Superfine Apostate

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Posts by Superfine Apostate

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  208

  Self Deceit and Faith.

  by hillary_step in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this thread is inspired by a comment made on another thread, but i thought it would make an interesting discussion.. self deceit is described as a "misconception that is favorable to the person who holds it".

  my premise is that faith is a form of self-deceit - lying to oneself.. so, i would ask of the "faithful" the following questions and would request that they be read carefully to ensure no that there is no misunderstanding of purpose.. 1) in what way is faith not self-deception?.

  2) is a person who has faith in a god that you do not believe in, say for example siva, practicing a form of self-deception?.

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  Superfine Apostate

  erm... we've got plenty of archaeopteryx fossils. not just footprints. i don't think you can say that about bigfoot?
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  208

  Self Deceit and Faith.

  by hillary_step in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this thread is inspired by a comment made on another thread, but i thought it would make an interesting discussion.. self deceit is described as a "misconception that is favorable to the person who holds it".

  my premise is that faith is a form of self-deceit - lying to oneself.. so, i would ask of the "faithful" the following questions and would request that they be read carefully to ensure no that there is no misunderstanding of purpose.. 1) in what way is faith not self-deception?.

  2) is a person who has faith in a god that you do not believe in, say for example siva, practicing a form of self-deception?.

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  Superfine Apostate

  a scientific theory IS as factual as it gets.
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  62

  The Steps Between JWism and Atheism

  by compound complex in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  greetings, friends:.

  i recently put up a thread entitled "when can i comment?

  " new to the thought process of critical thinking, i have felt overwhelmed by the wealth of information now available to a mind opened up to society-banned material.

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  Superfine Apostate

  seems like i underwent pretty much the same procedure Awakened07 describes. for me the "canon" and "607" indeed were some very important issues. and i'm glad having read leolaias posts a few years ago.
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  208

  Self Deceit and Faith.

  by hillary_step in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this thread is inspired by a comment made on another thread, but i thought it would make an interesting discussion.. self deceit is described as a "misconception that is favorable to the person who holds it".

  my premise is that faith is a form of self-deceit - lying to oneself.. so, i would ask of the "faithful" the following questions and would request that they be read carefully to ensure no that there is no misunderstanding of purpose.. 1) in what way is faith not self-deception?.

  2) is a person who has faith in a god that you do not believe in, say for example siva, practicing a form of self-deception?.

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  Superfine Apostate

  if you show me enough evidence to back it up, i believe in bigfoot. a footprint may be a hint, but a full-scale skeleton is more convincing.
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  31

  Getting married too young

  by freedomfighter in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  have noticed an inevitable trend in australia.

  (probably is all over the world).

  as a jw u can't have sex before marriage right?

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  Superfine Apostate

  why do JWs get married in the afternoon? because in the morning they're still in school.
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  62

  The Steps Between JWism and Atheism

  by compound complex in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  greetings, friends:.

  i recently put up a thread entitled "when can i comment?

  " new to the thought process of critical thinking, i have felt overwhelmed by the wealth of information now available to a mind opened up to society-banned material.

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  Superfine Apostate

  my steps (officially stayed JW through all of them):
  
  1. i found out that the brothers just don't live up to their own standards. this made me study the bible, jw history, church history and the like. i stopped placing watchtowers and went into service with my elberfelder bible only.
  
  2. studying the bible made me a bible-christian. i started to discuss with other ex-jw bible-christians in online forums. studying the bible of course leads to several problems: there's just too much nonsense (see: http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com)
  
  3. now i tried some different views on the bible. that the deluge was just a local thing, that the adam and eve story was methaphorical and so on. which made me pretty much a liberal christian. i had a hard time justifying all this stuff to myself though.
  
  4. i finally came to the conclusion, that the "old testament" has nothing godly or holy in it. it's nothing more than myths. and as jesus refers to old testament stories as historical, i simply trashed the "new testament" along with it. (did a lot of research on apocryphal and pseudepigraphical writings back then)
  
  5. now i still had that god in my mind, but it was not so personal anymore. i thought a lot about different religions and noticed how much they are alike. i'd call myself an agnostic in that phase. i've heard too many stupid things about atheism as a JW and just was not ready for that final step.
  
  6. research, logical arguments found in the internet, many sleepless nights and even some final prayers ultimately did the rest. there's just no reason to believe in any type of god/ess. and even if there was a god - there's no reason to believe that ANYONE (or any book) would know any more about it/her/him than myself.
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  18

  I Believe

  by Superfine Apostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i believe that under some circumstances eating fruit should be punished with death.. .

  i believe it's perfectly valid to not only punish the bad bad fruit-eater, but also all his descendants.

  i believe that death penalty is a form of love.. .

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  Superfine Apostate

  i confess: even if i'd believe in a god, i wouldn't follow/obey him for a second. it just wouldn't be right.
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  12

  Thanks to the Allied Armies of WW2

  by edmond dantes in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  don't get me wrong i am not slighting the incarceration of j. witnesses in the concentration camps but i recently read an article in the wacktower about the suffering endured in the concentration camps.. thanks were profusely given to jehovah and for the fortitude of the brothers and sisters during that terrible time but glaringly not one word of thanks,not one word in recognition of what the allies sacrificed and did was mentioned .no mention at all of any soldier ,sailor or airman laying down their life to rescue the inmates of those hell holes.. do the governing body really believe that no thanks are called for on behalf of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice ?

  how can anyone show respect for that crazy cult .do they really believe that jesus is going into battle on their side when they so disregard what others have done for them ?

  according to their twisted logic god is going to destroy those veterans who are now old who way back when came to the rescue..

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  Superfine Apostate

  well, maddie... you're just on the other side of the story. that's all.
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  11

  Witnessing to a Witness

  by yuxist in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello i found this site while researching jws.

  my motive is simply to reach out to those in the organization.

  not by going after them but rather responding to them when they show up at my door.

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  Superfine Apostate

  every JW has doubts... but you need a few beers to find out. some will listen to the UN incident. some to the 607 stuff. some to the silent lambs. it's not that easy to find out at a door. hard to reason with fundamentalists.
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  33

  The Positive Thread

  by Superfine Apostate in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  post something positive.. .

  i'll make the start: after years of fading, my believing wife stopped attending the meetings also and i no longer have to be careful about what i'm talking about when hanging around with the rest of my jw friends.

  for me this is quite an achievement and i'm happy with it.. .

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  Superfine Apostate

  que rico se ve eso! do you really roast your own coffee?
  
  i'm a software developer, i need loads of this stuff ;)