Seeking Jesus

For some of us who leave the b.org, we realize that the Society wasn't telling us the truth about who Jesus is. That's in a sense okay, since Jesus' own disciples didn't really know either -- when he asked them, they gave all sorts of different answers. I don't think the Bible gives a single answer as well. Jesus is many things to different people. But from your point of view, was the WT teaching of Jesus a handicap or a help in your subsequent seeking (and finding) of Jesus?

Let me give you some food for thought. Plato once memorably said: "A man cannot search for what he knows, for since he knows it, there is no need to search for it. And he cannot search for what he does not know -- because he does not know what to look for." What that means is that no one can search for what is totally present or totally absent. Only with partial knowledge, imperfect knowledge, faulty knowledge, is such a seeking possible. The Jesus of the Bible is seekable because he is not fully revealed or understood, and one cannot seek him without some sort of knowledge -- however faulty -- to start with. The problem, I think, is the process of seeking. Are we really seeking or only wishing to validate our original (faulty) assumptions?

After all, maybe what we should be seeking is not Jesus himself but what he represents. I personally feel that what matters most about seeking Jesus is finding the Kingdom he preached about -- which lay not in a distant future "government," or an ecclesiastical system, but in the very real presence of God in acts of justice and charity. It is just this message that organized religions (not the least the JWs) have lost entirely. That's what I want to seek -- for me, the real Jesus is the message of humility, love, and justice that he taught and he embodied this message with the very way he lived his life. Jesus' revolutionary message is that God is not isolated, distant from humanity, living in "third heaven" or the "Pleiades" or whatever, but that he can be in you and rule your heart by the way you live your life. That's what Jesus means to me, and that is the kind of kingdom I want to seek in my quest to be a better person and live a better, more charitable life.

Anyway, I don't think I would've gotten this far had I not been introduced to Jesus, however garbled, by the WTS. It is a false Jesus, in my opinion, but had I otherwise lived a completely secular life -- I don't think I would've found such a wonderful compass toward "character development" than I find in Jesus. I doubt I would've been so interested in the Bible had I not known the JWs. So was Plato right? I'm not so sure. In my case, I found a kernal, a mustard seed, of the kingdom in the leaven provided by the Society. But many more only find the leaven, the destructive spirit, the abuse of authority and lack of love, and understandably have been left embittered by the experience and want to have nothing more with seeking the "truth" or seeking God, the kingdom, or Jesus. On balance, it may be that the half-knowledge thought by Plato to necessitate the quest may for more people sabotage the "seeking" before it can even start. And that's a sad thought.

Leolaia

I enjoyed reading what you wrote... I have found Jesus. !!! He taught me that I must above all LOVE!!!! what ever color,race,religion,etc:etc:etc: I am still on the learning stage as I believe when I was born-again Oct 20th 1989...( I am now  14 year old in that stage 76 in the flesh... ) so I became as a child again starting from scratch...Yes the WT introduced me to the Bible -but screwed my mind so much that I didnt want to KNOW him. Until I met another JW ( MANY)that led me to read it ( scripture) with out anyone else interpretation...I am happy with what I found.... Keep on keeping on .....He is to be found!!!!!!

Leolaia,

The thread initiated (?) by Plato is still running in contemporary cognitive and learning theory. Just as a one link in the chain, Blaise Pascal's Christ says to him in the well-known "Memorial": "You wouldn't seek me if you hadn't first found me."

When I was a JW, I was already very sensitive to the figure of Jesus as it appears in the Gospels. I became a pioneer in the late 70's, when (under the influence of people such as Ray Franz) the emphasis in the WT publications was displaced from JW's specific doctrines to the basic teachings common to Christianity. When I drifted away, in the 80's, I was all the more fascinated by the character of Jesus. This gave ME the strength to undergo the big human loss that is almost everyone's share on this board. Later I came to understand, through Biblical criticism, what this Jesus character was made of. Eventually I gave up monotheism, but I still hold the Gospels' Jesus (or Jesuses?) as very important to me. I still have some "faith", and I know it can't be related to any historical character, but it is certainly linked somehow to the "textual texture" of scripture in the broadest sense. And, yes, strange as it may be, it all originated in my family JW venture. Without that I could have never read the Bible or got interested in religion, and turned a very different person. Would it have been better or worse? Never mind. Being is becoming.

And he cannot search for what he does not know -- because he does not know what to look for

Does someone need external suggestions to begin to seek something - I don't think so - surely a sense or a desire is enough to begin to question and seek.

But even if one needs to have heard 'something', the world of jwism surely isn't necessary - look around outside at the party lights - it's nearly Jesus' birthday - or the dates now used around the earth (AD after the death of Christ) - His existence really isn't some kind of secret.

Happy Birthday Jesus.

paduan

Can U tell Him Id really like to talk to him plz...fanks

Maybe if you pray for me mouthy he might listen ...coz He isnt listening to me

Both.

From a biblical perspective.....The witnesses taught me many things about Jesus.....such as his relationship to the father, as opposed the orthodox christian teaching.

What they did not teach, was what the N.T. message was.

 The message was it was "Christ"...not his kingdom or anything else, ........that would give us life. It was belief and faith in him as god's deliverer, that would grant ones eternal life. When a person had fully accepted christ and became one with him in spirit, they were his for eternity. The witnesses did not teach this. They taught that " faithful obedience"  was the way to life,  and it was a "maybe" of attaining it.

Why are their conflicting ideas with the witnesses and orthodox christianity? For the same reason there are conflicting ideas "within" christianity. There are conflicting ideas because of the bible itself. If the bible was written as "clearly" as say, a FORD TRUCK manuel (repair book)....there would not be thousands of various christian religious beliefs. If god had truely inspired the bible.......he would have written it much more clearly than even a truck manuel which at least people can agree upon.

Gumby

Can U tell Him Id really like to talk to him plz...fanks ( sens)

 

Well darling I will tell you what I told Jesus...." Please Lord Jesus ,my friend  sens!( who I have never seen ,just like I have never seen you either) Would like to ask you to come into his life & be HIS friend -just as you are MINE.... We know we make many mistakes -but you told us you threw them all into the Lake of Forgetfulness & posted a sign NO FISHING!! After we all left wrong teaching- many of us turned on YOU & Your Father -we were told (as you know )the HOLY SPIRIT was only a battery- I know LORD that is wrong teaching now- you warned us about the wolf in sheeps clothing-but we thought we knew better... Please come into the heart of sens -let him know your there - your requirement is just to ask, you have been knocking on OUR door for ever ---while we were out knocking on every one elses door telling them all> WE were the TRUTH! we had the WAY! only LIFE could be had through US-forgive us LORD for being presumptious ....I ask the Holy Spirit teach sens.I ask all this in the NAME ABOVE ALL OTHERS JESUS CHRIST AMEN!

LOL!!! ((((((Grace)))))) ummmmmm Im a 'She'

Thats sweet though ty

Oh so beautifully written. I concur with your thoughts. After JW's I was conflicted and didn't know what to believe, and I basically did nothing but suppress any inclination to search.  I was sick at heart and it took a long time to heal.

Within recent years, after much study and research in a variety of areas, including the works of dear Plato, I conclude that what is most important is what the great teacher Jesus brought to mankind.  He brought a new vision, a new teaching, a new concept.  Most everyone misunderstood his message, including his own followers.  But, one thing that he taught was love and compassion, and the great message is that with these qualities, given and received, mankind has the capability to heal itself.

Mankind has made it all so complex when it need not be. They have mixed religion into acceptability before god, and made "belief systems" their truth. There are so many "stories" out there.  If you are quiet and listen to your heart, and draw yourself toward the good, you will feel a joy and peace about living this life.  There will be no place you need to go, no special prayer said at a certain time in a certain place in a certain way. When you "let go" of trying so hard to conform what everyone else around you is welded into, is when answers seem to come.  We have the freedom now to find our answers and it is an individual journey.

I like the way you think.

/<

 

sens HE knows that!!! ."In Christ there is no male or female" we are all the same in his eyes. He dont bother about "down there" he looks at the heart /. Sorry I goofed though -but I am human He is Divine  lol

Sentenial ....Nicely put!!

I believe in another. You people are wrong, and I'll scientifically prove why.

THere is no way in hell that anyone ran around in a fig leaf talking to the cow he was about to slaughter 80 billion years before a dinosaur stepped foot on the planet. Sorry to be a party pooper :(

Hey ass

Wellcome to earth.  Are you just visiting earth, or do you plan to stay?

SS

Assnuts -you well named yourself!!!!! glad you popped in >If I had known you were coming I'd have baked a cake -But heres one anyway !!!!Since i guess youve "had a few" just sending ONE beer. PRAY!!!!BROTHER

((mouthy)) is cool....

Assnuts....self portrait?

do you know, i've been thinking..... and i've realised i really am a truely great guy!!!   arent i great?!!!!  :P

but sens, we'll have a chat about this soon, ok? ;)

FROM ONE GAL TO ANOTHER ( EVEN THOUGH I AM AN OLD ONE) THANKS SENS!!!!I like people calling me cool!!!((((hug))They used to call us hot in our day.....Terms change eh!!!

OMG I Mean OMG....PD....LMAO @ U...Your EGO is About to pop 

There was this ad on tv....by chanel...it was an ad for Le' Egotiste' the aftershave....omg that reminds me of u

Just remember what happend to the man who loved himself 2 much...his pickle fell off.

lmao mouthy dont act shocked we all know they do 'it'