Posts by Silverleaf

15

Birth Marks, hum learn something new...

by Xandria in

jw
friends

what are birthmarks?

birthmarks are areas of raised or flat discolored skin that are usually visible on a baby's skin at birth.

they tend to be the result of an abnormal development of blood or lymph vessels, but no one knows the exact cause of all birthmarks.

Silverleaf

SILVERLEAF,WHAT EVIDENCE DO U HAVE 4 YOUR ASSUMPTION?

badboy, I didn't make an assumption and I have no personal evidence of it. I was merely asking if anyone else had heard that theory. I have read several books on the subject of reincarnation - [which I do believe in btw] and they have discussed in varying degrees of detail the notion that birth marks seem to have a correlation to memories of past lives. I do not assume this is true, or false. I merely have read that some people believe it. Silverleaf

15

Birth Marks, hum learn something new...

by Xandria in

jw
friends

what are birthmarks?

birthmarks are areas of raised or flat discolored skin that are usually visible on a baby's skin at birth.

they tend to be the result of an abnormal development of blood or lymph vessels, but no one knows the exact cause of all birthmarks.

Silverleaf

Both my kids were born with strawberry hemangiomas - my daughter with one on her stomach and one under her arm. No one at the hospital mentioned them and since we didn't completely 'unwrap' her until we got her home we were a bit surprised when we saw them - each about the size of a quarter. They're finally fading but I don't think they will ever go away completely. My son had a small one on his arm which disappeared in a few years.

Have you ever heard the theory that birth marks may be related to events in past lives? Researchers who have studied people [especially children] who remember past lives have found an extremely strong correlation between birthmarks and causes of death, injury or illness in previous lives.

Silverleaf

28

Spirit sending pictures to earth from mars

by JH in

jw
friends

http://www.cnn.com/2004/tech/space/01/04/mars.rovers/index.html

it took 7 months to reach mars.

they will try to find signs of life on mars.

Silverleaf

Here's a news flash U2K - God/dess CREATED science, God/dess CREATED evolution and God/dess CREATED human intelligence. Not to use what we have been given by our CREATOR is the greatest sin.

"Its better to be closed minded then to be open minded,

The second greatest sin is use 'then' when you mean to use 'than.'

Ignorance is bliss though - so enjoy.

Silverleaf

44

You ..ARE NOT.. a true christian, if you don't believe Jesus IS God!

by gumby in

ah........christianity at it's best!.

http://www.witnessinc.com.. if you go to this site above......you will see this is a site maintained by former jw duane magnani.. on his page of what the "true gospel" is.......and what a"true christian" is.......he plainly states that if you do not believe jesus is god himself.........you have nothing.

he even proves all his points by cherry picking known modern scholars who will back him up!

Silverleaf

Forget what I said before - I have seen the light and now I am a follower of Kahless. I will die gloriously in battle and Feklar will take me to StoVoKor while all the rest of you heathens chase the Goddess of Empathy through the Holodeck.

Silverleaf

44

You ..ARE NOT.. a true christian, if you don't believe Jesus IS God!

by gumby in

ah........christianity at it's best!.

http://www.witnessinc.com.. if you go to this site above......you will see this is a site maintained by former jw duane magnani.. on his page of what the "true gospel" is.......and what a"true christian" is.......he plainly states that if you do not believe jesus is god himself.........you have nothing.

he even proves all his points by cherry picking known modern scholars who will back him up!

Silverleaf

You are not a "true" trekkie, unless you believe that Captain Kirk was the best Captain ever. Belief in any other captain is heresy, and you will suffer eternal damnation. At least according to orthodox trekkism.
I, on the other hand, am a reformed trekkie, and follower of Captain Pickard.

This is heresy! Blasphemy I say! You are obviously under the influence of the Denebian Slime Devil and should be shot out of an airlock forthwith! Silverleaf

16

What is the difference between Christianity and Paganism?

by CruithneLaLuna in

recently i had the opportunity to read the first three or four chapters of a very interesting book: the jesus mysteries : was the "original jesus" a pagan god?

i regret that circumstances prevented me from completing my reading.

i may choose to purchase a copy of this book for my personal library, and so that i can finish reading it.

Silverleaf

I recently read "The Jesus Mysteries" and was amazed by it. It answered a lot of questions and raised a few more. What fascinated me was the apparent fierceness with which the early Literalist Christians tried to stamp out any opposing beliefs. It showed me, at least, that literalist Christianity is more of a weapon by which to subjugate people and control the masses than a religion. It surprised me that such dangerous thinking took hold so completely and spread all over the world and that this ignorance still exists today. It was refreshing to find authors who were not afraid to tell the truth as they found it. Of course they will be labeled as demonized heretics by the faithful, but the mindset of fear and repression that led to the literalist movement will probably never be completely erased.

It was a great read.

Silverleaf

18

Questions..falling in love with a JW...

by twizzle in

jw
friends

i'd like the answer to the "boy meets worldly girl" question as well.

i was going to reply to the previous post but realized when i got to the end of my rant that other topics worth considering are mentioned in my message:

as a "worldly girl" (well, i'm 29) i've spent the last few days reading all i can about "the society" and trying to figure out what the hell has gone on in my life for the past few months.

Silverleaf

Dear Chel, you wrote:

Thank you - not at all what I wanted to hear, but I don't doubt that it is the truth. It just occured to me how messed up I really am. Even the happiest thoughts (your long marriage and two great kids) are painful to hear. You'd think I'd like to see the same things in my future, but truthfully, right now it hurts beyond all measure to ponder for more than a second a future that doesn't include him.

I know. I absolutely know. At the time I thought I was throwing away the only chance at happiness I would ever get. I couldn't imagine ever feeling that way for someone else - and you know what? I never did feel that way with anyone else. When I met my husband it was different. It wasn't the same type of love just with another person, it was a different love all together. It was a feeling that made sense, and a relationship that didn't cause me pain. I never had to question it. And it put everything else that had come before in a totally different perspective.

Take some time, Chel, and take care of yourself. It will get better, honest.

Silverleaf

18

Questions..falling in love with a JW...

by twizzle in

jw
friends

i'd like the answer to the "boy meets worldly girl" question as well.

i was going to reply to the previous post but realized when i got to the end of my rant that other topics worth considering are mentioned in my message:

as a "worldly girl" (well, i'm 29) i've spent the last few days reading all i can about "the society" and trying to figure out what the hell has gone on in my life for the past few months.

Silverleaf

Hello twizzle, welcome to the board. I have great sympathy for you - I was there a long time ago.

I was in my 20s when an old friend came back into my life. He had grown up, changed, become responsible and hard working, had his life together, it seemed. We started dating and fell in love and had a wonderful time until he broke the news that he was a JW. They were responsible for the positive changes in his life - and while that was great in some ways, they also destroyed who he was. They took away his independence and they blackmailed him. His 'new family' whom he loved more than his biological family, threatened to cut him off from their attentions if he continued seeing me. It broke my heart. He wanted to find a way to cheat the rules, he thought if we got married before he was baptized they would eventually have to forgive him and maybe over time I would start studying and come into the truth as well.

Everything I saw and learned about this religion during that time appalled me. The emotional hell they put him through was unforgivable and the emotional hell he put me through taught me a valuable lesson. He may love you and you may love him, but if he puts his religion first then he doesn't love you enough to make it work. I don't mean to be harsh, but consider yourself lucky to have found out now when you can still get away easily. Do yourself a huge favor and walk away, close the door and cut him off. Don't compromise yourself for the sake of the Watchtower Society. They're a destructive cult and they are nowhere the 'TRUTH' they claim to be. It will hurt now, but in the long run you will be happier if you stay as far away from this religion as you possibly can.

When we ended our tumultuous relationship I thought I had given up my only chance at true love. I was sooooo wrong! This August my husband and I celebrated our 11th wedding aniversary. We have two great kids and I thank my lucky stars every day I didn't make the necesasry compromises to keep my JW-ex. I would probably be miserable and bitter today. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, twizzle. Let him put Jehovah first, and you put yourself first - you will have a better life in the end and trust me, you won't regret the decision.

Silverleaf

38

Halloween after leaving the JW's

by TresHappy in

when i was a kid, we did halloween every year.

no big deal, just costumes and trick or treating, but that was the 70's.

when i was 11 we stopped celebrating everything, and several years ago i left the jw's.

Silverleaf

Silverleaf:

I guess we can both "agree to disagree."

Mizpah, that's proabably the best course of action.

I still feel the church was corrupted as it accepted the pagan ideas. It's worthy to note that by Constantine's time pagan worship became the main influence in the church. (Constantine himself was a pagan sun worshipper.) I totally agree with you that the church leaders from this time on incorporated the pagan customs and traditions to convert the pagans of the surrounding nations. Their religious practices can still be seen in the celebration of the church's main holidays which strongly reflect the pagan's belief in the "birth of the sun" and the fertility rites. (Christmas and Easter) And it was obvious that part of the motive for converting them was for temporal power rather than for spiritual reasons.

This I agree with.

But one must separate the early beliefs and practices of the Christian church with those of later times. Early Christians sacrificed themselves rather than compromise.

And many of them martyred themselves as well. Many to add to the persecution mythos.

The early church persuaded with a message of love and compassion.

Sorry. I still disagree with this. Perhaps Gnostic Christianity did have this message, but Literalist Christians were about punishment and reward.

It was the reason that so many pagans were attracted to it.

Huh? Attracted to the church or attracted to staying alive and thus converted to save themselves being tortured into it?

It was the pagan powers that became alarmed and persecuted the early church.

Once again, nah. I absolutely do not agree with this.

As far as "fabricated stories" one must not forget that the few historical records we have ot the Celts and Druids came from pagan sources. (Greek and Roman) These pagan historians put them in very bad light speaking of human sacrifices and other practices which even shocked them. It is no wonder that the neo-pagans attempt to dismiss these accounts.

And Christians often dismiss accounts of the brutality of the early church. As I said before, all religion has a bloody history, not just Paganism and not just Christianity. To deny that is useless. What we practice today, whether we are Pagan or Christian or anything else is different from what was practiced centuries ago. If you don't want the brutality of early Christianity to color someone's perception of modern Christianity you must afford the same courtesy to Paganism.

Like you, I enjoy the mind stimulation of these discussions. But I do get concerned when the discussions degrade to name calling and belittling.

I do apologize for my tendency to become sarcastic. Circular arguments make me very frustrated. But I'm all for truly heartfelt debate.

Silverleaf

38

Halloween after leaving the JW's

by TresHappy in

when i was a kid, we did halloween every year.

no big deal, just costumes and trick or treating, but that was the 70's.

when i was 11 we stopped celebrating everything, and several years ago i left the jw's.

Silverleaf

Mizpah,

It is worthy to note, though, that the corruption of the church came with the acceptance of pagan traditons and customs.

Sorry, I disagree with that completely. The corruption of the church came with the political agenda of church leaders who wanted power over the masses. Having a religion that relied on a truly individual path to enlightenment that could only be reached through knowledge and understanding rather than blind obedience did not sit well with the power hungry church leaders. That is what corrupted the true Christian belief system, absolutely not the inclusion of so called ?pagan? traditions ? which was a ploy again to entice indigenous peoples into giving up their own religions and capitulating with the church, since it was in all actuality, easier to convince them to comply than to kill them all.

Silverleaf:

I am sure you are aware that history and Bible scholars have a wide range of opinions and conclusions. It depends upon which author/historian one has faith in as to what conclusions one comes to. Obviously, you have faith in those who disbelieve and condemn the Bible. I do not.

And that is your right. I have no problem with differences of opinion. I just have a problem with people spouting what they think are truths about Paganism that any practicing Pagan today knows are simply false and are only repetitions of the lies that were fabricated years ago as a means to destroy religions that did not agree with so called ?one true? faith. Religion as a whole, has a bloody and very unclean history, it doesn?t matter which one you choose. I have a problem when people place Christianity in a perfectly pristine light and blatantly ignore the historical facts about its past which is as unseemly as that of any other religion.

You wrongly judge me. I would never want Bible critics to be killed.

I wasn?t saying you did, I was asking if you did. And it was a rhetorical question.

I leave all judgment up to God. I would much prefer the critics to find God in their search. I remind you that it was those who published and read the Bible who were often persecuted and killed by the church. It was only when the authority of the church was broken primarily by the Protestant reformation that the spirit of religious freedom and human rights were established.

Says something about the church, doesn?t it?

Like you, I am only a student of these subjects. I make no claim as an authority. But like you, I do reach certain conclusions and feel the right to express them.

You have every right to express them, and to be honest I really enjoy a good debate on the subject. I mean no ill will to anyone but I reserve the right to refute any false claims and challenge any ascertations of fact.

Silverleaf