The Librarian

The Bible’s answer The celebration of Easter is not based on the Bible. If you look into its history, though, you will see the true meaning of Easter—it is a tradition based on ancient fertility rites. Consider the following. Name: The Encyclopædia Britannica says: “The English name Easter is of uncertain origin; the Anglo-Saxon priest Venerable Bede in the 8th century derived it from the Anglo-Saxon spring goddess Eostre.” Others link it to Astarte, the Phoenician fertility goddess who had the Babylonian counterpart Ishtar. Hares, rabbits: These are symbols of fertility “handed down from the ancient ceremonial and symbolism of European and Middle Eastern pagan spring festivals.”—Encyclopædia Britannica. Eggs: According to Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, the hunt for Easter eggs, supposedly brought by the Easter rabbit, “is not mere child’s play, but the vestige of a fertility rite.” Some cultures believed that the decorated Easter egg “could magically bring happiness, prosperity, health, and protection.”—Traditional Festivals. New Easter outfit: “It was considered discourteous and therefore bad luck to greet the Scandinavian goddess of Spring, or Eastre, in anything but fresh garb.”—The Giant Book of Superstitions. Sunrise services: These have been linked to rites of ancient sun worshippers “performed at the vernal equinox welcoming the sun and its great power to bring new life to all growing things.”—Celebrations—The Complete Book of American Holidays. The American Book of Days well describes the origin of Easter: “There is no doubt that the Church in its early days adopted the old pagan customs and gave a Christian meaning to them.” The Bible warns against worshipping God by following traditions or customs that displease him. (Mark 7:6-8) Second Corinthians 6:17 states: “‘Separate yourselves,’ says Jehovah, ‘and quit touching the unclean thing.’” Easter is a pagan holiday that those who want to please God will avoid.

Though there isn't any specific law, Jehovah's witnesses don't celebrate birthday because 2 Timothy 3:16 clearly states that we can use the inspired Word of God as a guiding tool in everything we do. From the two (2) celebrations recorded in the Bible, specifically Gen. 40:20-22 and Mark 6:21-27, we can easily discern that the two celebrants here, Pharaoh and King Herod, were pagans. You can also note that there is no record in the Bible about Christian celebrating birthday. Even Jesus did not command his disciples to celebrate his day of birth but instead he commanded them to observe his memorial death. For me, this is the simplest way to answer the question. http://www.jw-archive.org/post/66185028774/why-jehovah-witnesses-not-celebrate-birthday

I have added him to my list:

171,000+ views on this topic alone in two years since Oct 2017... Wow.... Thanks for sharing @bruceq You reached a LOT of people. ------------- for more fun... check out the sort function and see the posts in this club with the most views. https://www.theworldnewsmedia.org/forums/forum/1105-topics/?sortby=views&sortdirection=desc

This is sad to watch.. how scary that must have felt for all of them. Do we know where it happened?

The end is close. I can feel it.

Let’s talk about the Pontifical Swiss Guards. In your book you tell about a guard named Nathanael who opens his heart to you. “I met secretly with Nathanael – which is of course a fictitious name – about a dozen times. He told me what truly bothers him about his service in the Vatican: the insistent and sometimes aggressive courtship of a number of cardinals. Nathanael is not gay and also not what’s known as gay-friendly. He told me he was outraged by the courtship and even told me the names of the cardinals. He, who vowed to be ready to lay down his life for the pope, was disgusted at what he saw.” Were there other members of the Swiss Guard who complained? “Yes. After I left the Vatican I met with a former member of the Swiss Guard. Like his colleague, he said he had been sexually harassed dozens of times by senior Vatican figures. One method, he said, is to summon a guard to the bedroom on some pretext. Another is to leave a gift with a calling card on a guard’s bed. This guard told me that he realized there was no way he could complain about the sexual harassment, because they get threatened that if they talk they will not be able to find work, but also vice versa: If they don’t talk, the Church will help them find a job when they return to their civilian life in Switzerland.”

Martel: “When Ratzinger grasped that Europe was no longer buying the Church’s conservative and homophobic views, and that the enlightened West as a whole was moving toward permitting gay marriages, he made a mistake and befriended the worst of the dictatorships, including conservative Muslim countries that persecute gays. That was also Church policy during the era of Pope Paul VI.” But the steel walls of conservatism were only a façade. Behind them, inside the Vatican, he says, a Sodom existed amid activities “including chemsex parties [gay sex and hard drugs] that took place within the papal residence itself. In my book I write about this episode, which occurred during the period of Benedict XVI and was uncovered in the time of the present pope – about parties that were large group orgies in which sex and hard drugs sometimes mixed into a dangerous cocktail and the guests wore provocative clothing. All that information exploded in the Italian press back in the summer of 2017. It transpired that Msgr. Luigi Capozzi, the private secretary to Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio for about 10 years, had been arrested by the Vatican gendarmerie on suspicion of organizing sex-and-drug parties in his private apartment in the Vatican. “Capozzi, whom the pope greatly esteemed, lived in a wing of the papal residence itself,” Martel continues. “I know the building well, because I dined there many times. One of its entrances opens onto sovereign Italian territory; the other into the Vatican. Capozzi’s wing was thus ideally situated for organizing parties of this kind. On the one hand, the Italian police didn’t have authorization to search it – the same was true with respect to his diplomatic vehicle – because he was situated within the Vatican. But on the other hand, he could leave his apartment without passing by the Pontifical Guard, because one door exited directly to an area of Italian state jurisdiction. Since then it’s all been exposed in the media. Capozzi was hospitalized in the Pius XI clinic and has not been seen in public again. Well, a trial for the use and dissemination of hard drugs hasn’t yet been held, so he is still presumed innocent.” This is not the only affair that Martel mentions from the period of Benedict XVI. He devotes a special chapter to the pope’s visit to Cuba in 2012. The visit, which was supposed to be a historic event in one of the last bastions of communism, devastated the pope. Backed by testimonies of high-level figures in the Vatican who accompanied the pope on the journey, and offering a vivid, concrete description, the chapter captures the despair that seized the pope when he grasped the scale of the homosexual prostitution and the pedophilia within the ranks of the Church there. What was flagrantly monstrous in the Cuban case was that the Castro regime knew what was going on within the Church and turned a blind eye, in return for the full cooperation of the Havana archbishopric with the regime. All this led to the Benedict’s resignation in 2013, Martel suggests. A resignation, he writes, that was exceptional though not unique in the history of the Church. The formal reason was the pope’s poor health, but in the author’s view, he stepped down in the wake of the total despair caused by the Cuba visit. Martel goes a step farther. He hints – at first, gently – at the possibility that the tormented conscience of the pope Joseph Ratzinger in the homosexual realm were also part of a “personal drama.”

French writer Frédéric Martel, whose new book exposes the sexual secrets of the Vatican, explains how the moral rot of the Catholic Church is rooted in its clergy's repressed homosexuality https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/.premium.MAGAZINE-sex-parties-drugs-and-closeted-clergy-undercover-in-the-vatican-1.7087409

New club rule! WHEN IN DOUBT, START A NEW TOPIC!

Because the heat that is present has nowhere to go so they worry more about overheating than freezing for the most part. Similar to how air insulated thermos' keep contents hot all day because of the vaccuum surrounding.

Smart lioness 😉

He did nothing wrong. Maybe he bought so many bottles to last a long while?

@John Houston why do you keep quoting and posting without saying anything?

The Scripture in Hebrews 5:14 is quite familiar to us; that mature people have their perceptive powers trained through "use". This implies constant attention to staying active with the spiritual tools and talents available to each of us. But what happens when we slow down in the application of spiritual principles and guidelines in our lives, or become lazy and unproductive? A Spanish philosopher tells about the Roman aqueduct at Segovia, in his native Spain. It was built in 109 A.D. For eighteen hundred years, it carried cool water from the mountains to the hot and thirsty city. Nearly sixty generations of men drank from its flow. Then came the present generation. One man said, "This aqueduct is so great a marvel that it ought to be preserved for our children as a museum piece. We shall relieve it of its centuries-long labour." They did. They laid modern iron pipes. They gave the ancient bricks and mortar a reverent rest. And the aqueduct began to fall apart. The sun beating on the dry mortar caused it to crumble. The bricks and stone sagged and threatened to fall. What ages of service could not destroy, idleness disintegrated. Here's another story: The great violinist, Nicolo Paganini, willed his marvellous violin to Genoa, the city of his birth, but only on condition that the instrument never be played. It was an unfortunate condition, for it is a peculiarity of wood that as long as it is used and handled, it shows little wear. As soon as it is discarded, it begins to decay. The exquisite, mellow-toned violin has become worm-eaten in its beautiful case, valueless except as a relic. The mouldering instrument is a reminder that a life withdrawn from all service to others loses its meaning. Good reasons then, to carefully consider the necessary actions listed in 2 Peter 1:5-8 that when applied, will "prevent (us) from being either inactive or unfruitful regarding he accurate knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

It is half past ten on Saturday night. I just came back from a walk in the clouds of snow! The first flakes landed yesterday and kept the scenery white for a few hours, and then started to melt. We thought this would be as usual our one-day scenario. Yet it started to snow again late last night. Apart from a few hours break around noon, it did not stop snowing, laying a beautiful white carpet on the whole country. A great opportunity for a walk in the park nearby our house! The lake was almost completely frozen and a few ducks were gathered on the small sheltered area where cold would not bite. Just a handful of people had decided to walk around the lake. The trail was nearly immaculate as the footprints were quickly covered. Each step made the characteristically crispy sound of compacted snow. Night's darkness seemed to be kept at a distance as the white decor reflected every bit of light. The branches of the trees were as if dressed with delicate lace. As the intensity of the snow fall increased, my sight got blurred. The details of the landscape faded as millions of cottonlike crystals floated their way down to earth. I couldn't help but stop, sit down on a bench and admire the spectacle. Had it been one degree warmer, it would have rained; one degree cooler, it would only have been cold and humid. The temperature was just right for this phenomenon called snow to occur. Jehovah is creating the circumstances that are just right for his purpose to be accomplished. Millions of people are now covering the earth with their Bible-based message reflecting divine glory and shining in this spiritually bedarkened world. Every single of these proclaimers is unique and beautiful, just like a snowflake. If they were by themselves, snowflakes would immediately melt, yet because of their united action, they hold firm together. The effect of this united work of doing God's will accomplished by this cloud of witnesses beautifies formerly spiritually dead-looking people and clothes them with a white attire, an approved standing in Jehovah's eyes. How refreshing their sounding out the Good News is! How beautiful the view of these faithful servants of the only true God! Let us make sure never to be blind to the beauty of Jehovah's purpose and the way it unfolds. Let us have a share in beautifying those in need of the Good News in our territory.

Its not a head full of knowledge and answers, but a heart full of love that moves us to live up to our dedication to Jehovah. One should engage the brain before releasing the mouth to speak. Never ! never! put a question mark where Jehovah has put a period. When experiencing trials remember Jehovah did not remove the Red Sea, he made the way out for the Israelites to cross it. The test of our faith is our eagerness to proclaim the good news. Jehovah will supply, but we must apply. Be not like the rooster who thought the sun rose 'to hear him crow' We dare not violate the law of love any more than we can defy the law of gravity It is not our position but our disposition that makes us happy. A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it. If there were not so many of me , I would know myself better The emphasis Jesus placed on a Christian's loving his neighbour helps one to avoid the danger that every time a person thinks he will be thinking of himself Some people insist that they do not tell lies, yet they scheme to present the truth in such a way that no one recognizes it. Deliverance into God's new order will mean living in perfect health and happiness in a delightful garden-like earth, under one government earth wide What should not be heard by little ears should not be said by big mouths Hearing truth and not accepting it does not change truth into error. The learning and knowledge that we have is at most but little compared with that of which we are ignorant. In the book "The Nations Shall Know that I am Jehovah"- How ?, one of the many reasons given for Jehovah's wrath against Christendom is: "Jehovah hates being treated by religious hypocrites like a God who can be fooled." The scriptures are a storehouse of happiness that enriches the mind and heart. So read it everyday for the sheer pleasure of it. Sin is not in things but in the wrong use of things. Jehovah listens to our hearts rather than our lips. The best human relations can be obtained if we live by the advice we give to others.

I was watching some little kids play soccer. These kids were only five or six years old, but they were playing a real game - a serious game - two teams, complete with coaches, uniforms, and parents. I didn't know any of them, so I was able to enjoy the game without the distraction of being anxious about winning or losing - I only wished the parents and coaches could have done the same. The teams were pretty evenly matched. I will just call them Team One and Team Two. Nobody scored in the first period. The kids were hilarious. They were clumsy and terribly inefficient, as only children can be. 🙂 They fell over their own feet, they stumbled over the ball, they kicked at the ball and missed it, but they didn't seem to care they were having fun! In the second period, the Team One coach, pulled out what must have been his first team players and put in the scrubs; with the exception of his best player, who he left at goalie. The game took a dramatic turn. I guess winning is important even when you are five years old, because the Team Two coach left his best players in; the Team One scrubs were just no match for them. Team Two swarmed around the little guy at goalie. He was an outstanding athlete for five, but he was no match for three or four who were equally as good. Team Two began to score. The lone goalie gave it his all. Recklessly throwing his body in front of incoming balls, trying valiantly to stop them. Team Two scored two quick points in succession. It infuriated the young boy. He became a raging maniac - shouting, running, and diving. With all the stamina he could muster, he finally was able to cover one of the boys as he approached the goal. But, that boy kicked the ball to another boy twenty feet away, and by the time the young goalie repositioned himself, it was too late. They scored a third goal. I soon learned who the goalie's parents were. They were nice, decentlooking people. I could tell that his dad had just come from the office, tie and all. They yelled encouragement to their son. I became totally absorbed, watching the boy on the field, and his parents on the sideline. After the third goal, the little kid changed. He could see it was no use; he couldn't stop them. He didn't quit, but he became quietly desperate - futility was written all over his face. His father changed too. He had been urging his son to try harder - yelling advice and encouragement. But then he changed; he became anxious. He tried to say that it was okay to hang in there. He grieved for the pain his son was feeling. After the fourth goal, I knew what was going to happen. I've seen it before. The little boy needed help so badly, and there was no help to be had. He retrieved the ball from the net and handed it to the referee - and then he cried. He just stood there while huge tears rolled down both cheeks. He went to his knees, I saw his father start onto the field. His wife clutched his wrist and said, "Jim, don't. You'll embarrass him." But, he tore loose from her and ran onto the field. He wasn't supposed to for the game was still in progress. Suit, tie, dress shoes, and all - he charged onto the field and he picked up his son so everybody would know that this was his boy. And he hugged him and kissed him and cried with him. I have never been so proud of any man in my life. He carried him off the field, and when they got close to the sidelines I heard him say, "Scotty, I'm so proud of you. You were great out there. I want everybody to know that you are my son." "Daddy," the boy sobbed, "I couldn't stop them. I tried, Daddy, I tried and tried and they scored on me." "Scotty, it doesn't matter how many times they score on you. You're my son, and I'm proud of you. I want you to go back out there and finish the game. I know you want to quit, but you can't. And son, you're going to get scored on again, but it doesn't matter. Go on, now."It made a difference - I could tell it did. When you're all alone, and you're getting scored on - and you can't stop them - it means a lot to know that it doesn't matter to those who love you. The little guy ran back on to the field, and they scored two more times; but it was okay. I get scored on every day. I try so hard. I recklessly throw my body in every direction. I fume and rage. I struggle with temptation and sin with every ounce of my being - and Satan laughs. And he scores again, and the tears come, and I go to my knees; sinful, convicted, helpless. Then my Father rushes right out on the field - right in front of the whole crowd - the whole jeering laughing world, and he picks me up. And he hugs me, and he says, "I am so proud of you. You were great out there. I want everybody to know that you are my child. Isaiah 41:10, 13

One of the most scary experiences for a rock-climber is the first time he has to rappel down a cliff. The difficulty does not originate with the technical aspect of the rappelling itself. The uncomfortable techniques used twenty years ago have been replaced by highly efficient and very secure gear made of reliable and extremely resistant materials. The difficulty is that, to begin the rappelling, one has to lean backwards toward the cliff and let his whole body weight hang onto the rope, using the legs to push oneself away from the wall! If he tries to stay close to the wall, he will slip and fall against the wall, with possible serious injuries. Yet in such a position, the individual has no grip whatsoever on the rock and is quite vulnerable and dependent on the gear. Many say they'll never do such a thing because they're too scared by the thought of falling off due to some gear failure. So the instructor will spend time explaining that a rope is made with a triple lining, how the harness can support a weight of three tons, how the python sealed in the rock can resist to a pulling force of ten tons, how the hooks can secure a falling weight of up to five tons, until the scared-to-death candidate gains trust in the gear. The more he knows about the gear, the less rappelling down a cliff, regardless of how high it is, appears to be dangerous or risky.

This is a true story about a little girl. There was a fire in her building in Harlem. She was up on the fourth floor at a window and the firemen couldn't get to her, so they spread out nets, and they were yelling for her to jump, but she would not listen to them. It turns out she was blind and couldn't see the net and was afraid to jump. When her father got there he called out to her to jump. Hearing her Dad's voice, she jumped and was totally relaxed. So relaxed that she not only didn't break a bone but also didn't even strain a muscle. We can compare this illustration to our relationship with our heavenly Father. We should have complete and total trust in Jehovah's instructions and just do them.

If you put a buzzard in a pen six or eight feet square and entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of his ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of ten or twelve feet. Without space to run, as is his habit, he will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top. The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkably nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash. A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself. In many ways, there are lots of people like the buzzard, the bat, and the bee. They are struggling about with all their problems and frustrations, not realizing that the answer is right there above them. The Psalmist said, "I shall raise my eyes to the mountains. From where will my help come? My help is from Jehovah (Ps 121:1, 2) Our best source of help is just above us, but we need to look up and ask.