Hello everybody.
I haven't posted here in some time but I spent a number of years on this site as a teen and twenty something. This Lounge taught me how to debate, and introduced me to a lot of ideas that I frankly needed to be exposed to. At various points along the way, I held onto my convictions but I expressed to some people that I identified a lot with atheists more than I did people who called themselves Christians.
I haven't touched a line of code in a while, though I do some scripting when I need a new tool or something. I haven't read anything on game design in a long time. But, I've expressed some views on this forum that were informed by my religious upbringing. I'm writing now to retract those views.
Video game violence? I now defer to the psychologists who would tell you that kids *need* some violence and viscerality to help them overcome certain obstacles, and that people in general can, do, and should understand the difference between fantasy and reality. I don't care what any church group says and I retract any funky-ass views I once expressed on this site that do not comply with this statement.
But mostly I just want to come out as an atheist and an ex-JW. I was born and raised with the grammatically horrifying affiliation of Jehovah's Witnesses. What does this mean? Well, for starters, it means much of my family will cut ties and shun me once I'm announced at one of their meetings as "no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses." Some friends and family already have, though a few are a little more understanding. (They will risk the same treatment for doing so.) Quite frankly, there are a few people in the cult I wouldn't mind telling to get lost anyway. There are a few that I already have.
This is a religion that is known to exercise undue influence over its members, who are not encouraged to look at the organization's history through anything other than their own literature. Most do not know the facts about it. Why not?
Given the nature of this site, I won't get too much more into that, because it would involve attacking a specific religion on this forum and that's maybe not so great to do. I'll leave that to people like John Cedars and TedTheAtheist on YouTube, and jwfacts.org. (Or just leave it to Dawkins/Hitchens/Harris/Dennett, AronRa or Dillahunty...) Suffice it to say, I've left, and I had good reason to leave.
I know you guys come from all backgrounds, and many are atheists. Thank you again for the years of topics here that I may never have considered otherwise at such a young age if I hadn't come here. Thank you.
Respectfully submitted,
Ben
I left a cult.
Congratulations to this courageous decision, and the best of luck. This is certainly not going to be easy for you.
Also congrats on finding your own way. Hope you find the strength weather the social fallout in your family, and find a better environment to live in for yourself.
I'm writing now to retract those views.... But mostly I just want to come out as an atheist and an ex-JW.
I've had similar background (though not with JW), made a similar decisions (though the context may be different and yes I dropped nearly 100% of my previous beliefs but i'm NOT nearly an absolute atheist ).
Having said that, there is the feeling your post is more of a vendetta against JW rather than you just announcing "I once believed in a God, now I don't". And that is not good
Its not good because you described JW as a cult, (referencing thread title)
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/cult
a religious group, often living together, whose beliefs are considered extreme or strange by many people:
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cult (there was a mild definition, but the more negative definition stands out more in the minds of people, hence if they are not officially a cult and no evidence that they are, then its not right)
A relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or as imposing excessive control over members:
‘a network of Satan-worshipping cults’
1. many Christian organisations find it offensive to be described as a cult, given that by default, you can't give enough details to justify this
2. its a free world, people have a free choice to believe in what they want - even when it doesn't make sense to you
3. On a micro-scale, may be the people you encountered have not properly represented the organisation
4. did you have an awakening and merely expressing your conviction? still you could state your convictions without JW bearing the brunt of it
4b. in other words why not speak of your convictions in a generic sense. why mention the church (you referred to) by name
There seems to be no justification for mentioning JW by name and using the thread title "I left a Cult" since associating it as a cult could be a subjective view and you cannot give enough details to allow readers to make objective decisions that this is a cult indeed
I see a couple of congrats, but i don't care going against the tide, My issue here is not that you come out as an Atheist, -like I said i made a similar decision - but that you chose to express some kind vendetta against JW and mention their name. (and for the records i've got absolutely no connections with JW, never attended the church before and don't know anyone who does)
(might edit latter since, my vocabulary sense is at a low point today - "vendetta" doesn't seem to be the exact word i need but can't find a better replacement yet :( )
Author
That's fine, grumpyOldDude, but given this definition
They fit the bill quite nicely, I'm afraid. So I'm just calling it as it is. Since you essentially asked...
This is a religion that so impressed Heinrich Himmler that he considered it as a model for the SS.
This is a religion that has long had information on pedophiles within their ranks, but refuses to provide this to the courts when subpoenaed and does not make it a practice to report pedophiles when the law doesn't require them to, even if it means losing millions or exposing children outside the cult to the pedophile.
This is a religion that desperately reaches to justify a ban on blood transfusions.
This is a religion that demands blind obedience to changing doctrine and policies even if you know they're wrong, at the risk of being shunned from everyone you love.
You can verify all of this on jwfacts.org and understand my disgust. This isn't just another church. It's a cult.
A relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or as imposing excessive control over members
They fit the bill quite nicely, I'm afraid. So I'm just calling it as it is. Since you essentially asked...
This is a religion that so impressed Heinrich Himmler that he considered it as a model for the SS.
This is a religion that has long had information on pedophiles within their ranks, but refuses to provide this to the courts when subpoenaed and does not make it a practice to report pedophiles when the law doesn't require them to, even if it means losing millions or exposing children outside the cult to the pedophile.
This is a religion that desperately reaches to justify a ban on blood transfusions.
This is a religion that demands blind obedience to changing doctrine and policies even if you know they're wrong, at the risk of being shunned from everyone you love.
You can verify all of this on jwfacts.org and understand my disgust. This isn't just another church. It's a cult.
First off, congrats on finding your own way.
Secondly, subscription to a religion or belief in God (note: those are not the same thing) is not a bad thing. It has the possibility to enrich and even inform you. But it's hard to separate the two when you're not informed about the world and religion and belief are so tightly coupled to dogma. So in your case, I completely understand walking away from all of that and rediscovering the world. I hope your journey is a fruitful, empowering, and selfless one.
my uncle became a JW and shortly later he snookered his brother out of his life savings using their dead mother as a bargaining chip. For some reason, I don't know why, I wasn't surprised.
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with your religion, but it is good to hear you changed when things weren't working out.
The Oatmeal had a great comic on religion a few years back. It had many frames and their normal obscenity-filled way, but can be reduced to two items:
* If your religion prompts you or others to hurt, hinder, condemn, steal, harm, or kill, then it sucks and you should stop.
* If your religion helps inspire, makes you or others happy, comforts you or others, helps you or others improve, or helps you serve others, then keep it up.
Generally religion is great as far as that goes. Google says 84% of the world population has religion of some form. The vast majority of those are positive situations, with their faith helping inspire and uplift and comfort people. If you had a religion and it wasn't helping you, then good for you in changing to whatever it is that helps inspire or uplift or comfort you and those around you.
Just please be careful not to bash religions. Most people in the world are people of faith, and though you may not have had faith or found value in those beliefs, other people do.
Author
Hi Alpheus, I agree. I'm not without a personal philosophy on all of this. I love Alan Watts and Joseph Campbell, and without belief, I love being able to search through other ideas just out of curiosity. I'm 31 now and married, and we want to have kids. I want them to be safe, and I want them to go to university, and I want them to be willing to ask questions about the world around them. I can't guarantee any of those things in the religion of my upbringing, and so I moved on.
While I'm atheist, I'm not really nihilist. No, I love so much about people and the planet and I am just bottom-line optimistic. Life is a drama. And where do I get all of this? Alan Watts's books on Zen Buddhism, for one thing. I don't consider myself Buddhist, but I feel free to import ideas that I rationally find pretty cool. I seem to line up most with Stoicism, and Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces is inspirational to me.
So yeah, I'm happy to move on. I have posed my views to my family, and we'll just have to see what they do over the next few years. It'll be okay.
I hear you, frob. I get that you understand, but I am sorry.
While I'm atheist, I'm not really nihilist. No, I love so much about people and the planet and I am just bottom-line optimistic. Life is a drama. And where do I get all of this? Alan Watts's books on Zen Buddhism, for one thing. I don't consider myself Buddhist, but I feel free to import ideas that I rationally find pretty cool. I seem to line up most with Stoicism, and Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces is inspirational to me.
So yeah, I'm happy to move on. I have posed my views to my family, and we'll just have to see what they do over the next few years. It'll be okay.
I hear you, frob. I get that you understand, but I am sorry.
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