Of course you do.
You atheist really annoyed me
by confusedandalone 226 Replies latest jw friends
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caliber
Brevity is the soul of wit
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The Quiet One
Talesin, I must disagree with you regarding Cofty.. Even when I've talked absolute crap in the past, he has never been nasty. Brutally honest and not treading on eggshells, perhaps, but he's helped me a lot.. Could you give an example of something nasty that he has said?
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The Quiet One
Talesin said: "You are barely out of the *cult* attitude.." .. Um, don't you think that what you just said there is supercilious, and at least on the borderline of being nasty (comparing the way he thinks to a cultlike mentality)? It was certainly a personal attack.
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Satanus
The idea that people should not be left alone in their belief is the basis of evangelicalism. Its part of the reason that the british came over to north america, to save the savages from their pagan beliefs w christianity. Now, of course, people need to be saved from christianity w atheism. Ironic, kind of, don't you think?
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The Quiet One
Satanus: How many wars have been started due to atheists feeling the need to convert those with different beliefs? How many atheists have decided to shun a member of their own flesh and blood because of a difference in belief? How many atheists have forced/coerced anyone to convert to a new set of beliefs, with threat of torture and death or even with insidious emotional blackmail? Your comparison seems to fall short. You do raise a very thought-provoking point, though.. If someone tries to preach a 'better' set of religious beliefs, doctrines that are the 'truth' as opposed to the 'false' beliefs of others, intolerance/prejudice based on those beliefs is born. It is fortunate, then, that atheists do not hold to any particular set of beliefs.. And they do not claim to know the absolute 'truth', as there is no voice/holy book to tell them such.
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LisaRose
Back to the original post:
However after a few months of really thinking about things I am starting to really ask myself alot of things that make me not doubt whether God exists - but whether it is really important if I know... or if why am iI really concerned about the bible. After all as once stated if God really wanted us to know his name why didn't he preserve it? If he really wants us to serve him exactly the way he wants why is it not really spelled out in the bible?
This was pretty much what happened to me. At first, after leaving, it was uncomfortable, the belief in the religion was a usefully construct, as it explained away the bad things in the world (Don't worry about anything, God will fix that!), and held out a hope of life in the JW "lion petting" paradise. So it was like having your security blanket ripped away. I thought I would eventually figure it out all, or come up with all the answers. Eventually I realized it was OK not to have all the answers, that anyone who tells you they do, is lying or deceived. I do not know if God exists, there certainly is no overwhelming evidence of it in my mind, nor do I believe in the bible.
Despite all this, I do feel religion has its place, and I would never criticize someone for either believing or not believing in God. I do think we all have a spiritual side, and I recently began to attend church because I find it adds something to my life, to take that time to nurture that side of myself. I want to belong to a faith based community, to explore my spirituality, and for fellowship and for volunteer opportunities. There are some Athiests here that do seem to ridicule any one who professes belief in a diety, but it is a forum, and we are not dubs anymore, we can believe different things.
Cofty was on my case once because I dared say that IF heaven exists then I believe my Cat will be there also (this was the topic of the thread, which I assumed was a bit tongue in cheek). It seemed ridiculous to me to argue with someone over something like that and I think sometimes he takes things a little too seriously, but he makes a lot of very logical arguments, and he is certainly entitled to his opinion. I try to read everyone's comments and not get offended at anything, and I have learned a lot from some of the Athiests here about evolution and other things.
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Satanus
'It is fortunate, then, that atheists do not hold to any particular set of beliefs.. And they do not claim to know the absolute 'truth', as there is no voice/holy book to tell them such.'
Only the demand that whatever you claim to have experienced or seen must be brought to the lab to be tested under their conditions. That is a good approach, generally, but not always. Often, the evangelical ones go further and tell the experiencer what he did or did not experience, what he was thinking or doing, or whatever. Its has the flavor of the absolutist. The lab is the holy place.
S
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The Quiet One
I doubt that most atheists would 'demand' that a simple claim of having experienced a particular sensation/feeling would require that you be dragged off to the nearest laboratory. If you or someone else claims that they know something nobody else does due to interpreting their experience as a contact/interaction of some kind with a supreme being that most of the population has never seen or heard of.. Doesn't such a claim require testing and questioning? I am glad that people questioned and attacked my beliefs when I came to Jwn, as I am sure are others. If I had been left to my beliefs, would that have been beneficial to me in the long term? Should anyone's expression of belief merely be accepted without questioning, just so long as it's not Jw doctrine being discussed as if it is true or factual?
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Satanus
I generally agree w atheists. Sometimes, when they get too pushy, i might disagree.
S