Oh, just for the record, these days I call it "meditation" and do it mainly for purposes of relaxation, centering and sanity, not to talk to the invisible realms of existence, wherever and whenever they may be.
mindmelda
JoinedPosts by mindmelda
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126
A simple way to tell God probably doesn't exist
by poor places inwhen's the last time you prayed to god?
did he respond?
i prayed to him for years and years and received no response.
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126
A simple way to tell God probably doesn't exist
by poor places inwhen's the last time you prayed to god?
did he respond?
i prayed to him for years and years and received no response.
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mindmelda
I talk to a lot of people who never listen to me too. Sometimes it's justifiable. LOL
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28
Angry mob of Facebook JWs.
by fade_away ini was looking through my facebook and one of the friends i have on there is very angry at a particular girl who added brothers and sisters from different congregations as friends for the sole purpose of bashing the jws on their profiles.
they use the word "bashing" but who knows really if all she was doing was showing them genuine, unbiased information about the wt.
anyway, i got a kick out of the fact that an "apostate" infiltrated a lot of jw profiles as a "friend" then went all apostate on them!.
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mindmelda
Why I don't bother talking to anyone brainwashed in groups. Individually, you may be able to drop a point or two that may make someone think, but in mobs the brainwashed hang together.
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17
In Loving Memory of All The Insanity
by Perry inlet's all get ready for this conversation with our jw relatives this memorial season.
written compassionately in loving memory of the insanity.. .
christian: how are your sins forgiven since you reject the new covenant and according to mt.
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mindmelda
I agree, it's pointless to argue doctrine. People don't join churches for doctrine, most of them aren't overly familiar or even care what their churches doctrines are unless they become too harsh or intrusive.
What Perry writes above also demonstrates that the fact is that Witnesses DON'T teach what the vast majority of the Christian religions teach on this particular matter and it does seem that what the Bible says about salvation is closer to conventional Christian teaching.
That doesn't mean anyone can prove that the Bible is dead right or that this makes Christianity the only religion that's meaningful, but it does mean that the Witnesses simply can't support their claim to teach the truth from the Bible.
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60
Who REALLY IS the Faithful and Discreet Slave?
by TimothyT inim 23 and im still a jw.
the jehovahs witnesses claim that god is using their earthly organisation in the last days!
im realy not too sure.
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mindmelda
Well, it seems to be Christ. But it's not any particular organization, I can't see any evidence in the Bible. It's one of those "use your own judgment things" to find individuals, not organizations, who seem to understand what Christ actually taught which is brotherhood and peace.
I know the Witnesses like to use Timothy where it talks about "one faith" but faith isn't a synonym for any one organization, it's having a commonality of belief in Christ, which Christian churches pretty much all share.
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96
Jehovah Bled For YOU - To Receive YOUR Punishment (the wages of sin)
by Perry inzech 12: 9,10 (jehovah is speaking).
kjv - and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son.
nasb - so that they will look on me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for him, as one mourns for an only son.
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mindmelda
I don't like the idea of ragging on Perry about "his god" being ghoulish. Jehovah or the Christian God aren't any more ghoulish than any other gods, in fact, less so. At least Christianity has refined this "eating of the god" to be one with him to a symbolic act involving red wine and bread. And anyone who kills in the name of Christianity has missed the point that it was a religion that promoted universal brotherhood, not hatred of one's fellow man.
Most of the older gods that human beings worshipped were about blood, blood has always been symbolic of sacrifice and sacrifice is a fundamental aspect of all religion.
The psychological symbolism of blood as sacred is represented by nearly all religion I can think of in some fashion, be it Christian, Jew, Muslim, Pagan, Wiccan, Buddhist, etc.
So, it just demonstrates that you're ignorant of psychological symbolism when you say that the Christian God is particularly bloody. All gods demand sacrifice, and there seems to be something in the human psyche that longs to sacrifice to a god, be it literally or symbolically, or it wouldn't have been going on since humans were human.
I don't deny that many have died unnecessarily and wrongly in the name of the Christian God, but those where the acts of mislead and power hungry men who merely used what is really a simply philosophy to their own ends. Seems to happen a lot, and not just to Christians.
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In Loving Memory of All The Insanity
by Perry inlet's all get ready for this conversation with our jw relatives this memorial season.
written compassionately in loving memory of the insanity.. .
christian: how are your sins forgiven since you reject the new covenant and according to mt.
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mindmelda
I think Perry's point is that Witness doctrine, however goofy, does not really follow the Bible, however goofy you think the Bible is.
You may not find any validity to the Bible itself, which is your privilege, of course, but whatever Witnesses are teaching, it's not really Biblical as they claim.
You might as well join a religion or organization or whatever group you want because the people there are comfortable to be around, have common goals with you, can help you in some fashion, are who you want to socialize with, because arguing doctrine or philosophy all day is crap.
Every philosophy or doctrine or religion is dear to those who put stock in it, it's as simple as that, humans seem to love big sweeping statements of belief that are almost impossible to prove, but make them feel good. It's akin to flag waving and politics. I've seen people switch political parties over night too because the one they formerly belonged to adopts a policy that is outright antagonistic to them or they personally disagree with. Religion is the same way because they're based on the same thing, IDEAS. Ideas aren't that tangible and either sound good to you or don't, but proving them is entirely another matter.
The more Witnesses change their beliefs, the more members they will lose simply for that reason. They will inevitably alienate people who refuse to go with the changes for one reason or another, not because it's provable or unprovable, but because it doesn't suit them or is downright harmful.
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363
So me, of all people, had a religious experience
by sabastious ini was sitting in my garage, as i often do, to chill out and i actually ended up becoming angry.. so here i am, in my garage, kicking it on the stool for the drum set that is in there (i am a pianist/composer, not a drummer).
i start to think about all the crazy stuff that transpires on this planet.
we have all seen shows and heard stories or maybe even witnessed events that don't add up.
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mindmelda
If you assume that everyone who merely recounts a personal story here loves to be challenged, you're merely projecting your love of debate and argument on others.
Believe it or not, a lot of people dislike debate and find it obnoxious that every comment they post is taken as a challenge to debate.
It may not suit the rational personality, but actually Rationalists, according to personality tests, comprise only about 8 to 12 % of the population. But, they are much more focused in number on internet forums, simply because of their innate love of endless debate and discussion about possibilities.
They tend to find it hard that others get emotional about debate, because they tend not to, but actually, most people do and when you challenge them, they WILL take it personally and they WILL at some point shut down and refuse to debate with you anymore.
Just a little psychology lesson about the differences in people.
Debate is a poor tactic for convincing a lot of people, the majority, actually, They take it as a form of emotional bullying and intellectual snobbery. Most people are not Rationalists, is why. Most people are Traditionalists and Experiencers, and they dislike debate for different reasons.
(The fourth type is Idealists, and they will discuss ideas, but not always for the same reason, to prove a theory right or wrong. Idealists are also a rarer personality type. As an Idealist myself, I dislike debate when it gets to what I think is a philosophical dead end or the emotional damage outweighs the possible benefit.)
Traditionalists dislike debate they think it's rude and/ or unnecessary to get to the bottom of things, and Experiencers because they find it boring, they like to find things out through, well... experiencing them, not discussion.
These are the people who might seem to be evasive and unintellectual to you, but guess what? A lot of people don't want to debate. You will seem like an asshole to them if you persist in debate when they're done with you when you think it's simply a matter of persisting with rational argument until they see the logic of your argument.
Get over the idea that most people are mainly driven by rationality or logic. They ARE NOT. Could it be that this is why atheists are a minority, albeit not as much of a one as they used to be? I admit that atheists tend to be the most logical people, but get over the idea that people are in religion for logical reasons. They AREN'T.
Also, it's pretty much a given that you're born with a basic personality profile. Converting a basic personality type may well be difficult, behavioral psychologists think you're pretty much born with a basic personality type.
There have even been studies done on how personality type contributes to a person being liberal or conservative politically, a good article about that in Psychology Today a while ago.
You may be an Atheist simply because it suits your personality type better than anything, but it might be extremely difficult or impossible for others to share a mindset with you they're simply not emotionally equipped to share. There has to be some reason religion has been around forever, right? It serves the needs of the majority in some fashion or it wouldn't exist.
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363
So me, of all people, had a religious experience
by sabastious ini was sitting in my garage, as i often do, to chill out and i actually ended up becoming angry.. so here i am, in my garage, kicking it on the stool for the drum set that is in there (i am a pianist/composer, not a drummer).
i start to think about all the crazy stuff that transpires on this planet.
we have all seen shows and heard stories or maybe even witnessed events that don't add up.
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mindmelda
Why should God (if there is one) be providing hungry people with food and water when that's well within the capabilities of people if the would just cooperate and do it?
Demanding that gods do what humans can do themselves is childish, and doesn't really prove OR disprove God. It merely proves that humans are sometimes selfish and uncooperative, although there are notable exceptions once in a while.
A cynic is not a skeptic. A skeptic examines all sides of something fairly in an investigative fashion, and a cynic, to quote Oscar Wilde is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
I am pretty skeptical myself, but have had all sorts of inexplicable things happen to me. I try to find explanations for them, of course, but I don't dismiss the supernatural out of hand just because it's much less probable.
I simply can't find enough evidence to do so. I don't know enough about the universe to know if it's impossible or not.
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363
So me, of all people, had a religious experience
by sabastious ini was sitting in my garage, as i often do, to chill out and i actually ended up becoming angry.. so here i am, in my garage, kicking it on the stool for the drum set that is in there (i am a pianist/composer, not a drummer).
i start to think about all the crazy stuff that transpires on this planet.
we have all seen shows and heard stories or maybe even witnessed events that don't add up.
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mindmelda
I can't figure out why this story sparked a debate of the atheist vs theist sort.
People have inexplicable things happen to them all the time and until they can figure out why it happened, (and sometimes that's not possible or they never do) it certainly feels like a supernatural occurance to them.
No one said it wasn't purely subjective, but why does that make it invalid to the person experiencing it? We're not talking science here, we're talking about what someone felt. That might not be important to anyone but them, but so be it.