This is a wonderful thing. Unlike a print book, where you open it and those are the contents you have, the electronic devices allow you to wander to more interesting material. You can be looking at material on the web, reading ebooks of your choice, or playing games, all while looking studious. You may even be browsing around here.
kurtbethel
JoinedPosts by kurtbethel
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37
If you don't have an "electronic device" you aren't ready for service!
by LostGeneration infrom the feb 2015 km, page 2:.
have a publisher demonstrate how he.
prepares for the ministry by reviewing the tracts,.
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kurtbethel
Oh my ghod, these turd burglars even have a Roku channel!
Is nothing sacred any more?
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The Art of Hypocrisy - How Jehovah's Witnesses worship a symbol
by BluePill2 init has been a while since i've seen a witness, either in person or virtually.
searching for someone on facebook took me to the profile of a ministerial servant that i know.
i scrolled through his wall to see who is still around and found this gem:.
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kurtbethel
Yeah Baby!
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WOW gotta check out this Charles Sinutko talk "Is It Proper to have doubts?"
by BU2B inso manipulaitve.
.
http://www.printcentralandsigns.com/jwtalks/covisits/sinutko%20charles%20-%20is%20it%20proper%20to%20have%20doubts.mp3.
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kurtbethel
Either I know Watchtower literature better than he does, or he's a bald faced liar.
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Ayahuasca / DMT.... anyone else curious?
by snare&racket inever since reading about dmt and hearing people discuss it, my new post-jw open mind wants to experience it.
anyone here tried it or feels the same?.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ciqzhzax4ro.
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kurtbethel
Last year I was in Peru and went down to the Amazon jungle for my 'canopy adventure' and it was there that I got to know the sacred vine.
I was with my sister and went to a lodge where a shaman performed a ceremony with us.
I am pretty open and adventurous, and when the shaman asked why I wanted to do the ceremony I told him that I was an explorer and was ready to explore within, and I didn't expect anything or have fear about it, to just see where it goes.
We were in a dark room with only a candle, he poured the tea into bowls and was playing the guitar and singing as we drank. It was bitter vomity stuff. Sis vomited in a bucket but I didn't, though I purged out the other end later.
He blew out the candle and after a while a purple vaporous mist surrounded me and rose to the ceiling where it dissipated. I stood up and had this physical urge to dance and writhe slowly. I usually sit still and am a bit wooden. It was pleasant. Eventually I sat back down and for a few hours I had very colorful visions and would also sleep and dream for short periods. The dreams were somewhat normal, but vividly colorful, except for sepia tone type windows in which I would see people and situations that were unpleasant in my life.
The colors were like strings of beads and geometric forms that would slide along surfaces of things like lights in a marque sign. The lights would be going at different speeds and directions, and the speed would slow and increase in pulse with the guitar music.
It was all very pleasant and fascinating to me, and I felt blissful and peaceful.
After the effects had abated some, I needed to get to the bathroom to purge. I had to go outside the room into a larger screened room with dim light, then go outside down some steps and around the building. I slowly felt my way and when I got to the steps I was aware that my body proportion sense had been recalibrated so it seemed like my feet had a long way to move to get down each step. I was very conscious of this and carefully stepped and took note of physical feedback. Had I been drunk or stoned I would have never been aware enough to do this. I made my way around the building and did my purge, then came back and sat outside for a while. There was still some visual effects of some light pink and green geometrics superimposed on what I was seeing in the dim light outside. My impression was that I was directly experiencing the 'source code' that my brain was operating on.
Shortly after that I went to sleep in a hammock and when I woke up the visual effects were gone, leaving me in a peaceful 'otherwhere' kind of state. For me, it was a very positive experience that I would be willing to repeat when I get the chance.
I would be unlikely to recommend it to anyone, in fact I suspect many people would flip out if they did this. There are a very few people who I personally know that I might suggest they investigate it, but they are known to be fellow explorers.
Afterward, I came to suspect that some art I was seeing in the region was inspired by this type of experience. I share a sample here.
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New "Donation Arrangement" is a DECOY!
by The Searcher input yourself in the org's position - distasteful as that is - and come up with a solution to solve the problems of not only recovering their stock market losses, but also, ensuring an increase in their dwindling revenue stream.. the major problem is, donations are voluntary (with no future guarantees) whereas pledges are compulsory - in the heart and mind of the giver!.
however, far too many will probably forget/refuse to keep up their monthly tax - with no way of knowing who is 'paying the man', and who is not.
master stroke - make plan a 100% certainty to fail in the first year, based on the 'anonymity' of the setup.
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kurtbethel
I'm confused by this thread. One of the things I was told when I was a study was that the kingdom hall had a donation box that one can place contributions in, but that they never took collection of money the way evil christendom did.
Even today on their web site they claim this:
Our preaching work is primarily financed by voluntary donations from Jehovah’s Witnesses. No collections are taken at our meetings, and members are not required to tithe. (Matthew 10:7, 8) Instead, contribution boxes are provided in our meeting places so that if someone wishes to make a donation, he may do so. Donors remain anonymous.
So what gives? Were they lying to me and on their web site?
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My personal movie review: Darren Aronofsky's NOAH
by Terry innoah, my movie review.
you may have already judged this film and you've never seen it!
like many of its critics, you think you know what you're going to see and .
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kurtbethel
For me, the movie was a mixed bag. I didn't come to it with the baggage of needing it to conform with the accepted written version of the story. I see the original accounts as being a jumping off point for reimagining it. The way it was done has a feel of the good, the bad, and the ugly.
I started out liking Noah, how he showed respect for creation, even a tiny flower. Contrasted with the stark environment, those little flowers were like an oasis. The treatment of the Nephilim was funny to me. The original story has the watchers having spirit chubbies for human women and they mate with them, producing offspring who were the Nephilim. These watchers come to Earth's rescue and become encased in stone as punishment as a sort of stone age transformers. These are not your father's Nephilim, nevertheless I find them a compelling part of this story. I also was intrigued by the conflict between the Cain bloodline and the Seth bloodline. That's a key part of the story that gets touched on in Genesis, but not as fully explored as here.
Noah gets very dark in this film. I was realizing as I saw his treatment of Ham's sweetie and contemplating dispatching his grandchild if it's a girl so as to stamp out the human race, this guy has gone psychotic. And I really didn't blame him, given what he had been through. He turned on his whole family. I was thinking, if I were Ham, I would kill dear old dad, throw him overboard, and tell everyone that Tubal Cain was my dad, and the world would be a better place. I also realized that Yhwh was pretty psychotic too, here and in many stories yet to come, so that Noah was his logical choice for this mission.
I must have missed something in not having a clear explanation for why Noah got drunk after all this. I can't blame him. Then when Ham finds him, the Genesis account is vague about the nature of that transgression, and the movie is too. That part on up to the ending is something I feel could have been done better.
I would summarize that the hype for this flick is overrated, but the critics from the Bible thumping section are overplaying their hand too. It's an okay movie that has some engaging parts to it, but falls short of being great.
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Jehovah's Witnesses Have No Problem With Lying!
by minimus inwitnesses brag that they are the most honest people in the world!.
but, they teach their followers that it's ok to lie if someone is not "entitled" to know the truth.. .
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kurtbethel
Lying is so much ingrained into their culture that it is an accepted part of their so called ministry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjP66gQ9RYw
Their religion is indeed a snare and a racket.
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The genius of the new donation arrangement
by thedepressedsoul inive given this new arrangement a lot of detailed thought and how greatly it benefits the wt and how much it puts a strain on each congregation.. first, let me explain how the old arrangement worked.. you had 3 donation boxes in each kingdom hall.
one for worldwide work, one for kingdom hall construction and one for congregation contributions.. the congregation contribution box accounted for about 60-75% of all donations.
the world wide work box probably accounted for 20-30% and the kingdom hall construction for about 5% of the contributions.
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kurtbethel
Jehovah does provide for his spirit led organization.
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MARTIAN novel prologue: teaser
by Terry inprologue.
weapon-flash burst and thundered ominously outside the atmosphere bubble of mars colony 7.. .
"this is captain nobile, now here this!
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kurtbethel
That's a fun mashup. I have a story idea kicking around about a religious group that realizes its eschatology through migration and settlement of another planet. That's a very general idea that can be done a lot of ways, so I'm not giving out any spoilers by saying as much.