the bible was one of the few books many of the refugees had among their possessions.
on friday, several jehovahs witnesses walked the floor of the astrodome, where thousands of cots were set up, to offer their services.
what "services"... buncha weenies!
How obtuse can any group of people be? How opportunist and manipulative? They're just finding a lot of captive "at-homes" to count their time. Worse than the proverbial old-time used-car salesman (no offense---just can't think of any other comparison).
Gee, they can get pioneer hours in without spending a dime to help anyone. They don't worry about making "rice Christians" because they don't even offer the rice! #$*(&!@!
i didn't know how else to word the thread ... it's time for us to start posting and highlighting some stories of those who are helping each other.. charmaine neville's inspirational words.
"some people hate themselves, so they hate everybody else.
those people were not true new orleanians," she said.. .
Hi Tal,
to you for putting up that inspirational story---a new role model in her and you! It's so easy to focus on the negative to the exclusion of the positive. Kudos.
any religion that claims it is the only correct one is obviously wrong.
by it's arrogance it becomes mutually exclusive of any other religion.
when one steps back they can see that the contradiction of one religion over the others is a proof that they all must be wrong.
What the JWs have told us about Christendom is NOT always true. Of course, just like the JWs, there are bad apples in every barrel. But almost every church (religion) I've been to, has expressed they realize they cannot ask people to adhere/believe 100%. Rarely is there someone that believes 100% of the religion's doctrine. And if they don't, they aren't shunned for it.----Billygoat
Billygoat, that's what I've found to be true; it reminds me of my attendance for a couple of months at the local Unitarian Church. It was very pleasant and welcoming to all sorts of beliefs. It offered much to the attenders. I really liked it. But didn't continue for personal reasons (being an atheist, lol). But they were/are a great community of people. I may go back someday actually.
any religion that claims it is the only correct one is obviously wrong.
by it's arrogance it becomes mutually exclusive of any other religion.
when one steps back they can see that the contradiction of one religion over the others is a proof that they all must be wrong.
It takes guts to live without the belief that the gods are holding your hand. --Gladiator
Good one. When first leaving religion, it was scary. Now it's normal to live without an invisible helper. It gives so much more also in the way of learning self-reliance and developing one's own strength (which, imo, is all it ever was). It's like Dumbo's magic feather (theists, please forgive me), it's time to lose it someday and learn one own's abilities.
Granted I would love to have a belief and to me, it's not really a choice. As someone said here: "I just couldn't continue to convince myself it was true."
As to the title of the thread, that would take a lot of anthropology to understand, although it's stranger now since so much has been "demystified" e.g., the rainbow (Richard Dawkins), thunder, lightning, really most all of natural forces.
It seems to me that a lot of believers like the comfort of having a helper, humans do not want to die so the hope of immorality is appealing, they seek justification at times to war or conquer "lesser" peoples, some may have been ignorant of many sciences (as I was), they like being part of an elite class of people, etc.
well they certainly didn't waste any time using this disaster to their own twisted advantage...they stuck this on their home page with a quickness.
http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/2003/8/8/article_01.htmperfect weather control.
in god's new world, people will not have to fear having their home or crops wiped out by freakish storms.
Well, after 9/11 they were out there "offering comfort from the Bible" instead of doing anything else. "Comfort from the Bible" translates into promoting their cult and finding new member.
there's a lot of criticism from all sides.
what do you think should've been done?
The looting, etc. probably didn't happen all that rapidly---what did NOT happen was a sufficient law enforcement force. The city's enforcement was overwhelmed. I'd wager the same would happen in any city the law enforcement broke down. Why did it take days and days for the feds to send National Guard? What about unneccessarily dying, starving people, desperate because assistance wasn't sent promptly?? Why didn't the army do much about the looting in Baghdad? Because this administration is more about war than rescue. Where are the majority of National Guard troops, the helicopters, the Army Corps of Engineers? In Iraq! Who slashed their (FEMA, Corps of Engineers) budgets by 50-90% in the past few years? What city or people on earth could cope with their normal defenses against a disaster of this magnitude? Why does America have FEMA and such? How long did it take to get help to New York on 9/11?? This just in re today's news:
acknowledging the initial federal relief effort for Hurricane Katrina was unacceptable, said on Saturday he will send 7,000 additional troops to storm-ravaged region. --Reuters
well i knew it was only a matter of time, but the "play the race card" has begun.
never mind that the incompetant mayor of new orleans is black.
it's not his fault.
Oh, I don't know, there probably is a lot of supporting data that could make his claim into a viable case. Even without thinking about it, I can think of a couple of reasons this could be alleged. Especially the slow response of the federal government could be viewed by some as. . .
ok, all you "bleedin' hearts" get ready to flame me..... i have been watching the developments in the devastated areas like everyone else, and something has begun to strike me.
there seems to be tens of thousands of people who are just sitting around waiting for help to miraculously drop out of the sky, and the longer they sit idle, the madder they get that the government hasn't swooped in and immediately solved all their problems.
i have a few questions about this mindset:.
This thread is food for thought. An anthropologist would be wrong, imo, to think some of the negative posts represent American culture, response to disasters, blaming the victim, attitudes re empathy, sympathy, or charity. I'm glad and proud to say that it's a minority, because Americans along with most people everywhere, pour out assistance to victims without race or income requirements.
When someone is in danger of dying, imo, you don't stop to ask how they earned their living and if they were worth assistance in time of disaster.
there are a few films that i really connect with that sum up my j-dub experiences........ .
shawshank redemption: if you've ever "served time" at bethel, you can't help but connect with this film.
institutionalization, mental persecution and "andy dufrene crossing through 500 yards of shit, came out clean on the other side.
I only recently saw The Handmaid's Tale and agree with Damesfly that it's pertinent. Also, to any Bible-thumping religion.
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i thought it was fairly o.k.
- maybe it was too built up for me by others.. your thoughts?.
I did like the cartoon animations of the neuropeptides making eyes at each other
