the great depression had more to do with shaping the character and defining the last century than any other event, except the great wars that caused and followed the depression.
the structure of the financial system though has radically changed since that time, in that it is many times larger, global in fact, and it is much more fragile and complex, in that it reacts nearly instantaneously to various factors.
the average person is now much more dependent upon and indebted to the system as well.
You Know, Booby, it never ceases to amaze me how you can manage to spout so many asinine non-sequiturs and still think you're actually giving an answer to your critics. You really ought to apply for Bethel and join the Writing Correspondence Department.
AlanF
the great depression had more to do with shaping the character and defining the last century than any other event, except the great wars that caused and followed the depression.
the structure of the financial system though has radically changed since that time, in that it is many times larger, global in fact, and it is much more fragile and complex, in that it reacts nearly instantaneously to various factors.
the average person is now much more dependent upon and indebted to the system as well.
Do keep this in mind, Booby:
False expectations promulgated in your own name make you wrong.
False expectations promulgated in the name of God make you a false prophet.
AlanF
as regular participants of this board know, our beloved poster you know.
claims to be the most astute bible student in the world.
in the thread.
No, Booby, Da Judge's teachings and values are thoroughly suffused throughout the JW religion today. The asinine F&DS doctrine, the ridiculous notion that WTS leaders speak for God, the arrogant intransigence taught from 'JW infancy' as so well seen in your own behavior, the complete unconcern about facts and the near-total focus on authority, the absolutely insane atmosphere of "kick the lower dog" at Bethel -- all of that is Rutherford's legacy.
AlanF
in light of the recent discussions on the death penalty in america i got to thinking.
i wonder about the commandment thou shalt not kill.
don't all christians subscribe to this?
Hi Julie,
The basic commandments in the Bible boil down to not, "Thou shalt not kill" but "Thou shalt not murder." Murder is simply the illegal killing of a human. In biblical terms, who defines "murder"? God, or his agents.
The Bible of course is full of killing of humans, both by God and by other humans. Some of the killing was obviously not viewed by the Bible writers as murder, but as legal killing. Jews and Christians generally view the statement in Genesis 9, "anyone shedding man's blood, by man must his own blood be shed," as a behest from God to apply the death penalty to deliberate murderers.
Anti-abortionists who object to abortion for "biblical" religious reasons use either notion -- avoidance of murder, or of killing at all -- to justify their view. They certainly view the fetus as a full fledged human with full human rights, and so either way, they view killing of a fetus as the illegal taking of human life -- murder.
In view of the above, those who have no objection to the illegal killing of a human are not necessarily inconsistent or hypocritical when they support the death penalty and object to abortion.
The JW organization, though, has policies that are indeed inconsistent in how a fetus is viewed. They view all abortion as wrong, no matter when during a pregnancy it is done, because they claim that they view the fetus as a full fledged human from the moment of conception. Yet, these same people teach that naturally aborted fetuses will not have a resurrection. Why? Because the aborted fetus is not viewed by God as a full fledged human!
AlanF
please forgive the mixed metaphor.
nevertheless, it summarizes.
a convention talk on "the organization isn't fading away!"..
Howdy, Worf! Good to 'see' you again.
Maximus, that's interesting about Szygmunt writing an article by that title. In 1972 (rev. 1975) Edmund Gruss published an excellent book that that title. He predicted correctly that the 1975 thing would fizzle. He quoted some nice passages written by a couple of English ex-JWs who quit around 1967 and wrote a book predicting that the then-new 1975 prediction would fizzle.
AlanF
the arrogance is tolerable.
there is never a good time to call someone a name.sorry, ginny, just calling it like i .
see it, and enough people agreed with me to let me know that i wasn't.
It's interesting watching the rise of certain contingents on this forum. The contingents are not designed, but people just naturally seem to fall into them.
We have the usual Braindead Watchtower Apologists Contingent, who need no further description.
We also have the Braindead Fundy Apologists Contingent (thankfully poorly represented on this forum), who need no further description.
We have the Seinfeld Contingent (a show of nothing) who type reams of words that say about as much as those entertaining computer-generated ditties you post. This can be further broken down into the Obvious Bullshit Seinfeld Contingent (where the words are so obviously nonsensical that even someone on Fredhall's level can see it) and the Watchtower Bullshit Seinfeld Contingent (where the words seem to make sense as you read them but when you get to the end you have no idea what the point was). People in this contingent rarely if ever manage to write something of substance.
Then we have the unclassifiable but reasonable posters, who can and do get involved in all sorts of discussions. They can be deadly serious when they want, and can argue a point cogently so that only the BWAC , BFAC and Seinfeld Contingents can't understand. They can be funny when they want, kind when they want, and they can be deadly when they want. What distinguishes them is their range of abilities, quite in contrast with the One Trick Ponies of the Named Contingents.
An old saw says that small minds are concerned only with individuals, that medium minds expand this to people in general, and that great minds expand this to issues of the world. That is certainly observable in a forum like this.
Your concerns show what kind of person you are. You, Kent, are a true Rennaissance Man. Now let's see some Trockenbernauslese!
AlanF
as regular participants of this board know, our beloved poster you know.
claims to be the most astute bible student in the world.
in the thread.
No, Booby, one can't teach pigs about the kind of gold one finds in a library.
It amazes me that you're so much more ignorant of science than even Watchtower writers. Even they manage to read non-Watchtower material from time to time. I know that you haven't done so in years, so where do you come off pretending that you know anything about science?
AlanF
as regular participants of this board know, our beloved poster you know.
claims to be the most astute bible student in the world.
in the thread.
I give up on you, Booby. One can't teach a pig about gold. One can't teach someone who hasn't visited a library or read anything but Watchtower publications about science.
How about you and Rex give the board a little entertainment and discuss "science"? You argue for 7,000-year creative days and he can argue for 24-hour literal ones. We'll watch two pigs go at it in the mud.
AlanF
as regular participants of this board know, our beloved poster you know.
claims to be the most astute bible student in the world.
in the thread.
Ah, the idiot JW->Fundy returns again to spout FundyNonsense.
You have even less understanding of science than the ICR does.
Go to the ICR and get my head handed to me? Don't make me laugh. Those people are even more dishonest than the Watchtower. When they come up against real scientists in a real forum -- not one loaded with Fundies in the choir -- they always lose. Science is not determined by who is best at debate but by ideas that best explain the facts, something that people like you, whose beliefs are determined by your favorite authorities not the facts, are clueless about. In your view, the Bible determines the interpretation of everything in the world, which is why Fundamentalism is so intellectually empty.
Your 'responses' consist entirely of ad hominems, and never contain actual arguments about facts or their interpretation. That is the mark of a JW/Fundy.
AlanF
this was sent to me today.
i thought it was an interesting statement on how far america has come.
) sorry it's kind of jumbled.
Love ya too, Mulan! I really enjoy your posts, too. Keep up the good work.
AlanF
