Oxnard Hamster

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Posts by Oxnard Hamster

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  153

  Has your life gotten better as an athiest/agnostic?

  by StinkyPantz in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this quote got me thinking:if you pray sincerely and admit you are a sinner and accept christ as your savior you can have the holy spirit come into your life.. .

  i used to do this everyday.

  when i was being abused, i used to pray incessantly for god to help me.

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  Oxnard Hamster

  JT, I only studied with the JWs for about a year. I was a Christian long before I met one. I'm not as influenced by JW doctrine as you might think.

  Yes, age doesn't necessarily mean it is right, but it is a factor to consider.
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  142

  Do you believe in God now?

  by Ron1968 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  .

  this question has probably been asked before, but since i am a newbie, i wouldn't know.. anyway, i would like to ask if you believe in god or a higher power since becoming an ex-jw?.

  ron

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  Oxnard Hamster

  If the concept of non-belief as default is so ridiculous, perhaps you can articulate why.

  Like I said, you will always be influenced by outside forces, whether it be your upbringing, personal preference, past experiences, etc. Yeah, I did admit that my default for invisible unicorns or whatever they are is they don't exist, but I also admitted that it's a default due to my bias, thus it's not really a default at all.
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  153

  Has your life gotten better as an athiest/agnostic?

  by StinkyPantz in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this quote got me thinking:if you pray sincerely and admit you are a sinner and accept christ as your savior you can have the holy spirit come into your life.. .

  i used to do this everyday.

  when i was being abused, i used to pray incessantly for god to help me.

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  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Oxnard Hamster

  So? I'm supposed to admit that something that popped out of thin air is just as believable as a book that's been around for years, used by several people, etc? I don't see how that's a fallacy. I call that, common sense.
• 
  142

  Do you believe in God now?

  by Ron1968 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  .

  this question has probably been asked before, but since i am a newbie, i wouldn't know.. anyway, i would like to ask if you believe in god or a higher power since becoming an ex-jw?.

  ron

  1. 
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  Oxnard Hamster

  What you've just done is commited the logical fallacy of special pleading. You accept that the default is non-belief for invisible zebras and other extraordinary claims, but refuse to apply the same standard to belief in god or gods. The very fact that you don't, by default, believe in Vishnu proves my point.

  And you put words in my mouth. If you'll look more closely at my post, you'll see it was designed to prove that the idea of a "default" is ridiculous.
• 
  153

  Has your life gotten better as an athiest/agnostic?

  by StinkyPantz in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this quote got me thinking:if you pray sincerely and admit you are a sinner and accept christ as your savior you can have the holy spirit come into your life.. .

  i used to do this everyday.

  when i was being abused, i used to pray incessantly for god to help me.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Oxnard Hamster

  The Bible has been around awhile. The book of Mormon was supposedly found by some guy, and appeared out of nowhere, while the Bible was being added to and cannonized over time.

  And it may not be 100% accurate, but that don't mean I can't believe in the fundamental concepts. Despite what the JWs think about accurate knowledge, I don't think God is going to send me to Hell just because I don't understand everything.
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  153

  Has your life gotten better as an athiest/agnostic?

  by StinkyPantz in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this quote got me thinking:if you pray sincerely and admit you are a sinner and accept christ as your savior you can have the holy spirit come into your life.. .

  i used to do this everyday.

  when i was being abused, i used to pray incessantly for god to help me.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Oxnard Hamster

  Oxnard won't respond to this -- I wonder why?

  SP, I hope you are paying attention. This is exactly why I keep responding.

  Anyway, how do you know certain prophecies haven't been fulfilled? Many of them are not spelled out. Does anybody honestly understand Revelation? Maybe it hasn't happened yet. Or maybe its symbolic meaning is going on today, and we just don't know it yet.

  But if propheces haven't been fulfilled, the only thing I can come up with is when text is translated from one language to the next, it's impossible to achieve 100% accuracy. Besides, for a long time, the Catholics dominated the Bible, wouldn't let the common person have a copy, and twisted it to serve their own needs. For all we know, the versions today could be screwed because of what they did. Speaking of which, there are no less than about umpteen jillion versions and translations of the Bible. Which one is right? How can anyone possibly know?

  Then there are superstitions like not writing God's name. And it's not just a JW thing; I heard about this when I took Modern English Grammar. Besides, if I remember right, a reference to God's name was made in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. I don't think George Lucas is a JW.
• 
  142

  Do you believe in God now?

  by Ron1968 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  .

  this question has probably been asked before, but since i am a newbie, i wouldn't know.. anyway, i would like to ask if you believe in god or a higher power since becoming an ex-jw?.

  ron

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Oxnard Hamster

  Science is self correcting.

  Don't the JWs use the same logic to justify the WTS, that they "make adjustments" and are therefore, correct?

  So how can you possibly put all your faith in scientific knowledge, when it has had to correct itself, just like the WTS? How do you know the "evidence" out there now is correct?
• 
  142

  Do you believe in God now?

  by Ron1968 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  .

  this question has probably been asked before, but since i am a newbie, i wouldn't know.. anyway, i would like to ask if you believe in god or a higher power since becoming an ex-jw?.

  ron

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Oxnard Hamster

  Oh analogy challenged one. Ok, then. Substitute Invisible Zebra with Hindu gods. You've heard of the Vedas right? Those writings are more ancient than the bible.

  It's a bad analogy and you know it. You only picked something so off the wall ridiculous because you wanted to compare it to belief in God. Of course people are going to disbelieve in invisible zebras by default. Who ever heard of such a thing?

  Actually, how can there be a true default? No matter what, there will always be some bias, or past experience that influences the so called default one way or another. So anyone can easily say disbelieving in invisible zebras is the default, because by our society's standards, it's absolutely ludicrous. Complete objectivity is impossible because of outside influences we are either aware of or unaware of.

  As for the Hindu analogy, I'm not going to answer, because I'm not very knowledgable about Hindu. If that was covered in the class I took I forgot.
• 
  153

  Has your life gotten better as an athiest/agnostic?

  by StinkyPantz in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this quote got me thinking:if you pray sincerely and admit you are a sinner and accept christ as your savior you can have the holy spirit come into your life.. .

  i used to do this everyday.

  when i was being abused, i used to pray incessantly for god to help me.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Oxnard Hamster

  What a sad, sad thing to admit. I hope that you never sit on my jury.

  I meant in terms of religion, origins, etc. Or if I'm mistaken, I haven't heard any of my Christian friends talk about their findings from other beliefs.
• 
  153

  Has your life gotten better as an athiest/agnostic?

  by StinkyPantz in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this quote got me thinking:if you pray sincerely and admit you are a sinner and accept christ as your savior you can have the holy spirit come into your life.. .

  i used to do this everyday.

  when i was being abused, i used to pray incessantly for god to help me.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Oxnard Hamster

  Sorry I blew up on ya SP, but I find ratting on other people rather childish. It's one of those things I really frown upon. Besides, that was the second time you did that, although you did delete the first post. I was starting to wonder if this really is a board for ex JWs to receive support, or just a good ol' boy system.

  But after reading Alan's post, I guess you're not so bad after all.

  About respect, it's a two way street. I'm not just fighting for my rights; I'm also fighting in behalf of at least two other Christians who were recently ridiculed for their faith. They never "demanded" anybody quietly accept their beliefs. They never said anything negative about atheists and/or agnostics. The attacks on them were unprovoked and uncalled for.

  Perhaps you do have a point though. Perhaps I do need to cool down, gather more information, assess it, and gain the ability to better elaborate on my beliefs.

  Sorry if I made anyone upset. I'll admit I have quite a temper and I've been trying to work on that.