Awen

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Posts by Awen

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  26

  Last Weekend Ever (according to OBVES) Whatcha gonna Do?

  by LostGeneration in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  obves says the world ends next week, meaning this is the last weekend ever!

  better make it a good one!.

  i'm gonna step out on a limb and predict that i will have at least 1,784 more weekends before my dirt nap starts, so i'm gonna sit on my rear and watch as much college and nfl football as possible.

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  Awen

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fHdsI7H8EE&feature=related
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  15

  Belief to non-belief

  by Awen in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  have anyone here went from being a very strict believer in god to a non-believer?.

  actually i think many are.. but outside of the usual answers of "god doesn't exist" (which you must have had some very valid reasons for), were there many things that caused you to come to this conclusion?

  i was watching a southpark video about joseph smith and the mormons and i thought it very funny that anyone could actually believe any of that stuff.

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  Awen

  Thank you so very much leavingwt for this link.

  I read all the way through it, every word and found a kindred spirit. For many years of my life but especially the past decade every word that was on the webpage I have at one time or another thought to myself.

  I realize now my error with religion. I wanted to believe. No matter what arguments or facts were presented they were dismissed or faound fault with because of one immutable fact. I wanted to believe. I'm reminded of one of my favorite movies (The Karate Kid 2) and a singular line from the movie that I have carried with me all these days since. I thinbk it applies to religion as well as a great many other things.

  "A lie only becomes truth if you want to believe it." --Mr Miyagi

  Words cannot express the gratitude I feel right now for everyone who has commented.

  Thank you all so much.
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  63

  Are we all still FAMILY? Yes or No?

  by Greybeard in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here is why, even though i no longer agree with most of what the gb/wt/jw's teach, i still feel especially close to all of us who were apart of this group.

  born in or converted.

  we all have had the same life experience of being raised in a over bearing mind controlling cult.

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  Awen

  I would say yes, without a doubt.

  I still mourn for the lost friendships and close ties I had in the Organization. Although I knew theoretically what the outcome would be if I left, I still held out hope that my friendships with those left behind would remain. How very wrong I was. I was such a fool to even think for a moment that the friendships weren't conditional on me being a good JW (no questioning, no telling, no nothing).

  Here on these forums and on the outside I have met many fine people who put the JW definition of Christian and Good Samaritan to shame.
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  197

  What is "truth" - COULD Einstein Have Been Wrong?

  by AGuest in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  may you all have peace!.

  just came across this article:.

  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44629271/ns/technology_and_science-science/?gt1=43001.

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  Awen

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFods1KSWsQ
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  15

  Belief to non-belief

  by Awen in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  have anyone here went from being a very strict believer in god to a non-believer?.

  actually i think many are.. but outside of the usual answers of "god doesn't exist" (which you must have had some very valid reasons for), were there many things that caused you to come to this conclusion?

  i was watching a southpark video about joseph smith and the mormons and i thought it very funny that anyone could actually believe any of that stuff.

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  Awen

  Have anyone here went from being a very strict believer in God to a non-believer?

  I'm sure there are some. Actually I think many are.

  But outside of the usual answers of "God doesn't exist" (which you must have had some very valid reasons for), were there many things that caused you to come to this conclusion? If so what were they?

  I was watching a Southpark video about Joseph Smith and the Mormons and I thought it very funny that anyone could actually believe any of that stuff. Then I thought to myself, "wait, didn't I believe similar things at one time?" From my research I have discovered that Joseph Smith's family had a history of mental illness. Such a thing runs in my family as well (I'm to be tested for Huntington's Disease soon) and I can't help but wonder if all my experiences are the result of some sort of psychosis. Many of my experiences have echoed what others have said. But I realized that we all share a common experience (being JW's) and the belief in the 144,000 and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon people.

  I have to be honest with myself for self delusion is very destructive. I have been researching some of CG Jung's papers on synchronicity, the collective unconsciousness, the subcounscious and other things I can't recall at the moment. What I found was that it's possible that some who claim to have the Holy Spirit (like myself) may in fact be simply hyper intuitive. Meaning that our subconscious collects information and when the need arises filters it to our conscious mind so that we can act upon it. So what we think (consciously) is ourselves having a religious experience may in fact just be the actions of our own subconscious minds. I'm not speaking for everyone here. Some of the things I have a problem with is I was at one time heavy in paganism and yet I still had this hyper intuitiveness. It has been suggested to me that I still had the HS even though I had drawn away from Christ. My logical mind can make no sense of this. If you're a mechanic and are given a set of tools to work with while employed at a garage, one would think logicvally they would be taken from you when you left the garage's employ. That's just how I see it.

  I also mentioned the mental illness factor which runs in my family and my having a test for Huntington's Disease in a few weeks. I've had a preliminary neurological examination and I have many of the symptoms. I've had such examinations in the past (not for Huntington's) and they have been negative or inconclusive, but I also know these tests aren't an exact science and can be influenced by the examiner, the one being examined or the criteria of the test for determining a mental illness. Still I would be remiss if I didn't consider these factors and my claim of spiritual insight.

  Also I look at my life and I threw away a great future because of the JW's. I haven't really advanced anywhere (my own fault really) in the past 12 years and I chalk it up to my search for God.

  After reading many of the fine posts here MoneurMallard, sizemilk, and Nickolas I can't help but to re-think some things. I think the Bible is wrong on a great many things, failed prophecies, naming places that didn't exist at the time (Nazareth), who wrote much of the New Testament. Also we're puttinga lot of faith into these writers whom we've never met, considering also that their writings could and probably were tampered with down through the ages. So what do we really have that is reliable? If the Bible isn't a reliable source then how do we know that the spiritual experiences many claim to have (myself included) aren't products of our shared experiences with the JW and our own unconscious minds via intuition?

  Just some thought.

  If you went from belief to unbelief what caused it?
• 
  3

  Man of Lawlessness, the Parousia and other things.

  by Awen in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  you might not like this guy, i know he has been on this site before.

  however he seems to have cleaned up his act somewhat.

  he makes some excellent points in his video.

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  Awen

  Off hand I don't know the answer to your question Tammy.

  I just said he made some excellent points. Not all of them are. He's not pro-JW by any means.
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  269

  The Hubble, Yahweh, the Bible, and faith.

  by Nickolas in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there have been several threads in which the views of the universe provided by the hubble space telescope have been discussed.

  i guess this will be another one.

  there's a new series being broadcast here in canada on the oasis hd nature channel entitled hubble's canvas.

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  Awen

  Thanks for all the kind replies. Been a bit sick lately and may take a while to get back to you on this.

  Peace

  Awen
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  3

  Man of Lawlessness, the Parousia and other things.

  by Awen in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  you might not like this guy, i know he has been on this site before.

  however he seems to have cleaned up his act somewhat.

  he makes some excellent points in his video.

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  Awen

  You might not like this guy, I know he has been on this site before. However he seems to have cleaned up his act somewhat. He makes some excellent points in his video. We could engage in character assassination like so many here seem to love to do or we could simply comment on the context of the video. This will determine wheter this htread becomes a good discussion or derails like so many others.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WZXOfZ0l3I
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  47

  Was Jesus a Buddhist Monk?

  by skeeter1 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  one of the things that most bothered me about the bible, is the narcasist, lunatic jehovah who orders killings of women, children, starts wars, etc....and the advent of peaceful jesus.

  some people say that jehovah was a killer to protect "his" people, but couldn't a perfect, all-knowing god have found a way better then to walk on the earth and tell abraham to kill his first born son?.

  on my spiritual journey, i now see how the earlier gods (roman, greek, pagan) are intertwined into the old testament.

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  Awen

  I found this site several weeks ago while trying to find evidence for the historical Jesus. Yes, I'm a believer but I still like to reinforce things from time to time with evidence. It seems well written. I'm not a scholar by any means, just a simple lay person and so there may be many things on this site that are incorrect.

  So perhaps Moneur Mallard would be so kind as to give his/her take on this site.

  Peace

  Morgan
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  10

  Paradise.. At what cost?

  by tallguy345 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  unemployment is skyrocketing, the markets are crashing.. a several thousand year long struggle is coming to an epic conclusion.. a new order is on the horizion.. prospects of knowledge, advancement & unity.. unite the chosen ones, speaking the chosen language.. your saviour has brought you this far, imagine what the future will hold.. change the world.. .

  the catch?

  billions must die.. .

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  Awen

  Billions might die. Or not. Remember when Jonah was sent to Ninevah to tell them of their impending destruction and they all repented in sackcloth and ashes. It could happen. We'll just have to wait and see.

  On the other hand.

  God has been giving humanity plently of time to change, but we're just wasting that time. So when it does all come down to the end will the people deserve their fate or not?

  You decide your own fate.