Such as the common observation that our brain capacity is such that we only use the tiniest amout of it.

I hope you’re not referring to the myth that we only use 10% of our brains. We do in fact use 100% of our brains, just rarely (never?) all at the same time.

I will check out your links and brush off the dust on the New World Translation on my world religions shelf

bluelyon-
I say that I am still open even years after “deconverting” because I know that humans in general and me especially are strangely susceptible to seeing what we want to see when we look at the world and when we look at “evidence”. I have believed many things in the past very strongly and thought that I had done all of the necessary and relevant research, only to later find out how wrong I really was. I doubt very strongly that Christianity is true (be it JW or Evangelical or whatever) but I am ALWAYS open to sitting down with a thinking person to have a good discussion and I try to always remind myself that I need to question my skepticism and doubting as much as I question and doubt Christianity. every once in a while I get the opportunity to talk to a very learned Christian and when I do I jump on it. Doug Groothuis, a published Christian apologist and professor, is one example. A friend called me to have lunch with this guy and it was great. I don’t think he said anything convincing to me but he was a very logical, thinking guy and he said some things that made me think hard.

Jeff

“JWs beliefs have a framework that satisfactorily explains why there is evil and suffering.

All right, let’s hear it.”

That’s rather an ambitious project, and I’m not so sure I want to embark upon it for the sake of an audience composed primarily (I suspect) of those who simply want to shoot it down. Fortunately, I’ve already written about much of it, so there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. There is an “evil and suffering” category on my own blog with posts covering various facets of the subject. Read some if it truly interests you, comment on this blog or mine & I’ll respond.

These two in particular may not be too bad:

http://tinyurl.com/6556te
http://tinyurl.com/9wgw34

I also have an “atheist” category. Although I disagree with most atheist reasoning, I try not to be snotty or disrespectful in my writing. Only persuasive, which since you are from the other camp, may or may not convince.

YAWN. What better way to ‘prove’ a myth than with another myth. Try again.

All right, let’s hear it.

Yes, I do think JWs are reasonable. Seriously.

And, remember, I was addressing someone coming from an evangelical background. JWs are especially reasonable in that comparison.

It’s much easier to wrap your head around living on earth than heaven. What would one do in heaven? Or hell?? It’s reasonable to suffer punishment forever for merely a few years of “bad” conduct in this life?

We need not do the mental gymnastics required to envision a trinity, which is totally foreign to our experience and common sense, and in our view, makes God unknowable.

Even the notion of living forever on earth – there are tantalizing clues that point in that direction. Such as the common observation that our brain capacity is such that we only use the tiniest amout of it. Why? It makes perfect sense if we surmise that humans were origninally created to last forever.

JWs beliefs have a framework that satisfactorily explains why there is evil and suffering. Possibly you might consider it and not accept it. But I don’t think that conventional church Christianity does anything more than punt on such questions. They accept by faith that somehow it is all turning out for the best.

You say you still have an open mind. At this point, mine is pretty much closed. I’ve looked and researched, prayed, and all of it. At some point one has to choose. It would take a miracle, and I mean a REAL one, unmistakeable to all who observed it, to get me to believe that there exists a supernatural being who intervenes in human affairs and who demands total obedience and worship, and is worthy of my devotion and love.

Tom – you think JWs are reasonable? Seriously? Other than the fact that they believe that death “is a state of non-existence with no consciousness” (something I can agree with), the rest of their doctrine,/a> is pretty shaky and doesn’t appear any more “reasonable” and “scientific” than any other Christian doctrine.