I can't imagine not believing in God.

by MsGrowingGirl20 12 years ago 643 Replies latest 12 years ago members private

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  tec 12 years ago

  He did teach this, TT2C. The sword, however, divides truth from lies. There can be no peace between truth and lies. They are opposite. So if a member of ones family is following a lie, and another is following truth, then they are opposed. They are set against one another. However, Christ said that his followers would be put out of the synogogues. His followers would BE shunned. They were not to DO the shunning. THEY were to forgive and to show mercy; to bless their enemies and pray for those who persecute THEM.

  Peace to you,

  tammy

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  Tater-T 12 years ago

  Tammy .. everytime I see you post on here it always ends up all about YOU

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/243433/1/The-Governing-Body-of-Narcissistic-Personality-Disorder

  look at this thread..

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  tec 12 years ago

  All I did was post to the OP, Tater, same as anyone else... then people post to me or about my post. I merely respond after that. If people are talking to you, do you not respond back to them?

  I will look at your thread.

  Peace to you,

  tammy

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  FlyingHighNow 12 years ago

  i cannot imagine life without believing in God and that he is good and that there will be a better future. I could never believe that this life and this world is all there is. I would be very sad and hopeless. I mean...if there's no God...what the hell is the purpose of life?

  You're very brave to be so candid on this forum with the believers vs non believers friction that has permeated JWN for months and months now. As you can see, there are many who feel the same or similarly to you. Your feelings are yours and they are okay. Others feel differently and their feelings are okay, too.

  Isn't it wonderful to leave the Kingdom Hall and its hateful god Jehovah behind?

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  AGuest 12 years ago

  Greetings, dear MsGG and peace to you! Like dear tec (peace to you, as well, dear one!), I can imagine not believing in God, too. I can even see where, for someone like me, this life might even be easier. But, while I can imagine that... I can't ignore the evidence I've been given.

  I love what dear Mind Blown (peace to you, as well!) posted:

  .....you can believe in what ever you want or how ever you want....that's the beauty of not being in a cult....

  And ISN'T that the beauty? You will have all kinds of folks comment on all kinds of matters related to God on this site (including me) and throughout your life. But now... you can CHOOSE. You don't have to believe what ANYONE else tells you but have the freedom to come to your own conclusions. Of course, research is good to undertake in helping you come to whatever conclusion you do so as TO choose. And there is a LOT of information out there, make no mistake. Some of it accurate; much of it not so much, though, at least with regard to this topic.

  One thing I'd like to share with you is that many of the statements made here as to faith are actually inaccurate. Many (here AND elsewhere) believe faith to mean just believing in something, even blindly. No evidence present... ever... to support the belief. And it's understandable that many would believe that... because that is how religion has taught and teaches what "faith" is for millenia. But that is not accurate, not at all. Faith... is based on evidence.

  Folks attempt to describe faith all the time, as some have done here, yet fail to look to the definition of it in the very source they claim to have first heard of it: the Bible. There, faith is described (in Greek) as:

  "faith (confidence in/conviction of the truth)is the (setting/foundation) of (hope) [based on] (a proof/that by which a thing is proved or tested) (things done/accomplished/that is/exist) [but] not (seen/discerned with the bodily eye)."

  Now, I can try to convince you of what that says and means... but I would implore YOU to look up the verse in the Greek... and then look up the Greek. Because a great deal of "telephone" game has been played when it comes to translating/transliterating what's in that compilation, the Bible. In the meantime, perhaps you will allow yourself to consider that people who CLAIM to have faith ARE wrong most of the time... because their faith is not based on evidence. To the contrary, it is based on hope SANS evidence... and so "built on the sand"... rather than on the Rock.

  And this is why, quite often, that when life gets hard... or religion lets them down (or shows itself to be false/fake)... their spiritual "house" fails... their "faith"... is shipwrecked... and they believe God to be false. But He isn't... anymore than faith is blind, dear one. Faith is NOT blind; it's just not based on what is seen with the physical eyes.

  If it IS blind... then it's not faith. Because those who walk by FAITH don't follow the blind. It is those who walk by SIGHT... the TRULY blind... who follow the blind, whether chose claim to follow God or not. Whether claim there IS a God... or not. They don't follow the blind in EITHER scenario and so... they don't fall with such into the pit.

  Because they are those who are given SIGHT... albeit not necessarily site of the physical eyes... through "eyesalve"... the holy spirit of God. Revelation 3:17, 18

  I hope this helps and, again, peace to you!

  A slave of Christ,

  SA

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  still thinking 12 years ago

  How can christ be evidence of god? That's like saying Mystic Meg is evidence of astrology...cofty.

  Mystic Meg!...LOL

  **that made me chuckle**

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  still thinking 12 years ago

  I have never seen a more perfectly circular argument...cofty

  That wouldn't be because you think Christ IS God, would it be?...tec

  DOH! What does that have to do with what cofty said?

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  AGuest 12 years ago

  Nahhh...

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  Etude 12 years ago

  tec:

  "This does not concern me." – who is right or wrong because you feel you're right.

  Well it should because otherwise, you are simply trusting some feeling that your evidence is unassailable AND you're making the conclusion (without proper examination) that Cofty's evidence is wrong. I understood what you were trying to say by making the comparison between you Cofty. You were simply trying to show that you arrived at different places via similar impetus. But what you missed that I was trying to tell you is that while the method is important, your foundation is equally important. And therefore, whatever that foundation is can make one of you or both wrong.

  There is a process of deduction in logic. The deductive process is always correct (i.e. if A=C and B=C then A=B). But given at least one false premise, the conclusion will be incorrect even thought the process is flawless. So, I don't see how you can be so certain without a proper examination of your "evidence".

  "I know what is real in my life."

  Do you, now? Why then would you abandon the "reality" that was the Jehovah's Witnesses? I bet you were pretty sure then at some point that you were on the right course and that you held the "Truth". But that changed. Of course, I'm assuming you are here because you were either born in it or were roped into it.

  I didn't assume you had failed to exercise critical thinking about everything, just about one thing. So, I apologize for that insinuation. Nevertheless, your claims about your "evidence" seem anecdotal. Only you know you can trust it; only you can hear his voice; only you do not challenge the evidence. What about making sure and using the same rules as everyone else does (mainly logic) to see if evidence holds up? That's what I meant by "critical thinking".

  Most explorations in Historical Criticism (the examination of the canon) have established the uncertainty of the Bible and therefore the shaky foundations of what most Christians believe. I would think that someone desirous to live in truth would want to put his or her faith to the test to see if it holds up. That means looking beyond what supports ones already established conviction and going for what contradicts it. That's the kind of examination I suggested you do. There are ways of going about that.

  Someone mentioned (but I can't find it now) that it seems every other person has his/her own definition of what "faith" is. In some definitions it is simply an indication based on some other evidence. For others, it's simply credulity (believing just because). One thing it is not is evidence. If you have evidence, there is no need for faith, as NewChapter plainly put it. So, you need to clearly define that and not just by your own interpretation. You need to acknowledge the difference. Otherwise, there's no point in posting about things we all disagree upon.

  You can continue to believe in whatever you believe in. But, the reasons for believing can change. It is simply a choice. Just do it wisely. You can't state that you use the written word of Christ when there's so much evidence to show that Christ not his disciples wrote anything. So where do you want to start tackling this issue? You can start with "evidence" or you can just pick a point and let us crows peck at it.

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  AGuest 12 years ago

  Why then would you abandon the "reality" that was the Jehovah's Witnesses? I bet you were pretty sure then at some point that you were on the right course and that you held the "Truth". But that changed. Of course, I'm assuming you are here because you were either born in it or were roped into it.

  Ah, now, see, dear etude (peace to you!), times may be touble what come with assuming.

  Peace to you!

  A slave of Christ,

  SA

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