iii, p. 712).
vi, p. 137, pp.
cit., pp.
I must admit that Bushby's stuff simply sounded too good to be true. I wish it were that simple. Maybe it's even simpler.
A long and short version of Mark is enough to tell me that these are not writings protected by some miraculous force.
The book of John obviously has two endings one of which seems to have been cut and pasted from Mark.
If the Bible in its current state were really "God's" unaltered word that would be enough reason to be an ahteist.
especially those who didn't go on account of the borg (the vast majority).
do you regret this decision?
if you did go what would you have studied?
Both my parents were devout JW's. My dad had a degree and was a licensed Professional Engineer and head of a lab at a major manufacturing corp. My parents wanted me to go to college - they knew I couldn't make it in the trades or physical occupations. But, I listened to the Watchtower. I graduated in 1963. I had the draft breathing down my back. I probably would have gone to college if I wouldn't have a prison sentence waiting as soon as I would graduate from college. Upon graduating from college you lost your student exemption from the military. If I thought alternative service would be allowed I probably would have gone to college.
I pioneered for three years. In 1966 I went to the assembly in Toronto determined to examine my heart with a view to getting off the pioneer list and attending college. That was the assembly that started us down the 1975 trail. I decided to keep pioneering.
I have two kids in college - one completing their Masters another one is completing their final year to be a teacher.
Life would have been a lot richer, secure and interesting if I had gone to college. I was born one month before the end of WWII. My generation was extremely blessed. The road in front of us was wide open. Plenty of space in college, work-place, home buying. We were buoyed up by the huge swell of baby-boomers immedeiately behind us. I would have had a lot of lucky breaks.
it's fairly well established that organized social activity is almost non-existent in kingdom halls worldwide.. .
the purpose of going to the hall and preaching is to worship god.
yet, the wt leave out a critical component to their.
I've been in a lot of congregations but the current one suits me just fine. In the 16 years I've been in this congregation I haven't been invited to an Elder's house once. I've even commented on this at the Watchtower study once when we were discussing Christian Hospitality. Still nothing has changed. It's unbelievable. My previous congregation I was in 9 years and I was invited to Elder's houses at least twice per year. It all depends. There really is a difference in halls. But, I like the anonymity I enjoy at the present hall. It's still hard for me to comprehend how they could be so self absorbed.
That's one of the proofs there really are no angels directing the work. Or maybe the Angel's are protecting the Elder's from me.
a neighbor told me about the book, "the secret".
i read it and thoroughly enjoyed.
it places emphasis on the "universe" but can be understood to be a supreme being (god).
i notice that nature magazine ( may 31 2007) has a cover article called "younger for longer" - about genetic expression in longevity.
experiments.
i am happy to finally see that mainstream science is taking aging research seriously and giving it the attention that it needs.. i can recall a comedian once making a joke about holding a "telethon to stop death" and i wondered why that seemed anymore humorous.
100% of the people who are 99 years old want to live to 100
how many people trust elders?.
today an elder said,"elders lie because human imperfection!".
i said,"so your excuse is human imperfections for elders to lie, yet they disfellowship people on human imperfections all the time.".
Occasionally you have to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me god. Lying under oath has to carry a risk that helps avoid a greater harm.
romans 14 shows that some jewish christians in rome abstained from meat, while others did not.
apparently there was a bit of a tussle between the two camps.
now the big question is why exactly did some feel they needed to abstain from meat?.
In the 7th Chapter of Mark, Jesus was attacking the hypocrisy of the Pharisees by explaining the real basis of the Law
vs 14: Listen to me, all of you, and get the meaning. (15) There is nothing from outside a man that passes into him that can defile him; but the things that issue forth out of a man are the things that defile a man.
Apparently the disciples were beginning to get the meaning of what he said but wanted clarification vs 17.
Jesus repeats what he said in vs 15 with a little bit of elaboration.
Finally, Mark sums up the meaning in the final part of vs 19 "Thus he declared all foods clean"
Nothing that you eat with the intent of nourishing your body is "unclean". That would include shell-fish as well as blood.
how many people trust elders?.
today an elder said,"elders lie because human imperfection!".
i said,"so your excuse is human imperfections for elders to lie, yet they disfellowship people on human imperfections all the time.".
The one thing I can trust about anyone is that they frequently lie. You could not have society without lying. This can be fabrication and embellishment of stories we tell - all the way to cover ups of misdeeds.
I would love to see how many people would consent to a lie detector test for our simple lies:
Do you wash your hands after going to the bathroom.
Do you pick your nose on occasion and "put it somewhere".
Do you ever double dip?
Do you drink out of the family juice bottle instead of pouring a glass?
Do you look in people's medicine cabinet?
If you are a guest in someone's house and they aren't home do you take a "personal" tour?
Some scientists think our big brains developed specifically to conceal information from our social groups.
when the berlin wall came down, even before the offical dissolution of the soviet union, the watchtower was quick to back away from the idea that russia was the king of the north.
nothing really changed.
true, there is an appearance of friendship and cooperation between russia and the us but russia is the one country that can totally destroy the usa.
James Free:
Remember MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction). Unfortunately there are MAD men in this world. There were people on both sides in the cold war that believed whoever got off the first launch would win. MAD was just a public policy statment. Both sides were prepared to win a nuclear war and boths sides knew the advantage went to the side that acted preemptively
Russia is the only country in the world that has enough nuclear weapons to pose a credible threat to the USA.
Here is a rough estimate of deliverable nuclear warheads.
USA 6000
Russia 3200
Great Britain 200
France 350
China 350
India 100
Pakistan 75
Israel 200
N. Korea 14
Sure, a single warhead can do immense damage, however to win a nuclear war you have to be able to wipe out the other sides capabilities as well as bust up their key cities.
This requires a first strike. And only Russia has enough missiles to do that.
As far as Iraq is concerned - please note when this post was originally started and consider the context of the times.
when the berlin wall came down, even before the offical dissolution of the soviet union, the watchtower was quick to back away from the idea that russia was the king of the north.
nothing really changed.
true, there is an appearance of friendship and cooperation between russia and the us but russia is the one country that can totally destroy the usa.
Zagor:
There is one major problem with the idea that the King of the North is the European Union.
Political relations are the domain of each individual member. In that sense it is just an expanded economic cooperative union not a single political entity. There are many groupings of this sort that start with agreements on tariffs and trade and idealistically aim to form a political/military/judicial/legislative union. These efforts seldom get beyond the economic issues.
The King of the North on the other hand ought to be situated geographically in the North as Russia is. There is nothing North of Russia. No one would seriously consider Canada the King of the North over Russia. Russia is the largest country in the World covering 11 time zones. It is interesting to type RUSSIA NATIONALITIES PROBLEMS into google. You will see that Russia with over 180 nationalities has a real iron/clay mixture. That's why Chechnya is so critical to Russia. A large part of what remains of Russia is like Chechnya. If Chechnya were to leave its Russian orbit all of Russia could crumble.
Another interesting aspect is the concept of "The Third Rome" . Russia considers itself the successor to the Roman Empire. Type RUSSIA THIRD ROME into google.
