Posts by doubtfull1799

51

Without god what is the basis of morality?

by OneEyedJoe in

i'm sure most here who've questioned or left behind their belief in god have encountered this question - without god, what basis can there be for morality?

my exwife, when i admitted that i was an atheist, once asked me "if you don't believe in god, what's to stop you from going out and raping and murdering?

" previously, whenever i got this objection, i would tend to turn it around on the other person with a response along the lines of "if fear of god is the only thing that stops you from murdering, that makes me rather nervous to be around you.

doubtfull1799

Look up the "veil of ignorance." It may not be the answer to a complete moral system without God but its a great starting point IMHO.

51

Without god what is the basis of morality?

by OneEyedJoe in

i'm sure most here who've questioned or left behind their belief in god have encountered this question - without god, what basis can there be for morality?

my exwife, when i admitted that i was an atheist, once asked me "if you don't believe in god, what's to stop you from going out and raping and murdering?

" previously, whenever i got this objection, i would tend to turn it around on the other person with a response along the lines of "if fear of god is the only thing that stops you from murdering, that makes me rather nervous to be around you.

doubtfull1799

Christians claim that morality must be absolute, hence a need for God.

But that is just morality from authority. And it is a poor basis for morality. It assumes the authority is good and perfect, but that may not be the case.

I would argue that morality is in actual fact always subject, not objective. Even the Bible says so! God says "though shall not kill" but then orders killing by divine decree. IN fact it is his go to solution for most things. So it is claiming that murder is subjective and the authority gets to decide when it is a sin and when it isn't.

There are many secular ways of forming a moral construct (or foundation if you like) that don't require a God or an authority that I think a better than morality by authority, and even these will shift over time as we continue to understand the world and ourselves better.

5

Climbing Out of The Box

by Lost in the fog in

i have been reading the blog of bruce gerencser, a 61 year old evangelical pastor who moved on to being an atheist and humanist.

his description of climbing out of that box and the reasons why he did so will, i am sure, resonate with many of us on here.

https://brucegerencser.net/2015/02/danger-box-makes-sense/.

doubtfull1799

Yeah, that was a great little article well written - thanks for sharing!

22

Do You Typically Accept The Press As Being Unbiased And Honest?

by minimus in

jw
friends

there is more “ yellow journalism “ than ever before!

newscasters and writers that you thought were trustworthy often miss the mark.. do you generally accept the “news” as being honest?.

doubtfull1799

All news will inevitably show bias to one degree or another at some point, but that doesn't mean its totally unreliable and it doe snot mean it is biased all the time.

The important thing is how we consume the news, to be aware of the biases and to expose ourselves to different sources (which is admittedly getting harder as many news outlets are now just regurgitating the same news from a few key sources instead of doing their own reporting)

I highly recommend "The News: a User's manual", by Alain de Botton as a great guide to understanding the biases involved in reporting.

20

Have you ever considered how bizarre the idea of "War in Heaven" really is?

by TerryWalstrom in

when you grow up and look back on childhood belief you have to laugh at how.

easter bunnies and santa were all too plausible for children because trusted adults who were otherwise unimpeachable sources of truth and reality assured and reassured kids.

why wouldn't they accept it?jehovah's witness kids didn't have santa, we had armageddon.only this morning i suddenly asked myself why i ever accepted the idea of a war in heaven as even remotely sane.

doubtfull1799

No I hadn't, but now that you mention it - YES!!!

20

"One drop of poison in a glass of water"

by stuckinarut2 in

time to revive this well known, and often used jw illustration!.

"if you are in desperate need of a drink of water, and the glass in front of you is 99% clean, but contains just 1% poison, would you drink it??".

how often we heard this trotted out from the platform.. recently though, i have heard many examples of still-in jws sharing their observations about things that don't seem quite right with the current activities, direction and culture of the organization.

doubtfull1799

Ha, many years ago when I was working for the writing department and we were encouraged to submit article suggestions I had every article I submitted approved EXCEPT two. One I tried to write on homeopathy and other pseudoscientific alternative medical nonsense. The other was an article on propaganda! They have since published a recent article on propaganda as you know....

15

Did your ability to work get affected by waking up to TTATT?

by stuckinarut2 in

just curious.. when you started to wake up to the truth about the truth, did the shock and the whole experience distract you from your usual activities such as performing at your place of work?.

did you become so consumed by researching, and the subsequent factual discoveries, that it affected your ability to carry out daily tasks?.

doubtfull1799

I also had a nervous breakdown. It took quite a few visits to a counsellor to sort myself out.

15

Did your ability to work get affected by waking up to TTATT?

by stuckinarut2 in

just curious.. when you started to wake up to the truth about the truth, did the shock and the whole experience distract you from your usual activities such as performing at your place of work?.

did you become so consumed by researching, and the subsequent factual discoveries, that it affected your ability to carry out daily tasks?.