JW Awaken

A Review of Five Years Out

I haven’t posted here in some time because I could no longer look into the world of Watchtower.  I felt that I needed to make an effort to be able to go about my life without Watchtower being a part of it in any way whatsoever.  Continuing to expose myself to that world without giving myself time to recover was harming my well-being.  Engaging in conversations with people about it was exhausting,…

The Nativity Contradiction - The stories of the birth of Jesus in Matthew and Luke provide one of the most glaring contradictions in the Bible. They cannot both be true.

Wow, double post today!

It’s nearing Christmas, the day when most Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus.  I thought perhaps this would be a good time to talk about a huge, glaring contradiction in the nativity stories of Matthew and Luke.  Apologists have worked very hard to try to reconcile this problem, but it is simply inescapable.  It is among the most blatant contradictions in the Bible,…

I have a rather unique perspective on holidays.  Many of my family members are or were JW’s, but I was not.  My sister and I followed the path of my Protestant mother rather than “the Truth” espoused by my dad’s side of the family.  I was quite familiar with why Witnesses don’t celebrate holidays, as I had been given a number of Watchtower articles on the subject to read.  Some of my younger…

The Mythology of the Hebrews

For this post, I’m going way back, to a time in Hebrew history for which we have only only a mere glimpse.  This was a time before the earliest parts of the Bible were even written, yet it is the Bible itself that gives us this stained glass window into its own past.

In 1876, Ignaz Goldziher published a book called “Der Mythos bei den Hebräern und seine geschichtliche Entwickelung” (Mythology…

What’s it like to be an Atheist?

There are a lot of misconceptions out there about living a non-religious life.  Many of these are due primarily to what believers are taught about a life lived outside of “God’s will”.  It is often depicted as something very scary, where one is beset on all sides by struggles and difficulty.  Sometimes it is depicted as sad, hollow and meaningless, where every day is 24 hours of drudgery in a…

Picking at Threads, Part 4 – The Origins of Yahwism

Picking at Threads Part 1covered what science has shown us about the origins of our universe, our planet and of the diverse life that lives here.  Our Earth is about 4.5 billion years old and modern humans have lived here for about 200,000 years or so.  This is obviously in direct contradiction with a literal reading of Genesis, thus the need for Biblical literalists and to attempt to discount…

The Problems of Divine Morality

A major point of contention between religious believers and secularists is that of morality.  The subject is nearly inevitable any time there is a debate, discussion or other confrontation between the two groups and the conversation nearly always proceeds in the same manner.  In this article, I intend to illustrate what I see as the most significant problems any theistic argument must overcome to…

Can God Prove Anything?

As I write this I am currently involved in an online discussion with two Witnesses about problems with the Adam and Eve story, the future Paradise and many related topics.  My main argument is that the future Paradise that Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in is exactly how God (if he exists) should have begun the universe in the first place:  a place of beauty and perfection and no suffering, where we…

How Best to Help Family/Friends Part 1

There are many people who have family and friends still involved in high-control groups, especially those of us who were raised in them ourselves. We know all too well what it is like to try to reason with them on occasion. If we are so unfortunate as to find ourselves discussing their beliefs with them, it can become very tenuous. We find ourselves in a circular discussion where we grow ever…

Angry Apostates or Obedient Followers?

Just yesterday I finished reading, “Combating Cult Mind Control” by Steven Hassan. One of the most important things I learned from this book is a lesson for those who have left such groups. Ignoring this lesson has gone on too long and I hope this article can do it’s part to reach the hearts of ex-cult members.

An Event on Twitter

Not long ago I was able to interact with a newly baptized…

An essay in which I "think out loud" and explore the idea and existence of free will.

I was recently involved in an online discussion with a Witness about the Adam and Eve fable and my argument that they were set up according to the tale.  We went back and forth a bit but I could tell that he just couldn’t understand my point of view.  He was literally confused and admitted such, though in more derogatory terms, I think implying that my arguments were poorly constructed.  But I…

I felt I should write and try to explain my absence here to any readers. There are many things playing a role in this lack of activity, some which I don’t even understand myself just yet. Let me try to explain.

Originally it was my plan to be sure to cover the Watchtower articles every week. After doing several of them however, I am not certain that I can continue it. I have been tossed into a…

The Importance of Probabilistic Reasoning

How do you determine if something is true?  It could be anything from a claim about history or why your car is making a funny noise to what is most likely to happen in the future.  Every single day of our lives, whether we realize it or not, we use probabilistic reasoning.  As much as we would like it, it’s usually impossible to prove anything to a point of being irrefutable.  This makes some…

Who wrote the Torah? It certainly wasn't Moses, but how do we know?

In that last post I talked about various religions, stories, legends and myths of the Ancient Near East.  From the very earliest historical records in Sumer to Akkadia, arguably the first recorded empire, and from Babylon to the religion of Canaan.  In this article, we’ll shift slightly and begin our first examination of the collection of writings we call the bible.  In the next article we’ll see…

An Eye for an Eye: A Layman’s Journey Into The Evolution of the Eye

As of late, I have watched a couple of weak debates between christians and atheists. For a good chuckle and to better understand where I am coming from, take a moment and indulge yourself by watching the following video: Ray Comfort on the Banana.

I’m going to leave the banana part of the video alone. I mean, come on, the banana has been selectively cultivated into what we see in our grocery…

Several times I’ve made reference to the fact that I do not believe there is a God. I consider it highly unlikely. I thought that readers may be interested in why I’ve come to this conclusion, especially if it may just be a response to being raised in a group such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and then realizing that it is all wrong. I can assure you that more was involved in my decision making process.

There are two very different theories of Evolution out there. Which one makes sense?

Evolution is a significant topic in discussions of religious belief, primarily because it challenges long held traditions and beliefs based on Scriptures.  However, there are currently two theories of Evolution at large in the world.  They are opposed to each other, yet they aren’t competitors.  In this article we are going to examine both theories, their propositions, evidence, merits and why…