Posts by Dis-Member

76

Losing Faith in Faith..

by Dis-Member in

i came across this lecture at 3am not being able to sleep by dan baker.

it details his transition from christian fundamentalist to atheist and the various shades in-between.

he realises that every denomination of christian can open the bible and prove to you that they have the right interpretation and everyone else is wrong.

I would not describe myself as an atheist.. I have just come to the conclusion that I am no longer going to try to seek God in a 'organisation', a religion, a building, or a book, (or many books as in 66 so called Bible books), or in others opinions.

It seems that spirituality has been turned into an intellectual and academic exercise requiring vast study, the devotion to many books
and endless lifelong research upon research. I'm sick of it as I am sick and weary of the millions of opinions and variations of truth and that every single person claims he or she the 'real' truth.

I simply refuse to accept anything from people any more with their second-hand invented interpretations.

I don't want to find God with my brain either.. If I find him at all I want to find him with my heart and feel him with my spirit. Studying endless scriptures does not help anyone to find God. The living God is not to be found in any building and certainly not between the pages of a book.

According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC) at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, there are approximately 41,000 Christian denominations and organizations in the world.

41,000 different Christian denominations!!! 41,000 different versions of truth from that same one book called the Bible!! And that's just the denominations, with individuals there are as many versions of truth as there are people on earth!

That's insane.

So who is right? Each one thinks that they are.

I will no longer trust or rely on any person or any book. I don't need to study or have someone teach be about an old historical antiquated God whose last apparent major interaction with humans was almost 3,300 years ago.

I need nothing less than to experience the 'Living God'.

5

British Prime Minister is shot!

by Dis-Member in

http://www.xpirex.com/p119326854/h106532e1#h106532e1.

Dis-Member

Yes Cofty.. I was the official photographer the day he moved in.

5

British Prime Minister is shot!

by Dis-Member in

http://www.xpirex.com/p119326854/h106532e1#h106532e1.

Dis-Member

http://www.xpirex.com/p119326854/h106532e1#h106532e1

5

Two giants of the 60s pass

by designs in

these are not coffee table names but they influenced the worlds of music and civil rights for 5 decades.

bassist charlie haden and journalist john seigenthaler.. during my pioneer years in the late 1960s and early 1970s my pioneeer buddy and i would go to the lighthouse in hermosa beach, ca.. and listen to the great jazz artists of the time.

when we were underage they would let us in through the alley door.

Dis-Member

Love Charlie Haden..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISYsINi8rLw

76

Losing Faith in Faith..

by Dis-Member in

i came across this lecture at 3am not being able to sleep by dan baker.

it details his transition from christian fundamentalist to atheist and the various shades in-between.

he realises that every denomination of christian can open the bible and prove to you that they have the right interpretation and everyone else is wrong.

Dis-Member

I think this is in everyone' head. I'd go as far as to say its in the heads 99% of the people in this forum.

76

Losing Faith in Faith..

by Dis-Member in

i came across this lecture at 3am not being able to sleep by dan baker.

it details his transition from christian fundamentalist to atheist and the various shades in-between.

he realises that every denomination of christian can open the bible and prove to you that they have the right interpretation and everyone else is wrong.

Dis-Member

.. and people will say: "Oh but you only need to have faith!"

Faith in what? In God? In Jesus? I would dearly love to!

But I have never seen, met, heard or had any confirmable interaction from either God or Jesus ever in my life. So what people are really telling you to have faith in is the opinions, views, intepretations, research, studies, writings, rantings, and mere gossip of others that you have also never seen, met, heard or had any interaction with. (not that that would make any difference)

For me to have a real non-fantasy faith I need it to come from God or Jesus themselves and no one else. The faith that God and Jesus ask of us surely can not come from or be based merely upon a story of a story of a story of a story of a rumour of half a tale.

Neither can it be based upon my own pathetic ability to determine and decipher what was the 'truth' of events that may or may not have taken place in some cases up to four and a half thousand years ago.

The Bible says that he is not the historical God of fable and legend but the 'Living True God of Now'.

In all our weakeness, imperfection, fallibility, insecurity, living in a world full of millenia of uncertainty, lies, deception and fraud, it would be a very small thing for this living God to not leave us fumbling in the dark but to reach out one little finger and just touch us and let us know he is here..

5

Scientists Can Now Cut HIV Out of Human DNA

by Dis-Member in

hiv is a sneaky virus.

its mo involves integrating its own genes into your dna, so that even as antiretrovirals hold everything in check, hiv lurks quietly inside your cells.

now scientists have found a way to edit the virus straight out of the human genomea potential cure for even latent infections.. genome editing is powerful technique that has really come into its own lately, thanks to a remarkable dna-cutting protein that easily and precisely cuts out a particular dna sequence.

Dis-Member

HIV is a sneaky virus. Its MO involves integrating its own genes into your DNA, so that even as antiretrovirals hold everything in check, HIV lurks quietly inside your cells. Now scientists have found a way to edit the virus straight out of the human genome—a potential cure for even latent infections.

Genome editing is powerful technique that has really come into its own lately, thanks to a remarkable DNA-cutting protein that easily and precisely cuts out a particular DNA sequence. In fact, genome editing been used to treat HIV before. Earlier this year, another group used genome editing to cut out the DNA sequence of a particular human protein the HIV virus latches onto.

The latest study, from Kamel Khalili at Temple University, uses a similar technique but to different ends. Rather than editing human genes, it goes straight for HIV. Khalili's team showed that the protein could excise copies of the HIV genome from immune cells such as microglia and T cells. It also seemed to prevent any new HIV infection.

The research is still very new, so of course there are challenges to getting something that worked in a petri dish to work in a human. On the whole, very few cells in the human body are latently infected by HIV; how to you make sure the genome editing gets to those cells? And how do you make sure the protein never goes excising where it shouldn't?

But if those challenges are solved, genome editing could be a big step toward an actual cure for HIV. Except for a couple cases involving bone marrow transplants, a cure has been notoriously elusive. HIV hides itself by basically editing your genome—it makes sense that a cure could involve editing your genome, too.

79

I know 2 of the Elders on the Ray Franz JC

by James Jackson in

when i read coc, i was stunned that the 2 elders (theotis french & rob dibble) were on ray franz judcial committee.

i have known these men for over 20 years having done rbc and convention work with them.

they are still elders today which means they were in their early 30's(which is unheard of for a case of this importance to have inexperienced elders to sit on) on this committee.. without revealing myself, i have never tried(but have wanted to), ask them about their on having to judge a former gb member.. then out of the blue, about a year ago, i was mentioning how hard it is trying to get younger ones to volunteer to one of these elders, and he says"this is nothing compared to to sitting on the committee that had to disfellowship ray franz".

Dis-Member

I just want to change the focus back to French and Dibble.

I'm sure you do..

9

NOT on JW.ORG : Jehovah's Witness murders sister ?

by Balaamsass2 in

man kills sister over plot of land published on july 18, 2014 by pmnews 17 comments.

sulaimon mojeed-sanni.

a member of the eiye confraternity and jehovahs witness, adeola omotayo, 28, has killed his sister, omotayo rukayat adedapo, 30, after a minor disagreement over a plot of land.. the incident happened at rukayats residence, 22, pasoku street, aga area of ikorodu, lagos, southwest nigeria.. preliminary investigation revealed that rukayat was murdered in her room by her brother, who sells building materials at sawmill in itamaga, on monday at about 6 p.m., after they had an argument over the ownership of the piece of land.. p.m.news gathered that the night before the murder (sunday), adeola and his wife had visited rukayat and eaten in her house.. friends of the deceased said adeola only visited to know where his sister stays since they had not been talking to each other in the last two years.. late omotayo rukayat adedapo.

Dis-Member

I thought that read 'after a minor disagreement over a pot of soup' for a brief second.

76

Losing Faith in Faith..

by Dis-Member in

i came across this lecture at 3am not being able to sleep by dan baker.

it details his transition from christian fundamentalist to atheist and the various shades in-between.

he realises that every denomination of christian can open the bible and prove to you that they have the right interpretation and everyone else is wrong.

Dis-Member

John 8:24-29

24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. 26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27 Then saith He to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God. 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

This shows that doubts are normal and Jesus did not consider it a mortal sin. Wanting proof is normal.

The other apostles would have aleady believed and had faith because they lived with Jesus on a daily basis and saw all his miracles. Thomas too despite the same experience still doubted and was given proof by Jesus himself.

Are we not allowed the same having never seen or experienced a single thing?

"blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" is no more a law or requirment than is "Blessed are the poor in spirit". Again we are being asked to have faith in the faith of Thomas who lived 2,000 years ago. (if that is even true)

More second hand stories.