THE GLADIATOR

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Posts by THE GLADIATOR

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  98

  Does anyone here still believe in the Devil?

  by cantleave in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  if so what do you think he / she / it is?.

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  THE GLADIATOR

  braveheart

  All I know is...I am a sinner, in need of a savior.

  What ya doing that's so gross?
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  28

  Essay: Beyond God and atheism: Why I am a 'possibilian'

  by BurnTheShips in

  1. social
  2. current

  we have many interesting debates and discussions on this board between members on both sides of the god/nogod divide.. most of us seem to be quite reasonable, and accept and respect differing points of views.. others, a small minority here, dismiss the opposite side as deluded or evil.

  it strikes me that it takes a large amount of mental certainty to do this.. we all have reaped the fruits of such certainty in these matters during our sojourn in the jehovah's witnesses.. this essayist, neuroscientist and fiction writer david eagleman, takes a different view.

  as you know, i am a believer in god.

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  THE GLADIATOR

  Thanks Tammy.

  Terry - Your laser like mind is more than my feeble flesh and bones can assimilate.

  From the thread essay:

  As Voltaire put it, "Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd."

  This about sums up where I am.

  Time allows for many possibilities but it takes more than a human life span to know all that can be known.

  (I'm off out for the evening (UK). I didn't comment on the beer thread. Actions speak louder than words!)
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  15

  One long hot and heavy Striptease by Jehovah

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  if we are to believe scripture, jehovah has been performing one long striptease over the centuries.

  his plan has hidden parts we all long to see.

  little by little he has dropped a shoulder strap and flashed a peek with the cat and mouse of prophecy.. .

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  THE GLADIATOR

  It could be that God is performing one long striptease.

  On the other hand, the possibility exists that man found a stocking on the ground and imagined the rest!
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  28

  Essay: Beyond God and atheism: Why I am a 'possibilian'

  by BurnTheShips in

  1. social
  2. current

  we have many interesting debates and discussions on this board between members on both sides of the god/nogod divide.. most of us seem to be quite reasonable, and accept and respect differing points of views.. others, a small minority here, dismiss the opposite side as deluded or evil.

  it strikes me that it takes a large amount of mental certainty to do this.. we all have reaped the fruits of such certainty in these matters during our sojourn in the jehovah's witnesses.. this essayist, neuroscientist and fiction writer david eagleman, takes a different view.

  as you know, i am a believer in god.

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  THE GLADIATOR

  BurnTheShips

  This is a most interesting article and encourages open minded debate. We are all at different points in our journey and however liberal we are, to someone who believes that God talks to them, the non-believer must appear deluded, and Vice Versa. Below are a few lines from an essay I wrote. I hope it is relevant to this discussion.

  Knowledge is light and banishes darkness. Seekers of truth desire to be fully informed. The experience and opinions of those who have walked a path before us should not be seized upon as belief or a shortcut to understanding. At the same time it would be unwise to disregard their sincere testimony.

  Truth is not a rigid set of beliefs. Once we think we possess the truth, we close our mind to other possibilities. In that moment, we have suddenly lost our connection with the infinite.

  Truth never changes, only opinions change; letting go of the old, makes way for the new. Isn’t this the lesson that nature teaches us? The world was never flat – it is us that changed. Willingness to change allows room for growth.
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  139

  Name Something Positive About Jehovah's Witnesses

  by minimus in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  i'll start.. they are a happy joyful group..

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  THE GLADIATOR

  Not one of them has lived forever yet!
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  22

  I broke my collar bone

  by poppers in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it turns out that my biking accident on july 6th resulted in a broken collar bone.

  i didn't know this until the va took x-rays yesterday - it took until then to get an appointment; my request for x-rays was submitted on july 16. fortunately, i've been mending nicely despite my 300 mile bike ride the last week of july and a 120 mile ride two weeks later.

  i still haven't had a decent night's sleep since it happened - i'm exhausted..

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  THE GLADIATOR

  poppers

  Glad to hear you are on the mend. Controlling pain through altering the minds focus is good practice.

  Rightly or wrongly, I always think of you and James Thomas as being on a similar wavelength and enjoy your posts.
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  21

  How We Address One Another

  by compound complex in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  greetings, fellow posters:.

  mrs. jones thread on our being outgoing or otherwise spurred my thinking of this.

  while being on a forum is hardly the same as talking face-to-face, we show who we are by our "conversation" as expressed through writing.

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  THE GLADIATOR

  compound complex

  I have this little habit of copying and pasting the persons name so it is clear to whom I am replying; as I have done with your name.

  I have other curious little habits but they are best kept to myself!
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  404

  The Issue is Not that God WANTS Us to Suffer...

  by AGuest in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  dear ones.

  rather, it is our adversary who says we will do anything... anything... to avoid it.

  a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g. even curse god to his face.

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  THE GLADIATOR

  PSacramento

  That's a very humbling and gracious comment.

  I too, am striving to find the right balance.
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  11

  Don't know how to title this but: Tragedy!!!

  by AK - Jeff in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/09/27/book_details_motives_for_suicide_at_harvard/?page=1.

  what he left behind: a 1,905-page suicide noteauthor described nihilistic outlookby david abel, globe staff | september 27, 2010. in the end, no one really knows what led mitchell heisman, an erudite, wry, handsome 35-year-old, to walk into harvard yard on the holiest day in his faith and fire one shot from a silver revolver into his right temple, on the top step of memorial church, where hundreds gathered to observe the jewish day of atonement.. but if the 1,905-page suicide note he left is to be believed a work he spent five years honing and that his family and others received in a posthumous e-mail after his suicide last saturday morning on yom kippur heisman took his life as part of a philosophical exploration he called an experiment in nihilism.. at the end of his note, a dense, scholarly work with 1,433 footnotes, a 20-page bibliography, and more than 1,700 references to god and 200 references to the german philosopher friedrich nietzsche, heisman sums up his experiment:.

  every word, every thought, and every emotion come back to one core problem: life is meaningless, he wrote.

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  THE GLADIATOR

  “Every word, every thought, and every emotion come back to one core problem: life is meaningless,’’

  This is a tragic story. I have some sympathy with the late Mitchell Heisman's views. Without belief in an invisible afterlife, human life can seem purposeless. That is not to say it is meaningless.

  There is beauty and pleasure to be enjoyed right now. The only existing reality is the present moment. The rest is past or future. If we are enjoying our life, then its meaning is experienced every day.

  The problem arises when people find no joy in life. They live in despair and struggle to find any reason to carry on living. They can choose to believe they are storing up brownie points for an afterlife. Or that a better life in an invisible realm is a gift obtained through faith. Then suffering their way through life would seem to have a purpose or an aim. Their faith may even help them to start enjoying life. The question is, without an afterlife, does this life have a purpose?

  I personaly subscribe to the Epicurean outlook:

  "Epicurus's philosophy combines a physics based on an atomistic materialism with a rational hedonistic ethics that emphasizes moderation of desires and cultivation of friendships. His world-view is an optimistic one that stresses that philosophy can liberate one from fears of death and the supernatural, and can teach us how to find happiness in almost any situation. His practical insights into human psychology, as well as his science-friendly world-view, gives Epicureanism great contemporary significance as well as a venerable role in the intellectual development of Western Civilization."
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  37

  What proves that Jehovah's Witnesses are the wrong religion?

  by asilentone in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

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  THE GLADIATOR

  I may give up posting my own comments and just put 'ditto' under Terry's elucidations.