Posts by Xander

8

BREAKING NEWS:

by tdogg in

jw
friends

from the jehovah press:.

great britan, -.

earlier this week satan the devil, gog of magog, unleashed another in a series of attacks against the creator of all the universe, jehovah god.

Xander

Gawsh, my bro and I were always interested in MilHist, but, obviously, as good JWs, this was discouraged. So, we applied this interest to the 'spiritual war':

Angel 43453 of 454624664342 reporting:

"We expect the battle to soon turn in favor of the Kindgom of Jah (tm), however. Although 1/3 of the loyal forces deserted to side with Gog in Earth Year 1914 (tm), we have confidence that the remaining forces are fiercely loyal to Jesus. In addition, apparently only 1 cherub - the Dark Lord Himself (tm) - is in their forces, with the rest filled with regular angels - whereas the Kingdom of Jah has many cherubs in its army, and seraphim as well. Further, the Kingdom of Jah is continually being refreshed from the 'waters of truth' - spiritual food that builds up strength - which the Forces of Evil (tm) don't have access to, further weakening them...

The Forces of Evil have attempted to compensate by attacking God's True Followers (tm) on Earth, and although they have almost successfully driven 'True Religion' from Earth, this is not expected to have any effect. After all, humans are not born again into the spiritual realms, so their faith when dying is irrelevant. And whether or not all turn against God and build a successful government without him - proving the Great Liar (tm) to be telling the truth - it won't matter, either, since Jah will just destroy them all and declare himself the victor. In short, we cannot explain the Great Evil One's interest in human affairs, Lord only knows WE have no interest in them..."

65

Left Behind

by gravedancer in

jw
friends

no that is not a description of a piece of rear-anatomy (i don't want to get booted again <g>).

rather it is the rage now.... please check out http://www.leftbehind.com/ and take a look.

the reason i bring this up is because 3 different people i know (not xjws) are all into this "stuff" now.

Xander

That's the biggest argument in a 'christan god' vs 'not' debate...

If their is a single, all-powerful, all-knowing, 'loving' christian god, you have a LOT of explaning to do. THIS has to be 'beyond our understanding'. THAT has to 'have some divine purpose - I just don't know what'. SOMETHING ELSE has to 'have been a test of faith'. ANOTHER THING is 'god working in mysterious ways', etc.

There is no clear cut understanding of ANYTHING - it all has to be justified, or explained away, or you simply must 'have faith' because there is no logical reason to believe it.

WHEREAS...

If you DON'T believe in a christian god - there AREN'T any issues that have to be 'explained away'. There may not be an easily understandable reason for the creation of the universe (there is a number of possible explanations, none of them 'easily understandable'), but at least there is no contradicting behavior of the world that must be 'explained away.'

65

Left Behind

by gravedancer in

jw
friends

no that is not a description of a piece of rear-anatomy (i don't want to get booted again <g>).

rather it is the rage now.... please check out http://www.leftbehind.com/ and take a look.

the reason i bring this up is because 3 different people i know (not xjws) are all into this "stuff" now.

Xander

Creatures like those clean up the earth, waters, etc. of waste, so that diseases are not caused by carcuses lying around decaying.

But viruses don't 'clean up the earth' - they can't survive on dead matter - the cells they 'infect' must belong to a living organism or the virus can't reproduce. In short, viruses reproduce by killing living things. That's the ONLY way they can reproduce (they don't have the entire set of genetic code to do anything else).

Maybe adaptation? Where would I find evidence that any living thing is evolving?

This is something that is a fairly easy concept to grasp.

Adaption = change WITHIN a single generation that is not passed on to offspring.

Evolution = change within the NEXT generation that is 'heritable' - that is, the change is passed on to the offspring.

If a cockroach eats a little poison and survives, it may learn not to eat that poison again. That's adaption. If LOTS of roaches eat the poison, and all die except those with a certain immunity to it, and the NEXT generation is then born with their immunity already built in - THAT'S evolution.

And, that's ALL evolution is. Over millions of generations, simple changes such as that can begin to alter the form of the creature entirely.

I do not know the answer

See, the neat thing is - if you don't believe in the christian god, suddenly, all these questions have answers that make sense.

Edited by - Xander on 16 July 2002 15:29:0

15

GAH! US Gov't = going to far!!

by Xander in

jw
friends

this is just irritating:.

pay special attention to:by rewriting wiretap laws, csea would allow limited surveillance without a court order when there is an "ongoing attack" on an internet-connected computer or "an immediate threat to a national security interest.".

doesn't that sound lovely?

Xander

It's not as bad as it COULD be, but it opens too many doors.

"Until we secure our cyber infrastructure, a few keystrokes and an Internet connection is all one needs to disable the economy and endanger lives,"

Which is a ridiculous statement to begin with (yeah, it's theoretically possible - but don't you think if it were practical, it would have been done by now?) Are we all forgetting that the terrorist agenda is to suppress their own people? They are so uneducated, they need to send people to THIS country to learn to fly planes?

What on earth are the odds a successful 'cyber attack' could be originated from them? (Just FYI, while we DO have 'flying schools' there are no 'cyber attack' schools here).

"Disable the economy"! LOL! Of course, the level of education in our House is apparently not much higher.

who defines "limited" and "malicious"?

That's *exactly* the problem. I would put good money the RIAA was sponsoring a member on the committee. Anyone want to bet 'file sharing' becomes a 'terrorist' activity since it could 'disable (part of) the economy'?

Life sentances for owning MP3s, anyone? Yeah, I know, unlikely, I just don't like the taste this law leaves in my mouth. Much like the 'Patriot Act' earlier or the 'Office of Homeland Security' (still can't believe they called it that) - the government is taking too much liberty with the post-9/11 public paranoia.

(Incidently: not 'America Bashing' - like the country just fine. Current administration is a little....*yuck*, but...)

Edited by - Xander on 16 July 2002 15:0:22

15

GAH! US Gov't = going to far!!

by Xander in

jw
friends

this is just irritating:.

pay special attention to:by rewriting wiretap laws, csea would allow limited surveillance without a court order when there is an "ongoing attack" on an internet-connected computer or "an immediate threat to a national security interest.".

doesn't that sound lovely?

Xander

This is just irritating:

Pay special attention to:

By rewriting wiretap laws, CSEA would allow limited surveillance without a court order when there is an "ongoing attack" on an Internet-connected computer or "an immediate threat to a national security interest."

Doesn't that sound lovely? And, how about:

Currently it's illegal for an Internet provider to "knowingly divulge" what users do except in some specific circumstances, such as when it's troubleshooting glitches, receiving a court order or tipping off police that a crime is in progress. CSEA expands that list to include when "an emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury to any person requires disclosure of the information without delay."

54

NGO ? Please help!

by Bosho in

.

i've only just joined but i would be grateful if you could give me some information on this ngo business.. i live in england, am completly ignorant and no nothing about the un (everything i learnt in school went in one ear and out the other as did much else i learnt!).

i would be grateful if someone could explain what ngo is exactly and how jw's were involved with it.. much appreciated.

Xander

WOW, Hawk, thanks a TON!!

I'll do that - thanks again!

11

John Prine anyone?

by scootergirl in

i am a huge john prine fan.......i know, it is strange and very outdated, but i just love the guy.

(quit laughing at me eyegirl!).

just curious is anyone else out there enjoys his music.. my hubby took me to see him last year.......what a show!

Xander

Folk music = the best.

John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, Guy Clark, Emmylou Harris, Nanci Griffith, Lucinda Williams, etc.

(If you haven't heard any Van Zandt - you are SO missing out it isn't even funny. I'd recommend 'Poet: A Tribute to Townes Van Zandt' for a sample of his writing style - a bunch of artists including John Prine sing a number of his songs. For his own work, any of the 'Best Of...' compilation albums are pretty good. Special songs of his to look for: "Our Mother the Mountain", "Waiting Around to Die", "Tower Song", "Pancho & Lefty", "For the Sake of the Song", etc. - I could keep going, he's *incredible*)

65

Left Behind

by gravedancer in

jw
friends

no that is not a description of a piece of rear-anatomy (i don't want to get booted again <g>).

rather it is the rage now.... please check out http://www.leftbehind.com/ and take a look.

the reason i bring this up is because 3 different people i know (not xjws) are all into this "stuff" now.

Xander

did exist on earth according to historical references other than the bible

Really? You've found some? Because, aside from some doctored documents attributed to Josephus (which don't even mention any miracles, or raising people from the dead, or walking on water, or...) I haven't been able to find any reference to him outside the bible.

I blame Satan for the imperfection and the viruses.

So...Satan created viruses? Bugs, too? Cause they also can be observed to evolve over generations. And several types of them (intestinal worms, fleas, etc) serve no purpose other than to bring disease and death. What else did Satan create, then? Just wondering...

If God made everything easy for us and took away all the sickness

The point of my original question was - how did 'sickness' get here in the first place? If God didn't create it? Now, you seem to imply Satan can create things. Which, of course, begs the succeeding question of: what ELSE has he created?

for the person that doesnt believe that God exists...he really doesnt.

Now, don't think I'm atheist - I'm not - I certainly believe there are divine forces in the universe, and I think they likely had a hand in a lot of events, especially regarding out presence.

I just find the evidence of a single, all-powerful, all-knowing, 'loving', christian god, a little lacking.

54

NGO ? Please help!

by Bosho in

.

i've only just joined but i would be grateful if you could give me some information on this ngo business.. i live in england, am completly ignorant and no nothing about the un (everything i learnt in school went in one ear and out the other as did much else i learnt!).

i would be grateful if someone could explain what ngo is exactly and how jw's were involved with it.. much appreciated.

Xander

Josephus the historian

Josephus mentioned the early christian movement - not really anything more.

The later documents of his where Jesus was described as 'wonderful' and 'miraculous' and such were added by the early Catholic scribes. (This is not really debated - historians consider it obvious based on the fragments of the documents they have that they were 'doctored' and these sections in particular).

Since we brought the Catholics up - you know how many 'gospel' books were written, right? HINT: Many more than 4! Indeed, even Mary is supposed to have written one. Tell me, who picked 'Matthew', 'Mark', 'Luke', and 'John' as the four gospel books in the 'Bible'? Another hint: Wonder why, with all the gospel accounts available, the NWT has the same four as....every Protestant Religion's Bible? The Catholic Bible? Even wonder of ALL the 'sacred texts' the jews had (more than just the Old Testament, believe me!) and all the letters sent between the early Christian congregations (more than to the Ephesians, Galatians, etc.), the NWT has the EXACT same books as the Protestant Bible?

Who picked which books were 'in' and which were 'out'? Just things to ponder...

54

NGO ? Please help!

by Bosho in

.

i've only just joined but i would be grateful if you could give me some information on this ngo business.. i live in england, am completly ignorant and no nothing about the un (everything i learnt in school went in one ear and out the other as did much else i learnt!).

i would be grateful if someone could explain what ngo is exactly and how jw's were involved with it.. much appreciated.

Xander

I've been going since I was born. (I'm now nearly thirty) and I have to admit that as a child I never paid attention. I was the one staring at the ceiling counting roof tiles!

See, I was such an uberJW that it wasn't even funny. Put in pioneer hours (back when they meant something) before even being baptised (2 days after my 17th birthday).

Regular auxilereed - I even remember having my mom and bro waiting in the school parking lot with a cargroup so I get could time in RIGHT AFTER school ended.

A honestly believed every word I was told, would defend it to the death in school (and it actually almost went that far a few times - we had some rough kids in our school who didn't like the self-righteous religious type too much).

Gave talks, ran mikes, I was on the quick ticket to MS-hood, then elderhood.

What started me questioning was a couple things at once:

1) Their change on the 'generation' position. For all my early life, I remember mom counting off the years "Well, someone who was an adult in 1914 would be how old now? See how close the end is! They are almost dead - and we know they will survive until the New Order!!"

then

"Well, someone who was a teen in 1914 would be how old now? See how close the end is! They are almost dead - and we know they will survive until the New Order!!"

then

"Well, someone who was born in 1914 would be how old now? See how close the end is! They are almost dead - and we know they will survive until the New Order!!"

finally...

"Well, the '1914 generation' doesn't mean anything - the 'generation' Jesus was referring to as being those who see armegeddon was the 'generation' that would be alive at the time of the end "

And the society all along saying they weren't backtracking or anything - this is just 'new light' - just a refinement of their understanding - not CHANGING, just REFINING. Uhhh...yeah....

2) Finally, it was them not allowing questions. "The truth cannot be hurt by a lie, but a lie can be exposed by the truth", no? So, what harm would doing research have? I mean, if we had the truth, doing any kind of research would easily show what kind of gem we had. Not the opposite. So, why did they oppose 'outside research' so much?

Now comes the part that shocked the hell out of me but won't surprise you at all.
I expected your forums to be "DIE witnesses DIE!"

I don't think anyone hear really holds anything against individial witnesses as a group - we, after all - almost all WERE witnesses at one time. It's just the policies of the org we have questions and problems with. As Panorama shows - with good reason!