this is a question i've had for a long time.. according to the biblical account, adam and eve's sin was to eat fruit from the forbidden tree.. now, ordinarily, when we get caught doing something "wrong," we try to hide the "offending" member (the child tries to hide his hand that has the 'stolen' cookie; we hurriedly try to pull our pants back on when mom walks in unexpectedly while we're masturbating, etc.)..
so, if the "sin" of adam and eve was eating a forbidden fruit, then why wasn't their first impulse to hide their hands?
or to wipe off their mouths?
Q Bert:
Our creator is the God of truth. If we can't believe the Bible, what else is there that we can go on?
There is the endless actual reality of life and existence in and around you.
My belief in God's Word allows me to keep my bearings and make a more sensible life for myself. The more I believe it's true, the better my life gets. To me, it's about sanity.
Placing significance in a book, instead of life, does not equate to sanity.
j
* we can call jesus our lord (1 cor 12:3) .
* we can discern spiritual things (1 cor.2:13, 14. compare john 7:37-39) .
* we may know we belong to god (1 john 3:24) .
How can we know if we have God’s holy spirit?
How could the true Source of an infinite universe be so small and limited that we could be without it?
j
i asked myself this question recently.. "if god could do just one thing that would make it clear he actually exists in order to convince the world today---what would it be?".
.
how would you answer?.
Any phenominal experience, anything seen or felt, no matter how "Godly", could be nothing but a mental hallucination; and so, not genuine proof at all.
Real proof, undeniable and unequivocal proof, must reach into the raw foundation of the silent and immediate, unmoving Consciousness which experiences and witnesses all phenomena.
In other words, what the word G-O-D points to, the pristine wholeness and perfection of being, must be seen as your own true Self; and not just locally as a limited experience would manifest, but rather seen as the reality of all existence; bar none.
The only unquestionable reality we possess is conscious-awareness (everything else may be a dream). God, to be undeniably and genuinely real, must be -- the conscious-awareness which reads this now.
j
i still have a hard time wrapping my brain around this.
for example why do so many believe in the bible when ample proof exists that negats its validaty?
why not believe in zeus or jupitor, etc.
If the eye can not see reality, it sees fallacy.
j
does a jw upbringing simply confuse a child or is it really damaging?.
i have no doubt that a jw child is, at least, confused with life.
in my own case my wife brings up my 2 children (aged 5 & 2) as jw`s.
There is no reality outside the present moment. All significance is cradled within the immediacy of now. The problem with much religion, especially the Witnesses, is it mentally detaches significance (reality) and places it in some other illusory thing, deity, place, or time. Religion often steals away life and reality, and upon doing so becomes the darkest of arts.
I suggest counter balancing its effects by teaching your children how to be silently open and present with life's significance in this moment of actuality. There is innate richness and wisdom present here now which can negate the harmful effects of religious beliefs and its tiny judgmental gods. Of course we need to know how to be genuinely present ourselves before we can show others.
When your dear children are truly rooted in reality, the sleep of religion will not fall upon them.
j
attended co public talk today, "will you qualify for life in god's new world?.
the essence in this quote: "it is essential that we cooperate with the fds, that we conform to bible standards and that we ourselves share in preaching the good news of the kingdom.
" not once was faith in jesus christ mentioned.
As a Christian, I need to be a sinner to qualify
Why shrink the Divine into something so small and narrow that there needs to be any qualifications at all? Why this need to make ourselves one of God's own, and others not?
Certainly an endlessly wondrous universe give witness to a Source infinitely greater still, and not less; always more and never less. Why choose less? Why shrivel, shrink and belittle? Because an old book tells us so? Because we have eyes and can not see? Why? I wonder. Why accept anything which diminishes the Divine in anyway? Who are we to do that?
What fools we all are.
j
although i don't go to meetings anymore, i'm inactive, never was disfellowshipped, i still have a "spiritual side to me", something that is deeply rooted in.
on one side, i see errors the watchtower makes, and on the other side i take what's good about them, and that's why i don't fit in with them.
i don't meet their standards, nor do they meet mine.
"Spirituality" is word that the mind has created that can point to a reality other than the mind's making.
There is that which never changes, no matter life's circumstance, beliefs, health, or emotions. It is closer than all definable things. Find that.
j
many of us who were once jehovah's witnesses had a measure of happiness in our lives.
for me, i had a hope in the future, i had answers as to why we are all here, i believed in a loving god who looked after me and cared about me, i had answers to all of lifes big questions.. when i found out the truth about the witnesses, i was lost in a great big world and now had no answers other than the fact that what i once believed was "the truth" in actuality wasn't the truth.i now had to start all over in my search for truth.
for me, it wasn't long before i found what i thought was the truth since i always believed in the bible.
I'd give ya all a free bag shinin if I hadn't sold all my wax.
Ah damn! I knew I shooda kept an eye on eBay.
so friday my brother and i found a nursing home for my mom to stay at.
it was a very hard thing to do.
he had me go hunting.
Sparky,
What a nightmare.
It may be best for you to stay away from her for awhile.
I suggest -- if you can -- spending some quit time alone. Be still and just silently feel what it is to breath and be alive without giving attention to all the thoughts running through your head.
Throughout the day come into the moment and return to just feeling the air move through your nose and the feelings in the body as the chest expands and life moves slowly through it.
It's important to be aware of a deeper reality that is not lost in all the drama; a sanctuary that you carry with you, no matter how trying the times may be.
Good luck to you, dear.
j
many of us who were once jehovah's witnesses had a measure of happiness in our lives.
for me, i had a hope in the future, i had answers as to why we are all here, i believed in a loving god who looked after me and cared about me, i had answers to all of lifes big questions.. when i found out the truth about the witnesses, i was lost in a great big world and now had no answers other than the fact that what i once believed was "the truth" in actuality wasn't the truth.i now had to start all over in my search for truth.
for me, it wasn't long before i found what i thought was the truth since i always believed in the bible.
Perhaps knowing the truth about the "truth", is not so much knowing the truth as a step in identifying the lies.
Now where am I? For me personally, i'm now lost. I doubt the bible as being authored by god, i'm an agnostic, I haven't a clue as to whether there is a god who loves me and the rest of mankind and whether there is a plan for all of us, i'm terrified at the thought that there might not be anyone out there in the heavens who made me and the rest of us, and I haven't a clue as to where to start in finding out the truth about life and I highly doubt i'll ever know before I die.
What is it that witnesses this " I'm lost" drama as it is thought about and written? Start right here. Start with what is most close. Don't concern yourself with "gods" or some grand "truth about life". Be still and simply discover what you really are within the silent depths of the immediate and intimate sense of be-ing and existing. Look past everything believed to be; and look deeper into what is actually looking.
There is no truth about life -- other than you. Other than what you genuinely are.
Perhaps the problem with truth is not that it is far away and difficult to get to, as that it is so very, very close.......and closer still....and closer still...
Wonderful to see you here Gumster.
j
