Posts by Ravyn

40

Will The Pope Just Die Already!

by xjw_b12 in

in the newspaper today there was an article on pope john paul's visit to crotia.

this is his 100th pilramage, in his 83rd year.

in 2 weeks he is scheduled to go to bosnia, where i doubt he'll get as warm as a reception as he did in croatia.

Ravyn

Hey DJ! Robyn! Yeru! good posts. I converted to Catholicism last year and I had very good educators too. I love John Paul, and his birthday is the same as mine. I wrote him a letter last year for his birthday, and within 6 weeks he wrote me back, sent me a gold medal and a picture of himself blessing me! I was told to hold onto the letter because when he comes up for sainthood after he dies and they need evidence of a miracle I can show them the letter and he will be a shoo in ---since it usuallly takes the Vatican about 300 years to respond and he did it in 6 weeks! LOL (An inside catholic joke...)

DJ the 'Communion of Saints' is based on Hebrews chapter 12. The 'great cloud of witnesses'. The idea that no one who dies in good graces is 'dead' to God...and just the fact that if they already made it thru this test, what better ones to ask for prayers on our behalf? Yeru mentioned that they become the Church Triumphant---still the same Church...but while we are on earth we are in the Church Militant---you know different 'mansions' in the Father's house? So asking a saint to pray for you is just the same as asking someone in your congregation to do the same, only you figure they MIGHT have an edge being a little closer to God.....it is not even an issue to Catholics because of the way we view the Church as a whole, no matter WHERE we are in it......

One other thing that might help you understand how Catholics think(which is different from how Protestants think)is that catholics feel that the Church came first, and out of the Church came the Bible. Protestants feel that the Bible came first and out of the Bible came the Church.

Ravyn

8

Thank God for Satan!!

by PopeOfEruke in

how grateful all jw's must be for satan and his rotten wicked old system of things!!!.

for example, i have a relative who has been a regular pioneer non-stop for over 40 years!

as he is now 60 years of age, he is entitled to a pension from the government.

Ravyn

LOL Sara Annie---yes well it didnt scare them away from telling me that I had to get help from the CIL or fend for myself! CIL is for helping disabled people live on their own.

Ravyn

24

I'm losing it

by Hamas in

jw
friends

Ravyn

Hamas it is a good sign that you THINK you are losing it because the ones who really do lose it never think they are losing it.....

so you can't be crazy if you suspect you are...........

Ravyn

8

Thank God for Satan!!

by PopeOfEruke in

how grateful all jw's must be for satan and his rotten wicked old system of things!!!.

for example, i have a relative who has been a regular pioneer non-stop for over 40 years!

as he is now 60 years of age, he is entitled to a pension from the government.

Ravyn

I am permanently disabled and pioneered for 15 years.

I used to get alot of help from St. Vincent DePaul Society when I was a regular pioneer myself. Once they came out with a can of gas and a voucher for more when I ran out of gas in my driveway on the way to the Kingdom Hall! (No one was available to pick me up for the meeting when I called...)

Another time the person who ran their thrift store called me to ask me if I knew anyone who could benefit from 48 tapes of the Watchertower that had come in with some other stuff...and then made the arrangements to deliver them to a older blind lady return visit I had! Oh the brothers were not happy when I related that experience on the Service Meeting! And I was actually told that I could not count that as 48 mags on my time slip but only 1 since I only went out to her house that one time with all of them....(the St. V. DeP people came and picked me up and took me to her!)

It was my own experience and that of everyone else i knew who was in similar circumstances that the Borg advised us to go to 'worldly charities' FIRST before we came to the congregation for help since they were only being 'allowed' to exist for the benefit of the 'holy ones' anyway--so we were actually the only ones entitled! Every pioneer I ever knew was getting some kind of welfare.

But when I was required to give back to the community, and was asked by the local police department to take photos of people parking in handicapped spaces at the Post Office without permits...I was hauled up before the elders and told to quit it. I was also counselled on volunteer work I did for the Senior Center and the Center for Independent Living---which was the cost of some of the charity I benefitted from. It was only after a fight with the elders and threatening to show up at their houses for dinner that they finally gave in and let me volunteer in exchange for Food Bank services.

Creeps. Some of the best times in my life were when I volunteered---and I DONT mean knocking on doors with magazines!

Ravyn

31

Feeling Pretty Bad

by rebel in

jw
friends

i hate mondays!.

i also feel bad because i have been receiving subtle hints from my hubby that he may be leaving me.

we have been married for 24 years, have 4 beautiful, intelligent children (one is no longer with us), we have been though troubles, worries, the death of our darling claire, money problems - you name it - we've been there.. now - because i have different religious views to him, he doesn't think he can associate himself with me any longer.

Ravyn

like alot of posters have already said-- he is advised by scripture to remain with you--to win you without a word...remember that one? isnt there a scripture that says something about if you are a slave stay a slave, or married dont be looking to be single....? something like that. I always thought the only one who can end a marriage is the one who chooses to leave the Borg, not the one who stays...atleast that is the way it is counselled to wives in that situation.

Ravyn

21

Did God make the ancient israelites also worship a goddess?

by avishai in

ever heard about the "goddess" the ancient hebrews worshipped?

asherah?

funny, how the jews were'nt supposed to have other gods or graven images, but there it is, right there in exedous , i believe, the israelites were wandering around in the desert & started to get bit by snakes.

Ravyn

if you are going to do any research on Asherah you can't forget to look up Shekinah too...remember shekinah as in the light in the most holy over the ark of the covenant...hmmmm...well it seems Shekinah was the name of Jehovah's consort too....

do a web search. also try Barbara Walker's Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets. (first book I got before I was 'out' of the Borg and it started the ball rolling.........)

Ravyn

34

How many children is too many today?

by JH in

jw
friends

years ago, families were huge.

it wasn't rare to see families of 9 or 10 children.

today things are so different.

Ravyn

I have one sister. I raised her, then went on to cousins, then in teens and twenties I did the whole JW babysitting thing, in my 30's raised 2 foster kids(troubled JW teens) and now I have one niece by marriage that is a crime waiting to happen(and coming for a visit in 2 weeks --can I run away?) and two nephews who are late teens and glad they don't dont live with me. I have a god daughter, and am the 'aunt' to a few friends children. Just had a visit for 2 days with a 2 yr old and a 10 month old.

I have three cats and a dog and a husband and no regrets about no children and no intention of ever regretting it. not only do I see children hurt by economics of today but I cannot see how it is possible for a parent today to give the care and attention and education that I had as a kid and I could not do that personally. I see way too many people having children today to fulfill their own needs above that of the child and it is not fair or right. On the other hand I see this lack being overcompensated for by 'child-worshipping'.

Ravyn

67

A Common Mistake

by DJ in

as a jw, i was taught the wrong idea of what the trinity is.

the concept of the trinity does not teach that the father is the son.

Ravyn

this is my personal belief. I do not claim anyone elses, nor do I intend to convert anyone to mine.

I believe the people who became the Jews recorded their ideas of God in what we have come to know as Genesis. The first chapter speaks of Elohim, which is plural. The second chapter speaks of YHWH, which is also plural--BUT-is one family unit of 'gods', separate from, but a part of, Elohim(read the first two chapters of Genesis in a good comparative Bible that gives the Hebrew and Aramaic references and you will see the two accounts of creation are very different and contradictory IF you understand them to be the SAME creation--however if you see them as two different examples of creation they do not conflict. Elohim created the Universe and other humans, YHWH created the Garden and Adam and Eve--and Lilith, but that is a different story.) Yod-He-Vau-He is Father/Mother/Son/Daughter(or Bride) and denotes ONE family unit 'GOD'. Nothing wrong with this---the Jews were very family/tribe oriented, as all humans. It was only with the rise of warrior/patriarchal society that the Matronit(or Mother/Daughter) got lost in the shuffle. But it is still not difficult to find the Jehovah/Shekinah pair right up thru Solomons Temple in secular historical documents. I see the Old Testament-shift to-New Testament as the natural prgression from Father/Mother to Son/Daughter(Bride). So---basically the YHWH of the Jews and into the the God of the Christians is not a Trinity but a Quaternity. Even if you believe in the Trinity, there is still the Bride of Christ to consider. Holy Spirit may be called 'male' but it has all the qualities of a Mother, and the words used for it in the OT are feminine.

Many other religions have trinities too. Usually they consist of two sets of trinities, one male and one female, or just a female trinity with one male god who services all and manages to get himself sacrificed(and usually chopped up into pieces).

The oldest concept of 'God' is that it is female who gives birth to a son without the help of another male. Then when the Son grows into maturity, he then becomes consort to the Mother who is now represented by a Daughter, or has changed her aspect to 'Maiden' again so the cycle can be perpetuated. The Son becomes the Father and then conveniently dies, while the Maiden/Mother/Crone goes on some dark inner journey(winter-time) to get him back as a newborn Son(Winter Solstice). Sometimes it is the Son/Father who goes on the quest. But it varies little among the ancient mythos.

Personally, YHWH is not my particular name for my 'god'. I am not Jewish. But I do not think YHWH is necessarily ONLY a Jewish god either. I think it represents the common idea of god. I also do not believe YHWH is the ULTIMATE DIVINITY. That would have been Elohim in the Jewish mythos. So I can be a 'trinitarian' and a 'unitarian' at the same time. And I can go to a Christian service and not feel out of place. I can profess the 'Apostle's Creed' and not feel like I am a traitor to it. I just believe BEYOND it. And I equally respect the beliefs of my own particular heritage. I don't see them as conflicting because I understand where they all come from.

Ravyn

83

Did Jesus Christ exist at all?

by Tyler in

some of my comments (and that of others) on other threads have highlighted a basic differance between those of us who belieave jesus christ did exist, and those of us who recon he did not.

i belieave jesus as described in the gospells did not exist.

so i decided to start a thread that adresses this issue face on.

Ravyn

no secular documents exist to prove the existence of any of the apostles either. and the mythos that surrounds the 'christ' is thousands of years older than the version that developed over the first 6 centuries AD.

while I seriously doubt that jesus or any of them existed per se, I do not invalidate the mythos and I do recognize early christianity as being as valid as any other belief system. but definitely not the first, only, or last valid and useful belief system.

Ravyn

13

Do you(all) realize how beautiful you are?

by Ravyn in

jw
friends

i don't mean just in the personality sense---which of course you all are---but in the physical sense!

tall, short, thin, heavy, dark, light, --this is a good-looking bunch!

yes some of us have things we wish were different about our looks---but i have not seen anyone here from pics who is not somewhere in the top percentile of human beauty.

Ravyn

uh...wild horses, if you are talking about that xmas glamor shot I had done for my husband for xmas 2000...yes indeed it was more skin than clothing with a little tinsel thrown on for good luck! LOL wish I still looked that way...but you know those steroids(prednisone). Bought a bathing suit today--yuk. But he loves me anyway, and I know I CAN look good. My one claim to fame when I was a teen ager is that pic in the Live Forever Book of the women who tempted the angels to leave heaven..remember that pic of them all swimming and bathing? I was the one in front. yep yep that was me. but my eyes are brown, I think they made them blue. (I was also that poor wretched little girl in the Youth Book putting on lipstick in the mirror with the ponytail---but that was a few years before this one!) I recently tried to throw away a 'little black dress' - a very LITTLE little black dress - that had 'em drooling when I first met Lee...but he fished it out of the trash and told me to keep it and said I would get into it again someday SOON. He is a sweetie. and his mom got me a sexy night gown with a thong for my birthday this year! I said was it for MY birthday or HIS? LOL(didn't know they made thongs in 2X........ )

Ravyn