Posts by sonnyboy

3. or were angels suddendly going to materalize with big broad swords (right out of king arthur's army) and smite us......those of us who didn't have the mark.

Does Jehovah protect his "people"?

by sonnyboy in

an an exjw, i'm well aware of the fact that they arrogantly think they're god's only chosen people.. my family used to be frequently visited by an elder and his family.

my family strayed from "the truth", and they would constantly come to our home and try to get us back on the "straight and narrow" path.. so, what happened to this elder and his family?

their adult daughter was accused of having sexual relations with a 13 year old boy.

sonnyboy

An an exjw, I'm well aware of the fact that they arrogantly think they're God's only chosen people.

My family used to be frequently visited by an elder and his family. My family strayed from "the truth", and they would constantly come to our home and try to get us back on the "straight and narrow" path.

So, what happened to this elder and his family? Their adult daughter was accused of having sexual relations with a 13 year old boy. When the police came to their home to arrest her, she told the authorities that she had to use the restroom before going off to the slammer. On her way to the bathroom, she picked up a 9mm handgun, shut the bathroom door, and blew her brains out.

A few months later, the elder's wife came to our home with even more bad news. It turns out that her 50-something husband met and fell in love with a 26 year old girl. He left "the truth", his family, and everything that he had known, to be with this young woman.

Now, if Jehovah is real and He is watching over his flock, why would he allow these things to happen? How did being in "the truth" benefit these good people in ANY way whatsoever? The fact of the matter is, it did not. "Jehovah" protected this family just as he protects ANY other family...not in the least.

Just one more reason why I no longer believe. If he *is* real (which I highly doubt), he was just as kind to this family as he was to that of Job.

What a sadistic bastard he would be.

31

Why do you believe?

by sonnyboy in

jw
friends

i've never posted here before, but i've lurked patiently for a few weeks, debating on whether or not to tackle a new message board.

i guess i'll make at least one post and see what happens.

anyway, a little background about myself.

sonnyboy

I'd like to thank everyone else for welcoming me. I look forward to talking to you guys in the future.

4

On Memorial Day in the US

by deddaisy in

jw
friends

raised in a family of jws, i was taught that memorial day was a worldly celebration.

and i believed that the wts was right and all war was wrong.

as i grow older, and watch those born in a carefree generation grow, i pause and wonder what would've been if all the eighteen year-olds in the 1940s would've been jehovah's witnesses.

sonnyboy

It seems that most JWs want to live in their own little world and simply let things happen.

Is that the way things are supposed to work? They will <i>always</i> be a part of the world, whether they like it or not. They take that passage too literally. Some members of my former Hall home-schooled their children so they wouldn't be swayed by "worldly" influences. It's ridiculous.

They don't mind basking in the freedom that so many Americans have lost their lives to retain, but they won't fight for it themselves. What's wrong with this picture?

31

Why do you believe?

by sonnyboy in

jw
friends

i've never posted here before, but i've lurked patiently for a few weeks, debating on whether or not to tackle a new message board.

i guess i'll make at least one post and see what happens.

anyway, a little background about myself.

sonnyboy

Thanks for the info talesin; I'll figure things out eventually. I'm used to the more-simple Yahoo message boards. For some reason my profile info isn't being displayed...maybe it takes a while.

DD, I'm into Greek/Roman mythology but don't know much about Norse mythology. Loki sounds like a riot. Wasn't he the god who possessed Jim Carey in The Mask?

41

Young JWs-living a lie

by Jez in

for the past year, i have been observing the jw kids that i know.

i am in a unique situation as i work at the local high school, therefore see many of them on a daily basis.

let me tell you, 80% of them are totally undistinguishable as jws.

sonnyboy

It seems that the more parents push, the more kids want to get away.

I absolutely hated going to KH services as a kid. It was so boring that many people fell asleep, and at the end we always stuck around and "talked" to a bunch of people we didn't even know. It was so nauseatingly awkward. Everyone wore fake smiles. If they were real, it was only because the dull service was over and people were ecstatic about going home. I know that sounds a little over-the-top, but that's the way things seemed.

Why can't they liven things up a bit?

31

Why do you believe?

by sonnyboy in

jw
friends

i've never posted here before, but i've lurked patiently for a few weeks, debating on whether or not to tackle a new message board.

i guess i'll make at least one post and see what happens.

anyway, a little background about myself.

sonnyboy

Thanks for the welcomes. This seems like a decent place to exchange ideas.

I hope no one is offended by my post, but that's where the freeing of my mind has led me. It do feel free, free to contemplate and speak what I really feel without the fear of fire and brimstone. In retrospect, I feel that I was intellectually bound and gagged by Christianity for years. Maybe one day I'll return to God-belief, but as of now I've seen no reason to do so.

On another note, I'm confused about this forum. On the main "friends" page, the posts are all mixed up (not arranged from most recent to last). I can't even find my post without clicking on my profile. How do I fix this?

Danka.

Oops, I see that my post is under "beliefs" and not "friends", but they're still not in descending order. I hate being a n00b. :(

31

Why do you believe?

by sonnyboy in

jw
friends

i've never posted here before, but i've lurked patiently for a few weeks, debating on whether or not to tackle a new message board.

i guess i'll make at least one post and see what happens.

anyway, a little background about myself.

sonnyboy

Hello everyone. I've never posted here before, but I've lurked patiently for a few weeks, debating on whether or not to tackle a new message board. I guess I'll make at least one post and see what happens. ;)

Anyway, a little background about myself. I grew up in a JW household for the first 20 years of my life. We went to the hall three days a week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday), and occasionally went on Saturday field service. Although I believed with every ounce of my being, I never felt comfortable around other Jehovah's Witnesses. They, for the most part, always seemed vacant and overly-cordial to me. Services were incredibly boring and it seemed as if everyone was putting on a fake face, trying to be too righteous. Maybe this wasn't the case, but that's the way it felt. I never felt anything spirited during my visits to the Kingdom Hall.

As I grew older, I've began to question the validity of my beliefs. I always believed without question. Isn't that what faith's all about: Believing in something for which there is no proof? I was always taught that agnostics and antheists were horrible beings, swayed in some way by Satan to think the way they do. I think all Christians are told to believe this at some point in their lives. The idea of atheism was so taboo that I would never even think on it; it was too frightening to contemplate.

I'm now at a point in my life that belief in the Judeo/Christian God has become completely ridiculous. I feel that I was brainwashed...conditioned from birth...to hold a belief system that has no logical basis. I've spoken to others about this in the past on other message boards, and some agree. Others say that they feel the holy spirit within them, telling them that God does indeed exist. My argument is, what about Hindus? Do they not feel Ganesh within them? Do they not feel the spirit of Karne Mata with such ferver that they drink milk from a temple laden with rat feces? How about Muslims? Do they not feel the spirit of Allah so strongly that they become suicide bombers to enter the gates of heaven?

We're all conditioned to feel what we believe. The power of the human mind is uncharted; we honestly don't know whether what we feel is genuine or the result of brainwashing. The reason I rejected my beliefs has many layers. For one, NO god of love and mercy would allow the world to come to the state in which it's currently in. NO god of love and mercy would have cast an evil deity upon us and ignore our cries for help. Aside from the assumption that Jehovah is real, what proof do we have? I was taught that the "proof" in God's existence is that events predicted in the Bible are coming to pass. Events like what? Children disobeying their parents? Global wars? Famine? Pestilence? Come on, people. These things have ALWAYS existed. These events are just as new as fornication and murder. Back in Biblical times they probably existed even more so than they do today.

I have yet to see one piece of evidence that leads me to believe in the existence of God. I have, however, seen MANY pieces of evidence that lead me to believe that he does not exist. If he DID exist, he would be a sadist. He would be sitting on his throne, watching us suffer, all the while having the power to stop all the BS going on in the world. WHY are we being punished for the sins of Adam and Eve? I was not there. WHY was the sadistic sacrifice of Christ REQUIRED for us to be forgiven for our sins? We did not ask for this. GOD asked for this. We should be GRATEFUL because he put his son through torture for us? If it indeed did happen, I'm sickened by it. I'll leave you with a quote from Devil's Advocate:

Who are you carrying all those bricks for anyway? God? Is that it? God? Well I tell you. Let me give you a little inside information about God. God likes to watch. He's a prankster. Think about it. He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift and then what does he do? I swear, for his own amusement, his own private cosmic gag reel, he sets the rules in opposition. It's the goof of all time. Look but don't touch. Touch but don't taste. Taste but don't swallow. And while you're jumping on one foot to the next, what is he doing? He's laughing his sick ******* *** off. He's a tight***. He's a sadist. He's an absentee-landlord! Worship that? Never!