record of committee meeting #1. after prayer, proverbs 28:13 was read: "he who is covering over his transgressions will not succeed, but he who is confessing and leaving them will be shown mercy.
" the need to confess to jehovah was emphasized.
as jehovah's representatives, the elders said we therefore needed to confess to them.
From the Christian perspective, yes, awildflower and pistoff are indeed wrong.
I agree.
I'm not sure any of us can suggest that our ideas are absolutely superior to anyone else's. We're all in error in one way or another. Hopefully, you folks can just agree to disagree.
I agree.
christians: is military service wrong?.
imho, there are times when individuals/famlies/communities/states/nations must take up arms to defend themselves.
otherwise, they will cease to exist.. .
Gotcha! So your from Canada?
christians: is military service wrong?.
imho, there are times when individuals/famlies/communities/states/nations must take up arms to defend themselves.
otherwise, they will cease to exist.. .
Well here's a piece from a book I just read:
On the most fundamental level, my sense is that we are a kind, compassionate, and caring species,........At the same time, out of necessity, we are also a species of warriors and survivors. When driven to extremes, we have the power, capacity, and will to override our fundamental nature and become violent, to protect and survive. Our violence can be triggered by circumstances, either real or perceived, that we believe threaten us as individuals, families, communities, or nations. At other times, we strike out in acts of sheer desperation at circumstances that seem beyond our control. Regardless of the reason that we betray what has been called our fundamental "goodness," it is in such moments that we witness the very worst and most frightening aspects of our nature.
In the absence of conditions that drive us to be animal-like in our actions, a growing body of ancient, scholarly, and scientific evidence suggests that when given the opportunity, we prefer to live peaceful and considerate lives that honor the benevolent aspects of our species.
What he goes onto talk about is that people are generally "good" by nature.
Now when Jesus said "those who live by the sword will die by the sword", IMO, meant that yes, if you fight, you usually die fighting. There was no "wrong or right" about it, but it just IS at times. Meaning, people do what they know and then when they know better they do better. I think we live in a time where there is a shift taking place among mankind where war, is just NOT working hence we wont need a military. It will change, I really believe that. And again, for me like everything else, it goes back to motive. Idk, just my thoughts.
PS were you in the military??
record of committee meeting #1. after prayer, proverbs 28:13 was read: "he who is covering over his transgressions will not succeed, but he who is confessing and leaving them will be shown mercy.
" the need to confess to jehovah was emphasized.
as jehovah's representatives, the elders said we therefore needed to confess to them.
awildflower, you are wrong. If your conscience bothered you and you told yourself it wasn't sin to make yourself feel not guilty you missed the biggest opportunity.
What I said was if HE felt bad then it was bad for HIM. No one should be dictating to another person what's 'wrong' or 'right' in any given circumstance. It's all about motive. If his "fornication" was about "love" then it's not a bad motive. If his "fornication" was about "taking" and "hurting" then it will hurt him and whoever else in the end because that would have brought a whole negative energy to the situation.
You are just saying the same ol' jw, religious stuff, but in a different package name. I believe that what Jesus taught was that it was within OURSELVES to know what is going to yield positive or negative results. Your message, which I respect is yours, doesn't scare me and that's what "religion", including yours wants to do. That's why our friend here is struggling because he's been "feared" into the idea that he's a "bad little boy". If that's how you get people to supposedly do the right thing, and if that's how you think it SHOULD be, and if that's the God you serve, then you are exactly where you need to be.
so this is inspired by my favorite poet edgar allen john doe!
sometimes we just need to say something completely goofy to relieve tension and have fun.
the pineapple king, with a feather in his hat and a spring in his step, finally helped the chicken cross the road!.
I'm "Inspired"
record of committee meeting #1. after prayer, proverbs 28:13 was read: "he who is covering over his transgressions will not succeed, but he who is confessing and leaving them will be shown mercy.
" the need to confess to jehovah was emphasized.
as jehovah's representatives, the elders said we therefore needed to confess to them.
Later on, when the jw part of this has past, you are going to realize that what you "did" was not a "sin". It's just life for goodness sake. If what happened with you made YOU feel bad then you'll know not to do whatever makes YOU feel bad again. Or if what you did hurt someone else, you'll now know how to avoid that. And therapy will help you to put normal life stuff in its place. I know people will have a problem with , "sex before marriage, or fornication" or whatever, but in my mind those things are natural. In my mind, it's all about motive and it seems to me that your motive was not "evil". I don't know if I'm speaking out of line here, I've only caught bits and pieces of your story. I just don't want you to feel like you are some "bad" person. You only feel that way because of your jw life which is all about turning normal things into a guilt or fear trip. And sad to say, but this will probably definitely strain your marriage even more than it already has. But you are holding your own and I'm proud of you for that.
a time comes in your life when you finally get...when, in the midst of all your fears and insanity, you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out...enough1 enough fighting and crying and blaming and struggling to hold on.
then, like a child quieting down after a tantrum, you blink back your tears and begin to look at the world through new eyes.. .
you realize its time to stop hoping and waiting for something to change, or for happiness, safety and security to magically appear over the next horizon.. .
Underneath all the "stuff" it's who we all are Jeff. Humanity is just going home.
a time comes in your life when you finally get...when, in the midst of all your fears and insanity, you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out...enough1 enough fighting and crying and blaming and struggling to hold on.
then, like a child quieting down after a tantrum, you blink back your tears and begin to look at the world through new eyes.. .
you realize its time to stop hoping and waiting for something to change, or for happiness, safety and security to magically appear over the next horizon.. .
Again the paradox is it's not 'work', it just happens. In fact the less you do the more happens.
a time comes in your life when you finally get...when, in the midst of all your fears and insanity, you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out...enough1 enough fighting and crying and blaming and struggling to hold on.
then, like a child quieting down after a tantrum, you blink back your tears and begin to look at the world through new eyes.. .
you realize its time to stop hoping and waiting for something to change, or for happiness, safety and security to magically appear over the next horizon.. .
Yes PSacramento, it should be. If people would have taken Jesus message and let it speak to them as individuals like it was meant to do and NOT make a religion out of it like they did, then his words would work. The problem is when the ego organizes any enlightened message into a religion and that's what Christianity did to Jesus words and life. That's what Taoism did to the Tao, that's what Buddhism did to Buddha that's what happens when one man or a group a men or women can get up and make a religion out of their words, it looses it's intention.
reading tmj4477's thread about religion after jw's and reading perry trying to counter ak-jeff on a thread about god and suffering, both of these made me want to post some eastern thought that doesn't fall into the category of "religious" but might help nonetheless.. .
excerpt from the wisdom of no escape (with subtitle: and the path of loving-kindness).
chapter 8: no such thing as a true storyin taoism there's a famous saying that goes, "the tao that can be spoken is not the ultimate tao.
And people can make a religion out of anything, even their own opinions! That's why living without attachments is so important. One can idolize thoughts and opinions and beliefs just as much as images and books etc. Even the Tao teaches that once you've "named it" you've lost it because it can't be named. And once you name it, it turns into a belief system and takes off from there. The paradox again is once you "get it" you can't speak about it!
