my wife grew up without a religious upbringing.
she was passed down a german bible given to her grandfather in 1935 which had a hand written inscription by two jewish colleagues of her grandfather at the time.
inside was a quote either written by her relatives or anonymous, not sure which but i really had to share it as it really sums it up for me - enjoy!.
Religions Are ..
The fossilized philosophies and petrified politics of past ages. Managed and modified by myths and legends to mystify and mollify the masses when they question the meaning of life.
Awesome quote!
Morals are innate.
Religion and God are unnecessary. Many are living their lives just fine without them.
Edited to add: 'disgard all that is a hindrance'. To me, Religion and God definitely fall under 'hindrance'.
i wanted to go and to do it for jehovah and jesus and what they've done for me.
i wanted it to be a personal thing between them and i. i haven't been to a meeting in close to a year, not that anyone notices or cares.
this isn't my first stint away, and nobody would notice or care if i was found dead.
Once you've seen the man behind the curtain, the magic is lost. Once you know history, you can't unknow it.
Religious buildings of any kind just creep me out now.
doesn't matter what brand of christianity - this cartoon says it all:.
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I love this quote from Christopher Hitchens:
"We've got to grow up out of this stuff you know."
where did jesus take his faithful 11 apostles immediately after finishing the meal in the upper room?.
anyone looked at this before?
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ron rawson said: The advertisement that popped up on my computer under The Searchers comments says: "Maui Hotel Deluxe Oceanfront Maui Condos. Rooms as Low as $99." I had to laugh.....maybe thats the real answer to the original question on this thread......
I'm getting The Sea Pines Resort. Too funny!
omg i've never read this before or if i did i never caught it... .
13 [a]if a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder,2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them, 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the lord your god is testing you to find out if you love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 you shall follow the lordyour god and fear him; and you shall keep his commandments, listen to his voice, serve him, and cling to him.
This god sounds really co-dependent.
... but, they fail to take note of one important detail.. i believe that if we are going to have any chance of reasoning with a jw about blood, this is the place we need to begin.. don't try to convince them that it was only a dietary law.
it wasn't, and they will never go along with it.. don't tell them that saving a life is more important than obeying a law, even a seemingly trivial one.
they take pride in obedience.
Excellent points, cofty.
The members in this thread claiming Bible veracity have clearly not researched it's origins. While there is a smattering of historical 'accuracy' in the Bible (for example, there is evidence to show cities called Megiddo, Hazor and Gezer did actually exist), the stories surrounding these have been greatly exaggerated, as Finkelstein says, to entrench the god Yahweh as the one true god over all others. There was definitely an idea, possibly agenda, to convert the ancient peoples from polytheism to monotheism. This actually carried on well past the time of the Bible (ala Crusades, Spanish Inquistion, Witch Burnings). By the way, they weren't 100% successful in this endeavour.
I had an interesting conversation with my Father about the whole blood issue. He and I have the same blood type so I asked him if he would accept a blood transfusion from me. After all, half my blood is his blood, correct? He had to think about that for a while. He was struggling with whether or not my blood contained any 'contaminants' since I wasn't a JW. I said my blood could be tested and if found uncontaminated would he take it.
He eventually answered a tentative 'no'. I told him that if he was ever in a situation where he needed a blood transfusion to save his life such as he was bleeding out, there would be no way I would watch him die in that manner. He just shrugged his shoulders.
Perhaps if I had had cofty's points to argue back then, I may have been able to exact a different result.
i must say that i have always loved jehovah and his son jesus christ.
i have a 12 inch diameter telescope.
i would go outside and listen to the psalms that praised to my god.
How are you dealing with discovering TTATT?
It has confirmed my suspicions. And a huge weight has been lifted off of me. I no longer have Armageddon or demon nightmares.
recent events and book reads (one suggested by cofty i believe- thank you) have lead me to the only logical and acceptable conclusion:.
there is no god.. simple logical reasoning: matter can neither me created or destroyed.
so the amount of mass in the universe is constant.
cappytan said: I would love to. It's too soon into my fade to come out completely this year.
I hear ya on that one cappy. I debate with myself about 'coming out' publicly. I don't want to become an ISIS target. And I don't want it to adversely affect my career. I'm pretty sure my current boss is Catholic.
what is the wackiest...strangest....most unusual jw teaching or practice?
In my opinion, the wackiest belief is that they are God's Chosen and are the one True Religion.
If you can destroy this foundational belief with a JW, the entire house of cards follows.
recent events and book reads (one suggested by cofty i believe- thank you) have lead me to the only logical and acceptable conclusion:.
there is no god.. simple logical reasoning: matter can neither me created or destroyed.
so the amount of mass in the universe is constant.
Openly Secular Day approaches (Apr 23): http://www.openlysecular.org/.
Has anyone here signed up or done a video?
