Are EXJW's predominantly atheist?

by sabastious 120 Replies latest jw friends

  • sabastious
    sabastious

    I was just making a comment on a Christian's YouTube and someone said this:

    i just realized? ur an ex jw and dont believe in God no point in making a reply to u..

    there is no point arguing with ex Jehovah's witnesses most of them after being disillusioned by their religion have abandoned God because they were mislead by a false belief from a religious group. it amazes me they want to "ope the eyes" of? jw's but have nothing to offer as they themselves do not believe in God. its a sad condition i have seen many of them on YT fall headlong into..

    It's interesting that this person assumes EXJW's don't believe in God. Anyone have any idea why this stereotype exists?

    -Sab

  • cobaltcupcake
    cobaltcupcake

    Generalizations are rarely correct. I still believe in "God" but not in Jehovah.

  • sabastious
    sabastious
    Generalizations are rarely correct.

    Stereotypes are always incorrect when applied generally, like this person was. However, stereotyping is a natural social phenomenon because the human brain works by association. The existence of this particular stereotype is evidence of a strong atheist population within the EXJW ranks.

    When I really think about it there is very little difference between the ideology of Jehovah's Witnesses and atheism. Both are based on ideas that have been worked out with a rational methodology. The Jehovah's Witnesses follow the rational of the Governing Body, atheists follow the rational of the Scientific Community. The results obtained from the perspective sources widely differ which is why you see them in a battle to the bitter end against each other. However both ideals are still to be considered forms of rationalism. The Witnesses base their beliefs largely off of the Old Testament and the ancient Jews were a very rational people. Yet, they were divided in that some wanted to take a more spiritualistic approach and others a rationalistic. It's obvious that the Jehovah's Witnesses see themselves as more like scholars than spiritual interpreters. Which is why you see public Watchtowers that condemn the occult. They don't want to be looked at as spiritualists, they want to be looked at as scholars.

    Witnesses don't believe the Book of Enoch to be valid Scripture because of it's "fanciful tales", yet they will take a story like that of the teleporting philip in Acts at face value. This belief hinges from a rational argument of the Bible's inerrancy. Which is why you constantly see Watchtowers that are about "God's Word the Bible" and how "amazing" it is.

    The Witnesses seem to pride themselves on not being as faith based as the next religion. They claim to take a balanced and rational approach to the Bible and have simply discovered it to be the inerrant word of God. This makes them a scripture-based Christian sect which is why they are seen to be busy bodies, their noses constantly in the Bible.

    It's easy to make the switch to atheism from the JW's because Science is also very busy. You are constantly taking into consideration as many factors as you can while using a simple methology to parse through it. It can be a painstaking process which the human mind loves when attached to an end goal, it fills them with a sense of accomplishment. Science is fun, the Watchtower is supposed to be "Bible science." Yet, that is just how it appears. Really, it's all smoke and mirrors and a means to make record profits for some souless corporate structure. The Watchtower would make a good video game, not an actual lifestyle.

    -Sab

  • Christ Alone
    Christ Alone

    I noticed this same trend, Sab. There are a huge number of belief systems out there. And the majority settle into one of a few of them. On my other thread that attempted some sort of survey about this it seems that the majority were agnostic, atheist, agnostic atheist, or believer. There were a few others sprinkled in that had some form of new age belief. A higher ENERGY source, but not necessarily intelligent.

    Cofty has illuminated me GREATLY on this subject. He was one of the rare breeds that left the organization, became a born again Christian, and then became atheist. He says that after having to be willing to give up everything important to him and what he believed, he was then willing to research ALL his beliefs and give up belief in the existence of God if he could not prove it. I hope I got him right on this. If I haven't, I apologize cofty. I think that may be the key. Because of putting all your trust in some men, you have to reevaluate EVERYTHING you believe, and God is included in this.

    I still hold to my original hypothesis that most people that become exJWs either stop believing in God all together, or majorly doubt His existence. And I STILL hold to my hypothesis that many (not all) say, "If this wasn't the truth, then nothing in religion/the bible is". That's not supposed to be an accusation or a generalization. MANY go and do research before coming to their conclusions about God. Sometimes I have seen that some go out, not in an attempt to "FIND OUT", but to "PROVE WRONG". That's just been my experience with some. So don't think I'm saying it about all that become atheists. But you will usually find someone to support what you are setting out to prove. I could "prove" that the WT has illuminati connections. I could "prove" that 9/11 was an inside job. I could "prove" that the Bible is the Word of God. And I could "prove" that it is not.

  • james_woods
    james_woods

    I have the feeling that JWN is predominately athiest - maybe about 60/40 that way.

    However, I have known about fifty people who left the JWs back in the Ray Franz/1980 era - and only a very small minority became athiest.

  • Christ Alone
    Christ Alone

    Good point, james. If we only go by JWN our range is not very broad. The JWN community makes up a very small part of the total exJW community. However, I would have said JWN is more 80/20 in favor of atheists...

  • wha happened?
    wha happened?

    I think it works out that way because after going through the perils of that religion, (JW's), people are just full up on crazy

  • bigmac
    bigmac

    i realised i was atheist long before i left the dubbies.

    once you get god out of your head all this watchtower crap just falls apart at the seams.

  • Londo111
    Londo111

    I would agree with the 80/20. Peeking in ex-LDS forums, the same percentage predominates. When a person is spiritually victimized, as in the case of cults or fundamentalists, it is very little wonder.

    In the JW world, there is a hatred toward all other religions, churches, and spiritual groups. When a person leaves, that hatred is often carried with them (only the JW religion is added to the bunch).

    Even Christian JWs seem inclined to isolate themselves from the communities of believers at large. They carry the stereotypes that the Society has indoctrinated into them. “Where else can you go?” Yes, that is a misquote of what Peter said. But even if we take that famous JW question at face value, there are plenty of options.

  • Chariklo
    Chariklo

    This is an interesting thread, Sab. I've been thinking about just why it is that so many ex JW's become so energetically atheist.

    I have a feeling that part of the reason may lie in the nature of the JW religion itself.

    Everyone who has ever engaged a JW in conversation or discussion knows that within a very few minutes a Bible will come out and references will be prodiced and pored over. JW's are trained to find a proof for everything.

    When they begin, very sensibly, to doubt, they continue with the same method of searching for evidence and proof. They believe in the value of science and so they look to science to find evidence for God. The problem is that while God is inherently revealed in all the things that science discovers, they won't find him where they look...although actually, come to think of it, they came close with the Higgs boson!

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientist-backs-discovery-of-higgs-boson-god-particle-8096582.html

    Anyway, I haven't time now to expand on this but it would be interesting to know what others think.

    If one looks in the wrong way and in the wrong places one is not likely to find.

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