by Quirky1 29 Replies latest jw friends
I go to church every weekend. But I like to switch up the congregations. Sometimes, I might even attend two on the same day day.
You may have heard of the more mainstream ones like First Congregation of Macy's, Holy Temple of Saks Fifth Avenue, Loving Covenant of Dillards. And I found this new church that I attend with girlfriends at least once a month, its called United Church of Brunch. But today I'll definitely be attending the Northside Church of Target since I'm low on laundry supplies.
Agnostic. Not interested in organized religion. I know realize that spiritual does not mean religious.
Pagan, Wiccan, See Christianity as just one key among thousands, to the same lock. Feel people have the right to believe what they want, without judgement, as long as no harm is done
I basically do not believe in organized religion of any sort. I feel I can be a good , caring person because I want to be - because it's the right thing to do , don't need a God or religion to tell me how to be decent. And I don't need any reward to bribe me to do so. I consider my self an agnostic, or leaning towards atheism . So my beliefs are to be a good person, treat others in a peaceful manner to be helpful - and yet I'm heavily involved in exposing " mind control cults " , including Jehovah's Witnesses.
Just want to live a peaceful life loving my wife, showing care for my adult children and helping them where I can. And try to show any witness family I have that the important thing in life is being real, authentic, and putting love of family first, not unrealistic fantasy cult dreams. Having a measure of success slowly influencing some witness family. I don't believe in an afterlife ; I feel we need to live this life to the full in case it's all we got. I enjoy every minute and try to shine a light of happiness wherever I go
Let not your faith be manifest in the way you talk. Let your faith be manifest in the way you walk.
Farkel
After I left the Watchtower, I attempted to cling to Christianity. I attended a couple of churches, went to Bible study groups, and even came close to being re-baptized. But, as I continued to research the Bible, science, and history, I eventually realized that I was deluding myself. I was using the same mental filters of rationalization and justification that I used in the Watchtower.
I am now an agnostic. I still enjoy studying other religions; but I can hardly see any rationality in using religion or sacred texts as a basis for my world view.
I don't believe in any organized religion. Upon leaving the JWs, I began to realize and spot many of the manipulation techniques both subtle and overt and I didn't want that BS again.
Several years ago my wife wanted us to find a church, so we went to several. I couldn't stand any of them. I enjoy not getting dressed up on Sundays. Not to mention their beliefs seemed so alien. I didn't believe in hellfire or trinity and couldn't accept a church that did. After going a dozen or so times, I didn't want to go back. I decided I'd be an independent believer.
Over the years, my faith has waned. I think mostly because of the evangelicals I know who are every bit as close-minded and blinded to facts as JWs. They are a culture unto themselves. The things I hear them say in the name of their faith just give Christianity a bad name and make me want to distance myself from all of it. I know I'm not a part of their religion. Nevertheless, if I still believe in Christianity, these people are a part of my group.
I also know that the further I get from religion, and with faith waning, I can look at the bible without so many preconceived notions and I realize there are many parts that don't really make sense. Certainly that notion that Bible authors were merely stenographers for God cannot be true. You either have to accept the Bible is just a collection of man-written stories or you have to say that God is a bit confused. If you still believe in God, you have to make it fit. For the Bible to be messed up, God couldn't have written it word-for-word. So it must be man written and not perfect. And once you've accepted that, what's next? If the Bible is just man-made, there's no divine authority behind it. So who's to say any of it is true?
I don't have any religious beliefs...
I don't believe in the supernatural.
I don't believe in Jehovah, Jesus as described in the NT, Wotan, Zeus, Baal, or any other god. I think that they are all creations of mankind's ignorance.
I don't believe in following ancient "sacred" writings, such as the Koran, Bible, Rig Veda, Book of Mormon, Greek Mythology, etc... although any fairy tale has value as literature, and the Bible is no exception.
I don't believe in Armageddon or the end of the world, except from predictable natural means such as supernovas or asteroid collisions (which are inevitable in the next few billion years)
I do believe in enjoying life and helping my fellowman. I do not believe in an afterlife, so I have one shot at enjoying my time on this planet. I hope to become a parent soon and continue my education to expand my worldview.
I believe in tolerance, so I have no problem with anyone who disagrees with me, as long as they tolerate my disbelief in turn.
You asked. I am an atheist but I am smoking the month of December for all the Christmas brain chemistry (dopmine, serotonin) that can be had from what they call 'the greatest story ever told'. I admit I have not read many of the world's spiritual products, and I admit there could be cultural bias, but it is my opinion that the Christians of yore had better weed than Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Taoists, Hinduists, Native Americans, Africans, Scandinavians, or Celts. Granted, this 'greatest story ever told' has integrated elements of most of these religions and or cultures with their dominating religious outlook, but it has been Christians who have sewn it up into a package. To sum this up (puff), the Christian story provides the deepest hit of domanine and serotonin.
That being said, I still am governed by the rationalist and atheistic pursuit of truth. There is a symmetric and elegant beauty in mathematics that a normally enculturated homo sapien might be tempted to insist can only be the handiwork of an intelligent designer (Xian or not). I resist that temptation, even though the math (and the physics) are sometimes as beautiful as 'the greatest story ever told'.
So, my message would be: embrace and make peace with the religious capacities of your homo sapien brain, because those fascinating, beautiful capacities are there due to the success of your ancestors who gained evolutionary advantage from them. Those ancestors of the human project who told the best story gained the most attention, adherents, then power. the |story|, itself, is how Christianity grew up and overcame the Roman collection of jejune and quotidian rituals. E.g. offering incense to the emperor or the family ancestors did not give you the same serotonin and dopamine hit as did this business of dreaming about a king and castle coming with the clouds. And alliteration always helps, which is why Beowulf kicks ass as a fine example of Christians taking the best of 'pagan' culture and reorienting it along the vector of the 'greatest story.'
Or even, don't try to bend the spoon, try to understand there is no spoon.
I'm an agnostic.
I dont know.
It all falls down like a house of cards. first the JW's, then the bible, then Jesus, then who or what is God. Then where did we come from.
I have been out since 83 and searching and havent found any satisfying answers.
Every answer that I have explored has holes in it.
Maybe we are God.
Maybe we are biomechanical machines put here by more advanced biomechanical machines to work for them.
And if there is a God, I have a hard time looking around and calling him a god of love after reading 100's of articles of why he is the God of love.
Calling God the God of love is like calling Bush a conservative. No matter how many times you say it it still seems like a lie.
