Posts by Nate Merit

73

Are Most Folks Here Agnostics and Atheists?

by Nate Merit in

jw
friends

that's the overall impression i get from reading the posts.

i'm very new here, so i could be mistaken.

if i am, my apologies.

Nate Merit

Hey Frog. A nature pantheism. Cool. One need not think the Supreme Reality is a person, I certanly do not.
nate

73

Are Most Folks Here Agnostics and Atheists?

by Nate Merit in

jw
friends

that's the overall impression i get from reading the posts.

i'm very new here, so i could be mistaken.

if i am, my apologies.

That's the overall impression I get from reading the posts. I'm very new here, so I could be mistaken. If I am, my apologies.

About twelve years ago I 'deprogrammed' my best friend, Mark Smith, from Christian fundamentalism. Rather than take a breather from various worldviews, then study them at his leisure at some future date, he immediately clamped his mind shut around atheistic materialism.

I have no problem with his choice, it's his to make. I did have and do have a problem with his action being immediate. He has never seriously investigated any alternatives to Christian fundamentalism. His attitude is "Christian fundamentalism is the Chivas Regal of religions, hence no worthwhile alternatives exist." First Mark chose, then he studied to find rational support for his decision. He should have studied first, then chose. If anyone on this board falls into the same category, I urge you to reconsider and give spirituality a chance.

Mark's attitude is difficult for me to resonate with. (Yes we continue to discuss this) My life was temporarily ruined by Watchtower religion , yet I didn't give up the Quest when my life crashed and burned. I've studied nearly every sect in Christendom, and all major world religions. There are intelligent and worthwhile alternatives.

I have very little in the way of beliefs. I engage in spiritual practices, and rely on my own insights. It's marvelous to interact with others and explore their insights as well, but ultimately I have to rely on my own subjective experience. We all do. My own subjective experience is one of a transcendent yet immanent 'divinity.' For want of a better term. My atheist friend refuses to even try meditation or any other spiritual practice, writing off such experiences as mere neurological activity.

True, our brains are hard-wired for spiritual experiences, but does that mean the experiences arise from and are limited to our brains? I think not. My own subjective gut reaction is that our brains act as receivers for spiritual reality. A good analogy is a television , which receives broadcasts and then converts them to images and sound. If Thomas Edison were to examine a television he would probably take the set apart looking inside for the moving pictures and the source of the sounds. He would lack the necessary knowledge to understand that the television acts as a receiver and converter for outside signals. I am fairly convinced this is where we currently stand, as a species, in our understanding of spiritual experience.

I have no way to objectively prove any of this, nor do I want to even try. Anyone who, after being burned by the WTBTS, dropped spirituality like a 'hot potato' without examing any alternatives, I encourage you to open up and give spirituality a chance. It's worth a try.

Nate
"All we are saying is give peas a chance"

87

FEELING VERY DEPRESSED, EMPTY. LIFE IS CONFUSING...

by stillAwitness in

jw
friends

meetings are dragging me down.

it sucks because i still live at home and have no choice but it has gotten to the point where i have left early at times just because i cannot stand to hear all the b.s from the platform.

how do i just keep doing what i have to do till i know i can leave?

Nate Merit

Hello stillAwitness

When I was DFed, I went through eight months of unspeakable depression. I believed Armageddon would be upon me in short order. I turned to liquor, drugs, just about anthing to try and bury the terror.

I'm saying this to let you know I empathize with you. I don't have any magic words to offer you, but I do offer my friendship and support. I take some comfort in knowing that we're all in this together.

Nate

[email protected]

43

Prince lyrics...wow...

by wanderlustguy in

jw
friends

love, like a rose in bloom .

all of the rainbow children will feel it soon .

2 the east, word traveled about this energy .

Nate Merit

*GACK*

Like, gag me with a spoon already, fer shur.

I look forward to reading Prince's book "I was a Jerk for Jehovah" someday.

Gotta go shower now. Thanks for the vomit.

Nate

3

The Chapter 12 above is NOT from Jehovah Unmasked! New book entirely

by Nate Merit in

i'm just posting it to get some feedback.

the typos have already been taken care of.

i noticed them after i posted.

Nate Merit

Sorry Jeff, sorry Narkissos

I wanted to prevent readers from thinking I had merely posted a chapter from Jehovah Unmasked.
Sorry for the confusion.

Nate

3

why Adam really died?

by zen nudist in

some have mentioned that it seems that god lied about the cause of adams death as adam really died of old age.

but an author of a book called the secret origins of the bible pointed out something even more astonishing..... the bible plainly tells us why adam was forbidden from living forever..... it does not say he was punished for sin [something he did], but instead it specifies that he was prevented for what he.

might do with the knowledge he obtained.... here the man has become like one of us in knowing good and bad, and now in order.

Nate Merit

Hello Zen Nudist

I took great pains to point this out and explain it in Jehovah Unmasked.

Ever the promoter, Jehovah Unmasked is now available as a PDF file for only 4.34.

Divine blessings to you,
Nate

http://www.lulu.com/content/167431

20

Have we just given up

by Frogleg in

if i speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, i am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

if i have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if i have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, i am nothing.

if i give all i possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, i gain nothing.. love is patient, love is kind.

Nate Merit

Hi Frogleg

I was DFed thirty-three years ago at the age of nineteen and have lived an entire lifetime since then. I became a born-again pentecostal Baptist minister at age twenty seven and started a number of charitable ministries. That wasn't giving up.

When I left the Christian fold and embraced Buddhism, I was one of three priests who founded Hongaku Jodo of America, a Shin Buddhist sect. We ministered to prison inmates, though the sect has taken a different direction since I stepped down from the board of directors, and retired from the priesthood.

Now, I try to help kids with my writing. Adults too.

There's always some way you can touch others in a positive way. I know its hard to do sometimes because life is rough on everyone.

I don't think of myself or anyone here as an apostate. We're people who, some way or another, broke free of slavery.

Have a great day!
Nate

29

So just WHO made this universe?

by onacruse in

in the christian theology, "god" is the creator.

but many scriptures intimate that jesus was, at the very least, the "maker.

" there are 2 distinctly different greek words used in the bible to describe the activities of these two beings; a distinction that the wts (along with many other non-trinitological belief systems) has made.. i'd rather not argue about the meaning of these two words, as they are very clear, and hardly worth (imho) wasting the bandwidth on yet further etymological dissertations.. i recently suggested that i could see jesus as tinkering with dna, and god giving him helpful suggestions along the way.

Nate Merit

Hi Satanus

That's precisely the case I make in Jehovah Unmasked. I find that it's very shocking to most people to suggest the 'intelligence' behind the universe is not terribly bright after all.

Nate

44

"but we put Jehovah's name BACK in the bible!"

by crankytoe in

hello, my bible study conductor has made this statement on several occasions.

is it true?

i've heard that the name was removed from the old testament, but that it doesn't appear in the new testament.

Nate Merit

Hi Crankytoe

The divine name, YHWH (or YHVH) occurs in the Hebrew OT nearly seven thousand times. So, it's perfectly acceptable to restore it to the OT.

There is no manuscript evidence whatsoever for YHWH to have ever been in the NT. So, placing 'Jehovah' (which is not the divine name) in the NT is unsupportable.

The New World Translation is a travesty. Go to Amazon.com and type in New World Translation. Scroll down a bit and you'll see my review of the NWT.

Sincerely,
Nate

5

jehovah's first bible "the great pyramid" wt 1924

by johnny cip in

w.e van amburgh is = to what the jw's would call the gb today.

he wrote many wt articles including this reprint found on lulu .com from dec 1924 golden age mag (the old awake mag) were the wt goes on and on about how jehovah built the great pyramids of egypt.

and how the bible was the second true bible of jehovah .

Nate Merit

Hi Johnn Cip

Thanks for pointing out this link to me! I checked the books out and would like to get the pyramid book.

I'm pleased these books are being made available through LuLu!

Nate