by JWCartPusher 57 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Personally, I was a very strong believer in God for most of my short life.
After leaving the organization I feel I'm becoming an agnostic.
Meaning: I personally don't believe in the Bible for numerous reasons, but I do believe that there might be a God out there who started everything off but who doesn't seem to care.
Neither we nor science can prove there is a God nor disprove it, so I'm not ruling him out just yet.
I was never a baptised witness but did attend the Kingdom Hall and was in a relationship with a baptised witness for 3 years. It got to the point where we wanted to get married and she as good as said its not going to happen unless you become a committed witness. I never got 1914 it just never made sense to me but I always though by your fruits will you know them and no other group was preaching as much - well that's how I saw it at the time. I prayed for several days about it and couldn't get two scriptures out of my mind. When Jesus said "I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the father but my me" - so Jesus is the way, he doesn't have a way (theocratic organisation), the other is in Hosea where Jehovah said "there is no other saviour besides me" ironically I'd never believed in the trinity before praying about committing to JW.org
I would definitely consider myself Christian and for those who say atheism is the only logical conclusion.
Explain how the first living cell came into being using the laws of thermodynamics. Especially the second "things tend towards disorder." (I do accept evolution in terms of speciation or microevolution, I see macroevolution as little better than a semi-intellectual guess)
Also explain morality, and I don't mean self preservation or herd instinct but how and why we choose between these often opposing instincts.
also you of-course by not believing the historical narrative of the bible have to stop believing in every historical account from the time period because on pure historicity the bible blows everything else out of the water.
Also when's the last time you looked up at the sky and believed it was all created by chance?
I still believe in God and am a Christmas
Can anyone be a Christmas or is believe in god a requirement? Being a Christmas sounds more fun than being a Christian.
It is helpful to make a distinction between two core human needs:
The need to be comforted and reassured and
The need to think critically so that you can reduce the likelihood of being sucked in by misguided or even false comforting.
There is ongoing tension between these two legitimate needs, and the story of human religious endeavor reeks of naively blurring these two legitimate needs.
For example, desperation often drives people's search for religious "truth" and meaning. Often the stopping point in that search is the need to receive comfort. So, people will declare, "In my hour of need, Christ revealed Himself to me". Bingo! Gotcha! Your need to be comforted overrode your need to think critically. Such is the long, weary history of religious faith in which the way you feel determines what you end up believing. Getting others to reassure you is a sure sign you need to boldly develop the ability to think critically and stop using people as a crutch for a feeble faith.
Explain how the first living cell came into being using the laws of thermodynamics. Especially the second "things tend towards disorder." - Logos
It would be off-topic to give you a proper answer here but if you are really interested please start a new thread on this subject. There is so much I would like to tell you about what is known regarding the origins of cells. Get a copy of "Life Arising" by Nick Lane.
By the way thermodynamics is a very silly red herring.
Also explain morality, and I don't mean self preservation or herd instinct but how and why we choose between these often opposing instincts.
That is one of my favourite topics. Again, if you start a new thread I will be delighted to discuss it. "The Moral Landscape" by Sam Harris would give you a lot to think about.
also you of-course by not believing the historical narrative of the bible have to stop believing in every historical account from the time period because on pure historicity the bible blows everything else out of the water.
The Sherlock Holmes novels contain lots of accurate historical and geographical details.
Also when's the last time you looked up at the sky and believed it was all created by chance?
Every clear night. Try "A Universe From Nothing" by Laurence Krauss.
Arguments from personal incredulity are not convincing. Please could you tell us which books on evolution you have read?
Neither we nor science can prove there is a God nor disprove it, so I'm not ruling him out just yet. - Garrett
That depends on how much somebody is willing to say about "god".
We can prove that the god of christian theism is a logical impossibility. We can prove there is no creator god, and we can show that god does not answer prayers or intervene to prevent natural disasters.
Eventually we can show that "god" is a vacuous word.
Count me as a believer and simple Jesus follower.
I hold my identity as a Christian/Jew/Muslim rather lightly since I see these too as redundant sectarian divisions.
(Abraham was not a Christian, Jew or Muslim. Galatians 3 especially verses 7, 28 and 29.)
I am delighted with my level of faith and spirituality post Watchtower.
Like millions of others, it was the powerfully liberating gospel of grace which set me free from my addiction to (sectarian) religion (and the Watchtower).
Oddly enough the journey to the exit began and ended solely in the Watchtower's own publications. Yes, I was that loyal and addicted to the apostate and idolatrous VISIBLE golden calf (pseudo mediator).
I notice JWCartPusher only joined JWC 8 days ago.
Personally I don't mind that he doesn't have a PhD in communication, research methods and statistics, and would encourage him to have a blast on the new and exciting journey of discovery, thinking, reasoning, questioning and learning...
B.T.W. a warm welcome JWCartPusher. JWC is a great place to learn new skills, develop new insights, and possibly even make a few friends. Even the atheists are a pretty decent bunch by and large...
Personally I am a revert. Was raised catholic and when my JW brother converted he spoke of all the evils of the Church. I left the catholic church without getting answers to questions that were brought up. A few years later after another sibling visited Medjugorje I felt the desire to find some answers to these questions. The answers are there. You just don't look for answers from a place that hates. Find answers from those that love. What I mean is that if I want to find out about anything. The best source is from people who love the topic, not from people who hate the topic.
So I started asking questions about catholics from priests, nuns, lay people [converts/reverts] etc.
I also started asking questions about WTS teachings from my elder brother and many of his peers and other elders that my brother referred to me.
After researching it was easy to see what made sense and what didn't fit.
Lying for the truth was the biggest thing to me that led me to believe that JWs will say ANYTHING to further their membership drive. Truth means nothing. I mean real truth.
just saying
