A bible was found untouched amid tornado wreckage in Mississippi, opened to a page that read...

[TheWorldNewsOrg]

A bible was found untouched amid tornado wreckage in Mississippi, opened to a page that read “God is our refuge” https://t.co/rTaVFV1eoa http://pic.twitter.com/ezIYaOwTjI

— CNN (@CNN) January 25, 2017

via TheWorldNewsOrg

World News

[Bible Speaks]

Holy Spirit working? Nice! Thank you! ??‍?

[JW Insider]

16 hours ago, Bible Speaks said:

Holy Spirit working? Nice! Thank you!

It was also opened to the chapter that contains:

• (Psalm 50:3, 4) . . .Our God will come and cannot remain silent. Before him is a consuming fire, And a great storm rages all around him.  4 He summons the heavens above and the earth, So as to judge his people:

These other verses were also on the page:

• (Psalm 45:5) 5 Your arrows are sharp, making peoples fall before you. . .
• (Psalm 48:7) . . .With an east wind you wreck the ships of Tarʹshish.
• (Psalm 49:10-14) . . .He sees that even wise people die; The stupid and the unreasoning perish together, And they must leave their wealth to others. 11 Their inner wish is that their houses will last forever, Their tents to generation after generation. They have named their estates after themselves. 12 But man, although honored, will not remain; He is no better than the beasts that perish. 13 This is the way of the stupid ones And of those who follow them, who take pleasure in their empty words. (Selah) 14 They are assigned like sheep to the Grave. Death will shepherd them; The upright will rule over them in the morning. Every trace of them will fade away; The Grave rather than a palace will be their home.

 

Just sayin'

 

[Melody Lawrence]

Thanks Bible Speaks for sharing CNN message! God is our Refuge in the opened Bible from turmoil in Mississippi! Jehovah has unique ways of sending all of us messages! Thank you Jehovah & I love you?? 

[Anna]

Come on friends, get real . What JWInsider posted

[Bible Speaks]

2 hours ago, Anna said:

Come on friends, get real . What JWInsider posted

 

12 For the word of God is alive and exerts power+and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of joints from the marrow, and is able to discern thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

With Jehovah and his Holy Spirit God's Word lives! Never under estimate what Jehovah's words can do.

Even trash men have found the Truth from finding literature in the Rubbish.

The angels and Jehovah with his Holy Spirit are searching the righteous and the wicked.

May everything and everyone find God's word and find life! 

IMG_3024.MP4

[Anna]

5 hours ago, Bible Speaks said:

For the word of God is alive and exerts power+and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of joints from the marrow, and is able to discern thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

I don't doubt this at all, what I am doubting is that anyone who read the CNN story would start thinking of studying the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses, or even studying the Bible, period. People are happy to be reading those verses, believe God is their refuge, and that's that. But will it necessarily motivate anyone to do anything? Also, it shows that you can pick and choose a passage to suit yourself, because the other passages are not nearly as encouraging, if anything, they could be viewed negatively under those circumstances. This is not the same as finding a Bible study aid in the rubbish, because the Bible study aid actually motivates people to want to study the Bible.

[JW Insider]

On 1/28/2017 at 1:37 AM, Anna said:

I don't doubt this at all, what I am doubting is that anyone who read the CNN story would start thinking of studying the Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses, or even studying the Bible, period. People are happy to be reading those verses, believe God is their refuge, and that's that. But will it necessarily motivate anyone to do anything? Also, it shows that you can pick and choose a passage to suit yourself, because the other passages are not nearly as encouraging, if anything, they could be viewed negatively under those circumstances. This is not the same as finding a Bible study aid in the rubbish, because the Bible study aid actually motivates people to want to study the Bible.

I can tell already that the point I was making is going to be mostly lost. But it doesn't matter that much because my point really was unnecessarily negative, and now wasn't the right time to bring it up.

But thanks for catching on to the basic point. I'll use your comments as an excuse to go ahead and explain my reaction to the CNN article. There were about half-a-dozen points that crossed my mind.

1. This news story was not included to create a topic for a specific set of religious beliefs. It's in a general news section. In my response, therefore, I didn't mention the other verses specifically because I thought they could be viewed negatively, but because they might have just as well been seen as more appropriate, and sometimes even more important to the circumstances. There was obviously nothing wrong with the other verses I pointed out, and a good, appropriate sermon could have been made on those verses, too. Every part of the open Bible could have been used to bring comfort in the storm, or a reminder of Jehovah's might. The verse chosen was perhaps the easiest one to work with. 
2. The story also reminded me of the joke that goes something like: "A man went and said 'I'll open the bible to a random verse and use it to guide my life. He opened it and it said "and Judas went and hung himself" he opened it again and it said "go ye and do likewise." ' "
3. It reminds me that the exact same type of story gains traction when steel beams fall, and create the shape of a cross as they did in famous photos taken from the World Trade Center disaster.
4. It also reminded me of the fact that sometimes there are deadly storms or airplane crashes, and many other man-made or natural disasters where many people die, and often one person, perhaps an infant, or photogenic child, will survive. The news often picks up on these stories and highlights the angle (through comments and interviews) that there must have been something special about that particular survivor, and God must have something in mind for them. Perhaps these stories work very positively for 99% of listeners, but another 1% are made to wonder if there is a certain hypocrisy in focusing on the "value" of the life of the survivor that, in effect, dismisses the "value" of those whose lives were horribly and violently ripped away. For some sincere believers, it even creates a false dichotomy about Satan being allowed to do a lot of bad, while God was able to intervene to do some good. It's a faith-strengthener for some, but a problem for others, because it's built on a false premise:
   • Jesus apparently dealt with the problem that disasters were often surrounded by superstitious beliefs even when the disaster was actually random:

     (Luke 13:4) . . .Or those 18 on whom the tower in Si·loʹam fell, killing them—do you think that they had greater guilt than all other men who live in Jerusalem?

   • Superstitious beliefs affected the view of every form of human suffering:

     (John 9:1-3) . . .As he was passing along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, so that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered: “Neither this man sinned nor his parents, . . .

   • Superstition is commonly utilized to explain coincidence, and if the subject is positive and upbuilding, we accept it as true and spiritual instead of superstition. The problem is that if the same superstition were used to explain negative coincidences, then the same type of thinking would be seen as "magical" or even "demonic." The existence of a very positive coincidence without superstition is actually difficult for us because we want to make sense of the world and believe that Jehovah is directly involved in all the good things of our material life, and this might require that we blame Satan for all the bad things of our material life. There is a depth of wisdom in Ecclesiastes that surpasses superstition, even though it does not discount the idea that Jehovah is still in full control of the universe:

     (Ecclesiastes 9:11, 12) . . .I returned to see under the sun that the swift do not have the race, nor the mighty ones the battle, nor do the wise also have the food, nor do the understanding ones also have the riches, nor do even those having knowledge have the favor; because time and unforeseen occurrence befall them all. 12 For man also does not know his time. Just like fishes that are being taken in an evil net, and like birds that are being taken in a trap, so the sons of men themselves are being ensnared at a calamitous time, when it falls upon them suddenly.

5. Many religions with holy or sacred writings often have members who treat the writings with a kind of superstitious "bibliolatry" where the sacred books like the Quran or Bible, for example, are treated like a kind of Ouija board. The person closes their eyes and opens the book to some random point, lets their finger drop to a verse, then they open their eyes and try to make sense of the verse, usually out of context. It's the basis for the joke in point #2, above. This doesn't mean that it will lead to anything bad (as in the joke above), but it might also mean that we are depending on a kind of magical rather than rational thought process, which is related to idolatry.

   • (Romans 12:1, 2) . . .present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, a sacred service with your power of reason. 2 And stop being molded by this system of things, but be transformed by making your mind over, so that you may prove to yourselves the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

P.S.

*** w81 1/1 p. 22 par. 19 “Engaging in the Holy Work of the Good News” ***
“I asked the householder what motivated her to study the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. She said that often she would open the Bible at random, point her finger at a verse and read it. But she seldom could understand what she read.
“One day she was very depressed over serious family problems. Again she opened her Bible and picked out a verse. She could not understand it, and in her depression and disappointment began to cry. She prayed to God to send her someone to help her understand his Word. Just as she said that, the doorbell rang. Answering it she found a Witness, who began, ‘Would you like to understand the Bible?’ The householder pulled her inside and quickly a regular study was begun.”

 

[Anna]

21 hours ago, JW Insider said:

There were about half-a-dozen points that crossed my mind.

Thank you for putting my thoughts into words

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

AllenSmith:

On 1/31/2017 at 6:02 AM, AllenSmith said:

It seems JWinsider is taking up where James Thomas Rook Jr. left off with his morbid and outrages comments, that he is now deflecting as though it had a supernatural theme. Nice try!

Ex-witness comment: “LOL.. I've seen plenty of comments from that Thomas Rook Jr. He seems to be on the brink of throwing the towel. He criticizes the org heavily but still feels is Jehovah’s Org. It just needs refinement. Very eloquent individual and well articulated, especially in longer posts.”

I bet you are a LOT of fun at parties!

If there is ever a party game "LET'S MISUNDERSTAND EVERYTHING!", where you take a simple concept or idea, and totally screw it up, you will ALWAYS win the prize.

You may even become World Champion ( ... it just occurred to me that you may demand that to be phrased "Planetary Champion", because the world "World" is ..uh... worldly, and "Champion" is ...uh.. oh, what's the word you will be looking for? .... ).

As to my morbid and outrageous comments ... they are an acquired taste, like eating olives or sardines  ... some people like gallows humor, some do not ..some people have enough of a frame of reference to SEE the humor ... and the point the outrageous comment  is pounding home .... some do not.  

Infinite variety among Homo Sapiens, as well as "Homo Theocraticus."

Uh-Oh ... I used the word "Homo". to refer to all of us ... and you ...  and YOUR turn to be offended.

To be 100% consistent it is now YOUR turn ... please try not to jump up and down on the box of puppies!

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

On 1/25/2017 at 1:16 PM, TheWorldNewsOrg said:

A bible was found untouched amid tornado wreckage in Mississippi, opened to a page that read “God is our refuge” https://t.co/rTaVFV1eoa http://pic.twitter.com/ezIYaOwTjI

— CNN (@CNN) January 25, 2017

My thoughts on this was that a reporter surveying the damage, looking for a story, took his water stained (from when he left his car window open...)  Bible out of the car, set it on a floor,, opened it to a passage that would appeal to man's better but gullible nature,  and took the picture back to his Editor for a GREAT, but totally fake human interest story.

When I was a newspaper photo lab technician as a teenager, I saw things like that several times.

Or, as John Randolph Hurst, about which the movie "Citizen Kane" was about, said when MANUFACTURING news about Spanish Atrocities against the Cubans just before the Spanish-American War, because no news does NOT SELL NEWSPAPERS, to his reporters in Havana "You supply the pictures, I will supply the war!"

His totally fake news generated enough public outrage to cause Congress to declare War against Spain.

 

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

NEWS ... is what is left over that fits in the empty spaces AFTER ALL THE ADVERTISEMENTS ARE SOLD.

So ... how is news chosen?  You have to SEDUCE people into BUYING a large roll of advertisements.

" If it bleeds ... it leads!"

 

Jehovah's Witness Protection Program .mp3