Posts by Onager

50

Question for the nonbelievers and atheists

by nykid in

what specifically made you stop believing in god and the bible?

was it a steady road of doubts or it was reading one book or one major event that made you realize the bible was not what it's claimed to be?.

.

Onager

It was a long period of study for me, but I did have one epiphany moment and, oddly, it was while watching "Conan the Barbarian" (the original one with Arnie).

It's the scene where Conan (barbarian) and a more civilised chap are talking about their gods. Conan says that his god Crom lives on a mountain, only respects strength etc. and the other god says his god is greater than Crom, his god is the everlasting sky and Crom lives under him.

It hit me that is exactly how the gods we are supposed to believe are real have developed. It's all about my god is better than your god. That's the driving force in the development of a deities characteristics. On top of a mountain > in the sky > above the sky for example. The gods have evolved to fill the needs of the people that believe in them.

16

"Who are we to question /god/?"

by LovelyEunie in

jw
friends

has anyone had this line said to them when there was questioning involved?

did it irritate you because when questioning did happen that line was almost always used as a shut down to keep you from going any further and to make you feel guilty in the process?

because we're just idiotic and feeble minded human beings, so surely we can't possibly begin to question the likes of god.

Onager

"I'm not questioning god, I'm questioning YOU. You're saying that this is true, YOU prove it."

35

Do you like the people in the Bible?

by Dis-Member in

the society always speaks about all the wonderful people and characters in the bible.. they always too speak of many of them as being so humble, faithful, loyal, diligent, loving, kind, wise, merciful etc, and worthy of imitation.

also of how god blessed them followed by endless examples and reasons why we today should imitate them.. .

they also speak of how wonderful it would be to meet some of these people in the future 'new system' and have often depicted scenes where the the survivors of armageddon would be gathered around some ancient resurrected faithful asking them questions and listening to their stories of times past.

Onager

I'd like to meet the person who can catch Three hundred foxes alive in one night. On his own!

Hang on, I just remembered that it's the same person who then tied burning torches to their tails and then let them go again in the worst act of animal cruelty since the flood killed everything not in a box. Don't want to meet him any more...

47

The Illusion of Superiority

by Coded Logic in

after reading dozens and dozens of posts and hundreds of comments, it seems to me that a great many people on this forum think that since they figured out ttatt, they must therefore be a highly intelligent and incredibly rational individual.

let me take a moment to congratulate everyone.

its a big step to figure this out - i know.. that said, it doesn't make you a genius!

Onager

"Because the two questions I asked in my OP were, "Do you know what logic is?" and "Have you ever studied logic?" Instead of considering these they instead asked "How do we know you're not suffering from the DK effect?""

I'm sorry but, again, you're assuming that they haven't considered your questions. In effect you're commiting the Cum Hoc Fallacy. You're assuming that their answer relates to your question. It doesn't.

It can be frustrating to construct a playground and then have people come into it that don't want to play by your rules, but that's pretty much the essence of the internet.

47

The Illusion of Superiority

by Coded Logic in

after reading dozens and dozens of posts and hundreds of comments, it seems to me that a great many people on this forum think that since they figured out ttatt, they must therefore be a highly intelligent and incredibly rational individual.

let me take a moment to congratulate everyone.

its a big step to figure this out - i know.. that said, it doesn't make you a genius!

Onager

"Your question illustrates my exact point. Instead of exercising a little bit of introspection and wondering “Hey, does that apply to me?” you’re instead worrying about applying it to someone else. This is not how intellectual honesty works."

Coded Logic, how do you know that they didn't ask "does that apply to me?", and *then* ask you?

Your assumption doesn't do you credit.

Here's a site that I found incredibly handy:

http://www.logicalfallacies.info/

24

Heavy metal

by Godsendconspirator in

i have always loved heavy metal music (thrash metal to be more specific).

since heavy metal is usually associated with satan and occult themes many christians and jws in particular stray away from it.

in my teenagehood i was listened to it obsessively until i started studying and got baptized at age 18 and i started listening to other genres.

Onager

I went to see Iron Maiden at Twickenham! I made a point of saying to my friends "If we get split up, meet up at the Lion." :)

(Twickenham also hosts the District Convention for London and the Lion statue is *the* meet up spot)

I think it's worth noting that it's easy to think when you're at a big convention that there must be something to it with ALL those people there! Well, at the Iron Maiden concert at Twickenham all the stands were pretty much full AND the pitch had been floored over and that was full of people too.

Also the people were all friendly. One of my friends had forgotten his ticket and a stranger who heard him wailing about it outside the ground just happened to have a spare ticket because his friend had broken his leg. He refused to take more than face value for it either.

Another highlight was seeing a giant animatronic Eddie (a sort of zombie mummy) strutting across the stage where I used to watch JW speakers giving talks... :)

19

shunning within the family.

by bigmac in

jw
friends

i'm giving 3 examples of this practice--that i know of personally.. .

my first wife--born in--divorced me over 30 years ago.

she totally shuns our son--now 38--d/f'd and now happily married and enjoying life to the max.. my pioneer partner--from the mid 60's-----he totally shuns his daughter---to the point of even ignoring her in the street.. a close friend of mine--in the 60's and 70's-----i was best man at his wedding.

Onager

sillygirlforgotpassword, what you've described is abuse. I am so sorry that there are humans in this world who treat other humans this way. They're not all like that, honest. I hope you meet some crackers in your future!

35

Do you like the people in the Bible?

by Dis-Member in

the society always speaks about all the wonderful people and characters in the bible.. they always too speak of many of them as being so humble, faithful, loyal, diligent, loving, kind, wise, merciful etc, and worthy of imitation.

also of how god blessed them followed by endless examples and reasons why we today should imitate them.. .

they also speak of how wonderful it would be to meet some of these people in the future 'new system' and have often depicted scenes where the the survivors of armageddon would be gathered around some ancient resurrected faithful asking them questions and listening to their stories of times past.

Onager

I'd like to meet Harry Potter so I could ask him if he had any idea Dumbledore was gay.

30

Introductions

by Onager in

i've made a few posts here already so i thought i'd introduce myself.

i'm an ex-jw from cheltenham pittville (uk) congregation.

i've been free and clear for a few years now so i'm through the anger phase and in the happily getting on with my life phase.

Onager

bemused, I'd just told her that. contrary to popular belief, not all dogs go to heaven... :)

30

Introductions

by Onager in

i've made a few posts here already so i thought i'd introduce myself.

i'm an ex-jw from cheltenham pittville (uk) congregation.

i've been free and clear for a few years now so i'm through the anger phase and in the happily getting on with my life phase.

Onager

Ok! Back from a long weekend away actually learning something interesting (Botany course)! Do these links work? They're pictures of my pup:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/88892313@N04/15032508846/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/88892313@N04/15052459651/

Embedding the pics doesn't seem to work, so I hope the links do.