Posts by Julia Orwell

96

Phizzy Said this......And I am afraid I disagree

by KateWild in

jw
friends

i still find it strange that believers cannot get it in to their heads that atheism is not a belief, but theism is.

there cannot possibly be proof "for" the atheistic position as it is simply a position that says i see no proof for a god.. if someone says there are pink unicorns with purple spots and i say i have never seen any proof of their existence, i cannot offer proof of my "position", the onus is 100% upon the spotted unicorn guy to prove their existence to me.

simple.. where the frustration enters in for us non-unicornists is when the unicornists expect us to listen to inane arguments , non facts and plain nonsesnse and then go along with their delusion.

Julia Orwell

Is this all belivers?

Kate xx

No, just as one cannot say "All atheists..." which I heard a lot as a JW. Having been an atheist before becoming a JW, I knew differently. Now the world is chock full of believers of one stripe or another and then a myriad others, so one cannot shove 6 billion people (assuming these believe in anything from African tribal beliefs to Feng Shui to Hinduism to Islam to Christianity to Astrology and crystal healing to daoism to Jedi Force) into one mold anymore than you can say they all believe the same thing.

I find that kind of thinking typical of the JW mindset- the WT uses sweeping generalisations by saying that all "Christendom" is corrupt, all atheists don't want to believe because they don't want to be accountable to Jehovah and that all "worldly" people are hedonistic, immoral, greedy, materialist myopic Satan worshippers. So we leave JWs, and then apply the same sweeping generalisations to "all" believers or "all" atheists. It's a hard mindset to break.

62

Ok, now I know why you atheists get so spittin' mad at some believers.

by Julia Orwell in

jw
friends

cuz they feel like they're banging their heads against a wall.. i don't really fall into the category of atheist or believer, but i'll go where the facts lead me.

that generally leads to atheism, and is why atheists end up getting mad and therefore rude at believers: they will lay out facts, raise questions, play devil's advocate, and reason in an evidence-based, structured way.

i've seen it many times before on this forum.

Julia Orwell

That's why I put in my title, "Some believers" because not all believers are irrational. People have many reasons to believe what they believe, and to not believe too. And, beliefs come in so many different forms, from Bible fundamentalism to someone who accepts evolution and the materialist explanation of the universe yet accepts that there might be 'something'. Believing that there might be 'something' is very common in Australia as we are not a religious people yet open to different ideas.

59

Letter I wrote to the person the caused me to be disfellowshipped

by jwfacts in

a thread on another forum reminded me of a letter i wrote to the person that went to the elders and started the proceedings to have me disfellowshipped.

i stopped believing in the religion when i was 25 but continued going for about ten years.

i finally started to fade at 35, but about 6 months after i had stopped going to meetings, a person wrote a letter to the elders about my website, which at the time was anonymous.

Julia Orwell

Snap! In his face for being a dibber dobber.

62

Ok, now I know why you atheists get so spittin' mad at some believers.

by Julia Orwell in

jw
friends

cuz they feel like they're banging their heads against a wall.. i don't really fall into the category of atheist or believer, but i'll go where the facts lead me.

that generally leads to atheism, and is why atheists end up getting mad and therefore rude at believers: they will lay out facts, raise questions, play devil's advocate, and reason in an evidence-based, structured way.

i've seen it many times before on this forum.

Julia Orwell

San Luis truth seeker, this thread is not about the actual evidence in favor of atheism. It's about someone constructing an argument using facts, and the other side arguing logical fallacies and emotive talk, and no evidence to support their position. I'm not atheists are right, but I am saying they are better at putting together arguments based on information rather than parroting a wt , not addressing the actual topic and changing the subject.

The argument this thread actually relates to is one in which i actually used scripture to prove wt teachings aren't biblical. The frustration I felt in this inane discussion is exactly how I see atheists react against similar inanity. This is what my thread is about: not whether they are right or wrong, but that i can understand how they feel. You could be arguing anything, such as that smoking is bad for you and cite all the relevant facts, and have some idiot attack the sources, quote religious literature and accuse you of being a bitter ex smoker. Same kind of argument.

62

Ok, now I know why you atheists get so spittin' mad at some believers.

by Julia Orwell in

jw
friends

cuz they feel like they're banging their heads against a wall.. i don't really fall into the category of atheist or believer, but i'll go where the facts lead me.

that generally leads to atheism, and is why atheists end up getting mad and therefore rude at believers: they will lay out facts, raise questions, play devil's advocate, and reason in an evidence-based, structured way.

i've seen it many times before on this forum.

Julia Orwell

"Magical thinking" is what that's called. You can't reason with it. SMH.

62

Ok, now I know why you atheists get so spittin' mad at some believers.

by Julia Orwell in

jw
friends

cuz they feel like they're banging their heads against a wall.. i don't really fall into the category of atheist or believer, but i'll go where the facts lead me.

that generally leads to atheism, and is why atheists end up getting mad and therefore rude at believers: they will lay out facts, raise questions, play devil's advocate, and reason in an evidence-based, structured way.

i've seen it many times before on this forum.

Julia Orwell

Hey Phizzy, thanks for that info! It really enables one to contrast WT pseudoscience with real work by real scientists.

Interesting regarding the Origin of Life brochure, one of the things that got me questioning was this very brochure when my non-jw brother and I were discussing evolution vs creation/intelligent design and I pulled out that brochure to give him some facts to support ID. I started skimming through it, reading very quickly to find some juicy fact...and realised there were none, just a bunch of illustrations about buildings and straw man attacks!

32

New Outline: ELDERS MEET WITH REGULAR PIONEERS

by pixel in

the outline for the annual meeting with pioneers is out.

it talks about the gb and fds a lot.. look at this:.

those taking the lead have shown that they are not sentimentally attached to material things.. they are willing to move the world headquarters to warwick, new york, because it will advance kingdom interests.

Julia Orwell

So Warren Jeffs. He started with that sort of thing, then got weirder and more brutal and controlling. Watch that space.

62

Ok, now I know why you atheists get so spittin' mad at some believers.

by Julia Orwell in

jw
friends

cuz they feel like they're banging their heads against a wall.. i don't really fall into the category of atheist or believer, but i'll go where the facts lead me.

that generally leads to atheism, and is why atheists end up getting mad and therefore rude at believers: they will lay out facts, raise questions, play devil's advocate, and reason in an evidence-based, structured way.

i've seen it many times before on this forum.

Julia Orwell

Gosh that Origin of Life brochure was a shame job!

I've given up reasoning with the JWs mentioned in the OP. I don't know them that well so have nothing at stake, so am not going to bother. I really don't have the energy to try and get through their cult armour or penetrate beneath the surface of their little brains. Their loss. Their choice.

28

How the Watchtower Society Views Women

by daringhart13 in

hey gang,.....i continue to write as thoughts come to me.

i would love to hear how the ladies here feel about my observations on how the wtbs views/treats women.. new article here: http://darrinhart.hubpages.com/hub/gods-view-of-women-according-to-the-watchtower-bible-tract-society.

.

Julia Orwell

True, though I know some born in women who sloughed off the lack of expectation and went and made careers, and still go to meetings and that but can look after themselves and afford to travel and that. The men not so- tend to be losers who move back in with mum if they didn't marry some 18 year old.

53

Who wants to live forever?

by Doug Mason in

what will living be like after 5 billion years?.

doug.

Julia Orwell

It depends. Towards the end of my JW tenure, the idea of living forever in their version of paradise became abhorrent to me. In my own version it might be good. In the world the way it is, I'll be happy with 80 years.