When I was eight years old, I felt very grown up and could read and write fluently. Although I had gone from door-to-door many times with both mother and father, it was now time for me to be groomed for my life’s work. I was to be trained in the art of door-to-door evangelising, known as Field Ministry. The idea was rather frightening, as I was shy and my parents had told me that I was introverted. I had no idea what this meant but from the grave look on their faces, I guessed it was not good.
THE GLADIATOR
JoinedPosts by THE GLADIATOR
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172
Are You Raising An Introvert?
by darth frosty inits not easy being an introvert in an extrovert worldespecially when youre a kid.
it is even more difficult if none of the adults in the kids life recognize that the child is an introvert.
this doesnt happen only when the childs parents are extroverts, but also with introverted parents who have never understood their own introverted nature.. .
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81
What does faith mean to you?
by exwhyzee inwe all memorized the definition of faith... faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for...yadda yadda.. it seems like more and more as time goes by and our scientific knowledge base grows, we need less and less faith and fewer things can be attributed to god.. do you think we need faith or is faith just a word we use to feel ok about being too lazy to keep looking for the answers ?.
what does faith mean to you now?.
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THE GLADIATOR
aSphereisnotaCircle " faith is belief in something that is not supported by facts."
Not sure this is accurate. The brakes on your car are generally reliable if serviced properly. You put faith in them based on the facts. They are not infallible so accidents do happen; same with condoms and parachutes.
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What does faith mean to you?
by exwhyzee inwe all memorized the definition of faith... faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for...yadda yadda.. it seems like more and more as time goes by and our scientific knowledge base grows, we need less and less faith and fewer things can be attributed to god.. do you think we need faith or is faith just a word we use to feel ok about being too lazy to keep looking for the answers ?.
what does faith mean to you now?.
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THE GLADIATOR
Faith is trust placed in something or someone. Faith can be place in a person, a concept, a piece of rope, or the brakes on your car.
The mind doesn’t distinguish between real people and things and imaginary people and things.
This is both the most wonderful thing about the human mind and also the most tragic.
Doubt a person’s faith and you are questioning their judgement, intelligence and sanity. Best tread carefully on matters of faith!
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Why I feel sorry for Tom Cruise.
by cedars ini'm usually not in the slightest bit interested by what goes on in the world of celebrities.
i couldn't care less if this celebrity or that celebrity gets divorced, married or has kids.
not only is it none of my business what goes on in their private lives, but i also consider them to be shielded from reality anyway, so the decisions they make and their motives for making them will not always be readily understood by the ordinary person on the street such as you and i.. however, the divorce of tom cruise and katie holmes has struck a nerve.
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THE GLADIATOR
A thoughtful and compassionate post cedars
I always enjoy a Tom Cruise film. Top Gun is one of my top films.
It does appear that belonging to a cult has influenced his life in a negative way. John Travolta watch out!
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Quotation marks ...
by compound complex inthe [human] creation itself also will be set free from enslavement to corruption and have the glorious freedom of the children of god.romans 8:21.
[period within close of quotation marks].
quotation marks can be used to indicate 'alleged' or 'so-called'.
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THE GLADIATOR
An interesting post as always compound complex
In both the UK and the USA quotation marks are always placed outside punctuation marks.
The strange thing about Americans, among many things, is their habit of replacing ‘s’ with ‘z’ and missing ‘U’ out of words such as ‘colour.’ They also use words like ‘Eatery.’ An uncoated saucepan is referred to as a ‘non, non-stick pan.’ They have, 'combatants, non-combatents and non, non-comabtents .’ Trousers are called ‘pants,’ something we wear under our trousers. A 'lift' is an 'elevator.'
I could go on but I don't want to strain myself, or as Americans say, ‘bust a gut.’
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Things that were supposedly demonized
by freshstart ini was just thinking about all the fear i had when i was a kid that i would be attacked by demons if i wasn't careful.
i mean i lived in absolute terror over it, so i'm going to reminisce about the things i was told were demonized and you can add to the list if you'd like:.
lucky charms cerealcount dracula cerealitems bought at garage sales where there was a cross or anything religious present"hotel california" by the eagles (now one of my favorite songs)wwjd braceletsscooby dooi remember being so scared of every little noise that whenever i would turn off my light to go to bed, i would say "jehovah, jehovah!
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THE GLADIATOR
Demon alert! Demons have deleted a post by freebird09
james_woods "Oh, and let us not forget the horrorific cartoon character "Caspar the friendly ghost"..."
All demons and ghosts are more friendly that friends. They don't raid my bar and never leave mud on the carpets.
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Besides "NEW LIGHT " what other excuses have you heard about WT failed prophecies ?????s
by wasblind injust this mornin' i read that the wt prophecy went from.
" millions now living will never die ".
" millions will never die in jehovah's memory ".
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THE GLADIATOR
freshstart Wait on Jehovah to sort out the problems, it's just a test of your faith/loyalty, Jehovah never promised perfection in His organization....
So very true. Jehovah diliberately fed us fase hopes to test if we were in the org. because we loved him - or in it for what we could get out of him.
It's a no-brainer, we were in it for what we could get. That's generaly the way with all living creatures. You would think the Big Daddy had all ready worked out how his creation functioned. Did he really need to subject his chosen people to all all these tests?
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JWN Board Format Change? Just curious...
by AGuest inpeace to you all!
for some reason i thought the board's presntation and format was going to be changed?
but that was some time ago (i think i recall dear simon - peace to you, dear angharad, and your household - posting a "beta" version, or something like that).
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THE GLADIATOR
Last I heard Simon was still working on the new layout and testing to see which features we prefer. He said it all takes a lot of time and he has been busy.
Ironing out demon interference can be a real bummer.
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64
Things that were supposedly demonized
by freshstart ini was just thinking about all the fear i had when i was a kid that i would be attacked by demons if i wasn't careful.
i mean i lived in absolute terror over it, so i'm going to reminisce about the things i was told were demonized and you can add to the list if you'd like:.
lucky charms cerealcount dracula cerealitems bought at garage sales where there was a cross or anything religious present"hotel california" by the eagles (now one of my favorite songs)wwjd braceletsscooby dooi remember being so scared of every little noise that whenever i would turn off my light to go to bed, i would say "jehovah, jehovah!
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THE GLADIATOR
Father gathered the family together to inform us of a serious problem. ‘The demons have been bothering your mother again. She gets visions and keeps hearing voices. We can only think that there are still items in the house that are demonised.’
‘Yeah, I keep hearing voices too. Every time the neighbours argue I hear them through the wall,’ I commented.
Nigel sniggered.
‘Don’t be sarcastic! This is a very important matter.’ Father cleared his throat and continued. ‘The table is second-hand and the previous owners may have sat around it contacting demons. It could be one of the items that the demons are getting into the house through.’
The table was a central point in our house. It would be a shame to sacrifice it and we had no money for a replacement.
Father looked at me again. ‘That walking stick that you keep in your bed may also be demonised because mother has been getting visions of a man threatening to beat her with a walking stick. These things will have to be thrown away along with anything else that may be demonised.’
It seemed a shame to lose the walking stick but if the demons left the house, it would no longer be needed.
‘Can’t we sell the table?’ I asked.
‘No. If we do that the demons may get at the people we sell it to, through the table. We would be playing into the Devils hands.’ father informed me.
After much sawing through the tough seasoned oak and hammering, the table was broken up into manageable pieces and loaded into our old van-shaped car. I agreed to go with father to the rubbish dump, some five miles away. As we pulled away, I turned around to look at our dangerous cargo, expecting to see evil creatures lurking in the car but all looked normal.
I began to wonder if the demons, upset at being ejected from the house, would try to cause us to crash. Not wanting to distract father, I concealed my fear as my eyes scanned the road ahead. Without closing my eyes, I silently prayed to Jehovah, asking him to protect us. Each mile seemed to take much longer than normal and I barely dared to breathe. Father remained silent, no doubt realizing the risk we were taking. At last, we arrived at the rubbish dump unharmed. I helped father unload the pieces of what had been his only decent piece of furniture. Finally, I angrily threw the walking stick high into the air and watched it fall out of sight.
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Peter Singer Atheist Champion "A Pig Is Worth More Than A Disabled Person!'"
by Bubblegum Apotheosis inrichard dawkins at a recent conference for atheist, told his followers to mock muslims and christians for their stupid beliefs!
we have been down the path of this kind of thinking dawkins, harris and peter singer promote, it lead to the near irradication of the jews, gypsies, disabled, mentally ill and any other undesirables who were not contributing to the greater good of hitler's, stalin's, pol pot and mao's ideals.. .
can we address the issue at hand, how would you debate peter singer's statement that a "pig is more valuable than a disabled child, human"?
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THE GLADIATOR
Nature is cruel to be kind. A beautiful flower is not beautiful to nature unless it has the strength to survive. Even the rose has thorns. It is estimated that 96% of every species that has lived on earth is extinct. Survival is a precarious task and one which most living things fail to achieve. If a creature is not equipped to survive, that species will ultimately become extinct. Of course I am forgetting that all things were created by a loving god that is taking care of everything, including the 96% that died-out on his day off!
If humans have a duty, then it is to survive and help other less fortunate people to also survive. This involves making us stronger and more resilient to disease, and physical weakness. Problem is, we are doing a better job than god and the planet is not big enough to cope with our population explosion. If we don’t reduce our population growth and take better care of the planet, nature will act on our behalf. It has already demonstrated how ruthless it can be.
Disclaimer: These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of the future performance of humans or the natural world nature. As my opinion only, they are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond my control and are difficult to predict. Consequently, actual results could differ materially from those expressed, implied or forecasted in these forward-looking statements.