Anders Andersen

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Posts by Anders Andersen

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  20

  May 15, 2016 Re: Answers to 10 Questions Young People Ask

  by wifibandit in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  may 15, 2016 to all congregations re: answers to 10 questions young people ask.

  publication in question: answers to 10 questions young people ask ypq-e.

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  Anders Andersen

  Page 16:

  
  

  
  

  DID YOU KNOW?
  Besides physical assaults, bullying can also include:
  
  Verbal attacks. “I’ll never forget the names they called me or the things they said. They made me feel worthless, unwanted, and good-for-nothing. I’d rather have been given a black eye.”—Celine, 20.
  
  Social isolation. “My schoolmates started to avoid me. They would make it seem that there was no room at the lunch table, so I couldn’t sit with them. For the whole year, I cried and ate alone.”—Haley, 18.

  
  

  Name calling: evil apostates, weak, vicious liars, slanderors, Satan's seed...etc.etc.etc.

  
  

  Social isolation: marked or shunned much anyone?
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  19

  Today's Text - Draw Close To God... (BUT HOW???)

  by Divergent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here's where i stand at the moment: i neither categorize myself as a theist, atheist, or agnostic.

  i'm a freethinker and do not have a specific belief at the moment, unless something comes along which is 100% conclusive & convincing.

  which brings us to tackling the elephant in the room, something that today's text has failed to do:.

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  Anders Andersen

  And I walk away frustrated as if I'm talking to air.

  Well....that's because you are talking to air.

  The Biblical God doesn't make sense on so many levels, it's quite ridiculous to think it exists. And since that flavor is the most spread flavor of God, I tend to assume that if there were a God, this would be it. So my conclusion is: none exist.

  BTW isn't it strange that before some Roman emperor made Christianity the state religion, most people on earth worshipped all kinds of true God's, and never heard about Jehovah? Only a small country of shepherds worshipped that one. Doesn't make much of an impression.

  Especially because those shepherds at times also worshipped other Gods they thought were equally real as Jehovah. Can you imagine seeing all the supposed miracles by Jehovah, and then go worship a wooden idol? Of course not! So either the miracles never happened, or it wasn't clear Jehovah performed them, or the miracles attributed to the other God's were just as convincing.

  For me it was an eye-opening moment to realize that to the Israelites, 'false' gods were just as real as Jehovah.

  And they are just as real, as none of them actually exists as a living being....
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  30

  Flying Scotsman Visits My Town

  by cofty in

  1. social
  2. current

  the iconic steam engine the flying scotsman has been restored and is back on tour along the east coast main line between london and edinburgh.

  this evening it crossed the royal border bridge in berwick-on-tweed for the first time since it was put out of service in january 1963.. here are few shots.. .

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  Anders Andersen

  Are those the British? Looks a lot like Wagner to me...but apparently world wide blinkers were variants of either Wagner or Witte designs, so that makes sense.
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  30

  Flying Scotsman Visits My Town

  by cofty in

  1. social
  2. current

  the iconic steam engine the flying scotsman has been restored and is back on tour along the east coast main line between london and edinburgh.

  this evening it crossed the royal border bridge in berwick-on-tweed for the first time since it was put out of service in january 1963.. here are few shots.. .

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  Anders Andersen

  @stan,

  Thanks for pointing that out. Evidently I didn't pay enough attention to the differences between those two. The Witte type blinkers are much more elegant than the Wagner type btw.

  Don't sweat the rivet counter mode; I love details like that and am a bit ashamed I failed to bluff myself into the steam engine lovers society :-D

  But during my Sunday afternoon Wikipedia railroad journey I learnt a lot about British railroads, steam engines, blowback (the Flying Scotsman had an incident as recent as 2012, semaphores, etc.

  And I had some time to spare: my wife was at the circuit assembly :-p

  Oh but now I'm wondering what British blinker design would look like....Wikipedia here I come....
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  63

  You know, I've yet to meet a JW who can explain this

  by Lady Zombie in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i know that has probably been covered ad infinitum on jwd.

  so...... if jehovah is omnipotent, then there is nothing he can't do and nothing he doesn't know.. and, according to jws (as well as most other religions), god is love.

  therefore he had to have known, even before creating all of creation, what would happen.

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  Anders Andersen

  @Freeandclear:

  Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

  But the constant failure to provide at least some credible evidence of existence, combined with the utter confusion among those who claim to know about God, and the deafening silence when asking for any relevant answers from either God or its supposed representatives can only point to one clear conclusion: there is no God, or there is a God but it does not interfere with us, so for all intents and purposes it doesn't exist.
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  32

  The Congregational Make Up Research Project: WTB&TS wants to know you.

  by oppostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  we have a bethel speaker on the english side.

  they're pretty regular up here since it's only three and a half hours drive from nyc.. but this is a special kind of visit.. it turns out he's involved in doing a special research project and the christian congregation of jw's wants to know us better.. in order for the broadcasting to address issues more meaningful for families, they want to know the demographic make up of the congregations.. he spoke with the secretary about young single publishers and couples 20-35 y.o.

  how are they employed.

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  Anders Andersen

  My guess: they're looking for actors/actresses, interviewees and stories for the videos.
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  19

  Today's Text - Draw Close To God... (BUT HOW???)

  by Divergent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here's where i stand at the moment: i neither categorize myself as a theist, atheist, or agnostic.

  i'm a freethinker and do not have a specific belief at the moment, unless something comes along which is 100% conclusive & convincing.

  which brings us to tackling the elephant in the room, something that today's text has failed to do:.

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  Anders Andersen

  Although it's not certain, it very well might be that Time started with the Big Bang. So possibly not even that 'God' existed before our universe existed.

  Yeah. It's dizzying :-p
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  63

  You know, I've yet to meet a JW who can explain this

  by Lady Zombie in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i know that has probably been covered ad infinitum on jwd.

  so...... if jehovah is omnipotent, then there is nothing he can't do and nothing he doesn't know.. and, according to jws (as well as most other religions), god is love.

  therefore he had to have known, even before creating all of creation, what would happen.

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  Anders Andersen

  A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them;
  the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.
  Proverbs 22:3

  A sensible man watches for problems ahead and prepares to meet them.
  The simpleton never looks and suffers the consequences.
  Proverbs 27:12

  Compare God’s use of foreordination with the way he uses his power. As the Almighty, God has absolute power. (Psalm 91:1; Isaiah 40:26, 28) But does he use his power in an uncontrolled manner? No. For instance, he held back from acting against Babylon, an enemy of ancient Israel, until the time was right. “I kept exercising self-control,” God said. (Isaiah 42:14) The same principle applies to his use of foreknowledge and foreordination. Jehovah exercises self-control in order to respect the free will that he gave us.
  Awakazine!

  Selective foreknowledge means that God could choose not to foreknow indiscriminately all the future acts of his creatures. This would mean that, rather than all history from creation onward being a mere rerun of what had already been foreseen and foreordained, God could with all sincerity set before the first human pair the prospect of everlasting life in an earth free from wickedness.
  Insight - Foreknowledge

  According to Jehovah's Witnesses theology Jehovah is not prudent, shrewd or sensible, but a simpleton and inexperienced.
  He deliberately chose to not know what he could have known - the consequences of his own actions. Result: billions suffered badly. This is the worst f#ckup in all history of design and decision making. Ever.
  
  In this theology God is like a pedestrian who chooses to close his eyes when crossing a highway, in order to not influence the drivers' free will to brake, swerve or just overrun him. It doesn't make sense at all.

  On the bright side: all this is like discussing whether Superman's feces are orange or blue.
  (We all know he doesn't go #2 ever ;-))
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  35

  What should I visit while in New York

  by wannaexit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am planning a trip to new york and trying to develop an itinerary.

  t will be my first time.

  what do you suggest i see?

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  Anders Andersen

  I've been in NYC for 5 days while traveling home from Panama. Wasted 2 days on cult buildings. What a shame.

  On the bright side, I really loved the trip to Wallkill/Patterson as the city was a bit too busy for me, coming back from a tiny 2nd-world village in the middle of nowhere. Loved the scenery as well.
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  19

  Today's Text - Draw Close To God... (BUT HOW???)

  by Divergent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here's where i stand at the moment: i neither categorize myself as a theist, atheist, or agnostic.

  i'm a freethinker and do not have a specific belief at the moment, unless something comes along which is 100% conclusive & convincing.

  which brings us to tackling the elephant in the room, something that today's text has failed to do:.

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  Anders Andersen

  God does interact with you. You just have to listen! You're not trying hard enough!
  
  And you got it all backwards: "for whoever approaches God must believe that he is"
  So first you should start believing, then you can approach God, and then the voices in your head will take over 

  On a more serious note: yeah, normally friends communicate with each other. One person just talking to an invisible, unheard imaginary friend can not be called communication.
  
  And a collection of ancient letters from that 'friend', written by 40 guys I don't know either, that doesn't help either. Just because there are books in the library doesn't mean I'm friends with all those writers...