by Fisherman 36 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Fisherman:
The Bible records resurrections
Stories in the Bible are claims requiring evidence, not evidence of anything.
Were all those people lyingFalse dichotomy. They could have been lying, but they could also have just been wrong.
and is the Bible a pack of lies?
Fallacy of composition. The Bible isn’t either ‘all true’ or ‘all false’, and contains a variety of myth, poetry, superstition, and political & theological bias along with some historically accurate details.
I have struggled with Complex PTSD ever since I left the JWs. My greatest fear has always been that there is nothing after this life. I've made some breakthroughs along the way in dealing with my PTSD but that fear was always there.
Between February and May both of my living grandparents passed away. It is the first time that I lost people I was really close to. Other people in my family passed away but we were estranged for the obvious reason. What surprised me the most in my grandparents passing was that I'm not worried about where they went or if they went somewhere. I don't know where they went but I know in my heart that they are together somewhere.
When I left the JWs all my foundational beliefs just fell away. I was lost because I didn't know if there was anything to believe in. Almost immediately, through self reflection, I realized that I have my own truths. I never needed a religion to tell me right from wrong because I know in my heart and in my mind what is right and what is wrong. All I had to do was listen to my instincts. And they have never steered me wrong since I started listening to them. When I ask myself if there is a place after death, I don't know. But when I ask myself if I am worried about what happened to my grandparents I just 'know' that they are in a different place. I'm going to trust in that instinct and that knowledge because I believe it and because I have faith that is the truth.
Also... I have some science in my beliefs. Energy doesn't die, it just changes form. Our consciousness is energy making connections in our brains. That energy doesn't die, it just changes form. We don't have to know what that form is to know that this is a foundational scientific truth and to trust in that truth. If the energy changes form, then who we are exists in a different form.
jwundubbed:
I have some science in my beliefs. Energy doesn't die, it just changes form. Our consciousness is energy making connections in our brains. That energy doesn't die, it just changes form. We don't have to know what that form is to know that this is a foundational scientific truth and to trust in that truth. If the energy changes form, then who we are exists in a different form.
Using words like 'energy' does not make superstitions about an afterlife 'scientific'. The conclusion that 'who we are exists in a different form' on the basis that 'the energy changes form' is not at all scientific. The fact that a quantity of energy has at some point allowed an organism to be conscious does not impart any property of that consciousness to the energy. You may as well be suggesting that a potato goes on being a potato long after it has been eaten because its energy was once a potato.
The fact that a quantity of energy has at some point allowed an organism to be conscious does not impart any property of that consciousness to the energy Jeffro,
right. perhaps the energy that was radiated away from the living organism, brain waves even, are on their way into the future, but that does not mean they carry the individual's personality or consciousness, A super microscoping telescope could see everything in some far away place, all that is happening here now, but that are just pretty pictures of you, not a living active you in the future time and place.
energy? only a fuzzy warm glow
Nathan Natas: You're right. Some of the people who report "life after life" experiences report seeing their pets in the afterlife as well. A man named Jim Woodruff (?) reported, upon being brought back to life after several hours, "Jesus has horses!"
Fisherman:
The bible records resurrections.
The Odyssey records the blinding of the cyclops, his being sealed in a cave, and Odysseus and his men escaping by hiding under the bellies of sheep.
I recall reading, some years ago, that the US Air Force was able to induce 'near death experiences' in pilots who had lost consciousness when using the machine that simulates high speed flight and puts them through increasing G-force. There was a book relating the experiences, if I am not mistaken.
I don't know about life after death, I try not to commit to a belief that I cannot justify but I have no particular desire to deny or disprove anyone else's experiences or beliefs, especially when it comes to the metaphysical. We're only beginning to understand the human brain, but we already know that it can conjure up imaginary experiences that feel real and that it can do some very strange things when it is chemically altered or otherwise damaged. It's not an entirely reliable tool all by itself.
I'm pretty sure that, if there is a god or gods, it isn't anything like the ones we've dreamed up over the course of human existence. At least, I certainly hope not. They sound a lot like a typical human if you gave him unlimited power. And seeing how atrocious we act when we have even limited power, it would be very ugly. Very bad.
Seems that an all powerful, omnipotent GOD could have made certain that his "subjects" were clearly made aware of a future life, if he really wanted to do so, OR, if he is really real.
have made certain that his "subjects" were clearly made aware of a future life,
The Bible makes that crystal clear.
let the Bible be found true though every man a liar. I believe there is going to be a resurrection. I believe what happened in those near death experiences was a presentation of what those people either consciencely or subconsciencely believed before the experience. If they had trully died, they wouldn't have lived to tell the experience.The life force was still in the body.
