Randi's book Flim Flam played a part in my awakening. It made me start thinking in a more sceptical, analytical, way. Plus it's a really entertaining read!
Onager
JoinedPosts by Onager
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28
Daughter doesn't want me to push my beliefs on her
by jws inso i was talking with my daughter the other day and she tells me that she doesn't want me to push my beliefs on her.i am agnostic.
which isn't a belief.
it's a lack of belief.
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Onager
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Why A Divine Being is Possible
by looter innow we all have heard how the universe is composed of matter and space.
and we always here of how it had a beginning.
but really what could have begun it?
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Onager
A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down!"
— Hawking, 1988[1]"If everything must have a cause, then God must have a cause. If there can be anything without a cause, it may just as well be the world as God, so that there cannot be any validity in that argument. It is exactly of the same nature as the Hindu's view, that the world rested upon an elephant and the elephant rested upon a tortoise; and when they said, 'How about the tortoise?' the Indian said, 'Suppose we change the subject.'" - Bertrand Russell
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Craziest thing I've seen in field service
by Chook inworking an area in town with this brother who after knocking on door and finding no one home , he stands behind small tree and has piss on front lawn.fairdinkim.i hope they weren't peeping through binds,but then again better the piss than the shit mags we were going to leave..
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Onager
I was at a wholesome gathering playing a game where you read a scenario and give a person two options, they choose one, everyone says whether they are telling the truth and they reveal if they were. I think it's a real game but we'd done our own JW version.
Anyway The question I had written was this: "You're out on the field service with Elder Bob. The householder pulls a gun on you. Do you A) Dive into the bushes or B) Pull Elder Bob in front of you to take the blast."
Elder Bob was one of those crusty old elders who all the youngsters were scared of. Cut to the Sunday meeting and elder Bob puts his hand up to answer a question in the Watchtower and says "This one time, I was on the field service and the householder pulled out a gun. I had to dive into the bushes to escape." All the kids were looking at me open mouthed. I couldn't believe it!
It turns out that the watchtower elders son was at the party and had told him about it and then he and Elder Bob had cooked up this plan to freak me out!
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Woman's Purpose
by StopTheTears ini'm probably going to say some things here that will disappoint many.
there are some that may look back over the years and say "man i really blew it" i'm not writing the following to scold for failures, but rather to help those who are young enough to put into practice what god wills for their life, and also to those of us who are in our middle years that still have time to change some things, in order to please god and find a peace that only being in his will can bring.
first let me say that god didn't create man for you.
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Complaining over post dislikes / downvotes
by Simon inlet's be clear: people have the right to like or dislike what they want - that is why the option is there.
as long as they are not doing it in a malicious way to retaliate or game the system, there is no policing the votes.
if you get a down-vote, live with it.
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Onager
Yep, I just came on here to click dislike on the OP's post as a joke, but it seems to have got rapidly serious so I'm going to just tiptoe out of here again...
Shhh... nothing to see... forget...forget....
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JW and the Sabbath
by Andromeda inhello brothers and sisters and truth seekers,.
i am an active jehovah's witness.
i don't believe in 1914 and i'm tototally against their way of dealing with abuse cases.
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Onager
And having reached 10 pages of comments the troll retreats back under it's bridge, happy and content in another job well done...
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Will Jehovah...
by watson inwhen jehovah brings armageddon, will he let me live long enough to witness the deaths of my children and grand children because they didn't believe in him?
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since i've faded and i don't promote worshiping him anymore, i am just wondering.. at least i'd know for sure what kind of god he is?.
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Onager
Sorry Vidqun, I wasn't comparing myself to other men around me. In today's climate I'd say I was about average in the goodness stakes. No, I'm comparing myself to the actions condoned by the god of the bible, Enshrined for all time by him as an example for us to follow.
It's bad stuff.
IF there is a creator (which would be nice) and IF he\she\it is interventionist but has just popped out to the shops for 10 fags and a banana Yazoo for the last 6,000 years and IF they're the judgemental sort then I guaran-goddam-tee that they will be very unimpressed by bible followers!
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Will Jehovah...
by watson inwhen jehovah brings armageddon, will he let me live long enough to witness the deaths of my children and grand children because they didn't believe in him?
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since i've faded and i don't promote worshiping him anymore, i am just wondering.. at least i'd know for sure what kind of god he is?.
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Onager
Vidqun: "Cofty, if you believe in evolution, you have nothing to fear, except perhaps meteorites, manmade and/or natural disasters. But if you believe in a creator, that puts a different spin on things. Then you belong to him and you accept and adapt to his terms."
I have a son. I, along with my wife, created him. Although I expect him to accept my rules (as soon as he's old enough to understand them), I in no way feel that he belongs to me in any possessive sense. This is because I adhere to a higher moral code than that of bronze age goat herders who felt that children and wives were possessions.
Does this make me better than god?
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"Belief" and "Faith" are Simply Emotional Terms for Ideas and Opinions (long post)
by xjwsrock inthis is my current bottom-line conclusion after starting to see through the jw game 3 to 4 years ago and going through my own process of waking up.
it helps to write it down and put it "out there".
i hope it helps or resonates with you in your own personal process.. basically if i were given 10 seconds to say something to an active jehovah's witness that i cared about it would be the headline above.
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Onager
@Perry I'm genuinely interested to know if you can provide one example of a bible character exercising faith as we are expected to today, without proofs?
I can think of examples when bible characters demanded proofs before getting on board, a fleece in the middle of a threshing floor covered with dew or something... but I can't think of any examples where a bible character took a leap of faith blindly.
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What's your passion???
by Faith after Deception inyesterday, i was feeling very blue.
this is quite unusual for me, as i tend to be quite an upbeat, positive person, so spells of sadness or depression take me by surprise and are a real shock to the system.
you know, i don’t believe in “putting on a face” or pretending to be ok; this “fake it ’til you make it” malarkey has never been something i’ve liked.
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Onager
I have explored my passion for the natural world and have focussed on a particular interest of mine: Lepidoptera, moths and butterflies. There's a lifetime of study here and it also gets me out of the house and into the woods, which is good for the soul even if you aren't interested in little flying critters!