What If

Windchaser

the Bible is made up of metaphors, lessons in symbols, and we are learning life's lessons and have to repeat lessons until we learn them? What if the spirituality you knew as a child was all you needed to know all the answers?

heathen

I guess you are saying that God recycles . Sounds like you been hitting the sauce a little hard there . I suggest a nap time .

Brummie

I think its a good point, we have a sincere faith as a child that is not thwarted by all WT trash that comes with understanding all the man made stuff. Didnt Christ say we should come to God like children, honest and genuine with sincere faith?

Tatiana

Good question, wind. I think we need that innocence we all had as children and lost.

Get rid of all the propaganda, the money-begging, the different opinions of so-called clergy, and you may be able to see through the garbage that has become organized religion.

A child's heart is pure. I think we knew all there was to know about faith, trust, love, kindness, God.....we just grew up.

Windchaser

((((April & Brummie)))) Yes, that is what I was thinking.

Heathen, I don't get the remark about God recycling. Would you please explain.

heathen

Just sounded to me like you were talking about reincarnation or having lived at a previous time and that this lifetime doesn't seem long enough to grasp the sacred reasonings that add up to salvation . Quite frankly I couldn't determine what your angle was here . Maybe I just read more into what you were trying to say than you intended .Perhaps you should explain in more detail .

Windchaser

Hi heathen, thanks for responding. When I was a jw, I truly believed in the Bible, just as it was taught to me. I took a lot of it literally as I was supposed to. Since walking away I have gone through different opinions this. I had even come to the conclusion that it may not have been inspired by God, that it was a means for world religion to have its control over the masses. I have a strong belief in God, by the way, and have throughout this transition.

I have wondered why God made such a confusing book for mankind. Why would a God of love do such a thing? Then, while talking with a friend, it just started to make sense that the Bible is full of lessons about life and that, if we listen and learn, we can be happier and closer to God. Maybe getting close to God is a whole lot easier than we think. When I was a child, I felt God's presence and it was very simple for me to love him and be close to him, because I absolutely knew that he loved me and wanted me to be happy.

So many people ponder if the Bible should be taken literally or not. I don't think that's so important any more. I see lessons in it and I believe it is inspired. It's like the law of gravity. Gravity is a fact of life and if you go to the top of a mountain and jump, you will probably die. That's a fact. Maybe all the laws God made are the same. The laws are there, but we have to learn about them and the Bible uses metaphors to teach these things to us. If you fall down enough, you will learn about gravity and learn how not to fall. We keep falling down until we learn that what we are doing goes against the facts of life. That's all I was saying. No, I don't believe in reincarnation, mainly because it's not important to me. God is important to me.

We all had a carrot dangling in front of our faces (The New System). The carrot is nice, but how about feeling close to the Creator even now? When I was a jw, the few who would talk about it would say what kind of house they were going to build and all the great stuff they were going to have and do. The only thing they forgot to mention was the supreme happiness you get when you know that God loves you and cares about you. I felt it as a child and I feel it sometimes now. All that other stuff that the jws talked about is just a bonus.

Love,

Dottie

Edited by - windchaser on 22 January 2003 11:7:2

LyinEyes

These are wonderful expressions Wind. You may be right about this. I feel the same way, that the Bible is not really 100% or probably even half of that, I think the stories got added too and man wrote the book claiming they were inspired. It reminds me of something that happened with my young kids and their friends while they were walking out in the woods. One of the kids swears she saw a man, and they all take off running. When they get back they all tell they grandparents they saw a man in the woods, he was scarey, he might would have killed them, yadda yadda,,,, after they calm down, and after calling them on it,,,,,,,, we find out only one child truly claimed to see the man,,,,,,,,, my two admitted they didnt see a man,,,,at all, but that because their friend did, they were sure of it. Now this child is known for her "imagination" I hate to call her a liar but she does tells some whoppers alot.

Things just get blown out of porportion. Maybe there was a big rain, a flooding rain, but was it really totally global? I don' t know, because I have really read all the scientific evidence to know.

I know as a child I too, had such a trust in God, and loved him very much. I wish I had that feeling back,,,,,, I know it sounds foolish , but even as a naive child, it was a good feeling. THe older you get the less you trust and coming out of the borg, you really don't trust anyone anymore for being reliable with interpretations of what the Bible or real truth is. I don't even trust myself right now on what I read from the Bible,,,,,,,,, but I hope to one day.

Hugs,,,,,,,,,,,, Dede

heathen

Windchaser- Thanks for clearifying that , I couldn't help but make a wise crack at first cause it seemed like you really didn't put any thought into what you started this thread about .lol I agree that it hardly seems fair that people are left on their own as far as chosing a belief system . The bible is very confusing with alot of symbolism and stories that just seem like are make believe . It is not uncommon for people to write fiction and claim it to be fact such as the Koran and the muslim belief system I mean that's just one religion that still exists . There have been plenty others that were nothing more than fairy tales that people took for a reality and no one today would even consider them to be of any value . The bible is a paradox that has stood the test of time but it seems like all the wrong people wind up with the capabilty to translate the ancient text. I suppose one explaination for this is that God uses this to chose whomever he wants to serve him and that his enemies can be proven a liar .The word revelation does mean a divine revealing ,something that requires more than what is written on paper ,The holy spirit ,if you will. I don't believe as many here would agree that salvation is granted through an organization but based on ones personal relationship with God . As we see who was favored in the past were people who lived in accord with whatever rules that applied. The Jews as a nation were a chosen race but as far as I can see from reading the bible many of them were his enemies, do to the way they lived .

Soledad

What if the spirituality you knew as a child was all you needed to know all the answers?

this reminds me of that book "everything I ever need to know I learned in kindergarden." it's a very good book--I mean it, not a wise crack.

What If

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