Posts by TJ - iAmCleared2Land

I've been working out more, with weights at home, eating less, and doing 100 crunches every day... I need to get the aerobic activity back, too.... I think the idea of a support thread here is great. I won't be measuring calories and posting that everyday, but will try to post once a week my overall/net progress.

45

Is there a Universal Issue? Did God cheat....yes and I can prove it.

by oompa in

gen. 3:5 for god knows that in the very day of your eating from it your eyes are bound to be opened and you are bound to be like god, knowing good and bad.".

(genesis 3:22) 22 and jehovah god went on to say: "here the man has become like one of us in knowing good and bad, and now in order that he may not put his hand out and actually take [fruit] also from the tree of life and eat and live to time indefinite,".

gen 3:22and the lord god said, behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:i awoke this morning and had an epiphiny.

TJ - iAmCleared2Land

VoidEater:
Wasn't it a little foolish to plant a tree with - uh, what, mescaline? Was it a peyote cactus? - a Don't Touch sign that a) he knew they would touch and b) actually gave supernatural powers to man right in the middle of the garden? What kind of sado-masochist is this God fellow, anyway?

I'm pretty sure I saw that plot once in the original Star Trek series with William Shatner....

45

Is there a Universal Issue? Did God cheat....yes and I can prove it.

by oompa in

gen. 3:5 for god knows that in the very day of your eating from it your eyes are bound to be opened and you are bound to be like god, knowing good and bad.".

(genesis 3:22) 22 and jehovah god went on to say: "here the man has become like one of us in knowing good and bad, and now in order that he may not put his hand out and actually take [fruit] also from the tree of life and eat and live to time indefinite,".

gen 3:22and the lord god said, behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:i awoke this morning and had an epiphiny.

TJ - iAmCleared2Land

Oompa, I've had the same thoughts before... here's an excerpt from something I wrote to family and friends when I made my departure:

The Society teaches that God doesn't step in to "fix" disasters that are about to happen because if he did so, he'd be helping to make Satan's point (see chapter 11 of the Bible Teach book). In other words, if he stepped in and made all bad things turn out okay, people would feel that they were doing okay ruling themselves, and validate Satan's contention that people don't need God.

That 'teaching', however, doesn't make any sense—God has "stepped in"--indeed, one could say he has tampered--multiple times already. For example, he confused all the languages of the people. The Bible says that he did this because he looked down and saw that "there was nothing that would be impossible for them." ?!?!? God saw that people could do things, so he made it so they couldn't!? That's what I read when I see that verse. We tell people that what that verse means is that God saw that people thought they could do anything. But, that's not what it says. If God saw that people thought they could do anything, he could have left things alone and let them see for themselves that it wouldn't work out, right? AND, he could have inspired the Bible to SAY "And God saw that people thought they could do anything." But that's NOT what it says.

So, God steps in and confuses the languages of all the people, scattering them from being together and understanding one another. Now, we have nations that fight against one another, cultures that hate each other because they can't really relate, we have racial discrimination, and so much of it is because people can't communicate with one another… and who's fault is that?! GOD'S, according to scripture. HE was the one who confused the languages and the peoples to start with!!

TIME OUT! A challenge is raised in Eden, you allow the challenge to go forward, and then out of the starting gate you change the rules?!? That's not fair! I'm not saying that I think people should live without God. I'm not saying I want to be a creature independent from God. I certainly don't want to live under the Devil's rule. But I also cannot reconcile what I've been taught about God with his behavior, as documented in the Bible, in situations like this… that's not loving!

When I used to be an elder, I gave a public talk in which I used an illustration about why God had to allow so much time to pass after the rebellion in Eden. The illustration tried to answer the question of why God did not just destroy Satan and Adam and Eve in the beginning, and start over.

The illustration was about a horse race. Let's say that I have a horse, and I brag to you and everybody else that my horse is the fastest horse around. Then you come along and say that your horse is faster. You say this in earshot of everyone—everyone who has heard my claim that my horse is the fastest. Now, they wonder—is my horse the fastest, or is yours? So I invite you and your horse, and all those that heard the challenge, to come down to the race track on Saturday and we'll see who has the fastest horse.

So Saturday comes around, all of our friends are in the stands, excited to see how this challenge will turn out. The bell rings, the gates open, our horses start running, and "BOOM!" I pull out a gun and shoot your horse dead.

(The audience always gasped at this sudden turn of events)

The point? If I shot your horse (i.e., if Jehovah had killed Satan), everyone in the audience (i.e., the angels, etc.) would have thought "You know, the challenger's claim was probably TRUE… his horse WAS faster. And the man being challenged was, quite simply, unwilling to let anybody see that!"

I used this illustration to suggest, as the Society teaches, that the only way to PROVE that my horse was faster than your horse would be to let enough TIME go by for us to get around the track and for me to cross the finish line before your horse did.

Good illustration. But, as I've just pointed out, if I tampered with your horse by lassoing it's hind legs together (i.e., confusing the languages) after we left the starting gate, would that be any more fair?? I didn't think so either. And yet that's exactly what God has done by not staying entirely 'hands off'; in effect, he's contributed to many of the problems by his confusion of the languages and his 'changing of the rules' after the race started...

15

Email insanity

by TJ - iAmCleared2Land in

jw
friends

this is either going to make you laugh, or feel sorry for her, or, like me, both... i'm so glad i've escaped this insanity!!

a sister sent me this email yesterday; notice her new email address, and why she changed it.

(i've changed the email address and removed the names to protect her identity...).

TJ - iAmCleared2Land

Here's a reply from Sharon on another board:

I made a bib for a baby shower once (I thought it was so cute) said "I Love (had a heart for love) Jah".
Got the same reaction from people.
You'd have thought I'd desecrated the flag or something.....baby blurp and all getting on the name of god...

15

Email insanity

by TJ - iAmCleared2Land in

jw
friends

this is either going to make you laugh, or feel sorry for her, or, like me, both... i'm so glad i've escaped this insanity!!

a sister sent me this email yesterday; notice her new email address, and why she changed it.

(i've changed the email address and removed the names to protect her identity...).

TJ - iAmCleared2Land

I loved this reply from a friend; the first of her numbered bullet points slayed me. :-)

I feel sorry for her on many levels:

1) She has spam. 2) She picked I'm Jah's 1914 (icky, especially as 1914 has become more irrelevant) for email addy 3) Subsequently felt bad when "counseled" about using "name of God in vain"? (Holy phylactery-wearing Pharisees!) 4) Reflects new humbled attitude in "alwayslearnin" email addy.

15

Email insanity

by TJ - iAmCleared2Land in

jw
friends

this is either going to make you laugh, or feel sorry for her, or, like me, both... i'm so glad i've escaped this insanity!!

a sister sent me this email yesterday; notice her new email address, and why she changed it.

(i've changed the email address and removed the names to protect her identity...).

TJ - iAmCleared2Land

Yeah, it's a bit overboard... don't they remember that Jah has the power to protect his name and keep it clean?!

15

Email insanity

by TJ - iAmCleared2Land in

jw
friends

this is either going to make you laugh, or feel sorry for her, or, like me, both... i'm so glad i've escaped this insanity!!

a sister sent me this email yesterday; notice her new email address, and why she changed it.

(i've changed the email address and removed the names to protect her identity...).

TJ - iAmCleared2Land

This is either going to make you laugh, or feel sorry for her, or, like me, both... I'm SO glad I've escaped this insanity!! A sister sent me this email yesterday; notice her new email address, and why she changed it. (I've changed the email address and removed the names to protect her identity...)

Friends,
I have a new e-mail address, effective immediately.
Please DO NOT group mail me, unless you include my address in the
Bcc: section of your email. My email has been compromised and I am
getting REALLY bad spam. Please do not pass on my email address to
anyone without asking me 1st( unless it's a Bible study you want to
pass on ;-) )..OK? Thankx
The new address is: [email protected]
Stay warm

Then she sent us THIS one today... notice what she re-changed her email
address to, and WHY:

Friends,
Got this from a Sister in reply to my change-o-address..
"part of the reason we do not have Jah or God's name on our
license plates or post HIS name on our front
door placards is that we cannot guarantee the
'cleanliness' or 'pristine condition' of these things, that they
won't break down, or rust, get broken into and destroyed...
for the very reason you have changed your email,
the name Jah will be exposed to the junk of this world."
Grateful for the counsel, I have yet again changed my email to :
[email protected]
Please post THIS one to your address book...and I won't plan on
changing it again!