charlatans and frauds looking to make a quick buck off of peoples gullibility.
The America's Test Kitchen recipe is the only taco recipe I use. Making your own spice blend is way tastier than buying a pre-mixed one.
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 cup canned tomato sauce (I use Hunt's)
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
8 taco shells
Directions:
1
Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat until simmering.
2
Add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
3
Stir in the garlic, spices, and 1 teaspoon salt.
4
Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
5
Stir in the ground beef.
6
Cook, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes.
7
Stir in the tomato sauce, broth, vinegar, and sugar.
8
Simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes.
so i decided to attend the meeting last.
since i haven't gone in about 2 weeks, and i leave as soon as it ends, and elder decided to corner me at the end.
lately i've been through some very depressing family issues that are non-jw related so i haven't been my best at acting like i care about the org.
Hahahaha that is awesome! Go you! I would have loved to see that moron elder's face after you delivered that scathing burn.
I'm sure that's why many people join the JW's - they don't want to have to think for themselves, and they just want to do what they're told. Being in control of one's life and thinking critically - too hard, too scary.
The elder was actually right about one thing though. Satan is a representation of independent thought and free will. But he's definitely wrong about independent thought being an evil thing. Critical thinking is what allows us to judge right from wrong. Don't forget that some of the great atrocities in the world were done because people were simply doing what they were told.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/castro-brothers-spend-night-jail-article-1.1338131.
down near the bottom of this article, a neighbor of ariel castro's mother reveals that dear old mom is a dub.
bet this won't become a part on a assembly..
Surprise, surprise. I was actually half-expecting someone in this family to be JW.
His daughter is currently in jail as well for trying to slit her 11-month-old daughter's throat. This whole family is made up of winners.
http://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/family/children/become-jehovahs-friend/videos/lets-go-in-service/.
it all seems so playful and cutsie wootsie to an insider i suppose, i am seeing posts all over facebook about how this is just what my kid needs.. this is truly proper food at the proper time blah blah blah blomit blomit vomit vomit... the funniest part is however is that it cuts out at the end by saying "let's practice what you are going to say".. .
why not make the video longer and discuss how you can get an idea for a 6 year old on how to talk to a grown person about how they are going to die unless you study the bible with me..
Billy - those videos are awesome. I love that one.
I think the best thing about having to go out in service is that I never ran into anyone from school while doing it. I was already an unpopular loser, that would have been the icing on the cake. Oh, and coffee break of course. The times that we didn't stop for coffee... *shudder*
if you own a company or small business, will you hire a jw over a non-jw?
did you find jws more productive than non-jws and more honest and outgoing for your business expansion?
the watchtower tries to state that jws are in high demand because of their honesty, you think the world is smarting up and realizing they are just regular people who follow men?
It doesn't bother me in the least to hear bad things about Witnesses. We had some real losers in our congregation. There was a reason why I preferred to hang out with non-JW's when I was a kid. I'm just saying that it's not exactly fair to assume that someone is going to be a shitty employee just because they're JW. And it's flat out illegal to not hire someone based on their religion.
if you own a company or small business, will you hire a jw over a non-jw?
did you find jws more productive than non-jws and more honest and outgoing for your business expansion?
the watchtower tries to state that jws are in high demand because of their honesty, you think the world is smarting up and realizing they are just regular people who follow men?
Considering that it would be discrimination to not hire someone based on their religion, then my answer would be no, the fact that they're Witnesses would not affect my decision to hire/not hire. They should be judged on their own merits, just like everyone else.
My Dad, who is still in, ran a construction business, and he worked his ass off to provide for us. Sometimes he would have to work the entire week though, and there were quite a few times that he would be gone from 7:30 am straight through to 6 or 7 pm. And yes, sometime that meant having to stay home from the meetings or service. It was hard phsyical labour, but my Dad was very proud of the work that he did. He paid his employees well, often gave them advances if they asked for them, and absolutely refused to do 'cash jobs', no matter how often he was asked, because he sincerely felt that it was dishonest to not charge taxes on his jobs.
My parents friends were the same way - they all worked really hard at their jobs and took a real interest in the work that they did. Hell, one of my parents friends was so good at his job that he used to get invited on a local DIY TV program to instruct viewers on how to do their own home repairs. Another one of their friends would spend a large portion of his spare time helping people in the congregation with home or auto repairs.
Just because they belong to this insane religion and have some crazy beliefs does not automatically mean that they have a poor work ethic. Neither are they all ethical hard workers. It's the same with any group of people - you'll have those who will try and get away with as much as they can provided they don't get caught, those who do exactly what is required of them, nothing less, nothing more and those who take pride in their work and will do the best job that they can. Knowing how hard my parents and their friends worked, it just seems really unfair to label all Witnesses as being lazy and dishonest.
once we found out we were all witnesses, we all hugged.
now we just had to see if our kingdom hall was still standing.
when we came to the hall we had such a huge shock.. there were so many people there.
When I was a kid, the thought of living together on Paradise scared the shit out of me. This story is pretty much nails why their idea of Paradise sounds like my idea of Hell. An eternity of judgemental, hateful, boring people and let's not forget the meetings, meetings, meetings! Oh, and brothers, sisters, better get to that Kingdom Hall quickbuild/cleanup right away, there's no time to waste. Worst of all, no movies, no TV, and the only music available is Kingdom Melodies? I wonder if the heavy metal CDs in the truck would still work...
once we found out we were all witnesses, we all hugged.
now we just had to see if our kingdom hall was still standing.
when we came to the hall we had such a huge shock.. there were so many people there.
Wow, what a beautiful story. But I have a few questions.
1. The story describes the dead looters in a very cold manner, as if they had done something wrong, yet the survivors go into peoples houses to take their food. They also remove dead bodies from vehicles to spare themselves from having to walk. I'm not understanding - is that not looting also?
2. The part of the story describing the surivors laughing after they looted(?) an unbelievers house, because he had a sign stating "No Jehovah's Witnesses" felt kind of disturbing to me. Maybe I'm not getting it, but what exactly is so hilarious about a person dying simply because he didn't believe in the 'correct' religion?
3. How did brother Isaiah, Abednego and Daniel manage to make their way to some random city in the US (or Australia)? Plane? Ship? Or did Jehovah magically bless them with wings with which to fly?
4. How did the brothers manage to set up satellite hook-ups and long distance communications? It's my understanding that a person requires a lot of education and training to be able to set up that kind of equipment, and we all know Witnesses are not supposed to do such things. Did Jehovah bestow this knowledge upon the brothers?
5. Where did the supplies to build the new houses and cities come from? What about the gasoline and bulldozers required to demolish the old the cities? How about the landscaping tools? Where did they manage to find enough architect Witnesses to build these new cities?
6. Where did the musical instruments come from? By the survivors account all the houses had been burnt or destroyed. Did the survivors open up new factories to produce instruments?
7. How did the brother in Part 3, who is 65, manage to have a young daughter with his resurrected wife? Does it not say in the Bible that resurrected ones are not allowed to remarry (which I assume means that sex is a no-no) even if it's to their former spouse? Was this a case of immaculate conception?
8. How often are the meetings taking place in the New System? Why are the meetings still happening? The door-to-door work is finished, the prophecies have been fulfilled, and after Jesus and the 144,000 have given up all the new information, it seems like there is nothing more to accomplish at the meetings. I'm just confused as the purpose of continuing to go to the meetings. Is it for fun? Or just boredom brought on as a result of living for eternity with a bunch of bland, judgemental bores?
Questions aside, it was a wonderful uplifting story about the destruction of billions of people so that a small group could live happily forever in their wish fulfillment fantasy. I give it 5 stars out of 5.
