Generally an atheist is not enslaved or shackled to a god-character's limited idea of reality, and so is not anesthetized by some brain numbing belief. This freedom can open our senses to an unlimited awe inspiring realization that some may call "spiritual": a sense that is the antithesis of religious stupidity .
JamesThomas
JoinedPosts by JamesThomas
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Can Atheists Be "Religious"?
by AGuest init appears so (may you all have peace!):.
http://firstchurchofatheism.com/.
http://www.factschurch.com/.
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JamesThomas
Embracing belief in a creator that will punish or kill you if you do not love and worship it, drastically corrupts our understanding of love and divinity.
Likewise, to believe that our reality came about in only so many thousands of years -- rather than the wondrous complicated dance of billions and billions of years that nature gives witness to -- denies us the most profound aspects and beauty of our existence.
These and many, many other foolish beliefs of JW's (and others) numbs our appreciation and sense of reality. -
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Who remembers Dansk?
by juni ini haven't been on this site for a long time.
the other day, though, i was remembering my early days of posting (since 2004) and ones i had corresponded with..... so many wonderful people who have contributed their opinions on this forum, and sent good wishes to others throughout the years.
some i've noticed still post at this forum.
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JamesThomas
Will never forget beloved brother Ian.
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Is It Love? Or is it Selfishness?
by JamesThomas inas jehovah's witnesses, we are programmed to believe that what we do is out of love.
love for god, our family and neighbors.
this sounds good and it feels good.
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JamesThomas
"For a human too act out of pure love requires surrender of the ego. I have sympathies with the Buddhist approach to this subject."
Yes, I totally agree. Yet, perhaps before we awaken to the purity of real Love which always dwells within, there can be an ache, a desire to be selflessly caring and loving --though we may not even know what that really means. And though we may not know what it means we may have a strong sense of what it is not; and one thing that can become very clear that love is not is: unquestionably worshipping a deity who will clear the way for our materialistic dreams by killing billions of men women and children...and us along with them if we don't agree and call the whole insane mess the deepest expression of love.
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Is It Love? Or is it Selfishness?
by JamesThomas inas jehovah's witnesses, we are programmed to believe that what we do is out of love.
love for god, our family and neighbors.
this sounds good and it feels good.
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JamesThomas
As Jehovah's Witnesses, we are programmed to believe that what we do is out of love. Love for God, our family and neighbors. This sounds good and it feels good. So we generally didn't question it. However, being free of the Organization and looking back, quite a different story can be seen.
First, it's likely impossible to genuinely love that which threatens to kill you and your babies if you don't -- as Jehovah threatens to. Second, we were filled with a selfish materialistic greed for the perfect body, living in a perfect house, on a perfect hill with a perfect view, etc, etc. Greed is not conducive to real love. But it does make it possible to shun your family and friends if need be in hopes of gaining your precious dreams and desires.
It takes courage to see through it all. Perhaps it even takes the desire to be truly caring and loving.
Congratulations.
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Is the Governing Body's view of ex-members any different that this?
by Terry in.
the watchtower's governing body, since the late 70's, has fomented outright fear, hatred, antipathy and scorn toward former members who are whistleblowers about the destructive, lying policies inside the organization.. the gb instructs members to not even pray for these so called "enemies" whom they label apostate.. .
is the governing body's anti-ex jw bias and rhetoric any different than this?.
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JamesThomas
The names may have changed, but the story remains the same.
Both instances seem to reflect the black and white world of extreme tribalism that hungers for and actively seeks out a group to hate so that "we" may feel more righteous. It's always us against them. It's the foundation of all wars including the beliefs in Armageddon. It sucks. It really sucks. I feel sorry for people who can not escape this archaic web of the mind. It's sad.
I hate you for bringing it up ;) -
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Short video: "I Was A Deluded 9/11 Truther"
by bohm inhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuluqfeqfuu&feature=feedu.
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JamesThomas
"...i prefer listening to the evidence myself over arguments from popular oppinion in a matter such as this...there is no convincing evidence for any controlled demolition scenario which stand up to scrutiny."
Bohm, if you were to actually "listen to the evidence yourself" of the many highly educated explanations on the site I gave you -- which includes demolition experts -- you may likely change your mind.
Understandably, it can be painfully difficult to read the info and watch the videos on the site as the implications can be very unpleasant.
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Short video: "I Was A Deluded 9/11 Truther"
by bohm inhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuluqfeqfuu&feature=feedu.
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JamesThomas
The founder of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth, Richard Gage, is an old friend of mine. They now have more than 1,500 licensed architects and engineers who are demanding a new investigation into 9/11.
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What's This Thing Called Consciousness?
by frankiespeakin inhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/consciousness.
vedanta.
according to vedanta, awareness is not a product of physical processes and can be considered under four aspects.
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JamesThomas
There are countless beliefs surrounding this question. But beliefs are just that...beliefs or conceptual ideas that leave us void of a real satisfying conclusion.
Perhaps the genuine answer can be found only when we look deeply and silently at our own sense of consciousness until the question dissolves.
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Do you think that the JW religion will die out?
by i_drank_the_wine inwhile the number of jw's reported every year is still growing, it doesn't seem to really be growing as fast as they once did.. do you think that they will eventually level off and then decline?
some of this was based on the stats on this page i was reading: http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php granted, statistics can be presented in whatever light the author is trying to represent (look at the way the jw's massage their statistics to always be favorable).. of particular interest was their deductive math to find the number of people leaving yearly, which is pretty considerable.. a popular pew research study that lots of you probably heard about a couple years ago stated that jw's have the lowest family retention rate of any other mainstream religion.. combine the aging jw populace, the number of people leaving every year, the slowing growth rate numbers, the mindset held by many to "not have children in this system", the children that are had are only staying jw's roughly 1/3rd of the time according to statistics, the end never coming... add 20, 30 years?
could the jw's actually, for all intents and purposes, die out?.
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JamesThomas
I feel that dozy laid it out extremely well. It may be slowing, but there is a huge amount of momentum behind the JW juggernaut.