by Billy1000 83 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I don't think you were preaching Billy. Welcome to the forum, it's always interesting to compare notes with people from other groups.
You will find that a lot of exJWs have not only questioned the specific teachings of the cult but have gone further and investigated the foundations of faith.
It can be a bit daunting but stick around and exchange ideas.
How about this, obviously a lot if not all have either grown up in or know people inside the JW society.
So why all the hate, most people in here have made up their mind to leave and i am guessing everyone has different reasons, but why come back to a forum to discuss?
I am intrigued, we have similar things happen with us.
Obviously everyone here has made their mind up as to why they no longer believe, and that is something that needs to be investigated also.
Wow! You've summed up everybody here already and I guess for your part you'll agree that sentiment applies also to you because you come across as having 'made up your mind as to why you believe, and that is something that needs to be investigated also'.
What makes you assume that we for our part have already - and continue to do so - investigate other belief systems?
The reason i started to do this was so i could gain opinions and beliefs other then the ones i have been told all my life, is that not fair enough.
Well if that is your sole intention, there's no need for you to react when people share their opinions and beliefs with you. You seem very reactive for someone who is simply finding out what others believe.
I would just prefer that you don't send mixed messages (e.g., 'I want to know what you think but hey, I'm kind of reacting to what you think and I think you should investigate more').
I am sorry if i have caused offence, but i have not had one reply actually saying why they believe what they do, mostly it is the fact that they can't believe it anymore.
I am here, (i have also contacted the Jewish faith and the Catholics) i want to discuss the things not simply you state what you think then i do me. If this isn't the place for that fair enough.
I am not here to convert or preach, but that is what a discussion is actually talking about why people have certain thought processes about different things.
Hello Billy. I'm a former elder of 14 years, now atheist.
I wish to believe as many true things and as few false things as possible. I see no good reason to believe that any of the words found in Bibles originate with a god that exists outside of space and time. Do you have any?
I am sorry if i have caused offence, but i have not had one reply actually saying why they believe what they do, mostly it is the fact that they can't believe it anymore.I was born into a JW family (third generation). I was told the bible is historical fact, that its historical facts could be used to prove prophecy would be fulfilled. So I started to read history because what could go wrong? And I learned that the bible has large sections which are not historically true. And that got me wondering about how that could happen. So I started to study how the bible came to be. And you quickly learn that there are huge problems with what some religions teach about the bible. And the other Christian denominations which don't require that historical truth, require a spiritual truth - about Jesus life, his death and then early christianity. And even there history isn't the same as the tales told to explain early christianity. So I ended up agnostic (generally), but certainly an atheist so far as it concerns anything based on Abrahamic religions.
Thank you for your replies
OneGenTwoGroups - So after 14 years of being an Elder you decided that you no longer believe in the teachings of the bible.. can you tell me how you came to that realization. I personally feel it is always good to have doubts about any belief whether that be spiritual or not, so you can make sure that we are not just going along with the crowd and conforming as was the case in my younger years... we have had people in our Ecclesias that the same thing has happened, the are a leader within the community then vanish as they no longer believe
Mephis - I would say i am similar to you however have gone the similar way, i love history and used that to prove to myself that the Bible is real, especially what i stated before with the prophecies in Daniel especially.
Mephis - I would say i am similar to you however have gone the similar way, i love history and used that to prove to myself that the Bible is real, especially what i stated before with the prophecies in Daniel especially.
There are a lot of questions over whether Daniel is indeed one author, let alone an author making prophesies about world powers in advance. Most scholars date the book to the mid-2nd century BCE which would leave the main 'prophesies' fitting neatly into a whole genre of 'end of times' literature. You can fit the later beasty things to almost any period of history you care to after that. As various groups have done. But, yeah, I started at Genesis and went through the Bible as history from there.
