You are on your own, wonderful journey. A whole big world is out there waiting to be discovered.
just what am I supposed to believe now??
by purrpurr 94 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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mauiboy
Read "Crisis of Conscience" by Ray Franz. In the final chapter (Perspective) you will hear thoughts and logic that will touch your heart. Try to read the whole book....it is a bit tedious at times, but an extremely worthwhile read. You will feel validated and more in touch with yourself and God if you take it cover to cover. I've been out 7 1/2 years and it was truly, as they say, 'a breath of fresh air'.......just what you need to get the repugnant, stale, and death-dealing WT teachings out of your soul.
All the best to you.
Mauiboy
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cofty
purrpurr - Nobody should attempt to choose their own beliefs. Keep learning about life, the universe and everything. In time you will realise that your beliefs have taken care of themsleves while you weren't looking.
Humanism is a foundation for ethics that excludes traditions, supernatural beliefs, religious dogma and all other non-rational claims.
It is built on the premise that the flourishing of conscious creatures - specifically humans - is the thing that actually matters. All moral statements have to be justfied by showing how a rule impacts in terms of the well-being or suffering of others.
For example "god says homosexuality is an abomination" would be disallowed by humanism since it is based on divine edict with no reasonable rationale.
As Cantleave said earlier there is so much in the natural world that is truly awesome without having to add a supernatural.
"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" - Douglas Adams
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millie210
Purrpurr, I think for some of us where we are right now is as bad as it gets.
That means better is ahead of us.
I am picking up a lot of "trust the process of looking and examining" in what people are writing here. There is comfort in that I think.
One of the things that I have been thinking a lot about lately is the gap in the JW timeline between when the apostles died off and the resurgence of the late 1800's and Pastor Russell's teachings.
Where was God then? Where/who were his "people"? The JW answer to that is very sketchy and lacking in substance. Whenever they provide sketchy answers to honest questions, it has been my experience that it is because there isn't an answer that fits nicely with other things they are proposing.
In this case, it doesn't fit well with the teaching that God has always had a people for his name. That God has always worked with a "group. From that we are expected to take a logical (?) leap to believe Abel was Gods "group" in his time. Then Noah, at least Noah had an actual group (his family) thus making the Abel connection not be questioned as to why exactly he was a group. Then on and on it goes tying in with Abraham and the Jewish nation etc.
But it gets very blurry after the apostles died off and the Bible was basically considered "written" doesn't it?
So as I said above, I have been thinking about those individuals who lived then. How did they feel about God? Not just the Anglo European view point (which molded the American viewpoint) but people everywhere?
What did they believe? What did they comfort themselves with? What gave them hope?
I am not a well studied person but I do have the ability to think. To peel away emotion and look at facts and then add the emotion back in where appropriate.
I have read long enough here to know that this doesn't have to automatically result in my becoming a jaded angry person who barely believes in anything outside myself.
Three are many warm, caring and highly intelligent thinking minds here. It does make me feel hopeful that I can get to where they are.
In the organization, there were so many times I was told "you think too much." Or, "you need to trust in Jehovah more." So the concept of thinking and it not being wrong or scary and where to place my trust (at the moment I am standing in one place, holding my trust in my hands with no where to put it just yet) is baffling me greatly.
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FlyingHighNow
For me, the WTBTS robbed me of the magic and wonder of life. They reduced this universe and our earth down to nearly nothing. You'll find a lot of atheists on this site. I am not one of them. They say they are happy with no belief in God or god(s). Then there are those of us who have never lost our belief that there is some kind of god.
I was a Universalist, even as a small child. I was raised in the Episcopal Church. Unfortunately, JWs commandeered my life and brainwashed me for a a few years. They robbed me of my joy and sensibility. Now, my sensibility has returned and I am a universalist, once again. There are universalists in nearly every faith.
This is an easy read, that you could benefit from reading. It is written by a former hell fire and damnation preacher, who began to realize how ludicrous it was for God to be so exclusive and murderous. I'm not telling you to read it to adopt his views. I am suggesting you read it to find gentler alternatives to the WT doctrines to have as a comparison and contrast. The book is uplifting and shoots holes in the claim that the God is about destroying or torturing any of his creatures.
If Grace is True: Why God Will Save Every Person
http://www.amazon.com/If-Grace-True-Every-Person/dp/0062517058
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DATA-DOG
Righteous ones?!?! I don't know about that. I used to believe that I was anointed, I even celebrated the memorial in private. WHY?!?! Because I chose to believe the NT over the WTBTS. There was one problem. The absurdity of me being chosen over BILLIONS of other humans. Talk about egomaniacal. I simply could not reconcile being an "anointed" one of GOD from the USA, while untold million suffer and perish around me. It was the equivalent of Jesus finding my car keys while a child awaits death in Africa.
DD
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FlyingHighNow
This book is written by an ex JW and also an easy, informative read. I recommend it to all exiting JWs. It's encouraging and shows what the early, Gnostic Christians believed about Jehovah, that he was an undergod, responsible the suffering here on Earth.
Jehovah Unmasked
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cofty
FHN - In what way do you think the superstitious, esoteric ramblings of gnostics add any clarity to life in the 21st century?
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Magnum
DD - as JWs, we thought that we had the capactiy to recognize the ring of truth and that that indicated that we had good hearts. I say now that those of us who have the capacity to recognize the hypocrisy, money-loving, craziness, shallowness, idolatry (GB & JW.ORG worship), falsities, etc. in JWdom have something that the believing JWs don't have. Call it what you want, but we have something. Maybe it's just plain intelligence, but I think it's more than that. I think it's honesty, discernment, righteousness, etc. I feel privileged that I am one of the few from among JWs who can recognize that something's wrong. I think that's indicative of higher character.
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FlyingHighNow
Purrpurr, I have written you a PM. I wish you a wonderful time, reading, thinking and discovering.