by Nickolas 207 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Some people just don't know what to say when confronted with really bad news, unshackled. But I get your meaning.
Anger at a supposed God that ALLOWS for so much hatred and violence on the innocents in this world.
My take, Paul, is that anger at God and disbelief in God are inconsistent.
Burns, you gave me an epiphany: I am a born-again fundamental boobieist. I did go through a period from 3-9 where I was apathetic. But then my faith in boobies grew firm, uh, rapidly.
I've always been a fanny man, myself.
I do not.
Ah. That's maybe where we differ, sab. I did. But what are you fearful of, then? How it will affect you? Isn't that the same thing?
Great thread
The thought of my approaching death still causes me cold seeping dread deep in my stomach. Which is how I've always viewed it. I have an overactive sense of self preservation.
Losing my faith did take away one fear I hadn't quite consciously noticed as so personally emasculating - the feeling of inadequacy that somehow I wasn't trying hard enough, that at death , in this vast universe and amongst billions of human lives an all powerful being would look at my insignificant life , peruse it and weigh up and see the day I was cranky with the wife or when I had a 'tummy ache' to avoid church and would do a cosmic 'tut tut' and send me to hell.
Conscious I dies each night in sleep, 'I' will live on spread across a billion genetically interconnected offspring, all nature asked of me was to be and in reward gave me consciousness and some delightful perceptions. Life is utterly precious and within social boundaries is ours to spend.
Death still craps me out though.
Shack, you make some great points. Grieving is a natural part of the process. And your dad's comment... geez, how stoic is that?! Also, I feel bad for laughing at the "coffee on the pants" remark.
It's a shame, too, if someone is so eager to move on to next life that they give up on this one too quickly, whereas if they valued this life more, they might put up a greater fight to live. I believe this about my mother.
You hit on an important point, SBC. How important is a few decades of life to you if you are looking forward to an eternal afterlife? My take, not important enough.
The problem of theism is which god do you worship out of all the gods ever spoken about or imagined.
What advocates worshiping one god and not another. They are all said to be almighty and supremely powerful in their super natural state.
Is god Yahweh and his son the only gods to worship, why leave out all the others ?
There are sooooo many to choose from.
Some people just don't know what to say when confronted with really bad news, unshackled. But I get your meaning.
True enough, Nickolas. Though my father is a fairly emotional guy, the response was odd to me because it was just out of character.
It's a shame, too, if someone is so eager to move on to next life that they give up on this one too quickly, whereas if they valued this life more, they might put up a greater fight to live. I believe this about my mother.
Cheez, that's an interesting thought. I suppose if one was comforted with the thought of "if I just close my eyes I'll wake up in a better place", that would take some fight out of them. When it comes to appreciating our gift of life I've always liked this quote...
"Be thankful that you have a life, and forsake your vain and presumptuous desire for a second one." – R. Dawkins
How important is a few decades of life to you if you are looking forward to an eternal afterlife? My take, not important enough.
True Nickolas Mankind has a long history of accepting their fate as the will of their gods or god.
Thankfully we have grown away from this expressed ideology to work at helping one another to the best of are capabilities with this life.
We obviously still have further to go.
Ah. That's maybe where we differ, sab. I did. But what are you fearful of, then? How it will affect you? Isn't that the same thing?
My parents are a bad example. Take my wife for example:
I don't necessarily fear the death of my wife. Because if she died she would merely be at peace so to speak. However, her death would have ramifications on the world she left behind. My wife was her parents miracle child. They were told by a doctor that they couldn't have kids and the doctor was right... for 15 years that is. So in my father in law's 40th year of existence he gets a first, and only, daughter. Her death at a young age would crush him and his wife into mental oblivion and no one could blame them for it. Not to mention I would become a single dad and my son would grow up motherless.
What I fear most is the repercussions of death because, no matter how hard I try, I cannot really prepare myself for them. I know that I would be capable of handling them, but I also know that it would come from some other force I don't currently have (because it's not happening). I am grateful that my brain has such wonderful "evasive action" capabilities.
Death is just entering into peace for for the person dying, but it's the chaos that remains afterwardthat puts chills down my neck.
-Sab
