The reverse was the case with me. "The truth" was such a sweet opium for me that when I realized that it was a construct (a bad one), I became disillusioned. Some time I wish I took the "blue pill" instead, so that I could wallow in the soothing doctrine of the watchtower. There were many days my friends and I fantasize about the beauty and peace of the "new world". Unfortunately, eating from the tree of knowledge doesnt always lead to happiness. It appears that the various constructs that make up life are necessary to give a sense of order and certainty that may lead to some sort of satisfaction.
greatcrowd
JoinedPosts by greatcrowd
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22
Did You Ever Wish That The Truth Wasn't True?
by Englishman ini did.. there wasn't any aspect of jwism that i actually really enjoyed apart from the "apres ski" when the meeting had ended.. meetings bored me silly.. i couldn't abide door to door work.. i never studied voluntarily, just a 5 minute skim the through the watchtower before the meeting started.. worst experience ever was door-knocking on christmas morning.
god, i hated that!.
as for the restrictions as to what you could and couldn't do....ye gods!.
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Say Something Only A Jehovah's Witness Would Say
by minimus ini'll start.
"at least i know god's name is jehovah!
".......any others?
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greatcrowd
1. Slave class
2. Nethinim
2. Babylon the great has fallen
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I Thought Mel Gibson Was Going To Be Jesus...
by SYN inwhoooops!.
i'd been getting all geared up to go and watch the passion of the christ (it's causing enormous waves of journalistic strife, so it has be interesting at the very least...), until i saw the trailer and realized that mel gibson is not, actually, playing jesus.. apparently he's "too old", a friend told me.. now, don't get me wrong, i'm not a massive mel gibson fan (although he was perfect for the role in what women want, i must admit), but i thought it would've been truly surreal and an interesting reflection on popular culture circa 2004 to see mel gibson pretending to be jesus.. other interesting tidbits have surfaced about this movie.
monica bellucci (hope i spelled that right) of matrix: reloaded/revolutions fame is in it, which you might say is a truly powerful incentive to go watch the movie, but she may not be as fun in this role as she was in the matrix.
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greatcrowd
Tatiana, the blue eyes of Jim Caviezel was digitally edited out so as to make him look more like a jew. Mel Gibson wanted this movie to be as realistic as possible. In fact, he decried previous Jesus movies that made use of actors with British or American accents, hence his decision to use the Aramaic language
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If you had to choose between Truth or Happiness
by dh inif suddenly you were confronted by someone who could grant it, and offered these two choices, which would you choose (if either).. 1.
(truth) you can have the answers to all of your questions, know and understand the absolute truth about all things, who we are, where we came from and how it all happened, and most importantly, you will be able to comprehend why.
the price of this insight is not cheap... you must leave behind everything you know; family, friends, pets, property, all things you value, you do not get to say goodbye and you will never see any of them again.. or.. 2.
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greatcrowd
Truth removes the scales that covers ones eyes. I believe that knowlegde will only bring happiness if it provides a basis of happiness as a goal. If one becomes aware that one has lost a loved one, sadness will prevail. When I found the truth about "the truth", I was depressed. For so long, "the truth" was an opium that I used to lull myself. If the truth is that, we die like animals with no after life, I wonder how that can be a source of happiness.
Well, as for me, I will rather be happy and take the blue pill.
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Hebrew Scriptures Jehovah vs. Greek Scripture Jehovah
by Black Man ini've always had a problem with the hebrew scriptures and the way god was portrayed.
it's like talkin' about 2 different gods.
on one hand you've got a petty, murderous, jealous, insecure sounding god (hebrew) and on the other you've got someone who is supposed to be the epitome of love.
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greatcrowd
It is obvious that the greek scripture is not a continuation of the old testatment and in fact, was influenced by other cultures. If you look at the classification of love into agape, storges, philia and eros, it obviously took the greek construct of love to make such a subtle distinction of love. This was indefinable using the hebrew language for obvious reasons. The reason why such marked differences exist about the portrayal of God is the culture acquired from the heathens who had spent more time considering even subtle definitions of things like love, justice, good etc.
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26
The longest registered newbie
by greatcrowd ini am an ex-witness who faded from the religion about 4 years ago.
interestingly, i am not new to this board because i have been lurking here for over 2 years and enjoying the great wealth of spiritual food here.
i feel so connected with many of the posters here because of my passive involvement with this board.
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greatcrowd
I was a witness in Nigeria and while it was fun when I was still caught up in it. A number of things made me leave with the most important being the blood doctrine. The consequence of abstaining from blood in Nigeria is far more than you get in the US. The so called alternatives were not available to the average witness and with people having to pay out of pocket for medical expenses, obeying this rule was like a death sentence.
It amazed me to see the one sided testimonies in the magazines of those who came out alive and the underreporting of pathetic cases that existed elsewhere. The ones that died and were reported in the Awake usually would have died anyway of cancer or other incurable disease which makes it look less of matyrdom. Doesnt it look unusual that a magazine that devotes much space reporting experiences from Africa devote more time reporting experiences of blood from the US or Europe.
Visit to the branch offfice in Nigeria did not solve the problem and I found the explanation unsatisfactory. This coupled with a shameful and touching experience of a witness dying in the hospital where I had my medical training made me to start the process of quiting.
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26
The longest registered newbie
by greatcrowd ini am an ex-witness who faded from the religion about 4 years ago.
interestingly, i am not new to this board because i have been lurking here for over 2 years and enjoying the great wealth of spiritual food here.
i feel so connected with many of the posters here because of my passive involvement with this board.
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greatcrowd
Thanks for the welcome. As for your question big tex, it was really difficult making my first post. The easiest part was clicking the submit button. The best part is getting all the wonderfull responses.
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26
The longest registered newbie
by greatcrowd ini am an ex-witness who faded from the religion about 4 years ago.
interestingly, i am not new to this board because i have been lurking here for over 2 years and enjoying the great wealth of spiritual food here.
i feel so connected with many of the posters here because of my passive involvement with this board.
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greatcrowd
I am an ex-witness who faded from the religion about 4 years ago. Interestingly, I am not new to this board because I have been lurking here for over 2 years and enjoying the great wealth of spiritual food here. I feel so connected with many of the posters here because of my passive involvement with this board.
One reason why I did not post all this time was because I had to overcome an inertia arising from my not knowing what part of my story I should reveal. This is for fear of being recognized since I simply faded into obscurity. Fortunately, I have since overcome it.
I am a Nigerian living in the
I have slowly overcome the fear of been found out. At present I don?t care anymore and I will attribute it partly to the encouragement I found on this board and the healing nature of time. My marriage to a ?worldling? has also had a healing effect. I have now realized that person?s without the ?truth? can be also human.
I do hope that my unique experience from a different culture and country.