outsider_looking_in
JoinedPosts by outsider_looking_in
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Where do I get C of C book?
by dins ini would like to obtain the book, crisis of conscience.. is that something i can buy anywhere or do i have to special order if from somewhere?.
thanks for your help.. diana
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Promise a young man that death is not the end
by outsider_looking_in intaken from the guardian newspaper.
"could we get some otherwise normal humans and somehow persuade them that they are not going to die as a consequence of flying a plane smack into a skyscraper?
nobody is that stupid, but how about this - it's a long shot, but it just might work.
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outsider_looking_in
bttt
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Promise a young man that death is not the end
by outsider_looking_in intaken from the guardian newspaper.
"could we get some otherwise normal humans and somehow persuade them that they are not going to die as a consequence of flying a plane smack into a skyscraper?
nobody is that stupid, but how about this - it's a long shot, but it just might work.
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outsider_looking_in
Taken from the Guardian Newspaper
"Could we get some otherwise normal humans and somehow persuade them that they are not going to die as a consequence of flying a plane smack into a skyscraper? If only! Nobody is that stupid, but how about this - it's a long shot, but it just might work. Given that they are certainly going to die, couldn't we sucker them into believing that they are going to come to life again afterwards? Don't be daft! No, listen, it might work. Offer them a fast track to a Great Oasis in the Sky, cooled by everlasting fountains. Harps and wings wouldn't appeal to the sort of young men we need, so tell them there's a special martyr's reward of 72 virgin brides, guaranteed eager and exclusive.
Would they fall for it? Yes, testosterone-sodden young men too unattractive to get a woman in this world might be desperate enough to go for 72 private virgins in the next.
It's a tall story, but worth a try. You'd have to get them young, though. Feed them a complete and self-consistent background mythology to make the big lie sound plausible when it comes. Give them a holy book and make them learn it by heart. Do you know, I really think it might work. As luck would have it, we have just the thing to hand: a ready-made system of mind-control which has been honed over centuries, handed down through generations. Millions of people have been brought up in it. It is called religion and, for reasons which one day we may understand, most people fall for it (nowhere more so than America itself, though the irony passes unnoticed). Now all we need is to round up a few of these faith-heads and give them flying lessons.
Facetious? Trivialising an unspeakable evil? That is the exact opposite of my intention, which is deadly serious and prompted by deep grief and fierce anger. I am trying to call attention to the elephant in the room that everybody is too polite - or too devout - to notice: religion, and specifically the devaluing effect that religion has on human life. I don't mean devaluing the life of others (though it can do that too), but devaluing one's own life. Religion teaches the dangerous nonsense that death is not the end.
If death is final, a rational agent can be expected to value his life highly and be reluctant to risk it. This makes the world a safer place, just as a plane is safer if its hijacker wants to survive. At the other extreme, if a significant number of people convince themselves, or are convinced by their priests, that a martyr's death is equivalent to pressing the hyperspace button and zooming through a wormhole to another universe, it can make the world a very dangerous place. Especially if they also believe that that other universe is a paradisical escape from the tribulations of the real world. Top it off with sincerely believed, if ludicrous and degrading to women, sexual promises, and is it any wonder that naive and frustrated young men are clamouring to be selected for suicide missions?
There is no doubt that the afterlife-obsessed suicidal brain really is a weapon of immense power and danger. It is comparable to a smart missile, and its guidance system is in many respects superior to the most sophisticated electronic brain that money can buy. Yet to a cynical government, organisation, or priesthood, it is very very cheap.
Our leaders have described the recent atrocity with the customary cliche: mindless cowardice. "Mindless" may be a suitable word for the vandalising of a telephone box. It is not helpful for understanding what hit New York on September 11. Those people were not mindless and they were certainly not cowards. On the contrary, they had sufficiently effective minds braced with an insane courage, and it would pay us mightily to understand where that courage came from.
It came from religion. Religion is also, of course, the underlying source of the divisiveness in the Middle East which motivated the use of this deadly weapon in the first place. But that is another story and not my concern here. My concern here is with the weapon itself. To fill a world with religion, or religions of the Abrahamic kind, is like littering the streets with loaded guns. Do not be surprised if they are used."
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Where do i send money ?
by outsider_looking_in ini would like to donate some money to help the cause in new york,im in britain,does anybody know where to send money,is there anyway i can donate online?
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outsider_looking_in
Thanks all, no need for anymore replies.
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Where do i send money ?
by outsider_looking_in ini would like to donate some money to help the cause in new york,im in britain,does anybody know where to send money,is there anyway i can donate online?
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outsider_looking_in
I would like to donate some money to help the cause in New York,im in britain,does anybody know where to send money,is there anyway i can donate online?
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your a Jehovahs Witness ..............
by outsider_looking_in in17. if you are a male and sitting in a kingdom hall when a very good .
" rather than,"oh thank god!!
26. if you believe that god ignored everyone for nearly 2,000 years, .
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outsider_looking_in
Goodbye frank/fred!
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your a Jehovahs Witness ..............
by outsider_looking_in in17. if you are a male and sitting in a kingdom hall when a very good .
" rather than,"oh thank god!!
26. if you believe that god ignored everyone for nearly 2,000 years, .
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outsider_looking_in
It was a joke frank,anybody with a sense of humor would understand that,go look up the word "joke" in a dictionary,thats if your allowed to read one!!!!
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your a Jehovahs Witness ..............
by outsider_looking_in in17. if you are a male and sitting in a kingdom hall when a very good .
" rather than,"oh thank god!!
26. if you believe that god ignored everyone for nearly 2,000 years, .
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outsider_looking_in
1. If your reaction to someone wearing a Cross is the same
as a vampire's, you might be a JW.
2. If you think demons can reduce their size to fit in jewelry,
furniture, books, or into blue smurfs you might be a JW.
3 If you equate the numbers 1 to 5 with hours on a time slip, you
might be a JW (just not a very good one)
4. If you feel that death is much more important than birth, you
might be a JW
5. If you think all R-rated movies are not worth seeing, you might
be a JW
6. If you think all men with beards and long hair are not acceptable,
you might be a JW
7. If you think that Circuit Overseers do not receive a salary,
you are a JW
8. If you think Circuit and District Overseers stay in cheap hotels
or the drafty homes of common nieghborhood folk during conventions,
your are a JW.
9. If you think Jesus hasn't accomplished much of anything for
the past 83 years, you aren't the only JW who does.
10. If you think JW's are not a cult, you are a pitiful JW
11. If you think the Wt is not capable of mind control, you are a JW
12. If you think field service is other than working in the corn fields,
you might be a JW.
13. If you think elders are other than elderly people, you might be a
JW.
14. If the newspaper headlines read "All humans on earth are smashed,
and destroyed on Christmas day. Only JW's survive!!" and this would
brings joy to your heart, you'd be a JW
15. If you have constant pain in your right shoulder and can't
unclasp your right hand, you probably have bookbagitis, a disease
unique to JWs
16. If you can't have a conversation with another human being without
hearing a voice in your head saying, "CONVERT HIM OR DIE!", you are
probablya a Dub.
17. If you are a male and sitting in a Kingdom Hall when a very good
looking young lady comes in in a mini skirt, and your first thought
is, "How immodest that sister is!" rather than,"Oh THANK GOD!!",
then most likely you're a jdub
18.If you eat a Turkey on Thanksgiving and feel guilty about it but
insist that it is only because they were "on sale", you are a Dub.
19.If you have costume parties for the "young ones" within a month of
Halloween, and, if you wrap presents in brown paper to give to each
other on "Family Gift Day", you are not only a Dub but a Worldly
Wannabe and aren't fooling anybody.
20.If you have awful dreams about getting caught holding someone else's
cigarette and no one will believe you that it's not yours, yer
probably Dub.
21.If you can't buy a pair of shoes without thinking about how
comfortable they will need to be while walking down residential
streets in 95 degree heat, then yer a Dub.
22.If you just bought a dress that comes down to your mid calf that has
puffy sleeves, a collar that buttons to your chin and lace trim, then
you are a Dub with a part on an Assembly. You might be even thinking
about wearing makeup for the occasion.
23.If you have a child that is 3 years old that sits quietly for hours
at a time while adults discuss mind numbingly boring topics around
him, and you brag about him to all your friends....you might as well
get a saddle for him and ride him because you broke his spirit and he
is no longer a child.And you might be a Jehovah's Witness.
24. If you allow an organization to take the place of Christ, you are
most likely a JW.
25. If you think of an ark as an orgaization, your must be a JW.
26. If you believe that God ignored everyone for nearly 2,000 years,
then suddenly gave His truth to a man who sat around drawing
pictures and plans of pyramids, you must be a Jdub....
26 Or that God gave His truth to a small group of men who keep having
trouble getting their days and years straight, you might be a JW.
27.If you can't pick up a book, or anything else to read, without
picking up something to underline with also, you might be a JW
28. If you insist on calling the NT, the Greek Scriptures, you might be
a JW
29. If you treat all people wearing crosses like they're idiots, you
might be a JW
30. I you have a tendency to justify lying, cheating and stealing if you
do it yourself, you might be a JW
31. If when you drive by a church building you suddenly feel all smug
and superior, you might be a JW
32. If when you drive by a Kingdom Hall you suddenly feel all warm and
fuzzy, you might be a JW or drunk, or both
33. If you feel you have a great wealth of Bible knowledge, you might be
a JW
34. If you're sure your neighbors are all conspiring against you, you
might be a JW
35. If you've spent days at a baseball stadium and never saw a ball and
didn't even have a beer, you might be a JW.
36. If you possess the ability to sing loudly and proudly even if you're
tone deaf, you might be a JW.
37. If the only verse you can quote from memory is Psalms 83:18, you
might be a JW
38. If you're afraid of someone seeing you with a beer in your hand,
you might be a JW.
39, If you're always afraid someone might see and hear you when
you're just finally being "normal", you might be a JW.
40. If most of the songs you sing have numbers for titles, you might be
a JW.
41. If the first names of most of your best friends are either-"brother"
or "sister", you might be a JW.
42. If you'll never watched Friends or Sienfeld, you might be a JW
43. If your church is a "hall" and a sermon is a "public talk", you
might be a JW.
44. If you wash cars or windows for a living but still own five suits,
you might be a JW.
45. If you've never worn comfortable clothes in your life, you might
have been a JW, from birth
46. If you can have a bible study without a bible, you might be a JW
47. If you're 25 years old and have never kissed anyone but your mom,
you might be a JW
48. If you go to New York for the weekend and spend the whole day in a
publishing factory in Brooklyn, you might be a JW
49. If the words "New Light" do not remind you of the hardware section
at K-mart, you might be a JW
50. If you think morning coffee break is a perfect time to preach to
someone, you may be a JW.
51.If you think that service to god can be measured in hours, you might
be a JW.
52.If you think men are superior to women, you may be a JW.
53.If you think sex is a yucky thing you must endure, you may be a
female JW.
54. If you think you're intitled to having sex regardless of what your
wife, thinks, says or how she feels, you might be a male JW.
55.If you think that a higher education is bad for you, you may be a JW.
54.If you think bringing magazines to your hospitalized "worldy"
neighbor is the most loving thing you could do ... you might be a JW.
55.If you think it's unfaithful to God to get an education or get a good
paying job you might be a JW.
56.If you check The WT Index everytime you have a question about
anything, you might be a JW.
57.If you find out your coworker's mother died, and your first thought
is not, "Oh, how awful," but, "This is a great opportunity to talk
about the Kingdom!" ....you might be a JW.
58.If you think a Buick is a spiritually superior automobile...you might
be a JW (Or you might be right):)
59.If the thought of entering a christian book store sends shivers
up and down your spine, you might be a JW
60. If you expect to receive Christmas presents but not to give them,
you might be a JW
61.If hearing the term "governing body" causes you to become awestruck,
you might be a JW
62.If you think the term pioneer refers to someone other than
Davy Crockett, you might be a JW
63.If you think of window washing as a career move you might be a JW.
64.If you think attending 5 meetings a week is a delightful spiritural
experience, you might be a JW
65. If you think Santa is another word for Satan and the elves are
demons, you might be a JW
67.If you feel weak in the knees when you hear the term "apostate", you
might be a JW
68.If you think your "mother" lives in New York City, you might be a JW
69. If you think all four door vehicles are "witness wagons", you
might be a JW
70. If you feel guilty for having natural desires, you might be a JW
71. If you think 1914 is the year to end all years, you might be a JW
72. If you think YOU conjectured the year 1975, you might be a JW
73. If your closet is full of cheap polyester suits, you might be a JW
74. If you never owned a Christmas tie, you might be a JW
75. If you think the sound of a door slaming shut is Christian
persecution, you might be a JW
78. If you think. Russell, Rutherford, and Franz are gods in heaven, you
might be a JW
79. If you have a tendency to refer to books by color instead of by
title...You might be a JW.
80.If you read all of these, and didn't allow yourself to laugh...
...you're definately a JW!;-)
81. If you hear "Along the Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix or "Walk of Life"
by Dire Straits and you feel spiritually refreshed, you might be a JW
82. If you think the New World Translation is the least biased and most accurate
translation, you might be a JW
83 If you think it took 1,935 years to get 144,000 true Christians, you might be a JW
84. If you think 1799 is the start of the last days, 1874 is when Christ returned, and
1914 is the conclusion of
Armageddon, you might be a very old, disfellowshipped JW
85. If you think "The Finished Mystery" which was released in 1917 was "meat in due
season, you might be a JW who has
never read the book.
86. If you think the "Should You Believe in the Trinity" brochure is nothing but
honest and accurate information,
you might be a JW
87. If you think the destruction of Jerusalem occurring 607 BCE is soundly
supported by historical evidence,
you might be a JW
88. If you think "Jehovah" was in the original writings of the New Testament,
you might be a JW
89. If the Bible makes a statement and the Watchtower says "Logically, this
cannot mean what it says" and you
believe the Watchtower is correct, you might be a JW
90. If you view cleaning up a messy backyard as practice for working in
the New Order, you might be a JW
91. If gospel music makes you cringe, but secular music makes you feel good,
you might be a JW
92. If you believe there was a Governing Body before 1971, you might be a JW
93. If you watch "Oprah" and you see the people who pass the microphones
and it reminds you of a meeting,
you might be a JW
94. If you believe that New Light that becomes Old Light and then becomes
New Light again is God's way of
doing things, you might be a JW
95. If you think the Watchtower was preaching the truth in the years 1914-1919,
you are definitely a JW
96. If you go to "Home Depot" and go down the aisle where the doors for homes
are displayed and you feel the urge
to knock on them, you might be a JW
97. If the "ding-dong" sound on the Avon commercials gets you excited,
you might be a JW
98. If going to 7-11 is something to look forward to, you might be a JW in field service
99. If you have no construction skills and you still go to all the nearby quick-build
Kingdom Hall projects, you might be
a JW trying to get out of field service
100. If the WT Society used to preach a certain teaching years ago and you deny
they ever did, you are a good JW -
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British History Lessons
by Utopian Reformist ini desparately tried to avoid this thread about anglo & american superiority.
i truly did, until i read the "poppycock" about the british war efforts in the last century.. perhaps anglophiles should refresh their ancient and modern memories a bit before launching such laughable tirades of triviality and supposed triumph.. first, did not the english employ mercenaries during the battle of hastings to win the 100 years war?
(since "expatbrit" is correcting me--i am modifying this)-- excuse me for my trivial error).
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outsider_looking_in
just a few LITTLE things to add:
jet prepulsion,
penicillin,
the telephone
pneumatic tyre
television
antiseptic surgery,
the flushing toilet
According to Japanese research figures, of all the patents granted throughout the world for new inventions in the last 50 years, 40% have been to inventors from the British Isles...give us credit for something!
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BRITS v YANKS
by nicolaou inbrits v yanks.
this is just for laughs, but let's be honest us brits are most definately ahead of our 'cousins' across the water in the credibility stakes.. i'll kick us off and see where we go;.
[1] the beautiful game.. it's called football.
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outsider_looking_in
What's the difference between Americans and the engines of the jets on which they travel abroad?
After they land, the engines of the jets quit whining.
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What do you call someone who speaks three languages?
"Multilingual".What do you call someone who speaks two languages?
"Bilingual".What do you call someone who speaks one language?
"An American".