by Nickolas 103 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I've seen it posted here before saying that the Watchtower is an atheist factory.
My wife would fall in this camp. Either the Jehovah's Witnesses are the closest thing to truth there is or there is no truth. To say that all religions provide a different perspective to truth or any kind of spiritual type thinking outside of religion being valid is absurd to her. She is a product of Watchtower brainwashing from childbirth by her misguided mother.
OTWO
People thank God for sparing a handful of people in disasters and forget that He (if he were there) could prevent disasters.
Makes me think of another video.
garyneal wrote:
I've seen it posted here before saying that the Watchtower is an atheist factory.
My wife would fall in this camp. Either the Jehovah's Witnesses are the closest thing to truth there is or there is no truth.
I don't think being an atheist means believing there is no truth. I understand it to mean lack of belief in deities.
Nicolas Another book you might like to have a look at. There are many many books written by Scientists who do not support evolution.
In six days...why 50 Scientists choose to believe in creation. (I am assuming you don't want me to list who the 50 scientists are)
Most, if not all of these scientists previously believed in evolution. They include....Biologists, Mathematical Physics, Biochemistry, Genetics, Organic Chemistry, Horticultural Science, Theoretical Chemistry, Botany, Mechanical Engineering, Medical Physics, Geophysics, Nuclear Physics, Meteorology, Geological Engineering, Hydrometallurgy, and others.
I don't think being an atheist means believing there is no truth. I understand it to mean lack of belief in deities.
I guess I should be more precise. My wife basically believes that the WTS is the closest to the truth and no other religions have it. If she stopped believing that, she said she would become an agnostic or an atheist.
If you don't believe in evolution it's because you're lacking in understanding of the underlying processes. A lot of those scientists are already predisposed by their faith to come to a certain conclusion and they can write all they want to, Freddie also thought he was a translator of the Hebrew language until he had to prove it. Religion doesn't fit into science since science is based on proof and you can't prove faith by the very definition of faith (the things believed that cannot be proven).
I don't think JW's create atheists as much as breaking free from the cult mindset makes one hypervigilant against other cult-like programs that religions in general practice. They all require allegiance to unproven, illogical statements that cannot be explained yet have to be accepted. Faith in it's definition is a precursor to cultism. All religion is imho simply laced with self-serving practices (give money, give time, praise the pastor) and that is what even JW's claim should not be found in any religion thus people look for religions that do not have these inherent however none are to be found.
My wife basically believes that the WTS is the closest to the truth and no other religions have it.
Being closest to the truth isn't the same as knowing the truth. Might not go over well if you said that though, Gary :)
I think false religion, hypocrisy among professed believers, and lack of love or anything Christ-like creates atheists - or at least turns them away from Christianity. But religion is not Christ. The bible is not Christ - though it writes about Him. And not everyone who calls him/herself a Christian actually follows Christ, or even knows Him. Some are misled (blind following the blind), some might just be weak (and so in need of greater forgiveness, and love, and grace), and some are just pretending.
But if a person bases their faith in Christ on something false, then when that thing is revealed as being false, then faith tends to get swept away as well.
It is very sad, and there are too many blind leaders and teachers out there being followed.
Tammy
Good thread.
For me, as was said, spiritual abuse lead to my eventual freedom to think/reason/investigate. For that, I suppose I should thank the Watchtower organization.
I suspect that many 'believers' think that atheists are just haters of god. I am not. I am simply one who is interested in facts, not fiction. If god were impossible to ignore, visible, or presented some evidence that was irrefutable, I would have no problem lining up to accept him. Part of my problem with the whole thing is the required fear of, and acceptance of, anything without evidence.
If someone told me that Alice in Wonderland was conversing with the Purple People Eater on the hill, I would take a look. If I perceived an image that appeared to be such an event, I would then be willing to concede that at least with my initial senses it appeared to be what was claimed. If further investigation made the claim even more convincing, I might have to concede, that despite my initial reservations, this might be so.
But if someone expected me to just 'believe' and have 'faith' that Alice in Wonderland was conversing with the Purple People Eater on the hill, I would tell them to take a leap. Who would do such a thing? No rational being would do so! Yet, the story of God begins for most people in a garden, where a naked lady listened to a talking snake and ate God's apple, thereby creating an evil world that could only be saved by God coming to earth and letting mankind kill him.
Most the fairy tales my mom told me at bedtime were less delusional in nature.
But hand me proof - or even some sort of strong circumstantial evidence - and I would drop the atheist label and consider a new badge. But so far, in thousands of years of history of man - no one has done so.
Jeff
My personal favorite words of Thomas Paine fit here I think:
“Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is no more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory to itself than this thing called Christianity”
Thomas Paine
Anony Mous
A lot of those scientists are already predisposed by their faith to come to a certain conclusion and they can write all they want to
This is not a fact. A lot of those scientists did not believe or have faith. It is during the course of their scientific discovery that they came to the conclusion that there must be an intelligent designer. You are making assumptions.
