Posts by done4good

If there is one piece of information I would offer, it us that you should not feel pressured into coming to conclusions too soon. It is quite enough in the beginning to unlearn the lies you were taught by the WTS. This in of itself will help you develop the proper lines of reasoning needed to ask questions as you experience life, since now you are able to think for yourself. Btw, I am an atheist today. I just did not come to this conclusion overnight.

Like yourself, I read Ehrman, Dawkins, both of Ray's books, lots of religious history, lots of history, biology, etc. In fact, most of that I read within the first two years of leaving. I was still an agnostic at best. If anything, I would say learning physics played the biggest part for me in allowing myself to accept atheism. This was in 2011, a whole 5 1/2 years after I left.

My point is, I probably had enough information long before I understood anything about relativity or quantum mechanics to become an atheist. For me, being a big picture thinker, I could not commit until then. I believed there were still too many unanswered questions. My simple point in all of this is, you will know when your questions are answered to satisfaction, and that is when your existentialism will ease. This process is automatic if you just let it happen.

So keep questioning, and keep an open mind.

d4g

57

"Normal family affections and dealings" continue - If only?!?

by LHS123 in

i am new to this forum - it is only a couple of weeks since i have allowed myself to acknowledge and research my doubts.

i am trying to be fair by reading both sides of the story and considering jw official explanation of confusing matters.

one of the issues i have been looking at is shunning - and i was shocked to see the misleading information about shunning on the jw.org website: .

done4good

freemindfade - During this time I heard it said to me or my spouse "using the word shunned is an apostate word"... while there it is in print. I was also told by someone I have been so close to for 35 years "I am not shunning you, I just won't do anything with you socially, I wont follow you on social media, etc, but I AM NOT SHUNNING YOU, we just wont do anything together again"...

Unfortunately, this type of anti-logic is almost impossible to reason with. You need to get them to understand logical fallacies first. You likely will not be able to have the ability to get that far in conversation.

d4g

57

"Normal family affections and dealings" continue - If only?!?

by LHS123 in

i am new to this forum - it is only a couple of weeks since i have allowed myself to acknowledge and research my doubts.

i am trying to be fair by reading both sides of the story and considering jw official explanation of confusing matters.

one of the issues i have been looking at is shunning - and i was shocked to see the misleading information about shunning on the jw.org website: .

done4good

FMF: I was also told by someone I have been so close to for 35 years "I am not shunning you, I just won't do anything with you socially, I wont follow you on social media, etc, but I AM NOT SHUNNING YOU, we just wont do anything together again"...

JW's lie to everyone, including themselves. They are completely dishonest about who they are and what they believe, even to themselves.

Just one minor point of clarification. They lie to themselves first, which is precisely why they can lie to everyone else and not even know it.

d4g

29

How Come the Watchtower does not admit "We Don't Know Anything About Bible Prophecy" and come clean?

by PokerPlayerPhil in

so many of us have been caught up in the negative effects this religion placed over our lives and those who we love very much.

i am the first one to tell my kids "i don't know s&^^ about this or that subject", if the watchtower is truly our brother or spiritual mother why don't they tell us the following questions we all have asked them?.

1. we screwed up about 1914 and "life is short, go live your life to the fullest while maintaining justice and morality, don't hurt your fellow man by making his life screwed up!.

done4good

The answer is simple. They would cease to exist.

Think about it for just a minute. If they told they don't know the answers, people would look elsewhere. They would lose members, (almost overnight), then...

Survival drives many instincts, both consciously and subconsciously, for both organisms and organizations alike.

d4g

28

Do You Think Humanity Will Ever Be Completely Free From Religion?

by InjusticeSystem in

i realize that many here still have a form of spirituality or faith, and i mean no disrespect to those individuals.

i suppose i am posting this question to those, like myself, who have come to the conclusion that religion in general is a major hindrance to the progress of our species and needs to be put aside so that we can advance to our full potential.

so my question is, do you think this will ever actually happen, and how do you think we can get there?

done4good

Social evolution happens. While they technically still exist, really how many flat earthers are there?

For all intents and purposes, religion will one day make about as much sense to society as a whole.

18

Why are there so many pedophiles predators in the Watchtower Corporation?

by Brokeback Watchtower in

one reason is because the governing body's policies allow them to run loose in the congregation with their secrecy/kangaroo courts.

.

to keep jehovah's name untarnished(organization sock puppet) they have put the little rank and file member at risk.. one member of the gb was a child molester.. sexual repression also seems to aggravate the situation and make matters worse.. the governing body main concern is not children but how to keep the scam going and so if they can get the victim to shut up and not go to the police as it offers a temporary fix.. etc.....

done4good

The policies of the org protect these criminals, and there is a correlation between a higher number of these criminals in repressed cultures.

9

"Christians are leaving the faith in droves" - Pew Research

by EdenOne in

according to this article, a recent pew research concluded that until 2050, an estimated cumulative net number of 65.050.000 will opt out of the christian faith, and the trend is accelerating.

on the other hand, the "unaffiliated" will have a net growth of 61.490.000.. eden.

done4good

What Phizzy said is basically about right, even in the US, (at least on either coast, maybe not the Midwest or deep south, as much).

Religious people have been in the minority for quite some time, and for the most part, the particularly religious are considered misfits. Many claim a religion, but pretty much interpret their "religion" they way they want to, and this has been this way at least as long as I have been around, (since the '70s). It is likely that fewer people today "identify" with a religion, because they have a greater degree of honesty about it.

Despite how the USA may appear to the rest of the world, most people are not religious fanatics by any stretch. The main issue here is the minority on the religious right have a disproportionately large voice in our political system, due to the way our state representation works. When this is fueled by a plutocracy that preys on the uneducated for its own gain, you have what you see from abroad looking at the USA. (Obviously, this should be its own thread, didn't mean to hijack).

d4g

13

New Watchtower and Awake 11 pages of shallow articles...what happened!!!

by Witness 007 in

found the latest copies next to the toilet {witnesses must have visited my wife} and had a look after not reading anything for a year.

its a pamphlet not a magazine!

only a few pages long with shallow articles.it felt like my "spiritual food" was now those cheap home delivered diet t.v meals!!

done4good

Witness007 - What happened to the solid and deep material?

Was there ever any?

d4g