i just wanted to share a great read with you all.
this is the title of christopher hitchins latest book.
what evr you think about his politics, he is a great arguer?
I have to agree with you. I finished the book last week and it was really good, and well written.
I think one of the strong points for me, in the book, is that we can wonder how we got here, if there is life after death, is there a god? These are things we do not need to know...............and more importantly, we CANNOT know them. A person can believe...............or have faith, but you can never know for sure.
does anyone know the lyrics to the song imagine written by a sister that supposedly lives in ireland?.......she supposedly changed the lyrics and im curious about it.
I haven't heard of that, but I'll bet it's a real gagger!
I love the original and it is the ringtone for my cell phone. I especially like the "no religion too" line.
i just finished another of my famous letters i send to many of my family members... i've been told that i shouldn't come to the family reunion becasue i'm an apostate.
in my letter i stated that i in fact am going to be there stupid watchtower quotes in hand.
the first family member that shuns me will hear me read off every stupid statement that they've ever made... i said that i'm also bringing my bible and that i want someone in the family to show me in it where it states that i don't have the right to question the dictates of men and by my so doing i should be shunned!.
I feel for you............
I have two family reunions coming up. One is next weekend, and involves the descendants of my great grandfather's (my father's side) brother. I am the only one going who is descended from the other brother. I know some of them, but they are 3rd cousins, so pretty distant. It will be held in Forks, WA, where my ggrandfather and his two brothers homesteaded in the mid 1850's. The land is still in the family. Fortunately NONE of them are, or ever have been Jehovah's witnesses. But..............they are all either Assembly of God, or some other Christian religion, and 98% of them are Republicans and George Bush "rah rah'ers". Every family has their own issues. I think I will be avoiding prayer sessions all weekend.....................or listening to what a great man GWB is.
The other reunion is a National one. My mother is descended from a prominent old "original settlers" family, and they have a large organization and have big reunions every summer. This year it's in our city, and I have cousins coming from out of town to go to it, so I am kind of stuck. I doubt there will be any JW's there. None of Mom's cousins are for sure!
I hope you have fun at yours!
i just found out yesterday.
i remember the girl from my 'past life' when she was still at school - she's nice, but i hear that she's been in a couple of relationships that didn't work out.
thing is, the dub version of a 'courtship' that doesn't work out is when it doesn't end in marriage!
If it were me, I would worry. If she is 30 and single, she doesn't care how old he is.
My pioneer partner was 40 and "mentoring" a disturbed 20 year old in our congregation. His mother was one of our close friends, and he was very troubled. I was the only one who worried about how close they were getting and talked to her about it all the time, but she was obviously dazzled by this young man who was so obviously in love with her. Within months, they got married. She was taken off the pioneer rolls, and they were not allowed to use the KH, and had a problem finding someone to marry them, but finally did. The marriage lasted 7 years. Finally they divorced because they just had nothing in common. The age difference was too much. She had a 17 year old daughter at the time, but she was not a problem for them, but it emphasized the age difference.
So, yes.............be concerned!!
i believe that in the past i've started threads about ghosts and such but i haven't started one about me asking others if they have had a personal experience with a demon.. a couple of days ago i was talking to my dub son-in-law about how i wish i could believe in the unseen....such as ghosts, the paranormal, or anything out of the ordinary.. he said to me......"well what about demon stories"?
he related some stories that were given at an assembly from some who were greatly bothered by demons, mostly from africa.. so, what are we to make of those with such stories?
are they lying?
Back in the late 60's we had 3 young women in our congregation, who rented a house together. One of them was the sister of one of my good friends. They had a horrific experience one night and they all moved out the next day. I totally believe it really happened to them.
They were sitting around after dinner, and the air became heavy. They said it felt like the air was jell-o. Then things on tables started to move and float. Books flew against the walls. They all became very much afraid and ran outside and called for help.
They never wanted to talk about it with anyone, and the servants (before the elder arrangement) had told them not to sensationalize it or tell anyone. The one girl did tell her sister though, who told me.
Nothing like that has ever happened to me though. I would probably die of fear, or faint dead away.
i was talking to a friend yesterday whose sister and brother-in-law have been at bethel for three decades at least, working in important departments that put them in contact with the writing dept., gov.
body, etc.
on a daily basis.. this friend of mine has been a witness for half a century, and has been fading for the past 3-4 years.
revived for Seeker4
i have read some threads here that suggest that anyone thinking big changes are coming to the watchtower due to all of the new gb appointments is fooling themselves.
its been said that ted jaracz has been heavily involved in selecting new gb members and wants to ensure that they all share his hard-line vision for the religion.
i must admit that i thought there would be big changes by now since six of the nine gb members were appointed within the last eight years.
The one I know is Guy Pierce. He was our CO back in the day. He is a hard-liner, no-nonsense kind of guy. His wife, Penny, is more likeable.
Same here. He was a substitute CO once and is from the Seattle area. I thought Guy was very nice, approachable, and kind. His wife Penny, is Chinese, very nice woman..............very smart.
he commented on another site:.
oh, i must mention: when barbara and rud publish, they will shake the foundations of the watchtower society, and i will have to rewrite many parts of apocalypse delayed to fit with the newly revealed information.
no one knows the dry rot that has existed in that organization as do they.
Mulan..I know you want to be very carefull..So I won`t ask anything but this..Do you believe it will be as big as the UN-NGO scandel or the Pedophile scandel?..
I couldn't and wouldn't say even that much. We all just have to be patient.
for those of you who watch big love, near the end of the episode margene was having a conversation with bill, after he found out she was friends with ana (his new interest).
they were in a discussion about testimony and holy spirit and bill asked her if the holy spirit spoke to her about ana and she asked "how would you know?
boy how familiar does that sound?
I had the same thoughts in the same places.
And what about that weird underground-warehouse cult? Totally weird!
Has anyone noticed that this show is produced by Tom Hanks?
previously posted definition of a true apology.. (also response by snap--survivors network of those abused by priests.
http://www.snapnetwork.org ).
apology from california catholic church....does it pass the "smell" test?.
Here is something you might enjoy reading: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0707/16/lkl.01.html
It is the transcript of this subject being discussed on Larry King Live last night.
Here is some exerpts:
CARDINAL ROGER MAHONY, LOS ANGELES ARCHDIOCESE: I apologize to anyone who has been offended, who has been abused in the Catholic Church by priests, by deacons, religious men and women, or lay people in the church. It should not have happened and should not ever happen again.
KING: Before we get back, here's a statement released today by Cardinal Roger Mahony: "I wish to express my gratitude to all of those who participated in today's settlement meeting in Judge Haley Fromholz's courtroom. I again extend my personal apology to the victims, who suffered sexual abuse by clergy and repeat again my steadfast commitment to continuing all of the abuse prevention programs and policies currently in force in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
As Chief Shepherd of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, I also will continue to meet with any victim of abuse who wishes to meet privately with me. I'm very aware that this day in particular is a day for the victims to speak, so I'll refrain from further comment beyond the remarks I made yesterday during my press conference at the cathedral. I will spend the reminder of today in prayer for the victims."
I'm not defending them at all, but he did apologize. I watched this show, and it was powerful. A really good point was made here:
KING: Father Reese, are you embarrassed by all of this?
REV. THOMAS REESE, S.J. SENIOR FELLOW, WOODSTOCK THEOLOGICAL CENTER, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Oh, I am -- I'm in -- I'm angry. And I'm very sad for what happened to the victims. This has been a disaster for the victims. These kids have been scarred for life. The church needs to really apologize again and again for what happened. And we need to do everything possible to reach out and try and heal them, to try to help them in any way we can.
KING: As a Jesuit, father, you're the teaching arm of the church, right?
REESE: Well, we do have a lot of schools and universities in the United States. That's true.
KING: How well are they trained to -- so they can pick out the potential problems a priest might have and not let them be a priest?
REESE: This is a real problem. I think we were probably doing better at it. But, you know, your -- our companion here, Anna, can help us more on that. The difficulty of giving a psychological exam to someone and then predicting that they're going to be an abuser is very, very difficult.
I think we have to be on guard constantly. We have to train kids to -- to be sensitive by these things and to talk to their parents when anyone touches them inappropriately.
We have -- we have an epidemic of sexual abuse in the United States, you know, over 100,000 cases of sexual abuse in the United States. You know, this is not just a problem in the church. It's a problem in our schools, in our families, that we really, as a nation, have to be aware of and do something about.
Hopefully, one result of this crisis in the church will be that the church can become part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
KING: David is shaking his head.
CLOHESSY: Well, of course, abuse happens everywhere. But it's in the church context where the molesters continue to be recycled and the cover-up is the most extensive. And that's the real problem. There always have been and always will be pedophiles in teaching, coaching, the ministry.
The problem is not with training the kids, screening the volunteers. The problem is the men at the top continuing to cover it up.
KING: It's an organized cover-up.
CLOHESSY: Absolutely.
KING: It's an organized --
CLOHESSY: Which continues today.
KING: We found that true.
Isn't it true?
BOUCHER: Absolutely. I mean the records are very clear that this was an organized cover-up and these -- this church knew it for many, many years.And, you know, one thing very few people understand is that in 1948 an organization known as the Servants of the Paracletes were organized. It's a religious order. And they were organized specifically to deal with pedophile priests.
And since 1948, they have been putting out studies to the cardinals and bishops around the world saying very clearly that you can't put these priests back into ministry. You can't put them near kids. And so they have known this for decades. It is the civil justice system and the threat of jury trials and the courage of these young men that finally has brought the Catholic Church to the position where it has to admit that it has failed and failed miserably and that it needs to take significant steps, and that it's not taking enough steps.
KING: By the way, did the pope sign off on the settlement?
I'm assuming he would, right?
It's that much money.
BOUCHER: Absolutely. The Vatican signed off on this resolution.
