Posts by Ravyn

17

Qs about Xtianity-for any Xtians to answer

by Ravyn in

jw
friends

this is a copy of a post that i put on a xtian forum after being asked directly what my problem with xtianity was.

i open it to anyone who wants to answer me here also.

i am trying to learn tolerance amid a hostile environment of extremes.

Ravyn

this is a copy of a post that I put on a xtian forum after being asked directly what my problem with xtianity was. I open it to anyone who wants to answer me here also. I am trying to learn tolerance amid a hostile environment of extremes. ------------------------------------------------------------------->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I have a question that seems to be the root of my discontent with Christianity. I will await your answer with the same anticipation that I have patiently cultivated everytime I ask this to another group... WHY should I worship the Jewish God Jehovah? I am not Jewish. More questions, if you would bear with me. Is there room in your particular understanding of Jehovah to allow for a Mother and not just a Father God? It is my understanding that in ancient Jewish myth the female consort of Jehovah was Shekinah and it was only after the rise of patriarchic society that Shekinah was changed into just a symbol. I understand YHWH to be Yod(male-Father) He(female-Mother) Vau(male-Son) He(female-Daughter or Bride of the Son). An all-male, trinity, godhead makes no sense to me at all. The qualities attributed to Holy Spirit are motherly--comfort, wisdom, inspiration...etc. Finally, (for now), do you hold the Bible to be inerrant and closed to further discoveries of ancient manuscripts(such as the Nag Hammadi and Dead Sea Scrolls, other Apocrypha and Pseudopigrapha?) and related to this, how are other religions and their Holy Books viewed? I am really not sure I can return to Christianity after the things I have learned against it(or atleast against how it is represented today.) I have seen the contradictions and discrepancies in the Bible as it is today, and frankly the only way I see some of them being resolved is with the help of some of the other books I mentioned above, yet every group I have researched condemns those very books! I consider myself at the moment to be a New Age(because I do believe in the goodness of some 'spiritistic' practices of this new age) Deist (I do not think the First Cause is a personal god per se, but that there are many other higher entities who have been made gods by humans in our search for divinity) and a Witch as I recognize the need for ritual in my life and feel that magick is merely yet-unproven science. I will wait for your answers. Please take this post as sincere. I really do want to know what I asked and will consider all answers honestly. Ravyn Giuliani

20

do you feel a memorial on a hwy is offense?

by kls in

jw
friends

here in wisconsin, around 6months ago we had a terrible crash on one of our freeways because of fog and driveing to fast for conditions.there were many casualities, anyway many persons who loved ones died in that crash have memorials at the sight such as crosses ,flowers ,etc.well it seems the county were this happened wrote letters to all persons leaving memorials to stop ,their saying it is a road hazard and a distraction to drivers.well now we hear it is non religious people are complaining , saying it is offense to them to have to drive by these shrines.

i feel if they dont like it they should close their eyes.

lol what do you think.

Ravyn

I am surprised at how passionate I am feeling about this! But I just have to say to MattNoel and others who say it is grief and should be allowed to be expressed....

IN THE CEMETERY. Not on public property. Property that I maintain with my tax dollars. It is not MY grief and it is a hazard (and offensive if used to 'preach' , which--whether anyone likes it or not--is exactly what the American fundys are doing with it!)

I PAY for a cemetery plot---have I just wasted my money? Should I not buy one and just erect a memorial along side County Road 737? This is totally distasteful to me.

Perhaps I am just fed up to my limit with American Xtian Fundamentalism. But if I see one more cross I just might sue. Free speech, but on public property others' rights are just as valid as my own and neutrality should be maintained (enforced even if people can't manage to do it on their own!)

Ravyn--now I need some chocolate

20

do you feel a memorial on a hwy is offense?

by kls in

jw
friends

here in wisconsin, around 6months ago we had a terrible crash on one of our freeways because of fog and driveing to fast for conditions.there were many casualities, anyway many persons who loved ones died in that crash have memorials at the sight such as crosses ,flowers ,etc.well it seems the county were this happened wrote letters to all persons leaving memorials to stop ,their saying it is a road hazard and a distraction to drivers.well now we hear it is non religious people are complaining , saying it is offense to them to have to drive by these shrines.

i feel if they dont like it they should close their eyes.

lol what do you think.

Ravyn

personally I think a road sign advising against driving too fast or recklessly around a dangerous curve would be in better taste and less offensive and selfish. yes I said selfish. there are cemeteries for the tacky plastic flowers and crosses. roadside is no place for them. if we put up some memorial on every piece of land where someone died in this country there would not be an empty space large enough to take a step in!

And every memorial to one person on public land diminishes the importance of the many others who also died---kinda' like the publicity of one missing child returning home over the death of another one who didn't, in recent memory(see? bet you don't even know the name of the little black girl who disappeared the same day as Eliazbeth Smart do you? I am ashamed to admit that I don't know it.)

the place for personal expression of grief is in the cemetery, but it would be an enduring memorial to those, who thru their own stupid negligence or that of someone else, died there, if a warning sign was erected to prevent others from repeating the tragedy. This seems to be more regional--alot of it in the South, where it is just another excuse for the fundies to be in your face with their religion.

I find it as tacky as a yard full of junk cars and plastic flamingoes.

Ravyn

16

Advice on books to read up on please

by SpiceItUp in

does anyone have any reading recommendations for bible fallacies/contradictions etc??.

also i just ordered christ conspiracy by a. acharya after reading some wonderful reviews on it.. i was also interested if any of you had any opinions on :.

the encyclopedia of biblical errancy by c. dennis mckinsey .

Ravyn

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/50598/1.ashx

check out my' Red Pill list' and 'Guide to leaving a fundy cult...' on Amazon---(link above)

Ravyn

5

Need Support Tonight

by Charmed in

jw
friends

i feel so alone tonight.

i thought i'd get on here and find some support.

my husband and i got into a fight last night.

Ravyn

Dear Charmed,

I dont know how old you are but.....that male-thang rears its ugly head just when you think you got the only male who does not buy into it. It is just male, sigh. So what happens when my male comes at me with some pig headed remark like that is I fire right back at him. yeah sometimes it gets rough and we hurt each others feelings, and maybe it could be handled differently--but hey, it is how WE handle it. and usually we both apologize and have fun making up. I know I have hurt him worse than he has hurt me at times. but that is just me--I fight back, I learned to the hard way. don't ever let it go 24 hours--thats the key. apologize even if you are not sorry, just to end it---and by the time you go thru the motions---you WILL be sorry and it will be genuine and you will feel better. I remember this corny story about a wife and husband who fought and decided to split up....they each started packing boxes to move out and the husband grabbed her gently by the shoulders and put her in one of the boxes. She asked him what he was doing and he replied back to her that he was taking the only thing he wanted to keep.

Ravyn

28

Insight into Death ?

by Brummie in

this is not intended to be a morbid post but because of the nature of the topic i guess it is anyway!

have you ever heard of a long time terminally ill person who could live a few years more yet seem to know that they were going to die in the next couple of days?

my grandfather called my cousin into his room a few years ago and told her that his funeral was happening before his eyes, he could see it, he died that night.. anyway, back to the original ?, have you heard of similar things?

Ravyn

a friend of ours who had had a very tough life, called us on the phone after we moved away to 'ask' us if it was ok to go. he seemed to be talking of 'running out' on his family, but knowing his health had been very bad for so long we knew what he was talking about. we both gave him as much comfort as we could and told him it was ok if he needed to leave. he had a stroke within hours and never recovered, he died about 2 months later. every once in a while my husband or myself will think of him, almost out of the blue, and sure as anything we can smell cigarette smoke and roses. he smoked like a chimney(neither of us do--nor do any of our friends or neighbors) and his funeral was all roses. we both feel he is at peace that was hard won for him---and with his beloved cat who went thru some of the worst times with him and passed just months before he did. and his family he left here is doing ok, not as good as if he was healthy and still here--but as well as can be expected(he had two toddlers when he was 65 yrs old and had had two open heart surgeries...)

Ravyn

5

has anyone here been rebaptized after leaving wts?

by nowisee in

jw
friends

.

what factors went into your decision?.

if you have found new faith and not been rebaptized, why not?

Ravyn

as far as i know JWs have never baptized anyone in the 'spirit' of the Trinity which is what 'in the name of the Father, Son and holy Spirit" means. So I think you may need to be baptized again, but realize this is not a RE-baptism but a baptism for the first time since JWs do it wrong in the first place. (Even if they used the words back in 1959--they did not mean it the way it was supposed to be meant.)

Ravyn

39

Apocryphal Books of the Bible

by nativenyr23 in

was watching a history channel program last night (yeah, i'm a history channel geek!

) and was introduced for the first time in my life to the apocryphal books of the bible?!?!?!?!?

omg....fascinating.

Ravyn

I recommend "The Other Bible" by Willis Barnstone, after this you can get "The Nag Hammadi Library" editted by Robinson et al and a good copy of "The Dead Sea Scrolls" like the one by Wise, Abegg and Cook. Each is about $20 new. Check Amazon for used ones and eBay and Half.com tho.
"The Other Bible" is my absolute favorite! There are some others, but I recommend these as the basis of your library and then if you are interested in a specific book you can find something written just on that--like any of Elaine Pagels stuff on the gnostic texts. Good Luck! It was my first tantalizing step into the great big world back when I first left JWs. But I warn you---it is the red pill---you will never look at things the same way again! If you wish to pursue this line of knowledge the next steps would be "The Christ Conspiracy" and "Bloodline of the Holy Grail" by Laurence Gardner and Barbara Walker's Encyclopedia of Women's Myths and Secrets.
That is my entire library of 'truth'. Happy reading! email me any Qs.
Ravyn

Ravyn

Posts by Ravyn

Qs about Xtianity-for any Xtians to answer

Ravyn

do you feel a memorial on a hwy is offense?

Ravyn

do you feel a memorial on a hwy is offense?

Ravyn

Advice on books to read up on please

Ravyn

recommended reading-book list on Amazon

Ravyn

Need Support Tonight

Ravyn

Insight into Death ?

Ravyn

recommended reading-book list on Amazon

Ravyn

has anyone here been rebaptized after leaving wts?

Ravyn

Apocryphal Books of the Bible

Ravyn