by mindmelda 73 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Some people thrive on nailing these things down...I don't, I feel I need wiggle room or I'll suffocate intellectually.
With all respect Mindmelda intellectual freedom and satisfaction doesn't come from the sort of spiritual smorgasborg you seem to relish.
There is so much good information and evidence available to help you come to a more informed decison or at least to narrow down your search
Cofty the one constant is that you are totally convinced that nothing will shake your belief in whatever it is you happen to believe right now, first the Watchtower, then Christianity, now atheism.
I too lost faith in the Watchtower but my response has tended toward a radical skepticism about all forms of knowledge. I am especially suspicious of "evidence" as a basis for knowledge at a high level of abstraction. I find the social constructionist approaches to knowledge of Peter Berger and Michel Foucault more satisfying than empiricism.
XJW's go different ways. Many go non-religious and don't need to have the answers to life's deeper questions. XJW Christians typically cannot abandon certain values or beliefs. They are sure XJW atheists are throwing out the baby with the bathwater because they are angry with God. XJW atheists typically started researching WTS and decided to keep going with research on religion and science and Bible. They are typically sure that XJW Christians are just stopping short of thinking/reasoning for themselves.
I dont go around debating Christians in person, but this forum is the place for such debating. Even here, I don't pick on Xtians but now only debate with the ones clearly asking for such debate.
Cofty the one constant is that you are totally convinced that nothing will shake your belief in whatever it is you happen to believe right now, first the Watchtower, then Christianity, now atheism. - Slimboyfat
The big difference is that theism depends on the exclusion of evidence. Atheism thrives on the aquisition of knowledge. Whatever new things are discovered in the future will only add to the wonder of the real world.
I am especially suspicious of "evidence" as a basis for knowledge at a high level of abstraction
in which case, im suspicious your knowledge at a high level of abstraction (whatever it is) accurately describe the real world.
My opinion, The JW's told us everything else is wrong and they spent a lot of time proving it.
So when you find the JW's are wrong and evrerything eilse is wrong that leaves atheism.
My second theory is they say there is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole or an atheist in a life boat.
I dont know if thats true.
I suspect a certain number of people test their theories here to see who salutes when they run them up
the flagpole.
Birds of a feather flock together and people want to know who is in their army.
Myself I have problems with the bible and the God of the bible, but I dont give up on it or him.
And I am always looking for the best explanation I can find to explain our existance here.
What ever answer I come up with, there are always a lot of intelligent people that tell me its wrong.
I guess we each have to work out our own salvation and see where that leads us.
Scientific paradigms also rely on the exclusion of confounding evidence in order to create a coherent picture. A paradigm shift occurs when the amount of excluded evidence becomes to much to bear. No paradigm is final.
Although I "believe" in evolution, it is also worth noting the similarities to religion, and thus its psychological appeal, as well as its evidential base.
People who insist the loudest that they only care about "evidence" and nothing else are in danger of deluding themselves. Cofty you would think that having two discarded total-world views under your belt might make you a bit more cautious about making overly grand claims for the latest one.
Atheism v Christianity is a big topic in the world right now. Atheism has some excellent publicity for the first time and the West is currently going through a crisis of identify (Christianity and Islam seems to be responsible for the war against Iraq and Afghanistan in many peoples' minds .)
Atheism is rising as a respectable, even desirable trait for some whereas before it was almost universally vilified. Just as the ME is having its own revolution so are western people - only ours is cultural.
From a personal point of view it feels like I opened the door to my mental cage - the one that forced me to privilege LDS think - and stepped out into a world of logic and rational thought. I no longer have to ignore evidence (I'm still free to disagree with the conclusions!) whereas before I couldnt even allow myself to accept some facts - so ruinous were they to my worldview. I also know that not pointing out errors in peoples' statements means I enable their delusion - like my peer group enabled and re-inforced mine which prolonged my entrapment.
It is critical that we - respectfully - challenge each other on these fundamental issues. I will forever be grateful for those on this site who pointed out how crapulent my LDS beliefs were.
My opinion, The JW's told us everything else is wrong and they spent a lot of time proving it.
So when you find the JW's are wrong and evrerything eilse is wrong that leaves atheism.
This is what I was thinking, and also what B to the X mentioned as well. You're taught, better yet you're trained to effectively strip other religious beliefs down to the very core. Even if JWs have wrong views of what other faith's teach, enough of what JWs are trained to believe about other faith's is accurate enough to brush those other faiths off as not worth jumping from the frying pan into the skillet. After finding out the JWs are full of crap too, what else is there besides Agnosticism or Atheism? I guess some would say, "there's always Jesus!", but what written about him is insufficient at times, at least for some people, lately myself included depending on my mood.
Cofty you would think that having two discarded total-world views under your belt might make you a bit more cautious about making overly grand claims for the latest one. - Slimboyfat
I discarded authoritarian claims and superstition and embraced scepticism. Scepticism is the very definition of caution
I also know that not pointing out errors in peoples' statements means I enable their delusion - like my peer group enabled and re-inforced mine which prolonged my entrapment. - Qcmbr
