Posts by humbled

9

New book on the life of Jesus

by Dagney in

jw
friends

a new book "zealot - life and times of jesus of nazareth" by reza aslan.

he converted to christianity from islam at 15 and journey to study the life of the jesus, and the vast disparity between the historical jesus and the evangelical jesus.. a couple of the points he touches on in the interview (link below):.

flaws in the nativity story...one being the census had nothing to do with galilee and there is no documentation of such.

humbled

Tiktaalik,

You are not interested in a new Jesus book, clearly. I get where you're coming from. Maybe your darkness hasn't been unbearable, maybe I'm a weaker spirit than you are. I would read another Jesus book--though I, too, have no patience for fiction.

Some good teaching has been attributed to the man called Jesus. We humans have come from mud and from darkness, not the light. Brutal beginnings. I hear in some of the written Jesus stories--not only the gospels-- and feel as I try to put into practice some of the good things Jesus taught--that this was a man who made an advance out of darkness that helps me along. I am glad for what I learned about Jesus.

I want the truth of who he was-- hard to get that from fan clubs. Good scholarship is best.

As far being afraid of the dark? It's not the dark I'm afraid of --just what is in it.

Maeve

11

My Grammy's service is tomorrow...

by diana netherton in

jw
friends

first time in a kh in over 20 years.

i am doing this for my mother and my grammy with the help of xanax and little bottles of grey goose..

humbled

You must love her very much. Take care of yourself, too.

31

What the heck is a Godhead?

by Rattigan350 in

i was listening to the radio, a religous show.. the speaker started talking about how the holy spirit is the third person of the godhead.. they just assume that everyone understands what a godhead is, and it is a manmade term.

that is what makes their point of view so ridiculous.. is it like a godfoot, godear, god elbow?.

they have their scriptures to link the holy spirit with the trinity, and jws have their scriptures to unlink it, and never they two shall meet.. .

humbled

The problem with anyone saying they know what is this or that about God is---where does it end?

I was in a nondenominational (but not really) bible study where the moderator told me that she never knew a real Christian who didn't believe in the Trinity. I told her If I believed there was a father, a son and a holy spirit (minus the capital letters in the bibles we read from) I didn't see why I should be required to say I knew more or less than that. Why should I say I believed in a "Trinity"?

She insisted that all mainstream xtian denominations believed it. I asked her where would it end, this believing in a trinity, if I wanted to be included with most christians? Because saynig you believed in a thing that you can't really explain in the first place creates other problems in theology.

I asked if she had ever heard of "filioque".

She had. and that is about where the discussion ended. Because we both knew the problem of developing the Trinity doctrine split the early church beyond those who did or did not believe it. Once the early church had thrashed and trashed each other over the matter of making a clover of God, the next fight was this: Did the holy spirit proceed from the father through the son or from the father and the son?

The Church split again over this doctrine so there is still the Eastern Orthodox teaching and the Roman catholic one with all the Protestants strung out between.

Why? What is the practical value of this? and really ,where does it end?

34

Who Taught You The Truth(tm) OR Who Counted Time, On You?

by LoisLane looking for Superman in

jw
friends

my mom's lover would bring his handsome youngest son, to our house, and along with my dad, would study with my brother, sister and i. wed 7 pm.. next an elder's wife, who was a regular pioneer and worked part-time, who had a daughter my age, came to our house, after school wed. ruth was the head of the house and wore the pants.

her husband was part of the 3 men who sat on all judicial committees in our congo and would tell ruth everything, which in turn ruth would tell the sister's.

ruth was very pious but at the age of 15 gave birth to her only child, and beat on her daughter all the time, never letting her forget what "trouble" her only daughter caused her.

humbled

O my god, Lois. Family life can be so messed up. I hurt for you. That fellow, the son, must have had mixed up feelings about a lot. who knows? Learning the "Truth" from his father and what a tangle of feelings.

To your question--

there were a couple young men came up the road one summer with a magazine about" prayers for peace--does God hear them?". I hadn't been interested before but was pretty disillusioned with the things I saw in churches I had gone to--now that I wanted to be a Christian, truly. They did what they were supposed to do--said they'd be back to see what I thought. The one young man who did all the talking brought his sister next time, the sister brought her mother next time. and that was the "heavy guns".

That sister was a regular pioneer. She still is as far as I know--of course she won't acknowledge me when she sees me at the market square where I sell my spoons.

She got very much involved in my family's life. My young teen daughters were so impressed with her style and her cleverly manicured nails. We were so back-woodsy. We learned how to arrange for conventions to stay with JW families because we were too poor to get hotel rooms in the city. They dressed prettily and gave smart answers. And we went to the little town where her congregation was.

My husband called her "the Dragon Lady". This development was a thing that made trouble for him and me.

2

An impressive kid in Egypt ... I wish he was my kid - I'd feel proud

by fulltimestudent in

see if you agree with my assessment.. .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qedm2prnv1i .

humbled

My son showed this video to me a few days back.

It is Great! I watched it again just now. It makes me frustrated that ever since the 4th of July I have talked to people to see how they feel about the status of the 4th amendment to our constitution in this country regarding unlawful searches and seizure and the Snowden leak. Not one in fifteen people have even known what the 4th amendment is. Maybe more.

But this 12 year old knows what is going on and is thinking for himself.

Sharp. We should care as much as he does and maybe we would be free then.

259

Prayers that God answers. Any examples?

by punkofnice in

when i believed in god i tried not to pray for anything selfish.. after a while i began to think that a lot of things i was asking my imaginary friend in the sky for were selfish for some reason.. i do not ever remember a single thing i prayed for ever being answered.

if there was the appearance of an answer it was because i did mental gymnastics to make it fit the delusion that god had actually answered me.

there was never an obvious message/answer from god.

humbled

It's more puzzling than that, though I know what you're saying, and I agree with it.

I really would like your take on this particular healer if you have time--or anyone else. Can't copy and paste but google "Is Fr. Ralph Diorio legit?"

He has been around for a few decades , I saw him 1984 or 1985.

259

Prayers that God answers. Any examples?

by punkofnice in

when i believed in god i tried not to pray for anything selfish.. after a while i began to think that a lot of things i was asking my imaginary friend in the sky for were selfish for some reason.. i do not ever remember a single thing i prayed for ever being answered.

if there was the appearance of an answer it was because i did mental gymnastics to make it fit the delusion that god had actually answered me.

there was never an obvious message/answer from god.

humbled

It's more puzzling than that, though I know what you're saying, and I agree with it.

I really would like your take on this particular healer if you have time--or anyone else. Can't copy and paste but google "Is Fr. Ralph Diorio legit?"

He has been around for a few decades , I saw him 1984 or 1985.

259

Prayers that God answers. Any examples?

by punkofnice in

when i believed in god i tried not to pray for anything selfish.. after a while i began to think that a lot of things i was asking my imaginary friend in the sky for were selfish for some reason.. i do not ever remember a single thing i prayed for ever being answered.

if there was the appearance of an answer it was because i did mental gymnastics to make it fit the delusion that god had actually answered me.

there was never an obvious message/answer from god.

humbled

My father believed prayer saved his life during the Korean war. Yet 2 years ago when a MRSA infection set in on his feet and he suffered a lot and prayed a lot --well I can't say how he felt about God's answer. He lost one leg above the knee then the other was rotten too,but they couldn't take it off because his general health was not up to it. Hospice and death for him followed quickly but not before he was howling for God to let him die.

Believe me, I don't understand prayer. But I pray. I remember Jesus saying "your sins are forgiven you" to a paralyzed man without healing him. J was criticized for that vanity of forgiving the man's sins. So J asked-- Is it easier to forgive sin or to heal? So J then said, "Pick up your bed and walk." and it says that the man did.

A clear conscience is what helps me live so that story of the crippled man resonates with me. That said my choices in life have been questionable at best--what does it mean?

Screwed up as a person can be in many ways at age 61, I am trying yet to make sense of things. I pray and have prayer answered and sometimes not. I know of a healer who doesn't know why when some come to him and are healed, others are not. Yet people come to see if through him God will help them--and for some they get the "St. Paul Answer"--"my grace is sufficient for thee". And often it is enough.

31

What the heck is a Godhead?

by Rattigan350 in

i was listening to the radio, a religous show.. the speaker started talking about how the holy spirit is the third person of the godhead.. they just assume that everyone understands what a godhead is, and it is a manmade term.

that is what makes their point of view so ridiculous.. is it like a godfoot, godear, god elbow?.

they have their scriptures to link the holy spirit with the trinity, and jws have their scriptures to unlink it, and never they two shall meet.. .

humbled

Heck yeah, Rattigan! My pet peeve with religions! Make everyone jump through a bunch of ridiculous doctrines because they peered through some ancient greek and hebrew texts.

"The most exquisite folly is made of wisdom spun too fine"--Benjamin Franklin

15

Congregation meetings conducted in the prison

by His Excellency in

jw
friends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-vjlssg3xi.

humbled

Whoooaaaa!!??? That is some news, truthbknown, about JDubs in prison. I remember the proud statement in a magazine that it was difficult for JW ministers to get into a prison where they had no members to serve--and of course we were told that no JWs committed offenses that got them incarcerated--thus the problem of access to serve their "own". Memory may be serving me poorly here, but an article like that is stuck in my mind. I know better now. JWs do commit crimes but they do it in neck ties or skirts.