Awakened at Gilead

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Posts by Awakened at Gilead

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  32

  The one thing keeping me from total atheism/theism

  by easyreader1970 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i hate riding the fence.

  if someone asked me right now if i believed in a creator (or creators), i would still say i don't know, in spite of everything i know about current science.. what's my hangup?

  believe it or not, it's one thing.

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  Awakened at Gilead

  @Robert: Why do you say atheism is a theory?

  Also,

  Do you believe in atomic theory? germ theory?
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  129

  Why I am an atheist

  by Awakened at Gilead in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  someone (a born-again exjw) on youtube asked me why i was an atheist... i crafted a brief response... it follows:.

  1. religious reason: there is no proof for god outside of the bible.

  once i dropped my belief in the bible, the judeo-christian concept of god fell apart like a house of cards.

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  Awakened at Gilead

  Burn,

  This is because my inquisitor is a born-again and thus fundy Xian.

  Do you have an alternate god-concept you would like to share?

  However, I think 2G would address a deist's beliefs.

  A@G
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  32

  How Many Here Have Done Extensive Research While a JW or When Exiting?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i loved research.

  i used to pride myself in my knowledge of different watchtower society info, especially organization procedure.

  so i always enjoyed digging into facts.

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  Awakened at Gilead

  I am reading up on evolution now... it makes a lot of sense.

  I picked up an Awake yesterday, and it's psuedoscientific articles almost made me vomit.
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  129

  Why I am an atheist

  by Awakened at Gilead in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  someone (a born-again exjw) on youtube asked me why i was an atheist... i crafted a brief response... it follows:.

  1. religious reason: there is no proof for god outside of the bible.

  once i dropped my belief in the bible, the judeo-christian concept of god fell apart like a house of cards.

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  Awakened at Gilead

  Robert:

  I don't say we can disprove god, which is why I am open. But we definitely cannot prove him. If new evidence for God pops up, or if he turns up (cuz he's definitely MIA) I will be first in line to believe (and ask a few questions)

  Sphere:

  Point C is what sealed God's coffin IMHO
• 
  10

  Ten Plagues of Egypt (mentioned WT 3-15-09)

  by cameo-d in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i am sure this must have been posted before, but since the ten plagues are briefly mentioned in the upcoming wt, i thought it might be worth posting again.

  perhaps it will provide an opportunity to pass this on to a jw friend as food for thought.. .

  the lice & the flies - both plagues #3 & 4 can be grouped together because they are related by term - insect- due to the large masses of now dead frogs on land, insects would gather to feed on.

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  Awakened at Gilead

  ATJ, I can't believe all the gilead Students just swallow this stuff up...
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  50

  Elders created new form of Expulsion - Looking for Suggestions

  by Shepherd Book in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  as many of you already know, my wife and i left the jws simply because we discovered it was not true.

  we did not commit any sins, and we did not sow seeds of doubt in the congregation.

  in fact, at the last meeting my wife attended, she still fully believed it was the truth.. .

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  Awakened at Gilead

  Shepherd book: This was the thread I started about my experience:

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/members/private/158832/1/Sneaky-elders-announce-A-G-is-no-longer-a-JW-without-advising-me

  According to the elders book, they can announce a DA for a number of reasons... and they don't have to tell you... but the announcement is the same for everyone: so and so is no longer a JW (whether for DF or DA)
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  129

  Why I am an atheist

  by Awakened at Gilead in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  someone (a born-again exjw) on youtube asked me why i was an atheist... i crafted a brief response... it follows:.

  1. religious reason: there is no proof for god outside of the bible.

  once i dropped my belief in the bible, the judeo-christian concept of god fell apart like a house of cards.

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  Awakened at Gilead

  Someone (a born-again exJW) on YouTube asked me why I was an atheist... I crafted a brief response... it follows:

  ___________

  1. Religious reason: There is no proof for God outside of the bible. Once I dropped my belief in the Bible, the Judeo-Christian concept of god fell apart like a house of cards.
  
  2. Scientific reason: I went to a natural history musem and learned about the earth's history. This confirmed my lack of belief in a god. Think about how long the earth has existed (4.5 billion years). Life's emergence (3 billion years ago), the pattern of life developing matches evolutionary theory; 5 mass destructions have caused the death and extinction of most of the species that have ever existed (i.e. ice ages; asteroids; massive volcanic activity, etc); so...
  
  If there was a creator god, there would be many unanswered questions:
  
  a. Why would he create life forms only to destroy almost all of them by hurling asteroids (or other disasters) at the earth?

  b. Why do ancient life forms differ so much from modern ones if each species is specially created, instead of evolved?

  c. Why would god wait 4.5 billion years to create humanity, and wait 3000 years to communicate with them (meanwhile, all sorts of other belief systems pop up), then communicate with them for about 1000 years (from Moses to Ezra), then be silent or 500 years, then communicate with humans for 100 years (birth of Jesus to John), then be silent again for 2000 years. Does that timeline make any sense?

  d. Why do scientists claim that hominids have been around for about 600,000 years, yet the Bible says only 6,000? Who is wrong? Why do you answer?

  e. If evolution is not true, why is neanderthal DNA different from homo sapiens, so that neanderthals are an extinct separate spcies? even their genome has been mapped: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/090212-neanderthal-genome.html?source=rss
  
  f. My disbelief in god is not absolute. In oher words, I do not deny that a creator god may exist. However, if he/she/it does exist, why not make it clear? Why not carve a message on Mt. Rushmore? Why not have the rocks speak out and tell us? Why not have some sort of supernatural displays so that his existence is clear to all, and people of different religions will stop killing or hating one another?
  
  g. If you say that a creator must exist, due to the existence of matter, then you have answered nothing, as you must explain how the creator came to exist. Ad infinitum.
  
  These are my prinicipal reasons. Do they make sense? If you have valid answers for me, let me know. I am constantly learning more and more, but each new piece of knowledge generally pushes me farther away from belief in "god'.
  _________

  Comments?
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  40

  My Resignation Letter

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i never did post this here.

  i am posting it now for posterity's sake.

  its been a few years, but, its good food for thought.

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  Awakened at Gilead

  Well put ATJ... did they accept your resignation, or ask you to stick around and teach Gilead classes the truth?

  LOL!
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  50

  Elders created new form of Expulsion - Looking for Suggestions

  by Shepherd Book in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  as many of you already know, my wife and i left the jws simply because we discovered it was not true.

  we did not commit any sins, and we did not sow seeds of doubt in the congregation.

  in fact, at the last meeting my wife attended, she still fully believed it was the truth.. .

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  Awakened at Gilead

  The EXACT same thing happened to me!

  And Rebel8, I appealed to the WTS. I received a letter back from them concurring with the BOE's decision to announce my DA.

  

  There is really nothing you can do (IMHO), although I am happy with the outcome. Freedom rocks!
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  21

  Singles! Looking for a dub to marry?

  by Newborn in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  did you know about this site?

  i didn't, however i'll keep looking elsewhere, grrrr.

  http://www.jwmatch.com.

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  Awakened at Gilead

  LOL @ Isaac