just thought i'd pop in after a couple of years and say hi to all my old discussion mates if any are still posting on here.. how you all doing?
anything new in jwdland i should know about?.
cheers.
Hi Julia
Your post made me laugh. Every time I hear anything about JW's or hear JW's talking my eyes glaze over and it all sounds like blah, blah blah to me. Just background static that I can't make any sense of and no longer care to try. That's how you know you are truly out and have moved on; when you no longer care what the JW's are saying and doing now. Or if I do have a moment's interest, its' more for the humor value than actually caring or getting angry.
Cog
just thought i'd pop in after a couple of years and say hi to all my old discussion mates if any are still posting on here.. how you all doing?
anything new in jwdland i should know about?.
cheers.
Hi Lois
Jan 1, 2006 was my new year's resolution to never set foot in a Kingdom Hall or assembly hall again, and I've kept that resolution. I was having doubts for years before that though. Letting go of all my family and friends was the difficult part and still is. At certain times, I still feel the loss of a sense of community and belonging, but still no regrets. No going back.
What about you? How long have you been out? Posting here? Doubting and lurking before that?
Cog
just thought i'd pop in after a couple of years and say hi to all my old discussion mates if any are still posting on here.. how you all doing?
anything new in jwdland i should know about?.
cheers.
Hi Berengaria
I'm sorry but, I don't remember you. I see your earliest post is 2 years ago and I haven't even looked on here for two years, so if you know me, I guess you were lurking and reading for a while before you posted. Which is great. Nice to know JWD has a much larger audience than is posting at any given time because that means they are still getting the word out about the JW's.
Thanks for the greeting
Cog
just thought i'd pop in after a couple of years and say hi to all my old discussion mates if any are still posting on here.. how you all doing?
anything new in jwdland i should know about?.
cheers.
Hey jnat
Great to see you still on here, holding down the fort and holding back the unruly mobs!
So am I invited to the party? Doesn't Simon live in Alberta? I'm in BC, so a bit of a drive. You going?
just thought i'd pop in after a couple of years and say hi to all my old discussion mates if any are still posting on here.. how you all doing?
anything new in jwdland i should know about?.
cheers.
Just thought I'd pop in after a couple of years and say hi to all my old discussion mates if any are still posting on here.
How you all doing? Anything new in JWDland I should know about?
Cheers
Coggie
anyone remember that?
i learned to read on that book.there were some very disturbing images,like the earth opening up and people falling into it.like upside down ladies and hippies.id love to get a hold of one and peruse it with a friend and some herbal medicine.maybe there is one in the attic?anyway,that and the image of the snake talking to the beautiful,bare shouldered eve,who was holding an apple,made a big impression on me.any else have any faves from that book?is it still being used?.
My dad didn't think the book was scary enough for us preschoolers so he made sure to add that when the great tribulation came any day now, men with guns might come to our house and take us all away to prison and beat and torture us to try and make us stop worshipping Jehovah. He told us that even if they put a gun to us kid's heads and told my dad he had to stop worshipping Jehovah or they would kill us, he would have to let them shoot us because his worship to Jehovah came first, even if you had to watch your own kids die!
Aahhh.... don't the childhood memories just warm your heart with a fuzzy glow!
i was pondering this today during lunch, and to me it seems that it comes down to whether or not you can accept that you will one day be permanantly gone and anyone you have lost in death will never be alive again.
once a person becomes comfortable with these two ideas, there isn't really any incentive to believe.
maybe it's an over simplification, but it seems to me that this is the heart of the matter.
Tammy, I wasn't making an assumption that you didn't know who and how you were before you came to Christ. I believe learning who and how we are and what's beneficial is a process that continues until we die.
That's why I have no problem with theists per se. If belief or religion are the scaffolding that helps people climb to a higher place then it can serve a useful purpose (and probably does for many). However when the building has reached its full height or capacity, then the scaffolding is no longer needed. My challenge is simply that it is possible to reach our full capacities as human beings without using belief in God as the scaffolding.
I'm not saying all atheists achieve that either, just as I don't say theists can't achieve it. I'm just putting it out there that the belief in God might be irrelevant in achieving full human potential and can even be a hindrance for many depending upon the limitations that belief puts upon them.
A radical thought for theists, I know, but just putting it out there as something to ponder upon.
Food for thought....
i was pondering this today during lunch, and to me it seems that it comes down to whether or not you can accept that you will one day be permanantly gone and anyone you have lost in death will never be alive again.
once a person becomes comfortable with these two ideas, there isn't really any incentive to believe.
maybe it's an over simplification, but it seems to me that this is the heart of the matter.
I want to believe in God. Emotionally and even physically, it gave me great comfort to rest in the good graces of God and my family. However, I was cursed with two qualities that make it impossible for me to enjoy that comfort: a penchant for the rational and logical and a penchant for honesty.
As a result, I'm doomed to suffer the fate of all atheists, the certain knowledge of my demise and the demise of all I hold dear. I do take a little comfort in the words of Ram Daz, though: "Why should the thought of my non-existence bother me? I didn't exist for millions of years before I was born and it didn't bother me then!"
i was pondering this today during lunch, and to me it seems that it comes down to whether or not you can accept that you will one day be permanantly gone and anyone you have lost in death will never be alive again.
once a person becomes comfortable with these two ideas, there isn't really any incentive to believe.
maybe it's an over simplification, but it seems to me that this is the heart of the matter.
i was pondering this today during lunch, and to me it seems that it comes down to whether or not you can accept that you will one day be permanantly gone and anyone you have lost in death will never be alive again.
once a person becomes comfortable with these two ideas, there isn't really any incentive to believe.
maybe it's an over simplification, but it seems to me that this is the heart of the matter.
In response to Tammy's post...
I don't have any problem with those who believe their faith makes them stronger, more peaceful, or more forgiving, but I would challenge the assumption that it's your belief that makes you so and that it is not part of your inherent human capacity.
I have come to realize that I still have those capacities within myself as an atheist, and that they are unchanged by my lack of belief. I would even go so far as to say that in myself those human capacities have been enhanced since I've become an atheist because they are no longer limited by the parameters of my previous belief in God and what is acceptable or not acceptable to him (a framework that is taught by others often contains limits imposed by others for their own agenda).
