Posts by LisaRose

13

plagiarism in the bible- what I have learnt part one

by purrpurr in

i have recently been studying the myths and legends of other pre- jewish cultures.

such as babylonian, egyptian and greek.

these stories and beliefs are all pre dating the writing of the jewish torah and the new testament.

LisaRose

Yeah, it's kind of deflating when you realize the bible, something you once believed was sacred and inspired by God, was just a collection of modern urban legends of the time.

53

Spirituality

by Jonathan Drake in

if you are a current practitioner of some religious faith i would appreciate it if you abstained from this thread entirely.

im curious if anyone has had what could be discribed as a spiritual experience.

i'm currently reading sam harris book waking up and it's very good so far.

LisaRose

Well DJS, I don't agree with you, or as at least not 100%, but I would never push the dislike button because I don't agree with a poster.

I always wondered why some religious people reported some communication with God, I never felt that, so I wondered why they felt that way. Now that I meditate I think they are just feeling an altered state of consciousness brought on by meditation, only they weren't trying to meditate, they were praying. Of course they felt what happened was from God, since they were praying at the time. But people in every religion feel this, so it proves nothing about any particular religion, or that God exists.

I read an interesting article recently about an experiment. They had people live with out artificial light for several weeks. When it got dark they went to sleep or sat in the dark. Many people in the study started waking up after three or four hours. They then experienced an altered state, they felt very peaceful and aware and alive. Then they went back to sleep. Maybe this is what our ancestors experienced before artificial light became the norm and meditation and/or religion is just an attempt to get back what was lost. We know sleep is essential for good health, perhaps this altered state is just as essential.

I don't know if spirituality can exist for those that don't believe in God, but I am interested in the concept and plan to do further study. Of course it's just a feeling, and of course feelings can mislead you, but I also think it sometimes important to pay attention to them.

88

Damned if they do, Damned if they don't

by FusionTheism in

jw
friends

i see an attitude among some people here which is not very helpful.

i can understand it, but still, it's not constructive or helpful.. if you condemn the society for not changing, but then you also condemn them when they do change in a positive way, what incentive or motive does that provide for the people at the society to ever want to change for the better?.

also, what does that attitude look like to current witnesses who are having doubts?.

LisaRose

I get what you are saying, but you have to understand that many people here have been hurt by this religion, and when I say hurt, I mean our lives were changed forever in a very negative way. We gave years to this religion, years we will never get back. We have lost our families and friends and we have been treated as "diseased apostates". Then we realized everything we believed was a lie. This religion lied about their history of failed date predictions, they covered up child sex abuse and they broke up families with their practice of shunning.

What you see as changes for the better we see as phoney attempts to appear to improve, and only because they are losing members, and more importantly the money those people contributed. When this religion acknowledges that they covered up child sex abuse, when they admit their failed date predictions, when they stop treating women as second class citizens and when they stop breaking up families by their shunning, then we might have a discussion about improvements. Until then it's all just window dressing.

49

Brave high school student exposes abuse and corruption within Jehovahs witnesses

by Watchtower-Free in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdvt_gyq-ls&feature=youtu.be.

LisaRose

What a brave young woman. When many people either leave in shame or stay and live a lie she and her mother stood up and faced down the evil.

20

help catagorize my wife: I truely believe she suffers from cognitive dissonance and other things this stupid cult causes.

by goingthruthemotions in

i find it hard sometimes to get a good idea has to how to communicate with my wife when it come to this stupid cult.. she is born in and stopped attending for many years and got baptized later in life.

i truely believe she suffers from cognitive dissonance and other things this stupid cult causes.. here is a breakdown of what i gather to be where she is mentally.. * she calls the borg her faith.

here are actions that she does that go against her thoughts:.

LisaRose

Perhaps you can go to a counselor yourself. These are very difficult problems to tackle and there are no easy answers.

Avoiding talking about sensitive subjects never really solves anything, the emotions are still there, they just get hidden, resentments build up over time and kill the marriage. I was married to a disfellowshipped person for 28 years, we didn't talk about anything either and we are now divorced. He never owned to the damage he did by doing whatever he wanted, not just with the religion but other things too.

Your wife has a right to her feelings about this. Perhaps if you can find a way to let her feelings come out, she will feel better about the whole thing. She is suffering a loss, she has lost the marriage she thought she had. She needs to be allowed to grieve, only when she has done so can you both move on.

Just my 2¢.

29

Getting married when you are spiritually out

by 1tMakesNoSence in

i met this amazing girl about 6years ago at my local congregation.

i was 100% in back then.

about 3years ago i woke up spiritually and kept it undercover till a few months ago.. this girl is still very in (but she doesnt really do the things a reaaal jw should do.

LisaRose

Are you prepared for the possibility that your wife will want to raise your children in the religion? People often rebel as young adults but once they become parents they feel they must go back so their children won't die at Armageddon. Would you be OK with exposing your children to cult mind control and the resulting guilt and fear?

9

The visit with elder and wife outcome

by umbertoecho in

where to start in regard to my visit with the elder and his wife; a wife who sat mute throughout the discussion.

they arrived on the dot and we engaged in talk about the weather.

this could have gone on for some time but i brought it around to the reason for this particular visit.

LisaRose

I think you are wise to continue on your own. Jehovah's Witnesses only accept what the governing body tells them. They don't really have any understanding of the bible per se, they only know what the GB says is in the bible. That is why they flounder when you point out what the bible actually says, because it conflicts with what they have ever been told. The cannot resolve the discrepancy so they tend to shut down or change the subject.

20

help catagorize my wife: I truely believe she suffers from cognitive dissonance and other things this stupid cult causes.

by goingthruthemotions in

i find it hard sometimes to get a good idea has to how to communicate with my wife when it come to this stupid cult.. she is born in and stopped attending for many years and got baptized later in life.

i truely believe she suffers from cognitive dissonance and other things this stupid cult causes.. here is a breakdown of what i gather to be where she is mentally.. * she calls the borg her faith.

here are actions that she does that go against her thoughts:.

LisaRose

If you're going to create a vacuum, that vacuum has to be replaced with something.

Spoken like the Mormon you are. Why does anyone have to replace one cult with another? How about reason, logic and facts ? That would be a good start.

If you ruin their faith entirely and don't replace it with something better, you can really screw them up emotionally.

Well, that is setting a low bar. You don't need to replace one religion with another. How about just seeing how it feels not to have someone telling you what to think, do and say? Why would it "screw someone up emotionally" to stop believing in ancient fables?

You can have that BORG mentality replaced by depression, plus you might lose any influence or relationship with her that you've established.

Assuming that leaving the Borg will make you depressed. It was an adjustment for me, but I was never depressed, I enjoyed the newfound freedom. Fifteen years out, I've never been happier.

Really Cold Steel, stop trolling for new recruits for your cult.

18

So I decided to do it.

by WasOnceBlind in

ok, so i went ahead and got a tattoo.

well more than a tattoo, it is a half sleeve.

my parents haven't seen it, thanks to the chilly weather i've been wearing a sweater around them.

LisaRose

I'm not into tattoos personally, but I don't have a problem with other people getting them, why not, it's your body after all. Just make sure that you get them done by a professional (which you obviously would if you are getting a sleeve) and that any words used are spelled right. If anyone thinks that is obvious you haven't seen http://wtftattoos.com/

My husband wants to get one on his chest that says DNR, lol

11

The Duggar family hypocrisy

by Simon in

another christian child-abuse scandal in the news is the duggar family of "19 kids and counting" fame.. their show has been pulled after it emerged that the uber-christian family who are seen to promote right-wing christian values covered up abuse within their family and that of other victims by one of their family.

some values.

once again the only value that seems to really matter to the religious is appearance... good riddance to hypocritical zealots.. they have campaigned against lgbt as being threats to children and describing them as sexual predators all the while knowing that they have their own dirty secret.

LisaRose

I have mixed feelings. I could never stand to watch the show, it was hard to watch people who you know couldn't possibly be what they pretended to be, everything was so.....sickening sweet. That being said, was what they did for their son all that bad? Their teen aged son engaged in horrible behavior, he got found out, he got counseling. He seemed repentant and (supposedly) did not repeat the behavior. Should they have called the police? Were they supposed to announce their minor son's misdeeds to the world?

I think the show erred in presenting such a fake, plastic version of the family in the first place, which is why they are getting such fall out now. But I wish they would continue the show to illustrate how a family like that deals with a crisis, it might be the first time the series was actually a reality show.