Who,s god created the big bang, an anti god that had been around for longer than he can remember, he got bored and said, "This is not good, I will create a big bang and out of it will come a confusing god, that is a lesser god than I. So he created "I Am who I Am" and told hime that he had been from time indefinite...Hey, this would make a good book....
Today's Text - Draw Close To God... (BUT HOW???)
by Divergent 19 Replies latest jw friends
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Magnum
Here's where I stand at the moment: I neither categorize myself as a theist, atheist, or agnostic. I'm a freethinker and do not have a specific belief at the moment, UNLESS something comes along which is 100% conclusive & convincing
That's where I stand, too.
I agree about the lack of interaction. Supposedly God used to perform miracles. Why'd he stop? It's not fair. The Hebrews got the parting of the Red Sea; we get Stephen Lett.
I don't know how to draw close to God. I used to think that one could do so by supporting JWdom, being zealous in the ministry, etc.,but then I found TTATT.
I still go out and look up at the starry sky and beg for answers, for some kind of interaction, for some kind of sign... and I get nothing but complete silence, or the sound of crickets if they're active. It's actually starting to anger me. Lately, I've been saying things like "What do you want? Here I am begging you for answers, and I'm willing to sacrifice and suffer to serve you, but you hide yourself. Where are you??? Why won't you reveal yourself?" And I walk away frustrated as if I'm talking to air.
I've sometimes wondered whether one can draw close to God by learning about and appreciating and respecting the earth and the universe. I often find myself in awe of the physical world around me... but then I think about all the horror in nature and I get angry at any potential god when I observe it (the horror). The world has been filled with horrible suffering for millions of years. I've witnessed a lot of it myself. So I find it difficult to draw to close by observing the natural world.
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Divergent
Magnum:
I agree about the lack of interaction. Supposedly God used to perform miracles. Why'd he stop? It's not fair. The Hebrews got the parting of the Red Sea; we get Stephen Lett.
Exactly. What's the point of going from door to door with an unconvincing message that people don't bother listening to? If God REALLY wanted people to listen & didn't desire any to be destroyed, wouldn't it make more sense for him to grant his witnesses the ability to perform convincing miracles that people CANNOT deny?
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Anders Andersen
And I walk away frustrated as if I'm talking to air.
Well....that's because you are talking to air.
The Biblical God doesn't make sense on so many levels, it's quite ridiculous to think it exists. And since that flavor is the most spread flavor of God, I tend to assume that if there were a God, this would be it. So my conclusion is: none exist.
BTW isn't it strange that before some Roman emperor made Christianity the state religion, most people on earth worshipped all kinds of true God's, and never heard about Jehovah? Only a small country of shepherds worshipped that one. Doesn't make much of an impression.
Especially because those shepherds at times also worshipped other Gods they thought were equally real as Jehovah. Can you imagine seeing all the supposed miracles by Jehovah, and then go worship a wooden idol? Of course not! So either the miracles never happened, or it wasn't clear Jehovah performed them, or the miracles attributed to the other God's were just as convincing.
For me it was an eye-opening moment to realize that to the Israelites, 'false' gods were just as real as Jehovah.
And they are just as real, as none of them actually exists as a living being....
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punkofnice
It amused me when someone said that Jar Hoover had shown them that a certain course of action was the right one. Then someone else would say that they didn't agree.
Thanks for making that clear, Jar Hoover!
If I talk into thin air and no one answers, it's pretty obvious there's no one there.
I challenge god to answer my prayer in a tangible way to prove I'm not praying to the wrong deity.
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Fernando
Two things are working for me on my journey:
turning my back on religion, and pursuing the scandalously liberating gospel of grace instead.
The real reason the Watchtower desperately feared Ray Franz and had him killed (aka DFd).
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Heaven
Isaiah 45:7: "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things." – KJV
Proverbs 3:11-12: “The Lord punishes everyone He loves. He whips every … [person] He receives.” – NLV.
Matthew 10:35: “For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—“ (NIV)
I have zero interest in any god who does this crap.
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Divergent
punkofnice:
I challenge god to answer my prayer in a tangible way to prove I'm not praying to the wrong deity.
I made that same challenge too before I faded. Nothing happened!
Heaven:
Isaiah 45:7: "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things." – KJV
Proverbs 3:11-12: “The Lord punishes everyone He loves. He whips every … [person] He receives.” – NLV.
Matthew 10:35: “For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—“ (NIV)
I have zero interest in any god who does this crap.
Me too! One thing I've learned to do is to stop trying to justify things which cannot be justified & stop making excuses for God!
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punkofnice
Heaven - Proverbs 3:11-12: “The Lord punishes everyone He loves. He whips every … [person] He receives.” – NLV.
Sounds like my idea of fun, not religion.
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Spiral
Heaven, I am with you. Interesting how the JW bible muddies up that scripture in Proverbs a bit, so it doesn't sound so drastic.
Funny how so many human belief systems start with humans being "sinful" and then having to spend their whole lives being " whipped" and "chastised" to be acceptable to God. You get your reward later, much later, maybe. Feeling the love, aren't we?
Again, just insanity.