By no means. Being raised to believe that the most high, most righteous, most holy and loving was a mass murderer, did in any way influence my morals.
JamesThomas
JoinedPosts by JamesThomas
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15
Did being raised a JW give you a higher moral code?
by cantleave ini have noticed something interesting at work recently.. i don't want to go into too much detail, but our new owners have introduced a customer contract that is so one sided that it is technically unethical although not legally.
i don't like it and won't sell it.. i asked the jw's where i work what they thought of this contract.. to my surprise only 2 are troubled by the nature of this contract (both young and quite wishy washy in the "truth").. the others didn't seem concrened at all and would be happy to tie customers into it, after it all secures the company's finances.. the interesting thing is almost all the "worldly" members of staff feel the same way as as me.. i thought my reservations were due to my jw upbringing - obviously not!.
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15
My dr's recommending counselling I think it may help....
by Lozhasleft ini have a good life these days.
i have a wonderful new husband who shares his lovely family with me.
i have 'worldly' friends who i'm very fond of.
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JamesThomas
Lozi,
May I suggest that you begin to take the time to just sit alone and be still. Concentrate on what it is to breath, on what it is to sit in a chair, on what it is to feel life around you. This may help ground you and open you, so that meeting with a good therapist will be extra beneficial for you had you not primed the pump.
You are loved and appreciated.
j
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33
Are You Afraid Of Death?
by minimus inwhen we were jws we were told that death is an enemy but if we were faithful to jehovah, we would be alive always in his eyes.
death wasn't something to be feared.
we were only "sleeping".. do you fear death at this point in your life?
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JamesThomas
Who was it that said: "I was dead for an infinity before I was born. Didn't seem to do me no harm."?
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Are You Afraid Of Death?
by minimus inwhen we were jws we were told that death is an enemy but if we were faithful to jehovah, we would be alive always in his eyes.
death wasn't something to be feared.
we were only "sleeping".. do you fear death at this point in your life?
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JamesThomas
He wears 100% pure linen.
It's life which scares the fuck out me.
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15
My dr's recommending counselling I think it may help....
by Lozhasleft ini have a good life these days.
i have a wonderful new husband who shares his lovely family with me.
i have 'worldly' friends who i'm very fond of.
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JamesThomas
I fourth that!
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Truth About Religion and Christianity....
by digderidoo ininteresting series on the similarities of ancient religions to christianity.... .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjgkr...eature=related.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_e0v...eature=related.
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JamesThomas
Religion, is a concept of the mind. The mind is too limited to know the infinity and rawness of present moment reality, so it tells itself stories.
Religion= the minds feeble attempts of understanding what it can not understand, an thus it makes up a story which it subtracts from and adds to over the course of thousands of years.
So similarities are to be expected when you know what your dealing with....an evolutionary comic book reality.
So the nest step is: why fuck with stories when reality is here right now staring you in the face??????????????????
This isn't rocket science.
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Jesus or Jehovah?
by Seven ini ran across this on truthsearcher.
i would appreciate anyone's thoughts on this.. __________.
who is the "alpha and omega" and the first and last"-jesus or jehovah?.
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JamesThomas
Archaic verse can be discussed endlessly. Or one can actually ponder on what "Alpha and Omega" points to. It points to That which has no "outside", That which encompasses all.
Would it be wise to believe that an anthropomorphic, tribal, patriarchal deity can and does encompass all existence?
I apologies for going outside the box of this discussion. I just wanted to point out that we can begin with the same basic words and actually use them to come to deep and significant understandings about the reality in which we live.....or not.
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Any 'Humanists' here?
by AK - Jeff incare to share your particular weltanschauung ?.
how do you approach life in general?
how do you convey to others your opines on life, love and laughter?.
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JamesThomas
I personally find that being a mean old bastard takes too much energy and causes stress. Why go there. It seems healthier to just be kind and do unto others as we would like the rest of the bastards to do unto us (you can quote me if you like). They often times don't feel the same, but then the bastards are not my teacher, and they don't need any more sore-grapes in their life than their own god-forsaken presence. So I try and be kind to them too......because like was already said, to counter meanness with meanness takes more energy than I care to expend. Lazy people are kind people....that's my motto.
Have to save my strength to lift the next glass of Bourbon.
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For Shelby, Tec and others who believe in Christ but not necessarily the bible...
by elderelite ini read with great interest that some believe in christ but notnecessarily the authenticity of the bible... could you please elaborate on that?
i have to admit i am very interested in where people have ended up after leaving the wt.
i am on that road and enjoy seeing where people have followed it.
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JamesThomas
Tammy,
It's wise seeing that your deity is more significant than the words that "pointed to" him. Your god was quoted as alsopointing to something within you. Perhaps you don't need a book or a deity.
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Why Paradise Would Drive JWs Insane
by metatron inwhat would qualify as the most paradise-like spot on earth?
i'd say somewhere in the pacific islands.. tropical breezes, lying in the warm sun on beautiful beaches ..... and so on.. but funny isn't it that these places often have high rates of suicide!?.
http://www.who.int/mental_health/policy/country/pimhnet/en/index.html.
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JamesThomas
Metatron, I don't quite agree that paradise would drive Witnesses insane, for the simple reason that they are already insane. I do agree that paradise could make things worse for most Witnesses and so exacerbate a preexisting pathology. Here's why:
As a Witness, there is little if any resting in the reality of the present moment. Rather, they are continually reaching past the actuality of here and now, out into a distant fantasy of paradise in some other time. This is a form of mental escapism that can be so deeply ingrained that people can live their entire lives mentally moving back and forth between abstract memories of the past and fantasies of the future without ever really experiencing the reality and depths of the present moment.
A Witness doesnt even know they're presently lost in delusional patterns of insanity -- nor do most other people -- so if they did happen to step into paradise it would not be long before a deep unease set in. Their entire identity before was based on focus of a time and place unreal, and a paradise real does not support or give comfort to an identity based on fantasy. So paradise could come to seem like a valley of death threatening my life and wellbeing. Never satisfied with what IS, we reach into make-believe and set up home.
For most people the moment is only something to get past. Real paradise is not about reaching or getting past, but rather meeting with the bottomless richness and depths of nature and beingness in this moment. Paradise is not so much a place, as it is simply being acutely aware of life here and now.
j