Faith?

by Core88 18 years ago 26 Replies latest 18 years ago jw friends

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  SWALKER 18 years ago

  I think too much attention on religion can cause some people to become more confused! There really isn't a perfect religion out there. You just have to decide if one feels right for you...if it doesn't then that's o.k. too. Sometimes things just are. No one can fully explain the Bible or what the Bible writers meant. Trying to find the "truth" can drive you nuts!!! I had to just let go...realizing that I will not know what God wants me to know until he just he tells me, personally. The JW religion makes a person so stressed out on feeling that they have to "know" all about the Bible...then you find out they don't know as much as they act like they do!

  You have to find things that interest you and will keep you busy and absorbed in life. You can meet some nice people working out at the gym, taking classes, doing volunteer work, etc. You have to move past the JW's and make new friends...it's o.k. to do that, you know!

  Swalker

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  Core88 18 years ago

  Well R.F. by more I guess one of the things I mean by that is that I would you know like to hear or see this God fellow, or maybe like see something that's would be for sure a miracle, to know he is real. Corey

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  sparrow 18 years ago

  Hi Core - good to see you back. I agree with Scully's comments - and I guess in a sense nvrgnbk. Getting involved with life is a start. Learning something new, making new friendships etc will at least start giving you some enjoyment and purpose - whatever your conclusions end up taking you to.

  Also, one thing I think is universal - religion or no religion - that gives us a sense of happiness and contentment is helping others. Why not set a goal to get involved in something here - help disabled people, tutor some kids, raise a guide dog or help a cancer charity. This is something a lot of witnesses don't get involved with because the "new system is around the corner"

  -sparrow

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  monophonic 18 years ago

  "all i know is that i don't know nothin'. and that's fine." - operation ivy

  growing up in the jws, we're pounded with 'how lucky we are we have the truth' and that the 'whole world is in darkness', yadda yadda yadda.

  the constant information overload and control over what information to take in and what to 'avoid' really does stay at the core, but time and sometimes therapy helps break it up.

  we're human. we're imperfect. why beat ourselves up over it...let's embrace the human condition...well that's my philosophy.

  a relative who is still in the borg asked me, 'what if it turns out that jws have the truth and you need to be an active jw to make it through armageddon'...i said i'd be pretty pissed off if that was the situation, pissed that god would kill my friends and co-workers for no other reason than that they didn't buy into an arrogant organization. even in my worst mood, at people who have done horrid things to me, i don't even wish them dead...and i'm an imperfect human, so why would a perfect god be that psychotic?

  another thing that helped me was finally getting in touch with my creative self, something that's really hard to do as a jw, b/c if you're in a band or writing or creating things that are getting into the public, it's running commentary time for the self-righteous...oh, i remember being in a commercial and getting counseled b/c the owner of the company we were in the commercial for was busted years ago for embezzlement. pathetic. it's great to be away from that running empty commentary.

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  Arthur 18 years ago

  i said i'd be pretty pissed off if that was the situation, pissed that god would kill my friends and co-workers for no other reason than that they didn't buy into an arrogant organization. even in my worst mood, at people who have done horrid things to me, i don't even wish them dead...and i'm an imperfect human, so why would a perfect god be that psychotic?

  Nice comeback mono. What was their reaction? Was their reaction the same pap about "Jehovah bringing this destruction out of his love for righteous mankind"?

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  quietlyleaving 18 years ago

  It's like Life has just shown it's self to me in the last 3 years by hitting me up side the face with a brink and saying: "LOOK! This is what life is like WAKE UP F##@er!!!"...and I struggle with weather or not I really want to face the "real world". I am always scared and immobilized by the events of the last few years since my "spiritual" breaking point? So how are you all doing, do most of you retain faith and if so how do you do it?

  I can identify with you (((((core)))))). Its tough and horrible. I realised that part of it is the old jw record playing over and over again keeping my mind captive. To stop my thinking mind dead in its tracks I have found meditation helpful. 15-20 minutes a day of clearing my mind and concentrating on my breathing or on nature gives me the same connection with humanity that I got from praying. The most important effect though is that it helps stop that worn out old repetitious, disabling record.

  Try it and see.

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  monophonic 18 years ago

  [Nice comeback mono. What was their reaction? Was their reaction the same pap about "Jehovah bringing this destruction out of his love for righteous mankind"?]

  surprisingly there was no reply like that. the discussion continued on some of the abuse and witch-hunting that i tolerated for way too long b/c i was bought in.

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  Narkissos 18 years ago

  Hi core,

  I can relate to much of what you wrote...

  I tend to understand "faith" as a sort of implicit trust in... "?"

  I have found that the more it "grows" (or, perhaps, the more carefully you observe it "working") the less you can define its "object".

  Trusting "God" or "providence" or "grace" or "your god" or "your daimôn" or "yourself" or "your mind" or "your heart" or "your guts" or "people" or "fate" or "chance" or "the course of events" all say a part -- but only a part -- of "it". Given the contradictions implied in those terms it is definitely not an easy recipe for living, but it may be a way of living nonetheless.

  To me it is highly paradoxical as it applies just as well to the "negative" and the "positive," to your "failures" and "successes," to your "activity" and "passivity," to what you do and to what you refrain from doing, to what you decide and to what you don't decide. It has something of "embracing your curse to find your blessing," too.

  I wish you the best -- your best, that is.

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  eclipse 18 years ago

  Losing faith for me was just a doorway to realizing who I am and what I am.

  Instead of constantly worrying about whether or not I was going to be destroyed or saved, or pleasing an unknown sphagetti monster in the sky,

  I have now learned to focus on the world and universe that I exist in...and with that comes clarity and FREEDOM.

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  Tatiana 18 years ago

  Corey....

  I was worried about you!

  As for this "faith"....I know it might sound simplistic, but I saw a movie and heard this quote from the Gospel of Thomas, and all of a sudden it hit me like a brick.

  "The Kingdom of God is inside you and all about you, not in mansions of wood and stone. Split a piece of wood and I am there; lift a stone and you will find me."

  God is IN us. Not in some brick building...not in a KH with no windows....not in a huge cathedral....not in an organization worth billions of $$$$. That may be why you aren't comfortable in another church. And why you have left the organization. That one thing opened my eyes.

  Now I see God (or Goddess) in everything, and everywhere. I stop and look at a beautiful yellow bird singing....and that awesome feeling I get when I hear the sound is God. I smell the scent of honeysuckle...I close my eyes, and there is that same feeling. When I look at my little granddaughters smile and see her laughing eyes, that warmth inside is "the kingdom of God inside me." It's all around you...just "notice" it.

  And when bad...terrible things happen, and you feel sad, lonely, and lost...that is once again God (or a higher power) inside you telling you things are not right.

  Something else I always thought was wrong while a witness...going to the KH, going in field service...doing all these things man tells you to do...to get into the New Earth. All for some kind of reward. Now, I consider myself a cross between a religious and a secular "humanist." I try to behave decently without any expectation of a "new earth," everlasting life, or hell/punishment after I'm dead.

  According to humanism, it is up to humans to find the truth within ourselves. The focus is on doing good and living well in the here and now, and leaving the world better for those who come after, not on suffering through life to be rewarded afterward.

  You will find your "faith," Corey. I know it. If you are searching, it will come to you.

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