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Friday 11 April 2014

Three reasons to not go quietly.

Because Things Change

 
 
“We are hard-pressed in every way, but not cramped beyond movement; we are perplexed, but not absolutely with no way out.”—2 CORINTHIANS 4:8.
Suicide has been called “a permanent solution to a temporary problem.” As hard as it may be to believe, a distressing circumstance—even one that seems beyond your control—may well be temporary. In fact, it can change for the better unexpectedly.—See the box “Their Circumstances Changed.”
Even if that does not happen, it is best to tackle your problems one day at a time. “Never be anxious about the next day,” Jesus said, “for the next day will have its own anxieties. Each day has enough of its own troubles.”—Matthew 6:34.
But what if your circumstance cannot change? For example, suppose you have a chronic illness. Or what if your despair is the result of an irreversible situation, such as the breakup of a marriage or the death of a loved one?
Even in such cases, there is something you can change: your outlook on the situation. By learning to accept what you cannot change, you become more likely to view things from a more positive standpoint. (Proverbs 15:15) You are also more likely to look for ways to cope with the situation rather than resort to drastic means to end it. The result? You start to take a measure of control of what seems to be an uncontrollable situation.—Job 2:10.
REMEMBER THIS: You cannot scale a mountain in a single step; however, you can take on the challenge one step at a time. The same is true of most obstacles you face, no matter how mountainlike they might seem to be.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TODAY: Talk to someone—perhaps a friend or a family member—about your situation. That person may be able to help you view your situation in a more balanced way.—Proverbs 11:14.
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Thursday 3 April 2014

Further reason for doubt.

                                                                                                               
A video clip at Nature News

shows a newly discovered Cambrian animal, announced in Nature. It's similar in form to the apex predator Anomalocaris, but without the grasping claws. Instead, it has rows of bristles that reminded the discoverers of fine structures on filter feeders like shrimp, whale sharks and baleen whales. For this reason, the team from the University of Bristol are calling the animal, dubbed Tamisiocaris borealis, a "gentle giant" that grazed the Cambrian seas as a swimming filter feeder, sweeping up the abundant small prey that proliferated in the Cambrian explosion. From seven partial frontal appendages and a head shield collected in early Cambrian strata in northern Greenland, they estimate the creature grew to 70 cm (about 28 inches). New Scientist reproduces a short animation of the feeding mechanism on this "blue whale of the Cambrian," believed to have tucked its catch into its mouth using the curled appendages. That's the facts. Now, the implications. This is another complex animal that appears in the Cambrian explosion. No transitional forms or primitive ancestors are described; it's just "there," in Greenland rocks, already playing its role in its ecological niche. According to the University of Bristol, Jakob Vinther and his team are fully aware that the Cambrian explosion was a time "in which all the major animal groups and complex ecosystems suddenly appeared." (Emphasis added.) Notice that the explosion included "complex ecosystems," not just dozens of new body plans. The abstract of the paper emphasizes that fact, saying, "Cambrian pelagic ecosystems seem to have been more modern than previously believed." That word modern shows up several times in the paper. They compared T. borealis with "modern suspension feeders" and found it fulfilling a similar role in the Cambrian ecosystem: On the basis of the morphologies seen in modern animals, a suspension-feeding anomalocarid would be predicted to have evolved a setal mesh, with large appendages bearing long, flexible setae to increase capture area, with close, regular setal spacing. This is indeed the morphology observed in Tamisiocaris. (That's baloney about evolution "predicting" this. A student of ecology, studying an unfamiliar ecosystem, could predict that a creature with certain traits would be found filling a niche, without reference to how it originated.) Their final use of the word modern is instructive. They note that (contrary to earlier beliefs) hierarchical levels of filter feeders were at work in Cambrian seas: Other pelagic predators known from Lagerstätten [strata with exquisite preservation of fossils] elsewhere would also have fed on mesozooplankton, including ctenophores, cnidarians, chaetognaths and pelagic arthropods.... The Cambrian pelagic food web was therefore highly complex, containing multiple trophic levels, including pelagic predators and multiple tiers of suspension feeders. This underscores the remarkable speed with which a modern food chain was assembled during the Cambrian explosion. Let's take stock of the predicament evolutionists are in with this new fossil. Another unique anomalocarid ("weird shrimp") appears suddenly in the early Cambrian, along with Anomalocaris, trilobites, sponges, worms and all the other unprecedented body plans. "Before then, most life forms were bacteria or microbial mats," Live Science says.) The Cambrian animals suddenly appear, all interacting in a complex food web, with multiple tiers of predators and scavengers. Moreover, the ecosystem of complex phyla "assembled" with "remarkable speed." Faced with this dilemma, WWDD? (What would Darwin do?) We know the answer from long experience: simply assert that they "evolved." Use other euphemisms as necessary, for variety: they developed, they appeared, they assembled. Not surprisingly, the news release refers to the explosion as "the highly productive Cambrian period" for evolution. Unguided processes were going gangbusters! See here, will you? The animals lived 520 million years ago during the Early Cambrian, a period known as the 'Cambrian Explosion' in which all the major animal groups and complex ecosystems suddenly appeared. Tamisiocaris belongs to a group of animals called anomalocarids, a type of early arthropod that included the largest and some of the most iconic animals of the Cambrian period. They swam using flaps down either side of the body and had large appendages in front of their mouths that they most likely used to capture larger prey, such as trilobites. However, the newly discovered fossils show that those predators also evolved into suspension feeders, their grasping appendages morphing into a filtering apparatus that could be swept like a net through the water, trapping small crustaceans and other organisms as small as half a millimetre in size. The evolutionary trend that led from large, apex predators to gentle, suspension-feeding giants during the highly productive Cambrian period is one that has also taken place several other times throughout Earth's history, according to lead author Dr Jakob Vinther, a lecturer in macroevolution at the University of Bristol. Dr Vinther said: "These primitive arthropods were, ecologically speaking, the sharks and whales of the Cambrian era. In both sharks and whales, some species evolved into suspension feeders and became gigantic, slow-moving animals that in turn fed on the smallest animals in the water." Don't you understand? Species evolved. Phyla evolved. Stop worrying so much. Suspension feeders were needed, so the cook in the kitchen hollers, "Coming right up!" He serves fresh Tamisiocarus on a rock. "Enjoy!" Since Darwin can survive one explosion, how about this neat trick: the Anomalocarid explosion within the Cambrian explosion: Tamisiocaris is one of many recent discoveries of remarkably diverse anomalocarids found in rocks aged 520 to 480 million years old. "We once thought that anomalocarids were a weird, failed experiment," said co-author Dr Nicholas Longrich at the University of Bath. "Now we're finding that they pulled off a major evolutionary explosion, doing everything from acting as top predators to feeding on tiny plankton." Reporters know the trick just as well, asserting in their articles that this "evolved" here, that "evolved" there (e.g., Live Science asserts as fact, "during the Cambrian hard exoskeletons, jointed limbs, compound eyes and antennae evolved"). If you think that's a clever way to handle anomalies, check this out. At the end of the paper, the discoverers turn their fossil into a divining rod on the predictability of evolution: Finally, the discovery of a suspension-feeding anomalocarid has implications for debates concerning the predictability of evolution, or lack thereof. One view holds that evolution is ultimately unpredictable [reference given here to Stephen Jay Gould's book Wonderful Life]. The notable convergence between Tamisiocaris and extant suspension feeders, however, suggests that although different groups occupy ecological niches at different times, the number of viable niches and viable strategies for exploiting them are limited. Furthermore, the derivation of the suspension-feeding Tamisiocaris from a large apex predator parallels the evolution of suspension-feeding pachycormid fish, sharks and whales. In each case, suspension feeders evolved from nektonic macropredators. This suggests that evolution is canalized not only in terms of outcomes, but in terms of trajectories. The result is that independent evolutionary experiments by animals as different as anomalocarids, fish and whales have converged on broadly similar outcomes. Ignore that book over there. That's religion. We're talking about science! - See more at: http://www.evolutionnews.org/2014/04/another_complex083821.html#sthash.x8fcBdiS.dpuf
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The marriage rights battle part II?




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Romans1-3 NWT(2013 Edition)

1 Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus and called to be an apostle, set apart for God’s good news,+ 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who came to be from the offspring* of David+ according to the flesh, 4 but who with power was declared God’s Son+ according to the spirit of holiness by means of resurrection from the dead+—yes, Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we received undeserved kindness and an apostleship+ with a view to obedience by faith among all the nations+ respecting his name, 6 among which nations you also have been called to belong to Jesus Christ— 7 to all those who are in Rome as God’s beloved ones, called to be holy ones:
May you have undeserved kindness and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
8 First of all, I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ concerning all of you, because your faith is talked about throughout the whole world. 9 For God, to whom I render sacred service with my spirit in connection with the good news about his Son, is my witness of how without ceasing I always mention you in my prayers,+ 10 begging that if at all possible I may now at last succeed in coming to you by God’s will. 11 For I am longing to see you, that I may impart some spiritual gift to you for you to be made firm; 12 or, rather, that we may have an interchange of encouragement+ by one another’s faith, both yours and mine.
13 But I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that many times I have intended to come to you—but I have been prevented until now—in order that I might acquire some fruitage also among you just as among the rest of the nations. 14 Both to Greeks and to foreigners,* both to wise and to senseless ones, I am a debtor; 15 so I am eager to declare the good news also to you there in Rome.+ 16 For I am not ashamed of the good news;+ it is, in fact, God’s power for salvation to everyone having faith,+ to the Jew first+ and also to the Greek.+ 17 For in it God’s righteousness is being revealed by faith and for faith,+ just as it is written: “But the righteous one will live by reason of faith.”+
18 For God’s wrath+ is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who are suppressing the truth+ in an unrighteous way, 19 because what may be known about God is clearly evident among them, for God made it clear to them.+ 20 For his invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made,+ even his eternal power+ and Godship,+ so that they are inexcusable. 21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God nor did they thank him, but they became empty-headed in their reasonings and their senseless hearts became darkened.+ 22 Although claiming they were wise, they became foolish 23 and turned the glory of the incorruptible God into something like the image of corruptible man and birds and four-footed creatures and reptiles.*+
24 Therefore, God, in keeping with the desires of their hearts, gave them up to uncleanness, so that their bodies might be dishonored among them. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for the lie and venerated* and rendered sacred service to the creation rather than the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen. 26 That is why God gave them over to uncontrolled sexual passion,+ for their females changed the natural use of themselves into one contrary to nature;+ 27 likewise also the males left the natural use of* the female and became violently inflamed in their lust toward one another, males with males,+ working what is obscene and receiving in themselves the full penalty,* which was due for their error.+
28 Just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God,* God gave them over to a disapproved mental state, to do the things not fitting.+ 29 And they were filled with all unrighteousness,+ wickedness, greed,*+ and badness, being full of envy,+ murder,+ strife, deceit,+ and malice,+ being whisperers,* 30 backbiters,+ haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, schemers of what is harmful,* disobedient to parents,+ 31 without understanding,+ false to agreements, having no natural affection, and merciless. 32 Although these know full well the righteous decree of God—that those practicing such things are deserving of death+—they not only keep on doing them but also approve of those practicing them.
 
2 Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are,+ if you judge; for when you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.+ 2 Now we know that God’s judgment is in harmony with truth, against those who practice such things.
3 But do you suppose, O man, that while you judge those who practice such things and yet you do them, you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of his kindness+ and forbearance*+ and patience,+ because you do not know that God in his kindness is trying to lead you to repentance?+ 5 But according to your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and of the revealing of God’s righteous judgment.+ 6 And he will pay back to each one according to his works:+ 7 everlasting life to those who are seeking glory and honor and incorruptibleness+ by endurance in work that is good; 8 however, for those who are contentious and who disobey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and anger.+ 9 There will be tribulation and distress on every person* who works what is harmful, on the Jew first and also on the Greek; 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who works what is good, for the Jew first+ and also for the Greek.+ 11 For there is no partiality with God.+
12 For all those who sinned without law will also perish without law;+ but all those who sinned under law will be judged by law.+ 13 For the hearers of law are not the ones righteous before God, but the doers of law will be declared righteous.+ 14 For when people of the nations, who do not have law,+ do by nature the things of the law, these people, although not having law, are a law to themselves. 15 They are the very ones who demonstrate the matter of the law to be written in their hearts, while their conscience is bearing witness with them, and by* their own thoughts they are being accused or even excused. 16 This will take place in the day when God through Christ Jesus judges the secret things of mankind,+ according to the good news I declare.
17 If, now, you are a Jew in name+ and rely on law and take pride in God, 18 and you know his will and approve of things that are excellent because you are instructed* out of the Law,+ 19 and you are convinced that you are a guide of the blind, a light for those in darkness, 20 a corrector of the unreasonable ones, a teacher of young children, and having the framework of the knowledge and of the truth in the Law— 21 do you, however, the one teaching someone else, not teach yourself?+ You, the one preaching, “Do not steal,”+ do you steal? 22 You, the one saying, “Do not commit adultery,”+ do you commit adultery? You, the one abhorring idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who take pride in law, do you dishonor God by your transgressing of the Law? 24 For “the name of God is being blasphemed among the nations because of you,” just as it is written.+
25 Circumcision+ is, in fact, of benefit only if you practice law;+ but if you are a transgressor of law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 If, therefore, an uncircumcised person+ keeps the righteous requirements of the Law, his uncircumcision will be counted as circumcision, will it not?+ 27 And the physically uncircumcised person will, by carrying out the Law, judge you who are a transgressor of law despite having its written code and circumcision. 28 For he is not a Jew who is one on the outside,+ nor is circumcision something on the outside, on the flesh.+ 29 But he is a Jew who is one on the inside,+ and his circumcision is that of the heart+ by spirit and not by a written code.+ That person’s praise comes from God, not from people.+

3 What, then, is the advantage of the Jew, or what is the benefit of circumcision? 2 A great deal in every way. First of all, that they were entrusted with the sacred pronouncements of God.+ 3 What, then, is the case? If some lacked faith, will their lack of faith invalidate the faithfulness of God? 4 Certainly not! But let God be found true,+ even if every man be found a liar,+ just as it is written: “That you might be proved righteous in your words and might win when you are being judged.”+ 5 However, if our unrighteousness highlights God’s righteousness, what are we to say? God is not unjust when he expresses his wrath, is he? (I am speaking in human terms.) 6 By no means! How, otherwise, will God judge the world?+
7 But if by my lie the truth of God has been made more prominent to his glory, why am I also being judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say, just as some men falsely claim that we say, “Let us do bad things that good things may come”? The judgment against those men is in harmony with justice.+
9 What then? Are we in a better position? Not at all! For above we have made the charge that Jews as well as Greeks are all under sin;+ 10 just as it is written: “There is not a righteous man, not even one;+ 11 there is no one who has any insight; there is no one who searches for God. 12 All men have turned aside, all of them have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, not so much as one.”+ 13 “Their throat is an open grave; they have deceived with their tongues.”+ “Venom of asps is behind their lips.”+ 14 “And their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”+ 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood.”+ 16 “Ruin and misery are in their ways, 17 and they have not known the way of peace.”+ 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”+
19 Now we know that all the things the Law says, it addresses to those under the Law, so that every mouth may be silenced and all the world may become accountable to God for punishment.+ 20 Therefore, no one* will be declared righteous before him by works of law,+ for by law comes the accurate knowledge of sin.+
21 But now apart from law God’s righteousness has been revealed,+ as the Law and the Prophets bear witness,+ 22 yes, God’s righteousness through the faith in Jesus Christ, for all those having faith. For there is no distinction.+ 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,+ 24 and it is as a free gift+ that they are being declared righteous by his undeserved kindness+ through the release by the ransom paid by Christ Jesus.+ 25 God presented him as an offering for propitiation*+ through faith in his blood.+ This was to demonstrate his own righteousness, because God in his forbearance* was forgiving the sins that occurred in the past. 26 This was to demonstrate his own righteousness+ in this present season, so that he might be righteous even when declaring righteous the man who has faith in Jesus.+
27 Where, then, is the boasting? There is no place for it. Through what law? That of works?+ No indeed, but through the law of faith. 28 For we consider that a man is declared righteous by faith apart from works of law.+ 29 Or is he the God of the Jews only?+ Is he not also the God of people of the nations?+ Yes, also of people of the nations.+ 30 Since God is one,+ he will declare circumcised people righteous+ as a result of faith and uncircumcised people righteous+ by means of their faith. 31 Do we, then, abolish law by means of our faith? Not at all! On the contrary, we uphold law.+
 
 
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Monday 31 March 2014

Framing mischief by law.

Psalms94:20KJV"Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?"
 Come on Turkey,you're better than this.

Turkey Refuses to Conform to European Standards in the Matter of Conscientious Objection

“Every Turk is born a soldier.” That saying is taught to schoolchildren, declared in political speeches, and drilled into men called up for military service. Military service is mandatory for all male Turkish citizens and induction is a cause for celebration. It may come as no surprise, then, that the government of Turkey refuses to recognize the fundamental right of conscientious objection to military service.
Turkey is one of the few countries in the Council of Europe that does not recognize the right to conscientious objection

Yet, as a member State of the Council of Europe, and having adopted the European Convention on Human Rights as part of its national law, Turkey has committed itself to abide by European standards. Since the decision by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Bayatyan v. Armenia, Turkey has a formal obligation to the Council of Europe to recognize the right to conscientious objection. Because it has refused to do so, conscientious objectors in Turkey suffer the consequences.
Over the past 10 years, 55 men who are Jehovah’s Witnesses have petitioned the Turkish government to recognize their right to conscientious objection. Because their petitions have been denied, they have faced numerous prosecutions, burdensome fines, and in the case of some, years in prison. Currently, 15 young Witness men in Turkey are facing repeated prosecution for their refusal to serve in the military.

‘I Must Follow the Dictates of My Conscience’

“I do not believe that a powerful State should be able to force me to act against my Bible-trained conscience and the God-inspired words of Isaiah 2:4, [which] I believe I must obey.” That well-known verse, inscribed in stone in front of the headquarters of the United Nations in New York City, states that people opposed to war would ‘beat swords into plowshares and not learn war anymore.’ With these words Feti Demirtaş, a citizen of Turkey then 25 years old, explained why he was willing to give up his freedom and go to prison rather than serve in the military. As one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Feti believes strongly in following the dictates of his Bible-trained conscience. For that reason, Feti has been prosecuted ten times and has served in prison for more than a year and a half.
When first arrested, a sergeant ordered him to put on a military uniform but Feti refused—he chose to obey his Bible-trained conscience. The base commander then had him brought in front of 400 men and ordered Feti to put on the military uniform. Again he refused. During this first imprisonment, he was verbally abused, kicked in the head, shoulders, and legs, and slapped in the face by prison guards.
Upon his fifth arrest and imprisonment in April 2006, guards forced Feti to strip to his underwear so that he might put on the uniform. When he would not put on the uniform, guards put him in the disciplinary barracks for four days. In an effort to break his will, they handcuffed him to an iron bar of his bed at night and to an iron ledge during the day. Feti said, “I was fearful during the day and could not sleep at night due to my real and ever present fear of the type of mistreatment I might experience next. Although I was emotionally drained due to my treatment, I remained determined to live by my conscience.”

The European Court of Human Rights Weighs in on Conscientious Objection

In 2007 Feti Demirtaş submitted his case to the ECHR, arguing that the Turkish government violated his rights when sentencing him to prison as a conscientious objector. On January 17, 2012, the ECHR issued a judgment in his favor, confirming that Feti had been subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment, causing severe pain and suffering. Further, the Court confirmed that the right of conscientious objection based on deeply held religious beliefs is a right protected by the European Convention on Human Rights. *
Following the Court’s clear expression on the issue of conscientious objection, Feti expected that Turkish authorities would put an end to the ongoing prosecutions against him. In fact, the Turkish government paid him 20,000 euros in damages, costs, and expenses as ordered by the ECHR. However, just four months after the ECHR judgment in Feti Demirtaş v. Turkey, Turkey’s Military Court again sentenced him to prison for two and a half months for refusing military service. Feti filed an appeal that is currently pending with the Military Court.

The UN Human Rights Committee Also Supports the Right to Conscientious Objection

Turkey has also disregarded recent directives from the UN Human Rights Committee. In 2008 two Witnesses, Cenk Atasoy and Arda Sarkut, filed complaints with that UN body, alleging that Turkish authorities violated their rights by subjecting them to repeated prosecution for their refusal to perform military service. In its Views adopted on March 29, 2012, the UN Human Rights Committee stated that the men’s “refusal to be drafted for compulsory military service derives from their religious beliefs” and their “subsequent prosecution and sentences amount to an infringement of their freedom of conscience, in breach of article 18, paragraph 1, of the [International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights].”
How have Turkish authorities responded to these clear directives? They still expect these two conscientious objectors to report for military call-up every four months * or face prosecution and burdensome fines.
Jehovah’s Witnesses in Turkey are determined to live by the Biblical command to love their fellowman. At the time of call-up for military service by Turkish authorities, each individual Witness must personally decide how he will respond. Feti Demirtaş and other Witnesses have determined for themselves that bearing arms is a violation of the Bible’s command and their conscience.
These young men look to their government to honor its legal commitments. The ECHR and the UN Human Rights Committee expect that Turkey will comply with the judgments and findings of their bodies, leading the authorities in Turkey to recognize the right of conscientious objection to military service. Until it does so, Turkey stands outside the Council of Europe in honoring this fundamental human right.
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