Ex-JW atheists

by Vienna 19 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  JT

  Joel says :

  No religion, including Jehovah's Witnesses have created a logical scenario in which the original test on Adam,

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  this was the key for me- THE TEST is a real problem for me for it makes "GOD" the reason for all the problems

  we all know that in most cultures ANYONE who is duly authorized to stop something is often viewed as sharing responsiblity

  case in point

  a your store catches on fire- the firemen and ladder truck are across the street at Burger King for lunch- they do nothing

  a man holds up up your store- cops arcross the street at 7-11 they do nothing haven't finished their coffee yet

  father in the park with 4yr old daughter reading the paper 42 yr old man grabs little girl , pulls down her panties and begins to insert his penis in her- father does nothing wants to finish the sports section first

  and the list goes on and on

  same with "GOd" with all his foreknowledge he could see 5000yrs down the road at the amount of suffering his kids would go through because of 2 folks and he had no problem with it - had to finish his Lipton Tea

  so the concept of a Loving God is really a contridiction of statement

  but i understand why folks believe- it provides them with the mental cructch they need to get thru each day and for that i would never want or try to take that away from them

  but for me well i perfer to walk on my own power

  james
• 

  Utopian Reformist

  I am equally as skeptical as JT when discussing the "Genesis Accounts". I am no longer undeniably convinced. I am not sure that the accepted canon of scripture is in fact accurate and/or inspired.

  I am not denying the inspiration of the scriptures as a whole. I am just skeptical of certain portions of the canon as compiled by religious men of old.

  When examining the historical and religious fruitage through time, it is easy to draw skeptical conclusions about the canon we accept today.

  Judging from gospel standards, certain hebrew books or individual hebrew accounts do not necessarily support the canon, develop the theme of salvation in a reasonable logical manner, nor provide enough details to substantiate otherwise outrageous events portrayed as the Creator's dealings with humankind.
• 

  sf

  bboyneko,

  You are extremely hilarious. Most of your posts I read are funnier than "FREDHALL"s. And he is hard to top. His humor is raw and brute...refreshing. The brillo pads had me in tears.

  Sincerely, sKally
• 

  ReverendRoy

  Vienna,
  As a small child, not understanding the whole God concept (and still not much of the time) I can still remember thinking that Jehovah was the one giving the sermon on Sunday.

  I think now more than ever I have to question the thought and concept of God, as many of us former JW's were taught. It just does not work for me. I am still an agnostic, there is so much more that we will learn over time.
• 

  bboyneko

  sKally you said:

  bboyneko,
  You are extremely hilarious, good-looking, suave and a millionare playboy. Your greatness is only matched by your modesty. If I could be born again I would be born as you oh great one.

  Your vast, immense, enormous, extreme, inordinate, excessive, extravagant, exorbitant, outrageous, preposterous, unconscionable, swinging, monstrous, towering, stupendous, prodigious, astonishing, incredible, marvelous greatness renders me speechless at times.

  Most of your posts I read are funnier than "FREDHALL"s. And he is hard to top. His humor is raw and brute...refreshing. The brillo pads had me in tears.

  Yeah I think fred's funny too. Alot of people hate him but I think he isn't really a JW at all. He is a cat.
• 

  Vienna

  Thanks all for your responses! I love reading all of these posts.

  JT:
  I can understand your point, but in the cases you gave
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  "a your store catches on fire- the firemen and ladder truck are across the street at Burger King for lunch- they do nothing" .
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  and the others you list in saying God let's things happen, I came to view God in a way I never have after leaving the JWs. My old pastor helped me to see how much the JWs make their God so one-sided.

  God is bigger than just seeing the past, present and future. He can see the whole entire picture at once, kinda of like looking down from the top of the highest mountain. In His love he created man, in seeing they would sin, he created a way for that creation to be redeemed and gain life, he saw the future when heaven and earth will become one and thousands upon thousands that He has created, who accepted His son and Savior Jesus, will live for eternity.

  For God to stop everything bad, he would of had to take away one of the basis of human happiness--freedom. In love He gives us our freedom, and in love He gives us a way to be forgiven of the sin we were born into.

  So in using your illustration, God saw that the store was going to be set on fire by a careless clerk who left a cigarette burning near a magazine on the counter. God could of stopped that clerk from even learning how to smoke by keeping her from the people who taught her, etc., etc. But we have freedom in life. So the journeys we take in life play out. The firemen and ladder don't come right away, they come later to fix the damage. The end result is a rebuilt store that's even better than the last one.

  God gave our first parents free will, and in a show of more love Jesus came to repair the damage, and in the end we will be in heaven in a place far better than any earthly life can even hold a candle to. As my current paster says when talking about the greatness of heaven "When he get to heaven, this life now will seem like a bad night in a cheap motel." (It still feels weird saying "my pastor" after years of saying "elder" as a JW! *LOL*)

  I just saw it with this amazement that Sunday in church, how much I tried to see God as thinking so small when I was a JW (oh, God will be mad if I miss a meeting) when in reality His thoughts are so much higher, so far reaching than my human brain can comprehend.
• 

  dmouse

  As a JW, God was so real, He WAS there. I talked to Him, and He answered.
  Then, my eyes were opened and God disappeared in a puff of logic. JW beliefs are obviously untrue…the evidence is irrefutable.

  Where are You? It is suddenly cold and dark. I am confused. There is no guidance I can trust…men give me their opinions…lies!

  I was going to live forever! All the problems in the world were going to be solved.
  Then, suddenly, nothing. It was all an illusion. I am going to die. Shit.
  Worse…people are going to continue to suffer…no escape…no release except death. Oh hell. I look on in mounting empathy, I cannot bear it. God is not there! Those poor souls! I can do nothing to alleviate their pain. The suffering I perceive occurring in the human race in my extremely limited human form is so overwhelming that I suffer a nervous breakdown.
  I cry myself to sleep night after night.

  Where are You?

  I am naked, in pain, crying. I cry out once more…

  Where are You?

  But there is nothing…only the screams of millions of suffering souls in my head.
  Believers…of all faiths…they try to tell me…but their words are empty. They believe, as I used to. But ask them to give proof, evidence, the merest hint that God exists and all they offer is human reasoning for His silence.

  For that is the one single thing that destroys faith…the silence of God.

  Where are You?

  The bible…human writings. Interpret it how you will, every thought a human can conceive is in there. Whatever you want to believe, there is a scripture to support it.

  Another child dies for want of food. Another person dies in agony from disease. Another parent suffers the immeasurable grief of losing a child. Another…another…another…another. More suffering in one day than a human can comprehend, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, century after century, millennium after millennium…oh God please...it is more than I can bear.

  Where are You? (Only Silence)

  Please, God, help me. I cannot stand being alone. I need You…

  Who would CHOSE to be like this? With no hope?

  Please…where are You…
• 

  Kat_

  I have to answer this post not only to answer your question but to sort out my own thoughts -- this is still new for me and I can't believe how much it helps to 'get it all out' on this board. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love this place!

  Being born into the JW's, I always had the unquestionable belief in Jehovah. And His son, Jesus Christ. But throughout my life, when anything ever went wrong (there were many 'wrongs') I would pray and pray and feel that He wasn't listening. I was told by fellow JW's that He indeed was listening, but still it never felt 'genuine'--I never felt 'close' to God.

  The very night that I opened my eyes and truly was able to question the JW's and ulitmately, reject their teachings, I realized that I still believed 110% in God. I prayed that first night with all my heart. I prayed for guidance and wisdom to know that I was doing the right thing by leaving my JW faith for good. The next day I felt better than I have in years. Ever since then I feel closer to God than I've ever felt. I pray every night and feel energized by it. I feel like He's really listening, and answering, for the very first time. Okay, so I don't have any other religion and I still haven't figured out exactly what I do believe in - but I find I am at a good place for now. I am not super-religious and there is no need to rush into another church. God is finally in my life for real, without all the social trimmings, and I am happy with that.

  Maybe I am just a nutcase, maybe it's all in my head, but this works for me. And I think that's all that matters - God or no God, no one will ever figure out all the answers and the best we can do is believe what makes us feel comfortable in our own lives.

  All I know is that leaving the JW's behind actually strengthened my faith in God -- Go figure!
  
  That's just my two cents.

  Kat
• 

  Moridin

  I have to agree with Chuck D. Growing up as a JW I never had the choice and when I finally did leave the witnesses instead of just joining a church I had to discover for myself what I really believed in. After much research I came to the conclusion that Jesus never really existed. The story was an allegory for the ancient Pagan Mysteries blown out of purportion by the early christians. I have a hard time believing that any type of god exists now. As much as I really would like to, I don't believe I ever will.
• 

  Skeptic

  Hi, Vienna, it is nice to "meet" you.

  I am a ex-JW who is an atheist. My parents did not follow the Bible religiously, but they did raise us to believe the Bible was the inspired Word of God. We were taught to never question that. We did not have to follow the Bible, but it was emphasized that it was the Word of God. It was something we simply never questioned.

  My sister, my brother and myself were religiously inclined. My sister's best friend was a JW, and she eventually became a JW. Later, my brother went and lived with my sister and her husband and six months later he became a JW.

  My best friend was a devote Charismatic Catholic. I eventually became born-again. Eventually, I studied with the JWs, and got baptised.

  I reason I joined and left the JWs was the same. I want to find truth. When I thought the JWs had truth, I joined them. Almost two decades later I found out the JWs were false, and left.

  In my case, my personal life became a complete shambles and I wondered how a person as intelligent as I am could get in such a mess. I tried to guide all my life decisions by the Bible; I decided to check if the Bible was as reliable a guide as I had previously thought.

  I decided to use as a standard measuring stick objective, verifiable evidence. Obviously, objective, verifiable evidence will not contradict the Bible if the Bible is truly the infallible Word of God. Was it Francis Bacon that said, "I would rather believe a rock than the Church."?

  So I did some research and found the Bible did not hold water. I have a fairly good grasp of science which helped a lot. I also found that if you apply the same tests to the Bible that Christians apply to other religious books, the Bible is also found to not be inspired of God. So I discarded the Bible.

  I read Skeptic magazine which debunks weird beliefs. It does show one how to evaluate a new belief. I applied these methods to religion.

  What about the cases where you cannot find solid proof such as miracles? 1) Is it better to believe until I find reason to not believe, or 2) Is it better to not believe until there is good evidence to support belief.

  If I use 1), then I must believe in Unicorns, little green men with sophisticated equipment (to hide themselves) living in the middle of Mars, etc. because I cannot prove they don't exist. It is very hard to prove a negative. That way, I would believe any amount of nonsense.

  So I use 2). I will believe once there is enough objective, verifiable evidence to warrant belief. Hence, I do not believe in Unicorns. If objective evidence shows that Unicorns exist, then I will believe in them. This method takes away a lot of the "mystery" in life.

  When I applied method 2) to the question of God, I could not find any evidence that indicates that He exists. Could God exist? Certainly. The probability is very, very low...so close to zero that I say it is zero. When objective, verifiable evidence shows otherwise, I will believe in God.

  So, basically, it is my desire not to be hoodwinked again that makes me look for solid proof before believing something. Since the evidence for God is not there, I am an atheist.

  Richard