Hi Upandatom....
Only because letting statements or criticisms go unanswered is presumed unchallenged, I'll just put in my 2 cents, if you don't mind.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure JCanon was posting similar rubbish on the newsgroups years ago until things got so heated that he was banned, and now posts here instead.Yes, I was banned from posting on some newgroups, but what's the big deal? Jesus was banned and killed. Martin Luther King, Jr. assasinated and lots of other people who were creating waves in a sick society. I can assure you that the concept of freedom of speech especially includes "rubbish". It's when yous start making people think and people are shaking out of their false sense of security in their own minds that they don't want to hear what you have to say and so they try to prevent--not themselves for hearing it, but others! The only reason to BAN anybody from a newsgroup where anybody can choose if they wish to simply ignore a post is because the moderators don't want that person to unduly influence someone else with ideas THEY consider to be "rubbish". I'm no different than many groups who ban Biblical talk and insist upon only "academic" and "scientific", "peer reviewed" research, since they can't stand it any other way. It's an issue of small minds not being able to deal with issues they can't handle. So of course, I'm going to get "banned". Even the Bible says the things the Messiah would say would have people running and saying "please let the mountains fall over me"...let me run and hide! Because they can't stand what I claim nor can they credibly challenge it. So in a way, yes, it is definitely a badge of honor to be banned in a "news group" where there is supposed to be freedom of speech and especially the XJW groups where they do nothing but bash the WTS. What could I possibly say that some would find so challenging that they would decide this is "beyond freedom of speech"? So the bottom line is, even though they themselves are not interested and don't agree, they can't stand the idea that I'll influence someone else, so they want to ban me. It's not simply good enough to ignore me. But BEWARE. Whenever you see the government or anybody else deciding to ban something, with the exception of when it's a personal attack on some other individual, which is not what my posts do, then you know something is wrong. I'm a shining bright light in a dark place, and many people love the darkness so they ban me. It's just that simple.
It seems that JCanon's posts bring out the worst in people, he knows it, and does not care.Yeah, I guess Jesus in his day brought out the worst in the people of his day too. They couldn't wait to kill him at any cost. Is that the comparison you're making?
In fact, people persecuting him is a justification to continue... a 'positive reinforcer' as psychologist would say. It wouldn't surprise me if he were eventually banned from here too. I have noticed on many occasions that JCanon's post bring out the worst in many good people.Oh yeah, I'm a looney and all that. I forgot. But whatever "motives" there might be for my posts, for the record, it's God's policy before he sends his armies to destroy to first warm them. Like in the case of Nineveh. He sent Jonah to warn them first. That gave them a chance to repent and when they did, God changed his mind and spared the city!! So, there has to be a formal, or at least "technical" warning and announcement of certain things before the action takes place. So one criticial reason for posting this information, whether anybody reads it or not, is simply to say later: "IT WAS POSTED. I TOLD YOU WHAT WAS GOING ON. YOU DIDN'T LISTEN. NOT MY FAULT. NOT GOD'S FAULT." So it actually works out that a lot of people will simply not be able to believe a thing I say. I know that. But I still have to TELL THEM anyway. You can't have a court case and try someone without notifying them first the date and time of the trial, right? Same thing. Even if you know nobody is going to listen to you in a certain setting, they will ignore you or condemn you, that still doesn't matter. You can't just decide you won't put it out there. Knowing ahead of time that a certain person or group would reject a certain message is one thing. Actually putting the message out there and having them ACTUALLY reject it, is a technical difference. It proves to THEM and to US what was the true reality. They don't have to wonder later or speculate that if "given a chance" they might have listened had the message been more DIRECT. It boils down to, therefore, and this is quite ingenius, as the Bible suggests, that God rejects no one and neither does Christ. Instead, they reject him! This is the SURPRISE Christ has at the second coming. He has to separate the sheep from the goats, but to his big surprise, some goats quite willingly identify themselves as goats and hop over onto the left side quite willingly. This makes his job a lot easier. After all.. ...the world is like a sinking ship that can only survive if some people get sacrificed. Christ has to decide who stays and who goes. But if some voluntarily jump off the boat, then great! It's that many more he doesn't have to throw off himself personally.... My task is to open the scrolls and eat them. They are sweet in the mouth but bitter in the stomach. Sweet because "my sheep will hear my voice" so no problem. My people are actually looking for a black ex-drag queen in Aracadia because they know from the Bible that's where the Messiah will appear and how. So no problem. The others will be stumbled. And that's the bitter part of it. The two-fold message. I must notify the world of God's Judgment. Even though, you're judging yourself when you reject my message. It's like MISSING THE BOAT subjectively. You're going to wake up one day and find everybody else is gone and you're on a sinking island. Then you'll wonder what happened and why you're in this predicament and someone will remind you that you were told about this PERSONALLY at JW Discussion Board, so why didn't you respond? "That's where the WEEPING and GNASHING OF THE TEETH will be." You're weeping because you lost out. Shucks! Well, that's life! But you "gnash your teeth" because you could have done something about it at the right time, but didn't! It's like having a chance to buy AT&T stock when it was just $1 a share and you passed on it....That's what gnashing of the teeth is about. What you could have had, but let slip by. So it's a bitter pill to swallow, I suppose, but, believe me....I'll get over it! Know this. I hope my reply didn't violate any rules of "freedom of speech"...unless it's only YOU who are to have freedom of speech and not everybody else. JC