i watched this made for reality wedding last night on abc.
did anyone else watch it?
I think weddings are lovely, and I don't begrudge anyone happiness....
However: To spend $15,000 on shoes and a QUARTER MILLION dollars on just the roses for one couple's wedding--when there are children who are going hungry and will likely not see even one christmas present this year--is ridiculous, bordering on the insane.
I'm just saying.
i have met a wonderful man but unfortunately he is a jw.
i have never been interested or really ever been around any religion in my life so all of this right now is very fascinating to me.
i have been thinking of studying to become one but am also having a hard time finding anything on the net that is positive about it.
Nearly everyone has such sound advice to offer to you, there isn't much I can add.
In lieu of offering you my opinion on what you should do, I can ask you to think on a few simple questions.
1. Are you willing to let any of your future children die rather than take a blood transfusion? If you are, and in the future the organization reverses their position on the blood doctrine due to the emergence of 'new light' (their buzzword for doctrine changes), are you willing to accept that the change was divine direction from God himself and not be resentful that your child died under the 'old understanding'?
2. Are you willing to stop celebrating all regular holidays (No Christmas, no birthdays, no easter, no halloween, no thanksgiving, no national holidays, no mothers/fathers day, etc), and to give up celebrating any form of those days with your 'normal' family?
3. Are you willing to take as truth any mandate handed down in the publications of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and follow them without question, knowing that keeping all of your new friends is conditional upon your acceptance of all the doctrine? Are you willing to believe that anything said by the Watchtower is looked upon as direct communication from Jesus Christ to his people here on earth?
4. Are you willing to voluntarily enter into a contract with an organization (your baptismal vows will require you to pledge your allegiance to the society as God's sole channel of communication on earth)? Are you then also willing to, if at any point in the future you begin to question their teachings, break that contract and be shunned by all your 'christian brothers and sisters'?
5. Are you willing to ignore that little voice inside of you that led you to post the question that started this thread? Are you willing to ignore all the negative information you've found regarding Jehovah's Witnesses as the voice of Satan attempting to deter you from the 'truth'?
If you can answer an honest 'Yes' to each and every one of these questions then I suggest you begin that bible study right away and work toward baptism.
If any of these same questions give you pause, continue your search for information, and listen to the instinct that guided you to research the matter in the first place. Once you are a witness, you will be forbidden to engage in "independent thinking" so take this time to do as much of it as you can before making any decisions.
I wish you the very best, and hope that you follow the path that is right for you.
anyone care to guess how it will be won?
Here's a link to the fabulously well-written, intelligent, and not-at-all biased article in question . Puh-leeze.
Whenever I read any of these articles, I just sit there with my jaw hanging wondering how on earth anyone with half a brain can read ANY of their literature without noticing how blatantly condescending and leading the language is. I truly have to wonder how on earth anyone falls for the JW party line given the medium in which it's spread. But I digress.
The link is http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/1998/11/8/article_01.htm
if you was to put a christmas cd together to get you in the festive mood what songs would you put on it?.
chestnuts roasting on an open fire?
winterwonderland?....lol.
Josh Groban's version of "Oh Holy Night" is fantastic--it's my favorite classic Christmas song, and his version is the very best recording, in my opinion.
As far as more 'contemporary' tunes, the Eagles' version of "Please come home for Christmas" is hard to beat.
I love the Carpenter's "Merry Christmas Darling".
New Songs' "The Christmas Shoes" is schmaltzy and sentimental, and damn near makes me weep every time.
There are a few songs, however, that I loathe. Wham's "Last Christmas" is high on the list. And when the heck did "My Favorite Things" become a Christmas standard? If I hear Barbara Streisand's downright creepy version of that one more time, I'm going to take a hostage!
this really made me 'wonder': .
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3249574.stm woman crushed in rush at dvd sale.
a us store chain has apologised to a woman knocked unconscious as shoppers rushed for a sale of dvd players.
My husband says that going out to shop at 5 AM on the day after Thanksgiving is female equivalent of the running of the bulls in Spain.
For the first time in my life, I actually went out that morning (and only because it was a good deal and was going to save me 34.99. So there I was at 5:05 AM at Toys R Us being told by a 17 year old to "get back behind the red line!" while clutching my Gameboy Advance Bundle pack and credit card. It was a madhouse, but since I was already up, I hit a few more stores, got my oil changed, went to the grocery store, and was home by 8:30 AM having accomplished more in a few hours than I've accomplished on entire Saturday afternoons.
i tend to believe that god does hear prayers, he can ansure them in other planes of time that we don't understand and that we will be in latter in our life or possibly in some other dimension.
i do not think he gives us dead air space after we speak to him.
our request have far reaching implications for us beyond what can understand in our time line that we are living presently.
I must be the only one who notices the advertisements that come up with these threads. This one was absolutely nutty:http://www.prayerworksusa.com/
Automatically "prays"?? when you turn your car on, and continues till you turn it off!
That's nearly the funniest thing I've seen this holiday season... I want to get one just to say I have it!
My husband has a collection of 'inapprorpiate but well-meaning' images of Jesus, including a velvet painting of Jesus--arms outspread over a 18 wheeler, a Jesus action figure, porcelain statues of kids playing football and skiing with Jesus, and many other interesting things...
I don't think this fits the collection criteria, really, but it sure is funny!
how do you delete your address files when you click on the down icon?
cause it's starting to fill up?
holla
Do you mean how do you delete the history of where you've been using your browser?
If you're using explorer, go to Tools, internet options, and then click 'clear history' and then 'yes'. You can also click on the history button (it's a sun dial) and then right click on the blue underlined day and choose 'delete'.
119.5
I have always maintained that if I could only apply the part of my brain that remembers nearly all the lyrics to every song I've ever heard to, say, physics, I'd be really wealthy.
As it is, I can known an obscene number of song lyrics, but not remember where I put my purse when I walked in the house.
i'm starting this thread to post some of my articles that originally appeared on a jokes thread which should probably better appear in the "bible research & study articles" folder.
so here goes...... what was the sin, or sin(s) that sodom & gormorrah was judged for?
the original account in genesis actually does not say.
So every time I say "Yada yada yada..." in a disimissive manner, I'm really saying "F*** f*** f***"?
did you leave the watchtower society and the true god ,too?.
i believe that god still helps some of the of the ones still "traped" in the org.
- god helped me greatly while i was still in.
If nothing else, this thread has served to make me an even bigger James Thomas fan than I already was.
JT--your kindness to AAF in gently and repeatedly making the point that the unconditional love of a divine and beneveloent creator is inconsistent with the conditional belief system they are espousing is as good an argument for the presence of goodness and love in this world as anything else I've observed. Since first reading your "big question" (Can you truly love and honor someone who threatens to kill you if you don't) and your related posts, I've repeated it and expounded upon it in countless conversations about the nature of God and Religion and remain constantly astounded at how such a simple question has allowed me to put a finger on just what has bothered me for so long about the fundamentalist christianity's image of God. Thank you.
Sara
(I swear I'm not a stalker or involved in any 12 step program, I just wanted to let you know how your words and thoughts have affected me. Thanks!)
