Posts by paul from cleveland

47

A question for Christians

by paul from cleveland in

jesus said to 'go your way and sin no more' and the bible also says not to 'use the grace of god as an excuse to sin'.

however the bible also says that 'all sin and fall short of the glory of god'.

this means that we can only partially obey the commandment to be sinless.

paul from cleveland

Ynot, Envisioning you lying on the kitchen floor crying is painful to me. I know that kind of pain. I hope it didn't last long.

I'm glad you've always felt God's love. I know you're a very loving person. I'm happy you're at peace now.

47

A question for Christians

by paul from cleveland in

jesus said to 'go your way and sin no more' and the bible also says not to 'use the grace of god as an excuse to sin'.

however the bible also says that 'all sin and fall short of the glory of god'.

this means that we can only partially obey the commandment to be sinless.

paul from cleveland

Are you born again? Without being a new creation you are unable to overcome the "flesh", the sinful nature.

Have you invited Jesus directly through prayer into your heart?-- Have you accepted his invitation in return ?)

No, I'm not born again but I've prayed very hard for this for years. What does it feel like? How do you know? How can you know? Are you sure?

Masturbating?????

Hi Mouthy (My new Grandma). I didn't say I necessarily have a "problem" with it... I just wrote that "someone once asked" about it. (I won't say who)

47

A question for Christians

by paul from cleveland in

jesus said to 'go your way and sin no more' and the bible also says not to 'use the grace of god as an excuse to sin'.

however the bible also says that 'all sin and fall short of the glory of god'.

this means that we can only partially obey the commandment to be sinless.

Thanks for all your answers. Forgive me for not quite getting it. I think my problem is with the idea of 'deliberate sin'. Isn't all sin deliberate? Don't we know we're sinning when we do it? If we didn't, wouldn't it just be a mistake? To me, trying not to 'sin deliberately' is an impossible task. I never know if there is some 'cut off' point where it's okay. For example, I know that when I'm driving down the road and going even one mile over the speed limit, I'm sinning by not obeying Ceasar's law. When I keep doing it, there is no longer any sacrifice left for my sin. To even look at a woman with lust, I've committed adultery in my heart yet I keep doing it. I know this may seem ridiculous but I really think about these things all the time. When I was a Witness, I always felt I had to do more. Enough was never enough. Now, it's kind of the same thing. I just can't stop deliberately sinning.

47

A question for Christians

by paul from cleveland in

jesus said to 'go your way and sin no more' and the bible also says not to 'use the grace of god as an excuse to sin'.

however the bible also says that 'all sin and fall short of the glory of god'.

this means that we can only partially obey the commandment to be sinless.

paul from cleveland

Jesus said to 'go your way and sin no more' and the bible also says not to 'use the grace of God as an excuse to sin'. However the bible also says that 'all sin and fall short of the glory of God'. This means that we can only partially obey the commandment to be sinless. This fills me with as much anxiety that I had while being a Witness. How can I know if I'm being "good enough" for God? Since I can't be sinless, there must be some arbitrary cut-off point where I'm just not good enough. There's got to be a point when I've just committed one to many sins. As someone once asked 'am I going to die because I masterbated one to many times'?.

21

The Probabilty of there being an Intelligent Designer part 2. (some responses)

by hooberus in

on the thread "the probabilty of there being an intelligent designer" the poster "elsewhere" wrote:.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/187282/1/the-probabilty-of-there-being-an-intelligent-designer.

here is my basic reasoning on why i reject id:.

paul from cleveland

In the natural world, every event has a cause. Therefore, the first event must have been caused by something outside of nature. Something supernatural. This supernatural cause is what I call God.

21

The Probabilty of there being an Intelligent Designer part 2. (some responses)

by hooberus in

on the thread "the probabilty of there being an intelligent designer" the poster "elsewhere" wrote:.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/187282/1/the-probabilty-of-there-being-an-intelligent-designer.

here is my basic reasoning on why i reject id:.

paul from cleveland

Existence just "is". The foundation of everything is built upon an illogical paradox. Until this is explained, I'm not going to rule anything out.

21

The Probabilty of there being an Intelligent Designer part 2. (some responses)

by hooberus in

on the thread "the probabilty of there being an intelligent designer" the poster "elsewhere" wrote:.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/187282/1/the-probabilty-of-there-being-an-intelligent-designer.

here is my basic reasoning on why i reject id:.

paul from cleveland

The way I see it is that existence itself is a paradox. Using natural, observable laws, nothing should be here in the first place! Why is there something rather than nothing? The paradox of existence itself leaves a lot of room for the supernatural.

26

I passed the GED test!!!

by noni1974 in

jw
friends

i went last week and took it after studying on my own for months.

i thought i needed some help so i went and signed up for ged classes.

they test you to see where you are.

paul from cleveland

Congratulations Noni! I'm sorry to hear about your move to Kentucky though. It's been nice to get to know you. I really enjoyed our visit.

128

The upside of atheism

by paul from cleveland in

i realize whether you believe in god or the non-existence of god it has to be taken on faith since both positions are unknowable and unprovable.

however, i can understand faith in god as basically a hope for something better.

i can also understand agnosticism; admitting it's unknowable but still leaving the door open (perhaps the only intellectually honest option).

paul from cleveland

I'm a bit of a nihilist.

Nihilistic thoughts are what really get me down the most. I shouldn't have read so much Nietzsche. Once those ideas are in your head, you can never get them back out. Now that philosophy is one of several competing ideas I have about ultimate reality. For me, the only escape from them is music, dancing, drinking and drugs (preferably all at the same time). The other ideas I have include God.

Paul, I owe you an apology man. I had you down as someone just trying to stir things up for the sake of it.

Thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt. I never want to stir things up. I didn't want to start a discussion about what's "true". I just wanted to see how people can be comfortable with the idea of atheism, just in case it's true.

128

The upside of atheism

by paul from cleveland in

i realize whether you believe in god or the non-existence of god it has to be taken on faith since both positions are unknowable and unprovable.

however, i can understand faith in god as basically a hope for something better.

i can also understand agnosticism; admitting it's unknowable but still leaving the door open (perhaps the only intellectually honest option).

paul from cleveland

"Life is a swirling, sucking eddy of despair filled with brief glimpses of false hope in an ever darkening universe" - Bill Maher

Always makes me laugh for some reason

Wow, that doesn't seem funny to me.

Even though I believe in God, I always know I could be wrong. Most of us believed what we learned as Witnesses was the truth only to learn later that we were wrong. Seeing how we were deceived for so many years, how can we have 100% confidence now?

The scripture about God putting 'eternity in the hearts of men' really seems true in my case. I just can't get used to the idea of death. Maybe I'm selfish. I've noticed on other links that some people say that if you want to live forever you're selfish. Some people say I'm depressed because I think about it too much. Maybe I just feel this way because I was taught this from birth and never had the opportunity to get "used" to it from childhood. It's come as a shock to me to learn that death is inevitable as an adult. But if it's true that it's natural to have eternity in our hearts, then it would be natural to fear it. There is nothing wrong with me. Every day I wake up, I'm grateful for another day. I realize that any day can be my last and I live that way. I focus on letting the people in my life know that I love them because I could be gone tomorrow. I feel that I've gone to the doctor and he told me I only have "X" amount of years to live. Wouldn't anyone feel bad about that? I really want to be able to accept it like atheists do just in case I'm wrong about God. Forgive me for always going on about this.