by vitty 10 Replies latest jw friends
First this is a question for ppl who converted to JWs as an adult. Since yourve left the "truth" have you gone back to your old beliefs considering what happens to you after you die, do you thing you will go to heaven or hell when you die.
Next , if you were brought up in the "truth" what do you believe now?
Well I have a full blown history 3rd gen JW. So the thinking is in deep. I don't celebrate holidays because they are not my tradition. However, if I am invited by a friend over to for a x-mas dinner or a thanksgiving dinner I will go. My friends (who were never JWs) don't give me presents because I have told them not to waste their money on me - I hear too often from people celebrating x-mas what a pain it is and how expensive it is, so I just want to avoide being part of their irritation. I will celebrate my birthday with my close friends, but come on, I don't like being the center of attention (a little too shy for that). I do celebrate other people's birthdays. I don't believe any man has the right to dictate to me what my beliefs should be. Why should they have more insight then I do to look things up and come to my own conclusions. As for organized religion, I feel it is only as good as the people in the church, temple, hall, etc., make it. Belief is a state of mind, so I don't need a building to solidify my beliefs. Because of my own independent research - I don't believe in the trinity or hell. I do believe in heaven. I believe when we die, we are gone and that our energy does return to the earth. What happens to our spirit, I have yet to figure out. But maybe one day it will hit me. But mostly I believe in love and peace. I refuse to argue religion with anyone because I believe to each their own. Why should I be so self-righteous to believe my beliefs are right and you are wrong. I always hope the best for people and am sad when I hear things are going badly. I do believe in right and wrong but those are rights and wrongs that the world recognizes, don't murder, don't sexual molest anyone, be nice, etc., I try to do what is right in my book and as for the rest of the world .... good luck to them.
I just think.
Well i wasn't always a witness before and of course now i am out. I go to church, i am confirmed there. Nothing could make me be a JW again, i know its lies and nothing can excuse what goes on.
Church is good and much more relaxed.
As I was leaving the Watchtower LIE, I asked Jesus to forgive me for bowing down to the image of the Governing Body. As far as heaven and hell is concerned, there can't be heaven without hell. According to the Bible, heaven is an eternity with Jesus and Hell is an eternity without Him. I haven't been to either place so I don't really know how each one affects a person. No one has came back to tell me how heaven is. No one has come back to tell me how hell is.
I think all the time about the universe and life and am still undecided. Does anyone KNOW the answers, we only have our own opinions. The only thing I am sure about is I will die in a few years, if there is anything after that it will surprise me. I have strong doubts about there being a God as described by religious people down through the ages. If one really created this world he sure messed up a lot of stuff, like ice ages, natural disasters, viruses, human's with wicked hearts(whatever hearts are).
Ken P.
I just think.
Brilliant, Eagle. I would have to say this as well. I took so much on trust and faith. Now I question.
But I stopped 'seeking' so to speak. And I feel more calm about my place in the universe, and the Universe's place for me, than I ever have. Kind of like everything being 'one' with the Force.
You know, yesterday my child thanked me. At the age of 10 this child has become acutely aware especially in the past year how much leaving the religion cost me, but how grateful they are for the freedom that they have that I did not.
That means more to me than anything I can possibly express.
The biggest thing I've learned is that I don't know all the answers, but no one else does either. There is the great equality of mankind. Nobody really can prove anything. It's all just beliefs.
essie
of the "they got four generations of my family but I'll be damned if they're getting the fifth" class
I dont have any religious beliefs now to be honest. Sometimes feel a bit lost over what to believe, but in time I am sure I will learn new things, and gain new opinions on different issues. Be able to form my own ideas where I wasn't able to before, they were all formed for me.
I am led now by my children and making sure they have a happy normal childhood.
The highlight of me leaving was my daughter explaining to me about the tooth fairy. She asked if the tooth fairy had visited me when I was a little girl, when I said 'No', she looked sad and just said 'Thats cause you didnt believe in her'.
I am loving every minute of reliving my missed childhood through the happy faces of my children.
Tash
Well it took me nearly 18 years of being a confirmed professing agnostic before I made a decision one way or another. Searching for a consistant cosmology consumed a lot of my time for the first ten year or so. It was only after I let go of the active "search" and became detached that I discovered what was fulfilling on a spiritual, intellectual, social and doctrinal level. I have to say that getting a formal education in the natural sciences, with minors in Political Science, Sociology, Psychology and Chemistry helped me to get to where I am. I now see how science and religion are different but valid ways of investigating and understanding reality. Both evolve in their comprehension as new data and tools for understanding advance. My "faith" is based on a recognition that there will always be mysteries, just as science will always have more to discover and that's okay. I'm uncomfortable around those that have all the answersbe they fundamentalists of many stripes or atheists out to convince the theist that he/she is crutchafied!
carmel
I have finally returned to the Episcopal Church of my youth. I am still forming my own personal beliefs.
Because I have read several books about near death experiences and death bed visions lately: one of which is authored by a doctor who documents cases and evidence that cannot be explained away. I am beginning to have faith that we do live on after death.
I do not believe in hell.
