Posts by CyrusThePersian

36

Did/Does God answer your prayers?

by song19 in

jw
friends

in my spiritual journey, which includes trying to decide if i still believe in god anymore or not i am beginning to question if god listened to my prayers or even answered them.

i think i had a track record of praying more when i needed something.

terrible i know.

CyrusThePersian

Doubters may question the value of prayer, but persons wiser than most of us believed in it and didn't hesitate to say they practiced it and got answers. To name a few:

...and I could come up with a list, from Voltaire to Einstein, from Mark Twain to Carl Sagan, who thought that prayer was a load of bollocks, but it wouldn't mean a thing. What counts are the facts, the REALITY of the situation, and that is that life can sometimes be good, and it can sometimes be bad, and prayer ain't gonna change a damn thing, (except maybe make you feel a little better, if you're so inclined.)

CyrusThePersian

P.S. You better take a closer look at old Honest Abe Lincoln, he may not be as much a believer as you think!

36

Did/Does God answer your prayers?

by song19 in

jw
friends

in my spiritual journey, which includes trying to decide if i still believe in god anymore or not i am beginning to question if god listened to my prayers or even answered them.

i think i had a track record of praying more when i needed something.

terrible i know.

CyrusThePersian

What a lot of people don't realize is that the efficacy of prayer can be physically measured. Simply put, people who pray should be better off than those who don't. Admittedly some of the things people pray for -like happiness and wisdom and stuff like that are hard to measure- but other things can be, like health and prosperity.

The question is: Is the person who prays better off measurably than the person who doesn't? The believer prays for good heath. Is he really healthier than the athiest who lives down the street?

A person prays that his crops will prosper. Do his crops grow strong and tall while his unbelieving neighbor's crops wilt?

People all over the world lie horribly ill in hospitals. Do those who have people praying over them have a better chance of suviving their ordeal than those whose friends are simply hopeful that the doctors can help the patient?

Six million Jews prayed like hell that God would just simply spare their lives in Nazi concentration camps. Did he listen?

The answer to all these questions is no. The reality is that life is a crapshoot. Some things turn out well, and some things don't. People often say they feel better, like a load lifted off their shoulders, when they pray to God. More power to them. But really, it's no different than the solace a child feels when confiding with his imaginary friend.

CyrusThePersian

41

Single? Do You Cook for Yourself?

by compound complex in

jw
friends

dear friends,.

as i cook away, preparing a hearty breakfast before the robust walkabout that awaits me, i recall an earlier conversation with a married friend whose wife prepares him beautiful meals.

if you're a single person, it's typical to throw something together hastily and eat it on the run.

CyrusThePersian

Cook?

Who bothers to cook?

I don't even heat microwave dinners. I just suck 'em frozen.

CyrusThePersian

47

What did you think in -95?

by Samuel Thorsen in

jw
friends

when i first read about wts having "new ligth" on the 1914-generation issue in the newspaper i was shocked.

(some evil apostates had been helpful and informed the paper weeks before i got my november issues of the wt.).

my thoughts was.

CyrusThePersian

I went to a couple of khs...when they studied the articles...just to see what the reaction would be.... It was wierd... no reaction at all... I don't think most jws got it for a while....took a long time to sink in...

I know!! It was weird, wasn't it?

Like I said above, I was the Watchtower conductor at the time and I remember as we were going over those paragraphs about the generation change thinking, "Come on people! Wake the **** up already!!

CyrusThePersian

47

What did you think in -95?

by Samuel Thorsen in

jw
friends

when i first read about wts having "new ligth" on the 1914-generation issue in the newspaper i was shocked.

(some evil apostates had been helpful and informed the paper weeks before i got my november issues of the wt.).

my thoughts was.

CyrusThePersian

Just like Blueblades, I was the Watchtower conductor at the time. I remember being floored by this change. It was a real epiphany for me.

This change though, seemed to go right over the heads of most of the witnesses that were there that Sunday. i even pointed out that this was a significant change to the understanding of "generation" in Matthew. Still nothing...

But it was the turning point for me. It wasn't long before I quit being an elder and subsequently faded from the org.

CyrusThePersian

19

Are You a Closet Apostate Weenie?

by Farkel in

jw
friends

you count 10 hours per month but havn't even mentioned your beliefs to a non-dub in years.. you underline your study articles at random and write fake notes in the margins.. you smoke joints to get through meetings, field service and assemblies.. you're secretly banging an elder's wife.. you stuff monopoly money in the contribution box.. you keep your eyes open during prayer and giggle.. when everyone else says "amen" at the end of a prayer, you whisper "what bullshit.".

you have a copy of crisis of conscience in a box buried in your back yard.. you play with an ouija board and watch smurf cartoons when no one is around.. you think "thriller" was the great music video ever made.. you read comic books in the kingdom hall bathroom during meetings.

when questioned about your long time spent in the bathroom, you whisper "i'm constipated.

CyrusThePersian

You put all your porn video in Watchtower video jackets.

Darn!! I wish I had thought of that! No one would have ever thought to look there!

CyrusThePersian

33

So, my mother is coming over today because evidently my "thinking is not...

by cognac in

jw
friends

the norm"... .

anyways, i write this on a laptop during the wt, lol.. ps.

while also sipping coffee (i'm sitting out back) lol.

CyrusThePersian

To simply say I don't believe it. There's no debate.

Very nicely put.

I like that.

CyrusThePersian

33

So, my mother is coming over today because evidently my "thinking is not...

by cognac in

jw
friends

the norm"... .

anyways, i write this on a laptop during the wt, lol.. ps.

while also sipping coffee (i'm sitting out back) lol.

CyrusThePersian

The whole argument was that I didn't believe that 5 or 6 billion people are going to die at Armagheddon... My thinking was not "normal"...

Tell that to a psychiatrist, see who he thinks is normal!

According to my dictionary, normal means: "conforming to the standard or the common type, regular, usual, or natural"

I would say that hoping for the deaths of billions of your fellow humans is neither normal or natural

CyrusThePersian

15

SO did you buy your Girl Scout cookies...

by zeroday in

jw
friends

i'm sitting here enjoying a box of samoas...that's right i don't just eat one i eat the entire box...

CyrusThePersian

I bought a couple of boxes of the Trefoil shortbread biscuits from some Girl Scouts who set up a stand in front of the supermarket..

Yummm...

CyrusThePersian

33

So, my mother is coming over today because evidently my "thinking is not...

by cognac in

jw
friends

the norm"... .

anyways, i write this on a laptop during the wt, lol.. ps.

while also sipping coffee (i'm sitting out back) lol.

CyrusThePersian

What is "the norm" anyway?

Most of the 6.6 billion people who live outside the Kingdom Hall believe that their thinking is just fine, thank you!

CyrusThePersian