by Seraphim23 136 Replies latest jw friends
I desperately wanted to believe in some form of religion for years but I'm afraid it would seem that it is all just superstition and snake oil.
Reality is well worth the initial pain though and to dispense with the burden of superstition can be very liberating and refreshing.
I now believe that to be truly humane and apathetic you must first dispense with any kind of religion, particularly Christianity and Islam.
I realised that all my life I had been in a religion based on nothing but lies, so I started a search for "Truth", firstly the "true" religion.
How was I to make a choice ? based on emotion ? not good enough for me, it was emotion that kept me trapped in the WT cult, so ,evidence and reason had to be used, or I would end up just as deluded as the average JW, but in a different place, I didn't want that, for the first time in my life I was convinced that I was worth more than being told by some other person what was Truth.
It was a good while, two or three years, before I came to realise that things for which there is no proof are not worth bringing in to my life. I remain open minded, and will give real and deep consideration to any proof of anything, but faith is trusting that something is true with no solid proof.
Faith= Delusion.
I prefer the real world.
Edited to add a repeat of Simon's pithy comment : "I don't think it's possible to research religion thoroughly and still believe in it and be completely sane.
Pick one."
After I left the JW, I did got to a "church" - happy clappies and look I enjoyed the difference in the way they were very free in their worship and it moved me to tears. But...then...I...still...had...so...many...questions. I carried on doing research, asking questions, opening my eyes to what was really happening in the world. I opened my mind to the posibility of evolution and looked into that, to see how life had developed and adapted to it's surroundings etc...
I watched a documentary on Rowanda: the atrocities, the pain, the violence. In Sudan: the horrendous treatment of people, the rape, the killing. The rape of Nanking: the most horrific, brutal treatment of woman, children, elderly. In South Africa - my home: the violent crime unfolding before my eyes...No there is no god. None whatsover. And if by some chance there is and I am brought before this god on my judgement day - he'll have a lot of explaining to do to me.
After learning the TATT to some degree and leaving JW`s,, before I even found this site ,and then discovering it along with others such as JW Facts,free minds etc.which have completely expanded my knoweledge of the bible, religion, faith, God Almighty .Jesus a saviour .prophets etc. its all bullshit
Do I beleive that death ends it all ? I dont know , maybe it does , maybe it doesnt ,
Do I beleive their is life outside our solar system ? I dont know , maybe their is ,maybe their is not .
Do I beleive in a spiritual existence ? maybe their is maybe their is not. I dont know.
Does the universe contain intelligent life forms we are not aware of ? maybe it does , maybe it doesnt I dont know
With the extroardinary amount of unexplained phenonema that has been documented these past hundred or so years can we truthfully say we have all the answers ?
I dont think so .
And GOD is certainly not the answer
smiddy
*Raises hand* ME!
I refuse to accept anything without evidence. REAL evidence. That which is provable, and disprovable. I am willing to consider anything within reason, if the evidence is readily available. I find I "believe" in fewer things all the time, and that's just fine with me. I am willing to consider the supernatural if evidence were available, to send me your deemunz! Haha
I refuse to spend one more day in ignorance.
Thank you Mrs Jones,
I had never heard of Apathiest before. If someone wants to fit me into a box, that will do without me objecting.
Cheers
Chris
I believe in one God and I think the bible says the demons believe that and shudder. I had faith, I thought, in the assured expectation of the things hoped for before the end of the generation that were alive in 1914 passed away but it didn't happen. I still have faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ but have wondered why? The honest answer is i'm not sure.
I think it's possible it's a lot of little things put together over time. Maybe it's the fruitage of the spirit. Maybe it's because we had a period of ghosts in the house. Maybe it's because I've felt that God has answered my prayers, sometimes. Maybe it's because without it I feel I have nothing so I keep it.
Maybe be I don't understand what faith is. I think it's more than belief I trust God and when I die if my faith meant nothing it really won't matter and if it did then I'll be glad I had it.
Black sheep - didn't Aqualung eye little girls with bad intent, whilst sitting on a park bench?
Here you have another atheistic beliver. For even Atheism is just a´ belive. I was a JW for over 20 years. Even an elder.
during these 20 years I remember concentration in pushing away all "odd" questions that my congr. and GB never spoke about. Then I decided to find out what was real, and what other thinkers already had thought. I signed in for University studies for over 3 years. Subject History of Ideeas and Science, Philosify, and Archoeolog. From my last year in University I was turned in to clean clear atheist, even though one of my professors also was serving as a catholic priest. I often wundred why such an educated men, turn into religion again? His answer was that Religion and science has nothing to do with one another. But just the searching for Good shows that the human brain is dedicated to find security, knowledge, stability and some/any answer that satisfy our hunger for knowledge.
Perhaps you could start with reading Karen Armstrong "The battle for Good". The book goes through many fundamentalistic believs during a 1000 years. (Karen was a catholic nun for over 10 years and is now a professor in Theology at Oxford.) Her ideas can show you very much about how faith does much harm.
Bugbear
Loubelle
I remeber when the rwanda htusi/tutsi thing errupted (memory is a bit grey bout the names)
who performed those atrocities - man. Why?
The history of S.Africa. Didn't the 'white man' (capatilsts) to terrible things to the natives ? Then didn't the natives turn around and do the same thing to the white s. africans? that book I told you about, she touches on some of that. Tells a good story. It has been a pattern throughout history. Nimrod ! Look at America's history. Australia's. England. Belgians, Spanish, Vikings, Normans, Mongols, Barbarians, down to Saddam hussein, dictatorships. The khyber rouge. North Korea. and on and on.
And organised religion, be it whatever shape or form, has played a major role in history and the atrocities that have happened. (pagan through to modern day christianity and Islam, now there are even buddhists killing muslims !
Man has dominated man to his injury. Is not that true ? Why though ?
Now some people are probably sitting there shouting apologist, nut ____ insert word, lol. Why so, why not beable to discuss these things. it bears no relevence whatsoever on believing or not believing.
