hi all, forgive me and my n00bness if this has been discussed, or if i started this thread in the wrong place.
how does everyone feel about death,and what happens to you afterward?
do you still believe what the wts teaches?
I have no qualms with dying. Its a natural part of our existence. I'm sure that if I had any children or a wife, though, I'd want to be a part of their lives for as long as they could stand me.
A large part of me thinks there's no afterlife, and agrees with the views in Ecclesiastes. But there's a part of me that hopes that within many of us is the spark of the divine, and that on death, it'll manage to attain or re-attain its intended state.
wts has quite a few traits which are typical of totalitarian systems.
many of them have been demonstrated on this board (labeling, shunning, monopoly on truth, propaganda, indoctrination, polarization of reality etc.)..
there is one more aspect of the wts religion which can also be observed in most totalitarian systems and that is the system of granting privileges.
I wholeheartedly agree that for most, the privileges are filling a need for self-actualization. The Org has demonized all other non-cult sources that could provide this need. Effectively, all these people have left is this self serving Org. But I'd have to also say from my own personal experience that there's been a sharp decrease in willing dupes, vying for these positions.
i told my parents i dont believe in god, i dont believe in all this mystical stuff it seems like magic to me.
i like science better, i believe in the big bang, and evolution.
my keeps asking for proof, he says he has the bible.
Ha! Ha!
I'll take what I can get Doc!
I was so satisfied with classical mechanics, but nnnnnooooooooo, reality always has to be just a step more complex doesn't it?
Take care
i told my parents i dont believe in god, i dont believe in all this mystical stuff it seems like magic to me.
i like science better, i believe in the big bang, and evolution.
my keeps asking for proof, he says he has the bible.
Hi Doc,
I think you'll find that nearly everyone on this board will agree to having less than absolute knowledge and understanding. Ergo, hardly anyone says they can prove they're right about any topic. Most of the posters I find here take the very practical approach of just sifting out whats shown to be bogus. Just like you were advocating.
You have a very clear understanging of the relationship between theory and fact. So I'm sure you'll agree that the phenomenon of speciation is an observable fact. Under74 makes a good point. We're using words as they're commonly understood. But if we're ever getting very detailed in discussion, then you've got a point with being more specific. Lokking forward to readng more from you.
i told my parents i dont believe in god, i dont believe in all this mystical stuff it seems like magic to me.
i like science better, i believe in the big bang, and evolution.
my keeps asking for proof, he says he has the bible.
Its evolution by natural selection that's theoretical. The modelling is for the mechanisms or the contributing causes/factors to those changes. Descent with modification is a fact though.
Even the JWs have to agree to at least one evolutionary burst shortly after the Flood. One pair of ancestors from one cat "kind" giving rise to descendants of different genera and species is speciation. They postulate a form of hyper evolution.
i've been brought up as a jw, and i am now 20 years old, am away from home at university and have an agnostic boyfriend.
not your ideal jw girl by any means!
all my jw mates are baptised now, and i've managed to hold off til now.
Welcome to the board Gerbils.
I got baptized soon after highschool, and I still regret it. Others may have sincerely believed all or at least some of the JW teachings, but I never found myself really believing any of their unique teachings. But I allowed my need for acceptance from my father and all the other people I grew up with (all JWs) get the better of me. I even thought that there has to be something lacking in me.To make myself feel better I tried to make the step have some kind of personal meaning. I hoped that it could be a start on to a "spirituality" I never felt before, if only I really tried this time. But answering "yes" to the clause about "god's spirit directed organization" only made me feel like a hypocrite. What I've been all along. What I still feel like today. Getting baptized doesn't make anything easier in the long run. You're legally and socially bound to the control of the Org.
You're not a coward to me. I admire your resolve and those of others who have never allowed themselves to be coerced into something they don't believe in. The inner strength to make a principled stand. That says volumes about character. You owe yourself freedom. The world also needs as many principled people as it can get. Stick around on this board and you'll find plenty of others here just like you.
do you believe the bible is the word of god?
i ask because i believe it's important for searching jws who come here to not only learn if there are christians here but also to hear from them personally what their thoughts on the bible are.
i believe the bible is the word of god, do other chriatians here also believe that?.
Leo
I really wanted to tell her how wonderfully insightful she was, but my job as the substitute, was just to collect and supervise, or else I'd have given her an A+. You never know where you'll come across expressions that can move you. I'd have to say that I was the one being taught that day. But some students are just incorrigible.
my wife and i live in a rather small town.
around 5500 residents and about another 2 to 3 thousand on the outskirts.. we have a very good hospital here, considering the size of the county and residents.. my wife is a nurse and now is the office mgr.
of the home health dept.. it seems that there is no end to the several things the hospital is involved in that call for volunteers.
This was a great read. It sickens me to think about how the jw congregation treated one publisher (long time pioneer), that eventually was overcome by her schizophrenia. I'm sickened by how I sometimes reacted to her.
You'll know them by their fruits.
threads, posts within threads...life events, doctrine, hopes, dreams, drama.....what causes you to post here?
what do you feel you get from it?
or give to others?.
Because on this board I've found a wonderful community of people that I can openly share my thoughts with and they manage to elicit the whole range of human emotions within me. I know that I will not be shunned for my views but instead can expect enlightening discussions and counterpoints. Hopefully, sooner rather than later I can also give back something of worth to those on this board.
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do any of you have the matrix wish i could just forget all this attitude sometimes?
me and the wife were fightitng again and she asked why i can't just go back and pretend or just forget all this... she said as an athnostic you either don't belive in god or don't believe that god cares so why can't you just go and fake it... i was dumbfounded i ask her why can't you just get the f*ck out and stop faking it... she stormed out and i sat down here..... so i ask ya, if you could forget all the negatives about the wbts (i know thats a lot) and just go back like nothing had ever happened would you?
No way.
I had a dream once at a very young age (can't say for sure if I was 5-6). In it, I had gotten an awesome little hotwheels car for being a good boy. I can still to this day remember it in detail. Anyway, in the dream, I tucked it in the corner of my closet behind a whole bunch of boxes and stuff that my mother also kept in there. Well when I woke up, I had trouble figuring out whether I had really gotten the car or not. But the lure of it being real got the better of me and I wasted a good deal of time in the closet trying to find this fictitious car. I was disillusioned with myself. From then on I've always been a bit more cautious about being fooled by myself or others. I've still got alot of in-built gullibility to work on.
