hmike:
Sorry the reference is lost on me. Is that a TV program?
Classic:
I'm afraid your going to have to stop speaking for me and my alleged motivations. I don't tolerate that
Tetra:Ironically, I'm a sceptic. However events of exactly four years ago this morning completely shattered my paradigm. They were followed up with further events, including such "apparitions". Ok, I made up all the details, including the drink bit, but setting that aside I feel certain that Macallans of Glenmorangie would be far more preferable than Laphroig
I should also add that I work in the health service and have access to doctors, including mental health specialists, all day long. The nearest I've come to a mental health episode was just prior to separating from my wife (in fact the physical factors that might have given rise to the potential for it precipitated our separation), but that's another story.
I'm not going to do an FMZ and lay my life history out on a plate for disection, because in cold text such things rarely make great reading - you simply cannot put them in words. I did feel that you deserved a word of explanation as to why someone who claims to be a sceptic could also be a believer. It's because I have seen things with my own eyes!
My interpretation might be considered suspect (it's certainly subjective), but without the same input noone else is in a position to question it. Nonetheless, I do completely accept that my proof is not your proof. A further irony is that many would say that if they just had such and such an experience it would convince them, or they would say this or do that. Allow me to assure you that it's egotistical poppycock (IMHO). If it were to have half the effect on another that it had on me, you'd be struck dumb.
I'll throw this at you, however. It's my understanding that such "power encounters" (as some portions of the Christian world labels them) have been happening on a frequent basis in the Middle East, where the individuals had little or no knowledge of Christianity, or where they have it's anathema to them. They claim a wide range of experiences, including being approached and taught.
Some claim to he told a name (what's the Arabic for Jesus? Yahshuah?), others later meet up with Christians and find their beliefs in accordance with what they now hear, to a scale that precludes other religions (which isn't too hard, given that Christianity has some fairly unique doctrines, on a worldwide scale of religion, these days).
Lots of claims, including my own. But it perhaps highlights that the spiritual community isn't just made up of a bunch of airheads who go to church on Sunday and swallow one ancient manuscript or another whole. There's certainly far more going on in the world than we were lead to believe as JWs.
So, simply stated, the world isn't easily divided into sceptics and believers...
