JamesThomas

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Posts by JamesThomas

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  12

  Is depression unique to exjw's? Is it religion in general that causes it?

  by hambeak in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have noticed a large number of topics are about depression, some of mine included.. do you think that having been in the borg and losing lifelong friends and family because you no longer buy into their interpretation, is unique to jw's or do most other religions play these mind games?.

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  JamesThomas

  It's not so much that religion causes depression, as depression causes religion.

  j
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  32

  Lost and looking for answers

  by LynnTink in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is my story.

  i was born a jw and never knew anything else because my parents shelter from everything but for other reason.

  from the time i can remember my dad beat my mom.

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  JamesThomas

  Warm welcome to you, Lynn. Glad you joined us; and thank you for your candid introduction.

  I need some kind of beleif system or faith in something.

  I do not have any new beliefs to offer you. Perhaps when and if you tire of beliefs, you and I can discuss that. In the mean time, others here will likely have some beliefs that they feel will give comfort.

  j
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  11

  where is god?

  by Sam87 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok, ive been trying to work out this one for a while, so please just put up with me if i make no sense whatsover..... over nearly the last year or so i havnt been to any meetings at all, i realised that all things jw is a big money making lie that is destroying peoples lives.

  after leaving the jws i started to question the bible (as most probably do).

  i researched inteligent design and evolution, and put them on an even playing ground so i could get a proper view of everything without my old 'watchtower goggles' on that seemed to stop me from seeing anything else but the friggin' organisation.. personaly i beleive we were created by something/someone, and to me the universe is to big and to complicated to have just happened by chance.

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  JamesThomas

  Sam, you are wise.

  what do i do now?

  I suggest you take a closer look at what's going on here. Clearly see that words, thoughts and beliefs about your Source, are not working for you. Mental constructs will never give you the reality you seek, be they past concepts or new.

  Discover what is real. Begin by earnestly investigating into everything you believe yourself to be. Realize the truth of your own being, and all the rest will fall into place.

  j
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  30

  Burning Incense might be a Sin

  by sammielee24 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the wt website now has an article on burning incense.

  yes - pretty soon i'm sure they'll be telling you how to trim your toenails.

  i'm surprised that they still allow dancing at weddings actually, since we know that dancing was so paganistic and led to wild, animalistic sex.

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  JamesThomas

  Not surprising. The smaller ones idea of god, the larger the area of sin.

  j
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  11

  Bloodguilty

  by purplesofa in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the christian greek scriptures outline three distinct ways in which a christian could become bloodguilty before god: (1) by bloodshed, murder this would include those actively or tacitly supporting the activities of a bloodguilty organization (such as babylon the great [re 17:6; 18:2, 4] or other organizations that have shed much innocent blood [re 16:5, 6; compare isa 26:20, 21]); (2) by eating or drinking blood in any way (ac 15:20); and (3) by failing to preach the good news of the kingdom, thereby withholding the lifesaving information it contains.ac 18:6; 20:26, 27; compare eze 33:6-8.. .

  it-1 346-347. i remember being filled with panic, if i did not take every opportunity to preach to others.

  not only was i responsible for myself, my children, i felt a responsiblity to everyone i came in contact with.. i would think to myself, should i say something or not........if i don't they might lose their life all because i did not take the opportunity to preach to them.

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  JamesThomas

  It was like there was always a voice in my head never giving me relief.

  That, is called insanity; and it is very much perpetuated and sustained by beliefs; be they religious, political, social or racial...

  The good news is you see it. See it more. Nonjudgmentally see and watch the voice in your head -- even though it may not seem as intense and threatening as it once was.

  There is the voice/the thoughts/the beliefs/the commentary and story weaved by the mind, and there is the healing sweet purity of that which sees it all. Keep watching and you will discover what you really are.

  j
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  12

  The God of death...

  by zeroday in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i could no sooner kill a dog much less a human but the god of death yearns to destroy 6 billion plus humans to uphold his sovernity.

  the omnipotent god, sees all, knows all just to watch his creation live and die and yet does nothing to stop it.

  would you, stop it if you could.

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  JamesThomas

  There is considerable madness in the concept of a tribal deity creating and reigning over us as the Bible would have us believe. That you see that, speaks for sanity.

  j
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  3

  The Bible Is a Worldly Book

  by Satanus in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  since the wt religion is loosely based on the bible, therefore it is part of the world.

  nyah nyah, wt and it's claims about not being part of the world.. s. ps, the bible is worldly, because it was produced by jews that was very much like the rest of the world at the time, in that they were as violent as other nations and were supersticious.

  also, the bible was finished and promoted theoughout it's domain by the world power, rome.

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  JamesThomas

  Perhaps Terry, has driven this one home already.

  j
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  26

  I Don't Believe in God, or wait, Maybe I Do. . . a little wisdom please?

  by Pioneer Spit...oh, i mean Spirit in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i am conflicted as to whether i can or even want to believe in god.

  (using capital g out of respect) i can't separate love of god and my jw life.

  i pioneered for 10+ years, and thank goodness for that, because i can now easily memorize anything and read upside down.

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  JamesThomas

  Pioneer, listen to your own wisdom. If you choose to believe in God, and yet your heart can not accept the murderous frolics of mutant deities, then don't believe in them! Cast off your Bible programming and it's tiny little gods. You've outgrown archaic tribal myths and fictitious "holy" characters.

  I suggest you take your heartfelt desire for knowing your Source and sustenance, out into nature and inward into the depths of your own sense of being and existing. Stop believing that what the word G-O-D points to is an objective thing or entity, and thus so tiny as to be absent or separate from the intimacy and immediacy of your own existence. Open yourself to discovery and realization of the true depths of Reality that beliefs only hide.

  Awaken from the slumber of believing.

  

  j
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  123

  Out of Mythic into Rational consciousness, the EX-JW Journey

  by jst2laws in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been absent much for almost a year, reading, learning and breaking out of boxes, figuratively.

  i'm hoping that sharing some thoughts and asking some questions might be fun, and maybe helpful for a few.

  have you wondered how two people can look at the same information, go through the same experience as you, perhaps even be party to the same conversation yet come away with an entirely different perception?

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  JamesThomas

  Hey there, Steve. Always nice to see you here.

  When I was a JW, it was not so much a state of unconsciousness, as that I was so heavily identified with beliefs as who and what I was, I only allowed in those things which supported and sustained "me".

  May I suggest that there is no real evolution or arising to higher consciousness, so much as removing or seeing through, what blinds us; which amounts to everything we believe "self" and universe to be.

  Remove what is false, and Truth -- remains.

  j
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  12

  Baptism, spirit and superstition

  by thinker in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  recently i started researching the bible concerning that most controversial topic: baptism.

  i learned from the bible that there are four types of baptism.

  there is water baptism, aka "john's baptism", which most of us think of when we hear the word "baptism".

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  JamesThomas

  Thanks, Terry. You showed us a beautiful warmth and life of it, that otherwise may have been missed.

  j