garyneal
JoinedPosts by garyneal
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45
Why isn't the story of SAMPSON quickly and clearly regarded a myth?
by Terry injudges chapter 15:.
14 when he came to lehi, the philistines shouted triumphantly at meeting him.
then jehovahs spirit empowered him,+ and the ropes on his arms became like linen threads that were scorched with fire, and his fetters melted off his hands.+ 15 he now found a fresh jawbone of a male donkey; he reached out and grabbed it and struck down 1,000 men with it.+ 16 then samson said: with the jawbone of a donkeyone heap, two heaps!
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86
Merry Pantsmas Everyone!
by Billy the Ex-Bethelite inokay, i posted this in a thread that got locked and buried.
since then i've been really busy and have overdosed on christmas music in the past week.
so, i'm resurrecting this "holy day" holiday that most people will unknowingly be celebrating tomorrow.
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86
Merry Pantsmas Everyone!
by Billy the Ex-Bethelite inokay, i posted this in a thread that got locked and buried.
since then i've been really busy and have overdosed on christmas music in the past week.
so, i'm resurrecting this "holy day" holiday that most people will unknowingly be celebrating tomorrow.
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garyneal
Merry Pantsless
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8
Scientific explanation of how spirit creatures could materialize
by EndofMysteries inin my science class book i was just reading about particles and antiparticles.. i'll just quote a few parts, "every type of particle in nature must also have an alter ego, an antiparticle........one fascinating property of particle-antiparticles pairs is that if you bring such a pair together, the two particles will annihilate each other......when the pair annihilates, the mass of the two particles is converted into energy which is carried away by a pair of photons.....the reverse is also possible, two photons may collide to produce a particle and it's antiparticle-by a process called pair production.. so assuming spirit creatures are made of energy, there is a scientific explanation of how energy can become physical mass, and physical mass to energy.
whether you believe they exist or not, i thought that was an interesting read and a way to explain how they could materialize and de-materialize.. .
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garyneal
Oh wow, you should preach like Bro Russell.
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PLEASE don't read this . . . if you have O.C.D. tendencies or are superstitious
by Terry inwhat if there were no such things as arabic numerals (0123456789)?.
what if you only had your alphabet?.
you could use letters as numerical values.
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garyneal
Caesar Nero's value was 666. Ring a bell?
No, NO, it is Ronald Wilson Reagan. According to my childhood friend who preached a lot, he preached it like this...
You have Ronald-ha, Wilson Reagan-ha.
You have R-O-N-A-L-D, you have 6-ha.
You have W-I-L-S-O-N, you have 6-ha.
You have R-E-A-G-A-N, you have 6-ha.
I want to let you knoooow!!!
Of course, the beast is now dead. Unless you count that super computer in Belgium. That was what my old IFB pastor said.
Of course, 666 could also mean "to prick" as in implant a microchip under the skin of your right hand or forehead. According to Jack Van Impe.
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do religious believers have too many privileges
by WildeLover ini am sure that jws will use this as an impending sign that the beast will turn on babylon and ban all religions.
it will feed thier persecution complex quite a lot!.
http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/do-religious-believers-have-too-many-privileges.
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garyneal
If the wild beast is the UN then the WTS rode it for approximately 9 years. Were (are) they part of the harlot?
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CAN WE BE BETTER THAN THE GOD WE SERVE?
by Terry inbe careful what you say god is and what he wants; you may be saying more about yourself than you realize.. it may well be our personal taste in religion is revelatory of our basic character.. _____.
look at the devout islamist whose worship consists of blowing people up or cutting off heads.. contrast that to those hindi who sit with legs folded in their own lap contemplating bliss.. now contrast both the above to somebody who believes service to god is visiting the sick in hospitals.. _____.
instead of there being 3 different gods served--there might only be an extraordinary unveiling of each person's heart and mind!.
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garyneal
Well when you look at the personality of the OT Jehovah, he displays all the traits of a spoiled adolesent male, with a huge egocentricity problem causing all sorts of narcisstic behaivior.
The documentation hypothesis of the Old Testament makes a lot of sense when you look at the Bible from the 4 (or 5) anonymous authors who did it for various agendas.
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18
CAN WE BE BETTER THAN THE GOD WE SERVE?
by Terry inbe careful what you say god is and what he wants; you may be saying more about yourself than you realize.. it may well be our personal taste in religion is revelatory of our basic character.. _____.
look at the devout islamist whose worship consists of blowing people up or cutting off heads.. contrast that to those hindi who sit with legs folded in their own lap contemplating bliss.. now contrast both the above to somebody who believes service to god is visiting the sick in hospitals.. _____.
instead of there being 3 different gods served--there might only be an extraordinary unveiling of each person's heart and mind!.
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garyneal
An exerpt from my conversation with my oldest daughter.
... On our way there, we talked about Halloween and the holidays and why mommy does not celebrate. "She chooses not to celebrate because she believes that by not celebrating she is pleasing God," I said. Of course I do celebrate and so I told her that I did not feel the same way.
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I asked her if she remembered the invitation she got from her Mormon friend to attend her baptism. She did so I told her that Mormons feel that they please God by not drinking coffee or sodas because of the caffeine nor do they smoke. They feel that by abstaining from these things, they keep their bodies clean and please God. "So you mean no more Dr Pepper's?" she asked. "If you and mom were Mormons I could not drink Dr Pepper?" "That's right," I said, "if mom and I were to try to raise you up as a Mormon, no soft drinks for us and no coffee for mom."
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On our way out the store, we passed by this muslim couple and my child, being 8 and naturally inquisitive began asking, "Why is that lady wearing a mask and only her eyes can be seen?" To which I replied, "Well, remember what we talked about concerning rules and pleasing God? People of the Islam or Muslim religion believe that women should remain covered from head to toe so as to show respect to their husbands or fathers and in so doing, please God." "Mom does not do that," she said. "I know, same God different rules," I replied.
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She questioned about how different people's religions have different rules when they are all trying to serve the same God to which I responded, "Yeah, it does all seem a little man made, doesn't it."
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Interview with an “Unbelieving Mate (UBM)”: Frazzled
by Frazzled UBM inin honour of jgnat i have completed her template:.
is your wife still an active witness?
no thankfuly - she has only been to the memorail, a convention and the kh once this year and has done none of that for at least 6 months.
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garyneal
Interesting read, Fraz. So far it appears that we are the only UBMs to do the interviews.
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garyneal
blondie: Thanks, I read portions of it to my wife and she laughed at the part that said, "...as I currently love my wife and adore our kids." She said, "I am glad that you currently love me." I said, "Ooops, that was not what I meant by that." She was a sport about it.
arwen: Agreed
MissFit: Thank you for your kind words. May I ask what woke you up?
Simon: Thanks for the response. In regards to your question I did encounter a few circumstances where they seemed like they were trying to convince me to accept the TRUTH. Once, when it became apparent that she and I had something going on between us back when we first met to her parents her father met me at the Walmart where she and I worked and went on to tell me about how he expected me to attend meetings at the Kingdom Hall. Later on when we began seeing each other, her father handed me a brochure entitled, "What does God require of us," and told me that he wanted his daughter to be involved with a Christian. I thought it was cute and I figured that I was a Christian man so I did not see the problem. He insisted on a study and I play the 'obedient' student by answering the Jesus was the Son of God while not letting on that I was a trinitarian since I had known the witnesses take on it.
I also recall that her hall had an annointed brother who insisted on meeting me to discuss the Bible. I did learn that the KJV used LORD in a different font to illustrate the devine name from him but not much else. He later went back to my then girlfriend's mom to say that I was not interested in the TRUTH but only in her. I just did not understand at the time since I considered myself Christian and saw no big deal in it.
Later after my girlfriend and I left out home town and moved in together, her mother sent a letter to me saying that she regretted her daughter rejecting Jehovah for me. I remember thinking, "How was I competing with a deity?" Especially considering that she and I both worshipped Him and we even married shortly after moving in together because neither of us felt right due to our religious beliefs. As I pointed out earlier, I never understood why they could not accept other Christians until I began learning TTATT.
Apognophos: I suppose deist is pretty close. I no longer consider the Bible to be the inerrant word of God and see no proof of His existence. Funny thing is, even back when I was an IFB I recall my pastor saying that nature and man was proof of God's existence. I later, still as a Bible believer, revised it to say that it only proves A GOD, not the one true God I believed in. My views began leaning agnostic even back when I met my wife when I examined the religions based purely on empirical evidence and logic but still retained a faith in the biblical god. I tell you, I could easily convince myself that Christianity was the correct religion even though I had to push aside the dissonance from the fact that there are many non christians that were going to hell based on its teachings. Back around 2010, I decided that I was not going to just accept any answer anymore and that the reasoning had to be sound to prove my beliefs correct. Well, no such reasoning could be found so I guess I have to render a verdict of "not guilty" to the existense of God. I guess that makes me a weak atheist.
talesin: Thanks, I think my wife and I are doing okay for the moment. Most of our problems actually surround money more than religion. I guess quite typical but that is subsiding as we are both making decent money. Good thing she did not take the WT too seriously when came to her getting her education. I also like your answer to Simon concerning JW girls, my wife also told me that she did not get too much attention from the witness guys and wound up dating outside the religion. I could relate as I too had a difficult time finding girls in the church because as I said earlier, they were after bad boys.