"Our children do not grow up uneducated I assure you. They get to speak with all kinds of people and listen to all sorts of responses. Our kids are usually very mature for their age because they have a well rounded education, both spiritually and at school."
What schools do they attend and what curriculum are they taught? What religious ideas outside of your own are they exposed to?
Our children by and large attend public schools and are educated in the same way as any other children. Some parents, who have the circumstances, have chosen to home school their children because of the atmosphere at many public schools. When you consider that school occupies most of their waking hours, they absorb a great deal from their peers who may not be the best influence for them. Kids are impressionable and peer pressure is no small influence in their lives.
They also accompany us in our preaching work so they are not shielded from the beliefs of others. The exposure is good for them as it gives them a broad view as to what others believe. It gives us many opportunities for discussion on a lot of topics. Life is our best education.
"They are free to choose whatever education will equip them for life in this system of things, as long as it lasts. Do we concentrate on making lots of money? No, for the simple reason that money cannot buy you life or happiness. (Luke 12:15)
No, money does not buy happiness I agree. But it is necessary in order to survive in this country.
Jehovah's Witnesses are found in every nation on earth, so we come from a vast range of economic backgrounds. We all try to have the same attitude towards material things. You don't have to be rich to be materialistic. Its the "wanting" that can be overpowering and the wanting can sometimes lead to crime or bad decisions.(1 Timothy 6:10)
I remember a quote I heard once....."contentment means wanting what you have, not having what you want".
I think that sums up what the Bible recommends....being content with what you have. Chasing after the never ending stream of "things" that people "must have" is a trap. They end up being a slave to their consumerism.
Their children end up being the victims of their parents' insatiable need for "things". Kids don't need "things" they need parents who are there for them, guiding them intelligently and pointing out the pitfalls.
"If you think being free to think for yourself without God's guidance is a good thing, take a look at today's youth with its drug and alcohol dependence and addiction to violent video games. Isn't that just another sick form of brain washing? Is that really thinking for yourself?"
I agree that commercialism is out of control here but that is nothing too recent. And I don't agree children need a god for guidance. They need educated, intelligent and loving parents who show them the value of being a kind, generous, and responsible human being. I know because I have raised 5 of them and they have all of those qualities and no gods were involved.
There are many good humanitarians in this world who are educated, intelligent and loving.....and we are grateful for them. Its a shame that their combined efforts are not enough to stop the rot that eating away at our children and society in general. If you have raised 5 children successfully, then good for you.....but how many people can actually say that? You are in a small minority.
They still have to deal with the world created by greedy and unscrupulous humans.
"A life blessed by God and a clean conscience have no equal."
Maybe, but it it not a prerequisite or requirement.
We humans are unique in that we have a faculty of conscience that can slap us around if we have done the wrong thing by someone....or even ourselves. Having a clean conscience is a good thing compared to living with regrets and the consequences of actions that seemed right at the time.
I have a clean conscious, always help others when I can, help and care for the environment, try to change what I can politically by serving and remaining informed and involved, love my children and grandchildren and always treat them with love and respect, am peaceful and often happy with my lot in life, desire no material possessions other that what I have and need (except a jet ski).
Well....that is good for you. But the world is not made up of people like you and others with good intentions and motives (not driven by religious consciousness) concerning the planet and their fellow man. We are drowning in the results of other peoples mistakes, deliberate evil actions and greed.
No one seems to be able to stop the rot and the problems just keep escalating. What are the good humanitarians doing outside of their own lives to address the problems that are affecting all mankind? It will take a power greater than man's to fix this mess. The Bible gives us the assurance that this will happen, but only when humans realize that they are completely inept when it comes to ruling themselves. Are we there yet?
Can you please explain to me why I am immoral, wrong headed, sinful, and exactly why I should need a god which I don't believe in? I have previously experienced faith, belief in the God, Jesus and other types of spiritual beliefs and seekings. But I now understand they are just beliefs. And depending on my culture, time, and location, my beliefs will vary and no two are the same.
That is an excellent question. I don't think I ever said that you are immoral or wrong headed....but "sinful" is something we all are. It simply means that we fall short of the perfection with which God first created humans.
It is true that not all humans will seek God, but many will seek the truth and have that inexplicable feeling that life should have meaning beyond mere existence. That our questions about life should have answers. We humans are unique in this and seem to have an inbuilt desire to know why we are here are where we are going? We see death as an enemy and old age as an affront...like it shouldn't happen, and yet that has been our lot since the beginning.
Your experience with 'faith and seeking' was apparently unsuccessful and with good reason. You were barking up the wrong tree.
I have heard it illustrated this way......"how can you hide a 40 ft tree out in the middle of a cleared field?" The answer is, "you can't"....unless you have time up your sleeve. The best way to hide that tree is to plant a forest of similar looking trees all around it and wait for them to grow. As time goes on, and the trees all grow to a height of 40 ft, it will be almost impossible to find the original tree, unless you are aware of its unique features.
That 40ft tree is Christianity, planted by Jesus. In his illustration of the "wheat and the weeds" he tells us that an enemy sowed similar looking plants in the same field as he planted the wheat. The sowers were concerned that the weeds would choke the wheat so they offered to go and pull them out. Jesus said no, lest you accidentally uproot some of the wheat....let them both grow together until the harvest time, then the two will be clearly distinguishable.
We are approaching the harvest time right now. A time when the weeds all look the same, but the wheat are completely different. There is no mistaking them now because they do not resemble one another at all.
Looking in Christendom to find the wheat, your search will be fruitless....they are all just different branded versions of the same false doctrines. In this "time of the end" we have to look for the ones who are different....completely different. But their difference will be a good kind of different to those seeking the truth.
That was my experience. When I heard the Bible's truth and read it for myself in my own Bible, it was like a light bulb moment that made me hungry for more.
What makes you believe your beliefs are the only correct ones?
It is a conviction and it is based on something no one can truly quantify....Faith. When you read the Bible and it opens up possibilities that you have never entertained before, something happens to unlock a capacity for spirituality that you never knew was there. That is how it was for me. But it wasn't just what I read, it was having the guidance of someone who had also had that same experience. This is the whole foundation of Christianity.....Christians spawn other Christians by sharing their knowledge and experience. I am now able to share mine.
What exactly does adding God to your life do for you that you don't feel capable of doing yourself?
It gives my life meaning and purpose. It helps me to focus on the future with confidence instead of despair in the present circumstances, because I know why this life is so hard and fraught with so many problems.
I can look beyond the present and see a bright future for myself and my family on into eternity, because that is how long my heart wants to live. Who of us with a reasonable level of health wants to die and leave our loved ones? Who wants to lose a loved one in death due to accident or disease? Death is so final and we who have lost our nearest and dearest still grieve for them no matter how much time has gone by. I now understand why we have those feelings, and how they fit into the big picture.
And do you believe out of the hundreds of thousands of religions and belief systems that have come and gone, you have the only correct one? If so, why not the others?
I have looked at all the fake trees that Jesus said were planted by the devil and found them devoid of what the original tree had as its 'fertilizer'....truth. There is something inside us humans that "knows" when something rings true. (John 8:32)
Its like someone gave me the box that all the jig saw pieces came in and I can see in the picture where all the pieces fit.
That is the best way I can describe it. I look at the whole Bible as one work (one box with all the pieces) and I can now see why everything happened the way it did, and what we can draw from it.
But most importantly for me, was the way it describes the future.....if you look at what man sees as the future for this planet, I'm afraid that he is sorely deficient in providing the means to bring about any change for the better. We are drowning in our own waste, poisoning our environment and suffocating the planet itself.....killing its ability to sustain life. What will man come up with to remedy this situation? He is at present very short on answers. Are you confident in his ability to do anything but talk about the problems? Some good humanitarians are trying their best to address some of the more distressing problems but they are overwhelmed by the magnitude of it. Are you?
