WHAT do YOU know about JESUS... and His teachings?

by hibiscusfire 286 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  AlphaOmega

  God/Satan

  Heaven/Hell

  All metaphors?

  For what?

  What is real?

  After all the words and dogma are stripped away?

  What remains?

  That is worth scrutinizing.

  What do you think, Terry?

  Certainly strip the dogma away.

  Yes, words can restrict you - they can make you see things as others intend.

  But... words can also enter your ears and explode in your mind, trickle past your consciousness and touch your soul !

  I find it sad that religion has added it's own meaning and it's own twist on the words of the Jesus.

  An example, the word "Father" was supposed to conjure up warm loving feeling inside the listener.

  Nowadays, many combine the word with church teaching and think of either :

  • a priest (stereotypically unaproachable and somewhat separate from and above his flock)
  • an distant earthly father and maybe a disfunctional relationship
  • a formal "father figure" and not "Daddy" as Jesus said

  Maybe when Jesus said "call no man on earth your father", he had good reason - so that the word would be preserved and not have its meaning changed !

  So... what remains ?

  I guess that it is a bit like an onion... when you strip it down layer by layer, looking for what is inside, you find that there is nothing inside because you have stripped too many layers off ?

  Take a bite of the onion as a whole.

  Milk the experience for all you can get, touch, taste, sight, sound and smell.

  Okay... getting weird now...

  Better go to sleep.
• 

  greendawn

  God is not as the JWs present him and they are doing so much damage to his true image. God does not use a half baked cultic organisation to judge the world and especially in the crashingly final way the JWs describe (no resurrection from death at armageddon which is of course a myth). The world is not ready and mature for that yet.
• 

  White Dove

  All I know about Jesus I got from a book and an organization that said to trust them, so I did. I know about his teachings and they don't match the hateful methods the WTS uses to punish and control people. I never met the man. If what the Bible says about him is true, he sounded nice. But, like I said, I never met him nor have I seen anywhere any evidence for his existence the way the Bible tells it. I'm sure there must have been such a man back then, but the miracles seem a bit much to swallow anymore. Can't bring myself to do it. Sorry.
• 

  GentlyFeral

  I was attending a Religious Science church for a while. One of their teachings that still sticks with me (because it works) is: "The only real sin is to believe that you are separate from God." Now, we are not talking about the old white-haired Ancient of Days in the sky; no, we are talking about the entity whose body is the entire universe, of which each human is a part. We are talking about the source of love itself, wherever Its center might be. If this makes any sense at all, then sin = alienation; hell, or damnation, is a state we wander into and can escape from at any time. And I think it implies that any search for community is a search for God. Any nourishing community is a link to God, whatever It is.

  Wrap your mind around that, and the Jesus prayer (for instance) can be rendered: "God, be merciful to me, an alien."

  gently feral
• 

  eclipse

  Now, we are not talking about the old white-haired Ancient of Days in the sky; no, we are talking about the entity whose body is the entire universe, of which each human is a part. We are talking about the source of love itself, wherever Its center might be. If this makes any sense at all, then sin = alienation; hell, or damnation, is a state we wander into and can escape from at any time. And I think it implies that any search for community is a search for God. Any nourishing community is a link to God, whatever It is.

  g ently f eral,

  I really enjoyed reading what you wrote, I have not been moved by anything remotely god-speak in a long time.

  That speaks to me as being the most reasonable and logical description of god I have ever read.
• 

  hibiscusfire

  Hi Sad emo btw-your comment on where I got my material shouldn't bother you. (And btw I did not get it from that site). How many times have you read something and did not understand it? How many times have you read the bible and did not understand it? So why are you watching everything I am doing and saying? Maybe I cut and paste this too emo? But this is not the point to argue about. This is not an arguement anyway. Why should it be? That would be absurd right. Ranting and raving is pointless you know. Stop worrying about all that sad emo and tell me WHAT do YOU know about JESUS... and His teachings? I heard or I cut and paste that He is Lord! HE IS THE GREAT I AM. Ponder. love hibie
• 

  hibiscusfire

  White Dove: But, like I said, I never met him nor have I seen anywhere any evidence for his existence the way the Bible tells it.

  Hi White Dove in response to this did you know that many various religions of the world recognises Jesus in some way or the other? There are lots of evidence. The only thing is some people find it way to difficult to believe. Why? It may definitely be true what you have said that you have never met Him. Did you ask to meet Him? Why don't you? Would you like to know how? Somehow I think you already know how, but maybe you feel others would ridicule you or something like that.

  hibiscusfire
• 

  eclipse

  Did you know that many religions also recognise Santa Clause?

  Numbers does not prove someone exists.

  White Dove is asking for historical, archeological, documented proof. Simply saying that he does, does not make it so.

  I think Jesus did exist. So you can save your preaching to me about that.

  Jesus does not speak to humans on earth. The ones that hear him are mentally ill.

  A feeling is just a chemical reaction. It is coming from within your own mind, generated by your own hypothalamus.

  Just feel happy in your belief that you are going to heaven to be with your savior, and the rest of sinners/ non-believers are going to hell.

  You asked for opinions and thoughts, we gave them
• 

  hibiscusfire

  Terry what we can "know" about Jesus is next to everything.

  We can trust the information we have as long as it comes from the true source. (ofcourse some of you may roll your eyes at this but the historical basis for his existence was revealed a long, long time ago.

  Jesus was in the flesh when He was born. When He went up into Heaven, His fleshly body had been changed after he died on the cross. He is a Spirit.

  Jesus is Divine most definitely.

  Jesus, a sinless man, did not deserve to be put to death at all. What valid reason was he put to death?

  But, absolutely everything asserted about Him has been proved to be correct and verifiable.

  Thousands of perfectly sincere and intelligent people for two thousand years have would have known about who Jesus was. I am sure your great grandparents know Him.

  This seems pretty solid proof that there is a "there" there.

  hibiscusfire
• 

  Terry

  Jesus, a sinless man, did not deserve to be put to death at all. What valid reason was he put to death?

  Jesus, a sinless man, did NOT DESERVE to be put to death at all?

  It was God's PLAN OF SALVATION!

  The most amazing act of injustice the world has ever seen!

  You ask, "What valid reason was he put to death?" NONE!

  JUSTICE is getting what you deserve. Jesus did not get justice.

  The guilty were set free! The innocent died for his non-crimes.

  Don't you get it? Apparently not.