This board is not for me. (page 2)

JH

I did not understand that people were going to come here and bash God, his Son and the Bible.

In my 12,000 posts on here, I never did bash God, or Jesus or the bible.

As for the Watchtower, I call it the way I see it.

Remember life in the real "world" is about tolerating differences. I also view myself as a Christian, probably more now than when I was a JW. Being a Christian means being Christ like, which means not being overly judmental, but loving in our relationships with others.

I like the mantra of AA "Take what you like and leave the rest." That is what this board is all about. Also, leaving is a process. We all leave at different places in our lives, and deal with it differently. Some our angry, others resigned, and others have moved on. So don't take what others say personally, but take it as peeking into someones else thoughts and opinions. I hope you stay, but if not I hope life brings for you all that you wish.

God's Peace,

Leslie

Outaservice

Christian here! Not perfect, but trying to improve life, attitudes, understanding, etc. every day.

Outaservice

Wafe

First of all I need to learn to choose my words better I should have said some instead of two. As in term of being tolerent of others beliefs:

"Everyone knows Jehovah is a foreskin collector"

Taken from one of the active topics.

The above is far from tolerant as first of all it was not Jehovah but Saul who wanted foreskins. I have seen things on this board about God that are just down right insulting. True, a person is entitled to believe what they wish. However you don't see me insulting athiests, agnostics or others. For example I feel that evoultion is hardly a fact, but I don't go around telling them that thier beliefs are just a refusal to accept God, unlike others on the board who say that the Bible is just myth in legend. Not only do I see such a statements as utterly ignorant of the facts, but are not respectful to others beliefs. You have to understand what I have lost. I no longer have any friends. I am currently not dating. I have not social life whatsoever and all of this is because I stood up for my beleif that the Witnesses did not follow the Bible the way that they should. The Bible is all I have left and the last thing I need to hear are people that are constanly trying to distroy that faith by saying things are meant to damage it.

As for responses from emails...

I have sent out quite a few emails and to be fair have gotten about three responses in the last month. I realise that most don't know much about me and to be fair I am not saying that they are suppose to. Perhaps I expect too much.

Anyway, I feel the above is the reason that I said what I did. If I have offending anyone I am truly sorry for doing so, but perhaps why I feel the way I do is more clear now.

Jeffro

Try to appreciate that to many atheists, saying something negative about your God is no more meaningful to them than saying something negative about your favourite movie or football team. Perhaps they should be a little more sensitive to the beliefs of others, but this is real life, and everyone needs to learn to take things on the chin. And it's not as though they're actually insulting you. They're insulting a belief system that failed them. They don't have a reason to believe in God, and that is their prerogative. Jesus asked forgiveness for those who killed him; surely you can show a small fraction of that mercy toward others who don't believe as you do.

You stated that you have lost your friends and social life. That is certainly nothing unique for a great many here. Why not stick around?

DJK

"Everyone knows Jehovah is a foreskin collector"

That is an awesome statement. If you should write a book, that has to be the title. If you don't plan on writing a book, can I use it?

undercover

I have seen things on this board about God that are just down right insulting. True, a person is entitled to believe what they wish. However you don't see me insulting athiests, agnostics or others.
...
The Bible is all I have left and the last thing I need to hear are people that are constanly trying to distroy that faith by saying things are meant to damage it.

It's hard to hold a non-believer to the same standards of respecting a diety as those who do believe. You say you don't insult atheists and agnostics, but those who "insult" God, in your estimation, are not insulting you. You take it as an insult that they don't accept your belief of God as "God".

Since we all have a certain religious experience in common, it is only natural for debates about God, Jesus, other religions, atheism, evolution, etc, etc etc, to come about in our new found freedom to discuss what we think. You may not agree with those who don't accept God but just because they don't agree and they may indeed insult God, or the concept of God doesn't mean they were insulting you.

However, that's not to excuse anyone who insults you personally for believing in God.

You have to understand what I have lost. I no longer have any friends. I am currently not dating. I have not social life whatsoever and all of this is because I stood up for my beleif that the Witnesses did not follow the Bible the way that they should.

Many of us understand all too well what you have lost, for we have lost many of the same things. That's why this board is important. We find support and encouragment from those who have gone before us and suffered as much or more. Sometimes we may not agree with what some people say or believe, but then if we all beleived the same and talked the same, we'd be right back where we were when we were still in the JWs.

Learning to interact with people who believe differently than us is one of the things that many ex-JWs have to learn to do. Many of us lived a life of being right all the time and anyone who believed different was wrong. Once our world was shattered and we realized we were wrong, we also had to re-learn how to handle people and how they thought and believed. It's part of our growth outside the JW religion.

I have sent out quite a few emails and to be fair have gotten about three responses in the last month. I realise that most don't know much about me and to be fair I am not saying that they are suppose to. Perhaps I expect too much.

I'm not sure if your emailing people or using the private message feature but one note about private messages on this board. Not everyone's private messaging system works correctly (or maybe it's the members operating system that is not as compatible with the board as other systems - I don't know, I'm no expert). Some people are not getting messages sent to them. So it would be hard for them to respond if they never got it.

Wafe

Jesus asked forgiveness for those who killed him; surely you can show a small fraction of that mercy toward others who don't believe as you do.

Again I don't have a problem with people saying what they wish to say. As my subject line said This board is not for ME. Yes Jesus said that we should forgive others but he also said that there were times where forgiveness was not possible (not that this is one of those times minds you) the point is that forgiveness is not all encompassing if a person does not wish to be forgiven. Jesus said "if your brother COMES TO YOU AND SAYS I REPENT you must forgive him." The Pharisees were not forgiven by Jesus nor was Judas Iscariot who Jesus calls the Son of Destruction .

My belief in the Bible is very deep and I need to be with people who share the same mind but are not intersted in money as was the WTBTS. That is what I am looking for. I spent years arguing with people about the Bible esp my brother who is a hard core rational. He brought up all the objections to the Bible such as why would God slaughter 70k people for David's sin? or How could Jesus be on the Cross on the sixth hour of the day if he was in front of Pontius Pilot? Why are the geneologies in MT and LK different? Why did Lot give his daughters to a bloodthursty mob?

I spent the next several years looking for the answers going from one historical record to the next alway searching for every answer to every problem in the Bible trying to get as much information as possible. It helped me to appreciate that depth that the Bible has as well as the fact that every problem that is in the Bible has an answer somewhere in it. Excited I went to my brother and told him about my findings.

But as I went over the answers with him, I found that he kept coming up with more objections and more and more until it became clear that he really did not want an answer, he simply did not want to find them. He would say things like "Yeah well you wernt there to prove it." This is of course silly as there is no way to PROVE ANY HISTORICAL EVENT. As the fighting contiuned, it became clear that all the arguements were meaningless.

I have grown weary of hearing the same complaints about the Bible over and over again that not only have an answer but are really simple to find if one wants to bother to look. However what I have found is that some people here are not interested in finding the answers, they just hate God, pure and simple and need to be vocal about it. Now that is thier business and they are allowed to do so. I have no right to tell them otherwise. I guess I just get a little tired of hearing the same complaints over and over again. At this point I need time away from the fights and intelliectual attacks on something I care about so much.

Gary1914

I have seen things on this board about God that are just down right insulting.

Do you really believe that an Almighty God needs you to champion him? If God feels that he is being insulted I believe that he is capable of taking care it himself.

jgnat

I guess I manage so well on this board because I don't enter some threads. Like you, I feel it is just not worth the fight. Avidbiblereader has somehow found his way. I guess it is easier for some to walk away from some threads.

In the meantime, you are looking for a new set of friends, no? Maybe a house church or a small bible study group in your neighbourhood would be better for you.

It is healthier and stronger to have flesh-and-blood contact with people anyways.

This board is not for me.

JH

LeslieV

Outaservice

Wafe

Jeffro

DJK

undercover

Wafe

Gary1914

jgnat

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