i am bringing this up again, i an reading a book by a writer: eckhart tolle, called: the power of now - a guide to spiritual englightenment.
i like the book very, are there anybody that have read this book?
this book is just the best for me, and i hope you all will give it a chance.http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1577311523/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-2142971-5652126#reader-link.
I see Deepak Chopura endorsed the book. I haven't read it, but am reading "How to Know God" by Deepak Chopura. I go to a Unitarian Univeralist Church and we have a class called religious studies. Some of the folks in the group are atheist so we have some really interesting discussions.
I'll put your book on my wish list to pick up on my next amazon order.
Balsam
well i'm still here after 3 years.
compared to some people i don't talk a lot.
but then compared to others i might talk too much.. i've been wondering what to say on this anniversay.
Lady Lee,
Sent you a message. Thank for all your posts over the 3 years. I'm one who has been help immensely by them. I'm just one of the mostly silent ones. I read but post very little.
Balsam
(edit: i probably should have posted this in the "friends" section.
if there any mods out there who could do this, it would be much appreciated.
i've been lurking here for a little while now, and decided to make my presence known.. .
Hello there,
I've been emotionally free of the WTS now about 2 1/2 years. I was disfellowshipped 3 years ago. It has been wonderful strange as it may sound. LOL
Balsam
does anyone have any older jw books they are willing to let go of for fairly cheap?
i'm especially interested in the golden age and books of that era.
You can find old Watchtower literature on Ebay. I've bought a few things there. Used book stores sometimes have them too. Good luck. Also The International Bible Students, have many reprints of CT Russell's writings. Find them on the internet.
Balsam
the following is from a previous post.
i post it here again for new persons who may be wondering where else is there to go besides the wt organization.. to where shall i go?
this is a question that many jws seem to have when they are contemplating leaving the wt society.
When a person is raised or conditioned to trust another for direction, without the direction they feel lost. How does one direct themselves when they never have or have given up directing themselves?
A person has to learn, and that is what all of us are doing now we're out of the JW mental control. We now have to decide for ourselves what we will do, when we will do it and even change our minds as we move along in life. I know for myself, I went from trusting my parents direction, then a husbands direction then the husbands direction combined with direction from God. Well god as precieved by the JW's. My parents were entirely trust worthy, but my now ex-husband and the WTB&TS was not. My parents always told me not to trust religions, but I did anyway to my detriment.
Just thankful I have learned to think again for myself, it feels good. Have a husband now that wants my thoughts and direction. Encourages me to think for myself. As for religion, I like God much better without the so called inspired writtings.
Balsam
.
has being or associating with jehovahs witnesses made you more or less judgemental of people?.
has it been wiser to be judgemental or less judgemental?
As a JW I was surprisingly tolerant and broad minded witnesses would tell me. I think I am the same now, only better. My perspective is more open minded, but I do not take on everyones problems on myself, which I did as a JW. I don't feel the obligation to constantly be trying to fix other peoples problems. I let them work out their own problems now instead of my suggesting this or that as I used too. I don't listen as sympathetically perhaps as I once did either. I grew tired of the stress I let the JW life style put on me when it come to the so called friends. They were users, and the gave little back if anything.
I figure everyone is a product of his own choices, behaviors, and how they interact with others. It's their problem. I don't care, or perhaps it is that I have a barrier now I didn't have before. I don't place judgements too much on religions. I find though I don't like religion and their representation of what the think the divine is all about. I feel free to be myself. It's nice.
got this from wwww.watchtower-observer.org so true is freaky.
however, in his adams versus god, melbourne broadcaster phillip adams said in 1985 that, according to us studies, "jehovah's witnesses are more likely to be admitted to psychiatric hospitals than the general population".
"according to an article in the british journal of psychiatry," he said, "they are three times more likely to be diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia and four times more likely to be paranoid schizophrenics.
Well all the ones with mental illnesses in the JW I knew were all folks raised in it from birth. So if they were prone to mental illness then being raised in the JW's certainly made it worse. I know in the congregation I was in there was 6 people with various stages of mental illness, paranoid schizophenic, schizophenis, bi-polar, and some were real bad and out of touch with reality. The believe in Satan & demons seemed to have the most frightening impact on them all. They lived in terror all the time of satan & demons. I think in these cases religion is very much a problem for these people.
I remember one day looking around when they said "by their fruits we would know who had the truth", and seeing all these poor folks and thinking, well it is pretty obvious we don't have it. Too much mental illness, no way for folks to mentally healthy.
Bals
all men over forty should have their prostate examined regularly, especially those who view pornography without ejaculation.
*** g90 4/8 27 the prostate and its problems ***.
bible?s moral standard a protection.
Oh my gosh, I have never laughed so much at anything I've read on these boards, but this has been a real good one.
My God the shear ignorance of the WTS is just unbelieveable. Too funny.
Balsam
i've lived here for about 1 1/2 years and haven't seen a single jw.
i read all the posts where there have been run-ins, people called on, elders talked to, etc.
and couldn't hardly wait for my turn.
I finally ran into jw's after being out for 3 years. I took their magazines and told them to come back anytime. I am polite to them, and find basically the gal is only interested in developing a magazine route. Which is fine with me. I feel sorry for her utter ignorance is thinking the whole world is laying the the power of Satan who is nothing more than a figment of some very active and frightened bible writer, right along with his God Jehovah being imaginary.
I do like keeping up with current information, since I work with those coming out of the WTS organization.
Balsam
i know, i know this is kind of a morbid subject but the subject actually came up between my husband and i the other night.
we have two completely different backgrounds and we have discovered that we want diff.
things to be done to us when we die.
Double Edge & Gladtobefree
Thank you both for your kind words. Losing a child is inexplicable for me. It is something a parent survives though you may wish you didn't.
Our perpectives of death changes with each experience I find. I think each will do the best we can by our loved ones.
Balsam
