kairos 15 hours ago
Nazca lines?
also fake?
Oregon desert Sri Yantra?
Open your minds!
We just left a cult!!
Crop circles aren't fake and neither are the Nazca lines. They are real things... made by real people.
I left the cult due to developing critical thinking skills. When you apply those skills to claims such as crop circles and the Nazca lines are made by aliens, those claims collapse pretty fast.
alone, without my safety net of "god" being there to remember me when i die.
after much consideration, examining science, history and using logic, i have come to the conclusion that there is no "god" at least certainly no loving, personal "god.
" shortly before my final conclusion was reached, i read an excerpt from an expression attributed to marcus aurelius, .
truth_b_known , I used Conan and his god Crom in an argument on the evolution of deities with a JW relative.
The key quote is when Subatai says to Conan: "My god is the eternal sky... your god lives beneath my god."
That's all it is: The gods are just different societies playing god top trumps over time. That's why pantheons haven't survived, one god that can do everything that the individuals of a pantheon can do is stronger, more impressive.
This also explains why gods become less directly involved over time and more remote and enigmatic.
Ok, that's my theory. Now maybe someone who knows their stuff can tear it apart? :)
alone, without my safety net of "god" being there to remember me when i die.
after much consideration, examining science, history and using logic, i have come to the conclusion that there is no "god" at least certainly no loving, personal "god.
" shortly before my final conclusion was reached, i read an excerpt from an expression attributed to marcus aurelius, .
Nice quote, kind of a reverse Pascals Wager. :)
I'm technically agnostic, but I tell anyone who asks that I'm atheist. I'm convinced that no god that's presented to me by another person can or does exist. That goes for any god proposed in any book written by people as well.
As to whether some kind of non-interventionist creator made the universe and maybe even has a plan for the future, I don't know and can't know. Some people call that "Ignostic" but I think there's enough confusion going on as it is without bringing in made up terms!
I feel that this has brought me closer to "truth" and I feel more comfortable now that I'm living according to my principles. If I die and against expectation, find myself before the throne of god, I will feel confident in saying "Dude, you have some seriously bad PR guys down there on Earth."
i have, for about 6 months now, been trying to watch every single movie that was "cool" or interesting since 1960.it started out with a desire to watch as an adult all disney movies.
then it morphed into all bond movies (except for the non-canonicals).now it's turned into pretty much any and all movies.
here is my list, scratched out are ones i have seen, green are recent next-in line.turns out there was a lot i had never seen before, about 70% because of the cult restrictions!
Hi,
I'd like to second slimboyfat's recommendation of Pan's Labyrinth. In fact I would recommend all of Guillermo Del Torro's films, particularly The Devil's Backbone.
Also, if you are a fan of Judge Dredd, skip the 1995 Stallone film, skip it so hard you find it difficult to stop skipping. There's a 2012 film called Dredd which is much more true to the source starring Karl Urban who doesn't take his helmet off. :)
just wanted to thank everyone so much for all your responses to my first post.
i am overwhelmed by all the replies and supportive comments that came through overnight while i was asleep here in aussie land!.
i will absolutely endeavour to reply to each one individually but it will take some time as there are a lot to go through.
"There are a few special and close friends though that are exceptions to that rule that I hope will be loyal to our friendship, but that of course remains to be seen. "
Hi Doubtful, welcome aboard if I haven't said that already, I'm half asleep due to a baby who didn't want to sleep himself last night!
Just wanted to give my personal experience on the comment you made above. I had some really close friends when I was a JW, but only one has kept contact since I left (not disfellowshipped, just left). One other sends single responses to texts I send, but doesn't engage. Even the one true friend goes silent after getting an indoctrination session on the perils of bad association and I just have to wait it out until he calls again.
In fact, from looking on this forum at the assembly literature reviews I can predict when this will occur.
i would like to have your opinion on something if you don't mind.
my girlfriends dog, a scottish terrier, is a wonderful lovable dog about fiveyears old.
my girlfriend owns a hair salon and takes her dog with her and the dog greets clients very lovingly.
The humans could be innocent but look like the postman that regularly comes to the dogs house. Or there could be a bad association with something the human smells of.
Simple solution. Make the humans get out.
many of us have had the experience of trying to share our knowledge of the dark side of the watchtower with those we love, only to have it end badly with the person getting deeply upset and refusing to believe any of it.
a new study might shed some light on the problem.
this brain study looked at what happens when someone's belief system is challenged.
Tor,
That article is arguing that questioning a persons beliefs activates the areas of the brain involved with self identity. It's nothing to do with pride, but rather that peoples beliefs are linked to peoples sense of self.
So it's not an aspect of personality, like pride, that makes people resistant to change, but a fundamental way that human brains work.
wow.
wow.
wow.someone just sent me a scan of the boonville advertiser newspaper in which it mentions j.f.
Jeffro, you would do well to remember 1Cor 13:1 - "If I post three times in a row in a thread, but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal."
You've posted FIVE times. You're too invested in proving your point in an argument that you say doesn't matter.
For what it's worth I agree with your position, while there is evidence, there is no proof. I, however, am happy to wait for the further investigations of ILoveTTATT2 to see what other interesting information they can dig up.
i've noticed several posts recently claiming that jw friends and family members give out conditional love.
well, i'm not so sure that is entirely accurate, in fact, i would say they tend to be very steadfast in their love.
the issue is this, they have been taught a poor form of love.
What you are describing that thing they have, and that god has, is not love! It's practically the opposite of love... it's evol.
"Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;"
That's Shakespeare that is!
8 months df'd.
loving a life of freedom.
however, my family are all shunning me.
P.E. Do you know any of the Non-JW's that your mother has told that you are dead? Might be worth dropping in on them and saying hi. If nothing else, it will highlight just how truly fucked up your mothers behaviour is.
Cutting off contact in NO way makes you as bad as the witnesses! You are being subjected to abusive behaviour and are completely within your rights to take that whole toxic ball of string and throw it away.
