i want to believe...

by candidlynuts 10 Replies latest jw friends

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  candidlynuts

  the following is an excerpt from a larry king interview with the author of the book " The purpose driven life".

  have to say there's a story in the Bible where Jesus is walking down the street, and a guy comes up to him, he's got a daughter who's sick. And Jesus goes -- he goes, "I need you to heal my daughter." And Jesus said, "Do you believe I can heal her?" And he goes, "I want to believe. Help me with my doubt." And Jesus goes, "That's good enough," and he heals his girl.

  do you think wanting to believe is enough? if the wtbs had the power to heal what would they expect from this man before they would extend themselves to heal the girl?
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  JW83

  I think that is the sort of feel-good spirituality that attracted most of us to the Witnesses, & is ostensibly what it is all about. However, in reality, the WTS is a dictatorial 'works' machine, piling rules & guilt onto our lives. Give me a simple Jesus story any day! Make love not war ...
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  mjl

  You have to believe, and get 10+ hours a month.........
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  upside/down

  and be willing to "swallow".

  u/d
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  JamesThomas

  Most people -- if they had the power -- would heal the worlds suffering anonymously without any need for declaration of "belief" or acceptance.
  
  So, are everyday people more loving than Jesus, or is the Bible's revelation of Divinity way too limited and small? Does the Bible god wear any clothes? Can we really blame people who follow the Bible for their shortcomings since they pattern themselves after mediocrity?
  
  
  j
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  missy04

  do you think wanting to believe is enough? if the wtbs had the power to heal what would they expect from this man before they would extend themselves to heal the girl?

  I think that wanting to believe is enough, yes.

  Not sure what the WTBS would require, though. Glad it was Jesus and not a Gov. Body member walking down the road.
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  candidlynuts

  no kidding!

  this just stood out to me, so many times i've been tortured with the thought that since i'm not going to 5 meetings a week, getting 10 hours a month in service, studying the watchtower and bookstudy, and being able to maintain my home and family to a high standard that i was displeasing god and i was a failure.

  this is soothing, like matt 11:30.. " my yoke is easy and my burden is light"........as a jw that scripture was never fulfilled..it was always hard to do everything i was supposed to do. which when i said something to an elder about it i was told i wasnt doing enough and i should pray more. (standard answer to any problem)

  its freeing to be able to look around at what other religions think about God, what people who dont have religion think about God and its even beneficial to hear what people who dont believe in God at all think.and not be condemned for reading/ talking to people of different faiths without trying to sell them a watchtower!
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  Honesty

  If believing is good enough for Jesus but not the WTBTS then I say someone in this sentence has a very big problem.
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  GentlyFeral

  JamesThomas,

  Most people -- if they had the power -- would heal the worlds suffering anonymously without any need for declaration of "belief" or acceptance.
  So, are everyday people more loving than Jesus, or is the Bible's revelation of Divinity way too limited and small?

  The latter, I'm pretty sure. Although the Bible insists that God/Jesus is all-powerful, I don't think that's true. I don't think Jesus would have asked for belief if he didn't need it to get the work done. Remember that one passage where he says that he couldn't do any miracles in his hometown because no one took him seriously.?

  It took faith, but not much: only a toehold, a desire to believe, was necessary. The will or desire to believe is an interesting phenomenon. It suggests a fundamental trust in the worthiness of the thing one would like to believe in. Which, I've been told, is what was originally meant by "faith." Was Jesus actually asking, "Do you trust me?"

  Back to the so-called divine omnipotence again: just because it's in the Bible doesn't mean it's true. When Spirit gets filtered through human brains, it often picks up extraneousnesses in translation. (Sometimes that's the point, but that's another riff for another day.)

  gently feral
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  JAVA

  The bookstores are full of ?diet? and ?God loves you? books. The diet and God books sell because we eat too much (or eat the wrong foods), and we want to be loved. Is ?wanting to believe enough? to lose weight? Try that and watch the scales. Does ?wanting to believe? that God/Jesus healed someone make it so? Walk through any graveyard for the answer. If the Tower had the power to heal, they would be impossible to live with; they already think they speak for the Big Guy!