JamesThomas

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Posts by JamesThomas

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  20

  Need some good reasoning points

  by mavie in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i need to try and get my wife to examine her beliefs.

  i hope to do this by getting her to think on her own.

  i've already tryed doctrinal issues with no success.

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  JamesThomas

  I hope to do this by getting her to think on her own. I've already tryed doctrinal issues with no success. Does anyone have suggestions?

  Take her camping out in some great expanse of nature. Have her look through microscopes and telescopes, and ask her how a finite-little-tribal-war-god could possibly be responsible for the INFINITE wonder and beauty of the universe.....and some scientists believe there may be countless universes. I mean, why would we want to belittle our Source in such a way as to shrink it to a tiny deity? How unbelievably foolish and stupid can we be?

  This requires stepping outside the asphyxiating confines of our mindless religious box; but until that happens, she will never be truly "thinking on her own".

  j
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  37

  Hateful Christian

  by Dr Jekyll in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm quite open minded, it takes a lot to shock or offend me but i found this really offensive.

  how on earth can this woman justify calling herself a christian?!?!.

  there are some really sick people out there, here's a church full of them.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g470rfjqci

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  JamesThomas

  Unlike most Christians who disingenuously hide the wrathful repugnancy of their little deity under a thick sweet frosting, Shirley here is honestly and shamelessly expressing the real ugliness of her god.

  It's not Shirley who is crazy so much as the Bible god she worships.

  j
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  16

  Ive figured out our need for religion...

  by theinfamousone in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  or at least i have a good theory as to why we like to think there is a god who cares about us and why we follow his "guidelines" and rules and then go to his churches and follow his religions.... i think our major problem as living breathing entities is that we like to believe the world revolves around us.

  no matter how unselfish we think we are, we still do not want to think of a time when we are not around... we do not want to think of being forgotten, we do not even want to think of dying... right?

  so we invent a god, who cares and who stretches his hands out to us so that we can one day be remembered by him, and be saved by him, either by reincarnation, heaven, new world, and the list goes on... we are all afraid of nothingness, so we use religion to console our fear and to be able to think that we will never be nothing.... what do you think???.

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  JamesThomas

  I applaud your insight tio.

  j
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  37

  Was Jesus such a great guy after all?

  by Hellrider in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  matthew .

  15:21 after going out from there, jesus went to the region of tyre and sidon.

  15:22 a canaanite woman from that area came and cried out, have mercy on me, lord, son of david!

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  JamesThomas

  My sense it is very healthy to allow ourselves to see that anthropomorphic deities are simply creations of our mind that thought customizes to it's current needs. This is perhaps the beginning of seeing that it's not necessary, and in fact foolish to reduce the Source of the universe down to a human image, or any image, object or thing.

  Who told us -- besides some half-baked tribal writings -- that our Source is separate from LIFE itself? Or different from the consciousness which contains and beholds the entire known universe? Why do we need to shrink the divine down to a thing within the universe? Why not exalt it to what all universes exist within? Which then begs the question: Who/What am I, really?

  j
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  4

  I found a new religion today

  by osmosis in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  .

  http://www.churchofreality.org/wisdom/welcome_home/

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  JamesThomas

  From the site:

  We Realists are explorers and we explore the universe together with our minds. We think about thinking. We wonder about wondering. We attempt to understand the Understanding of Understanding. We ponder the Great Questions.

  It looks to me as if they are a group of thinkers who have yet to discover that thinking about reality, is not reality; as thinking about a tree, is not a tree.

  j
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  16

  Did anyone here come from a board called beyondjw.com?

  by free2beme in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  years ago, before coming to this board to read for awhile and then post, i first ran across this website beyondjw.com.

  it had a message board that seemed pretty active, keep in mind i was shocked at the time to even see former witnesses in message boards.

  well i went off line for awhile and never really looked at former witness sites for along time and when i checked that message board, it was just an information website with links to other boards, like this one.

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  JamesThomas

  That was Tim's board, and yes, I came from there which was my first JW type form I visited.

  Tim Closed the board a year or so ago. as I recall there is an explanation somewhere on his remaining pages.

  j
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  23

  The Purpose and Meaning of Life

  by streets76 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  the purpose of life: is to procreate.. the meaining of life: is up to each of us to define for ourselves, individually.. i've just turned 48. i have not procreated.

  i am struggling to define the meaning of or in my life.. is it just me?

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  JamesThomas

  IW:

  All I know is that the happiest people I have known, people who are truly happy and at peace, are those who help their fellow or the earth. People who do good. Peace to you.

  I have no disagreement with you IW.

  Indeed, doing unto others as we would like done unto us, is generally very conducive to a sense of peace and happiness. However, I am not talking about a sense of wellbeing that is contingent upon some activity or circumstance. Rather I am referring to the actual reality of our being that is not reliant or dependant on anything external. I am not talking about being a person who earns peace, or works towards peace, or is at peace, but rather awakening to the fact that I am (you are) P-E-A-C-E itself....already.

  Just beneath all the definitions and story we believe ourselves to be, there is an unbound perfection of pristine presence and awareness that has no needs whatsoever. No need for "meaning". No need for "purpose". No need.

  j
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  23

  The Purpose and Meaning of Life

  by streets76 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  the purpose of life: is to procreate.. the meaining of life: is up to each of us to define for ourselves, individually.. i've just turned 48. i have not procreated.

  i am struggling to define the meaning of or in my life.. is it just me?

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  JamesThomas

  The problem is that the mind seeks for "purpose" and "meaning" via thought (because that is what the mind is, is thought), and there comes to be an identification with thought, which breeds a sense of incompleteness; and all the while the consciousness which sees all this, is already whole and complete.

  What we seek is not realised via thought as phenomenal things are understood and known. What we seek is what we already are, and is closer than thought. It's what sees all thought, emotion and circumstance. In other words: look not at what is being metalized and observed, but rather look closer and deeper into the silent pristine vastness of what is looking.

  So the paramount question is not what is my "purpose", or what is "meaning", but rather Who/what, am I, really?

  j
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  23

  The Purpose and Meaning of Life

  by streets76 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  the purpose of life: is to procreate.. the meaining of life: is up to each of us to define for ourselves, individually.. i've just turned 48. i have not procreated.

  i am struggling to define the meaning of or in my life.. is it just me?

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  JamesThomas

  The Meaning of Life: Is up to each of us to define for ourselves, individually... I am struggling to define the meaning of or in my life...Is it just me?

  No, it's not just you.

  I'm with Siddhashunyata and poppers (not surprisingly) on this one.

  Listen to the wisdom in your question: who is it that "defines ourselves"? Who is the "I", that is "struggling"?

  The truth you seek is here already. What is here before there is mental activity that asks: What is the meaning of life? What is it that sees and experiences all the story of life? Does that need the minds feeble definitions and explanations? Does the silent consciousness that observes require more?

  When the mind is utterly still, what are you?

  j
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  10

  I Can't Believe I'm Becoming an Activist!

  by BrendaCloutier in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i showed up and walked in today's global million marijuana march held in over 200 cities throughout the world today.

  across the street from pioneer courthouse square where we gathered for the march, there were some protestants singing hymns.

  so i walked across the street and gave them handouts on oregongreenfree.com, an oregon medical marinuana patient support group.

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  JamesThomas