dedalus

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Posts by dedalus

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  15

  Cutting the final ties

  by Wolfgirl in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been doing a lot of reading these past couple of days, including someone's life experience that he wrote about and that was linked to on this board.

  found here: http://members.aol.com/smcdownlds/downldfit.html.

  anyway, after reading that, the last vestiges of my "programming" have fallen away.

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  dedalus

  It's a remarkable sensation, when it finally hits you that you've abandoned a belief you've held for who-knows-how-long. Good for you, Wolfgirl.

  Dedalus
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  8

  Witnesses Shouting in the City Streets ...

  by dedalus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ... except it quickly developed that they weren't witnesses at all.. weekends i sometimes work at a television station in downtown hartford, ct. depressed urban area, starbucks and subways and mcdonalds scattered like dirty coins beneath towering insurance buildings.

  anyway, on my breakfast break i left the station, walked down to the convention center, and across the street from wendy's i saw two young men who, at a glance, strongly resembled witnesses or mormons -- they were wearing the cookie-cutter jc penney poly-synthetic-discount-clearance suits, and held large leather bibles in their hands.

  one had a dark, cropped, curly beard.

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  dedalus

  Thanks, Es. I think I'm bringing some baggage to the board lately. I don't know what I expect from this place lately, and I think I fit in less and less here.

  Hope you had a terrific mother's day! Foxy and I went downed a bottle of wine in a trendy restaurant then saw a funny little film in a little independent theater. Life off the board is great, and that's what really matters!

  Hugs back at you!

  Dedalus
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  8

  Witnesses Shouting in the City Streets ...

  by dedalus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ... except it quickly developed that they weren't witnesses at all.. weekends i sometimes work at a television station in downtown hartford, ct. depressed urban area, starbucks and subways and mcdonalds scattered like dirty coins beneath towering insurance buildings.

  anyway, on my breakfast break i left the station, walked down to the convention center, and across the street from wendy's i saw two young men who, at a glance, strongly resembled witnesses or mormons -- they were wearing the cookie-cutter jc penney poly-synthetic-discount-clearance suits, and held large leather bibles in their hands.

  one had a dark, cropped, curly beard.

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  dedalus

  I was inviting anyone to share observations of wacky street preachers or other fringe evangelizing groups. I was also curious if anyone knew what church the two goons I saw might belong to.

  If Minimus had distilled my thread into one of his pithy questions, would there have been more of response?

  Dedalus
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  44

  faith and illusion

  by teejay in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  on another forum, a discussion has centered on the belief (or lack thereof) in the existence of god.

  a believer, zechariah, i thought offered a pretty good argument as to why it makes sense to believe.

  when asked the question where did god come from, zechariah said

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  dedalus

  That’s why I see little reason for a dogmatic stance against the possibility that there is a god. Or taking a condescending view toward those that happen to believe in one.

  How about taking a condescending view towards those who dogmatically believe in God?

  Dedalus
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  44

  faith and illusion

  by teejay in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  on another forum, a discussion has centered on the belief (or lack thereof) in the existence of god.

  a believer, zechariah, i thought offered a pretty good argument as to why it makes sense to believe.

  when asked the question where did god come from, zechariah said

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  dedalus

  Perhaps not sophisticated, Dedalus, but still true?
  

  Or not?

  I don't know. I recall attending a conference, most of which went over my head, in which two professors were sparring. One insisted on using some kind of consistent, universal, logistic yardstick by which (so far as I could follow his argument) all phenomena and knowledge in the universe could be evaluated, including our notions of time. The other professor replied that this was irrelevant, since time was linear and sequential, and this was how we experienced time, so everything else was purely speculative and theoretical and meaningless in the context of actual human experience.

  And that's just philosophy -- never mind what science said. I've never made up my mind about that stuff. And I've just now had too many rum and cokes to try applying it to your thread.

  Honestly, I think I just wanted to have a say in a thread you started because of the bad blood between us. And honestly, I want to call a truce. I'm sorry for insulting your writing all that time ago. Period.

  Dedalus
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  44

  faith and illusion

  by teejay in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  on another forum, a discussion has centered on the belief (or lack thereof) in the existence of god.

  a believer, zechariah, i thought offered a pretty good argument as to why it makes sense to believe.

  when asked the question where did god come from, zechariah said

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  dedalus

  Though man is well aware there was no beginning to time and no end it has to be true.

  Feels wishy-washy to me. For one thing, this claim seems demonstrably false, if one just read a little bit about time and space and such. Time as a linear construct extending indefinitely in both directions is -- correct me, someone, if I'm wrong -- not scientifically sophisticated.

  Dedalus
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  8

  Witnesses Shouting in the City Streets ...

  by dedalus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ... except it quickly developed that they weren't witnesses at all.. weekends i sometimes work at a television station in downtown hartford, ct. depressed urban area, starbucks and subways and mcdonalds scattered like dirty coins beneath towering insurance buildings.

  anyway, on my breakfast break i left the station, walked down to the convention center, and across the street from wendy's i saw two young men who, at a glance, strongly resembled witnesses or mormons -- they were wearing the cookie-cutter jc penney poly-synthetic-discount-clearance suits, and held large leather bibles in their hands.

  one had a dark, cropped, curly beard.

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  dedalus

  ... except it quickly developed that they weren't Witnesses at all.

  Weekends I sometimes work at a television station in downtown Hartford, CT. Depressed urban area, Starbucks and Subways and McDonalds scattered like dirty coins beneath towering insurance buildings. Anyway, on my breakfast break I left the station, walked down to the convention center, and across the street from Wendy's I saw two young men who, at a glance, strongly resembled Witnesses or Mormons -- they were wearing the cookie-cutter JC Penney poly-synthetic-discount-clearance suits, and held large leather bibles in their hands. One had a dark, cropped, curly beard. The other was clean-shaven and bashful-looking, until it was his turn to yell, and then he morphed into a scarlet-faced zealot. They were white and frail, but they were yelling, shaping the bibles into miniature megaphones, filling the space with their sound.

  "Do you know how to attain the kingdom of heaven? Will you save yourself from the blood of the holy slaughtered almighty vindicated lamb of the flock of the one who holds the glorious gory sword of the something something? Will you be redeemed and caught forth from the blood doom death fire annihilation destruction obliteration and be taken into the hot blinding radiant light of the almighty et cetera!" (Why is it that being saved is always as violent an act as being exterminated?)

  Of course, with the heavy soughing exhaust of buses and the mad shuffles of passersby, I can only approximate the vociferous speech bellowed by these two emaciated men, these tiny eunuchs with booming voices.

  "Shut the fuck up, shut the fuck up!" someone yelled. He crossed the street, one pointing finger indignantly extended, pointing and wagging. There was going to be a scene.

  As I was leaving -- somehow too self-conscious to stand around and watch with a gathering mob hoping for the violence of the moment to gather momentum, escalate, burst -- it occurred to me that I hadn't seen Witnesses on the streets of Hartford in about seven years, and that, the last time I did see Witnesses, they were an old, depressed couple bundled up in tattered scarves and overcoats, holding forth dog-eared Watchtowers against the wind as they randomly scuttled a maze of cramped city avenues.

  A study in contrasts. Witnesses are quiet, unassuming, and subtle in their ministry, but they proliferate through cities and suburbs like small termites through soft wood. These two Jesus freaks -- what religion/sect/cult might they be representing, anyway? -- were loud, rabid, invested with a force so obviously deranged and detached from society, it was difficult to imagine their purpose was the conversion of the masses for salvation. It was a vigorous assault.

  Or maybe it only appears to be a study in contrasts. Why, after all, did these vitriolic street preachers instantly remind me of Witnesses? Why did I feel, vaguely but earnestly, that I could identify with these people?

  Dedalus
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  36

  Women: Do you actually experience penis envy?

  by berylblue in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  i always thought this was ridiculous, and that if anyone suffered from anything, men suffered from womb envy.. tim has challenged me to ask women; i don't know if he's teasing or not, but he says i will absolutely find women have penis envy.

  i say no frigging way.. please offer opinions both ways.

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  dedalus

  I've heard too many men say they were jealous of a woman's ability to carry and give birth to a human.

  ????????????????????

  I saw my wife do this and was never more pleased to be a man.

  Dedalus
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  9

  JWs in "Masterpiece Theater" this Sunday

  by fjtoth in

  1. social
  2. humour

  a lifelike family of jws will be featured in this sunday's "masterpiece theater" on pbs.

  check your local listings for time and station.

  it's scheduled for 9 p.m. eastern daylight time.

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  dedalus

  I read the book on which this film is based. Zadie Smith captures perfectly the apocalyptic tone of Witnesses (which certainly must have been more blatant then than it is now), although she mucks up a lot of details (Witnesses don't wear crosses or kneel in pews). I told her this when I saw her at a book signing -- she was pretty nice about it. I guess her editors, one of whom had been a Witness, didn't serve her very well.

  Dedalus
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  17

  A Thread for All The Mothers Who Won't Be Hearing From Their Children Sun.

  by berylblue in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  happy mother's day!

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  dedalus

  You pagans disgust me.

  Dedalus