humbled

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Posts by humbled

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  2596

  The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

  by cofty in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

  we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

  they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

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  humbled

  flamegrilled,

  Sorry I am late to reply. I had to leave for the day just after my post and just read your reply.

  You do see evidence of God's power AND love in the universe?

  I have a deep love for nature and the workings of the universe. What I've experienced in my own body gives me a tremendous awe for existence and consciousness. It may have been created by intelligence and power--( both you AND cofty fall short of 100% in your certainty of your position). I am not certain either.

  But if I might see power in a creator, his love isn't certain. But I am certain that I cannot gather figs from thistles. If the story is that we reflect the character of god then I cannot see a loving God giving birth to a child and then killing it.

  So that is why I assumed you don't see evidence of Power-AND-Love in god either.

  I know the missing piece is (probably)that the Christ story because it involves resurrection. But how negotiable are the features of salvation in the bible? If working people don't land in the right theology-aren't we damned again? The salvation is limited.

  You understand "salvation" differently?

  But all in all--it is in the gulf that exists between love and power that our doubts do not find rest.
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  2596

  The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

  by cofty in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

  we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

  they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

  1. 
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• 

  humbled

  flamegrilled,

  My hat is off to you. No irony.*

  Without evidence you have the hope, the faith to believe in a god who has not acted with love and power.

  You value love? You are trusting that God will indeed restore with tenderness the poor sufferers who had no relief in this life--and no knowledge of Jesus as Christ?

  That is a faith in a theodicy that the NT has never supported,as far as I know.

  *It is hard not to feel ironic.
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  2596

  The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

  by cofty in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

  we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

  they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  humbled

  Twitch,This outta be good----

  It will be good it we all dig in to search--if that's what we're doing here. and do it with good will.

  In terms of logic the record for God being powerful and loving remains undetermined unless anyone reading this will concede that my husbands terrier who sleeps by the fire and has never to this date caught a single rat (although he has killed our favorite chicken)is the finest hunter and the most energetic, obedient dog in the history of the universe.

  I have heard nothing to make me listen to Paul's sacred secret of salvation any more.
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  2596

  The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

  by cofty in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

  we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

  they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  humbled

  Kate,I feel for you. I wish I had something funny for you,too.

  Wait! here's something funny--about my messed up perceptionof God: God helped me tremendously many years ago. Now I can see that others don't get any help from him so I am telling god that he can't play favorites--I don't believe in him anymore!

  !!!????

  Maeve
• 
  2596

  The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

  by cofty in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

  we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

  they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  humbled

  Caliber, The sacred secret was revealed *. It was revealed in Jesus and him crucified. Paul said it. Not that it changed the waiting game to see if it's true or not.

  Was Paul wrong?

  because Paul made a claim that is a repeat of the earliest claims that god watches over his holy ones. And there is no proof of it. again 1 Cor. 15:19-20"If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied..."

  All of us lead lives as before: fraught with peril, suffering and death. And now, on top of that, we have figure to out who has written the least delusional revelation about God's promises while we are scrubbing diapers or chopping cotton---or peddling mango juice to tourists before a tsunami strikes us dead.

  I typed in "who said we have to be saved?". I saw from all sides those who (claim to) understand the sacred secret are flogging the "right religion" idea. I must discern who of them holds the keys to salvation--the "right way" to god.

  Selling God's protection plan.

  Lots of conflict. Everyone claims holy spirit too.

  Paul thought his was a theological breakthrough(sacred secret)--but here we are again. Asking the same question: Where is the good/just God?

  Paul devalued Jesus' teachings to promote this new insurance plan. Paul talked about the "love" but it was the "believing the resurrection" that he emphasized. What he didn't realize was that there were altruist out there who cared less for the empty/unprovable declarations and cared more for the love teachings. Then and now.

  *of course i have to edit to remind us all that the sacred secret is only for the sons of god--only a few people.
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  2596

  The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

  by cofty in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

  we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

  they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  humbled

  If I bought Jesus in the gospel, I had to take his father too. But my background was Catholic--same basic stories though. I never really questioned theology or divine Justice. As a kid I just didn't pay attention--Oh what a carefree Catholic childhood I had compared to the JW kids.
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  2596

  The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

  by cofty in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

  we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

  they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  humbled

  True, the WT always had an answer. Everyone gets a chance (except stillborn babies--Non-breather,don't you know). Mostly.

  The trouble with a liar is you can't trust a thing they say--even if they are telling you something you like.
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  2596

  The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

  by cofty in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  yesterday evening my wife and i were invited to friends house for new year's eve.

  we met them when i was a christian and we have kept in touch.

  they had a few other friends there as well, including the new church pastor and his wife.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  humbled

  When I was a Christian theist I believed that Paul had the answer --the sacred secret in 1Cor.2 explained that it had been hidden all the time up to Jesus' arrival.

  But it was only warmed over hash.

  Now when trouble comes we have the horizen only exended further than ever. The sacred secret/wisdom of God, Paul says, is in Christ crucified. That is what opens the door to glory.

  Suffering and death still and an unseen restitution. Paul is quick to say that it is for a select few.

  The tsunami killed people indesciminately. they only get to taste wrath-- not mercy, not love.

  The sacred secret is still a secret--I'm waiting for a better story.
• 
  31

  Once 'saved' always 'saved'.

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  in case i didn't mention it...i was born into the disgusting cult of the watchtower(r).. i left when i was as old as 50 and went to a baptist church, then when i moved house to anglican and finally to a pentecostal church.. i now do not believe in 'god' of any variety.

  i do not believe because i see no obvious evidence for a 'god' and only see what people have made of 'god' in their delusions.. ok. so, the question: 'what if you're wrong?'.

  well, i might be wrong about a lot but if qi and mythbusters taught me anything it's not to be so gullible mcfly!

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  humbled

  You bet, galaxie,

  1 Cor. 13:13--"Now abideth these three-faith, hope, love. But the greatest of these is love..."

  The whole chapter is beautiful.

  Really--"AMEN to love!"
• 
  122

  Why doesn't god do anything tangible now?

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i was always told that god did loads of stuff that was evidence of his existance.

  ususally very brutal things too (b#st@rd).. jesus walked on water and raised the dead we are told.. it seems to me also that the older the story, the more exaggerated it is...y'know...talking snake......global flood.. there are those that claim god speaks to them now and they alone 'know' it.

  (cuckoo!!!).

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  humbled

  Punky, I like your version of fatherhood better than the OT god's. I think the OT god let Jesus down same as us.