Religion Makes Me Sad
26 Comments
Author: Moxie
Tags: armageddon, Atheism, end of the world, hate speach, humanist, Jehovah's Witnesses
Print This Page
I clearly remember my days as a bible-thumping Jehovah’s Witness; looking forward to the End of the World with ill-concealed glee. Of course there was always underlying trepidation which came from hoping that I’d done enough to be found worthy of God’s salvation. But in spite of that, the end of the world was something that was vividly imaginable. Illustrations in the Watchtower literature depicted violent scenes of God’s wrath dealt upon on wicked mankind, usually with a small group of happy, smiling people (Jehovah’s Witnesses) simply walking away from it all. As a young, impressionable woman I could picture myself as one of those people. Someone who had been delivered from all of the world’s suffering and pain, and about to embark on a historic journey to a paradise earth, just like God originally intended.
I have come across many others of different faiths who similarly look forward to God’s ‘day of divine vengeance’. Instead of believing that they will continue to reside on the Earth, these people more commonly look forward to deliverance into heaven after God literally destroys the planet. Regardless of the religion, images of the destruction at Armageddon are common and grotesque.
But what about all those poor souls who are destined to meet an untimely end? Did I really think about them? Was I joyful at the prospect of their horrific destruction as the Watchtower told me I should be? It was hard not to notice the artist’s depiction, which was often so detailed that it revealed tears streaming down the faces of the condemned, or bleeding gashes and cuts, people holding and weeping over the lifeless bodies of their loved ones. Really, Jehovah’s Witnesses along with many others who believe in some form of God-delivered Armageddon, actually look forward to the brutal murder, of billions of people. Do they really consider that, or are they only selfishly looking forward to their own blissful deliverance?
As clear as most of my memory is, it’s difficult finding a way to describe how I felt about those images. I believe I suffered a form of cognitive dissonance. On one hand, you have the wonderful prospect of a peaceful deliverance, of receiving the greatest reward, whereas on the other hand you are condoning the mass murder of most of the earth’s populace, including innocent children and babies. When it came down to it I think I blocked out the aspects I found distasteful, focusing on my own personal rewards.
As Jehovah’s Witnesses we had been so convinced that the end was just ‘right around the corner’. Everything about our lives and worship reflected a kind of great urgency. There was no need to go to college or university, it was better to find menial work and ‘just get by’ so that you could spend all your time in the ministry before the end came. Some even decided not to have children because they didn’t want to be caught will small babies at Armageddon.
This kind of thinking is prevalent among the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I recently read a news article where a Jehovah’s Witness named Charles Kris is quoted as saying, “I’d like to see it happen [in my lifetime],” and I began to think, does he really? I mean what kind of person looks forward to a global genocide. It would be like a Nazi in the second world war saying that he looks forward to when Hitler has wiped out every last Jew and finally rules the world. Without a doubt there were many twisted individuals who wished for just such a thing, but is that not the kind of hateful intolerance that the Allies fought to abolish? What would we think of such a person by today’s standards? At the least they would be labeled an anti-Semitic and (pardon my language) an asshole, but more than likely, this person would be condemned or tried for hate-speech.
So now imagine someone openly expressing their giddy anticipation of the obliteration of billions of non-believers. This time they’re not just limiting their hate to Jews but directing it to all races, nations and creeds. Their hatred is pointed at anyone that does not share their own personal system of beliefs. They are looking to the same blood-lusting and murderous (loving heavenly father) who has been the mastermind of this global genocide, and rejoicing that he will thereafter rule the world for all eternity. Is this not a dangerous and psychotic fantasy? Is this not hate-speech against humanity?
After leaving the Jehovah’s Witnesses, I became a humanist long before I became an Atheist, but I must admit that my humanist sensibilities have been heightened as a result of my Atheism. The knowledge that their are millions of people in the world who eagerly look forward to our planet’s destruction and the murder of anyone who doesn’t believe what they do, sends chills up my spine. Even more than that though, it makes me sad. Sad that these people look forward to the end of their lives, based on the ideal that they will go to a better place; call it what you will, paradise or heaven.
Obviously, being an Atheist, I hold no belief in an afterlife and so I see all this as such a tragic waste. We know that life on our planet has evolved slowly and gradually over the course of billions of years and has beat almost unbelievable odds to find us as we are today. Yet now we find that there is a kind of religious psychosis which is permeating our culture and is threatening to challenge our species’ survival instincts. One doesn’t have to find some crack-pot fundamentalist to see this in action, rather, even within many of today’s moderate religions, this deluded, end-of-days, death-wish mentality imposes upon self and societal instincts of preservation. Perhaps religion is evolution’s kryptonite in that it’s not only slowing our cognitive development, but actually retarding it.
Just like the Nazi we spoke of earlier, who looked forward to the destruction of the Jews and the reign of a tyrant, so to do these modern-moderate believers embrace the destruction of our species and look forward to a murderous God delivering them into heaven (or paradise). What makes me so sad is that, their blind faith leads them to view their life with contempt, wasting it foolishly on dreams of a non-existent hereafter. It reminds me of the old cliche, the grass is always greener on the other side, but considering there most certainly is no ‘other side’, what a tragic waste.
Consider the tremendous odds we all face to come into existence. There are millions and millions of sperm that all fight to fertilize a single egg. The odds that you came to into being are greater than any lottery ever played. If any other sperm had penetrated that egg before yours did, you would not be you, you would not be reading this, you would never have existed. Consider too the number of miscarried pregnancies. An average of 20% of all pregnancies end in miscarriages, most of which occur within the first 12 weeks. So even if you were a growing fetus in the womb, you have a 1 in 5 chance of being miscarried. Now look at it on a much larger scale, you’re mother had to meet your father to give birth to ‘you’. Consider the immense family tree that was required to make ‘you’ even possible. Any slight variation and ‘you’ would never have existed. I hesitate to use the word miracle because it is instantly associated with religion, but by definition it means, “something wonderful”. When you really think about it, you’re individual life is a miracle of mathematics and chaos, not to mention complex and mind-blowing evolution.
With all this in mind I can’t help to be saddened when someone so casually dismisses the value and wonder of their own existence. I’m pained to see people who are eager for their own destruction or the mass destruction of their species. I am frustrated that these people cannot or choose to not consider the beautiful complexity of our world and our wondrous place in it. Most of all I am angry. Angry at religion for causing these people to feel so much self-loathing and for inventing faith along side heaven and hell to control and manipulate people, ultimately wasting the only life they’ll ever have; a life they won fair-and-square in the face of ridiculous odds.
(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...
Good article.
On reflection, I recall JW friends who talked about Armageddon and that when the fire and destruction rained from heaven they would be jumping up and cheerleading for Jehovah, and they demonstrated by dancing around shouting “Go Jehovah! Go Jehovah! Kick Satan’s butt! Kick Satan’s butt!”
Another instance that pops in my head is when I was out in service with a fellow MS, and he had a very dismissive householder. As we left the porch he muttered “Have a nice Death!”
*******************
On another topic…your description of the astronomical odds of us ever being who we are…that is exactly the argument I use when discussing evolution to creationists who protest that life could not have come about by chance as the odds are too high. So i describe the simply incalculable odds of their very existence….the exact sperm fertilising the exact egg, and all the moments in time with their ancestors mating with the right people at the precise moment…astronomical odds that are incalculable…and yet here they are.
Odds are meaningless in nature, as nature is simply what ‘is’. Complexity is simply a characteristic of nature.
~Wayne
As a child I never understood wanting all the non believers around you being destroyed. I wanted Armageddon to be put off as long as possible so that more people could be spared.
I can laugh about it now but at the time it was terrible. Religion is a delusion and I am glad to be out of it.
Yet the Jehovah’s Witnesses use the argument “how could a loving God torture people in hell for all eternity” to disprove hellfire. As if simply destroying them all is something a loving God would do.
I hate to correct you, but the 20% rate of miscarriages means that everyone has a 4 in 5 chance of being born.
Brian, Thanks for pointing that out… silly me. I’ve corrected that now.
This is exactly why field service never felt right to me.
iMy father would comment, “Well I dont feel sorry for them, when Armageddon hits and they’re all begging to get into the Kingdom hall, getting their bodies eaten by vultures, we’ll be safe and sound.” That’s demented shit! (excuse the language)
Even when I felt positive about religion, that in and of itself made me cringe and I never responded to those statements.
———————————————————————————————————
Its interesting to know we’ve all had these same thoughts. I would ask my mom as a kid what would happen to all the nice people who weren’t JW’s. What would happen to my cousins who weren’t JW’s. Every time she’d say, “They’re going to be destroyed.”
That messes with a kid.
New system this. New system that. “I’ll just sell womens shoes out of the trunk of my car because we’re in the last days.”
Comical.
To be fair, no normal, loving person, JW or not, wants to see anyone die. If they are out there, they are in conflict with the majority of JWs and, the Bible, which is the source of this idea that God will destroy the wicked.
I know of no one, personally, that ever voiced such a thing, and if they did, they would be looked at as kinda strange, and mean, to put it simply.
Question: Do you feel this existence is sufficient, fair, healthy and sustainable, for all of its inhabitants, or even the majority of them? Or is a drastic “resetting”, by some means, not clearly needed? Take into consideration the entire earth and its future, and the conditions under which most live.
To me, no man , evolved or not, can do this. They are to selfish to make it happen, even if they knew what to do and could agree on that.
If there is no God, then this is all there is, and, for billions of people, its a sorrow filled existence. I think that is why the majority of Witnesses look forward to this thing ending, NOT because of the death toll it will take, as if to take some kind of pleasure in that. To think otherwise is sadistic, as you pointed out, and that is not the view of most people, including JWs. I think you know that. no?
There is no hatred in this idea, at all, from a JW point of view. Just the opposite. Im surprised youd write this .
Just to comment on Sonny’s remarks. I have to wonder if you have been associated with the JWs for very long to claim that you have never heard anyone voice any comments on this before. Having moved alot i have been apart of many congregations throughout the country, and have heard comments like these everywhere. From the youth that have been tormented and bullied their whole lives, to the elderly that are tired of this world and gleefully look forward to its destruction. Even Elders have made comments on how wonderful it will be to see the complete destruction of everything. Comments in service, like “have a nice death”(mentioned in earlier comments), and “they’ll get what they deserve at armegedon” etc., were very common. I even remember driving around with some people that were actually deciding which house they would move into after its occupants were dead.
The shocking part is that all who are not JWs are automatically classified as wicked. This means the mass murder of all who are victims of society, or circumstances as well. If even imperfect humans can see the justice in attempting to salvage and rehabilitate people then why can an almighty god not see it.
Yes the world is not perfect, however, it seems selfish at best to sit back and make it someone elses problem. Namely gods’. Instead, an organization with members numbering in the millions, could be doing alot of good if they were to take responsibilty for caring for the earth. Also, why would an omniscient being come up with genocide as the best solotion for humankind. This would easily be listed as the most horrifically bad idea if any human came up with it.
i don’t belive the JWs are conciously sadistic. I think that years of being ridiculed and ostracized has desensitised many and led them to look forward to the payback from god. “vengence is mine, i shall repay.” As you said, people can be selfish.
I’m surprised you’ve never heard that one quoted in the service. I’ve heard it.
Yep, i’ve been in car groups hearing pioneers talk about picking houses after armagedon. Its all part of the dual mindset of the JWs (and many religionists) that compartmentalize conflicting morals.
I believe a good example is in how hard JWs try to unify the Old and New testament messages, the angry tribal war god of the Hebrews with the ‘turn the other cheek, and go an extra mile’ of the besieged christians. When you have a doctrine that “God Is Love” and yet the Bible is filled with astonishing violence and unjust killing from God, then it messes you up enough to conflate that God’s killing IS an expression of his love. And the ‘Us vs Them’ attitude of JWs makes them group anyone else as automatically wicked.
For example, I once tried to reason with my father about the story of Jehovah killing 70,000 of his own people just because David ordered a census. I asked “where is the justice in this story? What does this say about God?” . My father just nervously exclaimed that i was just being ridiculous, and that all those people *deserved to die* because they *let* King David count them. And also that God killing people doesnt really matter because He is God and he will resurect anyone He wants. My father slipped down several notches in my estimation of him from that time on.
This sort of mental and moral gymnastics is what happens when you have deeply conflicting morals taught in these ancient barbaric texts, and have to believe that it all is in perfect harmony.
~Wayne
Thanks for this article, Moxie. It definitely provides an angle that most JW’s fail to realize. Nonetheless, I am one of those who truly believes that Jesus Christ is going to physically return in judgement. In no way, shape, or form, am I “happy” or even “ok” with the fact that there will be millions who end up in hell for eternity. In fact, I can relate to your view to some extent. That is why I pray that God will delay as long as possible, which is completely in line with 2 Peter 3:8-9.
But regardless of what emotional or moral issues you or I have with this; I have no choice but to believe that Christ will return because it is, in fact, true.
I can’t help but notice an inconsistency in your logic. You seem to be appealing to some type of standard of morality. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to call a JW’s view “good” or “bad.” I mean, you can believe whatever you want, but as an atheist, how can you claim a universal morality that we are all bound by? Or maybe you don’t? But i find that hard to believe, otherwise you wouldn’t have written this blog.
This could be a blog for a different time, but i’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on morality and atheism. Or even better: your thoughts on logic and atheism.
Mike, there definitely IS morality, and even universal morality, that atheists advocate and recognize. One of the most fundamental axioms that all valid moral principles are based is that “the initiation of aggression is wrong”. This is a universal moral that all rational beings understand.
A much higher standard of morality can be obtained through logic and rationality than through studying ‘Holy Books” from ancient barbaric cultures.
Wayne, I appreciate your attempt in answering my question. But I don’t believe that your answer is satisfactory. I agree that one does not “need” the Bible to be moral. Nor am I arguing that atheist can be moral. But what I am asking is, what standard are you using to measure morality? You state that is is based on “the initiation of aggression is wrong.” And who is this according to? You? There are many people who would disagree with this. Why are they wrong? Some cultures choose to love their neighbors. Others choose to eat their neighbors. Which one is right? And according to whom? Aren’t they simply acting upon the molecular motion inside their brain?
I agreed with you
Your post brings back some vivid childhood memories. When 8 or 9 my mother forced me to read and study with my sisters out of a big orange book(I think it was called Paradise Lost). I was totally traumatized by the lurid illustrations of people being swallowed up by the ground or being burned.
Growing up I was discouraged from getting a good education or training for higher paying jobs, after all Armageddon was right around the corner,why bother?. Guess what? 50 years and no New Order.
What I lovely post. I agree whole-heartedly. Often I get sad when I think about the Witnesses and religion in general - what wasted lives! Thankfully I’ve been able to get out of the muck of religion at an early age - now I’ve got my whole life ahead of me!
I too used to associate the Jehovah’s Witness view of Armagedon to the Nazi extermination of Jews. Even their pictures resemble holocaust photos. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who saw this. My mother used to tell me that as an imperfect human I had too much compassion and that it got in the way of me understanding “divine justice”. I guess witnesses do what many German civilians did, just pretended not to understand - intentionally remain blind. So sad.
I’ve met a few JW’s who just about started giggling when talking about how I was going to roast!
But trying to sell atheistic morality is a cop-out. Go ahead and follow whatever creed you so desire, but please…don’t insult logic.
I have noticed that most of the former JWs - like myself - are either psychologically traumatized, atheist, or both.
These are fundamentalists. And when we were all still going to the meetings and participating in field service, we were slowly being convinced that everything was true.
But what happened for you I wonder? Was there some breaking event? Most former Witnesses I have met can think back to a moment of cognitive dissonance that broke them.
A very nice post.
Does everyone here know that JW’s are not the only religion who beleive in Armageddon???
Wow im tripping. I really have a lot of views abt it all. Can’t believe how many comentz are just like I feel. Wow
If only I knew more about this religion before I married one… The more I read the more I remember the looks in my exwifes face when certian topics were brought up. I know my daughter is being brought up the same way. Is there anything I can do?
Kevin,
See my posting at the end of ‘Ten Years…’
I may just be able to have some influence, as my family is intact, but I am basically hoping that a light will turn on when my children see the unfairness of their daddy being killed by their “kind and loving father” upstairs.
In your circumstances I guess that your chances of influence are slim to non existent. I feel for you.
My Son is a JW and his inlaws who are also JW’s have put him through hell on earth. His wife had a heart attack with brain damage. The badgered him for years that she was not better because he lacked doing “One more thing” or one more trip to see the Dr. Just a little more of the correct exercise will fix her. The Mayo clinic has pronounced her permantly brain damaged. They have had him in court many times and he has suffered a nervous breakdown. He still thinks he is the JW with all the correct answers. I felt a load off my shoulders when I finall saw through the religion fraud. I came over the years to me that I just don’t believe little thing at a time. Did I mention that the JW’s had my son’s wife taken away and he has not visited with her in private for over 4 years. Some bunch of scum bags!
I find it utterly ridiculous that still-religious people think that one needs a god to have high moral standards and that an atheist cannot possibly have morals.
What seems to have led many atheists who comment here away from theism is injustices in the name of gods and moral double standards that do not sit well with the minds and hearts of said atheists.
It might even be exaggerated by saying that atheists have HIGHER moral standards than the theists because they feel the need to rise above the arrogant punitive preconceptions that are so prevalent in the attitudes of religiously prejudiced.
Atheists rightfully find the thought of a divine genocide as disgusting misuse/abuse of power. Who gets to judge the god for it’s sadistic and preplanned intentions, when the god can have no understanding of what it’s like to BE one of the victims of its mistake? Atheists care about PEOPLE.
This is what saved me from them. Even when I was too little to even understand what they were talking about those pictures upset me. When I grew older the idea of God destroying the goodness that is so easily found in even murderers gave me the courage to walk away, even though that meant being a teenager with basically no family. And it was most certainly a great decision. So I’m actually very, very grateful for those graphic illustrations. They tried to justify it and explain “god’s reasons”, but hey…a picture’s worth a 1000 words isn’t it? I only discovered how idiotic the organisation in general is after I made the decision to leave.
I too hate the Jehovas’s witnesses….not the religion. This man made religion has distroyed my family. My kids have been with out thier grandmother due to her beliefs. She has nothing to do with us because we are worldly people. Never has participated in any of our family activities or celebrated any birthdays because she is too busy sharing her life with them. Her beliefs are to live after armagedon with her spiritual brothers and sisters of the faith. She doesn’t understand how much she has hurt me and my kids by being this way. Now that she is sick she wants us to come around, but its too late…..my kids didn’t bond with her at all. I simply accepted that she didn’t want anything to do with me so are relationship drifted apart. She had a choice and she made it. It didn’t include any of us in her life. Now she is depressed and all alone….where is her jehova’s witness family now?
This is a cult. It becomes a cult when they tell you what to do, who you can associate with and what you can do.
“thus was I forced,through seeing the error of their foundation,to abandon all belief in every religion which has been taught to man.But my religious feelings were immediately replaced by the spirit of universal charity-not for a sect or a party,or for a country or a colour,but for the human race,and with a real and ardent desire to do them good”
Robert Owen 1771-1858
Leave your response!
My Story
Click Here for an email form, or you can email me at:
moxie[@]exJehovahsWitness.net
Subscribe / Feeds
Affiliated Sites
Recent Comments
Recent Articles
Categories
Critical Information
Out Campaign
Humanitarian Atheist
Sites of Interest
© www.exJehovahsWitness.net
This site has been optimized for, and will be best viewed using the Firefox Browser or Internet Explorer 7.0 +
Subscribe / Feeds
My sincerest thanks to you for visiting this website.
Jehovah's Witness Resources