this site sucks! its just a buncha athiest on soap boxes.

by crossquestions6995 167 Replies latest jw friends

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  Band on the Run

  J. Hofer,

  I should write what I want to say on a legal pad and then type it. It is how I write every place else. This site triggered fast thought in me from the start. I just dive in. Believe it or not, I get high grades on my writing. There have been issues here that I don't know how to resolve. I never know much how to reference again. So many new people come into JWN. I may err on the side of accomodatiing newcomers. Sometimes I just want to scream b/c it feels as though it has all been said before.

  Sometimes I read someone's posts regularly but I don't understand them. Next, some context is provided by the poster. Sometimes it is just a brief bio that others may have seen before but I did not. I notice the New York Times describes the situation all the time so newcomers can understand its article. Part of me wants to scream back, "NYT, we all read you daily. Tell us something new."

  I just don't know what to do. The fast pace will not change. This info is potent to me. Sometimes I try to do stream of consciousness. A few make fun of my writing. No one can understand me. Band has no sense. Yet I get many compliments and feedback from others. People reference specific points I made. If I were so incoherent as Shirley asserts, people could not reference my ideas. This is one area of my life where I will just react. Of course, the people who call me stupid are not intellectual giants. The emotions are so intense that I don't want to ponder the material. Unfortunately, I cannot write the way professional journalists do. I can't sit down and just type. It does not read well. Yet it does for them. Friends tell me it is a special skill honed by years of facing deadlines.
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  Twitch

  Sometimes I try to do stream of consciousness.

  Really? Never would've guessed...;)

  Personally, I like the writing style.
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  Ruby456

  crossquesition you are right - my own way of interpreting what is going on on JWN is that it is culture warfare and not solely to do with religion. We have the nineteenth century clashing with the 20th and 21st centuries. I guess this is part of our journey.
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  yadda yadda 2

  I hear what you are saying and take on board the advice to be mindful of the sensitivities of those who are sick of the JW's but still have a firm faith in God and the Bible. I must admit in my own personal journey many years ago when I first discovered this forum I was still very much a believer in God and in the inerrancy of scripture, so I felt similar to you. The thing is we are all on a different journeyiin our search for 'truth', and many of ex-JW's on this forum have arrived at an ultimate destination in their journey, often after many many years of research and pondering at the deepest intellectual level, that ultimately the Bible absolutely cannot be a reliable source of historical truth, nor could there possibly and logically be a God as described in the Old Testament.

  Perhaps outright atheist threads could be 'ring-fenced' somehow out of such consideration for the sensitivities of those only starting out on their journey of truth realisation, eg, by creating a new board on here just for the topics of the Bible's reliability and atheism/agnosticism. I agree that many lurkers starting out on their journey are likely to be very offended at the rank and hardhitting atheist themes on here, which tend to pervade most threads (myself being as guilty as anyone), and such ones might be scared away and 'stumbled' from this forum forever more. That would be a real shame.

  Then again, the epiphany that the ancient scriptures are not to be trusted and there are insurmountable obstacles to genuine believe in a Biblical intervening God is in the final analysis the most powerful and healing realisation that a doubting or former JW can arrive at. So the more they are exposed to information in that regard, the better perhaps.
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  yadda yadda 2

  A good alternative ex-JW site with very little Christian and theism bashing is http://paradisecafediscussions.org/

  Hope Simon doesn't mind me posting that link.
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  abbasgreta

  To my jw family I am a completely hated and shunned "mentally diseased apostate" even though I have stressed to them that I follow Jesus now as the Way the Truth and the Life. From one ex-jw now non-Christian on here I (and other devoted new Christians) have been referred to as a "rootin tootin bible thumpin' froot". Hardly different. All I did was share what I had found out from a REAL bible - but even God's word is immediately trashed as unreliable. I have never attacked, immediately dismissed or insulted athiests, new-agers, agnostics or authors/publishers of books relating to such views etc, on here even though I do not agree with them. I have not pursued such information and have no authority to speak on these beliefs but that is NOT my point.

  What gives anyone the right to trash someone's beliefs or viewpoints??? My personal take on it is that God doesn't do it - He is too loving and patient, so who am I to do it? For example my pastor knows a lot about jws and the hatred they have for the clergy and is aware of their false teachings (that is a fact, not a theory) but he is just full of pity and compassion for them. One woman at church mentioned his heartbreak to two jw sisters on her doorstep and they just could not believe it. They expected pure hatred back from a Vicar. For a non-Christian surely fellow- feeling should rule. Reasonings/heated debates are good - belittling each other is childish and selfish. We should be wishing each other peace and happiness from the heart - we've endured years of unhappiness whilst in the cult - why bite and scratch each other now?

  I made the decision not to share my new-found faith in Christ and His truth, which are the joys of my life, on here ever again. Rants against God re tragedies and suffering and "why he does nothing" just break my heart. Do you really think we Christians don't know the answer as to why it is so in this age? Do you think you really know Yahweh at all - certainly NOT the case when we were jws. I wanted to know who the God of the Christians truly was and I discovered God's grace and love are mind-blowing. Independent research - you can't beat it. Have you done any - are you bothered? If not, and no, then how can you accuse God of not caring? What is this conclusion based upon? I have to conclude that such unjust comments are based on ignorance and the "God" we knew as jws. The irony there is great.

  Please, just stick to healthy debates and be kind to one another. As for me,I just click on here to see what noo-lite is being dished out by the cult leaders in case my lost jw family ever get into a conversation again with me and I am prepared. I pray for them every day - "they know not what they do". Peace all.
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  Calebs Airplane

  
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  cofty

  Do you really think we Christians don't know the answer as to why it is so in this age? - abasgreta

  Yes I really think that.

  Independent research - you can't beat it. Have you done any - are you bothered? If not, and no, then how can you accuse God of not caring? What is this conclusion based upon? - abasgreta

  I'm very bothered. I was an evangelical christian for 9 years after I left the Watchtower. When our pastor left I was part of the preaching & leadership team. Theodicy was a particular interest of mine. I studied systematic theologies. I read books on the subject by evangelical, reformed and liberal theologians. I discussed it at length with many experienced christians.

  I finally concluded that it was all vacuous. There is no good reason why a loving god would permit suffering. All shades of theodicy only work until you ask the difficult questions and then you discover the emperor has no clothes.

  Thats why I stand by my previous statements and bow out of all the "gods a fairy tale" arguments. - xq69

  If you think that is the level of argument around here you have not been paying attention. Your beliefs can only survive by avoiding serious challenge.
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  MsD

  I don't like the bashing either. There are many atheists with logical answers and then those who mock anybody who believes in a creator. I tend to ignore the mockers. They are obviously very bitter with their lives

  I'm still a believer but have many questions. There are very intelligent people who believe in a creator and those who don't. I realize many ex JW's end up atheists. I believe they felt like they wasted all those years in that organization and have lost all feeling toward there being any Creator. Also they believe there is no where to go! Which is not the case! You don't need an organization to believe in a Creator. Of course I have nothing against atheists. I've known many and was even friends with one. But they were so negative I had to block them out of my life. Not negative in a sense of there being no Creator but more so with life. depression, anxiety, drug abuse. It's a terrible life to live
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  bohm

  MsD: Of course I have nothing against atheists. I've known many and was even friends with one. But they were so negative I had to block them out of my life. Not negative in a sense of there being no Creator but more so with life. depression, anxiety, drug abuse. It's a terrible life to live

  speaking of personal experience, the reason i choose my way of life is that the warm fuzzy feeling of knowing you will die more than make up for being a depressed cokehead. Also i sin a lot.