Survey: How Sure are you of Your Beliefs?

by simon17 27 Replies latest jw friends

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  brizzzy

  I think it's arrogant to think you're 100% right about EVERYTHING. But I'm 100% sure, based on the evidence, that, say, gravity is real. I don't think that's arrogant, I think it's realistic. If evidence came up later to refute it, I would reevaluate my position. I think you can be 100% certain of something and still be willing to change your mind if, later on, additional evidence presents itself.

  Based on the evidence available to me, my answers to your questions are:

  * JW's not 'God's' true organization: 100% sure

  * Bible not inspired: 100% sure

  * A personal god does not exist: 100% sure

  * No god-like creator exists: Hm. Probably 99% sure.

  I'm an agnostic atheist. My boyfriend, meanwhile, you might call a spiritual agnostic. He feels in his gut that there's SOMETHING out there, maybe some sort of higher power or force or whatnot, though nothing like the Christian god definitely, perhaps something less benevolent (or tyrannical, depending on your perception) and conscious, but rather more neutral or maybe a removed observer. I think he leans more towards Buddhist-type feelings on the subject. I, on the other hand, feel no such connection or mystic/supernatural force at all, and never have, even while a JW, but don't wish to invalidate a feeling which clearly gives him comfort. If, down the road, scientific evidence (not anecdotal evidence) came to light in support of a god-like creator's existence, I'd be willing to revisit that opinion and revise it. I don't think that my current absolute or near-absolute certainty makes me arrogant, ignorant, or prideful. Just confident in my current opinion based upon the research and evidence I've seen presented by credible and impartial sources.
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  Diest

  * JW's not 'God's' true organization: 100%+ sure

  * Bible not inspired: 100%+ sure

  * A personal god does not exist: 95%+ sure

  * No god-like creator exists: 70% sure
• 

  thinking_1

  But I'm 100% sure, based on the evidence, that, say, gravity is real. I don't think that's arrogant, I think it's realistic. If evidence came up later to refute it, I would reevaluate my position. I think you can be 100% certain of something and still be willing to change your mind if, later on, additional evidence presents itself. - brizzzy

  Thats actually much closer to my real viewpoint. Well said
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  * JW's not 'God's' true organization: 99.9%+ sure

  I sure hope the rest is still true.

  It's a long slow journey.

  Doc
• 

  JeffT

  I'm 100 percent sure I don't know the answer to much of anything.
• 

  Farkel

  :Survey: How Sure are you of Your Beliefs?

  About as sure as I am about when my next bowel movement is due.

  That's the way it should be. The most dangerous people around are those who are convinced they have it all figured out.

  Farkel
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  Twitch

  The most dangerous people around are those who are convinced they have it all figured out.

  Ditto that
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  WTWizard

  I now believe that Jehovah's Witlesses are one of Jehovah's organizations (the others are the remaining denominations of Christi-SCAM-ity, and all of Judaism and Islam. All are designed to restrict one's real spiritual growth while enslaving others, whether the enslavers or enslaved. They have also corrupted Buddhism, Hinduism, and paganism with their crap.

  Also, Satan is the one that is our friend. Jehovah wanted humans to live miserable lives, and is such a sore loser that he will not take defeat. Satan wanted us to develop our talents to the full--and that never changed. Satan had a hand in creating the Gentile races, but not the cosmos (which I would believe Jehovah, with his insistence on creating suffering and misery, did that and did a pxxx poor job at it). Jehovah left out any safety mechanism or kill switch to prevent negativity from running away and the angels from exploiting it (Satan would have installed such a kill switch so the angels could never have done what they did to me).

  And no, I don't believe the LIE-ble is any good. Jehovah, via his filthy angels, had that book of lies written with the view of enslaving all races. Virtually the whole book was plagiarized and corrupted, and the originals destroyed by the angels (and those under their influence) so no one could develop spiritually. Read and abide by the LIE-ble at your own risk--of damnation and soul degeneration.
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  Phizzy

  Beliefs are, in The Convenient* Dictionary of Phizzy (all good bookshops, and some not so good)

  "things which you hold to be true without satisfactory evidence."

  So, I do not have hardly a "belief". All that I hold to be true has solid evidence backing it up.

  So, my conclusion that JW/WT is not God's Org. is backed by evidence, it is not simply that I do not believe its claims, I know they are false.

  Same with the Bible, it is not inspired ,100% sure, because it carries wihin it no evidence of Inspiration, which it would if it were so, again not just that I stopped believing in it, I examined it and found it wanting.

  A "personal God" do you mean by that one with a personality and is real ? if so 100% sure there is no such thing.

  As to a super-human type Creator, 99.9999999% sure, but there is just a chance, but as the chance is lower than finding Higgs-Boson I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for proof to appear, and until such proof, it really does not affect my life or my thinking, and should not anyone elses, it is a total waste of time and mental effort.

  (* Convenient because Phizzy gets to make up the definitions)
• 

  brizzzy

  Yeah; I don't have a problem with being 100% sure of some things. Equating that with "being a dangerous person who thinks they have it all figured out" is a false equivalency.

  I don't think I have it "all" figured out. But there are SOME things I'm certain of, or as near-certain as I can be, at the moment, with the evidence available to me. I'm certain of gravity and that my name is Brianna and that I'm a female who lives in California. I'm certain that, according to the definitions of "divine" and "inspiration", there is no evidence of the Bible being divinely inspired, and in fact considerable evidence to the contrary.

  That doesn't make me dangerous, and it doesn't mean I "think I have everything figured out", because I don't. If I refused to reevaluate and take future evidence/proof into account if and when presented, then yeah, you might be able to say I was dangerous or arrogant. But that's not the case.

  I'm actually the opposite of thinking I have it all figured out - I *know* I don't have all the answers. Like everybody, sure I would *like* answers to everything - who wouldn't? But I don't *need* them - at least, not enough to make them up. I *want* to know, but I don't *need* to just so that I can feel better/comforted or to give my life meaning and a purpose.