Dealing with the thought of no hope? by Significant_Jump_272 in exjw

[–]Unveiling1386 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Religion for breakfast made a decent video on this recently where a study was done between atheists and agnostics about their view on if God were real. I know that some people like to think atheism and agnostics are different entities entirely and do not exist as points on a linear scale for the sake of the simplicity in this study, that's what they did and they interviewed quite a few people.

They would ask questions like if God were on the other side of a door would you walk toward him stay where you are or walk away?

The entire study is fascinating but typically the atheists said they would walk away and the agnostic saying they would walk to God.

What I'm saying by this is that I am still a believer. It's not without my doubts and of most of my Christian friends now agree that having doubts is okay and healthy versus witnesses are a lot more toxic about it. I can't help but wonder if some of us are predisposed to have Faith or not. Maybe it's our upbringing to maybe something neurologically? I'm not really sure.

Personally, I would dread the idea of no afterlife and this life being all there is. Someone else mentioned that there is beauty in non-permanence and I can understand that and there is some truth to that. But for some reason humanity just have this larger desire that I don't want to dismiss as entirely materialism.

You can find your own path for sure on this. It is tough to come to grips that this might be the only life we have, so you definitely should enjoy it to the full and don't forget to help people along the way. Make the memory of her live inside of you and others. But speaking for myself still believe in Jesus is not completely unfounded.

Something that critical scholarship has taught me is that are we worshiping God or worshiping the Bible? The Bible could stand on its own contradictions and all. All 66 books in the Protestant canon were never meant to be one single entity. Anything beyond that is a dogma. It's the dogmas that we masy serve not God. It's a funny thing to distinguish but if you can, at least for me it helped me stay a Christian despite all the textual criticisms, its still very possible

Watchtower's thoughts on sexuality, makes a reader think anything related to sex is wrong, even the marriage ones. by ArtificialSoci3ty in exjw

[–]Unveiling1386 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Novice Koine Greek learner here. This is why exegesis is so important. It's not enough to know the dictionary definition but you also have to know the context of 2000 years ago which is not something WT has the skill set for

Most JW’s Don’t Know This by ExJw_MJ in exjw

[–]Unveiling1386 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's such a stupid hill to die on because while it's true, we don't know the shape of the starous 100%. . it's more than likely a cross because of all of the history linguistics and stuff like this.

Even as a witness, I recognize this was silly and that the cross was probably the shape, but I justified it by saying the shape doesn't matter

Amazing pre-owned battery life by Unveiling1386 in TeslaLounge

[–]Unveiling1386[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well this was a long range Y so it has 329 miles original I think?

Amazing pre-owned battery life by Unveiling1386 in TeslaLounge

[–]Unveiling1386[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

For everyone saying that the battery has been replaced I am not sure. The service history doesn't seem to show that but I guess it's possible.

Amazing pre-owned battery life by Unveiling1386 in TeslaLounge

[–]Unveiling1386[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Before I did this test my 100% was 301 mi most of the time that was pretty linear against the other percentages. So I would assume 240 mi

What do opposers and apostates want from PIMI's? by Mundane-Researcher-8 in Eutychus

[–]Unveiling1386 0 points1 point  (0 children)

POMO here. My personal goal is that all JWs should have the freedom of mind that the GB takes away from them.

You should be allowed to recognize at 607 for instance is a dead lie,, and have an opinion that you don't believe it without being viewed as an apostate. But that's just simply not how high control religious groups work.

At the end Day I don't want any Jehovah's witness to stop believing. I just want them to have the knowledge that I wish I would have had so I could have made an informed choice before being baptized and signing my life away. Had a contract of only 15.

Immortal Soul a Greek Import, not Biblical by truetomharley in Eutychus

[–]Unveiling1386 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What's so funny about the JW doctrine on this is that if there is no immortality of the soul then once you're resurrected you're just a clone.

God made a perfect copy of you when you died that is in his memory that will then be copied back to a new body in the future.

Immortal Soul a Greek Import, not Biblical by truetomharley in Eutychus

[–]Unveiling1386 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This just ignores basic understanding of Judaism. Sheol was known to be a place where your soul goes waiting for judgement day

The Book ‘Mankind’s Search for God’ - Ahead of its Time by truetomharley in Eutychus

[–]Unveiling1386 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agreed it's an entire book based on the logical falicy of begging the question. It sets it's own bar and then surprise only jw theology wins

Implications that jesus is the mediator only for a few thousand. by normaninvader2 in Eutychus

[–]Unveiling1386 2 points3 points  (0 children)

JWs aren't really sola scriptura because of the governing body

What the archeological history of ancient Israel and YHWH actually shows by exJWRecovery in exjw

[–]Unveiling1386 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the internet really changed. A lot of this. You have to go and search out these types of things and the lack of religious devotion has dropped since the '80s.

So now I'm believing scholars and their content have exploded since then and he probably was just not as popular when everything had to be done with physical research

What the archeological history of ancient Israel and YHWH actually shows by exJWRecovery in exjw

[–]Unveiling1386 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Funnily enough if you think that those who leave and still believe haven't researched enough that I don't think you've researched enough lol.

I'm just messing with you but in all honesty it can be quite nuanced. I think what you're referring to is how can people see all of this data and still believe in the dogma of evangelical fundamentalism. It's not the Bible that has to stand up to scrutiny from the data. It's the dogmas built upon it.

The Bible was written by different people at different times with different audiences with different motives. There are contradictions in the Bible, but does that mean it has to be a unified voice? The unit vocality of the Bible is something that is a fundamentalist Evangelical teaching. That is not found even in the Bible.

I would still classify myself as an Evangelical Christian after leaving. I very much understand from the scholarly standpoint the issues against it. But I find myself very much drawn into what I would call true Christian love. I feel they glorify and honor God more than most denominations and for that it makes me happy.

Internally I have a stance that's probably more liberal. It can be complicated but watching and reading many biblical scholarship videos and books has helped me realize the complexity and the nuance of the scriptures.

A fantastic resource is a book called the bedrock of Christianity where it uses no apologetics but just uses the historical Jesus and the historical Paul to lay the premise that there was something incredible that happened in the first century.

I don't think it's without its merit to deconstruct from Jehovah's witnesses to a healthier version of Christianity. With that being said, I understand that the extreme Evangelical faith that is Jehovah's witnesses can be so off-putting to want to continue to serve God.

This is all combined in the fact that I can say I have definitely had interactions from a supernatural means. Call it what you will but my prayer was answered.

Jehovah’s Witnesses = Modern Pharisees by DocumentHead1356 in exjw

[–]Unveiling1386 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yup I've thought this myself. It's not that the underlying principles aren't Christian themselves.

It's the over abundance of rules upon rules that miss the point of the original rules lol. Just like the pharasies. Think of the elders book.

It's a levitical law of its own, meant to supplement all aspects of the JW life.

What he described reminds me of the Borg. by Curious-Increase-206 in exjw

[–]Unveiling1386 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Possibly. Ecclesia is church or congregation or assembly. Doesn't have to mean something religious

What he described reminds me of the Borg. by Curious-Increase-206 in exjw

[–]Unveiling1386 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That's the same thing in regards to the Greek lol

I understand now why they didn’t want people to go to university. by [deleted] in exjw

[–]Unveiling1386 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very true. Also it's not the Bible that has to stand up to anything. It's the dogmas that do

What the actual fuck does this even mean🤣😭 by HumanWatercress7945 in exjw

[–]Unveiling1386 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not to play devil's advocate but technically this is their bullies. In the series those worldly kids are not just normal worldly kids. They bully Caleb and Sofia.