Posts by Awen

131

Proof of God or Christ without a holy book

by Awen in

jw
friends

14 years ago

in some previous posts i have asked certain questions that still haven't been answered.

so without going back to those threads and possibly de-railing them i thought it best to make a new topic.

please bear with me.. i have asked certain ones to prove the existence of god or christ without referencing any biblical writings or characters.

12 years ago

Awen 14 years ago

@ Shelby

When reading your posts I became quite upset. I was fuming. However after a few minutes I stopped and asked myself why I was fuming and the answer was given.

Because you're correct. About all of it. Difficult to admit but the fault is mine and mine alone. I lack faith.

I thought about my best friend and how he has sometimes disappointed me but I still love him like a brother. Love has caused me to give him the benefit of the doubt, so why am I unable to do so with Christ?

I suppose I don't love Christ enough for me to keep patient awaiting an answer or to endure through a hrdship because I feel I cannot take it anymore. I just don't love Christ the way he deserves and I don't know how.

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13

Help With an Elusive Rutherford Book?

by Teary Oberon in

14 years ago

i've managed to find scans of all of judge rutherford's 100+ page books (23 in total) except for one rather elusive title:.

"can the living talk with the dead?

" circa 1920 by judge rutherford (128 pages).

14 years ago

Awen 14 years ago

Amazon has the whole book if you can't find a pdf.

A complete listing of his other books can be found here.

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82

I just can't do this anymore

by Awen in

14 years ago

dear friends:.

for years now after my exit from the wtbts i have searched for god.

as i have previously mentioned in other threads i looked into many other religions, including druidry, zen and tibetan buddhism (not really a religion), asatru, native american shamanism, kemetic orthodoxy, gnosticism and pandeism.

14 years ago

Awen 14 years ago

Thanks for all the kind replies.

I think I'm gonna take a few days )or perhaps longer) away from these forums.

I feel that I have possibly hindered some people from getting to know Christ by some of my posts and I feel quite badly about that.

I don't know how I can continue posting here while my mind is in a turmoil. Or also how I can continue to post when I'm seemingly for Christ one moment and against him the next. it confuses people and they don't know where I stand on an issue.

So thanks again for your kindness but I think I should take a break for a bit.

Yours,

Awen

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131

Proof of God or Christ without a holy book

by Awen in

jw
friends

14 years ago

in some previous posts i have asked certain questions that still haven't been answered.

so without going back to those threads and possibly de-railing them i thought it best to make a new topic.

please bear with me.. i have asked certain ones to prove the existence of god or christ without referencing any biblical writings or characters.

12 years ago

Awen 14 years ago

@ XJW4EVR The comments about the Bible not being reliable have come from others on these forums. I have noticed a certain disparity myself.

Jeremiah 8:8 ""'How can you say, "We are wise, for we have the law of the LORD," when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?"

The verse seems to indicate that there are things written in the Torah (by the scribes) that are false and Jeremiah is calling the scribes out on it.

@ FlyingHighNow In regards to your comments about supposed badgering. I don't see it as badgering. No one is coming to your home or knocking on your door and taking up your time (or anyone else's) without your consent. A reply isn't mandatory on any thread. People reply because they want to.

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34

What is truth?

by mankkeli in

jw
friends

14 years ago

and i dont want to see the dictionary definition of the word, as the word is merely a label, and the definition is merely a description of the word.. .

i want to discuss the concept of truth, as there is alot hiding behind the mere label.. .

to start off with, is truth merely when we come to agreement, and stop questioning?

14 years ago

Awen 14 years ago

I guess we need to come to terms with what reality is before we can know Truth.

Like Tammy mentioned there were things in the past that others thought were truth but were later disproven.

One could day YHWH is the true God and Jesus is his Son. That would be truth for many. However until others come to accept it for themselves it stil remains a non-truth (at least for themselves) yet in reality is still truth.

This is a very hard question to answer as it's dependent entirely upon our own individual point of view in relation to what actually is.

I'm more apt to say I think I know what truth is, but I'm open to being proven wrong.

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82

I just can't do this anymore

by Awen in

14 years ago

dear friends:.

for years now after my exit from the wtbts i have searched for god.

as i have previously mentioned in other threads i looked into many other religions, including druidry, zen and tibetan buddhism (not really a religion), asatru, native american shamanism, kemetic orthodoxy, gnosticism and pandeism.

14 years ago

Awen 14 years ago

@ Tammy

Yes I do feel tired and frustrated.

Every few weeks or months I feel the need to reaffirm what I believe. Over and over in a never ending quest for answers. No matter what I discover I seem to always want more. I wish I could just find a happy place and be content. But my nature is to question everything and it never seems to be enough.

I'm just so weary of this.

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131

Proof of God or Christ without a holy book

by Awen in

jw
friends

14 years ago

in some previous posts i have asked certain questions that still haven't been answered.

so without going back to those threads and possibly de-railing them i thought it best to make a new topic.

please bear with me.. i have asked certain ones to prove the existence of god or christ without referencing any biblical writings or characters.

12 years ago

Awen 14 years ago

@ Ding

I will concede that you make some very good points especially when it comes to writing about the history of others.

I was looking at it from the standpoint of witnesses in a courtroom as second hand accounts usually aren't allowed into evidence. You make good points that in the case of history some allowances must be made.

So Jesus did exist as a historical figure based upon your remarks.

Now a different question.

Is Jesus divine?

That question has been at the heart of my argument (though not stated directly).

Was Jesus just a great philosopher who's identity was made into something more by his followers?

Could the Bible writers have had an agenda?

Persons like Julius Caesar left behind writings, statues and buildings that historians say were constructed on their orders.

Does anything like this exist in regards to Jesus' divinity?

One might say the enduring quality of Christianity is proof enough, yet other religions exist that are in direct opposition (opposition may not be the right word) to Christianity. So it's possible that they (like Christianity) are the product of mankind's efforts and not a divine being's influence.

What measurement is needed to help a person decide what is the true religion? What makes Jesus more authentic than Krishna, Buddha, Mohammad, and so on?

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131

Proof of God or Christ without a holy book

by Awen in

jw
friends

14 years ago

in some previous posts i have asked certain questions that still haven't been answered.

so without going back to those threads and possibly de-railing them i thought it best to make a new topic.

please bear with me.. i have asked certain ones to prove the existence of god or christ without referencing any biblical writings or characters.

12 years ago

Awen 14 years ago

No. I was converted when I was 19, got out at 29.

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33

Did any of you need counselling or psychotherapy as a JW?

by TimothyT in

14 years ago

i have just started my new course to be a qualified counsellor.

naturaly i am studying this because of my own background and now i want to help others who have had similar strains on their lives.. i know the pressure that the jw organisation puts on its members, so i was wondering, if you dont mind saying so of course, did any of you attend counselling sessions due to the pressures and problems that the jw life brought along?.

i can imagine that the majority of my old congregation (myself, my dad and my brother included) would need some form of counselling or medication in order to remain sane.

14 years ago

Awen 14 years ago

I was told by an Elder friend that perhaps counseling would help me with my depression since nothing else (meeting attendance, FS and prayer) had worked.

It was possibly the best advice I was ever given by a JW.

I went for a year and found that the organization and the way it beats it's members into submission by denial of basic humn rights, needs, desires was at the root of my depression.

I also realized that my non-JW friends were a source of great encouragement. Medication helped somewhat.

I received no support from the congregation but a few people did ask me secretly if it was helping. Without telling them about what I discovered I related how it was relief to be able to speak to someone who wasn't a JW and who had little knowledge of the organization. This helps the patient to see the organization from the outside, with a fresh perspective. I didn't have to worry about my counselor going back to the Elders and relaying what had been said. In the case of couselors who are JW's you could always sue them for breach of patient/doctor confidentiality so I always asked each counselor what their religious affiliation was. Most were atheists.

Once I stepped away from the organization my depression all but disappeared. I still have bouts of it from time to time but not the near suicidal episodes I once had.

Psychology saved my life.

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131

Proof of God or Christ without a holy book

by Awen in

jw
friends

14 years ago

in some previous posts i have asked certain questions that still haven't been answered.

so without going back to those threads and possibly de-railing them i thought it best to make a new topic.

please bear with me.. i have asked certain ones to prove the existence of god or christ without referencing any biblical writings or characters.

12 years ago

Awen 14 years ago

I said I often receive understanding when I ask for and/or seek it. Sometimes when I don't ask for and/or seek it. Understanding as in I might now know the answer and the reasons for something that I previously did not understand.

@ Tammy

So you attribute this understanding to Christ?

Have you considered that you might be experiencing a very common phenomenon known as the unconscious mind?

The unconscious mind can be seen as the source of night dreams and automatic thoughts (those that appear without apparent cause); the repository of memories that have been forgotten but that may nevertheless be accessible to consciousness at some later time; and the locus of implicit knowledge, i.e. all the things that we have learned so well that we do them without thinking. One familiar example of the operation of the unconscious is the phenomenon where one fails to immediately solve a given problem and then suddenly has a flash of insight that provides a solution maybe days later at some odd moment during the day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconscious_mind#Unconsciousness_versus_nonconsciousness

This does seem a plausible explanation except that you believe it to be something outside of your own mind.

Is it not outside the realm of possibilities that you could be mistaken? I offer as proof that you as well as most every member of this forum (myself included) thought that the Governing Body represented God and Christ and were to be followed though they offered no proof other than their own words.

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