Sirona

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Posts by Sirona

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  26

  Jesus ... the greatest sacrifice?

  by Simon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this will probably sound controversial to anyone who is still religiously inclined so i apologies upfront and do not mean any offence by it.

  it's just my 'pondering'.. i was thinking about all the times that i heard form the platform and read in the watchtower that jesus made the greatest sacrifice ever in history by giving his life in exchange for all minkind, to die for our sins etc.. but even if this were true, would it be such a great sacrifice?.

  giving one life in exchange for thousands ... millions ... billions seems to be not too big a sacrifice for the return and one that many people would make today.

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  Sirona

  Simon

  Very interesting question. I suppose I always focus on how I cannot make sense of the whole story anyway, I have honestly never compared Jesus sacrifice with other sacrifices made.

  For those who believe that Jesus is/was God, the assertion is that God "emptied himself" to become a man, and therefore made a tremendous sacrifice. God the Son was on earth without too much knowledge of his purpose until his baptism. Even still, I personally feel that knowing you are God (or Gods Son) and knowing you will be resurrected is enough to endure any torture or death by the hands of men. It must have been tremendously gratifying for Jesus to know how he will put his killers to death, or at least how THEY wouldn't share in the lovely things he had in store for everyone who believes in him. mmm.....

  If we imagine that Jesus DID exist....(which I'm not that sure of) and that he was NOT the Son of God, but rather he was a delusional, yet spiritual, man. In this case, his sacrifice was also relatively easy for him because his persecution enhanced his total delusion.

  Another scenario is that he never claimed to be, or believed he was, the Son of God or God himself. The scriptures may have been embellished by the church to make it appear that Jesus of Nazareth was the messiah, when he didn't claim anything of the sort. In this case, perhaps his death was MORE of a sacrifice....he died for simply preaching a gospel of love and upsetting certain leaders! When dying, he wouldn't have known of any "divine approval".

  Final scenario, IMO, is that Jesus never existed. That is another topic in itself.

  Sirona
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  27

  Pagan Practices

  by Satanus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  many of you pagans get your spirituality, or a portion of it from nature.

  which nature objects/places work the best for you?

  i'm into rivers, trees, flowers and sunsets.

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  Sirona

  I know I'm a little late on this thread! Sorry. Its interesting, I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments and I think that Spidermonkey was very insightful.

  Clearly we are all deeply affected by the beautiful things in nature - Stars, Moon, Sun, Storms, Ocean, etc. I usually find myself drawn to objects that are full of energy - in this category (obviously) are certain animals / trees / plants. However, some stones and natural items hold energy and have their own vibrations which can have an effect on me. Old things tend to hold lots of energy and have an "old" aura - this includes manufactured items.

  The article linked mentions the idea of a hologram. A book I am reading suggests that just as a part of a hologram reflects the whole hologram picture, so too we as individuals are reflections of the whole. We ARE God. I find that a beautiful and liberating idea and I suppose that is why I am pagan.

  Sirona
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  Pagan Daybook

  by gsx1138 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  august 23, 2002. friday - the day of frigga, or venus, the goddess of love and transformation.. sevent day of odin's ordeal, nemesea, vertumnalia, vulcan and the nymphs.

  today is nemesea, sacred to nemesis, the greek goddess of relics and the memeory of.

  the dead.

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  Sirona

  AHHH Friday,

  The day of LOVE,

  Sirona
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  59

  Keep Sirona in your thoughts, Surgery today

  by Cassiline in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  sirona is going back into the hospital today for more surgery.

  she will be going under general anesthesia to have more biopsies done.. i know its always scary to "go under.

  " lets send warm thoughts her way and hope for the best with the outcome of the biopsies .. .

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  Sirona

  BTW, if anyone has emailed me, it seems that the email server is down at www.another.com (where my email lives) so I can't reply just yet!

  Sirona
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  59

  Keep Sirona in your thoughts, Surgery today

  by Cassiline in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  sirona is going back into the hospital today for more surgery.

  she will be going under general anesthesia to have more biopsies done.. i know its always scary to "go under.

  " lets send warm thoughts her way and hope for the best with the outcome of the biopsies .. .

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  Sirona

  Thanks Everyone!!!!

  I only just noticed this thread!! Thanks Cass for starting it, that is so sweet and it really helps.

  All your positive vibes must have helped, because everything went very smoothly and I haven't had a lot of pain or sickness when I came round. They sent me home Monday evening, and I have just been resting since.

  Heres what happened. I had two biopsies (needle biopsies) in my neck and under my arm. Actually, it was four injections in each area to ensure a good sample was taken. Plus, I had two suspicious lumps on my skin removed.

  Then about 2 hours after I had come round, I was shipped off to see the ear-nose-throat specialist in the hospital. They had to rule out an ear infection as the cause of my enlarged glands. Anyway, I have not got an ear infection or anything wrong with my ears.....but I have got enlarged lymph nodes behind my nose! (I didn't even know that there were lymph nodes behind your nose! Lol). (by the way, have you EVER had a bloody long fibre optic tube stuck up your nose while you are conscious? ouch). Unfortunately this discovery lead to the ent specialist saying that he also wants to check out those nodes for cancer.

  On the plus side, I have a lot of symptoms of glandular fever. Most of my glands seem to be up and are sore, plus I'm very very tired. They have taken blood to test for glandular fever.

  My results are Thursday 29th August. These are the possible outcomes:

  1. Good outcome would be that I have glandular fever and my biopsies are clear. In that case, they would wait for me to get over it and then examine me again to ensure everything is OK. No cancer - yippee.

  2. Not so good outcome would be no glandular fever and no clear result on the biopsies. In this case I will have to go for more surgery to REMOVE lymph nodes under my arm, in my neck and probably behind my nose. I can imagine that waking up to that will be quite painful. Plus, if theres no glandular fever, it would look more likely to be cancer.

  3. Wost case scenario - that they find cancer in the glands and no evidence of glandular fever. Nasty cancer treatments....blah blah.

  I'm off work at the moment. If its Glandular fever then clearly I need to rest, if its something worse then I obviously need to look after myself too. I'm sleeping a lot and having a lot of headaches.

  So I just want to say THANK YOU! to you all for all the good thoughts, positive energy and prayers. I was in tears just reading this thread knowing how much people care about what happens to me.

  Love

  Sirona
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  27

  Pagan Daybook

  by gsx1138 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just another page from the pagan daybook of mine.. .

  august 15, 2002. thursday - the of thunor, or thor, the god of thunder and agriculture.. .

  festival of arianrod, the great mother goddess, end of the dog days.

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  Sirona

  Kingpawn:

  Do I understand you right if I interpret this to mean that some feel the gods/goddesses are a collective group with different talents and abilities?

  Yes. Some people follow different pantheons, e.g. Greek or Egyptian. One online friend I have worships Hades - she is the owner of www.polytheism.com.

  People tend to find patron gods - a god or goddess who they feel is close to them individually. Perhaps they "meet" them in meditation or within their circle.

  I'm thinking of checking my local library for the book mentioned earlier in this thread. Would that one, or another, best explain the core beliefs?

  Not sure what book you mean (I'd have to look back). Most people start with Scott Cunningham's "Wicca - Guide for the solitary practitioner". With regard to gods and goddesses, Janet and Stuart Farrar's books "the Witches Goddess" and "the Witches God" provide a good overview of various gods and goddesses.

  what advice would you give to someone curious and interested?

  I would say read, read, read. Find any information you can lay your hands on about all religions. Firstly I'd advise reading up about buddhism. If you already have a good background in other religions, then find information on paganism in general (not just wicca) and please try to avoid the books that are not serious (e.g. spellbooks or ones with sensational titles like "how to make anyone love you"). By all means read wicca books, but don't imagine that wicca is all paganism. You might like to be a druid, or simply an eclectic pagan. There are some great websites. Look at www.wicca.com, http://www.paganpath.com, www.witchvox.com, just for a starter

  Hope that helps. Remember, not everyone is suited to being pagan.

  Sirona
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  63

  Cancer

  by Sirona in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  you might think i'm being picky here, please dont take this the wrong way.

  the thing is, i'm stuggling with my health at the moment and am going in hospital to see if my cancer has spread.. heres my gripe: some people (noone on this board) say to me, over and over, that they know someone who had skin cancer and they're fine now....how they can just remove the mole and everything is fine.

  well for the purposes of educating people:.

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  Sirona

  Thanks everyone! I do appreciate your kind words and prayers, etc. I've been pretty down today and reading this thread has helped. Thanks also for the information and offers of help.

  I will add some points of my own:

  Skin cancer is not always a mole that goes larger or different. Yes, ALWAYS get moles investigated if they change in any way.

  However, my melanoma was not a mole. It was a little lump which appeared on its own in a clear area of skin. It was RED (not brown or black).

  Any lump on your skin, yellow, white, red, brown or black - GET IT INVESTIGATED. It will gradually gain size. It will not normally be a perfect circle and sometimes the skin around it is discoloured.

  Francios:

  The surgeon is shaving a suspicious spot on me because it is on my chin. It is pale and does not look like the previous melanoma, but she will check it anyway. If there are melanocytes in this lump then they will show up from the shave. After which she will perform a full excision. If not, I will not be left with a 2 inch scar across my chin!

  Thanks for you information, its clear you know what you are talking about!

  I go into hospital Monday 19th August for more biopsies under general anaesthetic.

  Sirona
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  63

  Cancer

  by Sirona in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  you might think i'm being picky here, please dont take this the wrong way.

  the thing is, i'm stuggling with my health at the moment and am going in hospital to see if my cancer has spread.. heres my gripe: some people (noone on this board) say to me, over and over, that they know someone who had skin cancer and they're fine now....how they can just remove the mole and everything is fine.

  well for the purposes of educating people:.

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  Sirona

  Thanks everyone!

  Sirona
• 
  63

  Cancer

  by Sirona in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  you might think i'm being picky here, please dont take this the wrong way.

  the thing is, i'm stuggling with my health at the moment and am going in hospital to see if my cancer has spread.. heres my gripe: some people (noone on this board) say to me, over and over, that they know someone who had skin cancer and they're fine now....how they can just remove the mole and everything is fine.

  well for the purposes of educating people:.

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  Sirona

  You think "it's just skin cancer?" Go pick out your casket as soon as you can

  Francios,

  Thanks for the info. Do you realise that I am being checked on Monday too see if it has spread to the nodes? I don't think I will take your advise about the casket just yet, I like to think that there are possibilities of recovery.

  I'm glad you are OK 4 years later. My melanoma depth was 1.8mm. I had two wide excisions (the first one showed more cancer across the surface of the skin). I also had a sentinel node biopsy which returned as clear. However, a few months later and I have an enlarged lymph node and enlarged neck glands.

  I was burned as a child once.

  Sirona
• 
  63

  Cancer

  by Sirona in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  you might think i'm being picky here, please dont take this the wrong way.

  the thing is, i'm stuggling with my health at the moment and am going in hospital to see if my cancer has spread.. heres my gripe: some people (noone on this board) say to me, over and over, that they know someone who had skin cancer and they're fine now....how they can just remove the mole and everything is fine.

  well for the purposes of educating people:.

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  Sirona

  Hi

  You might think I'm being picky here, please dont take this the wrong way. The thing is, I'm stuggling with my health at the moment and am going in hospital to see if my cancer has spread.

  Heres my gripe: some people (noone on this board) say to me, over and over, that they know someone who had skin cancer and they're fine now....how they can just remove the mole and everything is fine. Well for the purposes of educating people:

  96% of skin cancers remain on the skin and can be fatal if untreated.

  4% of skin cancers are malignant melanoma which does not always remain on the skin - it can spread to areas such as the brain, liver and digestive system. Just because the mole is removed doesnt mean its cured. Sometimes removal of the mole is all that is needed, sometimes not.

  If you ever know anyone with skin cancer, don't assume its so simple as just removing a mark off the skin.

  K. thanks for putting up with my rant,

  Sirona