has anyone seen the new bank of america commercial for home mortgages?
it has a woman writing a letter to her husband about how she misses him.
at the end of the letter she says: i love you with every fiber of my being.
Xander,
I guess it's all a matter of perspective hon', to a lot of parents if displaying a 'tacky' sticker to celebrate and acknowledge their childs achievement will make said child feel loved and appreciated, it would be well worth enduring the embarrassment and inconvenience of temporarily mussing up a perfectly good bumper.
Then again it's a matter of priority.
Hey, by the way, didn't I see you buffing your bumper in the hospital parking lot the other day?
Peace baby
raven101
as 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:.
Leander, indeed it makes no sense, I now look at the bible as a work of fiction . . . and a particularly bad piece at that.
Stinky Pantz, good call on Nancee, you picked right up on the fact that she didn't answer anything!
Nancee, sad to say you didn't answer anything but just rattled off a hand fed load of hogwash. Much sadder to say you aren't at all aware of this fact, I'm not being facetious here, this is truly a tragic and almost insurmountable problem . . . you are absolutely blinded. I don't know what to say to you, I wish I could help. You are just being led around by the nose.
The fact that you indeed did not answer any of the questions and are under the impression that you not only answered them but with some imagined indisputable spiritual truth or something is shocking to me. I am really at a loss, but you will never find what you are searching for with those blinders on. Seriously look back at your 'answers', take a critical thinking class if necessary . . . you will hopefully see they are not answers at all.
ALL: I guess instead of feeling shocked and at a loss at Nancees blindness this is a good point for us all to be thankful we have removed that particular set of blinkers!!!!
Thanks to you all for assisting me in removing mine.
Thanks to you Simon for this sight (site)!
Looking back at this point I feel about the organization and all religion like someone skirting a serious auto accident or recovering from some acutely painful condition . . . "Whew! I'm glad I'm out of THAT one!"
raven101
barbara anderson gave her first hand account that there are many names and details of pedophiles' criminal activities inside wts headquarters.
many victims have come forward to say that the very pedophiles who victimized them are out on the streets.
so, what more is needed for the authorities to get a hold of those criminals that the wts is harboring?
I don't believe they will destroy files and I'll tell you why: the organization is a business and a political beast which is part of every government it exists in . . . however much they may tell pretend they aren't. They take advantage of, are cognizant of the laws and statutes where they operate. It's a BUSINESS for petes sake, they are not (however paranoid they are) going to bite the hands that feed them or set themselves up for serious consequences or DEMAND 'persecution'. On the contrary I am sure they will cooperate if the files are ordered, and things will go along much as before. They haven't, I assure you, got all their eggs in one basket and won't go under due to this. They'll send out a few scapegoats and ride along as usual, just like any world organization would do.
The world isn't going to 'turn' on them in particular at any point . . . thats just their grandiose paranoid delusion.
No if and when the shit hits the fan it will likely be a global chaos induced by the damage we as a species have done to this planet, something every human has responsibility for . . . however much we may pretend we aren't as 'bad' as other people (or nations).
raven101
heres something i have been thinking about.are religious beliefs and the cults they spawn, just part of mans growing understanding of the universe and in fact stages that man needed to go throught in order to progress in understanding?
i hope you understand that.
maybe human brains ,due to individual cirumstance and experience and genetic makeup reach many different conclutions about life and the universe and try to live by them.only beliefs and ways of life that are close to reality will be successful and lead to happy fuffilled lives , others will be filltered out with time untill mankind reaches a general consensus on what is the best way to live and most logical to believe.
Sleepy, I have thoughts much along the same lines tho I didn't isolate the specifics of this psychic evolution down to religion in general much less anything as specific as JW's.
It was very interesting to note your theory of a world concensus because this is precisely where I have speculated it may all be leading to, though I do not believe it will be the acceptance of any 'religion' but an understanding of the real truth which is not a static belief whatsoever and can't be translated into spoken language, much less a stringent dogma.
I figure it will happen, and most likely instantaneously, have you heard of the hundredth monkey phenomena?
All very interesting stuff, thanks for introducing an intriguing subject!
raven101
the july 1, 1962 wt.
asks "can the demons read our minds?
"" the demons.
Jesus christ! What will the demons think of me now?! The organizations got me so bamfoozled with all this demon talk the only time I feel comfrtable now is when I'm out a gnawin'brambles. I figger then mah countenance is pretty placid an they caint read mah deeper thoughts (I wonder if they know I just dirtied mahself)?
Edited by - raven101 on 8 July 2002 2:39:36
i've often wondered about god's promise to hagar, ishmael"s mother in genesis 16:10 and 17:20 where he promises that he will greatly multiply her descendants making them too numerous to count, and also telling abraham that he would also bless ishmael and "he would certainly produce twelve chieftains, and i will make him become a great nation".
verse 25 also mentions that ishmael was circumcised which would make him part of the covenant made between jehovah and abraham.
in genesis 21:13, after telling abraham to drive hagar and ishmael out of his camp as sarah told him to do, god promised abraham that he would make a nation of ishmael too, because he was also abraham's son.
I've wondered about the same thing, I don't know what it might be but I'm sure the wts has some weak-ass_inine reasoning as to why Islaam doesn't qualify as a 'gods' sanctioned religion.
Personally I don't think any of them do.
Hopefully someone who has heard the 'reasoning' (ha ha) will pick up on this thread and enlighten us.
raven101
here's the latest pic of erica's baby (cutest baby on earth).
hope this works!
i'm sure she'll post more.
Erica, congratulations!! He's absolutely adorable! And smart too, he already knows good basketball!
raven101
has anyone seen the new bank of america commercial for home mortgages?
it has a woman writing a letter to her husband about how she misses him.
at the end of the letter she says: i love you with every fiber of my being.
Hey Elsewhere and Gopher, I agree with both your points. How can we ever really make progress as a species if the media keeps pumping the same old sewage into our heads? Probably the worst ones I can think of right now are for a car (don't ask me which one)
They are obviously trying to sell to men because one shows a daughter proudly holding up her honors student bumper sticker and saying something like "Look what I earned daddy, can we put it on your car?" he looks at his precious car and says "Let's go put it on mommys car!" The other one a father takes his baby out for a ride in his precious car, the sprinkler is on and there are a few drops of water on the trunk, the baby is in only a cloth diaper and the 'daddy' cooing and pretending to play with the baby puts it down to sop up the water!!!!
These really pissed me off, what's the message here? A real man values his car far above his children. What will their next installment be I wonder, maybe the father will have a the choice of running over his kid or hitting a wall with his car. Next scene he will be calling 911 "There's been an accident!" Then in the next one he can be lovingly buffing his undented bumper in the hospital parking lot.
I really hate that one, if I notice which idiotic company sells it I may even write the jerks a letter!
raven101
i found this material on a pro-jw newsletter, and i've had this personal experience myself and know many others who have also.
before i became a jw i experienced a tremendous amount of "love" from the congregation i associated with, but once baptized they leave and move on to the next potential convert.
as a single person, i was never invited out to gatherings very much and always felt a little left out in the very clique-ish congregation that i attended.
The fact is the congregations are precisely like the rest of the world despite their assertion to the contrary, some 'good' some 'bad' in every one and whether you consider it more one or the other depends on your own perspective and situation in the organization . . . just like everywhere else.
There is not one iota of evidence that they have any more love than any other org. in fact there appears to be less, and maybe that has to do with the lack of social propriety encouraged by their policies and beliefs.
As far as how their behavior fails to jibe with their own bible, I have noticed through this thread, and in my own personal experience as well one particularly disturbing trend. The organizations failure to extend even common consideration to women with children and either non-existent or non-believing spouses. Not that I care to look it up but there is a scripture that speaks of caring for widows and fatherless children. Their behaviour in the largest part is quite the opposite.
In all my many years of dealing with numerous congregations I saw the same cliquish behaviour and social tendencies in them as I see all around the world. They are no less a part of the world than any other religion, whatever they may like to propound.
In my experience with this religion I saw no more indeed if anything LESS joy amongst the people than is evidenced in the average group of humans. It makes sense that there would be less joy as they are damning such a large population of the earth in their minds.
How can people be happy believing their own natural heart tendencies are dirty and despicable? How can someone be happy if they believe natural physical acts are vile and disgusting? How could anyone have any sense of evident hope and security if they believe in damnation, whether of themselves or other humans? How can you feel love if you are taught to hate and mistrust . . . not only your own inclinations but the entire world around you?
These people, this organization is no better than any other and worse than some.
Only when people throw all religion away and listen to their hearts can the conditions they all seem to long for become manifest.
raven101
god has been patient with evil in the world since the days of adam and eve.
his day is not tarrying but is right on schedule.
god, however, is presently showing patience and self-control, not only with the world of unbelievers but also with the congregation of his faithful witnesses.
Go on with your self-flagellation!
You really should take some medication for that histrionic hallucinatin' your doin' Comforter, it has nothing to do with reality.
Do you really feel that wicked and worthless?
I'm sorry for you
raven101
