Is this a site controlled by atheists?

The Rebel

Under the exterior of being an Ex- Witness site, is this site simply converting atheism?

I pose the question, because many come here in distress and insecurity with the realization that the W.T is wrong but still retain a belief in God. My personal opinion is the threads on God are not challenged by an atheists personal animosity to believers, they are challenged and become confrontational because the atheist wants an elaboration and factual proof to a believers faith.

Is this unreasonable? Well maybe some questions can only be answered after death, so whilst I enjoy a good discussion, I believe if evidence is elusive one has every right to challenge such dialogue, and to point out concrete evidence has not been presented. Of course this does not mean a person has to be influenced by such challenging questions and accept another posters point of view.

From " The Rebels" point of view, such challenging posts did force me to scrutinize my beliefs, and I realized my thinking was once again fallable, it hurt being proven I was wrong about the Witnesses and wrong about God. Was it a difficult process? Well when you come on a discussion forum and enter a debate, it doesn't give you time to slowly come to a conclusion.

Anyway this is the exsperience of a former witness who came to this site a believer, and by being here is now an athiest, its my story and my exsperience. I didn't start the O.P to cause conflict, but only to say had I found the evidence that God existed here, then I guess this would be a site for ex-witnesses to find God. In my case the evidence simply has not been provided.

So in my opinion this site is not suitable for those leaving the W.T, still too fragile to have their faith in God challenged. The psychological realities I appreciate can be devasting, particularly if you are still trying to get the pain out, of having lost your faith in the W.T, and former friends and family.

Sorry for such a long O.P.

The Rebel

ttdtt

I just think that a lot of JWs who have had their eyes opened have opened them fully.

I think JWs who spent their lives scrutinizing the most innocuous passages of the bible and coming up with deep meaning, and also getting explanations for the most blatant contradictions.

As JWs, we have spent our lives studying the bible.

Each book and verse were examined for deep meaning, and prophetic significance.

Year after year we were given "explanations" of who the most idiotic stuff fit into scientific truth.

Year after year, the most blatant contradictions were either causally explained away, or some over arching future structure was added to it so it would make sense when god explained the details.

We had it pounded in that we are the ONLY true religion, and many people would "ironically" express "if this isn't the truth then there isn't one"

After all that and more, its hard to come to the conclusion, "oh we got the trinity wrong, but all the other stuff is still ok", if you know what I am saying.

jookbeard

I think this site is very welcoming for jw's , a site like this with a pro Christian stance would be the very last thing jw's lurking or newly exited especially the fundamental side, all are welcome though, there is a good mix here.

notsurewheretogo

If you did a poll on all exjws and asked them what they now believe I'd bet that the majority are athiest...

It's not "run by athiests"...its just many exjws come to the conclusion there is no god.

Most of us when a dub were told never to question things and now we do...so when someone comes on here and expresses their opinion or point of view that there is a god..well we question it...we ask about the evidence and we share the evidence we have found that brings us to our conclusion that there is no god and that evolution and abiogenesis is the "truth".

Most posters who are athiests are respectful to believers in a god but we still have the right to ask questions, ask for evidence and point out the major issues in believing in a god...and that is our right.

This is true not just on here but on every discussion on creation v evolution...believer v athiest.

If a believer chooses to pass by the reasons we express for being an athiest then that is there right...on here...I, like many others, will not belittle them for having beliefs...but I stress we may question and point out things that can be uncomfortable to a believer.

But this is not to in an argumentative way or to be critical...I find most athiest posters on here very respectful...and some are enthusiastic.

done4good

From one perspective, I can see where you are coming from. Many posters do seem to "pitch" atheism, (even if only by inference), to newbies from the start. I would agree that is not necessarily productive. Although I myself came to an atheistic conclusion several years ago, I certainly did not get there overnight, immediately after leaving the WT. It took research, some practical experience, and a long meditative process to become comfortable with that conclusion.

There used to be a really good ex-JW information site called "Beyond Jehovah's Witnesses" that was ran by late Timothy Campbell. Although an atheist himself, he recommended developing a temporary philosophy of sorts upon exit from the WT, one where a person allows themselves to take in information and not commit to a "belief" system, (yes, I know many atheists will argue atheism is not belief; I am not debating that here, so don't). I found this to be an effective method of development post-JW. There are no shortcuts after leaving years of ambient abuse from a system such as the WT.

As far as this site is concerned, I think what you are seeing is a microcosm of some of the changes in society in general. I remember 10 years ago, we had a lot of born-again types here, I think mostly influenced by Randy Watters' Freeminds site. Although Freeminds proved to be a treasure trove of good information I eventually used to draw a conclusion against bible belief, it clearly had a Protestant born-again bent, reflecting the beliefs of its owner. Today, most people are better informed, and once turned off from one religion usually know better than to jump into another one. There are much better sources of information today available than the Freeminds site. I think this leads many to an atheistic conclusion much faster than even in relatively recent years past.

d4g

Half banana

The normal route an ex-JW takes is to wake up to TTATT; that the org is deficient and wrong and just another religion.

The idea that “Jehovah is God” nevertheless remains a while for probably the majority of us. Those needy of supernatural help remain believers and about one third of ex-JWs, so I understand, keep a faith in the regular Christian doctrines outside of Witnessdom.

After a while of having left the JW community and indoctrination and having seen the cultic nature and mental slavery to naive ideas, many of us also have come to realize that the focus of Jehovah and Jesus are also lacking a solid basis outside of the mind.

I imagine this is the norm (corrections and refinements welcome) and personally I warmly welcome all ex-JWs irrespective of my own present thinking. We were all damaged by this cult and many need a refuge like this site with helpful words from our fellow escapees.

The Rebel

Jookbeard " ..all are welcome though, there is a good mix here"

The Rebel:- " Agreed, but posts do offer direction which challenges a posters thinking, and because we all don't agree words can become more yelling emotional rants !! rather than " why don't you try to see it my way?

I will be honest I didn't come to any conclusion being involved in a debate on this forum, I am not interested in posts that basically say " my point of view is the greatest, you are wrong". But I did spend many hours evaluating the comments made on challenging O.P s, and I found I couldn't justify and clarify my beliefs on that debate. Therefore I concluded my beliefs were not debatable. That's not to say on this board believers and unbelievers can't mix, Perry, Compound & Complex and remember Mouthy? These are testimonies of those that are believers and can defend and be respected for their beliefs. But my point is many believers who come here are more neurotic and fragile in their beliefs, and they can leave here as lost as they arrived.

i really do appreciate my age, my circumstances that allowed my beliefs on God to be challenged, had I been in different circumstances I think I could easily have been a poster who didn't benefit from that. ....so my point is? Being right about some things whilst important, isn't really the most important thing, not unless you are always right.

The Rebel.

Terry

You can't control chaos!

That's what strikes me as hilarious, the idea that this world is under the "Control"

of a secret group of men. Ha ha ha ha.

As far as this Discussion Group is concerned, you can start a topic which

says, "White is White" and you'll get arguments and probably an accusation of

racism.

There is no control, only opinions.

freemindfade

I think there were (are) a lot of smart witnesses drinking koolaid. When they put the cup down they wake up to the fact that the bible is epic bullshit. And yhwh is no more real than batman.

I don't believe its just and exjw thing. I think in the time we live in its harder and harder to believe irrational myths and superstitions and seem like a sane person.

I woke up to the bible being total crap and there being no big J in the sky first, before learning ttatt and dumping out the koolaid.

SecretSlaveClass

I don't really see many atheists pushing atheism. What I do see a lot of is people challenging faith with facts who happen to be atheists. I don't see atheism being offered as an alternative to theism here, rather I see evidence being offered as an alternative to faith. Why on earth would anyone not be open to learning anything, whether it be evolution or something about a religion?

Is this a site controlled by atheists?

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