I didn't lose faith. I gained knowledge and clarity. It's been a wonderfully happy and freeing experience. I highly recommend discarding superstitions.
How many of you have lost your faith on JWN
by Most Noble 58 Replies latest jw friends
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sizemik
Even on this same thread Steve said, " I saw through "faith" long before I left the organization;" Many did not examine historical Christianity.
I can't speak for Steve and unless you know more than I do, that's a non sequitur. A person still in "the organisation" is in reality, as free as anyone to examine historical Christianity.
But why just historical Chritianity? . . . why not also the pre-Christian roots?, religion in general?, the psychological phenomena of belief? You must be certain of your objectivity before you begin.
I personally think that believing we are all here by random processes and chance is delusional.
It's hard to comment without knowing what you base that on.
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slimboyfat
Didn't lose my faith here, but I did lose my watch. Has anyone seen it?
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Glander
Mouthy, glad you and Jesus are safe drivers. Do you sit in the passenger seat ? Does Jesus have a GPS ?
PS. clean rocks
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rip van winkle
Most Noble-My faith in JW's/WTBTS was lost already before coming to this site. What JWN has done is affirmed that I have been living The Lie for X amt of years.
There are good arguments for and against and my belief in a Creator has not diminished. Do I have the same understanding of what God is? The answer is No.
But, the question you asked was about faith. Faith in what?
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King Solomon
Sizemik said:
"I know a reasonable number of ex-JW's and have never heard this reasoning . . . ever. The great majority have simply stood back and performed a more subjective evaluation of religion(s)."
Yeah, good pick-up on an oft-repeated claim that isn't true: in my case, I doubted God's existence while in JWs, and never got a satisfactory answer from them or anyone else. It was the same old theodicy question: where did evil come from? Even after 40 yrs of asking, I've never heard a compelling answer (and have found plenty of other answers to realize its a pointless question to ask, like pondering angels sitting on heads of pins).
And if you think of it, how many issues are exclusive to JWs such that they would lead to a loss of faith? Would someone leave the JWs voluntarily over say, blood transfusion (and I mean BEFORE faced with the issue, not after)? Maybe there's some examples, but I cannot see someone leaving the JWs over say, Xmas, or saluting the flag, etc when they knew the policies BEFORE they joined. And those JW-exclusive ideas aside, you're dealing with fundamental issues not addressed by any Bible-based religion.
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Atheists are used to having the English language stacked against us, defining us by what we are NOT (NOT a theist); 'losing ones faith' is simply another manifestation of that phenomena, when the reality is we are gaining rationality and independent thought.
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CA said:
"But I'm learning that by saying that, I am no better than the atheist saying that I am delusional. Maybe what it comes down to is that we are ALL delusional and what we think we know...we don't."
Soooo, if a psychiatrist diagnoses someone with schizophrenia, is the doctor no better, and also schizophrenic?
He that thinks he knows something, doesn't not yet know anything. (1Cor 8:2)"
That's a good example of the Bible trying to appear to be wise by using paradoxes (a favorite technique of Jesus AND Yods), when if you think about it, it's just being stoopid (sic): the person at least thinks they know, and THAT'S something.
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Chariklo
Grandma Jones, Hi!
I don't think we've met before, but you said exactly what I think.
I didn't lose faith. I gained knowledge and clarity. It's been a wonderfully happy and freeing experience.
Couldn't have put it better myself!
I've gained immensely from JWN. Having had the nonsense deconstructed, it's time to sort out what's worth keeping out of all of it. If it's nothing, then it's nothing. If there's a tiny piece of treasure amongst the garbage, then it'll be good to find!
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LisaRose
I had already been out quite a while before I found JWN. It did help me resolve a few lingering questions, and it was great finding others who had been through the same thing. I am glad it is here.
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OnTheWayOut
It's already been said on this thread. I join those that say they lost nothing but gained knowledge.
Even in removing ignorance and fear, I remain "spiritual" in the sense that concern for my fellow man and a sense of connection to others is very important to me.
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breakfast of champions
Nope. Lost it before.