by confusedjw 101 Replies latest jw experiences
I have to tell you something.
I really find it hard getting over the idea of no new system and all that it meant to me. To be with my children and their children forever in perfect health.
Too many days it just leaves me empty. I just wish I could shake it and enjoy life, but the idea that we just live for 70 years and die kills me.
I'm a live for tomorrow sort of guy I guess.
Yeah I hear you. That was one of the teachings that meant a lot to me. To me, it was kind of like one day the pressure will be off and we can relax and be safe.
It would sound stupid or strange anywhere else, but the past couple of years it's dawned on that one day I will die. I honestly never thought I would before.
I'd say today's and tomorrow's children (whether they are mine or not) are my future.
That's how mankind lived on from the very beginning, in spite of all dreams of individual eternity.
Getting over their promises took a long time, but I don't believe that "this is all there is." No way!
yes, I hear you loud and clear on this issue.
It took me a long time to get over the "bitterness" of realizing I was really NOT of the generation which would not experience death. I was taught I was going to liver forever. And I REALLY believed it.
So; when I left that religion in my early 20s, I had a lot of "catching up" to do and a lot of life to experience . I certainly made up for any lost time.
For a long time, I didn't feel worthy of inheriting Paradise Erf so it was pretty easy for me to get over that teaching. After a while, I had a difficult time imagining being in a world full of JWs and living like a slave. That particular teaching was easy for me to get over.
The hardest one to get over was that Armageddon wasn't coming. I knew I was going to die at Armageddon, and I was prepared to get killed by God. Now I have all this time ahead of me in my life! I will be able to buy a home (already done), get married (already done) and have children!
I really hope that there is something to the "light at the end of the tunnel and all is going to be okay" feeling that people have experienced. After all these years and back to square one.
Nowadays people live longer than 70. The important thing to remember is that you can only live in today. Don't run your life out as it is already over.
You don't know how many older JWs (75 plus) that I hear boohooing that the end has not come yet and they are getting older, sicker, and tired of waiting.
Knowing the difference you can take good care of the life you have.
And who says that life ends at 70?
Blondie
I view it as a mathematical miracle that I'm even here. Of all the possible combinations of sperm and egg, I was created.
I wasn't here before 1960. I probably won't be here after 2060.
But in between, I will embrace each day as a miracle.
And if the miracle of life includes some sort of continuation in another form or another place, I will embrace that miracle too.
WELL CONFUSED, I CERTAINLY UNDERSTAND YOUR FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS.
I WENT THROUGH A PERIOD OF THE SAME THINGS AS I GREW OLDER. THEN WHEN I REACHED MY 60s I FOUND MYSELF FACING THE REALITY OF MY OWN DEATH.
NEXT MONTH I WILL TURN 69 AND I GUESS I HAVE ACCEPTED BEING A MORTAL BEING. SINCE I DON'T HAVE THESE FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS AS OFTEN OR AS DISTURBING AS THEY WERE.
I THINK THIS CHANGE BEGAN WHEN I GOT PAST THE NEED FOR ABSOLUTE ANSWERS TO ALL THINGS.
THIS ABSOLUTISM IN THE JW'S TEACHINGS AND BELIEFS IS A CAUSE OF A LOT OF OUR EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS WITH LIFE AND ITS REALITIES. SINCE IN REAL LIFE THERE ARE VERY FEW, IF ANY ABSOLUTES.
REALLY, LIFE IS A CONSTANTLY CHANGING EXPERIENCE. NOTHING LASTS FOR EVER.
NOW I CAN PONDER THE SAME ISSUES DISCUSSED HERE AND AFTER A LITTLE THOUGHT, TELL MYSELF " SELF,GIVE IT UP AND ACCEPT -I DON'T KNOW- AS THE ANSWER".
SO I THINK THAT AS YOU GROW OLDER THESE DISTURBING THOUGHTS WILL NO LONGER BE A PROBLEM FOR YOU.
IN THE MEAN TIME, JUST "LOOK FOR" AND REALIZE AND PARTICIPATE IN AND ENJOY ALL THAT LIFE HAS TO GIVE.
I AM FINDING THAT SOME OF THE LITTLE THINGS THAT I WOULD PASS OVER BEFORE, ARE NOW CAUSING ME TO LAUGH AND HAVE WARM FEELINGS OF HAPPINESS.
THINGS SUCH AS SEEING A MOTHER OR FATHER AND TWO OR THREE CUTE LITTLE KIDS AND THEIR LAUGHTER AND ENERGY CAN BE ONE OF THE HIGH EVENTS OF THE DAY.
IF I LET AND ENCOURAGE IT.
Outoftheorg
