Posts by the dreamer dreaming

26

Would a Father really destroy His children for disobeying and arrogance?

by Judas I. in

even go so far as to torment them forever?

how could that ever be justified?.

would that be also admitting failure as a father by resorting to that?.

the dreamer dreaming

are we all really the same in that all can be convinced to serve god given the right information or enticements, etc... if so, is it just laziness on God's part to withhold what it would take to get us to obey?

if we are not all the same and some are just born bad seed, is it really their fault that they were born that way, and once again, is it not laziness on God's part not to do what it takes to fix them?

are we more than very sophisticated machines? if not, then an all wise god could fix any one of us if he wanted to...and if we are more, than we should not be treated as disposable by a god....

seems to me that no god of human documentation lives up to more than human frail imaginings without any real answers.

38

Are JWs Discouraged From Seeing The Da Vinci Code?

by Seeker4 in

jw
friends

in another post on the da vince code, it starts by saying that the wts doesn't want the witnesses to see that movie.

does anyone know if this is true?

where has it been stated?

the dreamer dreaming

perhaps the biggest fear of the churches is that people, in trying to find THE TRUTH, will discover the really dirty secret... the more you dig the more you find the possibility that the entire gospel is a work of fiction and Jesus is just a re-write of older myths like Mithras, Dionysius, Bacchus, Adonis, Apollo, Tammuz, Osiris and others.

26

Would a Father really destroy His children for disobeying and arrogance?

by Judas I. in

even go so far as to torment them forever?

how could that ever be justified?.

would that be also admitting failure as a father by resorting to that?.

the dreamer dreaming

Deut 21 -- the jews were commanded to have their children murdered by the city elders if they

could not be brainwashed...

of course there is no record of anyone being sick enough to carry this out....

but the results of laxity are also evident...just about all cultures eventually fall apart from being either too permissive or too demanding.

with the advent of monotheism, some notable improvements may be the lumping of all fears together into just the fear of God...which may have helped the human race quite a bit.... there were many tribes of people plagued by multple god fears and living deseperate lives trying to satisfy all of these different gods with their different tempermants and desires according the traditions and religion of the peoples involved.

with monotheism came pantheism, agnosticism and atheism.... without which much of our present world might still be in the dark ages

43

Overheard at the Book Study

by under_believer in

jw
friends

here are a few comments that i overheard at this week's book study (of the third chapter of the bible teach book), and the thoughts i had after hearing them: .

conductor: "as food shortages become more and more common as the time of the end advances, they will make excellent field service points since they were predicted by the bible.

me: great.

the dreamer dreaming

light apertures are all find and well, but what or who is a posterior aperture?

33

Why can we LOSE our Religion, but not LOSE it's effects on us?

by gumby in

another thread inspired by me chatting with our sweet little mary.... we who have exited the jehovahs witnesses religion, are now convinced we made the right move.

most of us have no doubt this religion is a destructive, cultlike religion that we wouldn't wish on anybody....and yet,.

....we still suffer the effects it had on us.

the dreamer dreaming

In my personal case however, I feel I was hoodwinked twice. I exited the dubs right into christianity without first looking at christianity from a sceptical viewpoint.......it NEVER entered my mind to do so. That's another subject I won't get into.

you are not alone, my first impulse was OK if not JWs then who? it never occurred to me that NO ONE might be the right answer

33

Why can we LOSE our Religion, but not LOSE it's effects on us?

by gumby in

another thread inspired by me chatting with our sweet little mary.... we who have exited the jehovahs witnesses religion, are now convinced we made the right move.

most of us have no doubt this religion is a destructive, cultlike religion that we wouldn't wish on anybody....and yet,.

....we still suffer the effects it had on us.

the dreamer dreaming

all judgements are in reference to a standard.... and JWs are good at implanting an ideal uber-dub as the standard of comparison.

anything that approaches that standard is good what harms it is evil...

society, religion and traditions from birth on ward invisibily and often unnoticably implant their own ideals into us and they all form a self-created ideal world and citizen of that world and that forms the true standard of our lives and yet is it valid? most never even see it and thus never challenge it...they assume that it is true because their entire being tells them it is true by emotional responses to their actions and the actions of others and these are difficult to question.

until and unless one challenges oneself to why he feels as he does he may never see these hidden ideals.

31

Do you regularly lie?

by JH in

jw
friends

although i love my parents, very often they lie to try to get out of a jam.

then they have to lie again to cover the first lie.

and often for really stupid reasons, they will lie instead of saying the truth and being direct.

the dreamer dreaming

as I am not sure that everything I know is not my own minds invention [dreams]... If it is only a dream, then I would only be lying to myself and if its more than a dream I would still be lying to my representations of others which is still me and they would know I lied to them...

so I never lie unless its absolutely convenient.

3

Watchtower Defeat By The "Unthinkable" Crumbling

by metatron in

jw
friends

take a look at the trends in recent years and you can see a pattern of the "unthinkable" becoming reality, in witness-land.. watchtower subscriptions being ended ( after most of 120 years) - done.

bethelites laid off en masse after being told of staying for life - done.

the awake downsized - done.

the dreamer dreaming

dont you worry, with so much real estate and money on the line, someone will come up with something.

25

How Do I Get Rid of these Thoughts?

by jwfacts in

though i no longer think like a witness i still think "that is what i would think if i was still a witness".. everytime i see a birthday party or christmas on tv i think "ohh, if i was a jw i would think they were pagan, and not really having fun.".

when i speak to someone at work and they say they got drunk or wasted on the weekend i think "oooh, if i was a jw i would be offended by that, but i don't really care anymore.".

i would much prefer to be able to take life for what it is, not constantly compare what it was with what it is and what i am thinking it will be.. any suggestions on how to erase the ridiculous notions that were drummed into me from birth?

the dreamer dreaming

ideal fantasies are implanted from perhaps even before birth.... many of them are hidden some are in plain sight...

the JWs seem to work by planting the ideal fantasy JW into our minds and having us compare everything we and others do to this magical super man, servant of God, Jesus [if they are pressed]... but the magical JW is more than Jesus... he carries a JW approved sachal filled with watchtowers, makes all five meetings [are they still five?] and prepares for them when he is not actively seeking out new additions to his spiritual family... he takes the lead in his home and disciplines his children with love...etc.etc... the uber-dub is very much alive within us for a long time after seeing that he is a sham.... though part of us may still admire him because of what we considered the good qualities of all humans even before becoming a JW because of other ideals that society, tradition and our own empathic system developed on its own.

19

What did Paul mean?

by AK - Jeff in

he stated; .

"all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, 17 that the man of god may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.

" 2 timothy 3:16,17. at the time of his writing this, much of what the universal [catholic] church later included in the now accepted nt canon was not written.

the dreamer dreaming

all scripture [everything ever written] is inspired by God [the search for ultimate reality]