The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

by cofty 2596 Replies latest jw experiences

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  zound

  Sorry.
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  Lozhasleft

  "They know not what they do"

  As for me, I'm done.

  Loz x
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  jgnat

  I see origins, suffering, and the birth of Christianity in this picture by Picasso. It reminds me of the themes on this thread.
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  cofty

  No worries Zound.

  I think it would be interesting to look at the question from the perspective of Yahweh's best human friends like Abraham, Moses and David. How would they have understood an event like the tsunami and is there any justification for a modern human to think they know better?
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  jgnat

  In the OT I can't recall a single disaster that wasn't brought upon by the heavens. It would be tempting to rewrite the Tsunami as a divinely inspired event.
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  cofty

  Interesting picture jgnat.

  I don't think theists of the OT or even of early christianity would have agonised over natural evil the way modern christians do.

  Do they read modern ethics back into the more brutal message of the bible?
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  snare&racket

  so delusional.....
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  Nobleheart

  i don't mean to derail this thread any further...can a banned person still read/follow what's posted here?

  i'm also wondering if one can get some type of previous warning before getting banned, either public or by private PM...like in school, detention, suspension, and last expulsion...even the WT has public/private reproof, and then df'ing.

  just a thought...

  As for the topic, i consider myself a theist and catastrophes whether they be natural or man-made, diseases and all sorts of hardship are a challenge to my faith and i'm sure to many believers worldwide (probably not just Christians). i have no idea why God didn't intervene in this particular instance, as i also wonder why He doesn't intervene in many other conflicts/disasters ...near me (illness of a loved one) or far away (war somewhere, children starving, etc.)

  i also feel it's redundant or almost vain to pray for personal trivial matters, so i rather pray for greater problems such as these...the problem of evil is not addressed adequately, the WT tried with the "sovereignty issue, man's answer to Satan's taunts, etc" but we all know how empty that reasoning was. For the present time, i guess the best theist answer would be "i don't know// our knowledge of all things is limited"

  sorry, i just saw Cofty's appeal to direct matters about Tec by pm..i had already posted this reply
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  cofty

  Here is the post by Randomthoughts I was looking for...

  Just marking it for later. Thank you Random.
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  jgnat

  Life was brutish and short. Kill your neighbour and steal his crops before he enslaves you. The vagaries of nature might just terminate your best efforts at survival. Modern society has broadened its sense of humanity to all of it. Kindness. Altruism on an unprecedented scale. Much of that was demonstrated in the aftermath of the Tsunami. I have picked up the book The Righteous Mind by Haidt today.