What hope is there then? (page 12)

cognizant dissident

I am an atheist. I don't believe in any afterlife, although I'm not dogmatic about it or anything. As FFF said, we'll find out after life.

I hope to wake up in the morning, relatively painfree, and enjoy a great cup of coffee and a nice warm shower. I hope to find my job interesting and find joy in doing my best work and I hope at the end of the day I actually was of service to someone and made their day a little easier. I hope to be able to nurture the next generation and teach them a better way to live so that their life can be a little easier than mine was, and they can experience a little more joy and satisfaction and hope for the future than I have.

I hope human beings figure out a way to sustain a healthful environment on this planet, (I try to do my part by reducing, reusing, and recycling). I hope for world peace (I try to do my part by living as non-violent a life as possible.) I hope for an equitable distribution of this world's resources to all people. (I try to do my part by checking my own greed and being content with what I have).

I hope for all this without any hope of being rewarded with eternal life, or any hope that 7 billion other people will be destroyed so the few can attain this. I think this truly is the best way to live and I hope that in the future more and more people on this planet, of every religious persuasion, will be able to see this.

Hope springs eternal.....

Cog

goldensky

Cult classic, what a beautiful illustration! I had never heard it before.

Aussie Oz: "living for the future destroys living for now". How right you are! How beautifully summarized!

Cognizant dissident, unbeatable philosophy!

cult classic

ty goldensky - i hadn't either. I made it up...... lol. I was trying to think of something to help myself one day when I thought of it.

sayitsnotso

So the serious answers I have received are:

There is no God. There is no resurrection, the bible isn't true (or any holy book) so.. eat, drink (i.e. party) for tomorrow we shall die.
Jesus is God (or there is a Trinity), follow Jesus and no specific religion.
Maybe God exists or he doesn't. Maybe death is or isn't the end of it all. Wait and see what happens once you die, but live for the moment as that's the only thing that really matters (similar to #1, but less dogmatic).

My problems with these answers are:

I just cannot accept that we were not created, and therefore that there is no God. It seems logic to conclude that if there is a God then he cares about us (he created us after all).
I think common sense would tell you that God could not be a Trinity. To believe in the Trinity requires belief in the Bible. But nowhere in the bible does it convey the idea that God is a Trinity, without resorting to a few scriptures that require a certain way of translation (when there is more than one possibility). Same goes for the concept that Jesus is God.
What harm is there in living for the future. Say that there is a 1% chance that there is a God, a hope for everlasting life, and God requires a certain way of life. Living a life that displeases God, would result in not recieving everlasting life. One could do that, and perhaps be happy. But in the end he would cease to exist forever. However, if one trys to please God, even if the chances of being right are only 1%, wouldn't it be worth it in the end if he was right? Compared to the one that lived only for the momemnt, and did not do what God requires?

Lastly, someone contended that to be happy all we really need is:

Surround oneself with loved ones
Have a nice home
Travel a little
Eat well
Do things to help others
Find interesting things to do

Why must it be that these types of things cannot be achieved or obtained while one is inside a religion, such as JWs? As regards JWs, going to meetings, studying, and field service, and the like account for how much time out of the week? 10 hours or so for a publisher? 25 if one is a pioneer? How is it that 10-25 hours a week prevents one from achieving said things? If JWs are right, wouldn't it be worth the 10-25 hours of effort per week? Or even more for that matter?

PSacramento

We don't need a hoax. We need to know if he came back to life.

He did.

slimboyfat

What hope is there then?

None. None whatever.

goldensky

Cult classic, wow! You must have got all A's when you had to work on "Illustrations adapted to the material" (however that's translated into English) at the Theocratic School!

sacolton

There's an interesting scripture to ponder ...

“Teacher,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”
“Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.”
—Mark 9:38-41, NIV

The question is ... whose name do they belong to? Jehovah or Jesus? Certainly, they do give lip-service to Jesus, but they don't worship Him. They would argue that Jesus is not above all other names, but only Jehovah should be glorified.

This brings us to another scripture ...

"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel -- which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!" - Galatians 1:6-8

What gospel do the Jehovah's Witnesses bring door to door? Is it a gospel or something completely different that perverts the true message?

goldensky

Sayitsnoso, I'm sure you'll receive lots of more articulate answers to your last post than mine, but I'll say this anyway: of course you can have all those things you have mentioned while at the same time being a JW in good standing, but even if there was one possibility left in my mind that what the Witnesses believe could be true, I REFUSE TO SERVE A GOD THAT DOESN'T EMBRACE THE WHOLE HUMANITY INTO EVERYLASTING LIFE IN PARADISE (and believe me, I've loved Jehovah with all my heart, soul, mind and strength for 45 years, until, for a reason I can't fathom yet, I woke up from my dream. Why it didn't occur to me before, I don't have the slightest idea...).

leavingwt

I just cannot accept that we were not created, and therefore that there is no God.

Can you accept that Watchtower is not "God's Organization" or the "only true religion"?

What hope is there then?

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