question: why did god use adam's rib to make eve.
why not his ass, his toe, his appendix or his ear?
Isn't there a complete explanation in Genesis? Wasn't it something about woman coming from near his heart so he would love her and under his arm so he would protect her and all that?
Just wondering, could look it up, but don't feel like it.
Silverleaf
if the talibans win here is the glimpse of the future....... * .
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Abaddon writes:
>>What SHIT like this does is make moderate Muslims fear for their safety and their lives. How clever, let's be so stupid and bigoted we drive away people ON OUR SIDE to the other side out of fear that Muslims everywhere will be tarred with the same brush as the crazies.<<
Actually, it's the crazies who are painting all of Islam with the same brush. The Taliban thinks they represent pure Islam, they think they are fighting a holy war for the purity of their faith and they think God is on their side. They think the US is the enemy of all Islam because they think THEY are the true seat of Islam. People in other parts of the world are getting two different messages. One is that Muslims are peaceful and would not ever condone hurting anyone for any reason [despite their being involved in a lot of conflicts throughout the world, but that's beside the point] and the other message is from the Taliban that Pure Islam has Declared Holy War on America, Jews, tax payers, - oh, whoever gets in their way. While I sympathize with the peaceful Muslims who have no desire to hurt anyone, I think they need to ask who's fault is this bigotry? When a so called Muslim leader stands up and says "We hate Americans," and Islamic clerics have to actually THINK about whether or not they should shelter a terrorist and a mass murderer, I think people have the right to ask, what is true Islam?
Silverleaf
if the talibans win here is the glimpse of the future....... * .
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I think this is an optimistic view. If they win [and they won't] there won't be any computers, or flight simulators or such - the world will be back to chiseling on stone tablets and the Neanderthals will be fighting with sticks and bone knives again.
Silverleaf
in the town i live in, there are many male arabic students that come here for an education.
but is that really their reason for coming?
or, are they here to taste the freedom that the u.s. provides?
At the risk of sounding un-politically correct [8>] I think they come here for two reasons:
One, a simple military strategy is, know your enemy. As I heard recently on a news show, a lot of young men come here from the middle east and rather than being enamored of the freedom they can have here, they become more entrenched in their archaic beliefs because of the 'decadence' they encounter here. They live the lifestyle, and at the same time condemn it. They go back home and bring stories of American immorality that fuel the flames of discontent among their people.
Two: They come here because they can. They can take advantage of our policies, our freedom, our technology, our often undeserved generosity. What greater victory over your enemies than to have them freely hand over the tools by which to defeat them.
Actually let me amend that - this is why the terrorists who wrongly call themselves Muslims come here. I think true Muslims come here for the same reason everyone else does. They can live their lives they way they want to, have a better standard of living, and enjoy all the advantages they would not have in the third world.
Silverleaf
here is my situation: my fiance is now 27 years old.
he was raised as a jw from the age of 2 through 18. at that time, his whole family left the "truth" except for his older brother who had already married another woman from the faith.
for the past 9 years, he has been living his life to the fullest, but still loving god, praying often and he is a truly honest and moral person.
Hi Concerned,
Everyone has already given you some great food for thought, so I hope you can stand yet another testimony. I've been in your shoes to a degree. Many years ago I was engaged to a JW. He was not raised in the organization but found it on his own and his convictions were strong even though it tore him away from his family who were Catholic.
He wanted to get married and so did I but we had to go through the terrible mind games of how heartbroken he would be that I would not be with him in paradise. We did a lot of crying too and a lot of arguing and I finally realized that I didn't want to be with someone who would not put our relationship first. Marriage is hard enough under the best of circumstances. If you are already his second concern - or third or fourth, after Jehovah, the organization, his brothers and sisters in the truth, his eternal life in paradise, you have to ask yourself is that the kind of man you really want?
If you work through this now and get married, what are the chances something else may happen in the future that will scare him again and you will be tied to him, perhaps with children to worry about, and a husband who is off the deep end with fear? It will not be a good situation. I'm sure you love him very much. I loved my fiance too, but I realized he was putting his beliefs before every other thing in his life, especially me, and I decided that I had to put myself first.
At first I thought perhaps I was being too idealistic to want a man who would put himself between me and God if it came to that. I wanted someone who would be willing to give up eternal life to be with me. I was young and romantic, but believe it or not I found someone like that and it was worth the wait.
Please give your relationship a lot of thought with an eye on what the future will be like for you if he goes back to the organization. There are better ways to live.
I wish you luck and please keep posting.
Silverleaf
i found this and i had to share..... (with permission from the author of course).. are cats for christians?.
(completely fiction, but shows how anything can be manipulated into wtbts reasoning) .
by dave.
So I guess a SNAKE would be a REALLY bad choice for a pet, then?
Silverleaf
i need to put my two cents in about this even though i'm reading it a couple days after the last post.. when i think of the death of those i care about i usually have no problem picturing them going to heaven forever: some people just to me seem like there is nowhere else they could be.
those who i've been close to that have died that i'm questionable about them actually going to heaven i feel like in some way as long as there are those of us here to remember them they are still kept alive somehow.
when i really think about my own death i have a panic attack.
To Julie,
I agree wholeheartedly with your reply. I don't think that religion is necessary for morality anymore - however in thinking on this subject after reading peacepipe's post, I have to wonder if morality would have evolved if religion had not.
If man had not ever invented God, would society have evolved its' own morality or would the golden rule be survival of the fittest? With no 'reward' awaiting primitive people after death, would they have been able to achieve anything other than an existence based purely on their own survival, and the survival of those who could help them or better their chances of that survival?
Of course I agree that now we have evolved morality based on the greater good which does not require a God or a heavenly reward, and many of those who live their lives with their 'eye on the prize' as it were, seem to do good only as a means to their own eternal survival, and not necessarily because they want to do good, but rather because they have a fear of the consequences of doing bad.
In essence, I'm wondering if morality may have been born of religion, though it certinly does not require it to survive. And in answer to a question posed by peacepipe, if religion disappeared, yes, morality would continue. If religion had never existed, would morality exist? I don't know.
Just my rather confused thoughts,
Silverleaf
our forum's now chapter likes to slander christian believers over alleged poor treatment of women.
in truth, the bible advanced women's rights in the ancient world, even in a paternalistic society.
here are the results of research into this topic.. num 5.12--the trial of bitter waters (sotah) is a an amazing provision by god for a woman to publicly clear her name (and indict a dysfunctional husband in the process).
And if wishes were horses, beggers would ride.
Silverleaf
three little scriptures that i feel reflect the opposite of all that christians claim biblegod to be.
i merely asked a hard-core defender of the faith to justify these as actions of an all-loving, enlightened supreme being.
here they are along with the "explanations" of them (in a nutshell):.
Hi Julie,
You go, girl!
Silverleaf
one of threads of this tapestry is the patent absurdity of darwinian evolution.
my attacks on darwinism are not motivated in the least by any desire to defend any superstitious story of our origins.
i believe that it will soon be possible to demonstrate mathematically that darwinian evolution is impossible.
Frightmare writes: >>Dogmatism isn't going to help your cause silver, besides, evolution is not in dispute here, it's darwinism, that is evolution through solely strict naturalistic causes.<<
Ooops, my bad! Darwinism - it's the law!
Silverleaf
Down with dogma!
