This was mentioned in a post earlier. All of the responses were interesting. Many, however, dealt with the JW mentality and being of spiritual snobbery.
Oh gawd folks it's everywhere! I hear it in all walks of faith. Some of them are attacks mostly on those of us "choosing to live in the dark" because we do not accept Christianity as necessary for salvation. Some of us don't believe that there IS a salvation. I don't say that Christianity is not truth because to some people, it is. That's totally fine. But the table is turned with cold words when my beliefs, or the lack thereof, are mentioned. I'm not out to deconvert people. But I have been accused of leaving Christ because I wanted to not be 'answering to anyone'. That's garbage. I answer to myself. When I go in to a store, I do not shoplift because..
A) There may be security cameras watching me
B) Jesus can still see me
C) It never crosses my mind.
The answer, for me is C.
I've had many many things to deal with in my life. Like many others, I've had a large share of hardships dumped on me. Some that are circumstance, some are other people's fault, some are resident of bad choices made my myself (like not going to college!). But when I turned to my sister one time just to talk about what was heavy on my mind, she is now a very active Christian, I am told that she cannot relate to a person that cannot (or doesn't try to) understand the mind of christ. That I am suffering due to my lack of faith in Christ, bladdy bladdy bladdy. needless to say, I do not go to her for support. I got smacked by the bible enough as a JW. Oh that's another one, she mentions that the only reason I do not now accept christianity is due to being part of a cult like the JWs. I don't think that is true. I went in to that religion with a honest heart. Seeking God not to make myself "feel" better but because I really wanted to love God in the best way that I could. If that is the answer a true heart gets from Christ...no thanks, I won't ask again!
so I guess I posted this as a result of how I have been feeling lately. It isn't just the JWs that are often spiritual snobs (not all of them are just for the record). They are all around me here where I live. I keep my agnostic points of view very private of course. If I were to let people know where I stood on a lot of things, in my small town, my children would be shunned by their friends parents. Where as, they can go on forever about their love for Jesus and this does not bother me in the least. I don't agree that it is vital to life to have it but I do not tell them this. I do wonder why things are this way. I seem to be far more tolerant of all people now than I was as a christian. The closed doors of the JW religion did not sit well with me that is why I did leave after 8 years in that depressingly bleak world.
But now, I have absolutley no desire to find God as I did before. So spiritual snobbery is everywhere. Believing that your beliefs keep you safe...fine. Judging others for not sharing those beliefs is what persecution is all about. If it isn't religions attacking one another, its them attacking those of us that do not have one.
For what it's worth,
Tera( who doesn't need the fear of god to behave herself)