Piñatas

[TrueTomHarley]

1 minute ago, Nnaemeka said:

Check your facts thoroughly next time before quoting from apostate sources so you don't end up misleading or stumbling others.

Nice as newbie N is, he will get his head handed to him on a platter if he does not explore the nuances here before putting in his loyal comment. Ah, well....that's the mark of a newbie. I have misread things far more myself.

'Toto, something tells me we're not in Kansas anymore.'

[Shiwiii]

17 hours ago, Eoin Joyce said:

gobble-de-gook

I expected a much better response from you. I do understand though. 

[Shiwiii]

13 hours ago, TrueTomHarley said:

Celebrate your birthday, then.

I will and I do. but that wasn't the point of the thread now was it? It was about pinatas, which are closely tied to birthdays in some cultures. 

[Shiwiii]

11 hours ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

..reminds me of when Stalin gave a speech before the Soviet Politburo .... everyone ALWAYS stood up and clapped, and clapped...and clapped, and clapped.

The first ones to stop clapping  would disappear mysteriously.

Is obeying your educated conscience about birthday celebrations the hill you want to die on?

Think about it ...

 

I understand your point and agree with you to an extent. However, this place is for discussion and intellectual banter, a place to gather minds with different perspectives and discuss topics that interest us. While I can see that this is not usually the case, it IS what this forum is for. I just happen to hold a different perspective on some subjects and like to see how the majority of jws view things deemed by the society to be wrong/right. I am here to learn, not what the society teaches, but rather why jws follow their teachings if the logic behind it is flawed (in my opinion of course). 

[Evacuated]

6 hours ago, Shiwiii said:

I expected a much better response from you. I do understand though.

Don't make me laugh. Speak plainly or not at all! 

[Shiwiii]

9 minutes ago, Eoin Joyce said:

Don't make me laugh. Speak plainly or not at all! 

 Its more so because defending the syllogism fallacy ( the fallacy that if an apple is red and a car is red, then the car must be an apple) used to support the control of people for harmless practices (someone was bad at a party, so party's must be bad and you cannot attend because we said so)  is impossible, so one must take a diversion as to avoid the obvious (find something else to argue against because the point raised is too hard to defend). 

[Evacuated]

17 minutes ago, Shiwiii said:

the point raised is too hard to defend

Are you are  attacking then? Freedom of choice needs no defense.

[TrueTomHarley]

10 hours ago, Shiwiii said:

I will and I do. but that wasn't the point of the thread now was it? 

I wonder how Shiwiii feels about Christmas. Should that, too, be avoided or embraced per individual conscience? How does she feel about tobacco? Same way? What of recreational drugs, which edge ever closer to normalization and legality? Or for that matter, ANY position that the Governing Body has given direction on? Is it birthdays alone that get under her skin, odd, since she has departed for greener pastures, or is it but one of a host of items that get her riled? 

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

.

As an ex-skydiver, and ex-motorcycle rider, and several other things that might have gotten me killed ...   I am a firm believer in COMPLETE FREEDOM OF CHOICE.

You have probably never thought of it this way, but SO IS JEHOVAH GOD A FIRM BELIEVER IN COMPLETE FREEDOM OF CHOICE.!

When was the last time  an angel blocked anything you wanted to do? (Answer for the timid - NEVER).

However, everything a human does, small or large, has consequences, epitomized by the phrase "Don't do the crime, if you can't do the time.".

Jehovah wants us to have a WONDERFUL life ... and that is why there are SO MANY restrictions on what we CAN do, and what we should NOT do.  There is a very simple test to see if what you are practicing is the TRUE RELIGION, and it is this ....

DO THE "COMMANDS FROM GOD" HAVE THE BEST LONG TERM INTERESTS OF HUMANITY AS THEIR END RESULT.

This is of course, a matter of opinion, based on how smart and perceptive you are, and what filters you see the world through, and your accumulated experience and education, and many other things that make You, YOU.

When you consider how Jehovah told the Israelites how to dress... quite specifically, it made them the laughing-stock of the surrounding nations .... skirts with pomegranates and bells, ( rolls eyes..)  ... BUT ... it made them quite distinctively SEPARATE in a sometimes painfully (for those wanting universal admiration...) way. 

This served as a protection for them, to the extent that they understood WHY God made them dress "like clowns", and they avoided the evils that being part of the nations had as NATURAL consequences of their behaviors.

I realize that Jehovah God cares NOTHING about whether or not we celebrate ones' birthday ... and that disfellowshipping one for doing so is an evil travesty, BUT, I still think the  IDEA is a very good idea, because it contributes to a culture of separateness from the "world", which has many, many benefits.  I do not celebrate Birthdays because it is a very good idea ... in my considered and educated opinion about cultures, and what motivates people.

However, I would explain this to someone in great detail, but NOT require it of them ... as coincidence is NOT necessarily causality.

Yeah, people were beheaded in the Bible, at the same time someone celebrated a birthday ... but prostitutes wearing shoes does NOT make shoe wearers prostitutes, nor the fact that in their later years Earnest Borgnine and Elizabeth Taylor never having had their picture taken together makes them the same person ... although that is an interesting coincidence.

When you walk into an AIDS hospital charity ward and see the emaciated lost souls dying in pain and anguish ( A mental picture of actor Rock Hudson's appearance as he died of AIDS comes to mind...) , it is OBVIOUS there is no "gayiety" there.

Christmas, on the other hand, is obviously an amalgam contaminated  Catholic religious ceremony that Protestants in the first 70 years of America did not celebrate ( Christ-Mass), but the Protestant Churches were closed and the Catholics were having a 12 day party, and they eventually caved in, and as they say the rest is HISTORY.

Remember ... we can restrict ourselves in any way we see fit ... we can live in a cage if we want to... to keep us in ..or keep other people OUT .... but Jehovah has made it VERY clear through Scripture what he cares about, and where there is silence .. it is NOT because he forgot to mention something.

Some things we care about to the very marrow of our bones, and it will always, Always, ALWAYS be who we are ... but when Scripture is silent on any particular subject ... we can make a best educated GUESS about how related principles should be applied ... but that is ALL it is... a GUESS.

Jehovah God will judge us if we are messengers of righteousness, or carriers of tyranny ... but even before that the Universe will judge us, and the Universe is impartial, and doesn't care about us at all.

Remember ... we can restrict ourselves in any way we see fit ... we can live in a cage if we want to... to keep us in ..or keep other people OUT .... but Jehovah has made it VERY clear through Scripture what he cares about, and where there is silence ...

... it is NOT because he forgot to mention something.

There is a word for ideas and actions that Jehovah God has expressed no opinion or command about ......

FREEDOM!

.

 

 

[Shiwiii]

On 5/26/2017 at 3:28 PM, Eoin Joyce said:

Are you are  attacking then? Freedom of choice needs no defense.

I see you have no interest in an actual conversation. Just trying for some sort of avoidance. 

[Shiwiii]

On 5/26/2017 at 7:13 PM, TrueTomHarley said:

I wonder how Shiwiii feels about Christmas. Should that, too, be avoided or embraced per individual conscience? How does she feel about tobacco? Same way? What of recreational drugs, which edge ever closer to normalization and legality? Or for that matter, ANY position that the Governing Body has given direction on? Is it birthdays alone that get under her skin, odd, since she has departed for greener pastures, or is it but one of a host of items that get her riled? 

TTH, I am a he not a she. No hard feelings, I can easily understand the ambiguity of our usernames sometimes. 

See to answer your questions/points: 

I do not adhere to what the gb states, I only try to adhere to what the Bible states. That should answer your questions, if not then please by all means start a thread and ask away. I have nothing to hide from you or anyone else. 

[Shiwiii]

On 5/27/2017 at 3:15 AM, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

 

FREEDOM!

.

 

 

Excellent post! Thank you for giving us a little insight into your view of things.