everchangingworld

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Posts by everchangingworld

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  159

  Believers, do you believe in evolution?

  by everchangingworld in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  after leaving, i still couldn't wrap my head around evolution (after the years of seing "intelligent design" in everything around me).. there's a series of videos that give a good intro to evolution and critical thinking.

  they've probably been posted here before, but, for any new members, these are worth watching.. evolution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdddbyilel0.

  critical thinking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6olpl5p0fmg.

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  everchangingworld

  Do cockroaches have souls? Rats?
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  49

  30 and Out?

  by Black Man in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  30 that seems to put jw's at a cross-roads?

  i've known so many who have decided to abandon ship at either the age of 30 or either after 30 years of being baptized.

  i fall into the former category.

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  everchangingworld

  I also was already married.
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  159

  Believers, do you believe in evolution?

  by everchangingworld in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  after leaving, i still couldn't wrap my head around evolution (after the years of seing "intelligent design" in everything around me).. there's a series of videos that give a good intro to evolution and critical thinking.

  they've probably been posted here before, but, for any new members, these are worth watching.. evolution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdddbyilel0.

  critical thinking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6olpl5p0fmg.

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  everchangingworld

  I am really curious to know what is the basis for believing that humans have a soul separate from the body. Is it just a hunch?
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  9

  Advice and Experiences, Please...

  by DarioKehl in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  i've had a rough time lately with my jw relatives.

  they are aware of my spiritually weakened condition and have known about my doubts for some time.

  i would like to hear your experiences about "coming out" to your loved ones.

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  everchangingworld

  It could go either way.

  In my case, I expressed my arguments in a similar way as you did (although I did also address some WT inconsistencies like 607, which may have been the trigger, but they did still send elders to my place. I was able to wiggle out of it, but I know many well-meaning JWs who think that their own doubts are due to their own weaknesses, and if they don't have a good enough argument to refute yours, then the elders will, because, after all, this is the "truth".

  I wanted to be honest with my family, so I don't necessarily regret having been honest with them about my non-beliefs (I think that with my personality, I would be tormented if I couldn't be honest with them about this), but I somehow think that our relationship would be slightly better off if I had never said anything. That way, they can just believe that I was discouraged/stumbled, instead of having "apostate" thinking, which is scarier and dangerous for a JW, even one who is doubting.

  They probably won't turn you in, but they might spread to elders that you have "doubts", which raises huge alarm bells. My family still refers to my non belief as "doubts". Evidence is irrelevant to a JW.
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  159

  Believers, do you believe in evolution?

  by everchangingworld in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  after leaving, i still couldn't wrap my head around evolution (after the years of seing "intelligent design" in everything around me).. there's a series of videos that give a good intro to evolution and critical thinking.

  they've probably been posted here before, but, for any new members, these are worth watching.. evolution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdddbyilel0.

  critical thinking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6olpl5p0fmg.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  everchangingworld

  After leaving, I still couldn't wrap my head around evolution (after the years of seing "intelligent design" in everything around me).

  There's a series of videos that give a good intro to evolution and critical thinking. They've probably been posted here before, but, for any new members, these are worth watching.

  Evolution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdddbYILel0

  Critical thinking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OLPL5p0fMg
• 
  49

  30 and Out?

  by Black Man in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  30 that seems to put jw's at a cross-roads?

  i've known so many who have decided to abandon ship at either the age of 30 or either after 30 years of being baptized.

  i fall into the former category.

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  everchangingworld

  Happy hardcore dub until the age of 30!

  Then some major internal conflict as doubts started springing up. Desillusionment, the nagging feeling that there were so many holes in my belief system. Still managed to pioneer another 4 years while battling/ignoring my doubts. I remember many times thinking that if it didn't end up being true, it still was the best and happiest way to live life (propaganda works). Had a full blown crisis (my darkest hours) and full awakening at 34. I think that finding my first grey hair and realizing that I actually had a "biological clock" was enough to face the fact that if this belief system wasn't true, I had to know. I also started seeing that the promise of happiness in the org wasn't usually delivered. In the matter of a few weeks, deconstructed all my beliefs.

  I'm in college now, and free thinking has me feeling almost high some days!
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  45

  Is Your Life In Ruins Because You Were A Jehovah's Witness?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  are you moving on?.

  i see some have a very hard time in life because of their witness past..

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  everchangingworld

  I had been regular pioneering since high school, kept going until the age of 34 when I awoke - at the time and for a while after most DEFINITELY viewed my life in ruins because of the JWs.

  But, now, I can no longer say my life is "in ruins" because of the WT... I've rebuilt / am rebuilding...

  Sure, if it weren't for the WT, I'd probably be at a different place right now, but I realized that dwelling on it was useless. Some people have come out of situations that were much worse than my own, due to all kinds of circumstances, and have come out living inspirational lives.
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  48

  TIME TO VENT - What Is Your Least Favorite Thought Terminating Cliche' ?

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  definition: a thought-terminating cliche is a commonly used phrase, sometimes passing as folk wisdom, used to quell cognitive dissonance.. here's mine: we don't believe that way ..... we are christians in this home..

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  everchangingworld

  "don't rely on your own understanding."
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  48

  TIME TO VENT - What Is Your Least Favorite Thought Terminating Cliche' ?

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  definition: a thought-terminating cliche is a commonly used phrase, sometimes passing as folk wisdom, used to quell cognitive dissonance.. here's mine: we don't believe that way ..... we are christians in this home..

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  everchangingworld

  "You have to just leave it in Jehovah's hands."
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  317

  Does God's foreknowledge take away from free will?

  by Christ Alone in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just by knowing what will happen, that doesn't mean that we can prevent or cause something to happen.

  my knowing that does not prevent them the free will of making the choice.. it's the same with god.

  if god is not restricted to existence in the present, then the future is known by god because god indwells the future as well as the present and the past.

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  everchangingworld

  Well said.