What is the purpose of moral dilemmas? Do they point us to God or to ourselves?
Siddhashunyata
JoinedPosts by Siddhashunyata
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32
Dilemmas......What is their Purpose?
by Siddhashunyata in.
what is the purpose of moral dilemmas?
do they point us to god or to ourselves?
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36
I have been challenged
by SpiceItUp in.
my father has told me that if i can disprove the bible on any point he will discontinue beliveing in it.. i will be the first to admit that bible theology is not my strong point so i need any help that i can get.. thanks in advance
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Siddhashunyata
Introspection has the right idea here. Notice how you feel burdened because in your heart of hearts you know nothing will work. There is no proof strong enough for someone that is emotionaly dependent on the idea that the Bible is infallible. This can be seen by the 150 year old war still being fought between the Fundalmentalists and Biblical Higher Criticism. No amount of evidence or reasoning can overcome the emotional dependency. One must become desperate enough to accept the truth no matter what it proves to be. This can happen by seeking the answer to a question such as "Who am I ?" or it can come by profound disillusionment. If your father has not reached this state he is not "open" for evidence and you are in for strife.
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11
Have You Ever Been Falsely Accused In The Cong?
by minimus inwere you ever falsely accused of something either by an elder or member of the congregation?
how did you handle it?
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Siddhashunyata
In a small congregation in Delaware I was falsely accused of Spiritism, homosexuality, "unintentional" apostacy, and causing divisions. The divisions were because I was white and attended an all black congregation. Homosexuality was because of jesting with a lisp with a fellow carpenter. Spiritism was because my dinner table was unstable ie "table tipping". The committee was anxious to annihilate me because the congregations were segregated and my white Bible studies at the black Kingdom hall caused the circuit overseer to recommend building one hall for everybody. (late 60's). Also I was college educated and studied intensly 8 to 12 hrs per day . I worked part time ( x-hippie). The whole farce collapsed when one of the accusers said my library had books on spiritism such as..............Josephus! After the smoke cleared the PO came to me privately and said he wanted to have more meetings. I said NEVER AGAIN. He said he had the power to open it all up again. I said on what charge? He said....."UNINTENTIONAL APOSTACY". I let out a roar of laughter and derision and told him to leave me alone. He did. From that point on I knew there was a great difference between God and the "Brotherhood". The fate of that committee is noteworthy. One of them eventually overdrank and was disfellowshipped for punching out the unbelieving husband of his (the brother's) wife's Bible study. The second Committee member's Step Son "corrupted" the brother's natural Son and they ran off together as homosexual partners. He died confused and disoriented. The last member just faded and I have no memory of his "fate". My adventures continued for 25 more years. I was a true "Believer".
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The Garden of Eden
by JNS2 inwhen i started studying with the jws, the matter of whether the genesis account should be taken literally was glossed over quickly.
i think it was one of those "it'll be clearer later on, so let's continue with the study at hand".
it really was an issue for me even from the beginning because my work has always been in the science field.
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Siddhashunyata
The allegorical nature of the account is apparent from a comparison of the power of the two trees, the tree of the "knowledge of good and evil " and the tree "Life". The WTBTS teaches that on the one hand the first tree had no power but was symbolic. On the other hand the second tree had literal power it was not symbolic. ( That's why Jehovah had to drive them out of the Garden for fear that they might eat from the Tree of Life.) How does one invalidate the judgement of Death with a literal fruit from the tree of Life. Somethings wrong here. The account is allegorical and its meaning has to do with the process of judging things as good or bad. The human race has lost its understanding of its true nature.
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Is the bible inspired?
by JH inwhat part of the bible do you think is pure invention, and what part do you think is true.
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Siddhashunyata
There is a major conflict in the teachings recorded in the Bible. Some ideas lead to peace and some lead to anxiety. Why is this? Well, those that lead to peace have a Buddhist sense and those that lead to anxiety have a Jewish Messianic sense. Under one set of ideas time is irrelevent while under the other set time is of the essence. Some have noted that this is a result of Alexandria being a Buddhist Center at the time Jesus and his family were in Egypt. Do you recall how difficult it was to " not be anxious over anything " and yet to " keep working out your own salvation with fear and trembling" ?
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For those who don't believe in God
by freedom96 inwhen we were witnesses, we certainly believed in god.
some of us were born into it, and others have perhaps come from other religions, while still others may never had any religious faith at all.
some here on the board now claim that there is no god at all.
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Siddhashunyata
Belief, the process itself , was invalidated by the irony of the WTBTS EXPERIENCE. So I was left with the question, is belief all there is ? The answer is no. There is another way to find out what is going on. However, it requires that one investigate ones own mind. This is not easy but the results are profound. Each must do this for himself. It is a way of "knowing" not a way of "believing ".
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Colored Shirts?
by Marcos inwhat is the wt policy on shirts for the brothers?
are they supposed to be only white shirts?
my son, no a sort of waning mormon said that he thought it was funny that the witnesses here copy the mormons (white shirts only).
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Siddhashunyata
1968 no colored shirts allowed on the platform (Delaware). NeonMadman has it right.
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Nothing Hurts Like This
by JT injames: .
though i may, on more than a few occasions, have questioned whether or not i wanted to be one of jehovahs witnesses and i may at some point decide that i dont, i can assure you that i would never contact you again.
it is really unfortunate that you felt the need to post our email exchanges on jw.com because to be honest with you, i actually thought that you may have been sincerely interested in me as a person.
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Siddhashunyata
JT, good fighters know how to take a punch. With respect..
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Zen Creationism
by Ed inif a universe comes into existence and there is no god around to hear it, does it make a big bang?
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Siddhashunyata
Something has always been. What is its nature?
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re: lastest fuss on getting rid of inactives
by bay64me ina lot has been discussed here of late about the disfellowshiping of inactive ones.. in my old hall i know a sister that started smoking again and when found out she insisted that her reproof must be private and not public otherwise she would never return to the hall.
she pulled it off.. i know a brother that became inactive and started smoking.
the elders appeared to leave him alone, but one day they pounced and he is now disfellowshipped.. i know a ministerial servant that caused a great deal of upset in the congregation because of his lies and decietfulness, (causing divisions).
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Siddhashunyata
The significance of this latest slippery behavior is that the WTBTS is worried because INACTIVE ONES ARE BECOMING A REAL THREAT TO THE CONGREGATIONS and BECAUSE INACTIVE ONES ARE BETTER INFORMED THAN EVER BEFORE AND ARE BECOMING MORE ORGANIZED. THEY ARE LEARNING TECHNIQUES FROM EACH OTHER THAT ENABLE THEM TO EFFECTIVELY CONTRADICT AND DERIDE THE WTBTS. Thus, this latest push is an attempt to silence the dissent that is being nourished by the internet and "leaking" into the congregations. This "leaking in", on such a large scale, is a very real threat to their control and authority. The magnitude of the threat is new.