perhaps the recent lunar eclipse was heaven's way of demonstrating approval of the tremendous changes in china.. here's some images from the china daily:.
the total lunar eclipse as observed in shenzhen, south china's guangdong province, april 4, 2015. the moon slipped fully into earths shadow saturday, starting a total lunar eclipse for nearly 12 minutes what guangdong astronomical science association says it was the shortest such eclipse of the century.
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FTS-
Thanks for the excellent pictures. I witnesses the same type eclipse a few years back. To see it in person the moon becomes totally 3 dimensional and the visible half-shere protrudes right out of the sky beautifully lit by indirect anbient light instead of the glareing disc it usually appears. Every detail of its rough relief visible as if lit by a museum display.
The sight was truly awesome - one of highlight of my life.
i was wondering ... what are all of the "official" reasons provided by elders for disfellowshipping someone?
i know the most common reasons are adultery and fornication, but what about the others?
a couple of years ago i traveled back to my hometown` and one of my old jw acquaintances told me that her grown son had been disfellowshipped for refusing to stop associating with another disfellowshipped person.
Label Licker -
would you care to do coffee sometime -we might actually know each other - I am interested in the legal fallout of your situation as I am on a similar journey.
there seem to be many prerequisites for life as we know it.. to name a few: order, function, compatibility, availability, sustainability, intelligence, consciousness, intuition and so on.. focusing on only one, namely order.. what are the chances of order arising spontaneously, by chance, with no creator/designer?.
i have often pondered this and recently came across a mathematical summary of the big picture:.
if every particle in the known physical universe (10^80 particles), participated in one trillion interactions (10^12 interactions) per second, for the entire 30 billion years of the universe's existence (10^18 seconds), then we would by now have covered only 10^110 permutations.. if you had only 100 components in a container, what are the chances that a blindfolded person could lay them out in order on a table?.
What are the chances of a creator/designer arising spontaneously, by chance with no creator/designer?
hello all, i finally got around to posting my letter to my judicial committee meeting requests.
sorry its kind of long, it came to 4 pages because of the special meeting requests.
tuesday january 28, 2014.
Eden One -
Your quick mind and good research has saved me a great deal of work! I was wading through the EU human rights handbook and bogged down before i reached the very sussinct point on page 33.
I agree with your reasoning that the encouragement for others to discriminate is illegal.
so i chose to attend the memorial last night.
it was a hall i don't usually go to but chose to go there because i felt like it would be the closest.
mind you i am not a jw and was never raised a jw and don't have any family who are jw.
why didn't jesus ever write anything?
why are there no letters to jesus?
no painting of jesus from that time?
James Mixon -
yes, the christian perspective article I read postulated that the Roman rulers were corrupt (surprise), and the Jewish religious leaders were corrupt (surprise).
In Judea the greatest single source of wealth was the temple. Virtually the entire economy of a theocracy swirled around worship at the temple and vast sums of money information and power were centred there to be exploited by whomever had connections.
Jesus threatened this golden goose and paid the price exacted by the Jews and carried out by the Romans
why didn't jesus ever write anything?
why are there no letters to jesus?
no painting of jesus from that time?
Funny thing -
just last night I was reading some articles on the historicity of Jesus (and learned a cool new word for authenticity)
Seems there are three widelyrespected references to the man.
His baptism by John seems indisputable as is his death during the time of Pontius Pilate.
None of the other details are deemed as indisputable, and many are regarded as fabrication or legend - the stuff any cult is likely to make up in liew of evidence..whether in the 2nd century or the 21st.
Read a really great christian essay on the political reasons why John the baptist posed a threat to the Romans in Judea and was subsequently offed by the Romans, and how Jesus stepped in the same kaka a few years later with the same result.
i've been seeing a brilliant psychologist.
he has been pivotal in drawing the parallels between my jw upbringing - specifically the hypocrisy i saw as a child - and the reason i've tolerated lies and inconsistencies in my most significant adult relationship.. i've seen one other psychologist in the past.
she didn't get the issues surrounding the religion whatsoever, didn't regard that aspect of my backstory as relevant, and was of little help to me.. has anyone else seen a psychologist - whether for help with coping in the aftermath of leaving the religion, or for seemingly unrelated issues that actually turned out to be related?
www.journeyfree.org Resources for recovery from harmful religion
This American psychologist - Dr. Marlene Winell, has a very informative website indicating how widespread the problems of fundamentalist teachings are... a good resource for anyone wondering why their minds, lives and families are such a mess.
She coined the phrase Religious Trauma Syndrome and knows first hand how and from where the traumas of abusive religion arise. Jws and Mormons are not alone in the crazy compound.
I am impressed by her depth and breadth of research and her knowledgable approache to help people escape.
the penalty of this charge??
yes, disfellowshipping.. bad association?
excessive time at work?
Sparrow and Stuck -
You've nailed it - Defiance. My non JW mom and dad occassionally used the term in the 60s to identify our teenaged, rebellious disrespect for proper authority - parents, community, school, church, .laws of the land. They had both fought in the war, and held a well defined respect for the value of service and sacrifice and authority.
Democratic legal structure is the most respected and powerful authority most of us know, and rightly so as it is a result of our own participation in formation of laws. Thing is, it is not brazen to challenge laws or try to have them changed or even abandoned. Challenges are welcomed, and if found to have support and merit, changes ensue. Theocratic, dictatorial and outdated laws are replaced by those giving more respect autonomy and freedom to individuals.
Exactly what chafes theocratic despots and mini tyrant elders.
it seems that select videos on jw.org now offer a comment section for any registered user, (previously, logins were only used by elders, servants and those who wanted to donate by credit card).
however, your login info now has to contain your real full name and be approved by your congregations service committee..
NBD-
Last year I had JWs called on me with the tract directing people to their new BS.org website.
I pointed out that the website isn't interactive -she said ''It isn't?? I didn't know that.'' she was surprised.
It felt good to point out a cult-like flaw in their new golden calf.
