Atheism
by avatar 837 Replies latest jw friends
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Morbidzbaby
Love it. I also love the quote from Bill Maher... In a nutshell, he says "Atheism is a religion the same way abstinence is a sex position".
I couldn't agree more.
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NewChapter
LOL
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Knowsnothing
Avatar, you are a hoot!
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talesin
:D
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THE GLADIATOR
Atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist. It say’s nothing about the studied conclusion that a person may or may not have come to.
There is so much that all of us don’t know, that I find it amazing that someone who has no idea how a computer hard drive is made or what ingredients are needed to make tiramisu, can declare that they alone know the secrets of the origins of the universe.
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nicolaou
"Atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist. It say’s nothing about the studied conclusion that a person may or may not have come to."
Perfect definition Gladiator.
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cofty
Classic
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Terry
I spent Sunday with a number of Ex-JW's in a very pleasant get-together. We all discussed the usual things, of course.
One thing I always notice. How much of the "flavor" of God remains in one form or another.
With Ex-JW's the distaste for Religion is the strongest without necessarily including distaste for "belief".
Religion is the package and God is the contents, you might say.
But-wait, there's more!
An undefined emotion attached to................nothing? Is that God?
Without the particulars....without actual nailed-down particulars....what is left but an empty folder with a tab labeled: God. (contents removed)
Experiment: look in the other end of the telescope. Do you believe in Human?
That is a general, not a specific human.
You might reply, "I believe in humans because I am one." Okay. That's not what I'm asking.
Can you actually BELIEVE in a General Category WITHOUT specificity....without an INSTANCE?
(Pause....while you think.......................................................................................)
Bing!
For Ex-JW's, just as for ex-drinkers, ex-smokers, ex-druggies....you can't really define yourself by what you NO LONGER DO unless you replace
the rituals of doing with some OTHER fill-in.
Look at us here on JWNet. We are "doing". But, it REPLACES the old Kingdom Hall, going out in field service "doing".
Oh yes. It is a fill-in.
That empty chair at our table must be filled.
This is what prevents the EX JW from embracing a clear fact straight on: God was never sitting at your table eating with you.
But--(ready for this?)----you miss the old Bugger anyway!
Little children talk to their dolly or teddy bear and have "conversations", tea parties, comfort hugging, companionship.....etc.
But, then, one day they grow up and the beloved inert semblance of living entity gets put on a shelf, boxed or handed on. Right?
You don't have to stop believing in YOUR NEED for a semi-imaginary stand-in, do you?
You wouldn't call yourself a doll-atheist or teddy bear atheist. You just SUBSTITUTE the make-believe with REAL companions and actual lovers who can love you back. Friends who DO listen.
Atheism curls the upper lip for many formerly devout believers in dollies, teddy bears.....and Jehovahs.
Why?
OUR FEELINGS WERE REAL...........even if the object of those feelings........was merely our projection.
What we "received" in return was the ECHO of our broadcast emotions.
If that is real, then, our God is/was real. (Poetic reality)
Think about it.