by BonaFide 85 Replies latest jw friends
i find it especially liberating
to live in the here and now,
finding all manner of pursuits
that, in my reasoning, serve
a greater good... for its own sake,
not some epic legendary "after-life*"
if there is one*, that is one time
i would welcome being in error
If Death was without consequence just "lights out" I never understood the difference between JWism and Atheism. I was raised in my an Elder as well. I am now a born again Christian. I figured as a kid, get away with whatever crap I could. I had nothing to lose...well except making it into the new system with no nuts. Read my previous post on this thread if you don't understand.
**HOLY CRAP*** FORGOT ALL ABOUT THE WRITTEN REVIEW** LOOK BELOW... YOU KNOW IN THE NEW SYSTEM, YOU'D GET THE IRON MAIDEN FOR FAILING!!!!
Paradise Erf sounded really boring to me. Jehovah would destroy all the cool stuff, mainly great music and video games. All we'd have left is Kingdom Melodies and the occasional written review.
Tuesday, thanks for the encouragement. I am in school right now, vocational school, so that's something.
BF
Nope. I don't miss it at all.
It was never reality. It was a stupid dream, living forever cleaning up crap and gardening. With those self-riteous idiots to boot.
No way. I'd rather be dead, hands down.
Scrapmama
The problem with your view is that you imagine God needs a slave to allow them a resurrection. Christ died for all and gave way for all those believing in him to be saved. Sure, the bible teaches of living a decent life but there is a huge difference between living a moral good life and a controlled life that is taught by governing body. Sure the bible speaks of earth being inhabited by the meek and Christ spoke of heaven but where is there clear scriptures pointing who will go where? Religious explanations of what future awaits are doctrines made by a group of people who came up with a theory and teach it as if God said so. When a bible is vague on something maybe it's better to leave it as such and not to create a dogma that needs to be believed no matter what. You can create your own understanding from what you learn in the bible without being totally dependant on strangers telling you what you must believe especially when the bible isn't clear on a topic.
When you think about it, paradise taught by Watch Tower is a delusion of reality. From their doctrine it would appear that everyone will have a beautiful home and a garden and will cultivate the earth to make it park like. But when you stop and think about it - you will realize that unless God does all the work for you, you will never accomplish such a dream. God didn't put man on earth to be robots. If there is going to be a new world on Earth during and after Christ's 1000 year reign then it will be much similar to the one we have today. My speculation is that the difference would be how people would view their work, instead of working for a certain master, they would work together to help their society. Meaning there would be garbage man, miners and all the other jobs you may not like in this system. The difference is how the manpower is utilized and those that don't contribute as much or don't push themselves more obviously wouldn't have as much as someone else who may extend themselves. Similarly to our day. Freedom from Watch Tower's mind control gives you much to think about without being limited to governing body's personal ideas.
peace
I would rather know what the future holds, in reality, rather than pretend something that is a lie. And, as I see it, there are two distinct possibilities.
The first is that the Washtowel Slaveholdery will get what it really wants--control of the whole world. If that happens, forget the paradise. You will be toiling for a Lord, and everything you do will be what they tell you to. Knowledge beyond what they tell you is forbidden, and will ultimately get you stoned to death. This will be permanent--a second Renaissance is impossible if they have the technology to enforce it everywhere, and exterminate anyone that starts another religion or that breaks away altogether (remember, the original renaissance was started by apostates).
The other is that a group of free thinkers will finally establish a government that precludes initiating force and fraud against people. Let that happen, and the markets become truly free. If one company (like Monsanto) dogs producing better products, another will finish the job and put the first company out of business in short order. You see drug companies having to stop dogging a cure for diseases (or go belly up when someone markets a cure for cancer from a garage). Gradually, mankind learns how things really work, and companies that are wasting time and money trying to milk it and stop further development go belly up as their competition aggressively works on answers. The end product is a man-made paradise earth, and Jehovah can do nothing but watch and throw His temper tantrums as people succeed without Him (and He doesn't get so much as a word of praise).
You should live your life and try to make the world a better place for your being in it, whether or not you believe in god. If there is no god, you have lost nothing and will be remembered fondly by those you left behind. If there is a benevolent god, he will judge you on your merits and not just on whether or not you believed in him.
Often called the "Atheist's Wager" a spin-off of Pascal's wager. Whatever you call it, I like it.
om
If I was not a Witness, I would not believe in anything else. That is sad to me.....
That's what I used to think. But what I found is, you think what you think. I walked away from the Watchtower five years ago with a Cold Turkey Fade. I still believe in God, still think there must be something good to look forward to after death, I just realize now that the details are not revealed - are not meant to be known - while we are alive. It's just all speculation. So your fantasy is as good as another's if it works for you.
In the end, it's not what you think that matters, it's what your thoughts propel you to do in terms of behavior. I am a better person now than when I was a JW because my core beliefs are reduced to what I really believe, not what I'm supposed to.
You know, BonaFide, I don't think I ever went through this "stage" of mourning the loss of the Paradise Earth vision.
I guess being stuck forever in an Eden full of nothing but Witnesses (who never really understood me) never sounded like a great deal. I couldn't imagine life there without my family members who were not Witnesses, I knew their hearts were just as deserving (if not more so.)
