Accepting your mortality sets you free from JWism.

by Spectrum 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Narkissos

  Accepting your mortality sets you free, period.

  Being a JW as a teenager in the early 1970s offered me an irresistible excuse not to deal thoroughly (or responsibly) with (1) the thought of my death and (2) and the thought of my life, i.e. caring for my own future -- looking back I wonder if this was not my deepest motive for believing (or pretending to believe) the WT stuff in the first place.

  It took me quite a few years before I admitted to myself that I was not really interested in "everlasting life" (at least the JW brand) either -- and that death, pace Paul, is not an enemy, but that which gives life its value.
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  Gregor

  When I was free from religion, superstition, and theism, I was able to accept my mortality without a problem.

  Gary took the words right out of my mouth. (Hope you washed them before you used them).

  I find that it enhances my appreciation of life. I think that some people spend there life waiting to reach their destination and don't even bother to look out the window of the train. Very sad.
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  MissBehave

  Very interesting thread....I've never thought about it quite like that before. But so true.

  As a Witness I would have spent my whole life waiting. As a non-Witness I now spend my life living.
• 

  What-A-Coincidence

  Damn. You are right. I was thinking about that myself. I guess once you give up thinking about "Living Forever" than you can truly rest in peace.

  Peace out Mohammad....long live Allah
• 

  Gregor

  That's it!

  Living, not waiting

  . My aunt died recently at age 87. She was a witness since she was about 19 yrs. old. She clung to the hope of the "new world" all her life. She bought into the "millions now living will never die" lie and lived every day like Armageddon was going to start tomorrow. She got excited about the hype for every summer convention for 60 yrs. She discouraged her three sons from finishing high school because it was a waste of time. She and my uncle never bought a real house, they lived in trailers all their life. They went "where the need is great" several times, always to some complete armpit place. They were so proud that they had pioneered with Ted Jaracz back in the '40s. When my cousin met (like having an audience with the pope) Jaracz a few years ago and mentioned his folks Jaracz kind of said "oh....yeah...John and Mary Smith....yeah... I think I remember them"...My aunt and uncle lived on that story for the last years of their life.

  Anytime ANYBODY asks you to invest your entire life in something that doesn't pay off until after your dead...RUN the other way!
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  daystar

  I don't remember a time when the idea of my mortality bothered me. I think it is because so many of my best friends were in their 80s and quite a few died before I turned 10. They didn't seem particularly troubled by the fact they would die.

  Lucky...

  Um, I just re-read this and wanted to clarify that I wasn't saying you were lucky that so many of your best friends died, but that you were lucky to have dealt with the subject of your mortality early on.
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  scout575

  The prospect of eternal life in paradise, and the attendant prospect of not having to die first, had great appeal to me. This was the 'magic wand' that meant that I could put my life 'on hold' and wait for the new system to give me the 'real life'. I had to exchange eternal life in paradise for 40 years in England. I didn't give it up without a fight.
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  Honesty

  What if there is a hope for everlasting life -- does it have to be an all or nothing proposition? scrubmaster

  Aaah, but there is: And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment— so also the Messiah , having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him. Heb 9:27-28
• 

  AuldSoul

  Van Gogh: Is that what is behind your alias?

  Your missing ear doesn't seem to have damaged your perception. That is part of it, I'm sure. But it doesn't explain the friendships existing in the first place.

  Respectfully,
  AuldSoul
• 

  Gill

  I remember well realising that I and my family were all going to die one day. This was something that my whole life, up till then, I had never accepted.

  I had been 'lucky' my whole life till then, escaping death on numerous occassions by sheer luck. I thought that I 'was destined' to live forever as a JW.

  I'd survived our house roof falling into my cot as a baby, just minutes after my mother had taken me out of my cot.

  I'd missed being hit by a car by fractions of an inch when five years old.

  I'd fallen down a well and been rescued by my uncle.

  I'd been swept out to sea and rescued at age 9.

  I'd lived with a potentially instantly fatal heart condition for 29 years before it was recognised and fixed.

  I had a potentially fatal post partum haemorrage with my last child.

  If I was a cat I'd only have three lives to go out of the proverbial 9. Having said that, maybe I've used them up as well. Who knows. Fact is, I don't really care any more.

  Accepting possible mortality frees you from fear. It makes you start living and lets you allow those you love to live life also. It frees you from JW superstition. My father has panic attacks every time he has a palpitation. He is terrified of death.