Posts by wyorobert

67

Is it possible to define faith in a simple, logical, unambiguous way?

by losthobbit in

i was wondering if it's actually possible to define what faith is in a simple, logical, unambiguous way.. .

i have a theory that words which cannot be defined in a simple, logical, unambiguous way do not really mean anything specific, and therefore should probably be avoided.. .

i know there have been books written on this subject, but i think that anyone who has to write an entire book to define a simple word like faith, does not really understand what it means.. .

wyorobert

I had to define faith for myself and once I did, I left all religions behind. I made up this saying, which I thought was original at the time, but who knows.

"Faith is the absolute belief in something that may or may not exist"

Once I started saying that, I could no longer accept anything on faith. It also goes along with "Perception is Reality".

I also think faith and naivity go hand in hand. You have to have a certain level of naivity to have faith. Faith is also the putty religions use to fill in the gaps of the things which can't possibly be explained. I think for many there is a certain spiritual calm to having faith, but for me it was only a way to lie to myself.

44

TO ALL YOU ATHEISTS

by watersprout in

jw
friends

i love you all!

mwah!.

just a thought though.

wyorobert

In the words of Ringo Star " Peace and Love, Peace and Love" The only thing your OP left out was "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore". All that aside, I have to admit to standing with the Athiest, but completely agree with you that berating someone for a differing opinion is sad and shows a certain weakness. The irony of a former JW, who is now an Athiest and berating others for their beliefs is not lost on me.

It does seem the Christians are more accepting of the Athiests. Go figure. I can only speak for myself, but I want to hear everyone's opinions and even more interested in those that differ from mine than the ones that agree with. I would love someone to prove me wrong. I doubt that is going to happen but I respect everyone's beliefs as long as they don't impose them on my life.

65

Hi, new to this forum. Figured I'd let everyone know about my story before I got involved.

by JonathanH in

if you just want the juicy details where i leave, i'll make disclaimer where it begins, if you just want to know what happened with the elders and organization after i realized it wasn't true, i'll mark that seperately.

we didn't do jack shit in service, or in the congregation.

maybe this was how jehovah came about?

wyorobert

Interesting story and welcome.

I'm a peace loving person, but my hat's off to you for not beating the sap out of your best friend. I understand why he burnt you from a JW perspective, but sadly what he was really doing is trying to get back in their good graces by sacrificing you. There can never really be friendships within the organization because living in the truth means living a lie. In a make believe world you can only have make believe friends.

I'm sorry for your wife. Life is tough enough without adding that kind of anxiety. If you had that night to do over again, what would you have said to comfort her?

54

I've decided to take the plunge, but....

by ColdRedRain in

jw
friends

don't tell my girlfriend.

secretly, i've had feelings for a person she doesn't know about.

we've been seeing each other for the past 3 months, and so far, he's been the best thing that's ever happened to me.

wyorobert

Personally, I think your messing with us, but if not, the thing with the girlfriend...........not cool.

The very first written words of the Bible?

by wyorobert in

jw
friends

i've only recently become interested in the "historical bible" and am looking for the historical truth.

it appears that the first actual written biblical text was from the jews who were hauled off to babylon in 537 bc.

i don't know if any of those actual writings survived.

wyorobert

I've only recently become interested in the "Historical Bible" and am looking for the Historical truth. It appears that the first actual written Biblical text was from the Jews who were hauled off to Babylon in 537 BC. I don't know if any of those actual writings survived. It is my understanding that the story of Abraham was first written at that time and also the story of Moses. I think that collection is referred to as the Hebrew Bible. One would assume that they had writings at the temple before it was destroyed, but I'm curious to know if there is anything that pre-dates those writings.

106

I'm Starting To Understand Atheist and Evolution

by Philadelphia Ponos in

for many years i was sincerely perplexed when someone told me they believed in the evolution theory or were an atheist.

i never understood how someone could ignore all the evidence for intelligent design and overlook all the holes in the evolution theory.

for example, the human biology clock is synced with the rotation of the earth, the earth is the perfect distance away from the sun to sustain life, the earth has an ozone layer to protect us from the sun's radiation, the earth naturally produces fruits and vegetables to be used for food, our bodies produce enzymes to break down the fruits and vegetables so it can nourish us, the earth produces water and oxygen, etc.

wyorobert

Once you are on the logical side of the argument it is difficult to see it any other way. I can't understand how people can argue against Science and then just make a blanket statement " so there must be a God ". All I hear when someone says that is "so it must be from magical powers". Even if someone convinced me that DNA evidence is crap and Evolution or adaptation is garbage, I still wouldn't just make the leap to concluding that there must be a God.

Our inablity to comprehend something doesn't prove the existence of God. Why is there never a real discussion by believers of where on earth this magical God came from. Ultimately the first God had to be created by chance.

27

Does being a JW make you narcissistic

by wyorobert in

jw
friends

i am one of the few people on earth who never had a jehovah's witness knock on my door.

my wife was the first witness i ever met.

i did notice certain personality traits after being around some of the people who left the religion.

wyorobert

Great commemts. The fun part about this sight is that you think you own all of these thoughts and yet so many other people are thinking the same thing. I had never heard of shunning, so that was a complete shock to my system to have teenage girls refuse to have eye contact and walk by as if you don't exist. I promised my wife, I would fix things with her family. Funny to think of what a naive statement that was. I don't care for me, but I really wonder what that does to those girls.

It also blew my mind to find out that my wife's Mom did everything but put on camoflauge and snuck up on her Mom to catch her smoking. Then she had her disfellowshipped and never spoke to her again as far as I know. What must that do to the minds of children to be involved in those things. I remember going to my one and only Assembly and just sitting there with my mouth wide open. I watched a twelve year old boy talk about making the right decision to spend as little time as possible with his worldly dad. After all of these years I still can't wrap my head around it.

The thing I really can't explain is that I think my wife is one of the most incredible people I've ever met and perfect for me, so go figure. It says a lot about the human condition that people emerge from all of that and leave the cult and live good lives.

38

If you had the choice to name yourself, what names would you choose for first name and last name?

by Iamallcool in

jw
friends

be creative.

have some fun.

.

wyorobert

I would call myself Bar-Kokhba Smith

27

Does being a JW make you narcissistic

by wyorobert in

jw
friends

i am one of the few people on earth who never had a jehovah's witness knock on my door.

my wife was the first witness i ever met.

i did notice certain personality traits after being around some of the people who left the religion.

wyorobert

I am one of the few people on earth who never had a Jehovah's Witness knock on my door. My wife was the first witness I ever met. I did notice certain personality traits after being around some of the people who left the religion. I noticed that they tended to be very honest in a direct way that I wasn't used to. For instance, if I bought a gift my wife didn't like, she would tell me she didn't like it. It threw me at first, but I learned to like the directness after awhile. I noticed the same thing with others.

I also noticed in a number of people a sense that they were a bit better than others and had a complete lack of empathy or concern for others. I just want to know if I met the wrong people or if anyone else has had the same thought. Many of my wife's family are still JW's and of course shunning us. They are taught to see themselves as superior to me because they have the truth and I'm a non-believer. Does that do some long term psychological damage for the JW? Does it create narcissism?

47

Are you smarter than an Atheist? I found the results to be amusing.

by jam in

jw
friends

a survey of 32 question of religious knowledge given by the.

pew forum on the religion and public life.. get this, on average, americans got 16 of 32 right.. number one group, yes, the atheists and agnostics got.

an average of (20.9), jews (20.5), mormons(20.3), protestants(16).

wyorobert

Sorry to bring down the group average, but I was pretty happy to get 26/32. Should have gone with my instincts and would have done better. Can't believe I missed the one on the Ten Commandments. Little wonder Mormon's score high, there were about 5 questions related to them.