J. R. R. Tolkien was a devout Catholic and a member of the Inklings litery discussion group that included C. S. Lewis. There has been a lot written about the religious theme in his mythology, and many have compared the character Gandalf to Jesus. In some of his notes published after Tolkien's death, there is speculation that Gandalf is really the incarnation of the demigod Manwe, the foremost son of Illuvatar (also known in LOTR as "The One" and "God"). See Tolkien's _Silmarillian_ for more details.
Skimmer
JoinedPosts by Skimmer
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6
is it my imagination /lord of the rings
by lurk injust read lord of the rings it was a great book..but bit reminded me of the bible...am i bible obbsessed?
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does anyone else see the comparrison?
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29
What will you do on the last day?
by Skimmer inwhat will you do on the last day?
the last day of the wtbts, that is.. it may take a quarter century (i predict 2027), but the last day of the wtbts is going to come sooner or later.
preferably sooner, of course.
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Skimmer
Woo-hoo! I got a reaction from Yadirf. Maybe I'll pay attention to you the day you start making posts that are worth reading.
My predictions (again):
2001: The end of WTBTS net growth in developed countries. (Fulfilled.)
2006: The end of WTBTS net growth in the entire world.
2027: The end of the WTBTS.
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What will you do on the last day?
by Skimmer inwhat will you do on the last day?
the last day of the wtbts, that is.. it may take a quarter century (i predict 2027), but the last day of the wtbts is going to come sooner or later.
preferably sooner, of course.
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Skimmer
Now that I think of it, getting the burial sites from the liquidation bidding would give me the right to all of the skulls of departed governing body members planted at the New York JW launch pad. I could make an entire osteophone (like a xylophone, but with skulls instead of wood). With a little computer assistance and some robotics, I could set up an automated player piano of sorts that could run all day banging out Grateful Dead tunes. It would be a great website.
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What will you do on the last day?
by Skimmer inwhat will you do on the last day?
the last day of the wtbts, that is.. it may take a quarter century (i predict 2027), but the last day of the wtbts is going to come sooner or later.
preferably sooner, of course.
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Skimmer
What will you do on the last day? The last day of the WTBTS, that is.
It may take a quarter century (I predict 2027), but the last day of the WTBTS is going to come sooner or later. Preferably sooner, of course. Anyway, when it comes, where will you be and what will you be doing?
Personally, I will be in Brooklyn or Patterson or wherever the WTBTS elite makes its last stand as the lawyers and creditors make their final assault. With video camera in hand, I'll be recording the final collapse. I'll have a telephoto lens to get close-up shots of the not-so-smiling faces of the last remnant of "God's only true channel" so I can post them on the Internet as a cautionary tale for any who might try establishing a similar cult.
Another idea would be to bid in bankruptcy court on various WTBTS assets. I could purchase disfellowshipping records and sell them to the individual victims so that they might sue the elders if legal grounds permit. I could go after various business records that showed tax evasion do that the authorities could go after the individual WTBTS elite who made the decisions. I could go after the WTBTS burial site in New York, exhume Freddie Franz' skull, and mount it in a toilet so I could piss on it every day.
What will you do on the last day of the WTBTS?
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Rutherford: From newsie to Millionaire
by PistAnarkist inmy name is andy pesante, i'm 22 years old, and my father is an elder of a congregation in philadelphia.
we started going to meetings when i was 12. living in a crappy big city like philly can really close your eyes to the real issues surrounding our society.....after all why would you even care when everyone regards each other with a glare right?
i met my wife (who also grew up a witness) over the internet, and we eventually eloped together 3 years ago.
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Skimmer
First, there is a black (Samuel Hurd) on the WTBTS governing body. What is more interesting is that there are (if I recall correctly) no hispanic persons on the GB, while nearly all growth in coming from Spanish speaking countries and regions.
One might also ask why the GB is made from almost exclusively Americans while five sixths of the rank and file membership is from outside the Unites States.
I don't think that the WTBTS elite has anything specifically against blacks. They are interested only in money and power and seem to be giving equal opportunity to screwing people regardless of ethnicity.
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Advice on war against terrorism
by Skimmer infrom the book by ralph peters, _when devils walk the earth_:.
iii.
fighting terror: do's and don'ts for a superpower.
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Skimmer
From the book by Ralph Peters, _When Devils Walk the Earth_:
III. Fighting Terror: Do's and Don'ts for a Superpower
1. Be feared.
2. Identify the type of terrorists you face, and know your enemy as well as you possibly can. Although tactics may be similar, strategies for dealing with practical vs. apocalyptic terrorists can differ widely. Practical terrorists may have legitimate grievances that deserve consideration, although their methods cannot be tolerated. Apocalyptic terrorists, no matter their rhetoric, seek your destruction and must be killed to the last man. The apt metaphor is cancer: you cannot hope for success if you only cut out part of the tumor. For the apocalyptic terrorist, evading your efforts can easily be turned into a public triumph. Our bloodiest successes will create far fewer terrorists and sympathizers than our failures.
3. Do not be afraid to be powerful. Cold War-era gambits of proportionate response and dialog may have some utility in dealing with practical terrorists, but they are counter-productive in dealing with apocalyptic terrorists. Our great strengths are wealth and raw power. When we fail to bring those strengths to bear, we contribute to our own defeat. For a superpower to think small, which has been our habit across the last decade, at least, is self-defeating folly. Our responses to terrorist acts should make the world gasp.
4. Speak bluntly. Euphemisms are interpreted as weakness by our enemies and mislead the American people. Speak of killing terrorists and destroying their organizations. Timid speech leads to timid actions. Explain when necessary, but do not apologize. Expressions of regret are never seen as a mark of decency by terrorists or their supporters, but only as a sign that our will is faltering. Blame the terrorists as the root cause whenever operations have unintended negative consequences. Never go on the rhetorical defensive.
5. Concentrate on winning the propaganda war where it is winnable. Focus on keeping or enhancing the support from allies and well-disposed clients, but do not waste an inordinate amount of effort trying to win unwinnable hearts and minds. Convince hostile populations through victory.
6. Do not be drawn into a public dialog with terrorists, especially not with apocalyptic terrorists. You cannot win. You legitimize the terrorists by addressing them even through a third medium, and their extravagant claims will resound more successfully on their own home ground than anything you can say. Ignore absurd accusations, and never let the enemy's claims slow or sidetrack you. The terrorist wants you to react, and your best means of unbalancing him and his plan is to ignore his accusations.
7. Avoid planning creep. Within our vast bureaucratic system, too many voices compete for attention and innumerable agendas, often selfish and personal--intrude on any attempt to act decisively. Focus on the basic mission: the destruction of the terrorists with all the moral, intellectual and practical rigor you can bring to bear. All other issues, from future nation building, to alliance consensus, to humanitarian concerns are secondary.
8. Maintain resolve. Especially in the Middle East and Central Asia, experts and diplomats will always present you with a multitude of good reasons for doing nothing, or for doing too little (or for doing exactly the wrong thing). Fight as hard as you can within the system to prevent diplomats from gaining influence over the strategic campaign. Although their intentions are often good, our diplomats and their obsolete strategic views are the terrorist's unwitting allies and diplomats are extremely jealous of military success and military authority in their region (where their expertise is never as deep or subtle as they believe it to be). Beyond the problem with our diplomats, the broader forces of bureaucratic entropy are an internal threat. The counter-terrorist campaign must be not only resolute, but constantly self-rejuvenating in ideas, techniques, military and inter-agency combinations, and sheer energy. Old hands must be stimulated constantly by new ideas.
9. When in doubt, hit harder than you think necessary. Success will be forgiven. Even the best-intentioned failure will not. When military force is used against terrorist networks, it should be used with such power that it stuns even our allies. We must get over our cowardice in means. While small-scale raids and other knife-point operations are useful against individual targets, broader operations should be overwhelming. Of course, targeting limitations may inhibit some efforts but, whenever possible, maximum force should be used in simultaneous operations at the very beginning of a campaign. Do not hesitate to supplement initial target lists with extensive bombing attacks on nothing if they can increase the initial psychological impact. Demonstrate power whenever you can. Show, don't tell.
10. Whenever legal conditions permit, kill terrorists on the spot (do not give them a chance to surrender, if you can help it). Contrary to academic wisdom, the surest way to make a martyr of a terrorist is to capture, convict and imprison him, leading to endless efforts by sympathizers to stage kidnappings, hijacking and other events intended to liberate the imprisoned terrorist(s). This is war, not law enforcement.
11. Never listen to those who warn that ferocity on our part reduces us to the level of the terrorists. That is the argument of the campus, not of the battlefield, and it insults America's service members and the American people. Historically, we have proven, time after time, that we can do a tough, dirty job for our country without any damage to our nation's moral fabric (Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not interfere with American democracy, values or behavior).
12. Spare and protect innocent civilians whenever possible, but do not let the prospect of civilian casualties interfere with ultimate mission accomplishment. This is a fight to protect the American people, and we must do so whatever the cost, or the price in American lives may be devastating. In a choice between us and them, the choice is always us.
13. Do not allow the terrorists to hide behind religion. Apocalyptic terrorists cite religion as a justification for attacking us; in turn, we cannot let them hide behind religious holidays, taboos, strictures or even sacred terrain. We must establish a consistent reputation for relentless pursuit and destruction of those who kill our citizens. Until we do this, our hesitation will continue to strengthen our enemy's ranks and his resolve.
14. Do not allow third parties to broker a peace, a truce, or any pause in operations. One of the most difficult challenges in fighting terrorism on a global scale is the drag produced by nervous allies. We must be single-minded. The best thing we can do for our allies in the long-term is to be so resolute and so strong that they value their alliance with us all the more. We must recognize the innate strength of our position and stop allowing regional leaders with counterproductive local agendas to subdue or dilute our efforts.
15. Don't flinch. If an operation goes awry and friendly casualties are unexpectedly high, immediately bolster morale and the military's image by striking back swiftly in a manner that inflicts the maximum possible number of casualties on the enemy and his supporters. Hit back as graphically as possible, to impress upon the local and regional players that you weren't badly hurt or deterred in the least.
16. Do not worry about alienating already-hostile populations.
17. Whenever possible, humiliate your enemy in the eyes of his own people. Do not try to use reasonable arguments against him. Shame him publicly, in any way you can. Create doubt where you cannot excite support. Most apocalyptic terrorists, especially, come from cultures of male vanity. Disgrace them at every opportunity. Done successfully, this both degrades them in the eyes of their followers and supporters, and provokes the terrorist to respond, increasing his vulnerability.
18. If the terrorists hide, strike what they hold dear, using clandestine means and, whenever possible, foreign agents to provoke them to break cover and react. Do not be squeamish. Your enemy is not. Subtlety is not a superpower strength but the raw power to do that which is necessary is our great advantage. We forget that, while the world may happily chide or accuse us--or complain of our inhumanity--no one can stop us if we maintain our strength of will. Much of the world will complain no matter what we do. Hatred of America is the default position of failed individuals and failing states around the world, in every civilization, and there is nothing we can do to change their minds. We refuse to understand how much of humanity will find excuses for evil, so long as the evil strikes those who are more successful than the apologists themselves. This is as true of American academics, whose eagerness to declare our military efforts a failure is unflagging, or European clerics, who still cannot forgive America's magnanimity at the end of World War II, as it is of unemployed Egyptians or Pakistanis. The psychologically marginalized are at least as dangerous as the physically deprived.
19. Do not allow the terrorists sanctuary in any country, at any time, under any circumstances. Counter-terrorist operations must, above all, be relentless. This does not necessarily mean that military operations will be constantly underway sometimes it will be surveillance efforts, or deception plans, or operations by other agencies. But the overall effort must never pause for breath. We must be faster, more resolute, more resourceful and, ultimately, even more uncompromising than our enemies.
20. Never declare victory. Announce successes and milestones. But never give the terrorists a chance to embarrass you after a public pronouncement that the war is over.
21. Impress upon the minds of terrorists and potential terrorists everywhere, and upon the populations and governments inclined to support them, that American retaliation will be powerful and uncompromising. You will never deter fanatics, but you can frighten those who might support, harbor or attempt to use terrorists for their own ends. Our basic task in the world today is to restore a sense of American power, capabilities and resolve. We must be hard, or we will be struck wherever we are soft. Itis folly for charity to precede victory. First win, then unclench your fist.
22. Do everything possible to make terrorists and their active supporters live in terror themselves. Turn the tide psychologically and practically. While this will not deter hardcore apocalyptic terrorists, it will dissipate their energies as they try to defend themselves and fear will deter many less-committed supporters of terror. Do not be distracted by the baggage of the term assassination. This is a war. The enemy, whether a hijacker or a financier, violates the laws of war by his refusal to wear a uniform and by purposely targeting civilians. He is by definition a war criminal. On our soil, he is either a spy or a saboteur, and not entitled to the protections of the U.S. Constitution. Those who abet terrorists must grow afraid to turn out the lights to go to sleep.
23. Never accept the consensus of the Washington intelligentsia, which looks backward to past failures, not forward to future successes..
24. In dealing with Islamic apocalyptic terrorists, remember that their most cherished symbols are fewer and far more vulnerable than are the West's. Ultimately, no potential target can be regarded as off-limits when the United States is threatened with mass casualties. Worry less about offending foreign sensibilities and more about protecting Americans.
25. Do not look for answers in recent history, which is still unclear and subject to personal emotion. Begin with the study of the classical world specifically Rome, which is the nearest model to the present-day United States. Mild with subject peoples, to whom they brought the rule of ethical law, the Romans in their rise and at their apogee were implacable with their enemies. The utter destruction of Carthage brought centuries of local peace, while the later empire's attempts to appease barbarians consistently failed.
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Splinter Groups
by Kenneson inthe watchtower bible and tract society was born in dissent.
charles taze russell, its founder, (was a presbyterian, then a congregationalist, then a skeptic, then an adventist, and finally originated his own brand).
see http://watchtower.observer.org/.
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Skimmer
Also, there are the "True Witnesses of Jehovah" in Romania who split off in WW II and are somewhat Rutherfordian in their beliefs.
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Do you think that the WT will ban the Internet?
by gilwarrior ini think that it will happen.
there is so much information about what really goes on.
the hypocrasy, the scandals, the misinformation.
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Skimmer
The Internet situation for the WTBTS is bad and getting worse.
1. The WTBTS primary growth in the more developed countries is the children of current members. Too bad for the WTBTS that even if the parents ban Internet use at home, there is plenty of Internet access available outside the home at the local library and school.
2. The more the WTBTS rages against the Internet, the more likely that the not-so-brain-dead segment of current JWs will realize that the Brooklyn Boys are full of feces. These JWs would soon be exJWs.
3. Soon, people in the more developed countries will see a complete fusion of telephone, television, and Internet services. The typical home will have a single fiber optic connection and at least one new style television which will subsume all information access. So, a ban on the Internet would be like banning the telephone and the TV as well. Rather unlikely.
4. If the general public got the impression that "JWs aren't allowed to use the Internet", it would be yet another hard-to-fight detraction like "no holidays', "no blood transfusions", and the like.
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Is Dan Sydlik in his death bed?
by cyberguy ini recently heard a rumor that dan sydlik is very sick, near death.
does anyone have any more information about this?
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Skimmer
I'll wager that the first thing the WTBTS GB did after _Crisis of Conscience_ was published was to have the legal department write up loyalty contracts. These contracts would be enforced on any member of the WTBTS to prohibit a repeat of Ray Franz' whistle blowing expose.
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Are you in the right religion?
by Stealth into help choose the right religion for yourself answer 20 questions at the web site below and it will rank the best religions for you.. for myself jw was #6 just under sda and just before mormans.
i guess i am still brainwashed.
http://www.selectsmart.com/.
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Skimmer
A tie for first place: Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic, both at 100%.
JW near the bottom.
Maybe the form needs a few more questions like:
1. Are you attracted to a religion that makes you fill in time sheets?
2. Do you look forward to having no fun holidays whatsoever?
3. Can you respect a religion that has a perfect prediction record -- total failure?
4. Do you think that all charitable work is really a scheme of the Devil?
5. Do you believe in a God that "tacks into the wind"?