i'm looking for those who have found the path/way of reason.
i include a few notes to those i have approached so far.
these past attempts seem too slow.
Traveler,
You have insulted everyone on this site; if you return do so with some humility. You've set yourself up in your mumbo jumbo gobbligook of metaphors and bible sounding lingo to be a Jesus figure. You're looking for someone who is searching for the way, which you've found. You are the way, and the truth and the life. And you have the gall to mention ego?
Return with some humility or stay away.
i'm looking for those who have found the path/way of reason.
i include a few notes to those i have approached so far.
these past attempts seem too slow.
it's utterly amazing to me how religious belief in an omnipotent deity shapes some people's thinking.. one woman whose family missed the air asia flight which crashed stated that it was god's will to give her father hepatitis so that she canceled her family's vacation trip on that flight.
she says she believes god saved her family and protected them.
however, she later mourns the fact that she lost friends on the flight...so does she believe god deliberately planned for them to die?
Shortfuse,
You are preaching to the used-to-be-choir. We got it; we used to use those arguments. They are circular, specious, shallow, irrational, un-supported by the evidence and require a suspension of common sense and the use of one's brain cells, not to mention a large dose of credulity and burying one's head in the sand.
But we used to be you. We understand. Keep believing.
it's utterly amazing to me how religious belief in an omnipotent deity shapes some people's thinking.. one woman whose family missed the air asia flight which crashed stated that it was god's will to give her father hepatitis so that she canceled her family's vacation trip on that flight.
she says she believes god saved her family and protected them.
however, she later mourns the fact that she lost friends on the flight...so does she believe god deliberately planned for them to die?
Theists really have no rational, reasonable response to these types of incidents and the reactions of the believers. Other than simply feeling and believing. It is irrational to the highest degree, and there is no rational argument that can support it. Belief in a deity falls so far down the evolutionary scale that it shames me to think our species is so pathetic and weak and that I was one of them for so long.
And so it goes.
as i continue my sllllooooooowwwwwww fade one of the things that i want to do is better myself as a person.
one of my biggest pitfalls has always been drinking.
i don't think i am an alcoholic but at the same time i've never been a very good drinker.
Ignoranceisbliss,
I'm not an expert in this area, but I have had a lot of experience dealing with friends, family and loved ones with this problem.
You've shown the first step by humbly asking for guidance. You have a drinking problem; whether you attach the scarlet letter to it is irrelevant. Your ability to manage your life, at least during the week, is silently misleading you into thinking you got this covered. You don't. You may not be collecting DUIs or work related penalties, but it is almost a certainly that your liver and the rest of your body has already paid a heavy price.
Can you manage drinking at all? You say you have struggled for 20 years to control weekend binges but with no success. I believe it was Einstein who stated that continuing to do the same thing expecting different results is a definition of insanity, or something to that effect.
LisaRose is spot on (as usual). If you can limit your drinking to 1 - 2 drinks per day, try it. Even if you can your liver would probably ask you to stop completely. I doubt that you can to be honest. You need to stop drinking completely, IMHO. I doubt that a professional would tell you anything different.
I would suggest seeking professional help. Does your workplace have an employee assistance program? If so go immediately and find support. Good luck.
a new site so i decided i needed a new look also, like so many others have done.. smiddy .
Smiddy,
You have inspired me. My new avatar. Me.
if jws knocked on your door what would you say?.
i know jws don't really do "ministry" anymore (just leave special campaign tracts at the door and run away as fast as they can so they don't have to talk to anyone) but if they ever actually tried to have a conversation with me i wonder what i would say.
most likely i'd ask about matthew 4:8 where it says the devil took jesus to the top of an unusually high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world.
As I've stated before, I would be extremely polite, thank them for their visit and tell them I wasn't interested. Not in a million years would I attempt to start a biblical discussion with a dub or to think that I could (or even wanted to) get them 'thinking'. This is what I have done the handful of times they have come to my house in FS.
Once I was in my garage waxing my car and two dubs approached me. They were pleasant as was I. They pursued a bit when I kindly told them I wasn't interested. I briefly mentioned that I had been a dub, appreciated and understood what they were doing but I had moved on beyond that. They thanked me and left; a good time was had by all.
Different strokes, but I can't imagine any universe where I would attempt to have a religious discussion with anyone, especially dubs. And I don't give a flying eft what they believe any longer. It is almost impossible to get ex-dubs on this site to truly open their minds; thinking that I could get a current dub to do so approaches the impossible.
And I would rather wax my car.
after more than 30 years as a jw and 9 as a born-again christian i finally let go of faith 10 years ago today.... it was on boxing day 2004 that news of the asian tsunami put the final nail in the coffin of my relationship with god.
since that time i have listened attentively to every possible argument in defense of faith; there has never been a single moment that i have felt any discomfort with my decision.. life without god has been liberating.
no longer do i have to defend the indefensible.
Cofty,
Thank you for sharing. Having observed (and learned so much from you) you the past 18 months, the only thing surprising to me about your sojourn is the born again part. (WTF WERE you thinking?!!! LOL).
Losing my belief in god was such a systematic methodological process that, by the time I no longer believed, it was anti-climactic. A non-event. Otherwise, you capture so much of what so many of us on this site have experienced.
Thank you for being you, and thank you for being on this site. Your presence has without a doubt helped many.
the 2015 school setup, discussed this week eliminates the last "school talk" by brothers in favour of 'demonstartions" (a la sisters conversations) of family worship sessions and the like.. is this not a shift away from encouraging bright young ones to hone their (under-estimated) speaker skills ---to.
now using more of the die-hard, org-bound, --even elders in indoctrination demonstrations?.
do you see this trend?
St. George of England,
The changes to the school you describe occurred when I was the school overseer (and during the period I was becoming nauseated by the Dark Lords). No one who really wanted the 'school' to be a school and actually teach individuals to speak would craft the no. 1 talk bible reading in the manner they did, simply reading the scriptures without any time to develop an interesting introduction, conclusion or mid-point talking points.
This 'simple' change made me see red and despise the Dark Lords even more, believe it or not. It was simply a desire for more control, which is what was driving me from the cult. I shared my disgust with an elder or two; they agreed but said the same brain dead thing as usual, that the Gov. Body must know best.
Another brick in the wall.
according to a number of studies though, religion is in trouble.
a survey by the pew research center in 2012 saw record numbers indicating a huge upswing in atheism, with 20 percent of americans now identifying as agnostic, atheist or "unaffiliated" with a religion.
this was the highest percentages ever of "nones" or those who are unaffiliated in pew research center polling.. so with more people considering themselves atheist, what do they believe when it comes to the rules to live by?
ADCMS,
Ditto to all 10. It is how I try to live. Thanks for sharing.
