How to identify the quality of FAITH and BELIEF by its uses

by Terry 40 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Terry

  Does that answer your question??

  Actually, I should have been more specific.

  You were away from this site for a long time, and suddenly, you come back. Who or what set you off in that regard.

  I get tired. I get very tired of the same old thing. Day in and day out on any discussion group it becomes the same movie.

  Same cast of characters with the same ideas and arguments.

  How much can you take without losing your mind?

  I dropped out and put it all out of my mind until I recharged my batteries and then peeked in again. When I left it was JWD and when I came back it was JW-net.

  That's about it.

  No cataclysm or personal rancor or incident either way.
• 

  Terry

  I may not agree with where you are right now, but I have the highest respect and admiration for what you have had to go through to get there.

  Thanks. I'm not representing any cause. I am just a Socratic gadfly.

  I'm an agent provocateur.

  Getting people to come out in the open and look at their own beliefs and questioning them.

  Maybe somebody will have an AHA! moment when they hear themselves say something ridiculous and have to defend it.

  My version of that was the Nephilim.

  Everybody's mileage varies....
• 

  watersprout

  Terry my heart went out to you while reading your post!

  That is amazing what you have gone through and you have come out the other side.

  How are your children doing? I pray that the indoctrination hasn't affected them too badly?

  Peace and light
• 

  brotherdan

  But Terry, (and don't think I'm disagreeing with you. You know that I'm trying to learn here also)

  You CAN'T know EVERYTHING for certain. Especially that which comes after death. There are many "unknowns" in the universe. I'm finding myself saying more and more "That COULD be true" instead of "This IS true". But there has to be a balance, right? I mean, you have been critical of me saying that the bible is true and it is COMPLETELY true and accurate. I can see the unbalance there (although I'm still trying to work it all out). But isn't the opposite also just as unbalanced? What science teaches and "knows" now is COMPLETELY true and accurate.

  One thing that has been amazing to me in studying civilization is that at the time when people think they know all the facts, something happens or some breakthrough is made in science that shows them that they DID NOT have all the facts. Their entire world view had to be changed. What makes our modern civilization any different? We think we know it all, or at least all the basics. But can it be that we don't know it ALL?

  Scientists have theorized on the possible theoretical existance of other "dimensions". Isn't this exactly what religion does? They believe that dimension is heaven. Science may think it's "alternate realities".

  I'm going all over the place here... Sorry. But I just think there is something to be said about certain "unknowns".
• 

  agonus

  Terry, from one father to another:

  If your kids ever express the desire to see their mother again someday...

  And the belief that somewhere, somehow, that might just happen, brings them a measure of comfort and meaning...

  You know what? You're a smart man. You finish this sentence.
• 

  Terry

  You CAN'T know EVERYTHING for certain. Especially that which comes after death. There are many "unknowns" in the universe. I'm finding myself saying more and more "That COULD be true" instead of "This IS true". But there has to be a balance, right?

  That's one way to look at it. Some people won't ask for directions when they go on a road trip. They get sidetracked and lost alot. But, I guess

  you could call it "adventure". Life could be compared to a road trip. Why not ask for directions?

  Traveling with a map just makes more sense to me.

  Your "balance" is the difference between wandering aimlessly and calling it exploration and simply following a good map and getting someplace.

  At least, that's how I see it.
• 

  Terry

  How are your children doing? I pray that the indoctrination hasn't affected them too badly?

  I think my kids (first batch, that is; I have 7 altogether!) have all turned out quite well-adjusted. They have a keen sense of humor and are generally not depressive people. More light-hearted by nature.

  Once you've experiened tragedy it gives you a solid benchmark by which to measure things in everyday life which---without that tragedy--might be mistaken for "hard times". The contrast between a genuine hard time and just a minor setback becomes more clear.

  When things go badly for me I have two things by which to measure just how bad it really is. I'm grateful for that. If you've lived a life completely protected from difficulty I don't know where one would find the sudden resources to handle a genuine blow.

  None of my kids is religious. In fact, I tried to raise them without the supernatural dependency. They view the cloying happy-talk of religious people as a form of disability. Once you step outside that circle you see things very differently.

  I know many people who are JW's who reared their kids as good little JW's. It never seems to work out. Drugs, rebellion, disfellowshipping, arguments----it seems to be a pattern. Why? The religion is not for a practical life.
• 

  journey-on

  you could call it "adventure". Life could be compared to a road trip. Why not ask for directions?

  Traveling with a map just makes more sense to me.

  One of the BEST experiences of my life was when my husband (at that time) and I were travelling in Mexico and wandered off the beaten path. We were in a little open jeep-like thing and decided to follow a path leading off the main road. Young and dumb, we considered it an adventure and drove through thickets and bushes and suddenly came upon the most beautiful and awe-inspiring scene I will never forget! We got out, waded out into the cool gorgeous turquois water and like little children had the time of our life.

  Had we stuck to the map, we would never have even known it was there!
• 

  Terry

  Terry, from one father to another:

  If your kids ever express the desire to see their mother again someday...

  And the belief that somewhere, somehow, that might just happen, brings them a measure of comfort and meaning...

  You know what? You're a smart man. You finish this sentence.

  We (my kids an myself) know that death is the end of life. When life ends, the person ends.

  Where does the "white" go when the snow melts away?

  Not to "white" heaven or "white hell" or the "white" spirit realm.

  Life is like that.

  It is understandable wanting more of something you can't have. But, it becomes greedy at a certain point. Avarice is one of the traditional 7 deadly sins.

  • Gula (gluttony)
  • Fornicatio (fornication, lust)
  • Avaritia (avarice/greed)
  • Tristitia (sorrow/despair)
  • Ira (wrath)
  • Acedia (acedia)
  • Vanagloria (vainglory)
  • Superbia (hubris, pride)

  Wanting a dead person to be available again is a form of avarice, in my opinion.
• 

  Terry

  One of the BEST experiences of my life was when my husband (at that time) and I were travelling in Mexico and wandered off the beaten path. We were in a little open jeep-like thing and decided to follow a path leading off the main road. Young and dumb, we considered it an adventure and drove through thickets and bushes and suddenly came upon the most beautiful and awe-inspiring scene I will never forget! We got out, waded out into the cool gorgeous turquois water and like little children had the time of our life.

  Had we stuck to the map, we would never have even known it was there!

  It helps to read the news!

  1. Mexico Travel Warning in Perspective

  2. May 6, 2010 ... If you deduct the gangland related murders from the statistics, .... Resort areas and tourist destinations in Mexico do not see the levels ...