Posts by humbled

26

God will forgive me....apparently

by punkofnice in

i left the jws and went to a baptist church which was far better than anything i'd known before having been born into the dangerous cult of the watchtower corporation.. having travelled a path of spirituallity i have concluded that there is no god evident to me.

evolution?

i have no idea...i just live my life knowing that when i die there is nothing after it.

humbled

How would god have anything but love for persons that persist in doing good without faith in a loving god? To have no hope of help in doing right --is more than I can do. When I am overwhelmed I ask for god's help.

My children, who are adults, and my husband run the gamut from agnostics to atheist. It is not possible that they are condemned for a lack of belief. My years as a JW certainly were no help as a model for relating to God--It nearly poisoned my own faith out of existence.

I enjoy your spirit, punkofnice. I think you should forgive god his tresspasses as he forgives yours ;-)

Maeve

122

Theists - Why does Morality require the existence of God?

by cantleave in

"without god in your life, you cannot have a moral compass",,,, please explain to me why you think that should be so?

.

humbled

Good morning, sunshine.

Maeve

7

For those who still beleive in a God

by Kool Jo in

jw
friends

for those who still beleive in a god...does he answer prayers or does he choose who to answer?.

humbled

I believe in the one who is Good, as Jesus said once. I believe there is that Good One because I have had very difficult problems resolved in answer to prayer.

The first time I really prayed with intention,I was 24 tears old. I kinda believed in God but without any fervor at all. But I needed help so I began to ask for him to help me. Eventually I realized that my biggest problem was to be spiritually healed. But I had conditions to be met.I didn't get answers from God during that time.

In a few years I was more desperate. So I began what became a campaign. Later I told my kids I was hammering on God's toes. Intensely for weeks.

I could never have imagined nor engineered the events that broke me apart and healed my soul or spirit (pick what you like).

As a result I have struggled on from that time wanting to live in a good relationship to that Goodness. Unfortunately I kept going to Church and getting in trouble along the way.

I don't pray so formally. Yet I have had some wonderful answers to prayer that again let me know the power and presence of that One. But also--I have had HORRENDOUS thing go on for which I cannot even frame a request, even an idea of a remedy.

I ask for the capacity to love and the ability to act, to DO when I need to. And to wait when I should do that.

My husband doesn't pray and frankly is impatient with all things to do with "God-talk".Because God did NOT answer his prayers for proof of His existence at a critical time in my husband's life, he believes no longer that there is a God.

So what should I make of that? I do not know--yet.

34

"Do not be called teachers"--Doesn't Jesus OUTLAW all organized religion?

by humbled in

jw's and other churches all set up housekeeping in different theological areas.

some one person can't believe any more what their church is saying, gets a different "take" on god, and......starts trying to convince others to follow them and everything they teach.. nothing new about that.

but why are so many of us blind to this scenario: we allow that some people get to contemplate other thoughts and others are not allowed.only some lead and everyone else must follow or be thrown out.

humbled

Isadore---I pm'd you.

34

"Do not be called teachers"--Doesn't Jesus OUTLAW all organized religion?

by humbled in

jw's and other churches all set up housekeeping in different theological areas.

some one person can't believe any more what their church is saying, gets a different "take" on god, and......starts trying to convince others to follow them and everything they teach.. nothing new about that.

but why are so many of us blind to this scenario: we allow that some people get to contemplate other thoughts and others are not allowed.only some lead and everyone else must follow or be thrown out.

humbled

Tylinbrando,

That's a good question:

Put everyone that believed in Christ alone without the control of religion on an island. Would it work?

Tec made an early observation-- organized religion has been operating institutional christianity for 2000 years and what we have now is big "C"Chaos for big "C"Church.

Before official orthodoxy and creed was thrashed out 300 or so years after Jesus died (not that this meant certain teachings were "right" just because the Roman government backed certain churchmen) there were Jesus stories and Jesus followers existing without authoritarian rule and without as much craziness as you might run into in any run-of-the-mill country church today. The religious dogma hadn't developed for at least the earliest decades after Jesus. After all "by this all will know you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves."

There is an interesting description of Christian meetings around 110 C.E. by a Roman administrator who prosecuted Christians. Google Pliny and the Christians if you don't already know about his letters to Emperor Trajan about what to do with Christians.

I suspect the early christians were doing okay without the soul-crushing dogma that was going to descend from on high a little later.

Then they would find torture and death again. Only it would be because they just hadn't been able to swallow the "New Light" that the theologians kept cooking up for them.

82

Why is God speaking in riddles?

by sosoconfused in

it seems for most of the bible that god spoke directly to people and told them what to do.

he wrote things on rocks.

he gave them laws.

humbled

I love Jesus' parables. No body messed with them, it seems--that is, to change them. And he made them so easy to remember. And they were never made into math problems for an elite few to solve for all the dumb bunnies.

34

"Do not be called teachers"--Doesn't Jesus OUTLAW all organized religion?

by humbled in

jw's and other churches all set up housekeeping in different theological areas.

some one person can't believe any more what their church is saying, gets a different "take" on god, and......starts trying to convince others to follow them and everything they teach.. nothing new about that.

but why are so many of us blind to this scenario: we allow that some people get to contemplate other thoughts and others are not allowed.only some lead and everyone else must follow or be thrown out.

humbled

Outlaw, Slimboyfat--

I needed a little leavening. HELLO!

34

"Do not be called teachers"--Doesn't Jesus OUTLAW all organized religion?

by humbled in

jw's and other churches all set up housekeeping in different theological areas.

some one person can't believe any more what their church is saying, gets a different "take" on god, and......starts trying to convince others to follow them and everything they teach.. nothing new about that.

but why are so many of us blind to this scenario: we allow that some people get to contemplate other thoughts and others are not allowed.only some lead and everyone else must follow or be thrown out.

humbled

Still thinking,

I'll answer as though you meant a serious question about why pick Jesus.

As a baby I woke up in the religious soup of Catholicism-a more or less Christian outfit (though we had a lot of Virgin Mary stuff thrown in with) so it was easy to fall in the direction of Jesus just because of religious prejudice.

I never looked beyond Christian Churches even when I felt braver, after reading the bible and having a life-changing experience. I associated that extraordinary thing with Church. I was still interpreting/translating all events into a form that fit into my early religious training. Lots of folks do that you know. Over time I see things differently--Whether the spirit that I met 35 years ago was Jehovah, Vishnu or Zeus, I was convinced that Something was out there. Jesus still was my go-to for figuring it out.

I am almost 61 years old now. The Jesus I have followed has gone in and out of Big "C"Church. I tried to stuff him into various theologies where He didn't fit-- because I tried different Churches. Jesus is bigger than that.

I am trying to understand why I am alive, how best to live in a world that has been difficult to live in. Jesus said things--some not in the accepted canon--that pulled me. I trust him. It has taken a long time for me to go this far. I am not afraid of other beliefs. The teaching Jesus gave is never far off from the true things other men and women of God have heard, good things that pulled them. I am not burdened by Jesus.

I am not afraid of being wrong. I just don't want to be afraid of what may be true.

Maeve

12

So the straw that broke the camel(my wifes' back)

by sosoconfused in

so after our incident today i let some time pass so as not to kill the mood and bring up all the annoying watchtower stuff.

however i said, "babe seriously, i know you were upset about the other issue but you seem to just never want to even think about borg stuff again!

i am glad - don't get me wrong - but so i can reall understand please tell me what was it that made youjust wash your hands clean so fast?".

humbled

Can't beat her logic.

34

"Do not be called teachers"--Doesn't Jesus OUTLAW all organized religion?

by humbled in

jw's and other churches all set up housekeeping in different theological areas.

some one person can't believe any more what their church is saying, gets a different "take" on god, and......starts trying to convince others to follow them and everything they teach.. nothing new about that.

but why are so many of us blind to this scenario: we allow that some people get to contemplate other thoughts and others are not allowed.only some lead and everyone else must follow or be thrown out.

humbled

I find no historical evidence that disagrees with my view. Was Jesus' own teaching not regarded by men who discussed doctrine concerning circumcision? They discussed it and offered their judgement but this gives us no certainty that Church was designed by Christ to install a Hierarchy and institutionalize a belief system.

We know that Church fathers dismissed and supressed other stories and writings of Jesus. We know that the Church took on a big "C" and made up the Apostles' Creed. But this necessitated ignoring Matt. 23:8 and 10--as well as all the other places told them not to seek prominence.

I value Jesus' teaching over the letters of men--Put a (supposed)letter of Paul in front of me and a (supposed) saying of Jesus and I will prefer Jesus every time.

What about Matt. 23:8,10?