Part of Growing Up - Saying Goodbye to Invisible Friends?

by doubtfull1799 28 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  doubtfull1799

  I don’t remember having any invisible friends when I was a really little boy, I don’t know if such a thing actually exists, I’ve only ever seen it in movies? Of course it might have looked to others like I was talking to someone on occasions, but I’m sure it would have just been me talking to myself.
  
  The thing is though, I got introduced to an invisible friend in my pre-teens, and I kept the relationship going well into adulthood. Only it was an invisible friend I also shared with my wife and family too! So now I’m thinking, does this mean I never really grew up fully? Was I clinging to an immature remnant of childhood?
  
  I am, of course, referring to prayer. I think the majority of us here have come to accept that prayer does not work. Most because they don’t believe there is an invisible friend listening, perhaps some others who are still religious but accept this mantra when they’re prayers are seemingly not answered:

  1. The answer is no, or 2. The answer is not yet.
     

  The problem with those answers is they don't fit the guarantee that comes with the product, found clearly outlined in the warranty documents at John 14:14; 15:16; 16:23

  I was discussing with a new ex-jw friend (you know who you are) yesterday how the JW mentality means we don’t take any real responsibility for our life, or or try to improve the world in any meaningful way, because everything will be fixed in the new system. And I think that also contributes to this kind of immaturity that goes hand in hand with talking to an invisible friend. You can leave everything up to him.

  I’ve always considered myself a very mature person, I was very serious and driven, even as a teenager. But I’m just now realising that one doesn't fully grow up until one says goodbye to their invisible friend!
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  S K Ditta

  we don’t take any real responsibility for our life, or or try to improve the world in any meaningful way,

  A simpler life is still recommended. Taking responsibility - yes!

  one doesn't fully grow up until one says goodbye to their invisible friend!

  Any concept of God is a fundamental misunderstanding, if it is rooted in self-centeredness.

  I should have put this at the top, rather than the bottom: your posts show lucid thought, and easy to read.
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  doubtfull1799

  @S K Ditta - thank you, I did put it at the top - in the title! The end was for emphasis! ;-)
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  Normalfulla

  I find this subject very profound in some aspects .. many of us know if a person has an imaginary friend ,talks to them daily as though they are real ,also some who have lost loved ones and believe they are present watching over the person in question ,they will often "talk to them " as if they were really there ,this compounds a mental dilemma of the imagined friend who becomes real to them the more they entertain the notion of them being there literally ,

  It may be very real for the person who thinks their "imaginary " friend is there but to me calls to mind the quotes you hear from deranged ones like "the devil himself told me to !"

  What is real to someone may not necessarily be real !!
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  S K Ditta

  I did put it at the top - in the title! The end was for emphasis!

  You did, indeed.

  It was my error not to have started with a word of sincere commendation! So I commend again, and appreciate the clarity of your posts.

  Thank you.
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  EdenOne

  Well said ...

  When a prayer is seemingly "answered" in a positive way, it is really just a case of confirmation bias.
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  S K Ditta

  When a prayer is seemingly "answered" in a positive way, it is really just a case of confirmation bias.

  May I ask: What about a prayer that continues to be answered before all over a long period of time? Time and numbers of people should cancel out a confirmation bias, I would suppose.

  This I ask in general, and not of a specific poster as, EdenOne.

  Thank you.
  
  
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  smiddy

  I cant speak for young people ,I didnt become a JW and begin praying to God until I was 19 .

  I was a JW for 33 years many of which I served as a MS

  Prayer was always a one way street , nobody was more devoted to the truth than I was as an active JW .

  I believed it hook line and sinker ,to the point I am now ashamed to admit I would have let my children die for the blood doctrine .

  And i still have difficulties coming to terms with that now .

  Millions of Christians pray to GOD whether its Jehovah or Jesus and to my knoweldge no GOD has ever answered anyone personally these past 2000 years ,

  And I think that would also apply also to non Christian religions and their Gods no God has ever spoken back to them.

  Isnt that proof enough that you have been speaking to an invisible friend ?

  An invisible friend that doesnt bother to communicate back to you ?

  An invisible friend that doesnt exist ? only in your imagination ?
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  stuckinarut2

  Great thread doubtfull1799!

  Yes indeed, praying, or wishing for divine intervention to resolve the issues in life is simply a way to "outsource" responsibility.

  Relying on an imaginary divine friend, no matter how sincerely we believe or wish him to be there, doesn't ensure his existence.

  I have found that witnesses, (myself included) simply took no interest in the world around us, or responsibility for it, because we could just "rely on God's Kingdom" to fix everything!
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  Ucantnome

  I’ve always considered myself a very mature person, I was very serious and driven, even as a teenager. But I’m just now realising that one doesn't fully grow up until one says goodbye to their invisible friend!

  I pray.

  I pray that I always appreciate prayer and God has always answered my prayer.

  I believe I read on a previous post that you were an elder. When I was a witness I believe some thought I was not spiritually mature as I was not an elder.

  I think that a large proportion of the world's population pray