Odrade

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Posts by Odrade

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  31

  Show off your favorite photos!

  by mavie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/4295/desktopus1.jpg.

  i took this on the oregon coast, applied a paintbrush photoshop effect to it...i like the result.

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  Odrade

  Whoa, Jennie's an all-grown up teenager isn't she? !!! :)
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  25

  Last-light grabshots - sometimes you have to move fast!

  by tim hooper in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  here's a quick sequence i bagged a couple of hours ago in the welsh hills, as the sun got progressively lower and the rain moved on in..... all in all, about 20 minutes in total.. tim.

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  Odrade

  Love the 2nd and 4th with the back hills disappearing into the mists. Beautiful.
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  10

  Arguments JW's can't argue with.....I think???

  by Adolfius in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  these are just a couple of arguments i think would cause any half sane jw (if any current and actively brainwashed "true believer" could ever be described as sane), to stop and think for themselves.. thinking person: is the bible and the events it describes true and factual?.

  jw: yes.....to the letter.. thinking person: could evolution be true?.

  jw: no way.. thinking person: ok, so i just want to get this perfectly clear; evolution in no way happened, is happening, or possibly ever will happen?

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  Odrade

  I was always taught (as a JW) that there is a clear distinction between adaptation and evolution. Thus species could "adapt" to the surroundings, changing generationally to suit their needs, yet never "evolve." Pretty stupid.
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  31

  Show off your favorite photos!

  by mavie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/4295/desktopus1.jpg.

  i took this on the oregon coast, applied a paintbrush photoshop effect to it...i like the result.

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  Odrade

  From today:

  

  

  

  
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  37

  Fencing Borders - Anyone Else Think This Is A Stupid Idea??

  by Seeker4 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been listening to this from the congress for some time now, and it's back in the news today.

  the idea is to build a literal fence along the us border, hundreds of miles long and costing millions of dollars, in order to keep out illegal aliens.. damn you canadian outlaws!

  oops!

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  Odrade

  The biggest thing building a wall will accomplish is to keep illegals who are already here, in the country. Not out. I used to know people who would come work (illegally) in ag or restaurants, or other menial work, stay for a year or two, go back home for 6 months, come back and work for a year... etc. Putting up a wall would prevent them from returning to their families when they have money to survive. So then what is the choice? Never see their families again? Or try to smuggle them into the country too?

  There was an interesting segment on NPR a few days ago about this. I'll see if I can find it.

  I was listening to an economist discussing the Farm Bill, which is up for re-working again this year. The Farm Bill subsidizes crops like corn and soy, which can then be bought below production costs by junk food companies, (and other food companies.) The point was made (besides obvious correlation to cheap crappy food, and obesity,) that this has had severe impact on the global economy. Since these crops can be trade staples of other parts of the world, but the US subsidizes the giant crops so heavily, it has reduced agricultural economy in many nations, including our own. Small sustainable farms (many of whom provide employment for migrant workers,) are either going under, or converting to corn-syrup crops. Shame really.

  Anyways, the point is that if the Farm Bill is fixed, subsidies like this are redistributed to sustainability, it changes the quality and availability of good food, AND it provides a boost to other countries with agricultural economies... which gives them jobs at home... which reduces illegal immigration.

  Building a wall is a band-aid.
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  229

  ALERT: All Child Abuse Lawsuits have been settled. Millions cashed out???

  by What-A-Coincidence in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  re: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/8/116108/1.ashx.

  a bethel insider in the know told me that all of the child abuse lawsuits where the watchtower bible and tract society was one of the defendants were settled back in the beginning of this year.

  i questioned it and called napa myself and they were absolutely settled back then.

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  Odrade

  :::I am hoping that the WT will get so paranoid that they compel elders to report abuse aggressively.:::

  YES!, and in addition to that, inform parents of at-risk children if there is a molestor in their midst, so they can protect the kids.
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  33

  Fun Video of xJW partaking at Memorial

  by Namasti in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccote1skw8a.

  i had fun watching this video.

  brenda, who wrote the book, "out of the cocoon.

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  Odrade

  Seems to me Brenda Lee wrote her book to help expose the JWs and perhaps help people get out, or warn others about getting involved. But what she did was not respectful, or dignified, or adult, or any of the things that might lend credibility to her motives. It was a juvenile attention grab, and what is worse, gives JWs something to point to when saying how unreasonable or deluded are the people who leave.

  It is much harder to dismiss an x-jw who behaves with dignity, class, honesty and respect, than it is to dismiss someone who acts like Brenda Lee did at their very important event. Hell, I'm not a JW anymore, would not go to Memorial, view it as a distortion of Christian doctrine, not that it matters because I'm not a Christian... and her behavior leaves her credibility balance at zero with me. It was a stupid, ill-advised thing to do.

  This is the most important celebration of the entire year to a JW. This is their Christmas, Easter, Birthday, New Year's and 4th of July, all rolled into one. It's the one holiday that even believing inactive ones respect so much that they make special effort to attend. Non-believing relatives go out of respect for their JW family. Save the antics for a time that they don't view as quite so holy.

  I wonder how many people are now "proofed" for another long while to believe that "apostates" can say nothing of any value. The only thing she accomplished here was to hurt and horrify people who were trying to do the right thing. There were no well-thought-out arguments, no thought provoking questions, no dignified challenge to the seating rules. This was not peaceful protest, it was a stupid trick, an attention grab, action for the reaction.
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  33

  Fun Video of xJW partaking at Memorial

  by Namasti in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccote1skw8a.

  i had fun watching this video.

  brenda, who wrote the book, "out of the cocoon.

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  Odrade

  Incredibly disrespectful and childish.
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  6

  My take on Knocking (and PBS Mormon special)

  by Dogpatch in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my take on knocking obviously a "puff piece" as danny haszard would say.

  no one could really accept this as a real documentary in my opinion, it is just too biased in their favor.

  where is the dissent?

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  Odrade

  I thought the mormon special was very interesting. You could tell the difference between the historians that were documenting the history with a view to preserving it, and the "historians" who had the light of fanaticism in their eyes who were "documenting history" with a view to spinning it to their favor. I found it amusing how Woodruff's compromise/directive on plural marriage, was in later years turned into "revelation" by the church leaders, and for the most part it was unquestioned by the rank and file, even though it clearly was a direct contradiction of the "revelation" to Joseph Smith about plural marriage.

  I also found it fascinating that the change was due to financial and political pressure, which reminded me of various changes, most significantly the donation arrangement, made by Watchtower. I wonder if the "alternative service" changes fall under the same heading. Interestingly, as I was watching, it struck me that the JWs use of "new light" is simply a very subtle way of saying "revelation," and the two are really not that different, despite all the derision we (as JWs) pointed toward the LDS for their believe in personal revelation.

  I still haven't finished watching it, missed about 90 minutes all together and will be watching it online later.

  For people interested in seeing "Knocking," once it airs on a PBS station, it likely will be available online for up to a week afterwards.
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  16

  If a crystal ball would tell you the truth about any ONE Thing you......

  by new boy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  wished to know concerning yourself, life, the future, or anything else, what would you want to know?

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  Odrade

  will I EVER get my paperwork caught up?