Posts by JamesThomas

37

Do you believe you have a particular purpose in life?

by journey-on in

jw
friends

i ask this because as a jw, you are programmed to think your only purpose is to preach the good news of the kingdom....period.

but more and more, i've noticed in my own life a strong pull toward something i won't elaborate on, but it has me thinking that maybe we really do each have a particular purpose and it's up to us to discover what it is.

i know i'm kind of new to the forum, but please let me know if any of you have experienced this same kind of unusually strong pull toward something you can't fully explain.

JamesThomas

Do you believe you have a purpose?

I suggest that first and foremost there be a radical and acute investigation into this "you" that is believed to be, rather than create drama around a locus that may not actually exist.

Certainly it may seem to be, but is it true that we are some incomplete-being that requires some additional purpose? Or is all significance found immediately present and complete within conscious Be-ing itself? I suggest taking the first step first, before jumping ahead and making a grand journey.

Perhaps what already IS, is infinitely more real and fulfilling than any purpose, or any other thing -- not present.

j

11

The Path Not Taken

by choosing life in

jw
friends

there comes a time when you realize that there are paths you can no longer go down.

at first, it is hard to tell whether the path changes or you change.

but the farther along the new path you travel, the more you find that it is really you, yourself that has changed.

JamesThomas

Nice post, CL.

Perhaps, a lot has to do with the fact that as a Witness we extract much of our identity out of the Bible or other written interpritations of it. In this process we subtract significance from the present moment of life and reality, and confine and bastardize it to words, beliefs and thoughts. Often, when we leave the Witnesses we are afraid and so take the same book and two dimensional identity along with us (what would we be without our little deity?). Sometimes though, we come to notice that there is a reality outside the book; something far more vibrant and real. Then, it's as if we are set free....because we are.

j

4

Einstein's God & Ethics Discussion On NPR's "Speaking Of Faith"

by Madame Quixote in

jw
friends

i enjoyed listening to this when i woke up this morning:.

http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/einstein/index.shtml.

hope you enjoy it, too..

JamesThomas

Only had time to listen to about 30 minutes of it, enough to know we share a similar view.

I too when using the word God, do not mean what most people do; but rather feel that what the word G-O-D points to is not a personal deity, or anything which is circumscribable; but rather That which all existence flows from, is sustained by, and foundationally is.

Einstein, it seems felt that "God" could be mathematically defined in such a way as to be predictable, and so was extremely flippant when Quantum Physicists discovered chaos and stark unpredictability at the atomic level. To this he gave his famous reply "God does not play dice". I don't hold to such a restrictive view; but rather feel that even to God, God is a mystery and wonder, so that the next moment is always a surprise.

j

10

Will God have mercy?

by sinis in

i was thinking of this the other day.

though i am not christian or any other religion, and at times even question the validity of god (which becomes more appearent with all the shit that goes on in this world every day), i stopped and thought, what if?

what if after this life those who did not believe in a higher power, ie god, go to meet this maker.

JamesThomas

Perhaps what the word G-O-D points to, is that which unconditionally accommodates all existence already; whereas the little pissy personal gods exist only between our ears and in the religious books we write; and so there is no genuine need to be concerned about what they do or don't do.

j

28

Does God mind being called the wrong name?

by Gill in

since it is a well known fact that god's name is definitely not jehovah, but this was a name only in 'operation' for the last few hundred years thanks to a catholic monk, doesn't the very jealous, bad tempered god of the ot mind being called, in effect, 'fred' when his real name is 'george'.. i would think that call anyone by a knowingly incorrect name is rude, rude, rude, so how does this bad tempered, psycopathic, mass murdering god of the ot feel about this transgression on the part of the wtbts/jehovah's witnesses!!????.

not too pleased, i would guess!.

JamesThomas

The mind gives things names that it may circumscribe and define, separate and confine them from everything else. This seems to work well in everyday practical circumstance; but would seem not to work at all when it comes to what has no beginning and no end.

j

71

The original sin

by onacruse in

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?

JamesThomas

All of natural world around me speaks to the reality of the awesomeness of the Author of the Bible. It is he (Jehovah God) I have real faith in. Everyone else is relative.

You answered your own question as to where else other than the Bible.

Seriously, does an infinite universe give witness to an anthropomorphic tribal-deity as being it's true Source? Certainly the ultimate significance from which all life, universe and existence arises, must be without beginning and without end. Why so easily accept a tiny deity, a fragment within the universe as our god? Why minimize and belittle our true Source, at all?

When we go out to dinner, we do not eat the menu, we eat the food. Why value words on paper, when you have the reality of all life and universe to teach you? Why reduce God to some fools mumblings on paper? Why shrink and separate the Divine from Reality itself? Why diminish the Divine to an object so tiny as to be absent from our own foundational being and that of all life and existence. Why cherish a lesser god which divides and separates us into the saved and the damned? Why not instead seek what unites us all?

In one of your past posts you said "Reality is the best place for us all". Heed your own advice. Words taken from a book are not reality, merely conceptual abstracts -- helpful in baking a cake, but worthless when in search for the foundational Reality of all existence.

j

71

The original sin

by onacruse in

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?

JamesThomas

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

5

How can we know if we have Gods holy spirit?

by Doug Mason in

* 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) .

JamesThomas

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

28

IF GOD COULD DO JUST ONE THING..........

by Terry in

jw
friends

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?.

JamesThomas

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

25

Why do people believe in religion?

by sinis in

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.

JamesThomas

If the eye can not see reality, it sees fallacy.

j