If you declare this to anyone religious, be prepared for them to try and convince you that you are wrong, a blasphemer, that "you're going to burn for that" aka you'll be judged and punished, and ultimately "I'll pray for you" (which in my experience, so far, hasn't worked from any of them that said they'd do that for me ). Then, most of them either avoid you, or don't talk about religion around you.
Posts by Heaven
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19Aethiest
by midnight inwhat happens if you openly declare you are an aethiest, i don't mean go round forcing my view on everyone , but when pressured to go to the kingdom hall etc you stated you are an aethiest and no longer believe in god , surely you can't be accused of apostasy as you simply don't believe in anything ?
anyone experienced this ?.
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Heaven
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53
My Dad wants to study with me
by BlackWolf inso my parents continue to pester me about getting baptized.
the other day my dad told me that i was old enough to make a decision, and was wondering why i wasn't ready (assembly is in a few weeks) so i told him calmly that i have many doubts and if i were to get baptized it has to be 100 percent my idea.
he was a little annoyed by this, and now wants to study the "is there a creator that cares about you" book (which is complete bs) with me.
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Heaven
Hi Black Wolf... have you created your Art Portfolio yet?
Edited to add: Do NOT get baptized. Move out if you have to.
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19
My Thoughts on the Subject of Faith
by Saethydd ini've had several discussion about the basis for faith in an all powerful creator for the universe, and it seems as if the conversation often comes back to, "well, either way, you have to have faith either in a creator or in the process of evolution because you can't observe that either.
" setting aside the issue of creation and evolution (where i currently sit at undecided), i was also troubled by the tendency to treat faith as a static or absolute concept when in reality it is far more complex.. to begin with, faith isn't just about belief, it combines the concepts of belief and trust.
for the purposes of this discussion, i will be focusing primarily on the second attribute.
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Heaven
I feel for you Saethydd. My Dad was really good at math too. He got sucked into the Borg after he retired. Now the dementia has taken over and he can't even feed himself nor bathe or toilet himself.
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19
My Thoughts on the Subject of Faith
by Saethydd ini've had several discussion about the basis for faith in an all powerful creator for the universe, and it seems as if the conversation often comes back to, "well, either way, you have to have faith either in a creator or in the process of evolution because you can't observe that either.
" setting aside the issue of creation and evolution (where i currently sit at undecided), i was also troubled by the tendency to treat faith as a static or absolute concept when in reality it is far more complex.. to begin with, faith isn't just about belief, it combines the concepts of belief and trust.
for the purposes of this discussion, i will be focusing primarily on the second attribute.
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Heaven
"Well, either way, you have to have faith either in a creator or in the process of evolution because you can't observe that either."
This is a statement from someone who is uneducated in the process of evolution. It is observable.
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24
black dog comes to visit
by zeb indear friends,.
once again my depression has got the better of me and i must bow out for a time.. "the angels sang glory to god in the highest and on earth peace unto men of goodwill'.
so if that means at this special time of the year then have a happy and safe christmas time all of you.. hugs.
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Heaven
(((( zeb )))) I hope the black dog doesn't visit for too long. Do something nice for yourself. When you can, let us know how you're doing.
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15
A Question about Spiritistic Books
by schnell ini have a nearly academic interest in the occult, though i am not a spiritualist and remain a skeptic.
i've come to learn that demons are based on everything from dust devils in the desert, to diseases, to actual people.
probably most of all, demons are a tool of good ol' fashioned con artists and fear mongers.. but here's a question.
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Heaven
I have many artifacts and a few books that could be considered of the 'occult' in my home. There is nada happening here in terms of spirit encounters or devil visitation, or any other such thing going on.
Everything one experiences is due to their physiological makeup and world. Our brains control everything about our own experiences. If one's mind is not trained to be a critical thinker, then superstitions and fears can overrule any otherwise logical or rational explanation that is really occurring.
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207
Honest Questions About Child Abuse
by Richard Oliver ini have two honest questions for everyone here.
i understand that most here want retribution from the courts against watchtower for child abuse allegations.
but let us take away the instances where someone was accused of child abuse and then later put back into a position of authority, such as an elder or an ms. let us just take the cases where a regular publisher or even an appointed person, with no previous accusation of child abuse has come up against that person.
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Heaven
I wrote to Angus Stewart, Senior Counsel on the ARC's Jehovah's Witnesses case regarding Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. I have posted my letter previously on this board. My summary in the letter:
" I wish you and the RC much success in bringing about positive change. When a group is based on outdated principles such as Patriarchy, various abuses seem to abound. If laws are not enacted, though, as a result of these investigations, The Watchtower will not adopt any changes. Their authority is their interpretation of the Bible unless there is a law which prohibits them from using the Bible literally. They will view this investigation as persecution by Satan."
I think the above says it all. Abuse will continue in this religion unless they reform. But reform means dropping much of what they cling to from the Bible. This will never happen unless it is made illegal. So it is up to the secular authorities to enact laws to force Watchtower to do the right thing if anything is going to change. We can only hope.
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10
Jehovah wants everyone to hear the message before the end comes
by Sour Grapes inwhen you ask a jw why hasn't god brought an end to the old system it is because he is being patient and he wants everyone to have the opportunity for everlasting life.
they will say that every year over 200,000 become jw's (most of whom are born ins).
the problem that i have is that every year over 130,000,000 people are born which means that every year he delays in destroying the nations there will be 130,000,000 more people to murder and bury.
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Heaven
I don't think the message has ever reached these people in all the years they and their ancestors have lived on this Earth:
Amazon Tribe discovered in 2008
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Why would Jehovah give Satan rulership of the World.?
by smiddy inromans 13 : 1-7 "let every soul be in subjection to the superior authorities" etc,"the existing authourities stand placed in their relative positions by god" 2".therefore he who opposers the authourity has taken a stand against the arrangement of god ,those who have taken a stand against it will recieve judgement to themselves "etc,etc,.."..to him who calls for honour such honour.".
isnt this plainly stating that christians should be supporting and playing along with the governments of this sytem of things ?
that it is in fact an arrangement of god ?
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Heaven
Witness My Fury said: Because the imaginary sky daddy is a douche.
Witness My Fury beat me to it.
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19
Writers (not God) are at fault
by anointed1 inif scriptures are written by people who have no sense of justice, it is natural that god would be misrepresented—something that happened to the biblical god.
to mention a few:.
1) david, murderer of the innocent and faithful, wrote portions of the bible.. 2) paul who set in opposition to genuine apostles who were directly trained by jesus himself sarcastically describing them as “superfine apostles” openly declared in some places that it was not spirit, but he was writing.
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Heaven
The ancients created the gods to help them define the natural world. They thought the Earth was the center of the universe.
Luckily, we have various disciplines now such as Science, Archeology, Biology, Geology, Mathematics, Genetics, to name a few, that have lifted us out of the superstitious realm of 'god did it' to show that natural processes are just that. There is no spirit being behind volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, leprosy, epilepsy, HIV, ebola etc, etc. as the ancients all thought. Knowing that there are at least 12 other planets in our Universe that all reside in the habitable zones of stars and that the building blocks of life have been found in meteors means that life could very well exist on other planets. Suddenly, Earth and it's species are not so 'special' as the religionists want mankind to believe.
The Hebrews believed Yahweh to be all things, both good and evil. But there is a huge issue trying to sell one's god as "all-loving" when he condones and perpetuates mass genocide, infanticide, rape, slavery, misogyny, and a multitude of other ugly, nasty things that people in authoritarian positions have wrought on the rest of the human race for thousands of years.
Even religion evolves. One only has to research where their current beliefs came from to realize this. One day the human race will no longer need the gods. They are almost there now.