Posts by wyorobert

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.

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.

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

The question I have to ask at this point is does any of it matter to you if it is true or not. There was no life on earth for about 1.5 billion years. It was the perfect distance from the sun for a very long time. It isn't really that hard to imagine that exactly the right circumstances finally occurred for just the simplest of life forms. An unimaginable period of time has passed since then.

If I'm not mistaken, man learned how to make industrial diamonds because a meteor created them by accident. Diamonds formed out of seemingly nothing, then by backtracking they followed a process and learned how to create diamonds. By the way there is life in the deepest part of the ocean under unbelievably high pressures near vents that have incredibly high temperatures. For all life that exists near those vents, they are at exactly the right depth and extreme temperatures. Did God put the vents at exactly the right depths or did life adapt to those extreme conditions?

I also want to say that I'm pretty sure most scientists think that if they find a planet just like this that is the right distance from the sun, there is a pretty good chance that there will be life. They are looking for those situations all of the time.

There is also the possiblity that life was transported from another planet by a comet hitting earth and spreading life in that way. Sort of like a bird eating a fish and transporting eggs to a remote lake and life begins again. There are a lot of possiblities for how life began. It's just that a lot of us have a hard time believing that God appeared out of gas and smoke and created the earth by magic. I understand that from your vantage point this makes no sense. From where I stand and many others there needs to be some logic. To say that science makes no sense when it is backed by real evidence and then say God exists even though there is no evidence just doesn't work for me. The wonderful part of science is that it tries to discover the real truth as new information comes along.

16

Why do I feel bad about my children leaving the JW religion?

by lifeisgood in

jw
friends

(please, no jws come in here to convert me, i don't want to talk to you).

i left the jw religion after twenty years.

i had one teenager and two small children then.

wyorobert

I've asked myself the same question about a different religion. I am here because my wife is a former JW and my life is impacted by the shunning and all the other fun things that inadvertantly create drama, whether we play along or not. I was raised in a religion many think is a cult and left after a careful study of what I believed.

Since I had a similar experience with my children, I think you are feeling bad because you now bear the responsibility that your religion once held. You didn't have to guide or direct them because it was all laid out for them to follow. A sort of paint by numbers plan that was suppossed to keep them in the company of good people and close to God. It is likely that you don't really know what to teach them now or how to guide them. Since they now recognize that all those years were wasted, it also gives you a bit of a credibility problem in trying to teach them at this late stage. I also think that you may have wanted them to believe in something you cannot. I am happy for my children that they are able to feel close to God in their own way. Everyone's experience is different. Who am I to judge them. Maybe in some small way you wanted them to have that closeness, even though you new you could not. I have no belief in God, but it is silly for me to stand in judgement of those who do.

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

I already explained my reason's for not believing in God. I can have my beliefs without being bothered by the opionions expressed by Ponos. It does seem like a few of the comments were a little harsh. I think Ponos can take it, but it struck me that self righteous JW arrogance stayed with some of you. I'm not judging, just noticing.