i am a member on new testament scholar bart ehrman's blog, and the professor is currently outlining a new book he is writing about false memory and the life of jesus.. an interesting post occurred today in which he gives an example of a very famous scripture,.
example of a false memory of jesus teaching i turn to a famous passage in the gospel of john, jesus dialogue with nicodemus (john 3:1-15).
nicodemus is said to be a jewish leader who comes up to jesus and affirms that jesus must come from god because of the great things that he said to have done.
Perhaps the core problem with religious beliefs is that all they amount to are memories. Memories being mere mental concepts that are results of some mental activity weaving a story that we then unquestionably accept as 'reality' or 'truth'. In other words, they are make-believe imagery, light-years removed from Reality. But we insanely keep embracing and supporting them as if they are genuine.
It's so simple, no one sees it. We live, blind to existence.
whenever we visit the board we see a lot of angst among jehovah's witnesses who are just learning the tatt (the truth about the truth).
hey, don't feel bad, we had it at one time ourselves.
"angst means fear or anxiety (anguish is its latinate equivalent, and anxious, anxiety are of similar origin).
whenever we visit the board we see a lot of angst among jehovah's witnesses who are just learning the tatt (the truth about the truth).
hey, don't feel bad, we had it at one time ourselves.
"angst means fear or anxiety (anguish is its latinate equivalent, and anxious, anxiety are of similar origin).
We may find at the root of the causes of personal angst around leaving the Witnesses – other than personal family ties and social issues – is the mental dynamics of our cherished beliefs about 'God'.
Can it be seen that all religious beliefs regarding a 'God', are nothing but that? Nothing but beliefs?
Beliefs are only mind-generated concepts and ideas that are far removed from the reality of life and existence. So, my suggestion as to “what will I do?” is to first clearly see that every thought you have about what is “Truth”, and/or what is “God”, in nothing more than an abstract mental construct, and not genuine reality at all. Not Truth. Then, it may become obvious what you do next.
What you do from then on is spend less
time in your mind and its thoughts and conceptual notions about life,
and spend more time with LIFE.
You can not imagine the weight that leaves you when you let go of all the massive mental collection of “what life is all about”, and silently just be with life instead.
Find out what it is like to really be present and attentive to the embrace of nature in and around you. Let it fill the void in you that caused you to create a make-believe “God” in the first place.
Be still, and know...
animals are a gift from god.
they allow us to see god in depth and in all his ingenuity and his superiority.
men especially "wt elders" are unable to compete with animals to let us understand all the glory of the allmighty god
why didn't jesus ever write anything?
why are there no letters to jesus?
no painting of jesus from that time?
No one here now was there then, so who can honestly say?
For me the question is why reduce 'God' or the Source of all life and existence down to a man? How foolish and egotistical is that?
We can't truly understand the amazing dynamics within an amoeba, but yet we convince ourselves we know God.
The older I get the more I know I know nothing, other than we are all insane.
when i was an elder we had a sister who was known for providing oral pleasures to some people in the congo.
i was on the committee.
this girl for some odd reason was put on public reproof 4 times for the same thing.
No doubt she is of the anointed, for any woman who loves giving head is a Godsend.
i remember studying this book years ago and how it impacted my belief system.
i no longer believe the bible is god's word.
however i do have a couple of lingering questions on this subject.
The Bible Gods Word or mans???
In our heart we all know the answer; yet our mind (where we look) is confused.
If words that are written or spoken -- divide us and so cause conflict, war, pain and strife, then they are not from the Source which unites us one and all.
What we seek is here, within, now; and not in a book, but we always look and seek outwards in words and thoughts rather than that which silently sees.
in the insight on the scriptures volume 2 pages 248-249 the society says, "so with obedient mankind, when man's last enemy, death, is brought to nothing, there will be no sin working in their bodies to bring death.
to time indefinite they will not need to die.
the insight on the scriptures vol 2, page 1102 -what time indefinite can mean, "however, the hebrew expression 'ohlam' does not in itself mean "forever".
But why the need for such a carrot? Why?
Isn't it because our lives seem empty of life, and so we seek life in some make-believe future imaginings?
Why are we so empty and always seeking? Why look outside ourselves for the fulfillment we yearn for when all we will ever have is what we are?
Because we focus our attention (which is the only thing we have to give) on empty thoughts, concepts and beliefs created within the mind -- and completely ignore the actual present reality of life in and around us.
We all breath, yet few people actually take a moment of acute conscious presence to feel and sense the vibrant embrace and aliveness of breathing and so come to genuinely know what it is to breath. The very same dynamics unfolds for the rest of life.
Being ignorant and numb to the always available presence of life within us, we seek a surrogate, a carrot, a hope of life in another time and place.
The Life within is bottomless and infinitely beyond all thought. But you have to actually look and see, to see; and to know what you truly are.
Few look. Most seek in dreams.
in wtbs world it's "be jehovah's friend"- it's "don't do anything to damage your relationships age my relationship with jehovah" !!
when you look at all the human relationships between god and jesus everyone was "chosen"!!
in the law of moses was there anything that told individuals to have their own relationship with god?
Having a relationship with a primitive and savage tribal deity, is not my idea of sanity.
Good luck to the rest of you.
it was access to this tree that kept adam and eve in a "perfect" state.
that is why they were kicked out of the garden.
actually, they may not have found the fruit at the time of their expulsion.
