by The Quiet One 118 Replies latest jw experiences
Once i realized that the Watchtower was a lie eventually i also concluded that god is just an illusion and fantasy.
No one has ever talked to him, never heard from him or seen him after death and come back to tell us about him..
He does nothing for mankind.
I became agnostic and then atheist because there simply isn't any solid evidence that a god exists. He or "it" doesn't seem to interact with our world as we don't have any sound evidence of god interfering in world events and we have no way to reliably test or prove his existence. All we seem to have are ancient writings that deal with the idea of god and his alleged interactions with his chosen people in the Bible. Yet, scholars show that the Bible has changed quite a bit and we don't even have any...ANY...of the original manuscripts, only old copies that are much older than the originals.
Even if the Bible hasn't changed drastically in meaning from what its original authors intended, why should we take their word for it? Because they are telling us they saw supernatural events? Because they allegedly spoke with God himself? Again, there is no way to prove that this is true other than by taking their word for it; this is not belief based on sound evidence, and is subject to much scrutiny and leaves many unanswered questions.
Because my caller id at prayer said the number is disconnected or no longer in service.
Having taken the pill where I became a true beleiver for 33 years , then observing things that made you think ," that cant be right",then starting to seriously question things that the Society dont want you to , in other words using your supposedly God given brain ,why is the Society against higher education , why are they against personal study using outside , non JW ,sources.,what are they afraid of.The truth should be able to stand up to any criticsm , truth is truth. The WTB&TS has failed miserably .
So then I began a serious research of the bible and what it claimed and supposed to represent .It failed miserably , as have other so called inspired writings.
People who accept the Bible as the word of God do not use their brain or their thinking ability to question what is being said .
People who accept the bible / God as the be all and end all of their faith are no better than the r&f member of Jehovahs Witnesses who accepts whatever is printed in the Watchtower.
smiddy
Edit
And primarily by educating myself about" GOD."
smiddy
The same problem that Charles Darwin (who was a religious man to begin with) had with Ichneumonidae. This is a wasp species that lays its eggs inside the larva of another creature and the wasp larva when hatched eats the host larva alive. He wrote about it and said there was too much misery in the world. Nature seemed cruel to Darwin but of course nature is just nature, 'red in tooth and claw' as Tennyson wrote around the same time. Poisonous snakes, spiders and scorpions that kill many humans each year. What was God thinking creating these, did he have an off day!
Human cruelty without interference from this so-called loving god. Where is he? The 'free-will defence' of Christian tradition is that God could not allow humans to have free-will without the possibility that they would do evil things. This doesn't wash with me because any divine being would know that there is little free- will for people who are suffering under authoritarian regimes. In these circumstances the free-will of a few dictators destroys the free-will of others.
This does not account for natural disasters which even insurance companies still call acts of God. Disease takes many lives every year including those of children.
The religious arguments to answer these questions seem convoluted to me now. Occam's razor shows that we should proceed to simpler theories first until a greater explanation is needed. Therefore to give log-winded explanations which involve Adam and Eve, talking serpents, a man being tortured to death on a cross is multiplying entities beyond necessity according to Occam. In other words adding more and more theories to explain the apparent discrepancies in nature that a belief in God causes. To me the obvious answer became the simpler one, that nobody is in charge.
The only thing that solves all these problems for me is that nature is not cruel it is simply not guided by an omniscient intelligence. Evolution is blind and seemingly cruel in that it preserves the species rather than the individual. We got here by accident and people suffer from genetic errors or diseases in their bodies because these bodies evolved, as did viruses and bacteria. There is no perfection in evolution, only gradual adaptation. There are earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because our universe and this planet came into existence through natural forces and movements of tectonic plates is continual. Humans suffer at the hands of other humans because we are apes and apes are sometimes aggressive and violent. They are also intelligent, resourceful and they cooperate which gives me great hope for this beautiful world.
RESEARCH .
Villagegirl is making a generalisation that those who reject the WT also reject god.
Many still believe in god after the watchtower, ...many of us who dont would put THAT down to a lack of research, that's all.
I was finally totally honest with myself. I felt the fear...and was brutally honest anyway, and let the answers lead me where they may.
I stopped trying to make it all fit into my preconceived belief.
This type of honesty was very difficult to achieve, since I didn't even realize I WAS being dishonest with myself for most of my life until I asked myself how I knew god was real. Me....personally....how did I KNOW.
Turns out...I didn't. I just thought I did because I had been told all my life that this god, that I believed in, was real. Adults had told me this, school teachers had told me this, priests had told me this, society had told me this. It never occured to me they were all talking through their asses and didn't actually KNOW any more than I did. And most of them only believed it because THEY had also been brought up to believe it, and told by adults that god was real. Once I realized that. I could finally be honest....I didn't KNOW anything.
In fact...the more I learn these days....the more I realize I KNOW bugger all. It's great. So much to learn, so little time.
Atheists in my opinion secretly believe - villagegirl
- Kassad84
What you mean is that you can't comprehend a world without god. You find it impossible to understand others who have no need for this delusion so you take comfort in the canard that atheists are just dishonest.
If you really want to learn you need to listen. Have authentic conversations with people who do not share your worldview and try to understand them.
