a former good friend of mine (devout jw still) came into where i work.
i knew she was there, so i went right up to her and said, "hi".
she said "hi" with sort of a sick look on her face, and i said "how are you?".
My sister-in-law who walked down the aisle pregnant after living with my brother for six months. Her sister who I believe was attempting to start her own United Nations, by having five kids out of wedlock, by five different men and nationalities. A regulat rainbow coalition. Her younger sister who actually did porno. Her two brothers, one who married a pioneer sister because he got her pregnant, and the other who caught herpes, hmmmm I wonder how?
ROFLMAO!! ahh,
"you must not boil a kid in its mother's milk" - huh?
why on earth did god feel the need to point this out?
was this a popular thing to do?
lol dave! thanks, i was just going to have a bowl of cereal too.
time and again the refrain is heard that belief and science are mutually exclusive, that belief somehow corrupts good science, that belief is not empirical.
i'd like to throw another slant on that, if i may.. belief is an inherent part of the human psyche.
the desire to know more about our environment and how it all works is also an inherent part of our psyche.
but beyond that, if you feel you can share, would you expound on specifically how you are changed?
mark,
the thread i made a week or so ago, the "smile" thread, really sort of sums up the fundamental change in my view of the cosmos. all i am saying is that i have realized the power of positive intention inside myself, and as a result in the universe too. but only because it is in me first. where before, the universe was indifferent to me. and i believe that one is only going to understand the outside universe to the extent that he understands the inside universe. iniverse. ;) and in this regard, daystar and i might be describing similar phenomena.
but it really is difficult to explain these experiences with words, because language is loaded with duality, and duality is not a phenomenon in the dimension, or bubble of consciousness i have started experiencing and exploring. language is good for explaining this current bubble of consciousness, self consciousness, and indeed some people believe that human self consciousness and language are pretty much one and the same. which is why we see paradox everywhere with our regular minds, because there is duality everywhere in our language, imho.
but in all of this, i am speaking of nothing more or less than the evolution of our own consciousness, as humans, which is a totally *natural* process. we once thought like animals (simple consciousness), but now think like humans (self consciousness). why should evolution stop at this level? after all, we are talking about the evolution of memes within a given human life span, as much or even more, as the genetic evolution of our frontal lobe.
i believe that different people experience different, and highly personalized, manifestations of this evolution. however, i believe it is ultimately the same thing, though they may beg to differ.
evolution, peace, sentience, love,
tetra
well since maybe you are no longer a jw any more..............you have that option!.
good idea?.
giving your sons or daughters to the "gods of war" .
lol, ya, hicks says it the way it is...
According to him anyone stupid enough to be in the millitary should be in the millitary, gay or otherwise.
been reflecting on this a little since yesterday, myself. even if a dumb and violent person were equal parts nature and nurture, there would still be a smaller chance of passing genes, or violent memes onto children, if say an iraqi decided to "defend his family" from the invading forces americans like to call heros of liberty and freedom.
Sometimes war comes to you.
i'm sure the iraqis and the afghanis would be the first to tell you this.
Do I believe that while we live in the present world, that God would be against a Christian defending himself IF someone else was the aggressor? NO
and i guess allah has no problem with a moslem defending himself IF someone else was the aggressor. ah, yes, and the wheels of cyclical dysfunction continue spinning around while the religious people all have "God on their side".
Frankly, I am getting tired of people thinking you are not a christian just because you are not picketing against wars
no. no, i never said you were not a christian.
but just for the record, you do understand where i am coming from, right? like, i have no god, so i want to make the world better now instead of in the future. you get where i am coming from, right? do you understand my frustration with religious people in this context lilly? in this whole conversation, have you put yourself in my shoes even once? and if you have, have you taken the time to turn around and just simply look at what you are saying to me about jesus making it all better, just for the saked of understanding where i am coming from? have you done this? because i know where you are coming from. i used to be a christian, and i used to believe the same things you do.
regards,
tetra
i recently read the spanish edition of the december watchtower on the anti-christ and i am still confused as to what jw's believe the anti-christ is.
i know they believe that the churches of christendom are part of it but the december watchtower did not specifically state so.
also what do jw's believe is the mark of the beast and the 666. i never really got a definite explanation on this even when i was a jw's.
i think that danny hazard was the anti-christ last time i checked on the cdrom.
incidentally, i met a guy this summer who sincerely believed he was the anti-christ. he made me listen to his whole schpeel about his life events, and how they fit in with prophecy. threw in a little numerology for good measure, and showed me the 666 tattooed on the back of his hand. impressive.
he was a nice guy though. from vancouver. liberals! sheesh.
tetra
this is really making me mad.
i write articles about different bible topics.
they are mostly geared to new christians to help them get a better understanding of basic doctrine, christian life, and christianity in the early church.
isn't plagarism and misrepresentation how a bunch of the bible was written anyways? (think gospels. think pentateuch.)
but ya, that is stealing. and stealing is bad. the bible says that god told moses to say that, and write that, but scholars are not so sure! mwa ha ha! it might have been a woman. lol! hey! karma!
well, (sigh), i say, time to open a can of that yahweh's old tyme whoop-ass on your "friend". (ahem)
tetra
end world hunger?
cure aids?
i'm leaning toward equal education for everyone, with heavy emphasis in the fields of science and history.
Salvia is legal here, tetra. Of course, if that's all there is, I think most of us would rather stay home than take very many trips.
it's legal here too, six. silly hey? but ya, i agree, don't leave the house on salvia! lol tetra
well since maybe you are no longer a jw any more..............you have that option!.
good idea?.
giving your sons or daughters to the "gods of war" .
i see what you mean lilly, and i used to feel the same way. i know i said i was done with the thread, but i am actually learning as i write and read here, so i will retract that statement. thank you.
But now, go and try to convince the rest of the world to do the same thing? Do you see what I mean?
yes, but i am trying anyways. sitting back and waiting for the other guy to change is not going to effect any change. if he won't change, that's his loss, not mine as well.
and then I am saying unless every other country does the same thing, it will not work.
but who is going to start the ball rolling? the weakest country on earth? or the most powerful?
if the US sent all their troops home tomorrow, it would start the ball rolling. if they then took all the money that they spent on military, and spent it on education and technology and world aid for the poor, i am not sure i buy that people would still be coming over here to bomb us. you'd be surprised what a huge gesture like that would do in the minds and hearts of the so-called enemies.
i do not deal in past and future. it is no help for me to say: 'well, too bad the americans didn't act differently towards the world for the last 200 years. and too bad the english didn't for the last 700.' and it's no help for me to say: 'well, someone else in the future will start the ball rolling, like maybe my children, or their children, or god, or whatever.'
i totally agree with you that it would take a major change in the hearts of all people. but this is why i, and others, are doing this with such earnestness. a change in the hearts of all, means starting with a change in the hearts of some.
i already know how the world works. it doesn't mean it has to stay that way. and you know why i feel this way, right? why i am standing up and doing, instead of not doing, right? it's because i don't have god, but i also love all living things equally and passionately.
i see what you're saying. and i'm sorry if i seem pedantic, or angry about this, or even rude. but if you knew me before, and compared it with now, you would see why i believe in the power of positive change in individual hearts.
about yhwh: as long as you do not use yhwh as an excuse to go to war, and to be violent, i have no problem with you, or others, talking about his violent ways. but as soon as he is used as an excuse for our own human behavour (regardless of his behavour), i have a problem with that.
And sometimes he had the Isrealites kill people, even whole nations. So how is it that I am not being a good Christian for stating otherwise?
you said it. i didn't. perhaps i am not sure who i am talking with anymore here. now i am not sure that you really do agree with me 100%, as you say you do.
if this god of yours does exist, then i would like to talk with him about my views on peace, and oneness, and equality, and unity, and last but not least: love.
but if you are willing to work towards peace by concentrating on the areas of our belief systems that overlap, then so am i.
take care,
tetra
i mentioned this in passing in a previous post.
i think it deserves its own topic.
any takers?
okay, apart from what JT has already expressed so well, i will give it a shot.
suffering is not what you think it is. suffering is actually a positive experience, if you can learn from it. but if it comes to you again, you do not run from it. that would we like skipping school! we should strive to come to an acceptance of suffering, and in doing so, it no longer is suffering!
an illustration as you requested:
suffering is like the water in a glass, and the glass is your mind. when you realize that the water is not poison, but that you can gain something from it, you can have it as such, or even add some koolaid for taste. if you find water in the glass agaian sometime, ask yourself how it was that you put water, or allowed someone else to put water in it again, but drink it down! you'll grow!
it would be folly to wait around for someone like god to come and empty the glass for you. but people who do not think they can learn from suffering often do just this.
there was a well known zen buddhist master who was diagnosed with cancer. when his students asked him why he was not upset at this "bad news", he replied something to the effect: "if i suffer, it will not be with pain and agony. if i suffer, don't worry about me, it is just Suffering Buddha."
acceptance transforms suffering into a miracle. fear of suffering is truly the painful thing, since fear is agony over the future. and the future doesn't exist. don't let your mind fool you.
peace,
tetra
<!-- .style1 { font-family: garamond; font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold; } .style2 { font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; } .style3 {color: #c5927f} --> a ghost from the past .
an ugly fight between two friends can damage a friendly relationship.
almost irreparably.
hi wanderer,
What would you do?
be his friend! :) show him the postive growth you have made as a person, and always give your old friends the benefit of the doubt. never give up on them, or in your possible anger and saddness, burn any bridges. after all, we were once them, weren't we?
oh, and congrats! :)
peace,
tetra
