atomant, I will PM with some experiences when I get a little time.
Posts by Sevan
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83Seeking support ... Where can a Christian go
by Sevan inhey all, .
so i recently posted for the first time and introduced myself.. i have been spending time reading various posts.
some informative, some not so much.. since i've been reading on here, i've read a lot from atheists.
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83
Seeking support ... Where can a Christian go
by Sevan inhey all, .
so i recently posted for the first time and introduced myself.. i have been spending time reading various posts.
some informative, some not so much.. since i've been reading on here, i've read a lot from atheists.
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Sevan
Iown Mylife,
Yes, I agree that I have been very supported here and thank you for your thoughts.
I posted, not because of anything said to me personally, but because I was feeling unwelcome after reading some of the threads of Atheism. I read those threads to try to understand the Atheistic viewpoint. The threads did help me to understand Atheism better, however I felt disturbed at the vitriol and insults on the threads that I saw thrown at believers by some of the posters.
One person gave me the advice just to avoid those threads will I'm still feeling sensitive and disoriented. That is the best advice I think at this point.
I just left a month ago and I am not ready to challenge my faith in that way at this point. Just trying to process all my emotions.
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83
Seeking support ... Where can a Christian go
by Sevan inhey all, .
so i recently posted for the first time and introduced myself.. i have been spending time reading various posts.
some informative, some not so much.. since i've been reading on here, i've read a lot from atheists.
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Sevan
DJS, what you don't seem to understand is that there is a difference between personally believing in God and in judging others.
I don't personally believe any groups should be destroyed because it is not my place as a simple human to judge who should be destroyed or not.
I do believe God has that right, even if that includes my own destruction. My existence is at His pleasure and he does not owe me eternal life. God will do what he will regardless of my personal opinion anyway.
I don't necessarily believe that our interpretation of the Bible is entirely correct. For example, I think Armageddon may in fact be a very different event than I've been taught to believe it is all these years. I am just beginning to investigate these ideas. Just because I am grappling with Scripture and trying to understand and reconcile the Bible does not mean I am cherry picking. It just means that I am trying to understand the Bible from a different perspective after being indoctrinated first by the religion of my birth and second by the JWs for my entire life. I don't know completely what all I believe at this point outside of Christ and that is what I am trying to figure out.
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83
Seeking support ... Where can a Christian go
by Sevan inhey all, .
so i recently posted for the first time and introduced myself.. i have been spending time reading various posts.
some informative, some not so much.. since i've been reading on here, i've read a lot from atheists.
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Sevan
DJS, I do not hold to the Jehovah's Witness belief that billions of people are going to be destroyed, the vast majority of the world population. I have always had difficulty with that concept, even as a Jehovah's Witness.
The Bible says that God does not desire any to be destroyed. That says to me that he wants people to live and loves them. How he intends to accomplish this, I do not know. Still I think he has the right to do with his creation whatever he sees fit. Whether that means life or death for me or anyone else I leave up to God.
I like to think that there is hope for life beyond the short life we have on this earth. I personally have been blessed in many ways in my life, even though I have had much difficulty as well. Others have not been so lucky. Simply by accident of their birth, little children have starved to death, been tortured, beaten and raped to death. This breaks my heart beyond measure. One of the things that keeps me going on is the hope that these little children will get the chance to live again and be truly loved. I want them to know that they are loved and that I already love them. There are many others of all ages that have suffered horribly in life. I want to believe that their will be justice, love and happiness for them. I think the pain of human and animal suffering would be impossible for me to bear without this hope.
As for LGBT ex-JWs, I would like to hear more from them and their experiences. I read some of the experiences of gay ex-JWs on jwfacts.com and my heart was very touched from their experiences. It is very helpful to hear these experiences because it shows the world from a very different prospective and helps instill compassion and understanding. I never knew that gay JWs struggled with feelings of lack of acceptance or feeling that God didn't love them before I read those accounts. I always thought that God loved them even more because of the faith and sacrifice necessary to remain celibate for Him. The idea that God doesn't love you immensely just because you are gay, bi, trans or what have you, I think that is a human induced thought. I think God is much more understanding than we give him credit for.
Personally, I find the concept of someone having to live life without a life-partner difficult, but not impossible. Why the Bible condemns homosexual behavior when homosexuals are incapable of changing their sexuality, I do not know. I am still trying to understand this myself. However, I do not feel that I have the right to judge God. He is our Creator and as such has the right to define the rules. He knows many things that we do not and must therefore have reasons for everything that we may not be privy to.
As far as feeling that you aren't a good enough person, that God is disappointed in you, that you aren't doing enough for God, etc, etc, this is basically what the JW cult drills in everyone's heads constantly and incessantly. I have felt inadequate and not good enough for the entire time that I've been a Witness. That is a heavy weight to bear and I think one of the reasons that so many JWs are depressed. That is one of the reasons that I am shying away from organized religion as a whole and just trying to find God and Christ for myself.
If you want to continue to both look down on me and talk down to me for my faith, that is your cross to bear. I have to do what my conscience tells me I ought to.
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83
Seeking support ... Where can a Christian go
by Sevan inhey all, .
so i recently posted for the first time and introduced myself.. i have been spending time reading various posts.
some informative, some not so much.. since i've been reading on here, i've read a lot from atheists.
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Sevan
Giles Gray, the concept that everything, in all its wonder and complexity, just got here by chance, does not and cannot make rational sense to me. That scripture about every house having a builder really hits home for me, especially when you consider that the natural world and universe is far more complex and awe-inspiring than any house.
There are many other things I've experienced and learned over the years that informs my belief in God, but the universe and all creation is a big one.
Now the Atheist posters here have echoed some of my own questions and issues with the Abrahamic God. Issues I had even when I was a dye-hard JW. I have tried to get help for these issues, but I am still grasping to understand why rape, murder, abuse, misogyny and slavery were allowed, even seemingly encouraged. I know that there may be a bigger picture that I am not seeing at the moment.
Outside of the loving and self-sacrificing example of Jesus and many of the higher principles in the Bible about being peaceable, loving, humble, slow to anger, etc., my faith is on shaky ground. But that is a journey that I feel I must grapple with on my own for now. When I've thought more deeply on everything, I may be able to come back here and engage in intellectual and theological discussions.
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83
Seeking support ... Where can a Christian go
by Sevan inhey all, .
so i recently posted for the first time and introduced myself.. i have been spending time reading various posts.
some informative, some not so much.. since i've been reading on here, i've read a lot from atheists.
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Sevan
Thank you for your thoughts FayeDunaway. I will keep them in mind as I study the Bible for the first time without the influence of organized religion. I was raised in the Assemblies of God church before the Jehovah's Witnesses found me in the door to door ministry, so I have always been influenced by organized religion. It should be interesting to just read the Bible on my own now.
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83
Seeking support ... Where can a Christian go
by Sevan inhey all, .
so i recently posted for the first time and introduced myself.. i have been spending time reading various posts.
some informative, some not so much.. since i've been reading on here, i've read a lot from atheists.
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Sevan
Cofty, thank you for your posts.
It is not that I am opposed to the discussion of the evidence for my faith, it is just that I don't see the benefit at this point in my life. I have reasons for my faith, but at this point would rather not get in theological debates. I don't call that wanting to "have my cake and eat it too." I call that respecting my own emotional boundaries at this point in time.
As for evidence, 100% proof of God's existence, that will never happen. There is no way to prove the existence of God, especially the existence of a particular God. If there was, there would be no need for faith.
I fully accept that I do not have all the answers nor will I ever. Each one of us and still all of us together only know an infinitesimal amount of what there is to know in the universe.
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60
New Here ... Just woke up
by Sevan inhey all, .
this is my first post.
i haven't been out in service or to a meeting in over a month.. i realize now that i've been having serious questions for years and many articles and talks have greatly disturbed me over the years.
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Sevan
Thank you flipper for your warm welcome and support!
I will definitely check out those books and that website.
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83
Seeking support ... Where can a Christian go
by Sevan inhey all, .
so i recently posted for the first time and introduced myself.. i have been spending time reading various posts.
some informative, some not so much.. since i've been reading on here, i've read a lot from atheists.
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Sevan
LisaRose, I'm sorry that happened to you at your family gathering. I know it goes both ways.
Believe me when I say that I understand and respect why you don't believe in God. I will do what I can personally to foster a respectful environment in my posts.
I guess that is kind of my point. I hope for less vitriol on both sides.
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83
Seeking support ... Where can a Christian go
by Sevan inhey all, .
so i recently posted for the first time and introduced myself.. i have been spending time reading various posts.
some informative, some not so much.. since i've been reading on here, i've read a lot from atheists.
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Sevan
Thank you tornapart for the direction and for others.
DJS, your anger is severe. Your posts are hostile, intolerant and insulting. They actually prove my point. Everyone else that has responded so far, including all other Atheists, have been respectful, except you. I am simply asking not to be personally insulted for having different beliefs than you and I don't think that is too much to ask. I understand and respect why you believe the way you do.
I am absolutely not here to get in theological debates. If someone would like to talk to me about the Bible and Christianity, I would welcome that. If not, I don't see the benefit in debating or proselytizing.
Frankly, I don't accept that you have the right to tell me what I can and cannot talk about. That kind of control is more fitting of the religion I just left.
For me, my faith is highly personal. It is something that personally benefits me emotionally and morally. In no way am I looking down on others that believe differently than me or thinking that I am somehow superior to them. Regardless of their beliefs or lack thereof. I have known very immoral and very moral people of all walks of life and different beliefs.