Posts by rwagoner

I'm pretty lucky in that my disability work takes me to Washington DC alot so I get to rub elbows with a lot of political folks. Senators, Congressmen, Judges, Governors, Lobbyists. Met Presidents Reagan, Bush 41 and George W. Been invited to the White House 3 times but only went twice...declined clinton's invite. LOL (my wife's blue dress was at the cleaners for some reason)

Having dinner with Mike Huckabee (Gov. of.. I think its Arkansas) on March 8th.

I have to fly alot too so meet the occassional celeb....but I am old so most people wouldn't call them celebs any more LOL. Carol Burnett, Alan Alda, Michael J. Fox, Tom Seleck...did meet robin williams and walter matheau when they made a movie near my home...some sort of comedy survivalist thing...don't remember the name. Ate lunch with the guy that the movie Jerry Mcguire was based on.

Oh and went to Bethel when I was like 6 years old and GB Member Knorr patted me on the head at lunch....it was sort of creepy looking back on it.

16

Give away,s

by mouthy in

jw
friends

i have hundreds of testimony's of ex jws on casset.... if any one would like them .let me know...i am giving up the group.... at my age i feel i dont want to hear any more sad tales of what the wicked watchtower has done to me & others.

rwagoner

Even if no one steps up to make the transfers these tapes should be preserved...one day they may serve as an important part of our history of the WT survivors !!!

21

What do you believe in now?

by janelle in

jw
friends

i just stumbled on this site today, and am i ever glad i did!!!

i was raised as a witness, my mom being a witness and my dad a non believer.

growing up i never wanted to follow all the rules, and often broke them behind my mothers back.

rwagoner

Welcome to the board...great group of people.

I've been out since the late 80's/early 90's and after a brief time away began my involvement in the ministry. I am currently ordained with the Lutheran Orthodox Church which is discribed as the Catholic Church - Lutheran Rite due to the close relationship we have with the Catholic Church. I also am an active Colonel serving as the Commander of the NH Brigade of the United States Corps of Chaplains.

I firmly believe a person can have a relationship with God without losing themsleves in a mind numbing cult. I choose to remain in an organized religious denomination partly for the fellowship and partly because I find the pagentry and ceremony a grounding and calming part of my own personal faith. I respect that many not only don't need the ceremony of an actual religion but also that many have had a terrible personal experience and can not find a place for religion in their hearts. I only wish that they find whatever force or inner spirit that they need to cope with the daily problems of life in their own way.

41

Maryann....or Ginger. Who would you pick if.....

by gumby in

jw
friends

....you could spend a month on the island alone with?

no, i ain't horny......just wonderin.

gumflaccid .

rwagoner

Mary Ann hands down....

13

Are Women Allowed To Be Ministers?

by lucifer in

jw
friends

i was out last night with my friend that i went to church with a couple weeks ago (he's presbyterian) and i asked him if he had been to church lately and he told me that him and his family went to the main church in town instead of his little one in the country.

then he told me that his aunt and cousins got up and left the service because it was a woman minister??

so i asked if they were allowed to have women ministers and he said no that it is against the bible ..."the bible clearly says that women are not to have authority in chuch/congregations..." .

rwagoner

This is the position of the Lutheran Orthodox Church:

Women in the Ministry

There is much debate today concerning women in positions of leadership in the ministry. Setting the basic tone is Galatians 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."

How does all of this lead up to women ministers? Perhaps you are thinking that although we have laid a biblical foundation for "neither male nor female" in Christ, certain verses in the New Testament still seem to ban women from ministry positions in the church. Let's examine these verses for the true interpretation.

"Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law" (1 Corinthians 14:34).

"Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence" (1 Timothy 2:11-12).

In these verses, Paul cannot be addressing women who were in the ministry, but rather those in the congregation who were out of order. How do we know this? We have many such proofs, many from Paul himself. Here is a partial list of women who were all in influential positions of leadership in the early church.

Pheobe (Romans 16:1-2): This woman was a deaconess of the church in Cenchrea, who was beloved of Paul and many other Christians for the help she gave to them. She filled an important position of leadership. It would be a difficult stretch of the imagination to say that this woman fulfilled her duties without ever speaking in the church!

Priscilla (Acts 18:26): Priscilla and her husband Aquila are often mentioned with great respect by Paul. Together they were pastors of a church in Ephesus, and were responsible for teaching the full gospel to Apollos. We are informed that they both taught Apollos, and pastored the church together. In fact, Priscilla is sometimes listed ahead of Aquila when their names come up. This has led some to speculate that of the two, she was the primary teacher and her husband oversaw the ministry. At any rate, we see here a woman in a very prominent position of teaching and pastoring. (Other references to Priscilla and Aquila are Acts 18:2, 18; Romans 16:3, and I Corinthians 16:19).

Euodia and Syntyche (Philippians 4:2-3): Here we see reference to two women who were "true yokefellow" and who labored with Paul in the advancement of the gospel.

Junia (Romans 16:7): In this verse we see Paul sending greetings to Andronicus and Junia, his "fellow-prisoners" who are of note among the apostles. Junia is a woman's name. In some modern translations, an "s" has been added (Junias) because the translators were so sure a woman could not be an apostle, that they assumed a copyist has accidentally dropped the "s." However the proper male ending would have been "ius," not "ias." No church commentator earlier than the Middle Ages questioned that Junia was both a woman and an apostle.

Though there were other women throughout the Bible in positions of leadership, such as prophetesses, evangelists, judges, leaders, etc., the above references should be enough to establish that women were indeed a vital and normal part of church leadership. Paul expected women to speak in the church, or else why would he have given the following directive? It would have been useless to give directions for women who were speaking in the church, if they were never allowed to do so.

1 Corinthians 11:5, "But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven."

Furthermore, if Paul believed that all women should never teach or speak in church, why does he commend many women who did just that?

Even in Paul's day, there were those who tried to twist the meaning his words.

"...His (Paul's) letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do other Scriptures, to their own destruction" ( 2 Peter 3:16).

It is a fair conclusion that the testimony of the bulk of Scripture, church history and God's anointing upon them, all speak plainly for women being able to fulfill all positions of the five-fold offices of apostle, prophet, pastor, evangelist and teacher.

The Lord gave the church gifts of His choosing in the form of men and women who would lead the church into perfection (Ephesians 4:8-12).

It is the Lord who calls men and women to His ministry. He does not call special people, but the call goes out to "whosoever will." First, we are called to salvation; then as we walk in obedience to Him, He calls for us to be baptized in His Holy Spirit. As we continue to obey and follow Him, He then may choose us to serve Him in a full-time ministry. He chooses people for the ministry out of those who have walked in obedience to His other calls. He desires that all follow, but can only choose those who are obedient. These men and women who have answered the call are set in the ministry by Jesus Himself. Man's ordination does not qualify them, but the ordination of God does. Men will recognize those who are truly called by Him. They will even recognize women who are called of God as God empowers them with His anointing and power which cannot be denied.

When this Scripture says, "appointed and gave men to us," it does not mean just the male sex. The same man whom God created in the beginning which included male and female is the one referred to here. These "men" are both male and female and they have a responsibility to bring others into the maturity that they possess.

Based on what we believe to be sound scriptural examples, we welcome the work of women in the ministry and support the ordination of qualified women called to His service.

END

13

Beloved actor Don Knotts has died...

by TresHappy in

rest in peace barney!

what is your favorite andy griffith episode?

rwagoner

"ya gotta nip it....nip it in the bud I tell ya"

62

Do you have a good job, a crappy job or are you self-employed (happily?)

by seesthesky in

hi - just curious about how you all are making it - you working some shitty job?

- a pretty nice job?

- a damn rocking job?

rwagoner

I am so lucky !!

Not only do I have a 26+ year career in Law Enforcement that will give me a decent retirement but I worked the night shift for most of those years and it allowed me to get an education and establish my own business which is now nationally recognized.

http://wedoada.com

Take a peek if you'd like.....I am a Disability Policy Consultant.

37

Oh my god I love messin with the dubs on MySpace ! LOL

by rwagoner in

jw
friends

i made a profile and tried to join all the jw groups...most actually let me in lol big mistake !.

others questioned my sincerity....observant of them lol...and decided to engage me in a little question and answer session lol even bigger mistake lol.

i'm telling you...if you have no life like me....lots of free time and a love of messing with people....this is way too much fun !.

rwagoner

LOL...fun while it lasted.....edited now into an official aposto profile

37

Oh my god I love messin with the dubs on MySpace ! LOL

by rwagoner in

jw
friends

i made a profile and tried to join all the jw groups...most actually let me in lol big mistake !.

others questioned my sincerity....observant of them lol...and decided to engage me in a little question and answer session lol even bigger mistake lol.

i'm telling you...if you have no life like me....lots of free time and a love of messing with people....this is way too much fun !.

rwagoner

lol....what a jerk....and if you looked at this guys profile it is full of worldly music, pictures and movies LOL