outbutnotdown

Joined

• started 42 topics
• posted 524 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by outbutnotdown

• 
  10

  Does extreme hardship tend to bring out the best in people?

  by outbutnotdown in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been going through what can only be described as some extreme hardship lately.

  some of my posts lately explain it.

  my friends are surprised that i am dealing with it as well as i have been because, quite frankly i have never been considered to be a very patient person.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  outbutnotdown

  Corvin,

  I can relate to your feelings. I can understand why you've done what you did. Despite other people questioning you..... sometimes even myself............. despite being in a similar situation to yours..... I think you have fought a brave fight. I believe that you will reap the rewards that you deserve.

  Just remember that a lot of people who have made a big difference in the world weren't really recognized until after the fact. A lot of other people, quite frankly quit before reaping the reward of seeing the big picture and trusting in it. There was always a lot of criticism towards these people. From my personal experience, all we can do is trust our intuitions about what is the right thing. Sometimes we even have to defy what others perceive as "normal" to accomplish what, years later, people accept as gospel.

  God, (or whoever) bless you Corvin. There have been and always will be people who question your tactics. It's your drive to achieve what is good and pure that will stand above the tactics.

  Brad
• 
  774

  Freedom to Choose God

  by UnDisfellowshipped in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  come to the wedding.

  ' for i say to you that god is able to raise up children to abraham from these stones.

  ' for i say to you that god is able to raise up children to abraham from these stones.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  outbutnotdown

  Why didn't God create Adam and Eve simultaneously? Why did he create Adam where Adam was capable of becoming lonely? God was certainly not very good at seeing the big picture, was he?

  Brad
• 
  86

  Suicide.... how do you view people who "attempt" it?

  by outbutnotdown in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  anybody who has read my other recent posts...... don't worry, this is absolutely not about me feeling that way... i'm very happy, thanks..... .

  my roommate, however, had a friend who committed suicide a couple of weeks ago and she just broke up with her boyfriend and he was saying things similar to what the guy who committed suicide awhile back was saying just before he took his life.

  it is freaking her out.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  outbutnotdown

  Flower, you said:

  People who assume its a ploy or attention seeking stunt or manipulation simply have never really been there. Some people think they are so important that everything someone does must be about them. Their attitude is if someone tries to end their life it must be just to hurt me somehow. Thats just because most people cant comprehend feeling that bad. But it is possible to truly believe that it is the best thing for everyone.

  I'm sure there are a few nutcases out there who 'pretend' attempts just for attention from a loved one but that is not a suicide attempt. If we are talking about real attempts from people in real emotional pain..they should be helped.

  I made a post on this topic yesterday about how my father "attempted" suicide when I was six and then told the family that if I hadn't "found" him, he would have taken more pills to definitely ensure that he died. I spent the next twelve years or so "saving" his life.

  The reason I put the little "quotation marks" around certain words is because when I was about 21 I finally realized that he was, as you say, "a nutcase who pretend attempts just for attention from a loved one but that is not a suicide attempt."

  It seems as though you expect people to be able to make an automatic determination of whether it is the real thing or fake. I know, at six I certainly didn't and it wasn't for any reason other than that I was six, for pete's sake. But even if I was 16 or 26 or 36, I'm not sure that I or other people should be able to just pass this off so easily as you suggest.

  I think some of what you said is correct, however, the way that I read your comment you would do well to show a little more empathy to the other people involved in a suicide, either attempted or successful.

  Brad
• 
  13

  Watchtower Quote

  by TowerWatch in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'm trying to find the quote where it was stated in the watchtower that without the watchtower publications one could not come to a knowledge of the truth.

  something like "if you read the studies in the scriptures for two years with out the bible you could learn the truth but if you read just the bible for two years they would lose the truth".

  can anyone help.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  outbutnotdown

  I love that quote!!! Not because it has one ounce of truth to it, but because it is one of the most damning pieces of evidence that Russell was swaying people to close their minds and let him and the rest of his successors control their evey move.

  What percentage of people, do you think are still JW's, that have actually read it? I hope I would not have stayed had I read it when I still was, but to be honest I probably would have.

  Brad
• 
  10

  Does extreme hardship tend to bring out the best in people?

  by outbutnotdown in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been going through what can only be described as some extreme hardship lately.

  some of my posts lately explain it.

  my friends are surprised that i am dealing with it as well as i have been because, quite frankly i have never been considered to be a very patient person.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  outbutnotdown

  Steve,

  I could never figure out what BTTT meant and I knew someday I would be informed of it...... it just happened to be, ironically, when I was guilty of it..... Back To The Top, right?

  It wasn't ONLY about that. It was also just a minor way to demonstrate the bigger point I was trying to make.

  Just some other points on the similar topic, religions have been formed based on major hardships. Christianity being the most obvious to me. Jesus was a martyr, (the ultimate hardship), which made him bigger than real life and turned him into a god-like person and eventually God, (from my opinion of how Christianity was formed.)

  Although my original intent was to praise those who have overcome great obstacles, it has happened on a bigger than personal scale for milleniums. Even the JW's have that part of "human nature" built into their teaching, to a certain extent. How many of us didn't believe we were that much more right each time we had someone question us in service or whatever? The greater the objection the more we felt correct.

  But I digress, and get back to my original purpose of this topic, even if it is stalling in the popularity polls.....

  Congrats to all who have taken negative situations and turned them into great attitudes towards life.

  Brad
• 
  29

  Moral Absolutes??

  by StinkyPantz in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  in your opinion are there any?

  i say, 'in your opinion' because we all define morality differently.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  outbutnotdown

  Euphenism,

  What an excellent way to put it. I definitely couldn't have said it any better myself.

  Brad
• 
  10

  Does extreme hardship tend to bring out the best in people?

  by outbutnotdown in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been going through what can only be described as some extreme hardship lately.

  some of my posts lately explain it.

  my friends are surprised that i am dealing with it as well as i have been because, quite frankly i have never been considered to be a very patient person.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  outbutnotdown

  Ok, this topic is about to go off the "active topics" screen and no one has responded yet and I'm getting really pissed off!!!!

  OOPS, remember what this post is about, Brad......how stressful and traumatic situations make us/give us the opportunity to become better... in the big picture.

  PATIENCE, PATIENCE, PATIENCE........

  Brad
• 
  52

  Is Imperfection the same as Sin?

  by jgnat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  lately i have made some pretty bold statements about the value of dialogue.

  so i thought i would put it in to practice.

  i've picked this topic, one i have not studied out thoroughly.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  outbutnotdown

  Happy Guy,

  I was not specific enough about what I meant. I meant I was with you on the fact that there are better things to do today than to discuss a topic that, as another poster said was similar to the never ending question of what came first, the chicken or the egg.

  BOTH, by the way, tasted great today, at lunch.

  Brad
• 
  10

  Does extreme hardship tend to bring out the best in people?

  by outbutnotdown in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been going through what can only be described as some extreme hardship lately.

  some of my posts lately explain it.

  my friends are surprised that i am dealing with it as well as i have been because, quite frankly i have never been considered to be a very patient person.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  outbutnotdown

  I have been going through what can only be described as some extreme hardship lately. Some of my posts lately explain it. My friends are surprised that I am dealing with it as well as I have been because, quite frankly I have never been considered to be a very patient person. They have seen me getting better in the patience department through all this, even though it seems that some of them think I would have snapped by now.

  It has also caused me to appreciate my children more, enjoy all of the times with them even more, whether it is just quietly reading a book with them or raking the leaves or cheering them on at soccer and hockey.

  From my observation on this forum, the same thing seems to be coming true over and over. It seems like the people who have gone through the most are the most loving and the most objective in discussions, where some others are more argumentative and a little more close-minded. This post is not intended to accuse any people, but if you wish to mention those who you feel have been loving and objective, feel free to express yourself.

  Is this "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" just something inherent in human nature or is it because of the fact that these people have made the conscious decision to not let themselves become embittered towards the world despite these times when the option to hate the world seems justified?.

  For those who feel that they have grown spiritually through their hardships feel free to "toot your own horns'.. .... you deserve the respect and a good lesson can be learned by the rest of us at the same time.

  Brad
• 
  29

  Moral Absolutes??

  by StinkyPantz in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  in your opinion are there any?

  i say, 'in your opinion' because we all define morality differently.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  outbutnotdown

  "Thou shalt not kill"....maybe????????????. I'm not a big supporter of the Bible but that one seems about as "absolute" as you can get. Of course there are always those who will say you sometimes have to kill.... in war or to survive an attacker yourself, but if that attacker believed in not killing you in the first place or if the other party responsible for the war felt the same way, there would still be no reason to kill, would there?

  It always makes me think of that movie "Pay It Forward" where the child tries to start a movement of doing good things first and just trusting that it will come back to you. I'm not sure if the writer, by ironically having the boy killed in the end, was suggesting that that utopian possibility will never be "absolute" or not, but it might at least contribute to the world becoming a little more loving/peaceful.

  (So many questions, and only a few personalities within myself to answer them. )

  Brad