“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”
HOW TO AVOID THE A-HOLE SPIRIT OF SOME HERE...
by DATA-DOG 152 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
-
millie210
Even those who leave the WT and see behind the curtain and the immense fraud and arrogance of the "organization" often retain, desperately in fact, the need to be "right" to "have all the answers". To correct other's thinking. Its a fear of uncertainty perhaps. The need for an anchor.
Yes Paris. I did think that it was a carry over attitude and was afraid to say so.
You are much braver than I!
I wish I was as succinct and brave a poster as you are!
-
opusdei1972
I come from an ex-jw forum in which a guy started to insult me because I began to write posts against the inerrancy of the Bible. The guy claims to have a degree in theology. So, they told me that "I am a vulgar ignorant". After that, I noticed that some christians, who were Witnesses, are still Witnesses in certain sense. .....However, I found here a freedom to show my thoughts.
-
DATA-DOG
I'm not an atheist. I also don't go trolling on Xian forums, telling believers they are dumb. Somehow, it's ok for Xians to subtly belittle others.
DD
-
DATA-DOG
APOG, this is NOT directed at you or any other regular poster at JWN. You never act in a holier-than-thou manner.
DD
-
AndDontCallMeShirley
Paris: Really ? "Atheist Nations are more intelligent, educated and happy" ? Really ?
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/201102/does-religion-make-people-happier
Does religion make people happier?
Are atheists actually happier?
Published on February 17, 2011 by Nigel Barber, Ph.D. in The Human Beast
If religion contributes to happiness, then the most religious countries should be happiest. Yet, the opposite is true.
According to Gallup data for 2010, the happiest nations were Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands. These are among the least religious countries in the world. Also according to Gallup data, Sweden, Denmark and Norway were the second, third, and fourth least religious states, being exceeded only by Estonia in their atheism.
...The principle source of European happiness is also the main reason for their unprecedented level of atheism. As detailed in an earlier post, when countries become more affluent, and their people acquire greater material security, their religious temperature nose dives (4).
---
It only makes sense that agnostics and atheists would know more about relgion than the religious. I have noted on several occasions that believing is one step up in the evolutionary chain for sentient creatures. It's just above feeling. Many religious people simply stop right there and never take the time to think, research from a 360 degree perspesctrive, analyze and prove. It appears, based on the data, that the same lazy mindedness associated with their religion carries over to most everything else.
Atheists tend to require as much very good evidence as possible before making decisions. And several studies point out that atheists are simpy more intelligent than religious people. I posted a refernce to one such study last week. Here it is again:
In a 2013 meta-analysis, led by Professor Miron Zuckerman, of 63 scientific studies about IQ and religiosity, a negative relation between intelligence and religiosity was found in 53 out of 63.
In 2008, intelligence researcher
Helmuth Nyborg examined whether IQ relates to denomination and income , using representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth , which includes intelligence tests on a representative selection of white American youth, where they have also replied to questions about religious belief. His results, published in the scientific journal Intelligence , demonstrated that atheists scored an average of 1.95 IQ points higher than agnostics, 3.82 points higher than liberal persuasions, and 5.89 IQ points higher than other dogmatic persuasions.
Secondly, the authors investigated the link between religiosity and intelligence on a country level. Among the sample of 137 countries, only 23 (17%) had more than 20% of atheists, which constituted "virtually all... higher IQ countries." The authors reported a correlation of 0.60 between atheism rates and level of intelligence, which was determined to be "highly statistically significant".
Another provocative finding indicated both atheists and agnostics are surprisingly knowledgable about a variety of religions.
blog.dictionary.com atheism/agnosticism..
-
DJS
Paris,
Your lecture was an insult and your rant was tepid and unsupported. No one insulted you. Atheists require a higher level of evidence. Feelings and beliefs don't go very far on this site - nor should bhey. I observe most OPs, rarely entering theist or scientific discussions. I care nothing about the former and know little about the latter. We have posted data which supports my comments about theists/non-theist nations many times on this site. Google it. I have a ton of it readily available.
-
This is my tigersuit
i personally cant help but feel like this might slightly have been aimed at me. so if any of my comments have offended you paris, sorry. please just remember that this is an open forum to express personal views, which are at times going to be offensive to someone. we're all here because of our jw experience, be it a short time or a lifetime.
also remember that many of us are simply angry. angry at "god", angry at the bible, angry at religion. we've been beaten down, abused, enslaved, and shunned all in the name of religion.
all that being said, its nice to have you aboard.
-
This is my tigersuit
oh, and data dog, i love your posts, always make me laugh bro
-
objectivetruth
I've decided to implement a new Rule.. There will now be a ZERO Tolerance policy in place against Humble Bragging, or Direct Insults of character veiled under the guise of Humility, knowledge or enlightment.
I will now supply 2 Examples of violations of this rule :
Example # 1
I'm really sorry that I wasn't able to respond to your message on JWN.. I have been so busy Feeding the poor, building a play ground, helping old ladies cross the street and, oh any way enough about me..
Example # 2
"Dear, Anonymous_lost_simpleton_JW - You have an air of superiority because you were a Jehovah's Witness don't you think ? When you were a JW you believed that you had all the answers. Your whole existence was based on the idea of "me" and "them". You and the JW's have the idea that the common rubble of humanity around them simply do not have the "special knowledge" you have.
You have no special knowledge in reality, I know this because everything knowable can be known, and I'm on the pathway of knowing it. After you left the WT and you saw behind the curtain and the immense fraud and arrogance of the "organization" you have still tried to remain special .. in fact, your need to be "right" and to "have all the answers" or to correct other's thinking is simply a fear of uncertainty.. perhaps, you still need an anchor.
It may be difficult to accept that you are as lost now as you were as a JW and just as likely to be wrong. People like you cling to dogmas of all kinds including science, to feel safe.
As I mentioned previously about myself, I'm on the pathway of enlightment, some call it Nirvana Buddhists would call it , attachment.
Some would say enlightenment and creativity are beyond attachment and as a great artist that I know a great deal about said, "Art is a serious of destructions." It may be, that life is a serious of destructions, not for people like you though, only for people like me with the courage to be free."
The first Violation of this rule will result in 3 Members of the forum posting a little sad face emoticon.
The second violation will Result In Death (The Gehenna type, NOT the Sheol Type)