Posts by jaguarbass

9

The problem with God.

by Fernando in

god waits until we are genuinely ready to face hard facts before he opens our minds to just how equally wrong, aberrant and dysfunctional we all are.

mostly we humans are only ready at the lowest point in our lives - often our deathbed.

hence all the suffering we ignorantly cause others and ourselves in the meantime.. this is the reason why (watchtower) religionists can read rom 3:22-23 without waking up to themselves and getting it: "for there is no distinction.

jaguarbass

I think the problem with God is you need to change your understanding of God.

God is something other than you and most people imagine.

322

My son was murdered today

by truman in

i have been on this site daily, almost from its beginning, since i left the jws in 2001, but i have been more of a reader than a poster, as you can see from my post count.

i know few here know me, although i know many of you through reading your posts.

maybe it is not right to ask for support, when i generally stay quietly in the background of this forum, but i want only to speak a human misery of the deepest kind.

jaguarbass

My deepest sympathy. I'm so sorry for you.

23

Anyone been to a meeting after a drink...or three?

by MMXIV in

jw
friends

i recall going to the second half of a thursday night meeting after what was meant to be a cheeky after work beer (three strong beers downed quickly on an empty stomach).

i would have been ok had a caring elder not decided to grab me for some encouragement afterwards.. i hoped the faint odor of smoke on my clothes (smoking in pubs was still the done thing in those days) wouldn't be noticed but hard to hide alcohol on the breath.

i tried to say very little and talk in a way that avoided me beathing over him.

jaguarbass

I think back in the 70's many in my congregation went to the meeting after drinking a couple of beers.

People used to drink beer and wine with dinner in the old days.

96

Racism on the forum / Treyvon Martin

by Simon in

i've just been catching up on some of the posts that people made about this case and i am appalled at the blatant racism demonstrated by certain individuals.. yes, you are entitlted to your opinion ... but at some point your opinion needs to be kept locked inside your ignorant biggoted empty skull and not come out of your stupid fat mouth.

it especially shouldn't be posted on my forum.. such racism will not be tollerated here.. i also would like to publicly apologise to outlaw for not being on top of this earlier and making sure that he wasn't lumped in with these despicable people for simply pointing out how out-of-line their behavior was.

sorry my friend - you did not deserve that and i understand completely why you have had a break from the site..

jaguarbass

Its no white supremist issue, its critical thinking.

Watch the last video, there is a black man critically thinking.

Some of you guys should be partying in the streets, they railroaded Zimmerman.

There is no law and order and justice for Zimmerman.

The authorities are afraid the agitators will riot, and burn and destroy

so they are sacraficing Zimmerman.

23

How do you study the Bible? (for those that do)

by Silent_Scream in

what have you found is a productive way for you to study the bible?

do you have a group?

or a solitary preference?.

jaguarbass

When I left the tower in 83, I decided I was going to find out what the bible said to me, with as little

outside influence and interference as possible. I read the bible cover to cover 7 times using 4 different translations,

none of them the NWT.

I made notes in the back of the bible each time I would read through.

It would take me about a year to read through each time.

Each time I would catergorize my notes.

I would say the road to agnosticsm and atheistism is found by truly reading the bible and pondering and

reflecting on what it says.

I have a hunch that a great number of Christians have never read the bible cover to cover, outside of cherry picking certain verses.

I dont know what percent of atheist have read the bible cover to cover but a lot of them have made the same

discoveries about the bible and what it says that I have.

I'm really sorry and feel let down and abandoned that reading the bible would lead me to agnosticsm/ atheism.

I undertook reading and studying the bible to get closer to God, and what I got was God disappeared.

If you dont want to end up like me dont study, read the bible cover to cover. Just let some preacher cherry pick

motavational verses from Psalms for you. Dont be interested or learn to think critically. Accept authority. Be a sheep.

Since I left the tower in 83, I have encountered a lot of christians that say dont read the bible cover to cover.

96

Racism on the forum / Treyvon Martin

by Simon in

i've just been catching up on some of the posts that people made about this case and i am appalled at the blatant racism demonstrated by certain individuals.. yes, you are entitlted to your opinion ... but at some point your opinion needs to be kept locked inside your ignorant biggoted empty skull and not come out of your stupid fat mouth.

it especially shouldn't be posted on my forum.. such racism will not be tollerated here.. i also would like to publicly apologise to outlaw for not being on top of this earlier and making sure that he wasn't lumped in with these despicable people for simply pointing out how out-of-line their behavior was.

sorry my friend - you did not deserve that and i understand completely why you have had a break from the site..

jaguarbass

Links to Neo Nazi videos removed

10

Great authors.

by LouBelle in

jw
friends

i have so many that range from shakespeare, eckhart tolle to wilbur smith and subjects that cover everything from fiction, fantasy, poetry to non fiction.. i started reading a series many years ago but never got around to completing it.

i've come across it again and am thouroughly enjoying it.

the author is terry pratchett and the series is discworld.

jaguarbass

James Michener. He writes historical fiction, very interesting stories.

20

Really random... wisdom teeth

by ilikecheese in

jw
friends

i'm kind of freaking out because i'm getting all four of my wisdom teeth pulled in a few weeks.

two of them are completely impacted, and one is partially impacted.

fortunately, they're not oddly aligned.

jaguarbass

I had a wisdom tooth pulled by an oral surgeon.

He came in with a Sears Craftsman tool box. Pulled out a stainless steel Sears and Roebuck lifetime

guarantee chanelllock pliers, put his foot up on my dental chair and started yanking and pulling.

I remember it hurt a lot, I took the pain pills and slept all weekend.

78

Atheism or Agnosticism, which one is correct?

by Joey Jo-Jo in

this has been bugging me for a while, and while i dont want to turn this into something about semantics i think that we should quickly define what an agnostic and atheists are.. richard dawkins defines 7 different types of atheist ranging from weak to militant atheists, but along these definitions there appears one definition with a strong resemblance to agnosticism.. to me an agnostic is a person who neither believes nor disbelieves in deity/deities, but there are those who define agnostics as a ignorant who simply just don't care or don't have the intelligence to come to sound conclusion.. an atheist can be a person who disbelieves in a deity/deities based on the current mathematical and scientific understandings of the universe, as well as understandings that can refute certain religions such as the strong influence of protestantism christianity in america.. .

from here i will refer deity as anything ranging jehovah to a real spaghetti monster, it's not important because a) we dont know b)for the purpose of this discussion it is not important to define what we believe god to be.. an argument that can be used about a deity is -we cannot prove nor disprove that god exists- this is referred to as a null hypothesis, an assumption that we cannot create a hypothesis to prove or disprove this deity.

this to me is agnosticism and is more correct than the idea of atheism.

jaguarbass

I am an agnostic.

An agnostic is one who doesnt know.

An atheist is one who knows there is no God.

A thiest is one who knows there is a God.

30 years in the the tower, 30 years out.

convinced me no one knows anything regarding matters of

our existence and consciousness.

I feel foolish for the 3o years I could swear up and down Jehovah was the true God.

I cant swear up and down and say there is no God or intelligent creator, or supreme

intelligence behind everything.

All though I respect and understand and have read much of the atheist opinions including all of Dawkins.

My claiming to be agnostic allows me wiggle room, and room to grow and learn.

55

How Many Years have your JW Relatives Shunned You ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

i felt with newer members coming on and other jw fence sitters lurking it might be a good thing to explain what many of us have had to go through in regards to being shunned, cut off, ostracized from our jw families in an unjust way .

whether we are dfed or inactive - many of us have shared this same fate and ill treatment.

for many of us- it makes us stronger, more firmly entrenched that the decision we made to exit the jehovah's witness organization was the correct decision as no organization that claims to be " christian " would ever commit such horrid atrocities or justify it !

jaguarbass

When I quit back in 83, I told all my realitives I didnt want anything to do with Jehovahs witnesses any more.

After that they continued to invinte me to all the family get togethers.

Like nothing ever happened. My wife decorates for x-mass and all the holidays

and nothing is said.

I think they realized that the big shots dont follow the rules and they decided they

were not going to follow the rules with my wife and I.