Perry

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Posts by Perry

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  160

  Beliefs About What Caused the Universe

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the universe can be observed to be expanding.. an expanding universe must have had a beginning.

  whatever begins to exist had a cause.

  therefore the universe had a cause.

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  Perry

  The problem is more whether the concept of 'before a beginning' is even useful, and it certainly doesn't imply a 'causer'.

  Doesn't imply a Causer? What kind of a beginning doesn't have a cause?
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  160

  Beliefs About What Caused the Universe

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the universe can be observed to be expanding.. an expanding universe must have had a beginning.

  whatever begins to exist had a cause.

  therefore the universe had a cause.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  Perry

  Which is more extreme?

  A. Imagining things coming into existence without a cause

  B. Imagining a first cause existing beyond our cause and effect (space/time) universe
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  160

  Beliefs About What Caused the Universe

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the universe can be observed to be expanding.. an expanding universe must have had a beginning.

  whatever begins to exist had a cause.

  therefore the universe had a cause.

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  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Perry

  Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves - Ps. 100:3

  what caused the Causer to exist?

  The Causer that caused the Space-Time Universe to exist must by necessity exist apart from space-time. Otherwise if he was part of the space-time system, then he would have had a beginning and would also have need of a cause.

  Existing outside of the space-time universe solves the problem of needing a first-cause for our observable existence, while at the same time providing insight into the uniqueness of this first cause.

  Isaiah 45:5-6 - I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me.... from the rising of the sun, and from the west, there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.
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  160

  Beliefs About What Caused the Universe

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the universe can be observed to be expanding.. an expanding universe must have had a beginning.

  whatever begins to exist had a cause.

  therefore the universe had a cause.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Perry

  The universe can be observed to be expanding.

  An expanding universe must have had a beginning.

  Whatever begins to exist had a cause.

  Therefore the universe was caused by something. 

  What Caused the Universe to exist?
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  18

  The question of who man/woman actually is...

  by The Rebel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  naturally leads to the question of god.

  why does man need god?

  why does man create god?

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  Perry

  Why does man need God?

  Man needs God because, left to himself man serves his fallen flesh, which is a cruel master. God is a wonderful alternative. 
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  76

  Socialism

  by Perry in

  1. social
  2. current

  socialists think that money will solve all man's problems.

  everything is obsessively related to money in the socialist ideology.. they have an almost supernatural ability to blame others with more money.

  god calls this greed and envy.

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  Perry

  Debt Clock

  The bomb is tickng.
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  19

  Door to Door

  by Drifting Away in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i hear my wife say to me " we are the only religion that does the will of god , and that is to preach door to door, and speak about gods kingdom" and in one sense she is correct, i know there are others that preach door to door, but then someone told me door to door, does not literally mean door to door in modern times.

  i was confused, has anyone ever heard of this before?

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  Perry

  Exactly Vanderhoven.

  Jesus was once asked a similar question:

  John 6 - What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

  
  I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst....

  
  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life I am that bread of life. ... I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

  Unfortunately, Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe Jesus when he said to eat and drink the emblems of the New Covenant.

  Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins - Mt. 26: 27-28

  Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the New Covenant (Testament) is for rulership positions in the Millennium reign and not for the "remission of sins" as Jesus clearly stated.

  
  

  Whom we believe determines our destiny, just as it always has... since Eden. This is the eternal standard of governance for free moral agents. God honors our choices.

  for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. - Gal. 2: 16
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  20

  Newbie

  by Ryan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi, only just joined.

  going through a rough time at the moment and maybe this could help.

  any body around 27 year old age.

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  Perry

  Hi Ryan,

  Glad to have you on board.

  Someone once said, "When you are going through a rough time, keep going".

  - Perry
• 
  76

  Socialism

  by Perry in

  1. social
  2. current

  socialists think that money will solve all man's problems.

  everything is obsessively related to money in the socialist ideology.. they have an almost supernatural ability to blame others with more money.

  god calls this greed and envy.

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  Perry

  Socialism does not lift people out of poverty anywhere near as good as capitalism. Socialism promises things that it cannot possibly deliver on over time. Once the socialist politician realizes the inability to deliver, social unrest & two other things usually develop. First, a scapegoat must be found to blame the inability, and two a state security system needs to be erected to keep the socialists in office. The Jews were scapegoats in the last century and we saw security systems like the SS secret police and the KGB keep the socialists in power.

  The basic socialist cycle goes something like this:

  1. Convince the populace that the government can solve their problems of inequality with cradle to grave govt. programs

  2. Get the population dependent on govt. programs

  3. Take away their guns

  4. Increase taxes

  5. Blame the scapegoat for the inability to deliver on promises

  6. Have the national police round up the protesters

  Once citizens are weaned on this cradle-to-grave concept and are no longer self-reliant, they become wards of the state and will not accept any reduction of services. The government subsequently has no option but to reduce services, and as popular resistance develops, State repression begins. This is the socialist cycle.

  
  

  The capitalist must perform to market standards. Competition will put him out of business if he provides an inferior product or service. He is furthermore constrained by his customers, stockholders, board of directors, lending institutions, as well as numerous laws, and, if all else fails, product liability statutes.
  
  
• 
  76

  Socialism

  by Perry in

  1. social
  2. current

  socialists think that money will solve all man's problems.

  everything is obsessively related to money in the socialist ideology.. they have an almost supernatural ability to blame others with more money.

  god calls this greed and envy.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Perry

  John Hawkins has this to say about Socialism:

  1) Socialism benefits the few at the expense of the many: Socialism is superior to capitalism in one primary way: It offers more security. It's almost like an extremely expensive insurance policy that dramatically cuts into your quality of life, but insures that if worse comes to worse, you won't drop below a very minimal lifestyle. For the vast majority of people, this would be a terrible deal. On the other hand, if you're lazy, completely incompetent or alternately, just have a streak of very bad luck, the meager benefits provided by socialism may be very appealing. So a socialist society forces the many to suffer in order to make it easier for the few. It's just as

  Winston Churchill once noted, "The inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."

  2) Capitalism encourages entrepreneurship while socialism discourages it: A government in a capitalist economy can quite easily give everyone equality of opportunity with a few basic laws and regulations, but socialism strives to create equality of results. This should frighten people who value their freedom because ultimately, as F.A. Hayek has noted, "A claim for equality of material position can be met only by a government with totalitarian powers."

  You can see this happening in America as our efforts to reduce "inequality" have led to an ever expanding government and a vast regulatory tangle that is almost unexplainable despite the fact that it is certainly enforceable. Capitalism encourages people to start a business and build a better life for themselves while socialism lays in wait with IRS agents, nooses made of red tape and meddling bureaucrats looking for businesses to control and loot.

  3) Capitalism leads to innovation: Coming up with new products is often time consuming, expensive and hit or miss. Nine ideas may fail before that tenth one takes off. The less the creative people behind these ideas are allowed to benefit, the less time, money and effort they'll put into developing new concepts and inventions. Put another way, the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward has to be to convince people to take it. Capitalism offers big rewards for productive people while socialism offers makers only a parade of bureaucratic leeches who want to take advantage of their "good fortune."

  4) Capitalism produces more economic growth: Capitalism produces considerably more economic growth than socialism and as John Kennedy said, "A rising tide lifts all boats."

  A fast growing economy produces more jobs, more wealth and helps everyone. Many people assume that capitalism isn't working if there are still poor people, but that misses the point. In many parts of the world, poverty means living in a hut with a dirt floor while in America, most poor Americans have TVs, refrigerators and cell phones. The rich may take home a larger share of the pie in capitalism, but the poor also benefit tremendously from living in a growing, thriving economy.

  5) Socialism is too slow to adapt: Capitalism is extremely good at allocating capital to where it's most valued. It has to be. Either you give people what they are willing to pay for or someone else will. On the other hand, socialism is slow and stupid for a variety of reasons. Because the government is spending someone else's money, it doesn’t get particularly concerned about losing money. Political concerns about appearances often trump the effectiveness of a program. Moreover, even if politicians and bureaucrats are intelligent and competent, which are big "ifs," they're simply not going to have the specific knowledge needed to make decisions that may impact thousands of different industries. This is why capitalism may have its share of troubles, but when there are really colossal economic screw-ups, you'll always find the government neck deep in the whole mess.

  6) Socialism is inherently wasteful: Milton Friedman once said, "Nobody spends somebody else’s money as carefully as he spends his own. Nobody uses somebody else’s resources as carefully as he uses his own."

  This is very true and it means that the more capital that is taken out of the economy and distributed, the more of it that will be wasted. The market does a considerably better job of allocating resources than the government because there are harsh penalties for failure. A company that makes products no one wants will go out of business. A poorly performing government program that wastes a hundred times more money will probably receive a bigger budget the next year.

  7) Capitalism works in concert with human nature while socialism works against it: Ayn Rand said it well, "America’s abundance was created not by public sacrifices to ‘the common good,’ but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes. They did not starve the people to pay for America’s industrialization. They gave the people better jobs, higher wages and cheaper goods with every new machine they invented, with every scientific discovery or technological advance—and thus the whole country was moving forward and profiting, not suffering, every step of the way,"

  but Adam Smith said it better,“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.”

  A man will work much harder to take care of himself, his family and his friends than he will to make money for the state, which will then waste most of it before redistributing it to people who aren't working as hard as the man who earned it in the first place.