Posts by Galileo

67

Athiests please answer these questions

by Mrs Smith in

jw
friends

i'm not trying to pick a fight i was just sitting at my desk pondering on some threads on jwd and i would very much like this question answered.. why is it that athiest often (not always) direct their argument for athiesism towards christians?

why not direct your argument towards buddists or muslims or even new-agers?

i mean they also believe in a higher power so why is it that only christains seem to get knocked?

Galileo

What I am seeing is that atheism means different things to different people

Well, there are different types of atheism, there is a spectrum. But it is just differences in degrees. You aren't likely to find someone that calls themself an atheist that goes on to say they also believe in a god. That person would best be describd by another title: Crazy.

Even those that say, they believe there is a God, and that there is a Jesus, but have different ideas on the death penalty, sexual issues, abortion.

That's why I specifically said "Southern Baptist", not "Christian". There are varying degrees of Christianity, but they are all part of a belief system. If someone is a Christian that thinks there's nothing wrong with homosexuality, they are choosing to pretend their holy book wasn't serious when it said homosexuals will be destroyed by god. There is no such system of beliefs for an atheist to need to circumvent. That's why we are so insistent atheism isn't a belief or a belief system, it's a non-belief.

67

Athiests please answer these questions

by Mrs Smith in

jw
friends

i'm not trying to pick a fight i was just sitting at my desk pondering on some threads on jwd and i would very much like this question answered.. why is it that athiest often (not always) direct their argument for athiesism towards christians?

why not direct your argument towards buddists or muslims or even new-agers?

i mean they also believe in a higher power so why is it that only christains seem to get knocked?

Galileo

Why do atheists continually deny they have any belief at all?

Atheists have no belief in God. I guess a more accurate statement is that atheism is not a belief system, the way a specific religion is. Saying you are an atheist tells a person nothing about where you may stand on abortion, the death penalty, sexual issues, etc. If you tell me your a southern baptist or a muslem, I know where you stand on all those issues. It is simply a lack of belief in one thing. We certainly believe in other things. I hope someday the term atheist will be unneccesary, the way we don't need a term to say we don't believe in fairies, unicorns, mermaids, etc. I don't believe I will see that in my lifetime, but I believe (hope) the day is coming.

67

Athiests please answer these questions

by Mrs Smith in

jw
friends

i'm not trying to pick a fight i was just sitting at my desk pondering on some threads on jwd and i would very much like this question answered.. why is it that athiest often (not always) direct their argument for athiesism towards christians?

why not direct your argument towards buddists or muslims or even new-agers?

i mean they also believe in a higher power so why is it that only christains seem to get knocked?

Galileo

The Mother of American Atheism was very hateful, ignorant and attacked people to the point that she was murdered.

Madeline Murray O'haire was not the mother of american atheism, by a long shot. She was before my time, but she's never been someone I looked up to or even thought much about. At any rate, she was murdered over a very valuable collection of gold coins, not ideology. It was about money.

atheism is just another interpretation of the world around us.
I just find that atheism seems to try to suggest they are the opposite of religious, when it seems there are a few very obvious similarities, it just does not believe in a divine

Lack of belief is not a belief. Religion is largely defined by belief in the supernatural, the antithesis of atheism. It is true that there are activists promoting atheism. I could even be defined as such. But there are a great deal of others that just aren't interested in the discussion. As the Nobel Prize winning physicist Stephen Weinberg said:

"I've occasionally... not too often, gotten into conversations with my physicist colleagues about religion and I find an overwhelming lack of interest in it. I once said that they don't care enough about it to qualify as practising atheists. They... they just regard it as a sort of question that it's silly to raise, and umm... I, for some obscure reason, I tend to care about it and I'm interested in religion, but most of my physicist friends are not."

87

What do we have to do to get Gods' Attention

by LouBelle in

jw
friends

this is *if* you believe in god / a god / gods.

there are moments when i sit down and have a conversation, almost with myself, because even though i am looking up at the heavens/searching my soul, there is no answer, no supernatural feeling, it is quiet and still, but i speak the words just in case there is something listening.. if there is a god and he is all that he claims to be through all the religions on this earth, why doesn't he rule us as a god should?

why doesn't he come on down and sort out this world?

Galileo

Welcome jwblog! It seems by your answer you are a current jay - dub. Forgive me if that's not the case. Either way, let me share some information with you. It is apparent that virtually all of your information comes from one (biased) source, probably the WTB&TS. Many of your claims are more complicated to get in to, so let me focus on one:

Geologic evidence coincides with biblical accounts.

This is about as far from the truth as you can get. Let's take the flood for instance. It is an impossibility. There is not a reputable geologist alive that will tell you that a global flood happened four to five thousand years ago. Here's a site for reference http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-noahs-ark.html, although a google search will net you as much reference material as you care to read. The entire page is good material, although the part that deals with the geologic evidence starts at point 7.

In general, this is my favorite source of information on Jehovah's Witnesses: http://www.jwfacts.com If you're wondering about my credentials, I am a former MS, regular auxillary pioneer, was married to a regular pioneer. I hope your search leads you to the truth.

52

FW: WHAT A SISITER SACRIFICED TO SERVE JEHOVAH

by moomanchu in

witnoid e-mails goin around.. all i can say is wtf.. japan assembly experience.

date: tue, 22 jan 2008 15:58:51 -0500. .

convention experience from japan!

Galileo

I heard this story probably ten or more years ago at a convention. My thoughts now are pretty much what they were then: She had already "bought" the right to attend meetings, presumably that includes the conventions. Why the hell would she tell him she was getting babtized and lose another finger? How would he even know there was such a thing? For all he knew (if he even knew what baptism was, being a non-Christian living in a non-Christian country), she was baptized the first day she entered the Kingdom Hall. Does she go up to him and tell him every time she has a talk, wants to auxillary pioneer, or start a study, with her hand outstretched? When will this idiot learn to keep her freaking mouth shut? Total nonsense.

67

Athiests please answer these questions

by Mrs Smith in

jw
friends

i'm not trying to pick a fight i was just sitting at my desk pondering on some threads on jwd and i would very much like this question answered.. why is it that athiest often (not always) direct their argument for athiesism towards christians?

why not direct your argument towards buddists or muslims or even new-agers?

i mean they also believe in a higher power so why is it that only christains seem to get knocked?

Galileo

I agree with what the other posters said. I think funnyderek gave a very good and concise explanation. There is a rather prominent atheist that deals largely with muslem issues named Ibn Warraq - http://www.challenging-islam.org/articles/warraq-debate-muslims.htm

could Buddists be considered Athiest?

There are indeed many atheists that are also Buddhists. I think even Sam Harris is. If he doesn't consider himself such, he has at least adopted a great many of their practices and speaks very highly of their philosophy.

87

What do we have to do to get Gods' Attention

by LouBelle in

jw
friends

this is *if* you believe in god / a god / gods.

there are moments when i sit down and have a conversation, almost with myself, because even though i am looking up at the heavens/searching my soul, there is no answer, no supernatural feeling, it is quiet and still, but i speak the words just in case there is something listening.. if there is a god and he is all that he claims to be through all the religions on this earth, why doesn't he rule us as a god should?

why doesn't he come on down and sort out this world?

Galileo

Why should god reach out to me?.....because he himself professes he wishes that no man should be destroyed - I've been trying on my side, perhaps it's not good enough, perhaps god feels he needs to drive me to the edge of all reasoning to make his point, perhaps I need to go to the depths of depression to hear his voice - that isn't necessary, that isn't love.....just take my outstretched hand.

Amen. God knows exactly what each of us needs in order to believe. He could have created us to just know that he exists, and to know which god is the real one. He could have prevented so much misery, war, terrorism, destruction of families, depression, despair, etc. etc. Instead he chooses to hide. If that god did exist, I wouldn't worship him anyway. The kindest conclusion you could come to, from god's standpoint, is to say that he doesn't exist. If you assume he does exist, it is almost inevitable that you must also assume he is also insane, petty, or evil. Probably all three.

87

What do we have to do to get Gods' Attention

by LouBelle in

jw
friends

this is *if* you believe in god / a god / gods.

there are moments when i sit down and have a conversation, almost with myself, because even though i am looking up at the heavens/searching my soul, there is no answer, no supernatural feeling, it is quiet and still, but i speak the words just in case there is something listening.. if there is a god and he is all that he claims to be through all the religions on this earth, why doesn't he rule us as a god should?

why doesn't he come on down and sort out this world?

Galileo

This sounds like a fairly good explanation to me but I'd like to hear your thoughts. God created our universe but he's probably left it to see what happens or he's working on a different project. Sound realistic to you?

This is Deism, a once popular idea among thinking people. Many of the founding fathers of the United States were Deists. As we have learned more and more through the scentific method, this scenario seems less and less likely. To quote Stephen Hawking:

"What I have done is to show that it is possible for the way the universe began to be determined by the laws of science. In that case, it would not be necessary to appeal to God to decide how the universe began. This doesn't prove that there is no God, only that God is not necessary."

30

Nothing but the Blood - Chapter 4

by daniel-p in

jw
friends

[this is the true story of my life.

i'm posting it in installments.

the final installment will include post-script-type thoughts, with acknowledgements to those who've helped me along these last two years, as well as those who've been an inspiration.

Galileo

Thanks once again Daniel. Your imagery is amazing. I felt like I was there with you, although I never served at Bethel. I can't wait for the rest.

49

Who has lost faith?

by logic&reason in

i am curious about who (after leaving) went on to other religions vs. lost faith completely.

once i started questioning the wt society, i began to question everything.

as jw's we are taught from childhood up that other religions are false - so it seems easy, after elliminating the last one, to be rid of religion altogether.. .

Galileo

Well sure. But a-theos is a poor term for most nonbelievers.

A-theos, as you stated, means no god, as in, no belief in a god. It is a perfect term for nonbelievers. Non-believer means "Does not believe" as in "Does not believe in a god."

Only someone with infinite knowledge could claim a universal negative.

Exactly, which is why I don't know of a single atheist that believes they have absolute proof that there is no god. That includes the most famous radical atheists alive today, such as Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens. They simply believe there is no positive proof that there is one, and don't believe in things for which there is not evidence, as I've stated. Clearly you believe there is evidence, and that's fine. The idea that atheists believe they have positive proof that there is no god is a straw man argument invented by believers in order to make the atheists' position appear ridiculous. Try not to mischaracterize my point of view and I'll try not to mischaracterize yours.