Relationship with God (page 2)

dozy

Busy schedule , Diamond! No wonder you aren't in any longer.

I learnt a long time ago from observing how my father "burnt out" truthwise that it was necessary to manage the time more effectively as a witness on the "better a live dog than a dead lion" principle. I've spoken to some other elders who adopt similar "management" principles.

To summarise - I rarely discuss the days text with the children (sometimes my wife does it) and have developed a system to churn out talks very quickly for the Thursday meeting & spend perhaps 30 minutes tops on pre-study. I only go out once at the weekend (it helps that Sunday ministry has virtually died out here). Watchtower study is done on a Sunday morning in front of "Match of the Day" and I just read over the Tuesday book study (the Daniel book is underlined anyway). My concern is whether I should be studying more with my family but I rationalise this away by thinking of my own childhood where my parents rarely studied directly with me and my sisters but were immersed in the "way of the truth" and this had the desired effect.

diamondblue1974

I rarely discuss the days text with the children (sometimes my wife does it) and have developed a system to churn out talks very quickly for the Thursday meeting & spend perhaps 30 minutes tops on pre-study. I only go out once at the weekend (it helps that Sunday ministry has virtually died out here). Watchtower study is done on a Sunday morning in front of "Match of the Day" and I just read over the Tuesday book study (the Daniel book is underlined anyway).

As much as I agree with the approach above and probably found myself doing the above too towards the end; but surely this is going through the motions....why bother? The timetable however was illustrative!

Truthfully do you feel more spiritual because of it, because I certainly didnt. In fact I quickly realised that life is too short (yes I am sure will disagree) to be busting your gut or even going through the motions.

Nowadays however I choose when to study; I have no need for the routine and regimental way in which our lives are supposed to be led; I quickly learned that the reason why we were supposed to be doing such things is so that there is very little time left in the week for personal pursuits; there is very little time left for personal study and I mean full scale research of external sources not just preparing for meetings. There is no time left for a family to enjoy quality time together; There no time left to think! No time left to question properly?

You just keep on doing the same old stuff week in week out...but surprise surprise the WTBTS turns over in excess of £1bn per year worldwide...weird to me how that correlation works! My time = their money?!

DB74

dozy

I don't genuinely feel that I go through the motions - I give talks every week , take the TMS , give a public talk every month as well as all the other activities - it is simply a survival instinct to stay in the Truth and lead a reasonably happy stable family life as well. I just don't see any point joining the sour burnt-out ex-elders at the back of the hall who contribute nothing.

The organisation does produce vast numbers of books , bibles etc in dozens of languages - hence the turnover. I don't buy into the conspiracy theory that this is all a means of restricting our spare time , although it would be great if there were some "Higher ups" who had experience of juggling family & work commitments - I suspect the organisation would be far different if this was the case.

LittleToe

Dozy:

Welcome to the board

As Diamond states, the "theocratic schedule" doesn't really leave much time for anything else. My life was consumed with such activities as an Elder, being a TMS Overseer, Secretary, and Book Study Conductor, giving Public talks every 2-4 weeks, Circuit Assembly parts, and occasionally taking the Wt.

Although some had "found Jesus" , none of them had maintained any relationship with the Creator and many even had atheistic and / or agnostic feelings.
My friends decided , after a few years of this , that despite their misgivings , a true relationship with a Creator could only be found within worship in accord with Jehovah's witnesses and decided to restore their position

I "found Jesus" and finally had an incredible relationship with him that hadn't really been encouraged by the WTS beyond "following his example". My relationship with my heavenly Father became 1000x stronger. I would contest your comment that someone can "find Jesus" and not maintain their relationship with their creator. Most would accept what Paul says about Jesus being their creator. Maybe their theology was impeding their ability to appreciate their perspective.

While many find that they have been turned off of religion, and/or God/the Bible, many do not. One thing is for sure, they are usually less gullable for the experience. How does that compare to the thousands who just go through the motions and hope that a perfunctory JW lifestyle will buy them life?

For most, Godless doesn't equate to Immoral. Personally I would applaude the acts of charity and emphasis on sanctity of life which are shown by such ones. At least they don't let kids die because they place ancient dietary laws above "love" and sanctity of life. At least they will happily give to charity, even if it's church sponsored, rather than hold the strange belief that distributing magazines that few read is somehow more worthy in the eyes of God.

I don't know if I'm getting my point across, but I guess I'm simply saying taht you probably need to give folks some credit for re-fashioning their lives after comig out from such a controlling religion. I don't say that with any bitterness, but just as what I hope to be a constructive observation of hindsight.

Glad you found us

carla

Considering their view of lying and redefinition of the word, why do you think they would tell you the truth anyway? If they told you they came back only for their family that would promptly get them df'd again, most likely. Why on earth do jw's even bother asking other jw's any question at all when they have such a gestapo type of organization? If you were to tell the truth about any doubts you will be the new leper of the society. Why even ask?

elliej

Welcome Dozy! I have found that I am much closer to God in a more satisfying way because I no longer allow anyone else to define my relationship with Him. I act in accordance with my conscience instead of trying to live up to a relationship through the organization. I have not let my morals deteriorate, in fact I think they are stronger because I act to please my God now, not according to what the WTS tells me to do or not. Christian freedom is amazing.

dozy

atypical

Hi Dozy, welcome to the board, and good topic. I have to agree with dbs posts. Along with that, I reject the notion that leaving the witnesses leads to any kind of deterioration in morals. It depends on where the person was morally before they became a witness. The organization can only punish those things which can be physically proven. This leads to a lifestyle based on appearances. It does not keep anyone from lying, cheating, slandering, stealing, etc. It only keeps ones from doing those things when there is a chance of being caught.

The only thing that can keep a person's morals high is personal accountability. I think the org actually takes that away from people and replaces it with accountability to unstable, unbalanced peers.

Shazard

Just one question. Can you through door without goint TO the door and having "relationship" WITH the door?

BlessedStar

We should always make time for the Creator. Without Him we would not exist.

We ought to spend time in prayer. Praying for world peace.

BlessedStar

Relationship with God

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