Has your life gotten better as an athiest/agnostic?

by StinkyPantz 153 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  teejay

  Over my years of posting on ex-JW dbs, I've come to the distinct conclusion that my JW / belief in god experience was not as bad as what others experienced.

  For that reason, what I do for a living (then and now) has had a greater impact on my overall happiness than my JWness or exJWness. And "yes" -- I am happier now because what I do for a living now and not because I am no long an active JW/believer. I was a pretty happy JW/believer and to this day see real advantages in being one over not being one.
• 

  Realist

  teejay,

  I was a pretty happy JW/believer and to this day see real advantages in being one over not being one.

  really? can you elaborate on that?
• 

  dedalus

  Oxnard,

  You wrote:

  Oh, I understand why you don't believe in God. I just don't like the negative tone directed at those of us who do believe. It's not like Christians aren't educated about various topics. In our eyes, the Bible is the oldest book and it's never been proven wrong. Every prophecy in it has come true.

  1) The Bible isn't the oldest book.

  2) Biblical claims have been proven wrong.

  3) Prophecies in it have failed.

  I don't think people who believe in God are foolish -- see my earlier post on this thread. I just think that, when you try to argue for the factual authenticity of an historical text as a sort of empirical proof for your belief, you're coming at things from the wrong direction.

  Dedalus
• 

  teejay

  >>> really? can you elaborate on that?

  Well, Realist, there are many examples. Here's one...

  An old JW friend of ours dropped in to see us over the weekend. She's thinking of moving to Colorado.

  "Know anybody there?" I ask.

  "No, I'll just find a Kingdom Hall."
• 

  dedalus

  Teejay,

  Um, there are other places to meet people and make friends besides Kingdom Halls. And, I don't know if you've noticed, but if it's an instant community you're looking for, there are, like, about a billion churches in the country. Most of them are nicer to look at than Kingdom Halls, and most of them aren't attended by self-righteous bloodthirsty zealots who disown their own children over theological disagreements.

  Another example, maybe?

  Dedalus
• 

  Realist

  "No, I'll just find a Kingdom Hall."

  that certainly comes in handy when one moves a lot!
• 

  teejay

  Dedalus,

  Please understand that I wasn't recommending the JW lifestyle, just pointing out that there are advantages. There are advantages to being self-employed over, say, working for the State (and vice versa), but I'm not recommending either of those lifestyles, either.

  Most of the JW advantages that I was thinking of have to do with what benefits accrue to the believer when it comes to issues (such as health, death, social injustice, the state of world affairs, etc) that stem from the psychology of looking at life through the prism of a structured belief system. I could be wrong (and I don't know how you'd go about getting an accurate measurement one way or the other) but I truly believe that people like my mother who have a deep belief in the JW promises are happier than I am. FOR PEOPLE LIKE MY MOTHER, there are very few – if any – DISadvantages that you could point out.
• 

  dedalus

  Teejay,

  Sounds about right to me, now that I understand that the "Witness" advantages to which you're referring are indistinguishable from the advantages of any structured belief system.

  Dedalus
• 

  AlanF

  Oxnard, imagine the following conversation between you and me:

  Alan:

  "I'm certainly no expert on the Koran, theology, evolution, etc. I just know what I believe. I don't know how you could possibly be happy as a Christian knowing you are going to die and never be resurrected with the hope that if you die faithful you'll be resurrected to life with the immense joy of having 72 virgins to satisfy your every whim."

  Oxnard:

  "But the Christian hope of the resurrection is much better! We have faith in Jesus and his promises. Why wouldn't you want to believe in the Christian hope?"

  Alan:

  "Why I wouldn't want to believe? You mean why I don't want to, or why I don't believe?

  Anyway, I don't believe in that faith because it's based off following the prophet Jesus. Now, I could be wrong, but unlike Mohammed, he was just an ordinary man. Why should I follow him?"

  Can you point out the logical problems with my statements?

  Can you see that your actual statements in this thread, and my imaginary ones above, are analgous?

  AlanF
• 

  StinkyPantz

  AlanF-

  Ox and I have been chatting on IM and while I do think that he is a nice guy, he's stubborn. That is not meant as an insult though, because I am also stubborn.

  We talked about the impossibility of the proposed amount of animals entering the ark, and while he did admit that I made sense, he figures that some aspect of it must be true. We talked about "free will" and many other topics, but instead of refuting what I was saying; he accused me of trying to be superior or somethin'.

  Anyway, what's my point? I don't know; but I doubt he'll be back to debate with you as he said in his last post on this thread. I think after he's been here a while and realizes what a gold mine you are, you'll be able to reason with him better.