JW beliefs run deep.
The whole thing is an argument,
which provides its own answers.
The thought that a book can bring you close to God.
All the endless scriptures recited, one after the other.
Prophets. God uses prophets instead of talking to us personally?
We see how this has failed.
Prophets are too little, too late.
Instead of practicing miracles, the JW leaders practice argument.
Their bible proves to them that they are God’s people.
Their bible is all the miracle they could want.
What if the bible and the preachers bring you farther away from God?
Closer to sophisticated trappings of doctrine.
What if you already had God. Inside of you.
Without need for you to be made clean.
WIthout need for a holy book to read.
Fully and completely.
There are always excuses as to why God doesn’t get up and do something.
God is with the strongest army.
Only the living can talk shit about the afterlife.
The dead can’t talk shit about it.
What if God’s gifts cannot be earned?
What if we all have them irrespectively?
Vanity. Self deception.
I’ve wasted so many years of my life on crap.
God isn’t all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, etc.
This has become obvious to me.
It is one of the scars i can remember.
They need to be purchased with cash. That’s what Christmas is all about, spending cash on a gift for everyone you know. It’s about making the rich richer…every year. Without Christmas the economy would colapse. It’s all about the cash. Trillions and trillions of DOLLARS!
PS Don’t forget to drop 10% in the basket at church.
Most people have the imagination of an unmarked manilla folder.
Religion is just a way to make intelligence mainstream.
Your disillusionment sounds like it has nothing to do with Judaism, and everything to do with having believed God was pure love or some soft, incoherent thing like that. The words “love,” “all-knowing” and “all-powerful” appear nowhere in the Old Testament or any Hebrew text or tradition.
Don’t blame your problems on people you know nothing about.
Having said this, turning inward to look for God sounds like a promising venture, if done with an honest eye. What is God? What would you be looking for?
This is incorrect. If you check the records, you will find that Luther was a big A#1 fan of the bible, specially the New Testament. His whole beef with the Church was that it was not loyal enough to the book. That the Church itself wrote. Luther wasn’t terribly bright.
The whole OT is record & foreshadowing of his demonstration of enduring love in time…all of which he created and sustains (including our choices) complete as Original. Pretty powerful. With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm his love endures forever. Just a little sampler for ya.
Christianity’s most sacred virtue is agape love, that is, unconditional, sacrificing love. Jehovah Witness is exactly the opposite of this. They control their members, force them to read only material they agree with, and their love is extremely conditional, only if you agree with everything and anything the religion teaches. Many of the teachings of the modern Jehovah Witness religion is actually very anti-Christian according to most Christians.
Since there is no objective way of measuring how much you can love someone like Jesus, Christians have no real tangible way of telling other Christians that their denomination is the most Christian - besides what their church teaches about the subject. JW is unitarian in nature and doesn’t believe Jesus is God and is considered heretical by most other Christian groups, especially because Jesus isn’t enough to be a good JW.
Regardless if you are Christian or not, most people see JW as a type of modern cult - especially those who used to be in the religion. I am so glad you were able to let go of their control and retain your autonomy, Dan, because if you didn’t most likely we wouldn’t even be friends. You say very wise things and they come from the heart and not a book. I’m proud of you, and I’m glad to be your friend. Keep up the good work.
We DO have them regardless of what we do with them. They are freely given - each his own particular ones. If we would care to not waste them and to be grateful for them, we would use them for the good of mankind. He gave us free will to make them count or to waste them.
The gifts which you yourself give to others, Dan, do you expect others to earn the gifts you give?
That would not make them gifts but bribes.
Yes, but I think that the Kingdom is ALSO meant to be ubiquitous - otherwise we would greedily be holding it for ourselves alone and not wanting to share God’s kingdom with others.
When I give gift, it’s usually food oriented, and i don’t think you can really earn that kind of thing.
I just give them a tupper ware full of nomz. I am happy if they enjoy or appreciate the gifts,
but if they don’t like it im not offended. It’s a learning experience. Learning what people like.
The Kingdom Within does not produce envy or selfishness; it radiates to all who will open their eyes to see it. It is a gift that only requires giving in return. As a Whole it is not divided by mental considerations. Having it cannot cause jealousy since it is a gift for everyone, freely given out of unconditional Love.
“Unconditional love” is quite the word.
But what happens when people start using love as a weapon,
or as a way to get money ?
Having the option of waste or appreciation, does not equate to free will.
My mom said i have free will, then she goes on to say how i can choose
to do right or wrong. But her saying that, doesn’t really equate to full
and true freedom of will.
We have options.
But our options are limited to what we can do,
and what we know how to do.
You can’t choose something unless you know what it is.
People who use Love as a weapon or to gain money, know nothing about Love.
See Corinthians 13.
Right and wrong as taught by parental discipline are human specifications, not divine. I agree about free will on that level. Pascal’s wager is a prime example of a choice that does not free will, but coercion. No sane person would opt for ECT given those options. For will to be free the choice cannot be between either or, but must include other options. Pacal saw no other way but the two options he chose to give us.
Is there a third alternative? How about a million shades of gray between black and white ? Between right and wrong?
