Simon,
a week before possibly the biggest critical media exposure that the Watchtower is going to get in living memoryI know I should know what this is but I'm so brain-dead right now nothing comes to mind. What's up?
Kingpawn
JoinedPosts by Kingpawn
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51
About privacy on the forum
by Simon inkent and his merry followers seem to have made privacy their latest crusade and unfortunately they have decided to act in a completely irresponsible manner imho.. the forum software uses cookies to remember a users login details and can also be useful for identifying duplicate accounts.
it is not used for anything sinister and cannot be used to identify someone - all it gives is an indication that a computer is being used by more than one username and has been invaluable in identifying trouble makers like mario kempes / yo yo mama / sexy teen / help others (asking for money) and many others.
i believe that this is a good thing to do as i do not believe it compromises anyones privacy and does help prevent everyone wasting their time responding to people who are just "yanking our chain".. apart from the accounts that you have seen and know there are many more that you may not be aware of.
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Kingpawn
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2
Reason vs. Faith, Good article
by The_Bad_Seed inthis is an article i dug up on the ayn rand institute website, written by peter schwartz that i found to be logical and timely, and felt some could benefit upon reading it.
enjoy!
reason vs. faith by peter schwartz.
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Kingpawn
Good article. The opening paragraph of the encyclical is stark in drawing the boundaries. If, for example, science determined the Shroud of Turin was not the burial cloth of Christ, faith requires that you believe anyway. We weren't given brains and not expected to use them.
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The Bible: It does'nt make sense
by Leander inas i was exercising this morning i was thinking about my decision to step down as a ministerial servant and also to stop attending religious functions of any kind.
i've often felt that jws were somewhat flawed in their interpertation of the scriptures, but this morning it kind of hit me all at once that no 2 religions are going to have the exact same beliefs even though both religions might be using the same translation of the bible.
this disturbing fact raises quite a few thought provoking questions:.
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Kingpawn
Leander,
Since others have taken a try at answering your questions, I figured I'd try too.
If God really wants us to know him, why would it be so difficult for mankind to get a similar or correct understanding of his word the bible?
This, to me, kind of presumes mankind never has gotten a correct understanding of Scripture. Possibly no one person or group has succeeded 100%, but the basic teachings seem fairly broad. The Golden Rule, love for God, are blanket principles applicable in so many situations. If, for example, everyone was always honest and all the world had been since day one, would this be considered bad? So maybe the question becomes, if we practice Biblical principles that we know about wholeheartedly (iow once we know a principle we do our utmost to live it/apply it daily) that we see are good and logical, aren't we growing in knowledge of God?
Why would Satan be allowed to corrupt or alter God's word when there are honest people truly seeking to learn about God thru the bible?
Because sin came into the world because of his ambition and our arrogance. Instead of reconciling people to fit the Gospel, we do the reverse. Anytime a schism arises in a denomination over a doctrinal or other viewpoint an opportunity is created for the creation of yet another branch of Christianity. Many prefer the new to the old. And many times the "new" is less restrictive than the old. We want our standards, not His. Politics within a church can play a role too.
Why are there no miracles, prophets or divine influence in modern times the way it was in bible times? Especially considering that our time period is one that has the greatest need of any other period in human history?
Paul said such things would cease. The late Jeanne Dixon felt her prophetic abilities were a gift from God. But consider that when predicting President Kennedy's death, she took three times to get it right. And was it so hard to predict someone wanted to kill him? Anti-Castro Cubans blamed him for the failure of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion; the CIA hated him because he blamed it for the invasion's failure, wanted to "smash it into a thousand splinters and scatter them to the four winds of heaven," and planned a review of its worldwide activities; the Teamsters Union hated him for his not reining in his brother Bobby, who as Attorney General had exposed Mob influence in labor unions and who was daily battling with Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa; the Mob hated him because they were getting rich by loans from the Teamster's Pension fund they never intended to repay, and their ability to keep doing that was hampered by Justice Dept. investigations; the Right hated him for appeasing Kruschev and abandoning Tito, as well as his civil rights initiatives; and Texas oilmen didn't like his efforts to repeal the oil depletion allowance as an income tax deduction. So Jeanne Dixon wasn't exactly going out on a limb.
Remember what was said in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus about sending the dead to tell the living of the fates awaiting them after death? The answer was made that if they didn't believe the prophet's warnings, someone from the dead wouldn't convince them either.
Miracles occur; we just don't recognize them. The sun shining for billions of years past and in the future; a flower blooming in the hostile desert; the planets maintaining precise orbits around the sun; an ant able to lift several times its own weight; larva to caterpillar to butterfly are some examples. We are the creators of everything unnatural, yet for all our technology we can't create a blade of grass.
If angels were persuaded to leave heaven and join in with Satan, why would God banish Satan and all his demons to the Earth where imperfect humans dwelled? If angels who lived in the very presence of God fell prey to Satan what hope is there for humans?
Satan was sent here to confine him and to send notice his time's about up--for his knowledge as well as ours. IOW, God has a timetable and the experiment of allowing us to do our own thing is about up.
What hope for us? Even sinners can do the right thing if left alone to do so. Every person who does right is living proof Satan wasn't right in his claim we only do good because of what good was done to us. And what of those who do good when there's nothing in it for them? They give to charity, mentor teenagers or ex-convicts, teach someone to read, and so on. There are temptations and there are chances to meet the needs of others.
Why have humans through-out bible history been punished with death, yet Satan and his demons have lived for thousands and thousands of years? Also has there been any human who has sinned against God the way Satan has?
I believe in the Society's explanation: when we rebelled in Eden we said to God that we'd make our own path. He's let us wallow in the muck of our efforts. We've accomplished many things, but what use are they if we can't end death or disease, crime, poverty, and so on? Anyone trying runs up against opposition from others benefitting from the status quo. If Satan doesn't rule us, how explain those who would steal food and medicine given to help others in order to sell them on the black market for their personal gain?
Satan's been allowed time to try and prove his claim about human motivations. Think what the knowledge of certain death would do to someone, and you aren't allowed to tell God you're sorry because you were once perfect like Adam and Eve. Wouldn't that drive you literally insane after a few hundred years? So you try and take as many with you as possible while trying to prove your point.
I'd say Adam and Eve qualify for your second question. Anyone else who's demanded worship from others, being accountable to no one, would qualify in my mind.
Just my $.02 worth.
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11
Need lots of advice on investing a couple grand
by Cappuccino OC inthe grand is not mine but my mothers.
she just went through a nasty divorce.
she left her df pedophile husband.
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Kingpawn
The stock market took an upswing recently but I'm not sure I'd see it as an ongoing trend. You can get big gains or big losses in the market, depending on how aggressively you invest. "Aggressive growth" mutual funds are the riskiest of funds; "money market" funds are safer with lower rates of return. There are others in between.
I have to agree with those who say seek a professional's advice. And for heaven's sake don't act on "hot tips" in Internet chat rooms and the like! There was a scandal a year or so back where some 15 year old was using his dad's online account, buying stocks, then creating myriads of identities in chat rooms. He'd hype the stocks he bought, people bought, the price went up, he sold, and made out well. Even got to keep lots of it when caught.
My 401(k)'s making money this year because I got out of the stock market entirely.
Something else to consider: your mother's age and when she plans to retire. Generally speaking, the shorter the time before planning to retire, the more conservative your investment choices should be. Now's not the time to gamble if she's going to need a steady income in five years or so.
Tax laws can make it nasty sometimes. You've got 60 days or so to roll over money in some kind of account so time pressure can goad you into unwise choices sometimes. Worst comes to worst, an IRA or CD might be a good choice if time's short, but I am not an investment professional.
Good luck.
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USA Pride / Euro Concerns
by Amazing inmost of the criticism of the usa seems to come from our european brothers and sisters.
i call them such because they primarily settled our continient and are our ancestors.
i have noticed some trends in this and find some fair things on their part for americans to consider.
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Kingpawn
In 1973 Canadian broadcaster Gordon Sinclair turned on his radio one morning, heard about the decline of the US dollar on European exchanges, and in a burst of indignation wrote an editorial he delivered on-the-air titled "The Americans." It makes interesting reading both for those who criticize us for our pride and for those apologizing for America's actions.
I have a printout and I believe the web address is http://www.rec.ryerson.ca/cci/news/umque/am_text.htm or you can look for it yourself.
In it, Mr. Sinclair points out how often we've gone to the aid of others having floods, earthquakes, famines, and so on; helped build or repair dams so they don't fall in `quakes; rebuilt railroad systems deteriorating through age; supported the currency of France in 1956 (and our reward was to be cheated and swindled on the streets of Paris which he personally observed).
And many times when we faced the identical problems, no one helped us. He doubted we got help during the 1906 `quake in San Francisco; and at the very moment he spoke, the Mississippi River bottomlands were flooded, and no one helped. And when the Pennslyvania Railroad and New York Central Railroad went broke, no one helped us.
Scandals, he said--America puts hers right out front where we can all see them (his air date--6/5/73--was about a year to the day after the Watergate break-in). And technology--with Japan, you get radios. Germany, cars. America--men to the moon several times, and safely home again. And there was more he said in defense of us.
Sinclair made no money off this. All the profits from a recording of his editorial--and later, from a Detroit dj who'd pirated it--went to the American Red Cross, which that morning had revealed...it was broke. And the year not half over either.
I could go on. In 1975 I read "The Ultra Secret" where F.W. Winterbotham revealed that, almost from Day 1, the Allies could read the German's ENIGMA cypher messages. Nowhere in his book does he mention America's contribution to the effort at NCR in nearby Dayton Ohio, though he admits that had the Allies not had this ability--maybe the war would've ended differently.
So if someone on the other side of the pond doesn't like how we do things,
1. repay any monies including interest still owed to us under the Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy, for starters,
2. do it yourself, and
3. don't bother us for help.
At least then you won't be taking our money with one hand and stabbing us in the back with the other.
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Kingpawn
Willy,
You do not seem to believe the Christ LOWERED himself to the form of a slave.
And gave no thought to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God, but he humbled himself and took a slave's form, John says.
Fatal,
I wasn't referring to you personally when I said that someone getting fanatical lost me--I referred to the person who first wrote the piece. Emotionalism like that turns me off--rational, logical discourse is what I want. In this case I think the Society has very good reasons not to believe the Trinity. If you and Willey want to believe that's your right.
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to "you-know-who"
by Incense_and_Peppermints in*** meet me in the casbah in two hours.
come alone rock the casbah - the clash.
now the king told the boogie men.
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Kingpawn
Hey Prof,
The picture you have up now makes me think of a young Mr. Spock. Oughtaa keep the old one.
(Maybe Spice'll change her mind?)
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Anyone Near Dayton OH
by zenpunk ini'm being flown out next week for a final interview and a tremendous job opportunity.
but before i sell the house and move - i was just wondering how many of you are out there and your opinions of the area (i will need some new good association).
also, i'm from the wilds of ny - do you think i can adjust to ohio?
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Kingpawn
Borgfree,
Didn't recognize your name but since I was df'ed about 1980 or so I wouldn't. I was in the North congregation. Interesting sidelight is that all three of the elders who df'ed me have also been expelled.
Do you hear from others in this area?
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Anyone Near Dayton OH
by zenpunk ini'm being flown out next week for a final interview and a tremendous job opportunity.
but before i sell the house and move - i was just wondering how many of you are out there and your opinions of the area (i will need some new good association).
also, i'm from the wilds of ny - do you think i can adjust to ohio?
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Kingpawn
Borgfree,
I'm in Greenville too! We might know each other! When/where did you get out of it?
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Kingpawn
I can't buy it.
To me, the angel speaks in Rev. 22:12-16 quoting Christ. It could be Christ in 18-20. But if one wants to believe in the Trinity, tell me where God was the nine months the Christ child was in Mary's womb? Did Jehovah suckle at a human woman's breast and play in the dirt and get His ass wiped? Was the universe on autopilot? Remember, at that time Satan hadn't been confined to Earth. Would God leave the helm for him to grab when he was still loose?
Also, when Christ says in Matt. 24:36 that even He didn't know when "that day and hour" would come, how then can He be equal to God? How can one part of "you" for example, know something that another part of "you" doesn't know if "you" are "one"? Makes God sound like Rodan on those Japanese sci-fi flicks to believe in the Trinity , doesn't it?
And as far as him saying, so can you turn a blind eye to this and allow your child to die, buddy take that argument (a red herring actually) and shove it where the sun doesn't shine. Now you're getting emotional--fanatical even--and you lose me there. As ex-JW's haven't we gotten beyond "If you don't believe me you're a bad person" yet? But that's the thrust of his argument around half-way through.