richard dawkins revealed that he celebrates christmas on radio four's today programme.. here is is quoted as saying: .
'i am perfectly happy on christmas day to say merry christmas to everybody,' dawkins said.
'i might sing christmas carols - once i was privileged to be invited to kings college, cambridge, for their christmas carols and loved it.
Sea Breeze said:
Is Richard Dawkins and others like him hypocritical in denying the Creator's existence while celebrating his birthday?
I'm not an atheist, however, I don't consider myself a religious person. However, I also don't consider myself as a hypocrite for celebrating Christmas.
I just view it as a tradition where most people get time off from their jobs and therefore, have time to get together to see each other and to enjoy the festivities of the season.
just been watching a youtube video by jw escape, lovely lady.
the subject was this weeks watchtower - “are you ready to obey?”.
what a blatant psyop this is.
Vidiot said:
I don’t think he’s creepy/sleazy.
I do think he’s weird as fuck, though.
Are those Stephen Lett's parents?
yep, that is the title of an article in the 1995 awake magazine alerting people to the horrors of valentine's cards & candy.
the message is simple, if you eat valentine's candy at school while no one is looking, it's nearly the same as being in an orgy.
i just can't believe some of the garbage i used to read and regard as acceptable literature.
It's very hard to participate in an orgy without at least some other people being aware. So their very analogy, that it's the same as eating candy while nobody is looking, is flawed from the get go.
I don't think they can help themselves, NotFormer. Because it's like their reasoning where they HAVE to have two or three witnesses to confirm child molestation, even though in many cases, the only two witnesses that witnessed the incident was the victim and the perpetrator, and no one else was there to see it. lol 😄...🙄
if you once were fully pimi and truly believed jw doctrine to the core like i once did, when you come to the reality that it is not the truth at all it can be extremely devastating.. i think only other ex jws could ever understand.
i wasted my entire life i thought the real life was yet to come to wasted the best years knocking on doors.
now i’m so angry.. i can understand why so many top themselves when they realise it was all lies..
If you once were fully PIMI and truly believed JW doctrine to the core like I once did, when you come to the reality that it is not the truth at all it can be extremely devastating.
I think only other ex JWs could ever understand. I wasted my entire life I thought the real life was yet to come to wasted the best years knocking on doors. Now I’m so angry.
I can understand why so many top themselves when they realise it was all lies.
Hi, ElderBerry. I went through my angry and questioning stage since around 2008. But what helped me was asking questions on internet discussion boards and/or debating Jehovah's Witnesses. However, Jehovah's Witnesses discussion/debate forums are a rare thing now. With probably the exception of this VERY pathetic board;
Theology, Doctrine, and Dogma - Debating Christianity and Religion
Because the JWs there are impossible. They robotic idiots who will give you a headache. And that's probably the last one left, but I would highly recommend NOT EVER debating at that message board. 😩
Also, for me, it seemed helpful if I could get a Jehovah's Witness to either answer or not be able to answer my questions. Because it's kind of like getting your abuser to admit what they did to you. But I hope that helps in some way.
i'm relatively new here, and i would like to see threads that have new posts or replies in them bumped up to the top of the forum.
because recently, someone asked me a question in a thread, but i answered their question with a question.
and after being away from the forum for about a week, i haven't looked at that thread for their answer because i forgot what thread it was in.
Hello. I'm relatively new here, and I would like to see threads that have new posts or replies in them bumped up to the top of the forum. Because recently, someone asked me a question in a thread, but I answered their question with a question. And after being away from the forum for about a week, I haven't looked at that thread for their answer because I forgot what thread it was in. Therefore, it would be easier to keep up with new posts/replies in threads if those threads were bumped up to the top of the forum.
this may not be a topic for people who still have some sort of christian or biblical belief, but i was wondering what others' experiences and opinions of 1 corinthians 10:13 are.
new international versionno temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.
and god is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.
Also, while looking for articles for this topic, I just learned a term called "locus of control." It's a very interesting term, and I figure that with groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses who claim that the ultimate answer to everything is their interpretation and God-given understanding of the Bible, I would think that this is the reason why many JWs and former JWs feel as if their faith and beliefs are not living up to their claims. Because I know in my situation that's the way that I felt, even though I always blamed myself for my failures.
Your ‘locus of control’ can have an impact
“A person with an internal locus of control believes that they can create positive action in their lives through right action,” explains Marter. This is the type of person who’s more likely to try to remedy a stressful situation by taking proactive steps.
Meanwhile, “a person with an external locus of control believes that external factors determine their course in life,” she continues. “This person may feel like a victim and have feelings of hopelessness that anything they could possibly do wouldn’t help or matter.”
This type of person is more likely to feel overwhelmed by a stressful life event.
How and Why Coping Is Unique to Every Person (healthline.com)
this may not be a topic for people who still have some sort of christian or biblical belief, but i was wondering what others' experiences and opinions of 1 corinthians 10:13 are.
new international versionno temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.
and god is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.
This may not be a topic for people who still have some sort of Christian or Biblical belief, but I was wondering what others' experiences and opinions of 1 Corinthians 10:13 are.
Therefore, if this is message is coming from an all knowledgeable and all wise Creator Being, then this HAS TO BE true, and there's no way around it. However, in looking back on this viewpoint, it wasn't really true for me, even though I forced myself to believe it was true. 😕 Also, one of the most indescribable pains for me was having an 'issue' that the Bible did mention, but not feeling as if I was free to talk to anyone about it.
And why you might ask. Well, having an 'issue' with something that Jehovah's Witnesses find especially abominable (like the world in general), and who show total and utter contempt for it (like right-wing conservatives the world in general), how else is a scared young person in his late teens supposed to feel? And then when he finally builds up the nerve to confide in an elder as per James 5:14-16, it turns out to be a disaster because the elder knows absolutely nothing in how to counsel and help this person as per James 5:14-16. 😩
Also, it's a fact that people experience stress differently.
Plus...
Therefore, to be quite honest with you, I personally have more qualms about the Bible than I do about Jehovah's Witnesses. (Yep, I said it.) Because even though the Bible claims to be universal and for all, it actually falls short on many current known facts and realities.
But does anyone have any thoughts on this?
related to this topic:.
isaiah 40:29-31 and being gay (jehovahs-witness.com).
i would like to know if any former or current jws have ever experienced any type of superhuman strength from god?
But, I came to the end of how far that horse would take me, and it wasn't nearly enough, not for me.
So, are you talking about your new-found faith after JWs, or the JW faith?
related to this topic:.
isaiah 40:29-31 and being gay (jehovahs-witness.com).
i would like to know if any former or current jws have ever experienced any type of superhuman strength from god?
peacefulpete said:
Well, a number of Bible stories have characters given literal superhuman strength, but as the religion matured superman stories gave way to promises of peace and future rewards. Religion can offer a believer a structured path to acceptance of horrible tragedy or loss. It is not necessarily the best coping method. Very often the religion's promises ring hollow when really faced with suffering or loss.
Thank you, Pete. I've noticed that too. Also, I've come to the conclusion that if something works for you then it works for you. However, that doesn't mean that it necessarily works for me. Also, I've noticed that when a person is really sold on their belief system, then unfortunately, they believe that their belief system is the all-encompassing solution and truth for everyone. Although, I can understand their perspective and their stance (even though that doesn't mean that I always like it 😄) because I was once that way myself.
Also, that just brought back a memory of shortly after I had come into the organization, I had serious doubts about my struggle and my experience in the JW religion. Therefore, one day, I saw this one guy who was a bit older than I was (and maybe in his mid 20s or early 30s, because I was in my late teens) at a bank, and who was married to this one baptized JW, but he wasn't baptized yet, and therefore, was obviously not considered strong in the truth. Therefore, I decided to say to him while in the bank that I didn't think that the 'truth' was for me. (Thinking that I would get a sympathetic ear and some sort of camaraderie and support from him.) However, to my surprise, 😮 I think that he got a bit defensive and perhaps put on the spot, because he ended up giving me this little speech about how: Sure, the truth was for me because the truth is for everyone. 😵
Therefore, with another effort of trying to get out of this religion during the early stages of when I was in it, I experienced another dousing of my efforts. lol 😄
In my experience, strength comes from the sober yet optimistic recognition that we, and those we love, are here for a little while and then make room for others after us.
Over the years, I have come to look at things that way too. However, perhaps my sense of self, or perhaps my ego still kind of believes on some level that there's more to us, and that with our complexities and out distinctiveness and out personalities, that there's more to us than just birth, life, and then death. 😕
There is no cosmic conspiracy, no fated destiny, no great injustice in life being transitory. No one has wronged us. No one has robbed us immortality. No one owes me a perfect world.
It's interesting because not too long I saw a movie on, I think Netflix, where this one character was threatened with death, and she said something like: Well, if I die, then I will be back in the situation that I was in before I was born. And I must admit, that left a kind of 'practical' impression upon me.
related to this topic:.
isaiah 40:29-31 and being gay (jehovahs-witness.com).
i would like to know if any former or current jws have ever experienced any type of superhuman strength from god?
Mind over matter? That's a pretty good description of the JW mindset.
Thank you, Sea Breeze.
The good people are "strong" in the truth. Bad people are "weak" in the truth.
I remember when I was in the org in my late teens, fresh out of high school, and found out that a friend of mine from high school's mother was a JW and went to the KH. But actually, I became better friends with the mother than the high school friend, however, the mother wasn't really considered 'strong in the truth' and wouldn't really consistently go to the meetings or out in field service. Therefore, in spite of how good of friends we were, I recall thinking about her as being 'weak in the truth.' 😕 However, that didn't stop us from being good friends.
Me too. It was unbearable. That's why Jesus said you must be born again.
Thank you, Sea Breeze. Also, it would be nice if that worked for me, but unfortunately, it just doesn't. 😕
