http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/20/civil-rights-activist-dorothy-height-dies/.
growing up, she and mary mcleod bethune and ida bell wells barnett were my heroes.. sylvia.
Hi Sylvia,
Thought this might interest you. It's still hard to fathom that something like this could happen to any person simply because of their colour. We still have a way to go but we have come a long way.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/segregation-in-nova-scotia/article1538952/
this song has always been one of my favourites.
wintley phipps tells the history of the song.
very moving.. amazing grace: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmf_24cqqt0&mode=related&search=.
While listening to Fernando Ortega I found this. Have been humming it ever since.
&feature=related
i'm wondering how people feel about us exjws either becoming atheists or continuing on with a faith in god?.
do you get angry or frustrated at the opposing view?.
i'm new but i've seen different reactions to both on here...as for me i am happy to live and let live nowadays...its ok with me whatever people want to choose for themselves..... personally i still have enormous faith and love for god....if the jws couldnt destroy it i dont think much else could...?.
I agree with BTS. Atheists used to bother me.
I have learned much talking to believers but non-believers have also stretched me to look into what I truly believe. I may one day read Richard Dawkins. It doesn't threaten me. If my faith could be destroyed by someone else's opinion then my faith couldn't be that strong.
The thing I dislike most are highly opinionated people on both sides and the lack of respect. As a Christian I do still have a problem with someone stating that as Christians we don't want to see or hear the truth. ( la-la-la-la-la) There can be an arrogance and ignorance on both sides.
All I can really do is tell my story, my experiences, but I can't force anyone to believe what I believe.
I have no knowledge of someone else's journey; what they have gone through in their lives. I think the Watchtower has so hurt and even destroyed some, that it's very difficult to have any faith in a higher being. The Watchtower has portrayed a very different god than the God I believe in. Scripture has been so twisted that He isn't even recognizable anymore.
This may not sit well with some, but I fear that some people that were once led down the wrong path through the Watchtower may be led down another wrong path. Just be open to the possibility. God may surprise you one day.
,some call me a b..ch that really KNOW me....LOL
Good morning Grace, I guess I really don't know you then ey! You have a good heart. Love, GQ
.
if you're an ex-atheist, what changed your mind?.
please be as brief or comprehensive as you'd like.
I’ve never been an atheist. Someone with doubts of God's love at times in my life, but never an unbeliever. Books can help us in our journey but God ultimately calls us. I think the unpardonable sin is the rejection of the Holy Spirit. He calls us throughout our lives and never gives up. Some accept Him early on, some finally on their death bed.
Below are two former atheists.
I highly recommend Dawkins Proof by Richard Barns which can be downloaded for free.
His Foreward:
I found out about the problems of atheism by taking atheism seriously. I tried to be a consistent atheist and I believed the conclusions that atheism led to. But I found that what consistent atheism led to was something utterly unworkable. It was, paradoxically, my desire to be a thorough atheist that drove me towards God.
This book is a result of that experience. It is a response to Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion but it is not simply a reply to Dawkins’ arguments against God. I will also be looking at evidence for the existence of God that is provided by Dawkins himself. My argument is not only that Dawkins cannot refute theism, it is that he is unable to be consistent to his atheism. God’s existence is so inescapably part of human life that even Richard Dawkins lives as if God exists.
The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel -My road to atheism was paved by science...but, ironically, so was my later journey to God."
God-The Evidence by Patrick Glynn I haven’t read it yet but there’s an interesting quote on the back of the book.
Is Science Uncovering the Face of God?
A startling tranformation is taking place in Western scientific and intellectual circles. Recent discoveries in physics, medicine, psychology, and other fields paint a radically new picture of the universe and humanity’s place within it. Central is the dawning realization that the cosmos, far from being a sea of chaos, appears instead to be an intricately tuned mechanism whose every molecule and every physical law seems to have been designed from the very first nanosecond of the big bang toward a single end– the creation of life.
In this provocative book, Patrick Glynn lays out the astonishing new evidence that led him away from the atheism he acquired as a student at Harvard and Cambidge. The facts are fascinating: Physicists are discovering an unexplainable order to the universe; medical researchers are reporting the extraordinary healing powers of prayer and documenting credible accounts of near-death experiences; and psychologists are finding that religious faith is a powerful elixir for mental health. God: The Evidence demonstrates that faith today is not grounded in ignorance. It is where reason has been leading us all along.
Some interesting quotes that I have saved from a few publications
The idea that undirected processes could somehow turn dead chemicals into all the extraordinary complexity of living things is surely "no more nor less that the great cosmogenic myth" of our times. Michael Denton-biochemist
Steven Weinberg physicist atheist :"sometimes nature seems more beautiful than strictly necessary."
Would it not be strange if a universe without purpose accidentally created humans who are so obsessed with purpose? Sir John Templeton He once predicted that "scientific revelations may be a gold mine for revitalizing religion in the 21 st century."
Why should a bunch of atoms have thinking ability? Why should I, even as I write now, be able to reflect on what I am doing and why should you, even as you read now, be able to ponder my points, agreeing or disagreeing, with pleasure or pain, deciding to refute me or deciding that I am just not worthy the effort? No one, certainly not the Darwinian as such, seems to have any answers to this...The point is that there is no scientific answer. Michael Ruse
Evolution is "random and undirected" and "without either plan or purpose"-undirected purposeless, variation to the blind, uncaring process of natural selection. Sorry, I think Richard Dawkins said this.
"Man is the result of a purposeless and natural process that did not have him in mind"- evolutionist George Caylord Simpson
‘Let me summarize my views on what modern evolutionary biology tells us loud and clear …… There are no gods, no purposes, no goal-directed forces of any kind. There is no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be dead. That’s the end for me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning to life, and no free will for humans, either.’’ Dr William B. Provine, Professor of Biological Sciences, Cornell University Provine, W.B., Origins Research16(1), p.9, 1994.
I like this quote by John M Templeton (God: The Evidence): "This thoughtful and documented book may help more intellectuals to understand that humans searching for evidence of God is much like a wave on a ocean searching for evidence that the ocean exists."
said to myself & others by a jw elder.. i always recall this as a sort of .
when this elder was pressed on the matter, he replied that it was because of all the years of laughing & sneering & mocking that he had put up with, quoting the scripture that goes along the lines of 'where is this promised presence of his'.. i realise now that this person is not loving.
and yet, i would hear similar sentiments from others such as 'just wait until the end' or 'i wonder if they'll be saying that when jesus comes with his big sword'.. even as a jw pioneer, the thought of such a thing happening to people repulsed me.
Ziddina: I have no personal knowledge of what happened to my ancestors. I'm sure there are horror stories that many could share if they could speak. Black slavery is more recent and the effects are still with us. I know that slavery has always been with us. It's still with us - Child labour and the sex trade to name just two.
Do you consider Christianity a form of slavery?
Here's an interesting quote from one individual:
‘Let me summarize my views on what modern evolutionary biology tells us loud and clear … There are no gods, no purposes, no goal-directed forces of any kind. There is no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be dead. That’s the end for me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning to life, and no free will for humans, either.’ Provine, W.B., Origins Research16(1), p.9, 1994.
One definition of slavery: a condition of subjection or submission characterized by lack of freedom of action or of will.
said to myself & others by a jw elder.. i always recall this as a sort of .
when this elder was pressed on the matter, he replied that it was because of all the years of laughing & sneering & mocking that he had put up with, quoting the scripture that goes along the lines of 'where is this promised presence of his'.. i realise now that this person is not loving.
and yet, i would hear similar sentiments from others such as 'just wait until the end' or 'i wonder if they'll be saying that when jesus comes with his big sword'.. even as a jw pioneer, the thought of such a thing happening to people repulsed me.
The WT and other religions have sure messed up a lot of people's thinking.
Snowbird: No kidding. My mom is going through this right now. She has left the witnesses and never going back but she's not in a good place right now. She believed in an organization. I have to agree with a couple of things that you have stated.
As a white person I will never understand what Snowbird's ancestors went through and I pray to God that I never do.
We don't want to face the possibility that each one of us might be capable of atrocities against another human being or a whole group of people when we have been brutalized and demoralized, when our children are brutalized and demoralized, without hope, feeling that we were inferior human beings. Our instinct is to protect ourselves and our loved ones. Even animals do that.
The Jews are no different. They were enraged by what the Babylonians did to them. The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and then enslaved the Jews, taking them back to Babylon. The Babylonian soldiers murdered infants. The Jews faced extinction. They wanted wanted what had happened to them to happen to the Babylonians.
Honestly ask yourself what you would do if another country came to your country and destroyed your cities, murdered your children, enslaved you and took you to their country. How many of us can honestly say that we have experienced this and know without a doubt what we could be capable of. Have you ever had thoughts of hatred towards another human being because they brutalized you? Would you not verbalize it at least?
Does it make it alright in God's eyes? No!
Again I agree with Snowbird. Psalm 137 was written by man to God, not the other way around.
My question is, did the Jews actually carry it out, or were they only verbally venting their hatred towards those who were destroying them?
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to the elders of the maitland congregation and governing body of the watchtower tract.
and bible society,.
Wow! That's quite a letter. You made many great points. With your permission I would love to use some of it when my mom writes her disassocation letter.
are there any posters here who also read and/or post on the forums at richard-dawkins.net?
it seems as though a large number of xjws post there.
there are some really good and thought provoking points made, from a slightly different perspective.. just wondering!.
I just started reading The Dawkins Proof for the existence of God by Richard Barns. You can download it free from the following site.
Obviously they don't see themselves in the following paragraph.
Second, such words as “dangerous sect,” “enemies of the nation,” and “extremist” have power only as long as people fall under their spell, mindlessly accepting their malicious implications. The tactics of innuendo and slander need not work on
you. We hope that you will make the effort to see through such empty talk.