Posts by JamesThomas

35

Hi newbie saying hello

by nikitaeve in

hi there, i'm nikitaeve and id just like to say hi to everyone here.

i used to be a witness and was one for about nine years but i still regard everyone with the warmest of feelings and i still believe the teachings.

a little bit about myself; im from england.

JamesThomas

My father at least instilled in me spiritual values which were a good foundation for the truth.

"spiritual values"?

Nikitaeve, can you think of anything more evil and vile than the mass murder of of men, woman and children? Can you?

Please explain to me how warmly embracing the belief that billions will be murdered so that you may covet their land and live happily ever after, is not blatantly supporting what you truly know is the height of evil? What kind of "good foundation" and "spiritual values" is attracted to such dark and repugnant things?

Do you honestly feel that the true Source of such a wondrous expression of life and universe can really be reduced down to a tribal god of war and destruction? Or, do you find in your heart that the truth must be far more loving and beautiful, rather than dark and dangerous?

I suggest you do some very deep heart-felt pondering and soul searching; and if you find you are genuinely attracted to the smell of blood, then be the very best Jehovah's Witness you can be. Perhaps, in the end, your deity will allow you to kill a few of us yourself. If not, if you find instead a natural desire to be kind and peaceful, then I assure you there are other avenues to explore, and far more beautiful understandings of the Divine.

Get of the fence. Find your way and be true to it. Good luck.

j

38

Scared....

by coolcat in

hello all.

i just joined the site.

does anyone know of a hotline or a phone number i can call to talk to someone about how to leave the truth?

JamesThomas

Welcome coolcat.

Not to worry. You haven't left the real truth, you can't, you are only leaving a morbid belief system. The truth is what IS; what is real and ever present as the foundational essence of your own being, and that of all life and existence.

Follow your inner wisdom and be true to it. It is not your duty in life to live a lie that others may continue their fantasy and not be "hurt". The very best thing you can do for those you love is be honest and true to yourself first. Then, perhaps those who are not totally engulfed within a coma, may be warmed by your integrity and example.

So very glad you joined us.

j

53

Where did the universe come from?

by Blueblades in

jw
friends

if it was always here, how did it get here?

let's leave god out of the equation for now.. blueblades.

JamesThomas

What Terry said.

j

75

Believer, Agnostic or Atheist?

by lfcviking in

jw
friends

i am curious, what amount people on this board from their experiences of being a baptised & active jw and their subsequent exit from the jw org (for whatever reason or reasons) are now either agnostic, atheist or do some actually still believe in god?.

your honest answers please.. lfcv.

JamesThomas

Ifcviking:

This is interesting because assuming all of us here were once active believing JW's, now that we have left a lot of us have rejected God altogether.

Some of what may be happening here is that there can arise an innate wisdom that can no-longer attribute an infinite universe to some tiny fragment: a thing, a deity, a god. There is an abandoning of all concepts of god-characters, images, idols and personal deities. This is not necessarily a bad thing; and very well may be a prerequisite to honoring what has no beginning and no end. No longer reducing what is ultimately significant down to some shard of existence or god, the way is open for a much wider and far more beautiful view.

So, in other words, it may not be a rejection of what the word G-O-D points to, but rather a dismissal of limited and minimalistic ideas, beliefs and concepts.

j

35

Hi newbie saying hello

by nikitaeve in

hi there, i'm nikitaeve and id just like to say hi to everyone here.

i used to be a witness and was one for about nine years but i still regard everyone with the warmest of feelings and i still believe the teachings.

a little bit about myself; im from england.

JamesThomas

Welcome, nikitaeve.

I was going to ask the same question Poppers did. It doesnt sound like you have left anything other than a location, in that you no longer go to the Kingdom Hall but yet retain the teachings. How do you cope with the dichotomy? It must be very painful for you to tear yourself in two like that.

Perhaps this will be a place that will help bring things together. Glad you joined us.

j

75

Believer, Agnostic or Atheist?

by lfcviking in

jw
friends

i am curious, what amount people on this board from their experiences of being a baptised & active jw and their subsequent exit from the jw org (for whatever reason or reasons) are now either agnostic, atheist or do some actually still believe in god?.

your honest answers please.. lfcv.

JamesThomas

The choices seem to be all based on concepts: either for, or against, or undecided as to for or against.

Why go there?

There is an infinite expression of life and universe too, too vast to grasp; why minimize and belittle its Source to some limited belief, concept, image or deity weaved out of broken shards and pieces of a mind too limited and small to ever really know or comprehend it all?

Better to be silently present with the richness of Reality, than absent in worshipping the minds impoverished thoughts and beliefs. IMO.

j

39

Meditation, letting the demons in

by free2beme in

jw
friends

i remember asking an elder once, "what do you think about meditation?

" he responded that we should not relax and open our minds, as opening our minds can let demons in.

i thought that seemed like a odd response, and looked it up in the watchtower, and sure enough he gave the societies views on meditation.

JamesThomas

In other words: The most important and significant key within meditation, may be to open our arms and let the demons in.

j

39

Meditation, letting the demons in

by free2beme in

jw
friends

i remember asking an elder once, "what do you think about meditation?

" he responded that we should not relax and open our minds, as opening our minds can let demons in.

i thought that seemed like a odd response, and looked it up in the watchtower, and sure enough he gave the societies views on meditation.

JamesThomas

Meditation can be used for thrills, or it can be used to awaken to the truth of our Being and the underlying truth of ALL existence. It helps to be very clear on what your authentic and sincere desire is for....so we may have to first meditate on that.

For me meditation is about shinning acute awareness inward into what has been hidden. It's about clearly seeing what is True, and what is smoke and mirrors.

Who/what am I, really? What is the actual foundational Beingness and Reality of all things? What is true??? It is questions like these that I enter into deeper meditations (other than just being consciously present of the present moment, which can be seen as a meditation too). If I am to discover truth it seems very important that no stone be left unturned, and no thing left unmet and unexamined.

For me, deeper meditation is a time to put up ones sword, surrender and nonjudgmentally meet with whatever the universe presents. What unites what we would call "good" and what we would define as "evil"? What is the foundational reality of everything? Is there a Oneness which dissolves all duality?

It has been said that: "when you can look the devil in the eye, and clearly see the Christ, you are home, you are seeing truly and clearly." Meditation is different for everyone; for me the most terrifying moments ever experienced have occurred in meditation. It seems it is the darkness which most hungers for the light of our conscious and nonjudgmental acceptance and embracement. Often it is the demons which haunt us and from which we run away, that are actually the doorway to Truth and understanding of the Oneness which unites us all.

Good luck.

j

64

OK

by Andy C in

jw
friends

you believe in god or not?

why?

JamesThomas

You believe in god or not? Why?

What is "god" and why believe? Often there is an natural awe at the infinite beauty and wonder of life and universe which stimulates a desire to honor it's Source. Generally it seems we lazily accept ideas passed down to us; ideas or mental concepts of a deity or entity, a shard of existence which we then worship. Belief is only thought and mental images combined with, and intensified by, emotions. We come to place great significance on our cherished mental illusions and identify with them so strongly that to lose them, is to lose ourselves. Lost in thought, beliefs and scripture (other peoples beliefs) we lose sight of the reality which started it all: the awe stimulated by the present moment of existence within an infinite expression of beauty and wonder. I stopped believing in any definable, limited, circumscribable deity or god; and so relinquished the Bible and all teachings which presents diminutive concepts of a god. Belief is not needed when attention is placed on the still, yet vibrant presence of being and existing. The moment is endlessly too rich to require beliefs in gods, or beliefs in a "me" who is isolated and separate from the boundless and true Source and Sustenance of all. j

54

How do I have everlasting life?

by soulfinder in

here is a scripture that explains just that.. john 5:39-40.

39you are searching the scriptures, because you think that by means of them you will have everlasting life; and these are the very ones that bear witness about me.. 40and yet you do not want to come to me that you may have life.. jesus clearly explains that it is not through the scriptures that we have everlasting life.

it is only by going to him..

JamesThomas

acadian:

You have to realize what your dealing with here Soulfinder...
1 Corinthians 3:14, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

If the "natural man" is someone with the sense and intelligence not to accredit some tribesman's murderous and archaic god of war, and his offspring, for the unimaginable wonders of an infinite universe, then this scripture only emphasises the bibles copious nonsense? Either that, or it's actually referring to you and others who worship as "the most significant and high": anthropomorphic characters and images chiseled in the tiny dark corners of the carnal mind. Like they say: if a tricycle created and worshipped a god, it would have three wheels. j