i'm at starbucks .
just outside in the courtyard.. i'm trembling.
my hands are shaking.. wow!.
Each of us sits in a kind of rowboat on a vast and dangerous ocean stretching out in all directions. We may be hungry, thirsty, afraid and alone--but, if we somebody came
along and told us to drill a hole in our boat, jump into the ocean and swim with the sharks, I don't think any of us would do it.
And that, my friends, is what we are asking of a person nestled all snugly in the 'loving' embrace of Mother.
sad but true; i've yet to be at a meeting where the org/ 'fds' isn't praised....
There has been an ongoing experiment since the middle of the 16th century.
A thesis has been tested and disproved.
The thesis is simple: a pious person professing Christ as Saviour who prayerfully studies the Bible will be instructed along the path of the true faith.
How has it been disproved?
41,000 Christian denominations reveal the consequence of such tests.
Garbage in can only yield garbage out.
Christianity is only what people imagine it to be.
The Bible tells the pious and devoted supplicant an echo of his own opinions. Nothing more is possible.
There is no there there.
Each man has the Jesus he chooses.
Each denomination thinks it has THE true faith.
Each denomination believes the others cling to error.
Can you imagine anything of the sort being possible with
Euclid's text on Geometry? Unthinkable!
No matter where you travel, you'll find Euclid's texts yield exactly
the same results for each student everywhere.
No discord. Results match.
Q.E.D
are you crazy?.
you find yourself 'awake' to the truth about the 'truth' and all you do about it.
is sulk?
My oldest friend (former) who got me into the cult to begin with once said to me, "Why would I ever want to read anything which would cause me to change my religion?"
I stared at him.
"Well duh--what if every householder whose door you knocked asked you that? What would YOU reply?"
Naturally he deflected. "But, I've already got the Truth."
Exasperated with him and prevented by law from strangling him to death, I said:
"Well, of course, you do. But just think how disappointed this makes me.
You were my hero when we first met. Did you know that?
No matter how many questions I could come up with--you were ready with an answer! I was impressed and I wanted to be just like you!
But, I had to read and study and dig in to understand what you were presenting to me as the 'truth.' I had to risk being wrong.
I had to put my ego on the line and make evidence more important than my fear of being wrong about everything. Remember?
And now, after all these years, the tables have turned.
Yes. I didn't stop studying and digging and examining and learning.
You see, I'm not a12-year-old and ignorant of how you pulled off the trick. I know where the false bottom is in the hat where you hid your Watchtower bunny!
You only showed me the truth. You hid the whole truth and nothing but.
And that makes what you have fragile; a house of cards; a matchstick kingdom on a shaky surface. You don't dare touch it or it will topple--and you fear how mighty that fall might be!"
It was exactly at that moment my former best friend shrunk in stature before me. He was just a trickster, intellectually dishonest and fearful his lazy ass might have to start from scratch. He had exposed himself. It wasn't about truth at all. It wasn't about true worship either. He had carved out a place of comfort which allowed him to appear masterful. It was hollow pretense. He'd become an actor reading lines mugging for applause before a witless audience.
Well, it was time for me to stand up and walk out on his performance. He saw the light die in my eyes that day. I made certain of it.
He was exposed.
believe what we will, we still live in the real world and what happens to us proceeds from confrontations unavoidable.. the christian scientist can die from an illness which (to him) does not exist.. the hindu can starve to death in a pasture full of sacred cattle.. the jehovah's witness can sell his house and pioneer full time as he tears the pages from his 1975 calendar in exasperation.. and many is the parent who prays for mercy over the child who dies.. to think or not think is our choice.
the content of our thought can be real or illusory.
the progress report comes at the end of each day as we lie in bed and count the costs of our beliefs.. .
The macadamias are delicious, JT!
"for if you publicly declare with your mouth that jesus is lord,+ and exercise faith in your heart that god raised him up from the dead, you will be saved.
10 for with the heart one exercises faith for righteousness, but with the mouth one makes public declaration+ for salvation.
11 for the scripture says: no one who rests his faith on him will be disappointed.+
The Bible reflects accretions over a certain span of time.
By 'accretions,' I mean layers of transitional beliefs superimposed
over each other.
In earliest Christianity, there was mostly Messianic Judaism. Gradually, the pagans who converted (i.e. Gentiles) were absorbed--especially after AD 70. In that space of time the strict monotheism gave way to a light paganization (is that a word?) due to Greek influence (demi-god status). In other words, don't be misled into assuming the Scriptures TEACH ONE WAY and one way only. The Scriptures are a diversity of opinions redacted (and forced) next to each other.
So what?
So you can prove contradictory things by cherry-picking carefully. There is no GESTALT.
Christianity is a patchwork quilt.
Of course, the Bible contradicts itself. You have to be purposefully dull-witted to insist otherwise--and you obviously are not that.
Think of it like this.
What if you asked, "What is the ONE reason for all traffic accidents?"
See what violence that context-forcing does to a "true" answer?
Expecting internally inconsistent opinions to be consistent is a wrongly based presupposition on your part.
Welcome!
in the long winter nights you need some good tv shows to watch while you wait for the eternity between seasons of game of thrones.. we've watched marco polo (pretty good) and have just started watching orange is the new black which is not at all what i imagined (didn't know it was funny!).
house of cards is on the list too as we've heard good things about that.. anyone have any others that are worth seeing?.
HELIX is pretty darned good. It has several flavors of Sci-Fi in a 28 Days Later w/o Zombies sort of way.
MARCO POLO is absolutely ravishing!
The movie JERRY and TOM is great fun! BTW it is not the animated cat and mouse--it's about hit men.
THE 100 is a sci-fi series which is about 80% good. The few lapses can be overlooked, for the most part.
2 DAYS IN THE VALLEY is delicious fun and extremely well-written and performed.
BBC short series: FLEMING: THE MAN WHO WOULD BE BOND was outstanding!
The series THE KILLING may be the best thing I've seen in years! The depth of story and performance is absolutely top-notch.
THE WEST WING (Aaron Sorkin) was so wonderful I watched the whole thing twice!) Best writing of intelligent people you'll find on TV with the sole exception of SHERLOCK.
The AWAKENING is wicked good spooky!
Series called TERRIERS is off-beat in the finest way possible. I loved it.
The flick STAKE LAND is a scathingly cool vampire hunter genre.
BROKEDOWN PALACE is superb in every way imaginable.
British TV series JEKYLL is written by the writer of SHERLOCK, so you know it is excellent.
"one member of the governing body of jehovah's witnesses repeated the well-known saying: 'to know where we are going, we have to know where we have come from.'".
you will find this statement on jw.org - under activities - the museum - "a tour through time.
there jw.org is featuring a slick advertisement for the tour at brooklyn, bethel, of watchtower's museum containing their version of the history of the organization.
Which explains why they are so accurate in predicting Armageddon.
Oh--wait!
They aren't.
sad but true; i've yet to be at a meeting where the org/ 'fds' isn't praised....
Jesus is to Jehovah's Witnesses what the appendix is to the human body.
He is vestigial.
i have protestants, jw's and mormons praying for my soul, (think you very much).. what do you say when you are told that??
i am so much better since i left the borg, physically, mentally and financially.
but just in case the protestants(jesus) are right or the mormons or maybe jw, if i meet my maker i will tell him or her i plea insanity.. my deity, i knew not who's prayers was being answers on my behalf, my eyes were open but didn't know where it came from.
Is there a nice way of saying, "I'm not going to actually DO anything in regard to your problem--but--I'd really like to feel good about my inertia if possible. So, here is how I'll keep my self-respect as well as possibly convince everybody else I really care--I'll ask an invisible, supernatural personage of international renown to violate the laws of nature on your behalf merely because I take the trouble to ask, as well as using the magic word: Jesus."
Yes! Just say: I'LL PRAY FOR YOU!
believe what we will, we still live in the real world and what happens to us proceeds from confrontations unavoidable.. the christian scientist can die from an illness which (to him) does not exist.. the hindu can starve to death in a pasture full of sacred cattle.. the jehovah's witness can sell his house and pioneer full time as he tears the pages from his 1975 calendar in exasperation.. and many is the parent who prays for mercy over the child who dies.. to think or not think is our choice.
the content of our thought can be real or illusory.
the progress report comes at the end of each day as we lie in bed and count the costs of our beliefs.. .
Back. . . WAY back in 1840. . .
a minister named Skinner, known to be a prudent man of sober intellect, was approached to speak out in response, and rebuttal.
Against what or whom, you ask?
Against a theory offered by a war hero named William Miller who was advancing the idea--with 'proofs' from Scripture, that the world would come to its end when the second advent of Christ arrived in 1843.
What Skinner wrote was remarkable.
It was also very much a PRE-ECHO of warning for the much later nonsense published and spread all over planet Earth by the Watchtower Society from circa 1968-1975.
" History informs us, that many have risen
up in different ages, who have advocated the immediate
destruction of the world. And all these '
have had their followers; all these have deluded
many. In some cases, people have been so affected,
as to forsake their business, abandon their
several employments, and leave their families unprovided
with the necessaries of life. In others,
they have sold their possessions, and given up all
to tho church; hoping, thereby, to secure the salvation
of their souls. Hence, it would be no new
thing, if some who receive this theory should forsake
their employments, abandon their houses and
and give themselves up to excitement and
fear; to what they would call a preparation for
the great calamity or judgment they suppose is so
soon to come. "
You can read Skinner's entire statement here:
http://www.a2z.org/wtarchive/docs/1840_Miller's_Theory_Utterly_Exploded.pdf
