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.
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.
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.
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.
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.. .
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
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-vjlssg3xi.
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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ordqfh0byw.
it's those who demand certainty who make a mockery of faith.. this talk will stick with you..
I have found that faith remained even after the predations of the WT.
What "Truth" is and how we each learn it-- that has changed. It frees us from dogma and division.
I live with what some might call doubt. I doubt not that there is Truth. But I doubt my ability to get hold of it, to understand it well.
I do think it is true, however, that love never fails. I don't doubt that.
So it didn't fail when Ignat turned to her native Americans neighbors. It was good and true. I understand that.
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.
Miss.Fit, I think you have cemented our relationship--er--concreted it?
Maeve
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-vjlssg3xi.
I feel sad for this story. the prisoners do need a way to get beyond their bad lives to a mental/spiritual healing. But this is the direction that we all have gone before. It is clear from the faces of these prisoners and the words of Robert that for now they feel good about what they are learning. I remember feeling good too.Until I discovered how against goodness the Organization really was, how crooked it was. These men are riding for a fall when they get out--I suspect while in prison they actually are experiencing the best situation a JW could have-- I believe this is what is called a "contrast gainer" situation.
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.
I saw this man in 1984 or 1985.
Google "Is Fr. Ralph Diorio legit?" It's the experiences of people who sought divine healing.
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.
Feelings and beliefs commit robberys, rapes and war--and amputees.
Racket & snare on this forum is absolutely opposed to religion and is, I think he has said, an atheist. He is also becoming a doctor/surgeon-- a healer-- for the love of humanity. I do not know the scope of the methodology of God, ADCMS, but when you call foul on God for his limited scope could it be that love is the broader vision?
What we call "God" here-- are there limits to what this reported Being does, which of the stories told about him are true? Do you know? There are mixed accounts you know.
We all have bought into a myth at some level, ADCMS. Even you and EP. I don't know what you do for a living or do in your private time for the world's suffering, life is a struggle that keeps us busy with our own affairs. I mention S&R from this forum because he dislikes this talk of God. But even though S&R has had impatience if not contempt for my thinking on a lot of things, I feel a strong affinity for his feelings and his actions.
Are we all not wanting good things for others? If god really is in us then let's leave our disappointed expectations of the past behind. We all were deluded to some extent--and none of us knows how much.
If I pray for love and the action of love, what will you achieve if you convince me that my prayer story is bogus? I am not able to be a surgeon. And neither are a lot of us--including those who use bombs and pull triggers.
Feelings matter a lot even after a leg is healed.
The main teachings of Jesus was of love but if we want him to give us a sign now, he will disappoint: "By this all will know you are my followers, if you have love among yourselves."
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.
Thanks, Peace and love to you, too, tammygirl. I found your candle when all my lights were out. God is good.
