Posts by Steve Lowry

Admittedly, this thread is for believers. Is there a prayer that when you pray it, you feel that it gets answered faithfully? For example, maybe when you?re afraid you pray for courage and you?re given it. Or maybe it?s something else. It doesn?t have to be very deep. Even at the age of forty-eight, I still have some very scary and or depressing dreams. It may very well be the result of being raised a JW, especially concerning the scary ones. Anyway, when I have had a few bad nights in a row, just before I go to sleep I ask God the following:

"Lord, I pray for a restful and peaceful night?s sleep. I can?t help about what I dream, so please grant me pleasant dreams tonight."

Now, it may sound silly to you, but practically without fail, when I pray this prayer, it is honored. I have seen this happen so many times in my life that I try to remember to pray this prayer every night now. I forget for a time to pray the prayer and then I am reminded to ask again. And faithfully He honors my request. Believe it or not, this is one major way that I know God loves me. It?s a little thing but it tells me a lot about His love for me.

Is there something like this in your life?

89

Your story in 3 sentences or less.......

by ApagaLaLuz in

jw
friends

hey!

shotguns post got me thinking.

post your story is 3 sentences or less, if possible.

Steve Lowry

I once was not.

I now am.

I will again not be.

25

So..... you're going to heaven?

by Puternut in

jw
friends

now that you're out of the borg.

what do you believe that your future holds?

are you going to heaven / hell?

Steve Lowry

Approaching the age of fifty, this is something, which is more and more on my mind. Sometimes I think for everything there is a beginning and an end, and maybe so for us as well. I believe God exists and it?s a nice thought that he would make provisions for us to experience self-awareness forever. (I think so therefore I am.) But what if this life and its self-awareness are His gift to us and when this life is over, that?s all there is for us? I wonder if this were true how many people would still be able to love God. I think I still could. What a great gift even for a short time.

I sometimes think that since my brain contains all that is who I am, that if there were self-awareness after this life, would I even be me anymore without my memories of who I was? How could I remember who I was without my brain? In this case, even if my "soul" or "spirit" were to continue, the thing that makes up who I am now, would die anyway.

Seems to me like its one of four possibilities. Death is at it looks, nothingness. Or, there is an afterlife where we can go and be with God. Or, maybe our "spirit" gets reabsorbed somehow into the Universe and there either is or there is not self-awareness. Or maybe it is something we have absolutely no idea or concept about what it will be. (I simply cannot accept the idea of a place of an eternal hell as the bible explains it, although I guess that would be another possibility.)

I like to think that considering how vast the Universe is and how incredible it is, that God has plans on allowing us to go and explore it. It would be nice to be able to travel at the speed of thought to witness a Super-Nova, or the birth of a new star or galaxy.

I have prayed for Him to allow me to see, if even in a dream what lies ahead after this life. But to date, He hasn?t revealed even the smallest clue to me. I think maybe He likes to keep this one a secret.

35

You cannot UNSAY a cruel word

by simplesally in

jw
friends

it's amazing that people think when they are hurting or angry, that they can say anything they want.

and then the next day or week, they can say to you: oh i was just mad.

i was just venting.

Steve Lowry

I?m reminded of a story I once heard:

A little boy had driven a bunch of nails into the backyard fence. When the father got home, he was very angry to see his fence with a bunch of nails in it. He chastised the boy. So, the boy removed all the nails and told his father he had undone the wrong. The father told his son that while he appreciated him removing the nails, now there were a bunch of holes in the fence where the nails had once been.

Moral of the story is; You can remove the nails (the hurtful things you say by apologizing) but in the place of the nails remain the wholes (the hurt feelings you caused).

53

Bad Stuff you did in High School

by Nosferatu in

jw
friends

for those of you who weren't good jws, or weren't raised in the troof, what kind of bad things did you do in high school?.

one thing that i did sticks out in my mind above all the crap i did.

there was this one kid who was marked as the loser.

Steve Lowry

Worse thing I did in high school was to myself. All I did was get stoned (pot, pills, etc.). I missed out on a great opportunity to get an education. I just didn?t realize things like that were important at the time. I wonder what I don't realize today that is important, that tomorrow I will?

12

God & Satan.... My warped reasoning that they're both equally evil...

by Doubtfully Yours in

jw
friends

one for causing bad things to happen, and the other one for allowing it to happen.

any thoughts?!!!.

dy

Steve Lowry

While I believe God exists, sometimes I think that we (man) have made up the devil all on our own just to help rationalize our own "evils", as it were. Maybe there isn?t a whole dark side at all. I dunno.

121

Turn away from these wicked ways!

by Proud Witness in

jw
friends

well as you would have guessed from my name, i am a proud witness and i feel obliged to preach to you about the promises that our wonderful creator, jehovah god, has promised each and every one of us, of any race or background.

i know that you already know what he has told us through his word, but i am curious to wonder why you have chosen to jump off the narrow road which leads to everlasting life.

is it because you have had a bad experience in god's organization?

Steve Lowry

OK, I hate to be an old stick in the mud, but I don't really think its very funny someone posting here pretending to be a JW and stirring up a bunch of strife. I know that personally I have invested many hours into dialogues with people claiming to be JW's only to find out later on it was a hoax. I wish people wouldn't do this kind of thing. The JW religion and the pain it causes people is not a joke to me.

But alas, it?s the Internet. You pays your money and you takes your chances . . .