Comfort

[onewithhim]

Life in this world can be distressing. Is there anywhere we can turn for reliable help and comfort? JWs are asking this question world-wide for this month. The focus is on Jehovah, our God "of tender mercies."

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of tender mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those in any sort of tribulation through the comfort with which we ourselves are being comforted by God." (2 Corinthians 1:3,4)

Any thoughts so far?

[onewithhim]

[Replying to post 30 by onewithhim]

How can we know that God wants to comfort us? This is what Jehovah says: "As a mother comforts her son, so I will keep comforting you." (Isaiah 66:12,13)

"Throw all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you." (I Peter 5:7)


Haven't we all lost someone we love in death? How do we deal with that? How do we find any real comfort? Don't we wonder WHY they had to die, and WHERE are they now, and are they gone forever?? We can get real comfort from the God who made us. It is from him that we can have hope. If we accept his truth and his counsel, we will not despair. There is the hope of the resurrection. And we can know that God didn't "take" our loved one. "The race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all." (Ecclesiastes 9:11, NASB) God doesn't "take" anybody, and he will give Jesus the power to bring everyone who has died back to life here on Earth. (John 5:28)

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 31 by onewithhim]

So true, people really need hope. I've been very surprised during this campaign, people are walking around with such heavy hearts. The number of conversations I've had with people that I've thought "He/she looks fine" and then they open up and they are really suffering.

[Claire Evans]

Life in this world can be distressing. Is there anywhere we can turn for reliable help and comfort? JWs are asking this question world-wide for this month. The focus is on Jehovah, our God "of tender mercies."

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of tender mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those in any sort of tribulation through the comfort with which we ourselves are being comforted by God." (2 Corinthians 1:3,4)

Any thoughts so far?

My comfort comes from Jesus. That comfort may manifest into the physical. When I am feeling low or distressed, a feather is dropped for me. My cat, now deceased, would sit on me when I felt low. He liked to sit on my neck when I was lying down. Also when it becomes really distressing, I pray and it actually suddenly goes away. It's amazing. I think it was like Jesus. He was distressed in the Garden of Gethsemane and then eventually was calm. That's the power of the Holy Spirit.

[Blastcat]

[Replying to post 31 by onewithhim]

!

[center]Puppy dogs and moonbeams[/center]

How can we know that God wants to comfort us? This is what Jehovah says: "As a mother comforts her son, so I will keep comforting you." (Isaiah 66:12,13)

"Throw all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you." (I Peter 5:7)

Are all words in books reliably TRUE?

Haven't we all lost someone we love in death?

A lot of us have, yes.

How do we deal with that?

As best as we can... I suppose.

How do we find any real comfort?

What do you MEAN by "real comfort"?
A new puppy, a down comforter?

Relying on friends and family?
Tuna fish casserole?

Don't we wonder WHY they had to die, and WHERE are they now, and are they gone forever??

Yup.
As a skeptic, I wonder about things all the time, but I don't pretend to know what I do not.

What about you?

We can get real comfort from the God who made us.

WE?

I can only get something real from something that is also real.
If your Creator god isn't real, the comfort that he provides wouldn't be real, either.

But by "We", I suppose you are speaking for yourself.
The royal "we", I suppose.

If you believe that only your god can give you "real comfort", I suppose that's a subjective belief that none of us can argue about.

You have the beliefs that you have.

If you ever feel the need to explain to us why you hold these beliefs, how you acquired these beliefs.. we could at least try to figure out the reasoning that went into your conclusions. Right now, as an outsider to your belief, I would say that you have professed your belief without explaining much of anything. Thanks for the testimony.

I believe that puppy dogs are cute, real, and give me real comfort.
I don't really think that's debatable, either.

Do YOU?

[onewithhim]

Life in this world can be distressing. Is there anywhere we can turn for reliable help and comfort? JWs are asking this question world-wide for this month. The focus is on Jehovah, our God "of tender mercies."

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of tender mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those in any sort of tribulation through the comfort with which we ourselves are being comforted by God." (2 Corinthians 1:3,4)

Any thoughts so far?

My comfort comes from Jesus. That comfort may manifest into the physical. When I am feeling low or distressed, a feather is dropped for me. My cat, now deceased, would sit on me when I felt low. He liked to sit on my neck when I was lying down. Also when it becomes really distressing, I pray and it actually suddenly goes away. It's amazing. I think it was like Jesus. He was distressed in the Garden of Gethsemane and then eventually was calm. That's the power of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, and his confidence in Jehovah, his Father. He knew that Jehovah always heard him, and He would send angels to comfort him. Their relationship was extremely close. (John 11:42; Luke 22:43)

Jesus wanted his disciples to be close to the Father also (John 17:20-23), as did his Apostles and his brother James who wrote: "Draw close to God [the Father], and he will draw close to you." (James 4:8)

[Blastcat]

[Replying to post 35 by onewithhim]

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[center]
Once upon a time....[/center]

Yes, and his confidence in Jehovah, his Father. He knew that Jehovah always heard him, and He would send angels to comfort him. Their relationship was extremely close. (John 11:42; Luke 22:43)

Such a lovely story.
You get comfort from these stories... A lot of people read stories for comfort... Big business, the comfort story business.

Comforting words help, for sure.
I used to invent stories to my girls when they were little, or read to them from children's books.. now, due to the fact that they are 30 something, they demand TRUE stories, and real helpful advice. That seems to comfort them the most, nowadays.

Fiction doesn't really help them anymore.

Story books still work for you?

[JehovahsWitness]

Fiction doesn't really help them anymore.

It's not fiction its in the bible onewithim presented the scriptural evidence.

JW

[Blastcat]

[Replying to post 37 by JehovahsWitness]

Fiction doesn't really help them anymore.

It's not fiction its in the bible onewithim presented the scriptural evidence.

JW

Yeah, that's what I meant.. it's in the Bible ... some people take that as non fiction. Not to me and my kids, though.

But I was talking about comfort.
Stories can comfort people, for sure.

Even ones that they don't even take as true. Non believers probably can find some comforting words in the Bible too... but we would have to PRETEND that the stories are true. Pretend is nice.

Believers who take the Bible AS true.. find all kinds of nice things in the Bible that are comforting, no doubt. I have to wonder though.. must be a bit of a worry not knowing If God is going to send you to heaven or hell though.

What do you tell your kids about that?

[onewithhim]

[Replying to post 37 by JehovahsWitness]

Fiction doesn't really help them anymore.

It's not fiction its in the bible onewithim presented the scriptural evidence.

JW

Yeah, that's what I meant.. it's in the Bible ... some people take that as non fiction. Not to me and my kids, though.

But I was talking about comfort.
Stories can comfort people, for sure.

Even ones that they don't even take as true. Non believers probably can find some comforting words in the Bible too... but we would have to PRETEND that the stories are true. Pretend is nice.

Believers who take the Bible AS true.. find all kinds of nice things in the Bible that are comforting, no doubt. I have to wonder though.. must be a bit of a worry not knowing If God is going to send you to heaven or hell though.

What do you tell your kids about that?

Might I throw in my $.02? JWs believe that we who have the earthly hope will be living on the earth forever, providing we remain loyal to the end of the system of things, or, the end of our life in this system. All we have to do is be determined to remain of good conscience and endure all of Satan's machinations, with help from Jehovah and his Son.

We don't tell our kids about the "hell" that Christendom teaches....a never-ending bar-b-que pit where people are roasted for all time. That is a ficticious place, straight out of Dante's Inferno, which comes from Dante's imagination. We teach the kids that all the animals await them, even snakes and sharks and tigers who will not hurt them in the Paradise Earth, and the kids love it. (Isaiah 11:6-9) If some people are mean and bad, they will just go to sleep forever, so they won't bother people who want to be good.

That doesn't terrorize the children, like the teachings of Christendom (false Christianity). We teach the truth, and it honors a loving God.

[Talishi]

We don't tell our kids about the "hell" that Christendom teaches....a never-ending bar-b-que pit where people are roasted for all time. That is a ficticious place, straight out of Dante's Inferno, which comes from Dante's imagination.

Which in turn comes from...the New Testament.

Revelation 14:

[10] The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

[11] And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.