Posts by sunny23

72

Coping With Atheism (Long-ish Post...sorry!)

by humblepotato in

jw
friends

long time lurker (2009-ish), first time poster.

first of all, i want to say thank you everyone who contributes to these boards and provokes stimulating conversations and thought processes.

all the opinions and different perspectives are very enlightening.

sunny23

Welcome HumblePotatoe, I too am in a similar situation except I don't have a wife to worry about deconverting (at least not anymore anyway, long story.)

I was raised as a JW and started having doubts around age 20 when my critical thinking skills were being honed and never perused my doubts until age 24 (4yrs ago). Through my own research and largely to conversations on this forum I transitioned into deist, agnostic and finally atheist.

I have had much difficulty over the last year with reconciling with the concept of eternal unconsciousness upon death. It can give me strong anxiety if I think too hard on it, will keep me up at night worrying about the dread of an early fate brought on by any number of potential causes.

I have coped with it by a lot of the advice here, talking it out with people who have backgrounds closest to mine, and keeping busy with experiencing as many new things as possible and getting out of my comfort zones as much as possible with adventure, discovery, and learning that I otherwise would have put off for when I'm in paradise and have millions of years to do so.

Achieving things is now more imminent and focusing on doing things rather than the end of things is the most help. Force a smile even when you are down and it will give you some positivity and let that translate into helping others and making new friends. Good luck to you and I wish you the best.

70

Anti-JW billboard going up in Texas

by sunny23 in

the first ever billboard has been crowd funded on reddit and will be going up.

i'm curious to know if it will cause a spark in any jw's who already have questions or doubts and lead them to research into the child abuse cases and lead them to the thought that the wt and gb are not inspired or gods mouthpiece.

at the very least it will provide people a topic of conversation and questions to the jw's who knock on their door: "so whats this whole sex abuse in kingdom halls thing about i saw on the billboard down the road?

sunny23

Its being put up along a major road near a convention center during convention time of the year for the JWS there.

70

Anti-JW billboard going up in Texas

by sunny23 in

the first ever billboard has been crowd funded on reddit and will be going up.

i'm curious to know if it will cause a spark in any jw's who already have questions or doubts and lead them to research into the child abuse cases and lead them to the thought that the wt and gb are not inspired or gods mouthpiece.

at the very least it will provide people a topic of conversation and questions to the jw's who knock on their door: "so whats this whole sex abuse in kingdom halls thing about i saw on the billboard down the road?

sunny23

I know elders won't publicly inform a cong that a sex offender is in their midst or in the car groups with kids. However are JWS hiding sex offenders in entire comminities? Don't they now report them to police or no? I thought they became more apt to police reporting but still hid the dangers from the rest of the cong which is the exposure this bilboard lears towards. If this is true then communities would be informed by sex offender websites.

70

Anti-JW billboard going up in Texas

by sunny23 in

the first ever billboard has been crowd funded on reddit and will be going up.

i'm curious to know if it will cause a spark in any jw's who already have questions or doubts and lead them to research into the child abuse cases and lead them to the thought that the wt and gb are not inspired or gods mouthpiece.

at the very least it will provide people a topic of conversation and questions to the jw's who knock on their door: "so whats this whole sex abuse in kingdom halls thing about i saw on the billboard down the road?

sunny23

A billboard message needs to be clear and focused and it just seems to vague. It's trying to make a claim without really saying anything concrete - almost the definition of a smear campaign.

If you had to make a billboard what would yours say? Its hard to fit in the reasons why 1914 is absurd, or blood transfusions are anti-biblical. It needs to be short, big lettered, provocative and intriguing. This makes it difficult to be so concrete, hence the website link, which I agree should not have a hyphen and be more memorable.

70

Anti-JW billboard going up in Texas

by sunny23 in

the first ever billboard has been crowd funded on reddit and will be going up.

i'm curious to know if it will cause a spark in any jw's who already have questions or doubts and lead them to research into the child abuse cases and lead them to the thought that the wt and gb are not inspired or gods mouthpiece.

at the very least it will provide people a topic of conversation and questions to the jw's who knock on their door: "so whats this whole sex abuse in kingdom halls thing about i saw on the billboard down the road?

sunny23

do agree, theirs is directed more towards active JW's. I think it should look more like this so that non-jw's know who its addressed to and will be able to bring the topic up at the door when they come knocking:

Oh and here is the link to their final approved draft and fund page:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ttatt-billboard-outside-belton-tx-jw-conventions

70

Anti-JW billboard going up in Texas

by sunny23 in

the first ever billboard has been crowd funded on reddit and will be going up.

i'm curious to know if it will cause a spark in any jw's who already have questions or doubts and lead them to research into the child abuse cases and lead them to the thought that the wt and gb are not inspired or gods mouthpiece.

at the very least it will provide people a topic of conversation and questions to the jw's who knock on their door: "so whats this whole sex abuse in kingdom halls thing about i saw on the billboard down the road?

sunny23

The first ever billboard has been crowd funded on Reddit and will be going up. I'm curious to know if it will cause a spark in any JW's who already have questions or doubts and lead them to research into the child abuse cases and lead them to the thought that the WT and GB are NOT inspired or Gods mouthpiece.

At the very least it will provide people a topic of conversation and questions to the JW's who knock on their door: "So whats this whole sex abuse in kingdom halls thing about I saw on the billboard down the road?" I think this could be effective!

$3,200 was the needed funds and it was achieved in less than a month. This is going up in TX but I would gladly contribute $$$ to one here in FL. Of course "our" billboard would have this site link along with JWFacts.com. I know Simon is against this type of "smear campaiging," but what are your thoughts? Do you see any value in this at all?

http://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/30yeon/operation_billboard_fundraising_to_go_live/

38

I want to take them down

by cookiemaster in

hey guys!

some of you might know about my latest clash with the elders.

i see the pressure this cult is putting on my family.

sunny23

Actually the first ever billboard has been crowd funded on Reddit and will be going up. I'm curious to know if it will cause a spark in any JW's who already have questions or doubts and cause them to research into the child abuse cases and lead them to the thought that the WT and GB are NOT inspired or Gods mouthpiece. At the very least it will provide people a topic of conversation and questions to the JW's who knock on their door: "So whats this whole sex abuse in kingdom halls thing about I saw on the billboard down the road?" I think this could be effective! $3,200 was the needed funds and it was achieved in less than a month. This is going up in TX but I would gladly contribute $$$ to one here in FL. Of course "our" billboard would have this site link along with JWFacts.com.

http://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/30yeon/operation_billboard_fundraising_to_go_live/

118

"In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth . ."

by nicolaou in

so where did god exist before he created the heavens?

sunny23

What do you know?

I know Fisherman doesn't like to answer questions ;)

118

"In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth . ."

by nicolaou in

so where did god exist before he created the heavens?

sunny23

Fisherman, is there something outside of the voluntary and involuntary responses inside my body and organs keeping me alive and animating me right now? If so what is it?

Movement, Respiration, Sensitivity, Growth, Excretion, Reproduction, Nutrition can all be explained by physics and biology. You seem to suggest that I must first be "alive" before I can even carry out these processes. Define this "alive" state that exists prior to these processes being carried out please. Does exhibiting the processes define one as being "alive" or does being "alive" allow one to carry out the processes?

it is true that living organisms carry out the processes of life but they must be alive to do so -Fisherman

118

"In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth . ."

by nicolaou in

so where did god exist before he created the heavens?

sunny23

Given a living creature and the same creature dead, the difference between them is the substance that "animates" them.