Wooden ship building reached its limit in the mid 1800s. Ships of any great length and some (one maybe) as long as the ark tended to twist and the seams leaked. The ark doesn't appear to have a design suitable for withstanding the stresses on such a large hull. A bilge pump would be useless in a hull as leaky as a sieve.
Thirdson
JoinedPosts by Thirdson
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18
Did Noah's Ark have a Bilge Pump?
by VM44 inall wooden ships leak to some extent, so what did noah do about the accumulation of water?.
a bilge pump would have been essential.. did the noah's ark writer really know or have any experience about the construction of large wooden ships?.
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Are there any Anglicans/Espiscopalians on board?
by Athanasius inafter leaving the jws i started attending episcopal services and in 1991 was confirmed in the church.
maximus, who used to post here, also became an episcopalian after leaving the jws.
are there any others here who became anglican or episcopalian after their watchtower experience?.
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Thirdson
I joined the Episcopal Church. Despite being raised a JW my English schooling made it quite familar. I still like the style of service and the book of Common Prayer. Mrs Thirdson and I were married in an Episcopal Cathedral (our home church at the time) and although we don't attend the Episcopal church anymore we are friends with several Episcopalians and know a number of Episcopal priests.
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Australian Premiere of new James Bond movie full of Witnesses and Elders???
by Witness 007 inyes it was choke full of witnesses even the brother giving the public talk on sunday, so for a ma 15+ rating with lots of violent killings why were they there?
and sooooo friendly to us with the "love bombing" ......my wife sort of falls for it but i just want to chew my own foot off and run......i was the 007 legendary "love bomber" no one escaped my puppy dog eyes!
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Thirdson
When I was about 13, we were counseled during a SM item about seeing violent movies in particular 'James bond.'
A group of us teenagers had gone to see Live and Let Die. I still like that movie for the car and boat chases. 3rd
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The two reasons Witnesses think they are the Truth
by BonaFide ini have had several conversations over the past few years with brothers that i know that are elders, c.o.
's, and bethelites.
one thing almost all of them have said:.
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Thirdson
I used to think like that but even while 'in' I began to doubt the preaching work.
According to the WTS' own statistics half of all JWs live in just six countries. Half of all their preaching work is done in a fraction of the world and a faction that is already mainly Christian. JWs have hardly any presence in India, Indonesia and China and those three countries represent about half the world's population.
That's just the coverage, what about the ineffectual work that their preaching is. Four or six people drive about in a car for a couple of hours, at best, taking it in turns to go to a house. If they are lucky find someone home the JW callers will be turned away. Ask non-JWs to explain the core JW beliefs and the difference compared to mainstream Christianity I doubt a fraction could. One hundred and thirty plus years of preaching in the US has not got their message out.
I read recently that spamming e-mail gets one hit in 12 million e-mails. That is about what the JW ministry is -- the preaching equivalent of Spam.
3rd
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A woman can run for 2nd in command of the free world but can't do the mikes
by Kudra in...at the kingdom hall.
yeah, a woman can run for the second highest position the world has to offer (i guess) but can't even give a talk that a 10-year old snotty-nosed kid can do at the f-n kh.
this used to annoy me no end at the hall... there were these morons doing the bible reading or what have you and they couldn't even pronounce the words.
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Thirdson
It annoyed me when I was 'in' that the WTS boasted that 5 'sisters' did all the brick laying at the London Bethel expansion but women couldn't read the Bible from the platform.
The church we attend has several female pastors, I wouldn't be part of a church that didn't have women priests. I have read scripture at church on occasion but not regularly. Mrs Thirdson and I were asked to read the lessons for a Christmas service. We took it in turns.
When we were married, we had a female Episcopal priest officiate.
I have on several occasions flown on airliners with a female pilot in the left-hand seat.
My doctor is female and so is my boss.
I can put my life in the hands of female airline pilot, or a female surgeon and take direction from my female boss but if I were a JW, I couldn't have a woman pray for me.
3rd
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Sons of Anarchy
by sammielee24 indid anyone watch the show tonight?
if so, do you know the name of the last song and the singer?
i believe the song was forever young but i don't know who the artist was...........sammieswife.
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Thirdson
I watched it. I too was thinking about who sang the song at the end. Go to the official web site, they might have details there.
At the end of the program Mrs Thirdson kissed me goodnight and said she was glad I was not in a motorcycle club. I replied, "after watching this series I think I will buy a bike and form a club, only mine will be called Sons of Bureaucracy."
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Thirdson
Great Job Flipper! It only takes a one thing to cause someone to re-evaluate the their whole belief system. You may have started it. For me, a few examples caused me to think. A college course on biology, someone during house-to-house work, the unbelieving husband of a sister and a peak at WTB&TS on the internet in 1996. You never know where in the chain of events you added to the change in someone's thinking. 3rd
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Ran into the JW table at San Diego airport...
by Confession inyes, my ladyfriend and i were entering the san diego airport for our flight home to phoenix late yesterday afternoon, when i noticed a forty-ish man and woman sitting down behind a table loaded with wts publications.
i stopped to glance over them with joy.
i made familiar comments about some of the publications, noting the newer soft covers and trying to casually engage the pair in conversation.
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Thirdson
After collecting my bags and with time to kill waiting for my ride I once went up to the desk at MSP airport to talk to the two 'sisters' there. I saw that they were underlining their Watchtowers for the Sunday study. How bad is that! Doing that chore while counting time. 3rd
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They Skipped our House
by Thirdson ina short while back i posted the conversation i had with two jw ladies where i challenged them to explain the doctrine (and pretty much the only unique doctrine) of 1914 from the bible.
well, last weekend another car group arrived in my road.
it was early saturday afternoon and i saw a car turning round using a neighbor's driveway.
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Thirdson
A short while back I posted the conversation I had with two JW ladies where I challenged them to explain the doctrine (and pretty much the only unique doctrine) of 1914 from the Bible. Well, last weekend another car group arrived in my road. It was early Saturday afternoon and I saw a car turning round using a neighbor's driveway. A few minutes later it was back and parked at the end of the cul-de-sac. I could see this as we were out in our yard raking and bagging leaves. Now, I only noticed the car at first and it's not unusual to see people looking around our road as my neighbor's house across from me is for sale and at the end of the road is a new build house for sale.
A little later we notice two ladies in long skirts walking up to a neighbor's house. They didn't seem to be carrying much and at first I thought they might be canvassing for someone on the city council but it was Mrs Thirdson who said, "JWs!" They must have seen us, we have a large lot but it is open, the lawn had lots of filled leaf bags scattered about and my daughter was running all around. I don't think they went to the front door while we were all at the back of the house so I think they didn't bother to stop to hand out whatever latest flyer they had.
I guess word has got around that I might be a "difficult" call, or maybe even an "apostate." 3rd
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The Reasoning Book is Inspired
by Thirdson inthat is what 2 jw ladies who came to my door recently told me..
to start at the beginning, periodically, these ladies have called and spoken to mrs thirdson but always on a week day.
mrs thirdson is always very polite and has accepted the mags saying that i might be interested in reading them but making it clear that we are christians and not interested in joining their religion.
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Thirdson
All,
Thanks for the comments. In the past week I have had time to reflect on the discussion and the comments here. In my opinion, JWs are no longer (if they ever were) students of the Bible. They are told what to say in the KM, and how to handle questions by referring to the Reasoning book. In my experience few JWs read the books and magazines they distribute to the public and will not look at other sources to check what their publications teach.
When confronted with a challenge to the statement made in the reasoning book that it was historically untrue and unsupported by other sources they were at a loss. They were at a loss when told some of the real history of their own religion. As a result, without any foundation to fall back on they have to claim that their book is 'inspired' because they have to believe it is the truth because their books tell them they have the truth. I would give them them some slack and let them claim that their organization leaders are 'spirit directed' but really it is just semantics. The WTS wants to claim God's guidance as in only they have a channel of divine communication but still allow for making numerous errors. But in effect they are saying, "we are not always right but we are never wrong."
The point I never reached in the conversation was that of relying more on a book interpreting a view of the Bible than the Bible itself. I don't believe the 2 ladies that called on me had real faith in God or the Bible but in a religious system that provides a coded set of beliefs and rules to live by. That make JWs a cult. We didn't even get to discussing the un-scriptural and dangerous teachings of JWs where members will willingly give up their lives or the lives of loved ones because their organization has declared in little books what portions of blood they can or cannot transfuse.
Finally, the last time I spoke to JWs was about 8 years ago when I questioned two ladies at the Minneapolis/St Paul International airport who were manning an information desk. At this rate my next opportunity will be in 2016. I'll will relish the chance to talk about the hundredth anniversary of the return of Christ.
3rd.