Posts by JamesThomas

this is not an easy decision because he's fully aware that this isn't "the truth", but the pain of being excluded from normal family relations is really tearing him.

he has two choices: either move away from his family and try and start a new life, or bite the bullet, try and get reinstated and then do the fade.

JamesThomas

Mary, I'm very much with oldflame on this one -- but a bit more hardcore.

Your friend is a fool , who will not have a "normal" relationship with his family when he does this. He is abandoning self-integrity, making his life an untrustworthy sham, and he will eventually hate himself and his family for all the moral degradation.

Your friend needs to grow up, and learn some of the basic principles of a decent life. He needs to lean what it is not to be a coward, and learn how to stand up to truthfulness. Then he can create a new family of friends who live honestly and love him for the beauty of his genuineness and sincerity. Your friend and his family are major dysfunctional, and his supporting the insanity will only make matters worse.

If he were my foolish friend, I'd smack him upside the head; big time.

j

28

Exodus Decoded tonight on History Channel

by purplesofa in

http://www.historychannel.com/global/listings/series_showcase.jsp?egrptype=series&id=17255036&netwcode=thc .

on at 8:00 central time.

the commericial says it gives scientific evidence of the 10 plagues and parting of the red sea.

JamesThomas

I burn my CD's outside in a pile.

Seriously though, if you slam your computer against a wall, things often come out.

j

27

What my week brought me

by Pistoff in

i don't usuallypost about personal issues; i am still fading; besides, i was raised in a family that would say we were doing well even if our house was burning down.. for the last month i have been stressing about seeing family from the west coast; my brother, out for many years but now back in and gung ho, is bringing his son and daughter out.

family reunion, of sorts.

i wanted to host, but then i realized that my disfellowshipped daughter would not be included.

JamesThomas

Thanks JT; trying to.

Well, if you can't right now, you can't. Don't kick yourself for it.

This is why it is so important to practice the art of presence everyday. Then, when the shit hits the fan, we can rely on what has become a natural way of being.

When the tension and angst is most apparent, focus attention on your breathing and the physical sensations of air passing through your nose, and the expansion and contraction of the diaphragm, etc. This simple direction of attention will bring you into the moment and out of the mind. Do it a hundred time if you need to, without judging yourself. Be assured, you have all that you need within you, already.

j

27

What my week brought me

by Pistoff in

i don't usuallypost about personal issues; i am still fading; besides, i was raised in a family that would say we were doing well even if our house was burning down.. for the last month i have been stressing about seeing family from the west coast; my brother, out for many years but now back in and gung ho, is bringing his son and daughter out.

family reunion, of sorts.

i wanted to host, but then i realized that my disfellowshipped daughter would not be included.

JamesThomas

I don't know how to get through the memorial.

Take your own advice: Love now, embrace now...

Stay out of the mind and all it's judgments, memories, hopes, wishes, commentary, drama, etc.; and be in the reality of here and now. Be totally present with your family. Really feel and be attentive to what it is to exist. Allow your love to embrace and run free -- especially in regards your own sorrow. When you notice the tension of thoughts, stop, step back, be still and just feel what it is to breath. In other words: be in the moment, and not in your mind. Then spread this gentle way of being into the rest of your life.

j

6

Is the Organization an "Engraved Image"?

by M.J. in

.

isaiah 42:8. i am yahweh, that is my name; and my glory will i not give to another, neither my praise to engraved images..

JamesThomas

I am Yahweh, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to engraved images.

What is any named deity, other than an image engraved within the mind?
j

14

JW doctrine aside, where has your research of Christianity taken you to....

by evergreen in

jw
friends

i felt i would ask this question in the friends forum as it seems to get the most viewing.

my question is this.

leaving aside your research of what you have found out about the organisation and focusing more on your research of the "christian faith".

JamesThomas

Evergreen:

At this time i have faith in Gods word. I know there are contradictions and things hard to understand and why God acted in certain ways throughout the old Testament, but i cant help being drawn to this book no matter what. It gives me personally, hope for the future; and without that hope, for me, there is nothing.

Ross:

IMHO religion and spiritual texts (of any flavour) are supposed to be tools to direct us to the Divine. By becoming preoccupied with the tools we miss the whole purpose of them. They are stepping stones, which might remain useful, but they become very slippery indeed if we continue to let them bear our whole [spiritual] weight......There comes a point where you come to the end of yourself, let go, and leap off into the void.

Evergreen, right now you are allowing Biblical text to "bear your whole spiritual weight", as Ross so clearly expressed can easily happen. You have allowed words written in a book to become your life, and so "without that hope...there is nothing". Actually, it's just the reverse. The conceptual hoped for future is nothing, an illusion of reality; and without it there is this moment of actual life and being in and around you. Perhaps it's time to "let go, and leap off" your stone which has become a coffin.

Read Ross' posts again. He explained the dynamics very well.

j

39

It is that simple!!

by Rooster in

john 20:30-31

30 to be sure, jesus performed many other signs also before the disciples, which are not written down in this scroll.

31 but these have been written down that you may believe that jesus is the christ the son of god, and that, because of believing, you may have life by means of his name.

JamesThomas

Thank you poppers and Ross for your kind comments. Eventually some words must fall into place, via accident.

The "disparage" comment wasn't directed at you, incidentally, it was just a general comment.

Ross, I understand friend. Not a problem. My words can and often do meet the criteria of being offensive and belittling of peoples beliefs. I just don't know how else to get the point across.

Perhaps if someone gets their beliefs trampled to death (in a kind way), and they also see that their being has not been touched -- something will click. I don't know.

j

46

Agnostic or Atheist?

by done4good in

for all of you non-religionists out there: do you consider yourself an agnostic or atheist, and why?

it seems many ex-jws that "loose the faith" have a tendency to go straight for atheism.

i myself, would consider myself more of an agnostic, as i believe we have no real way of knowing if there is a god one way or the other, and it tends to seem just as extreme to me, to insist that there is not one.

JamesThomas

Kid-A:

The point is, we are simply the sum collection of neurochemical transactions distributed across our brains.... We are ALL just complicated machines.

I understand this, as it was very much my mantra once, the conclusion of all "my" wisdom. In a way it's true, as there commonly is a sense of a finite existence created by neurochemical transactions which are concretely believed to be the extent of "reality"; the farthest most horizon at the end of the tiny circumference called "me and my universe". However, this mind generated "me and my universe", is a facade. There is a realization far more real and endlessly vast.

It is this vastness -- which poppers so poignantly points to -- which is beyond the mind yet too close for the intellect to grasp, which bursts the bubble of boundaries and separations believed to be. We are the sum of transactions only as long as the mind is a far as we dare see. I suggest earnest and sincere questioning and examination of everything the mind presents as real and true. The key being to notice acutely the silent depths which sees it all; and so direct attention into itself. Poppers guidance here, is exceptional.

j

14

The Bible is NOT the word of God

by sinis in

after reflecting on the article i have come to the conclusion of the author as well, in that the bible is not the word of almighty god.

perhaps some tribal demi-god but not god almighty.

good read:.

JamesThomas

Rex:

Your axioms are in control of your conclusions and they are foregone conclusions!

It may be wise to look in the mirror and say that. I have found self-examination most valuable.

Why, experience an unending and awe-inspiring expression of life and universe, and at the same time accredit it's existence to a tribal anthropomorphic deity? Certainly, dear Rex, the actual and true origins of such wonder must be far greater still. What is this tenacious enslavement to a lesser god?

Hope you are well, Rex. How's the wife?

j