As a JW did you ever have a personal relationship with God?

by Evanescence 60 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  daystar

  No. "If you meet the buddha on the street, kill him."
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  Satanus

  It was a totally one way relationship for me. I was raised in it, did all the stuff you were supposed to, some nights prayed until my head hurt. I never heard or saw anything directly to indicate that a jehovah type god exists, cares, gets upset, or does anything else. I think he doesn't exist (ok, maybe as an elemental over in the deserts sands somewhere).

  S
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  JamesThomas

  "If you meet the buddha on the street, kill him."

  Exactly. I'm no Buddhist, but my sense what this means is to not follow anyone (gods or gurus) or anything outside of yourself.

  Look inward.

  j
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  daystar

  "If you meet the buddha on the street, kill him."

  Exactly. I'm no Buddhist, but my sense what this means is ;to not follow anyone (gods or gurus) or anything outside of yourself.

  Look inward.

  That, and that if one were to proclaim themselves "the Buddha" or comparably, "the Christ", or perhaps even the messenger of X god, to know that they most assuredly are not.

  To take it further, if you believe yourself to have found "It", you most assuredly have not. No one is enlightened, yet everyone is.
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  Narkissos

  I think (sorry JT ) I had.

  This implied praying and reading "answers" -- guidance, signs of approval or disapproval -- into the Bible, WT literature or everyday life events.
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  bennyk

  I did. In spite of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
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  zen nudist

  To some it up, I thought I had a relationship with Jehovah. But I was doing all the talking. It was like I was rambling on the telephone only to realize that the other caller isn't on the line. I effectively said "Hello is anyone there"? ....then hung up the phone.

  that about said it all.... I always ponder how people can claim to have an RELATIONSHIP... but I think it is possible that some program their own subconscious with such emotional expectations that it gives them the "feeling" that they seek to confirm their belief in god[s]. there is something I read about and have seen on TV called the GOD MODULE in the brain which when activated gives the one it has been activated in, the profound sensation of being in the presence of a godlike being...and so when some claim to have this relationship, I think they truly believe they have had such a divine experience.... and they then claim to KNOW that God[s] exist, etc... by their own personal experiences which no amount of logic nor reason could ever shake them... only if they themselves got suspicious could they break free of this Belief System....

  some of them means of activating this god module relate to drugs, hypnotic inductions, musical entrancements, meditation, etc...religions seems to be founded around creating the conditions necessary to activate this part in at least some of their adherents.

  if you can be with the one you want, love the one you're with is playing in my mind for some reason (^_^)
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  JamesThomas

  Narkissos:

  I think (sorry JT ) I had.

  Please know, Narkissos, that I am not anti-thought, or anti-conceptual, or anti-intellectual. The minds abilities are truly amazing and necessary on a practicle level.

  I'm just saying that when it comes to our Source, or our own foundational-identity, the mind is too limited; and the more it tries the more abstract images, beliefs, religions and philosophies steal away our attention and get in the way of or hide what is here. What I attempt to point to is what the mind receives it's power from. What everything obtains it's power to exist from. The foundational reality of all things which we are in no way separate from, but rather one with. (this may sound a bit contradictory in regards the following; it's my weakness with words I guess)

  daystar:

  To take it further, if you believe yourself to have found "It", you most assuredly have not. No one is enlightened, yet everyone is.

  I agree, upon discovery it is seen there is no separate self, no me to be enlightened to what is Divine. This is why the most direct way is to question and investigate into ones "personal" identity. Who am I? Is the most important question we can ask.

  The mind can offer up a list which can be printed into an autobiagraphy. But, before the story; deeper than the story; foundationally: What am I? Here we abandon the story and everything believed and thought, and enter inward into the silence and stillness of being.

  Often we believe that the intellectual mind is the beginning and end of our being. We need to be radically honest and admit we don't really know that to be so; and then let go of it along with everything else we believe and define ourselves to be...or not be. It's kind of like dying.

  j
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  Nate Merit

  Hi Evan
  
  I thought so. I would now explain what I experienced in psychological terms.
  
  Nate
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  young hearts, be free..

  Nope, not at all. I remember always questioning whether I was doing something wrong or not trying hard enough,and perhaps that was the reason why I wasn't 'connecting' with God or Jesus, or could never feel a closeness to them.

  Now, a few years later I've come to realise that God and Jesus and the whole lot of 'them' don't even exist. They are purely puppets on religions stage.