I knew only one space after a sentence was standard now, but I thought two spaces were still acceptable. It's really hard to change at my age, but I will try.
LisaRose
JoinedPosts by LisaRose
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Dear typer-ers, you're doing it wrong!
by Simon inthere are many things wrong with the world, many injustices and crimes committed.
what if we could stop one of them?
wouldn't it make the world a slightly better place?
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rama singh WHAT HE REALLY SAID, so you men can stop lying
by atheist_R_stupid in"there have been repeated scientific challenges to the.
theory of evolution in the past, and the nonbelievers of evo-.
lution cite them as support for their case.
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LisaRose
My point is I am leaving a place of extreme bias. Trying to function in a world without a God seems (at this point) easier than what I am truly dealing with:
I totally understand that, I agree that it is a very good place for you to be at right now. It is quite similar to what I felt after leaving the religion. I only knew that the JWs were not right, to think about what religion may be right or if God existed seemed too much to think of at the time. I just put one foot in front of the other and hoped that with time things would become more clear with time, and that is what happened.
It was seven years after leaving that I found this board, I was afraid before then, the brainwashing had not quite worn off. I stopped coming here at one point because I found the atheist believer debates depressed me. But still, I thought about things, after several years I came back and finally I realized I did not believe in God. I can read the debates now without getting wound up in them, but I don't often contribute to them myself, I am uncomfortable with some of the condesending attitude with some here and feel it's counter productive.
My spiritual journey has been a long one, with may turns, but I am very happy where I am right now. It may be sacrilege to other atheists (if that is possible,) but I haven't written off religion entirely, I occasion attend my husband's church, it's a liberal religion, they don't have any doctrine and are OK with atheism. I still feel that I am spiritual, which many atheists would think is ridiculous, but that's their problem, not mine.
The reality is what difference does it make if you believe in God or not, as long as you treat others with respect and are a good and moral person? If religion gets you there, fine. If atheism gets you there, that's fine to, at least in my book.
the loss of friends, the anger and "guilting" of genuinely hurt family members that think my everlasting life is now in "danger and the sheer lonliness that I internally feel.
If you are still struggling with this, I highly recommend meditation and journaling. It has been a big help to me. Meditation is easy, free and very effective as helping you deal with emotions. It only takes time and practice. There are lots of ways to mediate, they all work, just do an internet search. Journaling is even easier, just sit down every day and write down a page or two. It doesn't have to be anything specific, just whatever pops into your head. You would be surprised how much this helps, you will eventually see a pattern and it helps you deal with all of it. A legacy of my years in dubdom is some long-standing stress related health issues and meditation has helped me with these, I recently have started getting more serious about it, with good results.To be able to say to myself, I will be what I decide is right in the world period, is not a place I am at but it sounds good given where I am really at presently.
I agree, I wish you well on your spiritual journey.
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rama singh WHAT HE REALLY SAID, so you men can stop lying
by atheist_R_stupid in"there have been repeated scientific challenges to the.
theory of evolution in the past, and the nonbelievers of evo-.
lution cite them as support for their case.
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LisaRose
I am actually still a believer who would like not to believe. I want to be convinced there is no God
And I am an atheist that wants to believe in God, but can't. It would be nice to have the comfort that I could see the people I loved who have died, but something is not true because we would like it to be, need it to be or want it to be.
Unfortunately, there are very few atheists that are willing to "talk" rather than "preach"
I stopped preaching when I left the JWs. I believe religion can be a positive thing in a person's life. Of course it can also be a negative thing, so I don't respect religious intolerance and hate, or refusing to accept established scientific facts because it interferes with one's religious beliefs.
I am actually still a believer who would like not to believe. I want to be convinced there is no God.
It seems to me you have it backwards. Why do you believe in God to start with, as if it's the logical starting point? I believe we need to start in neutral, neither belief nor non belief, and then be convinced, by the facts to believe. I just haven't seen compelling evidence of God's existence, therefore I don't believe. I haven't seen evidence that he doesn't exist, nor could I prove he doesn't exist, as you cannot disprove a negative, so I stay in neutral, which is to me is what Atheism is.
For example I cannot prove the Easter bunny doesn't exist, so should I believe in him until I see such evidence? It would be nice if he existed, as I like chocolate, and who wouldn't want chocolate bunnies every Easter? Many people believe he exists, granted they are all under five. But he doesn't exist just because I might want him to. How is belief in God any different?
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Lets pretend jw's disappeared
by atheist_R_stupid inand joined your ranks.... this means...youre talking about a people, that currently are pushing no sex till marriage.
that would end and join into the messages you currently push regarding youths and sex.
that would be sex, with condoms.
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LisaRose
Well, aren't you just a ray of sunshine. We're you trying to make a pointing your rant? I couldn't tell. -
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what type of faith do you REALLY want?
by atheist_R_stupid ini find that when talking people who say they "used to be a jehovah's witness" they say words that show they have in fact, never been one.
it's like a man that worked for the post office for 30 years in a main major urban hub like chicago or new york... and you ask him, "in your last position, what was your rdo?
" and the man says "whats an rdo?".
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LisaRose
By saying you dont believe there are any JWs or ex here here I dont know if you think we are all lying or that the fact we are no longer believers means we were never real Jehovah's WItness in the first place. I was baptized at age 13, in 1968 and sincerely believed everything I was taught and did my best to meet the requirements of the religion until 1999. I find it amusing that anyone would not believe I was ever a Jehovah's Witness, I only wish it was true and I hadn't wasted 31 years of my life on a pack of lies.
I found that I could no longer in good conscience associate with the Watchtower Bible and Tract society, as their record of lies, half truths and deceptions proved they were not as they claimed, God's sole channel of communication to mankind, so I stopped associating. My spiritual pathway has taken many turns since then, and at this point I am a very happy atheist. I can hardly believe I ever thought the accounts in genesis were actual events, as they could not possibly have happened as recorded in the bible.
The scientific evidence for evolution is overwhelming and it not questioned by the vast majority of scientists, to deny that is to stick your head in the sand. I remember the Book "did man get here by evolution or by creation" and laugh to think how naive I was to believe any of it. The book contains half truths and quotes that have been selectively edited to say the opposite of the original. It's interesting the society has not dared update this little gem. Given the vast amount of progress in these fields since the book was published, that's probably a good idea on their part. Even their master skills at obfuscation are not up to explaining away the mountain of evidence. Advances in DNA research alone have proven we did indeed evolve.
I can see by your name you are not here to discuss anything, just to spew anger at those who don't believe as you, so I doubt you will be around long. It's your loss, we have some really great people here, I have learned a lot. If you were open to it you could learn a lot too, but I suspect you are happier living in ignorance, so you are better off staying a Jehovah's Witnesss.
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Re: Art Skills Needed at Bethel
by suavojr inall they want is some spiritually-qualified publishers blind individuals who believe they are god's mouthpiece on earth.
no wonder their artwork is so poor.. .
christian congregation of jehovahs witnesses2821 route 22, patterson, ny 12563-2237 phone: (845) 306-11001/8/15-e usjanuary 8, 2015to all congregations in the united states branch territoryre: art skills needed at betheldear brothers:the beautiful illustrations in our printed publications and on jw.org serve as teaching aidsthat emphasize spiritual truths from the bible.
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LisaRose
It sounds like a major shake up is going on.
It's interesting in light of the thread the was recently bumped up from the guy that volunteered to teach some art design skills at Bethel several years back. He described a very dysfunctional organization where many didn't have adequate skills for the job they were doing and where a million dollar piece of equipment was sitting unused because no one knew how to operate it. Probably nothing much has changed since then.
It's true you can do these type of jobs without a college degree, but it is much harder to gain these skills without one, as most companies want to have some proof you have an aptitude and some experience before they are willing to invest time training you. Because they are so down on higher education they are severely limiting the number of potential qualified applicants. Those who do have such skills probably have well paying jobs and may not be interested in working for nothing, with no medical insurance, substandard living conditions and bad food.
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I'm glad my children don't have to grow up being afraid of cupcakes
by Ilovebirthdays inyesterday, i brought a batch of cupcakes to my son's school.
in passing them out, i started to give one to one of the children, who was a jw.
he immediately started freaking out and screaming "no thank you" over and over.
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LisaRose
It's never too early to start the mind control. When you can convince someone a cupcake is evil you own them.
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How do flood apologists explain these?
by marmot inspear points dating to thousands of years before the flood (or even adam's alleged creation, for that matter) found preserved in situ among mammoth bones in naco, arizona.. or the 14,000 year-old footprint of a child at a mammoth hunting camp unearthed in a bog in monte verde, chile:.
the kicker is that this isn't even the oldest evidence for human settlement of the americas.
since the wt loves to trot out frozen mammoth carcasses as "proof" that mammoths died in the flood, who were these mammoth eaters in north america?
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LisaRose
The evidence is overwhelming and not debatable except to those who need to believe in fairy tales and quote dated material from people who are not experts in the field and have an ax to grind.
But it's easier to believe the entire body of scientists in academia are making things up, in cahoots and faking the evidence than to believe a fairy tale written thousands of years ago didn't actually happen.
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LuckyNun is back
by LuckyNun inlong time no see.. so, since i last posted on here, jws drove my sister to attempt suicide again (she failed, but it was close) and drove my close childhood friend to actually commit suicide.
i too kmy sister in and helped her recover.
i think she's going to pull through.
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LisaRose
I would write a letter to everyone who lives near you parents saying that a child molester lives in the neighborhood and they should not let their children visit anyone unsupervised. Don't name names, but make it clear they should be careful, that the wife is aware of his issues and still allows children to come over.
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RELIGION AND MENTAL ILLNESS!!!
by ADJUSTMENTS ini have have come to realize most "rank and file" jw's are mentally unstable-to-ill and here is why.... http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/mental-issues.php.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/religious_delusion.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/religion_and_schizophrenia.
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LisaRose
I don't think all JWs are mentally ill, but the religion is a very negative influence on those that have any kind of mental illness, including depression. The black and white thinking, burdensome requirements and doom and gloom thinking take their toll on the most vulnerable. Add in the fact that they discourage professional mental health care and you have a recipe for disaster.