Am I Ready?

[Timl1980]

I've been listening to the news, just like you. 

 

I've been trying to keep my mind calm and my heart steady, just like you. 

 

My heart is telling me that something has to give, that the world cannot continue to go on like this much longer; again...just like you.

 

I won't go into specifics, those are being well covered my brothers and sisters on other threads in this forum. 

 

Instead of focusing on what ifs and if onlys...I am going to ask myself one simple question...and hopefully, by the end of this post...I will answer it in a way that is satisfactory not only to me...but also to my disgusting treacherous heart.

 

Please join me as I take a deep dive into my own thinking...into the depths of a subject that scares me to utter out loud:

 

Am I Ready?

 

Friends, my heart can be as loud and accusatory as it wants...but it is simply NOT the final judge.

 

At 3 a.m., when my body starts to awaken, to prepare for the day ahead, my heart starts beating me mercilessly...it starts presenting a case against me the same way a prosecutor does against a defendant.

 

It pulls out evidence I thought was buried: that sin from ten years ago, those harsh words I said last week, my prayers that sometimes feel like pretense rather than my heartfelt dialogue. My heart whispers, then starts screaming at me: Unworthy. Fake. Too broken for God to love or even WANT.

 

I've been there too many times.

 

And when I read "God is greater than our hearts" (1 John 3:20) from our watchtower study this week, I nod politely, my brain registers the words...but the accusation still burns inside me.

 

Then I stop...regather my thoughts...tell Jehovah I love him... I'm sorry for being such a poor example of one of his servants...and then I re-group.

 

After some prayerful study and meditation on that verse...here's what I was missing: in Greek, "greater" (meizōn) carries judicial authority.

 

What does that MEAN though?

 

It means Jehovah is stronger than my self-condemnation...it means that his verdict outranks whatever terrible things I may believe about myself.

 

My heart might be a relentless prosecutor, building cases against me, presenting evidence, demanding judgment. But Jehovah? He's the Supreme Court. And he's already ruled on my case, provided I simply do my best to remain faithful!

 

Here's another overlooked detail that changed everything for me after I meditated on this scripture: the verse says God "knows all things."

 

Man, that used to terrify me.

 

I thought it meant he had a magnifying glass on every failure, every secret shame of mine.

 

But I'm finally figuring out how to flip how I view those words: because he knows everything, his mercy is precise, not generic.

 

A surgeon who can see exactly where I'm wounded doesn't make random cuts...he heals specifically.

 

Jehovah's complete knowledge means his care fits my exact wound, my specific fear, my particular shame. He knows why I struggle with what I struggle with. He knows what happened to me. He knows what I've never told anyone.

 

And still, he drew me. 

 

How profound is that? He drew me when I was covered from head to toe in the disgusting mud of this system...he drew me when nearly every other word out of my mouth was some sort of filth or curse word...he drew me when my heart was filled with hate and rage and anger...but he ALSO saw that it was filled with sadness and fear and loneliness and loss and a pathetic person who was hiding in a corner of his brain...shivering and cold...lost and alone.

 

My mediations on this article have dragged me through the past, anchored me in the present and helped me to calm my fears for tomorrow.

 

Want to know the most hidden truth I discovered after really holding my feet to the fire?

 

When Jehovah drew me (John 6:44), he wasn't responding to my achievements. He wasn't waiting for me to clean up first.

 

He saw what Acts 13:48 calls a "rightly disposed heart"...not a perfect heart, not a pure heart, just one that leaned, however faintly, toward him.

 

I thought of a parent scanning a massive crowd of strangers at a train station. Everyone else sees chaos, a blur of faces, noise, confusion.

 

But that parent?

 

They spot their child instantly...not because the child is the tallest or cleanest or best-behaved, but by something indefinable that says mine. That recognition cuts through everything else...they KNOW their child.

 

That's how Jehovah found me. In a world of billions, through all my mistakes and masks and mess, he saw that faint lean of my heart...maybe just a whispered prayer, maybe just a longing for something better, maybe just tears I couldn't explain...and he said,

 

"That one. That one right there...that one is MINE!"

 

My heart still says I'm disqualified.

 

It rehearses my failures on repeat.

 

It magnifies that gap between who I am and who I think I should be.

 

But here's what my heart doesn't know: Jehovah isn't measuring the gap. He's watching the lean. He's not cataloging my falls; he's counting every time I get back up.

 

So when my heart screams "guilty," I'm learning to remember: I'm not a defendant awaiting verdict.

 

The verdict is already in.

 

As long as I do my best...I'm family.

 

Jehovah didn't just forgive me...he treasures me.

 

He doesn't judge my worst moment; he watches my trajectory.

 

And that faint lean of my heart that started me towards toward him?

 

That tiny, barely-there inclination?

 

That's all he needed to move heaven and earth to draw me home.

 

Satan...you are a LIAR:I am not too broken. I am not too stained. I am not too far gone.

 

I am seen, known, drawn, and treasured by the God who is greater than my heart.

 

So am I ready?

 

Maybe the better question is: Does Jehovah think I'm ready?

 

And if he's still drawing me, still working with me, still calling me "Mine"...then I'll keep leaning toward him, one day at a time.

 

Tonight, I'm going to name one small way I leaned toward Jehovah today.

 

A prayer, a kind act, a moment of resistance to wrong.

 

And I'll keep that list.

 

Why?

 

Because it's evidence of what he saw in me all along.

 

 

*Thank you for allowing me to share, and for following me on this little journey into my thinking and down into my heart. Hopefully this will help someone...touch someone...because I know I can't be the only one feeling this way.

Edited Thursday at 12:47 PM by Timl1980

[Dolce vita]

41 minutes ago, Timl1980 said:

I've been listening to the news, just like you. 

 

I've been trying to keep my mind calm and my heart steady, just like you. 

 

My heart is telling me that something has to give, that the world cannot continue to go on like this much longer; again...just like you.

 

I won't go into specifics, those are being well covered my brothers and sisters on other threads in this forum. 

 

Instead of focusing on what ifs and if onlys...I am going to ask myself one simple question...and hopefully, by the end of this post...I will answer it in a way that is satisfactory not only to me...but also to my disgusting treacherous heart.

 

Please join me as I take a deep dive into my own thinking...into the depths of a subject that scares me to utter out loud:

 

Am I Ready?

 

Friends, my heart can be as loud and accusatory as it wants...but it is simply NOT the final judge.

 

At 3 a.m., when my body starts to awaken, to prepare for the day ahead, my heart starts beating me mercilessly...it starts presenting a case against me the same way a prosecutor does against a defendant.

 

It pulls out evidence I thought was buried: that sin from ten years ago, those harsh words I said last week, my prayers that sometimes feel like pretense rather than my heartfelt dialogue. My heart whispers, then starts screaming at me: Unworthy. Fake. Too broken for God to love or even WANT.

 

I've been there too many times.

 

And when I read "God is greater than our hearts" (1 John 3:20) from our watchtower study this week, I nod politely, my brain registers the words...but the accusation still burns inside me.

 

Then I stop...regather my thoughts...tell Jehovah I love him... I'm sorry for being such a poor example of one of his servants...and then I re-group.

 

After some prayerful study and meditation on that verse...here's what I was missing: in Greek, "greater" (meizōn) carries judicial authority.

 

What does that MEAN though?

 

It means Jehovah is stronger than my self-condemnation...it means that his verdict outranks whatever terrible things I may believe about myself.

 

My heart might be a relentless prosecutor, building cases against me, presenting evidence, demanding judgment. But Jehovah? He's the Supreme Court. And he's already ruled on my case, provided I simply do my best to remain faithful!

 

Here's another overlooked detail that changed everything for me after I meditated on this scripture: the verse says God "knows all things."

 

Man, that used to terrify me.

 

I thought it meant he had a magnifying glass on every failure, every secret shame of mine.

 

But I'm finally figuring out how to flip how I view those words: because he knows everything, his mercy is precise, not generic.

 

A surgeon who can see exactly where I'm wounded doesn't make random cuts...he heals specifically.

 

Jehovah's complete knowledge means his care fits my exact wound, my specific fear, my particular shame. He knows why I struggle with what I struggle with. He knows what happened to me. He knows what I've never told anyone.

 

And still, he drew me. 

 

How profound is that? He drew me when I was covered from head to toe in the disgusting mud of this system...he drew me when nearly every other word out of my mouth was some sort of filth or curse word...he drew me when my heart was filled with hate and rage and anger...but he ALSO saw that it was filled with sadness and fear and loneliness and loss and a pathetic person who was hiding in a corner of his brain...shivering and cold...lost and alone.

 

My mediations on this article have dragged me through the past, anchored me in the present and helped me to calm my fears for tomorrow.

 

Want to know the most hidden truth I discovered after really holding my feet to the fire?

 

When Jehovah drew me (John 6:44), he wasn't responding to my achievements. He wasn't waiting for me to clean up first.

 

He saw what Acts 13:48 calls a "rightly disposed heart"...not a perfect heart, not a pure heart, just one that leaned, however faintly, toward him.

 

I thought of a parent scanning a massive crowd of strangers at a train station. Everyone else sees chaos, a blur of faces, noise, confusion.

 

But that parent?

 

They spot their child instantly...not because the child is the tallest or cleanest or best-behaved, but by something indefinable that says mine. That recognition cuts through everything else...they KNOW their child.

 

That's how Jehovah found me. In a world of billions, through all my mistakes and masks and mess, he saw that faint lean of my heart...maybe just a whispered prayer, maybe just a longing for something better, maybe just tears I couldn't explain...and he said,

 

"That one. That one right there...that one is MINE!"

 

My heart still says I'm disqualified.

 

It rehearses my failures on repeat.

 

It magnifies that gap between who I am and who I think I should be.

 

But here's what my heart doesn't know: Jehovah isn't measuring the gap. He's watching the lean. He's not cataloging my falls; he's counting every time I get back up.

 

So when my heart screams "guilty," I'm learning to remember: I'm not a defendant awaiting verdict.

 

The verdict is already in.

 

As long as I do my best...I'm family.

 

Jehovah didn't just forgive me...he treasures me.

 

He doesn't judge my worst moment; he watches my trajectory.

 

And that faint lean of my heart that started me towards toward him?

 

That tiny, barely-there inclination?

 

That's all he needed to move heaven and earth to draw me home.

 

Satan...you are a LIAR:I am not too broken. I am not too stained. I am not too far gone.

 

I am seen, known, drawn, and treasured by the God who is greater than my heart.

 

So am I ready?

 

Maybe the better question is: Does Jehovah think I'm ready?

 

And if he's still drawing me, still working with me, still calling me "Mine"...then I'll keep leaning toward him, one day at a time.

 

Tonight, I'm going to name one small way I leaned toward Jehovah today.

 

A prayer, a kind act, a moment of resistance to wrong.

 

And I'll keep that list.

 

Why?

 

Because it's evidence of what he saw in me all along.

 

 

*Thank you for allowing me to share, and for following me on this little journey into my thinking and down into my heart. Hopefully this will help someone...touch someone...because I know I can't be the only one feeling this way.

Beautiful, @Timl1980. 

[Mike047]

You certainly have a way of putting things that are sensitive to many of us, Tim.

[Osprey]

2 hours ago, Timl1980 said:

I've been listening to the news, just like you. 

 

I've been trying to keep my mind calm and my heart steady, just like you. 

 

My heart is telling me that something has to give, that the world cannot continue to go on like this much longer; again...just like you.

 

I won't go into specifics, those are being well covered my brothers and sisters on other threads in this forum. 

 

Instead of focusing on what ifs and if onlys...I am going to ask myself one simple question...and hopefully, by the end of this post...I will answer it in a way that is satisfactory not only to me...but also to my disgusting treacherous heart.

 

Please join me as I take a deep dive into my own thinking...into the depths of a subject that scares me to utter out loud:

 

Am I Ready?

 

Friends, my heart can be as loud and accusatory as it wants...but it is simply NOT the final judge.

 

At 3 a.m., when my body starts to awaken, to prepare for the day ahead, my heart starts beating me mercilessly...it starts presenting a case against me the same way a prosecutor does against a defendant.

 

It pulls out evidence I thought was buried: that sin from ten years ago, those harsh words I said last week, my prayers that sometimes feel like pretense rather than my heartfelt dialogue. My heart whispers, then starts screaming at me: Unworthy. Fake. Too broken for God to love or even WANT.

 

I've been there too many times.

 

And when I read "God is greater than our hearts" (1 John 3:20) from our watchtower study this week, I nod politely, my brain registers the words...but the accusation still burns inside me.

 

Then I stop...regather my thoughts...tell Jehovah I love him... I'm sorry for being such a poor example of one of his servants...and then I re-group.

 

After some prayerful study and meditation on that verse...here's what I was missing: in Greek, "greater" (meizōn) carries judicial authority.

 

What does that MEAN though?

 

It means Jehovah is stronger than my self-condemnation...it means that his verdict outranks whatever terrible things I may believe about myself.

 

My heart might be a relentless prosecutor, building cases against me, presenting evidence, demanding judgment. But Jehovah? He's the Supreme Court. And he's already ruled on my case, provided I simply do my best to remain faithful!

 

Here's another overlooked detail that changed everything for me after I meditated on this scripture: the verse says God "knows all things."

 

Man, that used to terrify me.

 

I thought it meant he had a magnifying glass on every failure, every secret shame of mine.

 

But I'm finally figuring out how to flip how I view those words: because he knows everything, his mercy is precise, not generic.

 

A surgeon who can see exactly where I'm wounded doesn't make random cuts...he heals specifically.

 

Jehovah's complete knowledge means his care fits my exact wound, my specific fear, my particular shame. He knows why I struggle with what I struggle with. He knows what happened to me. He knows what I've never told anyone.

 

And still, he drew me. 

 

How profound is that? He drew me when I was covered from head to toe in the disgusting mud of this system...he drew me when nearly every other word out of my mouth was some sort of filth or curse word...he drew me when my heart was filled with hate and rage and anger...but he ALSO saw that it was filled with sadness and fear and loneliness and loss and a pathetic person who was hiding in a corner of his brain...shivering and cold...lost and alone.

 

My mediations on this article have dragged me through the past, anchored me in the present and helped me to calm my fears for tomorrow.

 

Want to know the most hidden truth I discovered after really holding my feet to the fire?

 

When Jehovah drew me (John 6:44), he wasn't responding to my achievements. He wasn't waiting for me to clean up first.

 

He saw what Acts 13:48 calls a "rightly disposed heart"...not a perfect heart, not a pure heart, just one that leaned, however faintly, toward him.

 

I thought of a parent scanning a massive crowd of strangers at a train station. Everyone else sees chaos, a blur of faces, noise, confusion.

 

But that parent?

 

They spot their child instantly...not because the child is the tallest or cleanest or best-behaved, but by something indefinable that says mine. That recognition cuts through everything else...they KNOW their child.

 

That's how Jehovah found me. In a world of billions, through all my mistakes and masks and mess, he saw that faint lean of my heart...maybe just a whispered prayer, maybe just a longing for something better, maybe just tears I couldn't explain...and he said,

 

"That one. That one right there...that one is MINE!"

 

My heart still says I'm disqualified.

 

It rehearses my failures on repeat.

 

It magnifies that gap between who I am and who I think I should be.

 

But here's what my heart doesn't know: Jehovah isn't measuring the gap. He's watching the lean. He's not cataloging my falls; he's counting every time I get back up.

 

So when my heart screams "guilty," I'm learning to remember: I'm not a defendant awaiting verdict.

 

The verdict is already in.

 

As long as I do my best...I'm family.

 

Jehovah didn't just forgive me...he treasures me.

 

He doesn't judge my worst moment; he watches my trajectory.

 

And that faint lean of my heart that started me towards toward him?

 

That tiny, barely-there inclination?

 

That's all he needed to move heaven and earth to draw me home.

 

Satan...you are a LIAR:I am not too broken. I am not too stained. I am not too far gone.

 

I am seen, known, drawn, and treasured by the God who is greater than my heart.

 

So am I ready?

 

Maybe the better question is: Does Jehovah think I'm ready?

 

And if he's still drawing me, still working with me, still calling me "Mine"...then I'll keep leaning toward him, one day at a time.

 

Tonight, I'm going to name one small way I leaned toward Jehovah today.

 

A prayer, a kind act, a moment of resistance to wrong.

 

And I'll keep that list.

 

Why?

 

Because it's evidence of what he saw in me all along.

 

 

*Thank you for allowing me to share, and for following me on this little journey into my thinking and down into my heart. Hopefully this will help someone...touch someone...because I know I can't be the only one feeling this way.

 

So, so beautiful. I think many of us can identify with your words, Tim, and it really helps us.

[ChrisW]

2 hours ago, Timl1980 said:

 

I am seen, known, drawn, and treasured

I love this. What Jehovah treasures is not the ordinary or valueless. No matter what our hearts or others may have told us. I appreciate your deep thoughts and feelings and grateful that you've shared them.

[Watching and Waiting]

2 hours ago, Timl1980 said:

Jehovah isn't measuring the gap. He's watching the lean.

How important is that?

 

Just think of how many races have been won at the finish line by ‘a lean.’

 

TY 🙏🏻 brother. 

[dljbsp]

@Timl1980, your piece is deeply heartfelt and faith-strengthening. You’ve captured the struggle between self-condemnation and divine mercy with honesty and warmth. The way you tied 1 John 3:20 to Jehovah’s authority and compassion was especially powerful.

 

Your imagery — the Supreme Judge, the loving parent, the precise healer — makes your message vivid and comforting. Most of all, your reminder that Jehovah watches the lean of our heart, not our perfection, is both reassuring and memorable.

 

Thank you for sharing such a moving reflection that reminds us Jehovah truly is greater than our hearts.

[bystander]

I'm beyond ready. Bring it. 

[davanz]

I would like to share this thought with you Tim. My thinking is that when we are disappointed in ourselves for not measuring up like we think we should, and I do that at times myself, we should remind ourselves of the following:

 

First, as part of my personality, I tend to make decisions and have opinions of things based on pragmatism and objectivity rather than emotion, or what feels best. Here is how I apply that to a subject of your post. We use the Bible expression of "undeserved kindness".  Just what is this? My thought is that it refers to the overall arrangement made by Jehovah for us as sinners to have everlasting life in a physical or spiritual paradise, depending on our calling. This would include certain specifics like the ransom, resurrection, etc. And also, more subtle things like education about false religious teachings, and teaching us how to teach others. And the point of this phrase is that we do not deserve this "kindness" because of being sinners, probably disappointing Jehovah daily. But I ask you to consider something on the flip side, and think of it objectively. 

 

Would you agree that we all live a life of suffering in some way?  Like some, who are physically suffering due to disease or injuries. Or suffering familial problems, financially, being crime victims, etc. Yes, we all, in various ways and to various degrees are living a "life of suffering".

 

Now to my point, for anyone reading this. On the day you were born, you were born into this "life of suffering".  And at that moment, what had you done to affront or offend Jehovah. On the day of your birth, how had you sinned? You had done NOTHING WRONG OR SINFUL. Yet you were facing years of "undeserved suffering". Years of being incapable of not sinning, and years of not being able to give Jehovah the perfect service we might wish we could. And we had no choice in the matter.

 

So, for any who may tend to be really hard on themselves for not worshipping Jehovah better, remember this.  Since He knows of your living a life of "undeserved suffering", and with His justice and perfection, what could He do other than to give you "undeserved kindness"?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 06:34 PM by davanz

[DancesWithWife]

I just want to be loyal. Whether that means I enter alive or if I don't see the end. So to answer your question, yes. I just want to be loyal and that's my focus 

[Timl1980]

Thank you to everyone who has read this post thus far, and also thank you for those who have commented.

 

To be completely honest, I wrote this post for me...for myself personally.

 

This was something Tim was dealing with, something Tim wanted to share with everyone else here.

 

I'm so appreciative that it has touched some of you as well...but I honestly wrote this for me...I needed to get this off MY chest.

 

I am...quite honestly...a very emotional person.

 

I wear my heart on my sleeve, and everyone around me knows that.

 

I may not always be right...but at least everyone knows how I feel... upfront.

 

Sometimes...yes...my mouth runs ahead of my heart...but even in those moments...you are getting the REAL Tim.

 

I hate AI, not because it's not useful at times...but mainly because it tries to silence TIM...it tries to outdo what I say...and I am a pathetic human being who feels that no matter what I choose to say...or how stupid I say it... it's at least real... it's at least what I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT A MATTER!!

 

I appreciate those who use it...but I feel it cheapens me as a human being personally...and that's why I try my hardest to say what I WANT to say...in my own words...no matter how pathetic it may sound or seem.

 

Thank you so much for reading this original post...and thank you for letting me know what you felt when you read it.

[Wanda Hill]

Thank you, my Brother!

[Thomas Walker]

Sometimes I wonder why my sins are too big for someone bigger than the whole universe.

 

The answer, of course, is that they aren't.

 

Sometimes I wonder why I feel foolish to ask for affection from someone who's defining characteristic is love.

 

The answer, of course, is that I shouldn't.

 

Sometimes I wonder why it's hard to feel forgiven by someone who went so far beyond the call to offer redemption to people.

 

The answer, of course, is that I am, whether I feel it or not.

 

20 hours ago, Timl1980 said:

After some prayerful study and meditation on that verse...here's what I was missing: in Greek, "greater" (meizōn) carries judicial authority.

 

What does that MEAN though?

 

It means Jehovah is stronger than my self-condemnation...it means that his verdict outranks whatever terrible things I may believe about myself.

 

I hadn't heard this interpretation before, (In fact, could I get a link to where you found that, if anywhere?) but I'll be making a note of it; because if Jehovah has the authority to overrule our own self-image, and we refuse Him? It means we're taking the choice out of His hands.

Edited Friday at 09:30 AM by Thomas Walker

[Dolce vita]

59 minutes ago, Thomas Walker said:

Sometimes I wonder why my sins are too big for someone bigger than the whole universe.

 

The answer, of course, is that they aren't.

 

Sometimes I wonder why I feel foolish to ask for affection from someone who's defining characteristic is love.

 

The answer, of course, is that I shouldn't.

 

Sometimes I wonder why it's hard to feel forgiven by someone who went so far beyond the call to offer redemption to people.

 

The answer, of course, is that I am, whether I feel it or not.

 

 

I hadn't heard this interpretation before, (In fact, could I get a link to where you found that, if anywhere?) but I'll be making a note of it; because if Jehovah has the authority to overrule our own self-image, and we refuse Him? It means we're taking the choice out of His hands.

Very, very interesting. Thank you for that @Thomas Walker@Timl1980

 

 

[Timl1980]

18 minutes ago, Thomas Walker said:

I hadn't heard this interpretation before, (In fact, could I get a link to where you found that, if anywhere?)

 

Absolutely, it was based on my own personal studies from Greek when I was in prison, so I hope I made the right connections.

 

Full disclosure, I haven't run some of my notes on various verses through a rigorous online check to see if everything matches my personal understanding...thus I don't share a lot of what I learned, (or thought I learned), with anyone else.

 

This sequence was taken from my notes on my personal study from 1 John...our watchtower study from this week is what prompted me to pull out my old Bible and look up some of my personal study notes.

 

It goes something like this:

 

In 1 John 3:20, the phrase “God is greater than our hearts” uses the Greek word meízōn (μείζων), which is the comparative form of mégas (μέγας), meaning “great.”

 

While meízōn generally means “greater, larger, stronger,” I have found that by studying the  surrounding material, (context), I could sometimes help kinda flesh out a complimentary meaning, and in this verse, I understood it to mean judicial.

 

Here's why:

 

The verse says, “If our hearts condemn us…” using the Greek verb kataginōskō (καταγινώσκῃ), which means “to find fault, blame, or condemn.”

 

Kataginōskō, (according to my notes), is a legal term, often used in ancient Greek to describe a courtroom verdict or accusation.

 

( In Galatians 2:11, the Apostle Paul refers to Peter being "condemned" (using a form of kataginōskō) for his actions, highlighting a publicly recognized fault.)

 

 

So when John says God is "meízōn" than our condemning heart, I saw how the verse could also point to something more than just saying God is bigger...that's why I wrote down a note saying that it could also imply God’s judgment carries higher authority than our internal accusations.

 

Here's the reference material I had:

 

Thayer’s Greek Lexicon notes that meízōn can denote superiority in rank, authority, or power, depending on context. (Thayer’s Lexicon – meízōn) *I got to that conclusion by comparing all the verses and how the word is used in the Bible.

 

Kataginōskō is used in classical and biblical Greek to describe condemnation, or to find fault with or to blame...and in my notes I put that this verse can be read like a courtroom drama.(Strong’s Concordance – kataginōskō)

 

(I had both of those with me in prison, along with a ton of other books.)

 

What I took away from this verse boils down to this:

 

The contrast isn't between a strong "feeling" and a weak one, but between two different courts of law.

 

My heart is the accuser and the judge in one court, but Jehovah presides over a higher court, the Supreme Court.

 

Because Jehovah is greater, his ruling is the final one that matters. 

 

I hope that helps you see where I was coming from, and also why I don't usually put forth my personal research notes from my studies in Hebrew and Greek. I get nervous because I did all my research from prison and I was only able to use what I had available through the Wisconsin public library system, (interloan), and what I could buy myself or borrow from others.

 

I'm proud of what I did, it helped me come back to Jehovah.

 

But it is also very possible I didn't get everything exactly right...in fact I threw away quite a bit of research after I got out and found out that some of what I thought I knew was incorrect.

 

And just an FYI about my last post on here last night...I sent my post to a local brother who I know personally...and his wife sent me back my post rewritten using AI.

 

She didn't mean anything by it, she was trying to help me see where I could have improved certain sentence structure and whatnot.

 

(She used to be a teacher and she's not in the truth)

 

Anyways, that's why I said what I said about AI, I didn't mean to offend anyone here.

[Dolce vita]

14 minutes ago, Dolce vita said:

Très, très intéressant. Merci pour ça.@Thomas Walker@Timl1980

 

 

It seems to me that Jehovah cannot do anything about the decisions we impose on him in the name of free will. We offer him happiness, pride, and joy when we choose good, but we also impose on him the consequences of our bad decisions, which can cause collateral damage that he is then forced to clean up for us. Yes, we can cause the great and wonderful Creator a great deal of suffering. The paradox is that the worst suffering he will ever experience will be inflicted here and not imposed by Jesus at the moment of his death. And this pain is produced by the perfect obedience of a perfect being. Fortunately, this suffering is unique; it will never happen again.

 

[Timl1980]

9 minutes ago, Dolce vita said:

It seems to me that Jehovah cannot do anything about the decisions we impose on him in the name of free will. We offer him happiness, pride, and joy when we choose good, but we also impose on him the consequences of our bad decisions, which can cause collateral damage that he is then forced to clean up for us. Yes, we can cause the great and wonderful Creator a great deal of suffering. The paradox is that the worst suffering he will ever experience will be inflicted here and not imposed by Jesus at the moment of his death. And this pain is produced by the perfect obedience of a perfect being. Fortunately, this suffering is unique; it will never happen again.

 

I agree, and I guess what I was getting at was how even though we may choose to do good things and actually live according to Jehovah's principles as best we can...our hearts can still condemn us for past mistakes. (We've had a lot of talks about this subject over the years).

 

That's what I was trying to say: As long as we're doing our best... Jehovah WILL ultimately overrule our own self image by giving us everlasting life.

 

I don't feel like I deserve everlasting life...I'm not even sure that if I were to receive it...I would feel worthy. It would take me a long time to get there, personally...at least, that's how I feel right now.

[Dolce vita]

10 minutes ago, Timl1980 said:

 

I agree, and I guess what I was getting at was how even though we may choose to do good things and actually live according to Jehovah's principles as best we can...our hearts can still condemn us for past mistakes. (We've had a lot of talks about this subject over the years).

 

That's what I was trying to say: As long as we're doing our best... Jehovah WILL ultimately overrule our own self image by giving us everlasting life.

 

I don't feel like I deserve everlasting life...I'm not even sure that if I were to receive it...I would feel worthy. It would take me a long time to get there, personally...at least, that's how I feel right now.

" I'm not even sure that if I were to receive it...I would feel worthy. It would take me a long time to get there, personally...at least, that's how I feel right now."

 

You don't know, or maybe you're thinking about the root causes that make you feel unworthy, despite all the love that Jehovah gives you and shows you, but HE knows, Tim, he knows the reason for everything. We just have to trust him even if our hearts are in turmoil. He will repair us from head to toe, and it will be soon, very soon. In fact, it seems that the work has already begun.

[Araujo JW]

[Dré]

50 minutes ago, Araujo JW said:

 

Is this a store receipt?

[Araujo JW]

2 minutes ago, Dré said:

 

Is this a store receipt?

Yes!

 

[Dolce vita]

1 hour ago, Dré said:

 

Est-ce un reçu de magasin?

☺️☺️