Why did you stop believing in God?

by The Quiet One 118 Replies latest jw experiences

• 

  James Brown

  My Answer to why did you stop believing in God.

  I was born and raised as a witness 60 years ago.

  Thirty years ago, I realize things were not adding up in Watchtower land.

  I escaped which is a story in itself. Then I read the bible cover to cover 5 times.

  I watched tv preachers and read their mailings. Mailings of encouragement

  and solicitations for funds.

  There where things I did not appreciate about the bible.

  I was perishing and I found the scriptures foolish.

  I am not saying I was perishing because I felt guilty.

  I was perishing because everyday was the same, go to work, make some money, spend some

  money, save some money, take a vacation, buy toys, play with toys, play sports, eat well

  It dawned on me often, that I was like a lesser Solomon, I scratched all my itches, tickled all

  my fancy and still everything was vanity.

  I read as much as I could, and I mean as much as I could. My last ten working years I worked

  as a deputy Sheriff on the midnight shift at the county jail. That job gave me 6 out of 8 hours a night

  to read and explore. I couldn't and cant read that much at home. I was on camera I had to be awake

  full of coffee and I sat there and read. I read classics, college text books, I googled and searched Amazon

  for books explaining the origins and meaning of life.

  I read books by atheist, books about aliens, everything I could find on the meaning of life, and our

  origins.

  For about 5 years, I was agnostic, I doubted the God of the bible. I was like a modern day Apostle

  Paul, I argued with and put down Christians.

  My epiphany was not a materialization, but a realization, that I was empty inside.

  So I recalled the days where I was more happy and more fulfilled and when life had a meaning

  and purpose. And those where the days when I prayed and thought about God and read the bible.

  I realized as a man thinketh in his heart so is he.

  So I started thinking about God and Jesus and developing a personal relationship. And

  it worked for me. I enjoy my relationship and understanding of God.

  In time I stepped over all the dead bodies of friends families and loved ones. I realized I was on the long

  trail to the elephant grave yard.

  To me, for me, it makes sense to believe in God. This life is not the best life, but it is the way

  to the best life. We all have to die.

  My experience with the witnesses threw me a curve ball but I got through it.

  I was mad at God for sometime because of it.

  I was mad at God for all the bad that happened to me and to the world.

  Then I came to realize. I was only hurting myself. God does things his way.

  And I can either take his blessings, take the good with the bad

  or be mad and angry with him and leave his presence,

  which is a way of creating our own hell on earth and eternity.
• 

  whathappened

  You know the prhase "God works in mysterious ways?" I got to thinking the reason we think that is because God doesn't work at all, he is not there.

  People invented him to explain the unexplainable, that is it in a nutshell.
• 

  James Brown

  You know the prhase "God works in mysterious ways?" I got to thinking the reason we think that is because God doesn't work at all, he is not there.

  People invented him to explain the unexplainable, that is it in a nutshell

  That could be. Some people don't need crutches or assistance.

  I've thought the same many times and much of my life.

  To me, it's a little more comfortable to think he works in mysterious ways.

  If people invented God, There is an upside to it, and I am going to seperate the dross from

  the gold and run with it.

  My belief and understanding of God is not demanding like the Jehovahs witness belief.

  It's not demanding or complicated.
• 

  frankiespeakin

  I think the idea of a god or gods/godesses originating from the human unconscious to consciousness during our evolution, is a tool used by the psyche as we started to label stuff making words and giving them symbolic meaning. Perhaps the idea of god was introduced into the human psyche as a tool to make sense of the world and this idea produced the least discomfort from cognitive dissonace as we gained cognitive abilities so we gravitated to it in its various forms, it helped to give answers to primitive man's mind, they even made up stories about it and other things and they are called myths, these myths are very important because they give us pictures into the minds of our ansestors and ability to make sense of the world.
• 

  Tater-T

  oh and this guy is harsh but make solid points

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TynFaEQj_Ys

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9GOGY9Nh4M
• 

  The Quiet One

  Did anyone stop believing after they read a Dawkins book? These militant atheists, what can the WT do about them..
• 

  Tater-T

  the PBS series Closer to Truth . .. I DVR it and it is the best, it really examines all the arguements .. Cosmos.. Conscienceness.. God..

  here's a link to web site

  http://www.closertotruth.com/episodes

  it was huge too.. Now I don't belive we have freewill which I never even thought was a question till this TV series
• 

  CyrusThePersian

  For me, the reason for rejecting the concept of God is quite easy, it's lack of evidence.

  I see no need to believe in an intelligent designer when the vast amount of evidence gathered and published by scientists points simply to the fact that the natural world came about by natural means.

  When I read about disasters, wars, disease and strife that take millions of innocent lives each year I don't wonder why a loving God would allow such things, or try to justify his inaction. There is simply no evidence that he cares, or even knows what's going on. Instead, I realize that things like plate tectonics cause eathquakes and tsunamis, that disease microorganisms cause sickness and death, and man's greed and inate inhumanity to his fellow man cause wars and strife.

  When a loved one dies, I don't wonder if he's been judged by some God as being worthy or unworthy of a blissful afterlife, there just isn't any evidence for it, one way or another, so why believe it? What the evidence does indicate is that when we die the love that was in us, and the hate, the hopes, dreams and aspirations that we have all die, when we die.

  The world is so wonderful with so much to give to us and to learn about, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves and waste our time with pretty myths for which there's no good evidence. It seems far better to me, in our own puny and admittedly ignorant way, to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.

  CyrusThePersian
• 

  LongHairGal

  Lisa Rose:

  I also have a problem with the idea of a "loving" god with all the atrocities that have happened throughout the ages and the untold suffering still happening. To me, there is no justification for this.

  Like you, I also feel there is a higher power (and I am grateful to that higher power for life and beauty in the world). However, I am not buying any issue of "universal sovereignty" or blaming everything on man's "imperfection". They can go tell this fairy tale to somebody else.