What Voltaire concluded makes sense to me: “It is not more surprising to be born twice than once.” Body starts functioning when soul enters and becomes dead when it exits which shows it is independent of body (material); hence soul is immaterial and knows even to guide us using symbols. For example Carl Jung found many of his dreams were personal guidance to him. He considered dreams as the medium our sub-conscious mind uses to communicate with us by delivering messages direct to the conscious. Although many different characters can appear in our dreams, he says that “every character is a different aspect of our unacknowledged self or a prevalent situation in our life. Basically, we cannot easily retrieve the data stored in our unconscious mind, so dreams offer the opportunity to view the data so that we can achieve inner peace, balance and harmony and achieve self-growth and self-realization, which propel us towards our unique higher purpose….Dreams are impartial, spontaneous products of the unconscious psyche, outside the control of the will. They are pure nature; they show us the unvarnished, natural truth, and are therefore fitted, as nothing else is, to give us back an attitude that accords with our basic human nature when our consciousness has strayed too far from its foundations and run into an impasse.” [Collected Works Volume 10] Dreams also do much more than mere personal guidance because many scientific discoveries (such as Periodic Table, Aromatic Chemistry, Insulin …) have their roots in dreams. (http://dreamtraining.blogspot.com/2010/12/inventions-that-came-in-dreams-largest.html) Even Einstein’s great invention of Theory of Relativity is connected with two dreams he had. (Einstein: A Life by Denis Brian p.159) Such a powerful and intelligent entity would not go non-existent when body dies.
Posts by venus
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11Fewer Americans believe in GOD, yet they still believe in the afterlife.
by James Mixon inexcuse me, don't make sense to me.
what say you...
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Jesus tempted by Satan, real or just a vision.
by pleaseresearch innot with their shunning policy.
me and my brother seldom communicate sadly, but no way would we go anywhere for fear of being seen with an inactive jw for over 10 years.. https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/watchtower-simplified-march-2016/questions-from-readers/.
from the website:.
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venus
Hi EverApostate,
You asked "How come Satan is having a bet with Jehovah then ? As in the book of Job."
The very essence of Book of Job makes no sense at all--God and Satan playing with the precious life of his devotee. Somebody wanted an answer to the question 'Why suffering exists?" and in his mind this is what appeared as an answer. It has nothing to do God. In most of the cultures and religions, Satan is personification of evil which was gradually got petrified in the minds of people thinking Satan is a person.
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Bible comes alive if we look for meaning behind the symbols it uses
by Ireneus inbible contains too much human thinking presented as though from god, thus much of its information brings dishonor to god.. yet it contains great beneficial truths behind the symbols it uses.
let us take the only two cases of miracles jesus performed without any request from anybody which would show the very purpose of his ministry:.
1) jesus healed a woman who “was bent over and could not straighten up at all.” (luke 13:11-13).
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venus
blownaway,
Account involving Lot and Abraham was obviously fabricated for grander purposes—for introducing Exodus and Ransom sacrifice of Jesus. An unbiased reading would show that writer of Genesis is struggling to create details, and in his desperation repeating the details already written in small scale into large scale later:
a) Abraham is brought out of Chaldeans to “take possession of land” (Genesis 15:7)—a small scale incident as a foreshadow of Israel being brought out of Egypt to “take possession of land”—a large scale event.
b) When God informed of His intention of destroying the wicked inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah Abraham made extensive questioning, cross-questioning and bargaining with God till he gets satisfied. (Genesis 18:16-33) However, when God informed of His intention of murdering Abraham’s own only-begotten, innocent son, he simply obeys without any questionings [which he should naturally have done more intensely than he did in the case of unrelated wicked people where Lot was living]. To provide a basis for Abraham’s story, they had to invent Lot, and destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah—a story with no purpose because Lot’s daughters finally had to ‘get their father to drink wine so that they could lie down with him to have children from him’ (Genesis 19:30-36), children (Moab and Ben-Ammi) who became the ancestors of two nations Moabites and Ammonites that became enemies of Israel.
To produce one incomprehensible story of God offering His son to be murdered as sacrifice for the sins of the world, see how many incomprehensible stories that must precede it!
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Bible comes alive if we look for meaning behind the symbols it uses
by Ireneus inbible contains too much human thinking presented as though from god, thus much of its information brings dishonor to god.. yet it contains great beneficial truths behind the symbols it uses.
let us take the only two cases of miracles jesus performed without any request from anybody which would show the very purpose of his ministry:.
1) jesus healed a woman who “was bent over and could not straighten up at all.” (luke 13:11-13).
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venus
I agree with Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho
Ireneous, Whether your conclusion is true or not, it is a good thought and beneficial.
Thanks for sharing it.
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Jesus tempted by Satan, real or just a vision.
by pleaseresearch innot with their shunning policy.
me and my brother seldom communicate sadly, but no way would we go anywhere for fear of being seen with an inactive jw for over 10 years.. https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/watchtower-simplified-march-2016/questions-from-readers/.
from the website:.
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venus
WT got it wrongly because the very fact that Satan and Jesus went to the top of the mountain/temple to see the kingdoms of the whole earth betrays their belief of flat earth which was the prevalent view of his time—a view that would not have been held by Jesus and Satan if the temptation account and Satan were real.
Account is clearly the imagination of the writers. Interestingly, in other cultures God’s supposed spokespersons are shown as saying ‘do not face the temptation, but avoid it’ which is a more prudent option.
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Selloff update Melbourne Australia
by jonahstourguide ini've posted this here so all visitors to this site can see info relating to the great expansion.. the kealba kingdom hall in st albans will be sold.
perhaps worth around au1.4 million dollars.
on two blocks of suburban land with off street parking.
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venus
Why did all the prayers JWs made to God for the continued increase go unheeded? Especially in view of the following promise:
"And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it." (John 14:13-14)"Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you." (John 16:23) -
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Proof of God
by MrDantastic ini'm an atheist as i do not see any evidence for the existance of a god.
i encourage critical thinking in everyone and am ready to debate anyone on whether or not there is a god and what that god might be like.
hmu..
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venus
Black holes, what kind of god makes black holes?
Not only Black Holes, even the vast universe much of which is barren has a purpose.
In this more than 8 billion people we find today on earth, only a few lead a meaningful life whereas others go after bubbles. This is typical of everything we see around us.
1) See the composition of material universe! What is knowable/visible (which responds to the physical light) is only around 4% whereas the rest is unknowable/invisible what the Scientists call “Dark Energy and Dark Matter” (which do not respond to physical light) “which is a fifth and previously unknown type of fundamental force called quintessence, which fills the universe like a fluid” serving as a support to the visible universe. (https://www.space.com/11642-dark-matter-dark-energy-4-percent-universe-panek.html; https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/dark-matter/)
2) The ocean holds 97 percent of the Earth's water; the remaining three percent is freshwater 3)When we are awake some 25-40 thoughts a minute bombard the mind of which about 90-95% of those thoughts are waste, idle or negative.
4)95% actions we all perform are done unconsciously
History teaches that humans do not learn from history. If people were to change for the good, they would have done so after Buddha who found the folly of pursuing material goals which means majority would always want to inflate their ego. Very few would take lesson from the vast universe and the earth which is so insignificant in comparison to the rest of the universe. Such ones would take the lesson from vast universe that they should broaden their heart as vast as the universe rather their ego. For me, the vast universe with most of its parts being barren with no life is a proof that God exists because lifeless portion of the universe tells me “God must act for life to appear there.”
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John 3:16 "For God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten Son" ...Really ?
by smiddy3 infor four thousand years god never gave two hoots about the world of mankind that is suggested by john 3;16 and how do we know that ?
simply by looking at his dealings with mankind for the first 4000 years of his dealings with humans as shown by the "old testament".
1. god only dealt with a couple or a few individuals early on in the o.t.. 2.god only dealt with one family line whom he chose above anybody else .. 3.this family line the israelites became a nation whom god dealt with exclusively.. 4.to the exclusion of every other peoples on earth ,he favoured who became the israelites and he obviously had a hatred for any other people and was instrumental in trying to get the israelites to commit genocide on many occasions against these people who god had never taken an interest in .. 5.jehovah god on numerous occasions instructed the israelite`s/jews wipe out the amorite`s , the hittites ,the jebusite`s ,etc ,etc, and with the blessing of him not to feel sorry for them kill old man woman and child and do not feel sorry for them.. jehovah god actually gave the israelites /jews sanctions to commit genocide amongst these nations in the "old testament ".
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venus
Though Bible contains much meaningless things, it also contains some truths here and there which came there not because of inspiration, but because of intuition of some of its writers in line with what is observed in nature. One among them sheds light on God’s activity and His silence in between.
Compare the following three things:
“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24)
The Parable of the Prodigal Son Luke 15:11–32
“Renewal of system of things” when it becomes decadent. (Mathew 19:28)
Just like every seed dies and new tree appears, system of things on earth goes through phases such as new creation, growth, becoming old/decadent which eventually requires renewal.
This would mean God has only one act to perform—renewal whenever system of things on earth becomes too decadent, after which He goes into silence. Thus God’s activity is not seen 99.99% of the time. Some may interpret this situation as proof of non-existence of God. But in fact, this is the proof of His elevated standard of non-intervention in the affairs of man who is like Him in qualities, hence can solve any problem. But humans remain perfect for some time and then they turn into seeking their own limited agenda which is at the root of system of things becoming decadent.
The more humble a person, the less bothered he would be about results such as gratitude/ingratitude and honor/dishonor. Looking from His actions, God can be defined as the servant of humanity because He has made abundant provisions for our sustenance and also for enjoyment of our life (look at the variety of fruits, flowers …etc). In other words, He recreates such provisions whenever they go depleted/destroyed, and goes into silence which means He is not interested in receiving our gratitude, honor or worship.
Now back to the illustration of seed of wheat. Seed-tree-seed mechanism is eternal. If a seed is boiled/ burnt it would not sprout. If materialism were true, and everything had a beginning at some point in time, it would mean before such a beginning, situation was like that of seed being boiled/burnt with no possibility for a seed or tree to come into existence. Thus materialism is out of the picture which means seed-tree-seed mechanism is the eternal truth, and God is the Supreme Seed.
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Satan temping Eve. Had she not ate
by pleaseresearch inbeing the loving god that he is :).
how do you imagine this playing out.
let's say eve didn't eat and so we didn't fall into sin.. what do you think god would have done with satan and his demons?.
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venus
The Bible uses the word אָדָם ( 'adam ) in all of its senses: collectively ("mankind", 1:27), individually (a "man", 2:7), gender nonspecific ("man and woman", 5:1,2), and male (2:23-24).[1] In Genesis 1:27 "adam" is used in the collective sense.
What mankind (adam) did as a whole is portrayed through individual Adam in Chapter 3 of Genesis. Mankind was enjoying perfect life in perfect system of things for an indefinite period. In character and qualities, they were all like gods and goddesses on earth. At some point in time they began to slip, developed loose-conduct, and became greedy with each one beginning to view the other with fleshly outlook (something symbolized by 'the sons of God seeing that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and marrying them ....' Fruit of the tree of good and bad, Satan, Eve ... are all symbols to suggest mankind experienced a fall.
Genesis writer did not follow a logical order. He was simply taking information from various sources (such as the Yahwist, the Elohist, the Deuteronomist and the Priestly) and putting it together. In other words, Genesis is all about history of mankind (not about an individual man named Adam) in two parts: pre-fall, and post-fall.
Not only the Genesis writer, even other Bible writers seldom show sense of propriety. For example, too many information about woman's menstruation, material contribution to tabernacle and later to temple, and discourse on "I am the bread of life" in John's Gospel, yet too little information about too important subject such as creation, make-up of man, proof about God's existence ...etc.
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Proof of God
by MrDantastic ini'm an atheist as i do not see any evidence for the existance of a god.
i encourage critical thinking in everyone and am ready to debate anyone on whether or not there is a god and what that god might be like.
hmu..
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venus
God, as introduced by religions, does not exist.
Yet true God exists—He makes the provisions for enjoyment of life, and gives the management to humans, who in turn begin to worship greed which turns the earth into a hell.
When the body is in a state of well-being, the mind functions well, and it probes beneath the surface, creates poetry, glorifies God …etc. But when the body does not enjoy a state of well-being, or there is some sort of suffering the mind does not see anything other than the physical disturbance or such suffering which obscures his reasoning. That means if paradise had continued till now, and if no religions had appeared to misrepresent God, no one would have thought about possibility of non-existence of God.