Posts by Xanthippe

89

Do you believe in god?

by freakyAL in

i used to be a staunch believer in god.

maybe its technology and science advancing so much thats got me doubting idk.

do you believe in god?

Xanthippe

Xanthippe

If God is the father, he would definitely know the capacity of his children. Man is capable of solving all the problems on earth, he really wants. Already some parts of earth is like paradise which can be extended to other parts if humans really wants.

I feel you're missing the point here Venus. You seem to have agreed with me that God is impotent in human affairs although you think he is watching us because we are clever children and we'll get it right in the end. The point is he isn't doing anything and as we know how we got here through evolution there is no evidence for his existence.

Xanthippe

First constructive change should be this--ban all religions.

Then arrange a panel of experts from all countries to find out ways to avoid all other wastages

So you have left religion behind, we have something in common. Personally I think you need to push yourself one step further and accept that we will eventually find an explanation for 'unexplainable' phenomena, of which there are many, without resort to a supernatural being.

We don't yet have the physics to answer all our questions but resorting to a god of the gaps is a) ignoring all the evidence that he isn't there and b) missing all the fun of finding the real answers to all the amazing things still to be discovered.

89

Do you believe in god?

by freakyAL in

i used to be a staunch believer in god.

maybe its technology and science advancing so much thats got me doubting idk.

do you believe in god?

Xanthippe

People learn through experience—they are supposed to repeat what brings benefits, and to avoid what brings harm to them and others.—in that case, He doesn’t have to communicate with us. -venus

So God watched while humans burnt hundreds of screaming humans so we could learn from experience that religious bigotry has no value? Did he have popcorn?

6

Re: Mentally diseased

by carla in

i have been thinking about the mentally diseased belief/doctrine of jw's lately and the thread the other day about the mentally challenged child who was brutally (and humorously) honest at a convention got me to wonder something.

it seems to me that jw's use 'mentally diseased' in such a derogatory way as if it is a failing on the part of the person, or almost sinful (demons?

), or perhaps that person should just be dismissed on all counts all the time.

Xanthippe

I've often thought the same, they are saying those who are evil apostates in their eyes have a mental illness. If that's true then we need help rather than shunning surely?

As for demons, yes when I was in that cult I, like many others, had depression and an elder and his wife came to see me. I was trying to explain how I was really trying to get myself well and I said I feel better when I get out of the house for a while. The woman immediately said oh I wonder if it's demonism if you feel better when you get outside of this old house (we lived in an apartment in a Georgian house). Not helpful! They're obsessed with demons.

13

Critical times, hard to deal with!

by The Fall Guy in

i reckoned that a comment by muddy waters in his latest post deserved a separate consideration - especially for active/fading j.w.'s..

's who called on him, parroted out the org's message of doom from 2 timothy 3:1-5 to remind him how bad the world is and that it showed that we are living in the last days.. a former elder/p.o.

once told me that he hated it every time the wtbts falsely applied these verses to the 20-21st century.

Xanthippe

So there's going to be a judgement day for all claiming to be Christian?

13

Critical times, hard to deal with!

by The Fall Guy in

i reckoned that a comment by muddy waters in his latest post deserved a separate consideration - especially for active/fading j.w.'s..

's who called on him, parroted out the org's message of doom from 2 timothy 3:1-5 to remind him how bad the world is and that it showed that we are living in the last days.. a former elder/p.o.

once told me that he hated it every time the wtbts falsely applied these verses to the 20-21st century.

Xanthippe

That's a shame I did hope you would answer my question so I could be sure of your meaning. What I wanted to add is that without meaning to sound patronising I've been through this stage after leaving the WTS. My husband and I believed it had once been the true religion and had become corrupt. We too took the Bible prophesies to mean Jehovah would judge his own people first.

We spent about two years on that idea, I just want to say it was a waste of time, of life. It would have been better to do what we did after that, studied history and science. Decided the Bible was just another book, the JWs were just another religion and started to understand how we evolved on earth.

13

Critical times, hard to deal with!

by The Fall Guy in

i reckoned that a comment by muddy waters in his latest post deserved a separate consideration - especially for active/fading j.w.'s..

's who called on him, parroted out the org's message of doom from 2 timothy 3:1-5 to remind him how bad the world is and that it showed that we are living in the last days.. a former elder/p.o.

once told me that he hated it every time the wtbts falsely applied these verses to the 20-21st century.

Xanthippe

So are you saying there is going to be a judgement by 'Jehovah' of the org, the house of God? Don't want to misunderstand you.

9

Update

by Issa in

it has been a couple of months since the last time i updated.

i got a good news to share.

i have been accepted to university!

Xanthippe

Well done Issa! You'll have a wonderful time especially if you join some clubs and societies that interest you. Enjoy!

72

What was the biggest thing that convinced you that

by Ponyo in

.....the truth was not the truth... ?

.

Xanthippe

I questioned the ransom when I was sixteen. Gods beloved son tortured to death and for what? Never made sense to me, just step on that old serpent.

At nineteen I went to the pioneer school and the section on faith seemed like nonsense to me. At coffee time I said to a young pioneer, 'so we have faith because we want to have faith'? She laughed and jokingly called me an apostate.

They stopped us studying only the Bible with people when I was in my twenties, that was a loud warning bell. Why do that?

The lack of love, gossiping and general unpleasantness just turned me right off so I finally got out at thirty. Should have got out sooner with all these doctrinal questions. Lesson to self, don't doubt your own intelligence ever again.

36

Kleenex Head Covering

by jwundubbed in

growing up a woman in the cult was pretty bleak.

most of the adult women i knew were either depressed sad women or an embarrassment to me.

i was typical kid in that regard.

Xanthippe

I don't see what's funny about it either. Personally I went through hell in that religion because of the sexism. The insecure men in that religion love to beat on an intelligent woman. Apart from the way I felt because I was treated like a piece of dirt I also knew deep in my heart that men and women are equal so it struck me as such an injustice.

31

Why I get out of bed every morning.

by compound complex in

jw
friends

because someone needs my help.. as a jw -- you can relate -- i truly believed that what everyone really needed was the kingdom hope and its eventual reality.

you know, the hope that does not lead to disappointment.

of course, if anyone needed practical help with a task or getting through some difficulty, most of us realized that was part of being a helpful and caring friend (or family member).. at nearly seventy years of age -- no, i didn't enter the promised kingdom in my healthful and vibrant youth -- my getting out of bed isn't so bad.

Xanthippe

I'm not surprised that you were able to bring someone back from thoughts of suicide CoCo. You have such a gentle, caring manner, I always enjoy your posts.

Like you I have only quite recently realised that what we say does matter to people and a casual conversation to us can be something powerful that a person really needed and remembers for a long time. As long as we are authentic and our thoughts are genuinely meant.

There is such a famous person and celebrity culture that as an ordinary person we can feel we don't matter. We matter, to the people we love and to the people we know, they need us. Good thread, thank you.