Posts by venus

27

Fear of Dying

by SplaneThisToMe in

did anyone else develop a weird fear of dying and death after leaving jw?

i recently left and have realized for the first time in my life that i’m not going to live forever.

anyone else have these same feelings toward discovering your own mortality?

You are fortunate to have that experience. I liked your expression: “I had a sense of drifting fwd and all cares and woes were gone behind me I was no longer a man, a husband, a dad and the voices of the ambulance crew were as many meters away, the sense of peace I had was better than morphine.”

Near Death Experiences are proofs that appear spontaneously when the victim has no control over his body or mind. “774 NDEs per day are experienced in the United States [according to a 1992 Gallup poll cited by the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation].” That means an estimated 19 million. (https://www.theepochtimes.com/how-common-are-near-death-experiences-ndes-by-the-numbers_757401.html)

30

Praying in the name of Michael the archangel instead of Jesus

by krismalone in

just wondering what would happen if a brother saying a prayer in a meeting did it in the name of michael the archangel instead of closing the prayer with "jesus christ".

since jw's believe michael is jesus would he be counseled?

what if a brother used the name michael the archangel in their public talks instead of jesus?

venus

Very powerful point you made. Problem is with Bible. If you take every verse as inspired, then you are in trouble because you will find verses negating each other.

16

Session #8: "Bullet in the Head"

by Brian J in

so at the phd today with my wife and me, and in slowly getting to the heart of matters (like peeling an onion if you ask me), the dialogue in part went like this: .

phd: if it came down to it, would you take a bullet in the head instead of giving up membership in your organization?

wife: absolutely, i would die for my faith.

venus

God shows no partiality. Jews claimed they are the chosen ones which history shows God did not endorse. God knew that many would choose their faith according to their likes and dislikes which means no reasoning would work with them. It means God has permitted people to have their own faith which means we too must permit others to have their own faith no matter how unreasonable it may seem.

27

Fear of Dying

by SplaneThisToMe in

did anyone else develop a weird fear of dying and death after leaving jw?

i recently left and have realized for the first time in my life that i’m not going to live forever.

anyone else have these same feelings toward discovering your own mortality?

venus

I have no fear of death because it only appears there is death. In reality there is no death. No friendship is without a self interest. No ism is without a self interest. Hence why not try ourselves for a conclusion on vital subject as life. Let us make a try:

I know I exist, I also know that I did not create myself nor did my parents create me. I came through my parents who, in turn came through their parents—a process that can have no beginning. If one has only one life, justice demands that everyone should receive equal life-span and equal opportunities for enjoyment of life. If life continues even after death, as in the case of Elijah who reappeared as John the Baptist (Mathew 11:14), everyone’s life situation can be different depending upon each one’s merit: “For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38) Death is very much like the sunset. When the sun sets here, it has already risen elsewhere. Likewise, death here is birth elsewhere. For life is eternal. In reality, there is no death. The human actually lives one continuous life, only it is broken up in segments here on this earth. This truth does don’t find favor among many people because it is not encouraging to powerful forces like religions (which thrive on the teaching of forgiveness whereas reincarnation teach there is no forgiveness), nationalism and patriotism (because such feeling evaporates when we know that we have lived in many other countries before), and family set-up (feeling of my-family, my-husband, my-wife, my-father loses its significance when we know that we have been members of many, many families before). The way we walk and breathe show that there is a pause and a start which are typical of death and life. The way cells being replaced show that the body is changing with a substratum that does not change.

27

Using Watchtowers Own Reasoning Against Them RE: The Governing Body

by pale.emperor in

something occurred to me today.

quite randomly as i was working away at my desk i remembered an illustration from the bible teach book in which satan claimed he knew better than jehovah about ruling mankind.

here's the illustration from chapter 11 of that book:.

venus

Hi truth_b_known

That's a brilliant idea which God would have definitely opted for if there were really an issue of the sovereignty.

That would have also spared God of seeing His only begotten son dying with an excruciating pain.

21

Watchtower May 2018

by Listener in

the may 2018 watchtower is now out and thought i would make a few observations.in this article we get a story about gb sam herd.

the recurring theme throughout is the struggles he has had as a black man.he was born in 1935 in a one roomed log cabin in liberty indiana.

his mother raised him in the baptist church.

venus

What Sam Herd could have thought was “Why Kofi Atta Annan was elected as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1996 when such a thing was not even thought of by GB which was comprised by all white people from its very inception?

27

Using Watchtowers Own Reasoning Against Them RE: The Governing Body

by pale.emperor in

something occurred to me today.

quite randomly as i was working away at my desk i remembered an illustration from the bible teach book in which satan claimed he knew better than jehovah about ruling mankind.

here's the illustration from chapter 11 of that book:.

venus

In either way it would backfire on GB. If someone raises an issue against the way in which GB handles certain things they have two option—either to copy God or go in opposite direction

First option is to disfellowship (which again is not a theocratic way of handling, according to their own teaching)

Second option is to permit the accuser to prove his point (which is against their own organizational procedure)

1

The Psychological Benefits of Contemplating Death

by Brokeback Watchtower in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3udk1uejh0.

venus

Nice video, and I agree with its message that death serves a good purpose. It is like speed breakers on the road which seem to be an inconvenience or annoyance. However, when viewed from larger perspective it becomes good because speed breaker near to places like school prevents accidents that can happen to little ones who may come on to the road carelessly.

Similarly, if viewed mechanically death may appear as a curse, but if viewed from larger perspective, death would appear as good. ‘What if there is no death, if one goes on growing more and more vibrant physically, perfecting his skills and talents, and even growing in money power, influence ….etc.? He would probably behave like King David who was very humble to start with but finally turned out to be greedy and arrogant who began to add more wives and numerous women to his harem, and went to the extent of treacherously killing his faithful friend to steal his wife. Then comes death, an inevitable event in everyone’s life. While waiting for death with often ailing body one begins to see all the wasteful things he thought, said and performed in his life! He correctly thinks: “I am not that important as I thought, I have no basis to feel I did or owned this and that …” which means he is now free from the shackles of wanting and from bondage to body, mind, and ego. In such a state one can see clearly all the wasteful things he did in his life. On the contrary if there is no death, self-importance of people would go on growing with each one perfecting his wickedness and arrogance, and this will ensure eternal hell on earth.

That means the experience gained in one life would be an asset in the next life. Subject of life after death need not be based on some speculation because we all know one absolute truth that we exist. This is a good foundation to build upon. I go like this: “I exist; I am consciousness with a conscience knowing what is right and wrong. I did not create myself. I came through my parents who came through their parents—a system that can have no beginning. If one has only one life, justice demands that everyone should receive equal life-span and equal opportunities for enjoyment of life. If life continues even after death, as in the case of Elijah who reappeared as John the Baptist (Mathew 11:14), everyone’s life situation can be different depending upon each one’s merit: “For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38)

27

Using Watchtowers Own Reasoning Against Them RE: The Governing Body

by pale.emperor in

something occurred to me today.

quite randomly as i was working away at my desk i remembered an illustration from the bible teach book in which satan claimed he knew better than jehovah about ruling mankind.

here's the illustration from chapter 11 of that book:.

venus

Amelia Ashton

That illustration always bothered you because the Issue of the Sovereignty was never raised. If it were true, then the supposed way of handling by God would only further heap reproach on God's name. How an unwise way of handling! It proves that unrelated parities should suffer if there there is some disagreement between two persons.

In fact one can easily reject first four chapters of Genesis because chapter 5 begins like this: "This is the written account of Adam’s family line." This would mean preceding chapters are somebody's imagination.

27

Using Watchtowers Own Reasoning Against Them RE: The Governing Body

by pale.emperor in

something occurred to me today.

quite randomly as i was working away at my desk i remembered an illustration from the bible teach book in which satan claimed he knew better than jehovah about ruling mankind.

here's the illustration from chapter 11 of that book:.

venus

pale.emperor made the first half and littlerockguy made the second half.—What a perfect reasoning, as though scoring a hat trick. Hats off to you both. Now I really feel for JWs. They believe in something 100%, and untruthfulness of it can never occur to their minds. And this is true of any ism and religion. Only an outsider can see its flaws. In other words truth exists in all religions and isms scattered. Hence there is no point in getting struck with one religion or ism; but one should go beyond all and look at them as though viewing the valleys from a mountain top.