Blueblades
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Continuing--IMPRISONED iDEAS # 6
by Blueblades in.
another element is this:prophets always stand a good chance of being bumped off.this chance is increased if they come down from the hills into the marketplace,and still further increased if they come down unarmed.prophets should only go unarmed into the marketplace if they think that their work is done,and are prepared to depart hence.. some prophets take to arms.even where the orginal prophet does not,his disciples may do so.the devil must be fought with the devil's weapons.this argumentatively sound but practically disastrous.for it means that the servants of god,the disciples of the idea,tend to descend to the devil's level.as the organization grows,it deteriorates.its leaders are not the men they were.
blueblades
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Continuing--Imprisoned Ideas # 5
by Blueblades innext the wider the area to which the idea is introduced,the larger the circle of men and woman to whom it is propagated through the organization,the more it must be "stepped down"for propaganda purposes.the idea which gives birth to a party which wants to establish the cooperative commonwealth,must be translated into practical proposals.. such as the eight-hour day,the five day week,and what not,if it is to attract a mass backing.and so the organization becomes less the vehicle of the idea than a channel through which particular interests must be served.. the service of such particular interests attracts the backing of other organized bodies more interested in the limited objectives which the organization has now adopted than in the great idea itself.. and the pressure of such bodies is felt by the organization itself,with the result that the idea tends to retreat into the background in favor of less ambitious onjectives.in this world the devil walks,and it is necessary to hold a candle to the devil.
(written by w.p.brown.
) (to be cont'd ).
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Continuing-Imprisoned Ideas # 4
by Blueblades insimilar illustrations could be drawn from all fields of life.but these two will suffice to demonstrate the truth which i am here concerned.it is that,the idea having given birth to the organization,the organization develops a self-interest which has no connection with and becomes inimical to,the idea with which it began.. now ,the thing which permits this process of diversion to take place,so that the organization comes to stand for the opposite of the idea which originally inspired it,is the tendency in men and women to become prisoners of the organization,instead of being servants of the spirit.. in this tendency there are many elements.there is the sense that you cannot run an organization without becoming its prisoner.organization has its own necessities,in the interests of which the original idea has to be somewhat qualified.. as soon as the idea passes from the unmanifested and embodies itself in the actual,it begins to be invaded by what the poet called "the world's slow stain.".
in this there need be no concious infidelity on the part of the leaders.better,they may well argue,that the great idea should remain a mere idea in vacuo.better half the idea loaf than no bread at all.
( to be cont'd ).
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Continuing--Imprisoned Ideas # 3
by Blueblades inin the field of politics,the dispossessed dream of social order which shall be based on righteousness,a system in which men shall not exploit their fellowmen,in which each shall contribute according to his capacity and each shall receive according to his need.upon this conception a political party is built.
it gives battle,over the years to the existing order of things.as with the church,it is not long before the primary concern of the party is to sustain itself.here again, any departure from the political creed must be repressed.the "party line"must be kept straight and dissent kept under.
in the course of time,the party achieves power.by this time it is no longer led by starry-eyed idealists,but by extremely tough guys--who then proceed to use their newly acquired power to establish a stronger despotism than the one they overthrew, and to sew up all the holes in it that they themselves discovered in the old.
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Continuing-Imprisoned Ideas # 2
by Blueblades inwe may see this process at work in many fields.let us take one or two by way of illustration.in the field of religion,a prophet,an inspired man,will see a vision of truth.he expresses that vision as best he can in words.he will not say all he saw.for every expression of truth is a limitation of it.but he will,so to speak,express the sense of his vision.. what he says is only partly understood by those who hear him;and when they repeat what they understand him to have meant there will already be a considerable departure from the original vision of the prophet.upon what his disciples understand of the prophet's message,an organization,a church will be built.. the half-understood message will crystallize into a creed.before long,the principal concern of the church will be to sustain itself as an organization.to this end any departure from the creed must be controverted and,if necessary,suppressed as heresy.. in a few score or a few hundred years what was conceived as a vehicle of a new and higher truth has become a prison for the souls of men.and men are murdering each other for the love of god.the thing has become its opposite.
( to be cont'd ).
blueblades
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Scammed Spiritually.
by Blueblades in.
when one is scammed by spam,what appears to be helpful is no help at all.you trust the message,do what it says,and you end up losing.. i believe that we can also be scammed spiritually.it happens when supposed teachers of the bible distort it and proclaim a false message which they claim to be the truth.and this can happen with any so-called holy book of all faiths based on a belief system.. so,how can we avoid such a scam,in other words being scammed by spiritual spam.all of us want help at one time or another,we all want to be able to put our trust in someone or something.. is the ever-changing "word of god" rife with contradictions and inconsistencies?is christianity the biggest scam/hoax ever perpetrated through force,torture and murder in the name of god,christ or whoever just as many of the other isms too?.
blueblades who is at an impasse and trying to nail it down??????
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WHEN AN APOLOGY IS INAPPROPIATE.
by Blueblades in"when an apology is inappropriate" novermber1,2002,wt.subheading,page six.the article deals with the question,"why should i apologize ?
"they counsel us on how to apologize to each other,however for them its" inappropriate ".the wording in the section under the subheading using jesus, as an example of why they do not have to "apologize" to all that they have harmed is "inexcusable".notice the phase,"instead of sheepishly apologizing"---jesus--------.etc.
blueblades.
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PRESIDENTS
by Blueblades inthe president of the wbts of pennsylvania(est.1884)is don a.adams.
wbts of new york,inc.
(est.1909)is max h. larson.
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WT.MAY 15,2002 QFR.
by Blueblades in.
thank you all for your advice.thank you blues brothers, for the reference article that i was looking for.if someone could get a scan of it i could print it out.if not i will try to get a copy.thanks so much to everyone.what a wonderful demonstration of love in action,in assisting me so quickly.