Posts by VoidEater

32

A calmer, more serene, moment in time.....

by AK - Jeff in

four weeks ago, my only child, my daughter, was asked to leave my home.

it was tough love.

she has spent the previous 3 years incarcerated.

I predict

by hubert in

jw
friends

i predict that before i am sixty six and a half years old, i'll reach 2,500 posts.. well, i haven't started a thread in quite some time, so i figured this would get me over the mark.

.

hubert .

VoidEater

Armageddon has arrived! But...invisibly...

45

My Current Battle

by KW13 in

jw
friends

ranting individuals need not reply.

i need encouragement and general advice, personal accounts etc.. am i a christian or am i not?

i've come to a point where i'm not sure whether or not i want to believe in anything, at the moment i'm confused as to whether i am a believer or whether i am someone recovering from indoctrination.. i feel that i've not had a 'pure' opportunity to decide if i want to be a believe and although the thought has been in the back of my mind, the conditioning has made me delay it and my current circumstances and poor health are forcing me to face it - i fear facing it will make me worse because its yet another thing i am not really mentally strong enough to deal with.. is it natural i fear what being an atheist means for me.

VoidEater

Almost forgot: Are you a Christian?

I would think the definition a Christian is one who follows the example of Christ. If you hold Jesus as a model and endeavor to follow in his footsteps, then I would say that indeed makes you a Christian.

But that's really something I can't answer for you. If depends on how you define "Christian". I would leave that for you to determine.

I would call you a friend either way.

45

My Current Battle

by KW13 in

jw
friends

ranting individuals need not reply.

i need encouragement and general advice, personal accounts etc.. am i a christian or am i not?

i've come to a point where i'm not sure whether or not i want to believe in anything, at the moment i'm confused as to whether i am a believer or whether i am someone recovering from indoctrination.. i feel that i've not had a 'pure' opportunity to decide if i want to be a believe and although the thought has been in the back of my mind, the conditioning has made me delay it and my current circumstances and poor health are forcing me to face it - i fear facing it will make me worse because its yet another thing i am not really mentally strong enough to deal with.. is it natural i fear what being an atheist means for me.

VoidEater

When I left the WTS, I was determined to not take on beliefs about God from anyone - that I would have to rely only upon what I perosnally experienced.

I have experienced a lot of things. Even if I choose to derive meaning from these experiences and transform them into "beliefs" about what is so, none of what I have seen suggests a God like mainstream Christianity's.

Is that scary? To lay down beliefs inculcated since birth? To admit that there are big unknowns? Yes, of course. Both because it attacks the most fundamental "truths" that went into my pysche, and because anything unknown is anathema to the mind. The intellect wants to know! It demands to know! It's what it exists for.

The unknown can be awful, or awe-inspiring. It can be a vacuum or it can be an empty tablet. It's hard to see the inspirational and invitational when you've been taught all your life that God is there, manipulating things, granting grace, making it all right.

But then - as soon as you allow God's foot in the door, and ascribing cures and blessings to Him, you must immediately also acknowledge then that He is also the source of disease and damnation. For every prayer answered there is one unanswered. Gopher's 50% observation applies.

So what is "safer" to believe in then? A fickle, arbitrary God? Or the Atheist view of an unproven God? It feels better to me to allow an absent God does not hear my prayers than to believe I am unheard.

Belief is just a thought in the mind. It serves a purpose, fills a hole, soothes a fear.

What life is really more concerned with is the quality of your soul, if you will - what you feel in your heart. Your capacity for kindness and compassion. The sorts of actions you are performing in the world, how you are treating your fellow man. That's where the measure of your humanity and your convictions truly live.

Belief should come from meaning, and meaning comes in hindsight. Living in the moment, feeling what your experience is telling you now, is of primary import.

I've lost my belief in "God". I've gained a life of compassion.

66

the unkindest cut of all?

by chickpea in

never believing that a foreskin was a birth defect, i left my sons intact...( called genital integrity in some circles).

what, if anything, makes circumcision less of a mutilation than fgm?.

dont kill the questioner!!

VoidEater

"From its original roots in anti-masturbation hysteria, circumcision continues in English-speaking western countries (the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) because of mistaken beliefs and unfounded fears about hygiene, disease, appearance and sexuality, and denial of the pain of infant circumcision."

See http://www.cirp.org/library/ethics/milos-macris/ as a starting point.

54

Evolution is a religious teaching

by lrkr in

i kid you not.

page 16 of 1/1/08 wt.

"although evolution is usually presented in scientific language, it is really a religious doctrine.".

VoidEater

I kinda tune out when even otherwise decent people start telling me what I believe, or that my lack of belief must be a belief. It's kinda like Phyllis Diller authoring "My Famous Beauty Secrets". Or me authoring "I Know What Women Like".

21

Was your decision to leave the jw's based upon worldly friends/influences?

by chicken in

jw
friends

hi guys, i'm new to the forum :) i'm a worldly girl and got a friend who is a jw so im quite interested to hear from all of you :) also how did you're worldly friends compare to your jw friends.

thanx in advance x.

VoidEater

The worldly kids I knew were more honest than the JW friends I had. The JW friends did all the things the worldy kids did, but mostly had to lie about it and pretend it wasn't happening. The JW kids I knew were into scary stuff, heroin, weird sexual stuff at way too early an age. The JW adults I knew best were either really caring folks or evil through and through.

The JW people I found myself with as I grew up and that were my own age were much more judgmental than the worldly people, and in many cases were less kind than the worldy people. My best friend in high school left when he turned 18, and he's turned out to be one of the most unconditionally loving people I know. Another good friend in high school stayed in and became one of the most judgmental, cruel people I know.

The hypocrisy and lies just got to be too much for me.

13

CREATIONISTS TO LAUNCH`SCIENCE' MAGAZINE

by badboy in

jw
friends

this i must see.. on a separate note,a creationist museum is having to sell someexhibits because of fincancial problems..

VoidEater

I could write a book: Religions I've Known and Loved.

16

Humans Need Fantasy

by metatron in

jw
friends

the problem with making judgements about religion is that it is all too easy to dismiss the value of its ( usually) unsupported beliefs.. guys like dawkins and hitchens extol the value of atheism - as if they could prove that a life without illusion is somehow "better".

related to this, we may also think that objective facts should overcome true believers simply upon their confirmation.

life just doesn't .

VoidEater

Meta: Laughing - thanks!

Satanus: Isn't the phrase, Atman and Brahman are one? ;-)

36

Neil Young - Your Favorite Songs or Albums from Him ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

another musician i have really liked over the years !

has a crazy , catatonic electric guitar sound over the years that sounds like the guitar is moaning or screaming at times .

pretty creepy at times ; but very cool !

VoidEater

JK beat me to it: Cinnamon Girl.