I was raised a Jehovah's Witness. My experiences with them were generally positive, and I cannot recall ever being troubled by the teachings or doctrine or lifestyle*. But I never developed the deeply-ingrained loyalty that is required for anyone to remain within that organization. Over time I drifted from it and after many years came to terms with who I am and what I do -and don't- believe. Even so, it wasn't until last year that I started to read books and sites critical of the Watchtower organization, and that led me from one book to another and one site to another. Eventually it led me to atheist sites and forums. A Google search for a more active forum led me here.
I am an atheist. It took some time to understand that being an atheist is nothing like I imagined, especially when I was religious. Being an atheist is... I guess I would say that it is passive, where being religious is active (especially if you're a JW). I'm comfortable with who I am and the life I lead and the world I live in. On the one hand, I wish I'd known all of this years ago. On the other, religion was useful, providing an easy path out of a poor environment. I bear no scars and no bitterness (well... some bitterness) and am enjoying the sense of freedom that comes with understanding that my future is my own to manage.
By day, I keep a computer network running for a mid-sized engineering company in New York. By night, I draw. In between, I live life. Which is a euphemism for playing video games and reading comic books and any number of other things that might make you think I'm a geek. Which is fine, because I am.
*I suppose I should qualify this. During the time that I was active (until the late 90s) and for years afterwards, I did not consciously question any JW or Bible teachings. Even those that I couldn't reconcile, I assumed were a failing of my own that god would clear up in due time, even if that meant waiting until after he'd brought about paradise on Earth. Subconsciously, this sort of self-deception didn't seem to work, and various beliefs and explanations that couldn't fit logically worked to undermine those beliefs that I held by default (ie, god exists). But it wasn't until I'd drifted away that I began to look at the teachings with an eye towards deciding if they really did make sense. The rest of this post should make clear where that led me.
I am an atheist. It took some time to understand that being an atheist is nothing like I imagined, especially when I was religious. Being an atheist is... I guess I would say that it is passive, where being religious is active (especially if you're a JW). I'm comfortable with who I am and the life I lead and the world I live in. On the one hand, I wish I'd known all of this years ago. On the other, religion was useful, providing an easy path out of a poor environment. I bear no scars and no bitterness (well... some bitterness) and am enjoying the sense of freedom that comes with understanding that my future is my own to manage.
By day, I keep a computer network running for a mid-sized engineering company in New York. By night, I draw. In between, I live life. Which is a euphemism for playing video games and reading comic books and any number of other things that might make you think I'm a geek. Which is fine, because I am.
*I suppose I should qualify this. During the time that I was active (until the late 90s) and for years afterwards, I did not consciously question any JW or Bible teachings. Even those that I couldn't reconcile, I assumed were a failing of my own that god would clear up in due time, even if that meant waiting until after he'd brought about paradise on Earth. Subconsciously, this sort of self-deception didn't seem to work, and various beliefs and explanations that couldn't fit logically worked to undermine those beliefs that I held by default (ie, god exists). But it wasn't until I'd drifted away that I began to look at the teachings with an eye towards deciding if they really did make sense. The rest of this post should make clear where that led me.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould
