by new hope and happiness 29 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Recentley i read Ray Franz book " Christian Freedom" and it occurd to me if he had lost his faith and become athiest the society would have delighted in that.
Why? I think had Ray turned athiest it would have been more easily " justified" in the mags what a " evil man he was" ....but maintaining his faith left the possibillity the society could be wrong.
I am athiest but i kept this to myself when i left..
Any comments?
They demonised poor old Ray anyway, but I do agree it is a good idea not to give JW's more than is necessary and therefore stop them thinking "Hey ! good old NH&H has left and seems to be doing O.K "
If I told my JW family that I no longer needed a Sky-Daddy I bet they would never listen to me again, beyond the Pale us poor old Atheists.
I spoke to a guy I grew up with who's now an elder.
Even though he looked jumpy when I was saying some things about the Borg - he was at least listening (with a frown). Then he asked me what I thought of the bible.
I said I was an atheist... His whole face just went slack at the very word. Conversation over.
We continued to speak for a few moments, but his eyes were vacant. (It was actually quite creepy)
I think there is some truth to what you are saying. Some folks just will not listen to an atheist - the very mention of the word causes distrust and suspicion.
This is a bit of a 'what if' which is difficult to quantify really.
I am an atheist but I do know that many non JW churches do look at the context of scriptures whereas the WBT$ only use scriptures to build their empire.
I can see why the churches have more appeal than the WBT$. Many churches are more accurate in their use of the book of fairytales Bible.Many churches are more loving too....no shunning.
Although I see all religion as crapper than crap I can see how disgusting, vile cults like the WBT$ could lose members to other faiths.
Lucid interesting...when James Dean was shooting a scene in East of Eden, in which he was asked by his father ( in real life) the very religiousr " Raymond massey"to recite Bible passages, Dean OFF SCRIPT improvised and said " f...k, sh.. and p... on the bible. This was to get the devoutley religiouse Masseys. angry reaction and it worked it made the scene....
My point is i think religiouse people are more sensitive to there " holy" books than athiests are to there books....maybe its because religiouse people think more with the heart and athiests with the head, or maybe i dont know what i am talking about....
I think you're right, in the same way it may have been a good thing that he never joined another established church and held on to a few unorthodox views, such as anti-trinitarian, annihilationist etc...
Punk you say " although i see all religion as crapper than crap......" tell me do you think buddisam is a religion? i have found that it quite interesting, but i ignore the organisational teachings. My Aunts a quaker, and i like the idea of a meeting where everyone sits in silence...thats the best way to avoid the crap.
Yup - If someone can show I'm wrong about what I think... I learn much and am happy to have done so.
If someone can show a JW that they are wrong about what they believe... They lose eternal life with the fluffy lions and the treehouses.
I guess that's just too much at stake for some of them to even risk listening/reading. Phobia indoctrination at work, it seems.
NH&H =
do you think buddisam is a religion?
I guess I'd probably pigeonhole them as a religion. Again, there's this whole thing about some bloke taught stuff and people follow. I don't like that really.
Quakers. Well, I'm sure there are a lot of genuine folk about but to follow a crowd and do as they do is the stuff I want to avoid now. I spent 50 years being told I was no good by some weirdos in Brooklyn via their stupid writings........everything that is bandwagon or the herd is now distasteful to me. I think that's why my boss once said that I was very 'contrary'.
So I guess to sum up, that anywhere people get together and revere or follow someone else.....that's where I remain abscent from.
I am now shunned by JWs and I don't care......sod 'em.......job done.
Punk you say " i guess to sum up, anywherw people get together and revere or folliw someone else....." and may i say that is why i am sick of football...may i also add in the nicest way, some posters here yourself included seem to be " revered". May be a better word is " respected". So i think having opinions is good and educational for all, but becomming a follower thats another thing...
