so is anyone else having an existential crisis after becoming fully awake?
let me explain.
about 2 years ago i read coc, still believed and tried to get back in da troof.
Once a solder returns from combat to mediocrity its torture they can’t adjust to normal…
That's so true MarkofCain. I went to a seminar on cults and a girl who joined the Children of God said when she left everything seemed so mundane and pointless at first, she couldn't adjust. They did a number on us. You have to deprogramme and reprogram your mind to normal life.
so is anyone else having an existential crisis after becoming fully awake?
let me explain.
about 2 years ago i read coc, still believed and tried to get back in da troof.
I understand the existential crisis, I've been where you are but I also wonder if your mind has been a little screwed up by the cult if you are finding no pleasure in life other than drinking and sex and see no purpose in anything. It could be your brain's become conditioned to everything being deep, meaningful and having purpose. Like you said you were always fighting to be good enough for the paradise.
How did we fight to be good enough? Generally it was by denying ourself pleasure and happiness in life and forcing ourselves to do boring stuff every week. So now you need to retrain your brain to enjoy what humans love. Wake up and smell the coffee, literally. Smell coffee and relish the taste, cook food you love, try new foods. Do things every day that make you happy and stop looking for big meaningful stuff while you get your brain's pathways to enjoy pleasure, every day pleasures. Sunsets, starry skies, newly mown grass, the ocean, the dawn chorus, the smell of roses, music, art, poetry, travelling to new places.
You may then find you are more content with getting up each day and enjoying life as a human being on a planet, living one day at a time and letting eternity take care of itself.
as the jewish holy day of shavuot (pentecost) begins this weekend, the reform judaism site publishes an interesting article entitled "judaism teaches: question authority, think for yourself.".
the article employs a jewish doctor's recollection of a jw patient who refused blood and died as an example of how both religious traditions greatly differ on how they see and apply god's law.. shavuot is the day jews recall god's giving the law to israel.
the article is significant in that it demonstrates how jews see the giving of the law as a call to questioning authority, including divine revelation itself whereas the death of the jw patient is contrasted as a slavish interpretation that misses the point behind jewish scripture.. for more see the article at:.
The reference to Gentile culture is spoken of, again, in reference to the Pauline epistles that we mentioned in a previous post by myself and several other posters who made reference to Pauline theology. Its use was meant to be limited to that and to the way logic was employed by both.
I was talking about the way you used the phrase Jew and Gentile in your post specifically to me.
Drawing conclusions outside of any topic and any poster's speech meant to be read in context thereof is highly unexpected. No offense was meant since nothing was meant outside this context.
No offence taken.
we are not all the same--a real "duh, david!
so i figured if i didn't feel that sense of solidarity that seems missing among the debating, then i was part of the problem.
i'm responsible for making this place feel like a support and place of solidarity, just as much as anyone else.. but approaches i tried didn't work until i shut up for a while.
Xanthippe .......
But apparently, at least as far as your reading of my post demonstrates, my abilities to write in an efficacious manner are lacking and not a little.
Dont worry about it. I had to cast myself back into that mindset momentarily to remember how I felt but I am not that person now. It seems very odd writing I wanted to serve God and that I bought into the bs about saving lives, but I was sixteen.........
we are not all the same--a real "duh, david!
so i figured if i didn't feel that sense of solidarity that seems missing among the debating, then i was part of the problem.
i'm responsible for making this place feel like a support and place of solidarity, just as much as anyone else.. but approaches i tried didn't work until i shut up for a while.
Your being baptized as a JW was not a choice, not like it is for converts. You were not necessarily searching for what the JWs claimed they had. This was probably expected of you.
Mmm you've got us all figured out now have you? Guess again David. It was a choice for me. I wanted to serve God and save lives. So I pioneered for ten years. Many on this forum felt the same way. I was searching for truth. At sixteen I questioned the Ransom Sacrifice doctrine and asked everyone what they thought. They thought I was mad. The hatred for the idea of a loving God torturing people to prove something to the Devil eventually led me out of the cult.
as the jewish holy day of shavuot (pentecost) begins this weekend, the reform judaism site publishes an interesting article entitled "judaism teaches: question authority, think for yourself.".
the article employs a jewish doctor's recollection of a jw patient who refused blood and died as an example of how both religious traditions greatly differ on how they see and apply god's law.. shavuot is the day jews recall god's giving the law to israel.
the article is significant in that it demonstrates how jews see the giving of the law as a call to questioning authority, including divine revelation itself whereas the death of the jw patient is contrasted as a slavish interpretation that misses the point behind jewish scripture.. for more see the article at:.
Did you not get this from your reading of the article about what we Jews believe?
Well he says our job is to hammer out a moral society. As I already mentioned I just don't understand why religion is therefore necessary if that's our job. You talk about Jews believe this, Gentiles believe that. Sounds awful. I am a 'Gentile' but I don't believe in God. Which group do you put me in? Sorry but your partitioning everyone into groups makes me feel ill.
i saw two brothers this morning next to the main train station in liverpool city centre this morning.
they were not actively approaching anyone.
what i found strange was that they were from a cong that has different territory, so i don't know why they were there.. anyway i knew them both, and they know i was df'd, i was in my car and couldn't park up for a chat, but i did beep and wave to them as i drove passed and they waved back.
I've only seen a trolley once and unfortunately I was in a rush on my lunch break from work. The last person who came to my door I did engage in conversation until she got quite upset (cd starting up) and said she had to go. I will try and use some of the excellent ideas people on here have shared next time I see a trolley because I really wish someone had tried to help me get out.
as the jewish holy day of shavuot (pentecost) begins this weekend, the reform judaism site publishes an interesting article entitled "judaism teaches: question authority, think for yourself.".
the article employs a jewish doctor's recollection of a jw patient who refused blood and died as an example of how both religious traditions greatly differ on how they see and apply god's law.. shavuot is the day jews recall god's giving the law to israel.
the article is significant in that it demonstrates how jews see the giving of the law as a call to questioning authority, including divine revelation itself whereas the death of the jw patient is contrasted as a slavish interpretation that misses the point behind jewish scripture.. for more see the article at:.
'While the Orthodox may be very exact in trying to keep as much of the Law as possible, the idea is still the same: you must bend with the changing tides, you must adjust to the circumstance, you must let observance of the Law be illuminated with enlightenment.'
Surely we can adjust to circumstances, making enlightened and educated decisions without ancient texts David? To my mind this is how humans grow, by deciding on each situation as it comes along with intelligence and compassion and not by following rules made by those who are not in that situation ( or who've been dead for thousands of years).
it's become clear that very few from outside the religion are joining anymore.
if only the kids of the people that are already in are the one replacing the members as they die off and 50% let's say of the kids leave then how long can they realistically last before the downturn becomes obvious?.
Real estate is a very steady business and it's the one they're in now. Do they really care about new members anymore. Buying and selling land and property can keep them going for years and they can blame the low baptisms on persecution in these last days.
it occurs to me, if i was starting from scratch choosing a religion or belief system to join, there's one good question i should like answered first:.
does this religion promote a way of life and view of the world that would be satisfying even if not a single word of its doctrines are true?
if jws honestly answered that question i doubt many would say it's a good choice.
Beliefs are a starting point, but they are irrelevant to actions. What you do, how you act, defines what you really are, what you really believe. Fighting amongst ourselves that we are somehow more enlightened due to what we believe or don't doesn't amount to much.When I studied history my tutors emphasised that beliefs, whether religious or political inform all the actions in history. Beliefs are what make us do what we do, they are far from irrelevant.
