I want to thank the Atheists here. I have come to realize I was wrong.

by BurnTheShips 36 Replies latest jw friends

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  BurnTheShips

  Hillary_Step, Nvrgnbk, Superfine Apostle, and others that have helped me so much. They said I would be an Atheist within two years, but my metamorphosis has happened virtually overnight. They have made me sane!

  'How many fingers am I holding up, BurnTheShips?'

  'Four.'

  'And if the party says that it is not four but five -- then how many?'

  'Four.'

  The word ended in a gasp of pain. The needle of the dial had shot up to fifty-five. The sweat had sprung out all over BurnTheShips's body. The air tore into his lungs and issued again in deep groans which even by clenching his teeth he could not stop. Nvrgnbk watched him, the four fingers still extended. He drew back the lever. This time the pain was only slightly eased.

  'How many fingers, BurnTheShips?'

  'Four.'

  The needle went up to sixty.

  'How many fingers, BurnTheShips?'

  'Four! Four! What else can I say? Four!'

  The needle must have risen again, but he did not look at it. The heavy, stern face and the four fingers filled his vision. The fingers stood up before his eyes like pillars, enormous, blurry, and seeming to vibrate, but unmistakably four.

  'How many fingers, BurnTheShips?'

  'Four! Stop it, stop it! How can you go on? Four! Four!'

  'How many fingers, BurnTheShips?'

  'Five! Five! Five!'

  'No, BurnTheShips, that is no use. You are lying. You still think there are four. How many fingers, please?'

  'Four! five! Four! Anything you like. Only stop it, stop the pain!'

  Abruptly he was sitting up with Nvrgnbks's arm round his shoulders. He had perhaps lost consciousness for a few seconds. The bonds that had held his body down were loosened. He felt very cold, he was shaking uncontrollably, his teeth were chattering, the tears were rolling down his cheeks. For a moment he clung to Nvrgnbk like a baby, curiously comforted by the heavy arm round his shoulders. He had the feeling that Nvrgnbk was his protector, that the pain was something that came from outside, from some other source, and that it was Nvrgnbk who would save him from it.

  'You are a slow learner, BurnTheShips,' said NvrGnBk gently.

  'How can I help it?' he blubbered. 'How can I help seeing what is in front of my eyes? Two and two are four.'

  'Sometimes, BurnTheShips. Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once. You must try harder. It is not easy to become sane.'

  Burn
• 

  nvrgnbk

  Yay!

  LMAO!

  You're a funny closet atheist, Burn.
• 

  Paralipomenon

  1984
  
  Do I win a prize?
  
  :D
• 

  Liberty

  If I recall this is from "1984". Interesting since it is the religions of the world who for thousands of years have been forcing people to deny the reality that they percieve through their senses. It is religion which insists that I acknowledge things as "true" which cannot be seen, heard, or felt. I think you have missed the entire point of the book. It is the fanatic believer in unreality which must use torture and force to convince others that only they can be right.

  As a nonbeliever it is not vitally important to me that you convert to my perception of reality because I do not need your pledge of belief to strengthen what I can sense clearly for myself. I feel pity for the deluded and wish to help them if they confront me in a debate or ask me questions by sharing my release experiance from bondage to unreality which was the Watch Tower religion. I have no interest in torturing or forcing others to conform to my world view because I do not think my salvation or their's is tied to such a conversion.

  I wish only good things for them and seeing reality for what it is is a good thing. I would not put any more effort into this conviction, however, than I would in convincing someone that Sleep Comfort beds give you a better nights rest or that ice cream tastes really good. If they refuse the ice cream I feel sorry for them but have no need to torture them into saying they like it too.

  Reading "1984" was a wake up call to me as I realized how much like the Watch Tower Society the Party was so I hated seeing it misrepresented this way.
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  BurnTheShips

  Liberty, don't be so religious.
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  nvrgnbk

  Interesting since it is the religions of the world who for thousands of years have been forcing people to deny the reality that they percieve through their senses. It is religion which insists that I acknowledge things as "true" which cannot be seen, heard, or felt.

  
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  BurnTheShips

  Existence of God You may be a fundy atheist if....
  

• You became an atheist when you were 10 years old, based on ideas of God that you learned in Sunday School. Your ideas about God haven't changed since.
• You think that the primary aim of an omnibenevolent God is for people to have FUN.
• You believe that extra drippy ice-cream is a logical proof against the existence of God, because an omniscient God would know how to stop the ice-cream from being extra drippy, an omnipotent God would have the ability to stop the ice-cream from being extra drippy, and by golly, an omnibenevolent God wouldn't want your ice-cream to be extra drippy.
• Although you've memorized a half a dozen proofs that He doesn't exist, you still think you're God's gift to the ignorant masses.
• You believe the astronomical size of the universe somehow disproves God, as if God needed a tiny universe in order to exist.
• You think questions like, "Can God create a rock so big that He cannot lift it?" and, "Can God will Himself out of existence?" are perfect examples of how to disprove God's omnipotence and ultimately how to disprove God. When someone proves to you the false logic behind the questions (i.e. pitting God's omnipotence against itself), you desperately try to defend the questions, but then give up and go to a different Christian site to ask them.
• Related to the above, you spend a great deal of your spare time writing to Christian websites asking them these very questions.
• You declare on a public forum that you are "furious at God for not existing."
• You spend hours arguing that a-theism actually means "without a belief in God " and not just " belief that there is no god" as if this is a meaningful distinction in real life.
• You consistently deny the existence of God because you personally have never seen him but you reject out of hand personal testimony from theists who claim to have experienced God as a reality in their lives.
• You can make the existence of pink unicorns the center-piece of a philosophical critique.
• You insist that "the burden of proof is on he that alleges/accuses", and "it's impossible to prove a negative", then state "That's what Christians do. They lie. Their most common lie is that they were once atheists." When reminded about the burden of proof bit, you reply with, "Well, prove Christians don't lie!"
• You adamantly believe that the "God of the gaps" idea is an essential tenet of orthodox Christian faith espoused by all the great Christian thinkers throughout history.
• When you were a child, someone came down with a deadly disease and prayed and prayed for God to take it away. God did not remove the disease and your friend died. You ask other Christians why they had to die when they were such a nice person and never harmed anyone. Dissatisfied with their answers, you suddenly decide that there is no God and that all Christians are nothing but lying, conniving con artists and hypocrites....all that is except for your friend who died.
• You call a view held by less than ten percent of the American public "common sense".
• You're a spoiled fifteen year old boy who lives in the suburbs and you go into a chat room to declare that, "I know there is no God because no loving God would allow anyone to suffer as much as I...hold on. My cell phone's ringing."
• You attack your fellow atheists, who hold the "belief that there is no god", calling them "liars," and state that, "I do not deny the existence of any god. I just don't believe in any." Then you tell someone that their God is "made up." When someone calls you on this, you state, "I never made such a claim."
• Going with the definition of "without a belief in God", you insist that all people are born atheists, and that dogs, cats, rocks, and trees are as well. You make statements like, "My dog is an atheist. Ask him about his lack of belief."
• You believe that if something cannot be touched, seen, heard, or measured in some way, then it must not exist, yet you fail to see the irony of your calling Christians "narrow-minded".
• You say that there is no God and that those who believe in God do so in blind faith, yet your claim that there is no God also rests on blind faith.
• While you don't believe in God, you feel justified on bashing God or attacking those who believe in something that you KNOW doesn't exist, fighting against or even discussing about a non-existent being are the symptoms of mental illness!
• You complain when Christians appeal to their emotions when justifying their belief in God yet you feel justified on appealing to your emotions for lack of belief in God.
• You blame God for the starvation, sickness, pain and suffering in the world...when, indeed, it is MAN's greed, politics, selfishness and apathy that not only causes, but also ignores the sick and the starving masses. We aren't our brothers' keepers....but we should be.