Eyes Open

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Posts by Eyes Open

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  193

  One Reason Why I Worship the God of the Bible

  by snowbird in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while this may be construed as a rebuttal to nvr's thread re: why i post about atheism, that is not my intent.. it is my intent, however, to show how i developed a belief in and love for the god of the bible.. my paternal grandfather, who died before i was born, was a baptist preacher, so you could say i cut my teeth on the bible.

  i loved having it read to me, and once i learned how, reading it for myself.

  i'm convinced that spirituality runs deep in my blood.. i've always had such a strong sense of right and wrong that injustices make me literally sick.

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  Eyes Open

  Interesting thoughts posted, and I, too, don't deny the existence of a creator of some kind although I'm sure the bible has nothing directly to do with it if there is one. If people still belive in the bible, that's their choice. The reason I have been posting in this thread is that when someone posts a line of reasoning that I can see is flawed I don't see why that shouldn't be pointed out. This is, after all, a discussion forum. If I post things that are wrong or unsupported, I expect others to help me see that they are so.
  
  And if we end up disagreeing, then that's fine. I hope I haven't been judging or name-calling, but if I've given that impression, sorry.
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  193

  One Reason Why I Worship the God of the Bible

  by snowbird in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while this may be construed as a rebuttal to nvr's thread re: why i post about atheism, that is not my intent.. it is my intent, however, to show how i developed a belief in and love for the god of the bible.. my paternal grandfather, who died before i was born, was a baptist preacher, so you could say i cut my teeth on the bible.

  i loved having it read to me, and once i learned how, reading it for myself.

  i'm convinced that spirituality runs deep in my blood.. i've always had such a strong sense of right and wrong that injustices make me literally sick.

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  Eyes Open

  Posted by Snowbird

  You can pick what you want and discard the rest - as I did with the article on confirmation bias.

  Just wanted to say thats one of the funniest things I've read in ages. Thanks for a good laugh.

  cheers
  pak

  Oh my - I was so busy thinking about the topic that I missed that. I guess that sums up the issue quite nicely.

  "confirmation bias is a tendency to search for or interpret new information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions and avoids information and interpretations which contradict prior beliefs."
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  193

  One Reason Why I Worship the God of the Bible

  by snowbird in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while this may be construed as a rebuttal to nvr's thread re: why i post about atheism, that is not my intent.. it is my intent, however, to show how i developed a belief in and love for the god of the bible.. my paternal grandfather, who died before i was born, was a baptist preacher, so you could say i cut my teeth on the bible.

  i loved having it read to me, and once i learned how, reading it for myself.

  i'm convinced that spirituality runs deep in my blood.. i've always had such a strong sense of right and wrong that injustices make me literally sick.

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  Eyes Open

  the cynical, the doubting, the questing

  Thanks for letting me know. I'm actually less cynical in reality these days. I used to think the world was beyond repair and needed destruction at Armageddon so that "we" could start afresh. Now I understand things are not as we want them, but that we can improve. I now also doubt myself a lot less; my gut feeling that what I'd been taught was not right was proved right by my research (including that on the bible itself). Am I questing? Yeah: questing to live life as a human devoid of false beliefs.

  I am so glad that religious types' judgments on me now have absolutely no validity in my mind, and that I now require natural evidence/experience before believing things.

  Anyway... any more comment on the God-said-everyone-would-die-so-he-must-be-right thing? You do realise that this is actually an unsupportable line of reasoning, even if it holds meaning for you as a person who has faith in God?
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  193

  One Reason Why I Worship the God of the Bible

  by snowbird in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  while this may be construed as a rebuttal to nvr's thread re: why i post about atheism, that is not my intent.. it is my intent, however, to show how i developed a belief in and love for the god of the bible.. my paternal grandfather, who died before i was born, was a baptist preacher, so you could say i cut my teeth on the bible.

  i loved having it read to me, and once i learned how, reading it for myself.

  i'm convinced that spirituality runs deep in my blood.. i've always had such a strong sense of right and wrong that injustices make me literally sick.

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  Eyes Open

  Indeed, come they did; the bitter, the cynical, the doubting, the questing, and the true-blue believers.

  Hi snowbird. I'm curious - which of those names do you judge me as? (Obviously not the last one...)
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  33

  I need someone to talk to..

  by littleblueuk in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am really feeling depressed.

  my relationship with my jw mother is deteriorating rapidly.

  i can't even look at her sometimes.

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  Eyes Open

  Hello littleblueuk,

  First thing I'll say is this: as long as you know you're doing things because you believe they're right (or not doing them because you believe they're wrong), nobody can take away your integrity from you. You are your own beautiful person.

  About the holiday - just a thought: maybe you could all agree not to talk about religion for the whole week? Either way, could you go and choose to show them that you are able to be happy and decent without JWism? If you don't think your sister will change her lifestyle anyway, maybe you should relax a little and stay above the inane JW arguing.

  About depression etc. - I don't have any real experience with it, but here a few books which are in my Amazon basket which have been recommended by others here at JWD:

  The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness (purchase includes audio CD narrated by Jon Kabat-Zinn)

  There Is Nothing Wrong with You: Going Beyond Self-Hate

  Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships

  Whatever you decide, know that you're a great person for having the intelligence and strength not to get baptised (unlike myself) and that you've many friends here who can understand you.

  Keep posting, and all the best.
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  60

  Do you condemn the Society's no-blood policy and still do not DONATE BLOOD?

  by nicolaou in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  it's your decision to make.

  it would be as wrong of this community to insist everyone donate blood as it is of the cult to insist otherwise.

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  Eyes Open

  It's on my to-do list. Thanks for the reminder, nicolaou.
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  40

  Nice meet-up with some former Jw's - then a visit to my Jw brother today!

  by AK - Jeff in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  it was a fine day.

  the sun.

  friends.

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  Eyes Open

  Glad you were able to have that experience as you feel it was good for you Jeff. It certainly is good to have a cry when you need it.
  
  Thanks for sharing your painful events and your days processing.
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  19

  Are You a Closet Apostate Weenie?

  by Farkel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  you count 10 hours per month but havn't even mentioned your beliefs to a non-dub in years.. you underline your study articles at random and write fake notes in the margins.. you smoke joints to get through meetings, field service and assemblies.. you're secretly banging an elder's wife.. you stuff monopoly money in the contribution box.. you keep your eyes open during prayer and giggle.. when everyone else says "amen" at the end of a prayer, you whisper "what bullshit.".

  you have a copy of crisis of conscience in a box buried in your back yard.. you play with an ouija board and watch smurf cartoons when no one is around.. you think "thriller" was the great music video ever made.. you read comic books in the kingdom hall bathroom during meetings.

  when questioned about your long time spent in the bathroom, you whisper "i'm constipated.

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  Eyes Open

  Funny stuff. :)

  You stuff Monopoly money in the contribution box. ~No, but that's where I get rid of pennies~

  The elderly brother who handled the money used to complain about all the coppers he had to count. One brother apparently put some in just to annoy him.

  It's a shame, but this elderly brother (who'd also pioneered for ages) later got disfellowshipped and then died without his "brothers and sisters" being there for him.
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  15

  Steve Hassan's book...

  by Mickey mouse in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ...i just finished reading it.

  wow!

  the only downside for me is that he talks a lot about how important it is to connect with the pre-cult personality.

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  Eyes Open

  Maybe think of all those times when you thought of or did things that you "shouldn't" have whilst a JW? All those little differences of opinion with the FDS? That little voice that wouldn't let you fully settle into the cultic way of life?
  
  Thanks for the 'The Power Of Now' book recommendation - added to my basket. :)
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  23

  martial arts

  by Mysterious in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i remember the jw view of martial arts being cemented in my head when i asked my mother at the age of 6 if i could take karate.

  the look of horror on her face.

  she told me it was violent and jws could not practice violence.

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  Eyes Open

  Doing something has crossed my mind before. I'm skinny and so don't have too much all out strength, and I suppose it could be useful to know how to defend one's self should it become necessary.
  
  Would be interested to hear others' experiences, too.
  
  MissingLink: why don't you let your boy handle the elders should they call? ;)