Unadulterated consciousness would confront most of us with an unendurable awareness of the certainty of our own extinction and utter meaninglessness of life.
Soooo...
We find ways of tampering with such bald-faced tragedies. We find refuge in the construction of escape-beliefs. We tamper using alcohol, drugs, sex, career, meditation, video games, Star Wars sequels, sports, and stamp collecting :)
There are many challenges to face in justifying such beliefs, of course. Consequently, we must construct iron-clad logical support systems such as Systematic Theology.
If we aren't that intellectual--good old fashioned Superstition will do nicely, thank you.
Whatever it takes to float our boat.
TerryWalstrom
JoinedPosts by TerryWalstrom
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23
Very little that is factual in the Bible?
by TerryWalstrom inhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mryipltf3i.
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TerryWalstrom
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Very little that is factual in the Bible?
by TerryWalstrom inhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mryipltf3i.
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TerryWalstrom
I feel silly in retrospect. "All scripture is inspired of God and beneficial..." was telling us about itself. Self-reference is the very essence of paradox.
"Our hamburgers are the best because we say so." -
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Watchtower Spies and Secret Agents
by TerryWalstrom ini'm posting this link:http://jwdivorces.bravehost.com/spies.htmlonce you start reading it you won't be able to stop.fascinating and well-documented citations which give credibility to the belief that such a sneaky, underhanded, and often illegal practice has been secretly promoted for decades by watchtower society world headquarters..
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TerryWalstrom
Self-invigilation is the supreme identifying characteristic of a CULT.
We watch and report on each other.
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Very little that is factual in the Bible?
by TerryWalstrom inhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mryipltf3i.
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TerryWalstrom
I married into a Jewish family for about 18 years and found (Reformed) Judaism to be among the most practical of religions. In fact, my Father-in-Law was a better "Christian" than most Christians as far as how ethically he treated others.
My Sister-in-Law was more hardcore. She, her husband, and kids kept all the dietary rules. I found out through talking to her husband that in college Orthodox Jews have a separate set of textbooks for Science! No mention of evolution at all.
That is astonishing. -
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Very little that is factual in the Bible?
by TerryWalstrom inhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mryipltf3i.
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TerryWalstrom
The contrast in personalities in this program is fascinating to watch.
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Watchtower Spies and Secret Agents
by TerryWalstrom ini'm posting this link:http://jwdivorces.bravehost.com/spies.htmlonce you start reading it you won't be able to stop.fascinating and well-documented citations which give credibility to the belief that such a sneaky, underhanded, and often illegal practice has been secretly promoted for decades by watchtower society world headquarters..
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TerryWalstrom
There is a kind of old-fashioned prudery and puritanism among men in JW's.
I do think there is an attraction of a certain sort of psychology which draws alienated masculinity into the fold.
It is a kind of attraction/repulsion dynamic I'm unable to describe or comprehend because I'm no clinical psychologist, of course--but I've seen and observed it all my life.
Gossip is a big deal in congregations and my own theory is that wives of Elders get the juicy details and it empowers them as a source among peers.
When you have no sex life of your own, the 2nd-hand Peeping Tom dynamic asserts itself.
I've met my share of weirdoes in the religion. Hell--maybe I even was one at one time.
(It took me many years and several marriages to work out my problems.) -
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Watchtower Spies and Secret Agents
by TerryWalstrom ini'm posting this link:http://jwdivorces.bravehost.com/spies.htmlonce you start reading it you won't be able to stop.fascinating and well-documented citations which give credibility to the belief that such a sneaky, underhanded, and often illegal practice has been secretly promoted for decades by watchtower society world headquarters..
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TerryWalstrom
I'm posting this link:
http://jwdivorces.bravehost.com/spies.html
Once you start reading it you won't be able to stop.
Fascinating and well-documented citations which give credibility to the belief that such a sneaky, underhanded, and often illegal practice has been secretly promoted for decades by WatchTower Society World Headquarters. -
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The Old Kingdom Hall, memories of old friends, days and times now vanished...
by TerryWalstrom inold friend (in memorium).
we found the site of our old kingdom hall--no longer a place of cult activity--unless the electric supply business has a dark side.
all those meetings, songs, conversations!
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TerryWalstrom
My two oldest friends from the JW era, Johnny Santa Cruz and Quentin Robburts.
Johnny stayed in and Quentin left in the early 70's.
Johnny was fond of saying "I know how to play their game."
He didn't see any irony in saying that. -
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Very little that is factual in the Bible?
by TerryWalstrom inhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mryipltf3i.
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The Telephone we take for granted!
by TerryWalstrom inmarch 10, 1876: “mr.
watson —come here—i want to see you” the voice of alexander graham bell is transmitted.
he wasn't the first to invent it but the first to own a patent.. in 1910 telephone "subscribers" had 4 digit telephone numbers.soon, larger cities had 5 digit numbers.mark twain was one of the first to have a phone in his home.. the first phones had no dials or buttons.
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TerryWalstrom
I often think I was born at EXACTLY the right time to experience a certain level
of simplicity in life before major innovations in technology transformed society.
Simple was beautiful.
Everywhere I go I see people sitting and NOT talking to each other. They are on their "device."
As a kid, I spent all day out of doors. If I had had access to a computer or video games I'd have missed out on private thoughts, ideas, concepts slowly formed by contact with the "reality" of childhood.
People don't seem to want to KNOW things themselves anymore.
They can Google it. Why know it?
People don't read and they've lost all the wisdom of all those writers in past generations. Everything is movie-versions. A very poor substitute--like plastic flowers.
My life experience of BEFORE and AFTER is non-transferable except by my writing it and you taking the time and trouble of reading it.
Okay, so let me use a movie reference:
I feel like the replicant, Roy Batty, at the end of Blade Runner.
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
Time to die.