What is your opinion of these experiences?

by R.F. 29 Replies latest jw friends

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  R.F.

  One thing that the JWs are always proud of themselves over is the idea that they come across individuals that are low in spirits and were praying for help just as they were stopping by in the door to door magazine selling work, thus proving they have God's backing and are being led by angels.

  This happened to me sometime recently. I was out door to door and came across a man that was severly depressed. He said he was he was just praying right that second when I knocked on the door. I won't give too many details but i'll just say he's not studying anymore. But anyway, I most certainly believed it for a while after experiencing it first-hand.

  Did you believe it as well, or did you always view it as coincidence if it happened to you or when we read about it in the literature? Any other thoughts?

  R.F.
• 

  JK666

  I beleived it when I was indoctrinated.

  Now, barf me out, and gag me with a spoon!

  JK
• 

  Awakened07

  It's easy to conclude that it's something special that happened.

  You sit and think of someone, the phone rings and when you pick up the phone, it's the person you thought of.

  On the other hand - you walk down the sidewalk, turn a corner, and a freak accident happens where a car veers off course, over the sidewalk and hits you full force. Had you spent ten more seconds tying you shoes tighter or brushing your hair that morning, you'd be alive.
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  Dagney

  How about the person who is in a similarly depressed state is flipping TV channels and he lands on TBS, touches the screen to be "saved" when asked? He feels it was angelic direction just as much.

  Happens all the time.

  Law of attraction.
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  DiscoSandy

  That reminds me a story told to us by a circuit overseer about 30 years ago. A hospital patient was in low spirits and desperately praying for help. A bird was building a nest by the patient's hospital window. A scrap of paper was used as part of the nest - the patient pulled it out and found it was part of a Watchtower or Awake magazine. The man saw this as an answer to his prayer, immediately contacted J.W.'s for a bible study.

  This was obviously a J.W. urban legend - even when I heard this as a kid my gut reaction was "how could this possibly be true?"
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  journey-on

  In my experience, I believe there are coincidences and then there are COINCIDENCES. It's possible that his prayer was answered, not necessarily in order to receive "the truth" via the WTB&TS, but merely to be lifted out of his depression. Since witnesses are just about the only ones going door-to-door regularly, and they CAN exude that loving helpful demeanor, and they DO know which scriptures can help such ones, it's entirely possible IMO that his prayer for that moment in time was answered. You had an experience. Others will poo-poo what you felt and say it was just a coincidence and maybe it was. But sometimes for reasons we don't know, there are COINCIDENCES.
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  thepackage

  It's the law of probability. If your knock on enough doors you'll find somebody. I remenber having a similar experience and thinking "this person must be a nut if they think I'm the answer to their prayers".
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  Open mind

  I posted a similar thread a while back after we had a Craptower study spouting this BS.

  Here was the crux of my rant:

  Here's what gets me. Of course it's not coincidence. It's a freakin' statistical certainty!!! With approx 2.7 million hours of door-knocking per day going on worldwide, the dubs are absolutely going to regularly interrupt suicide attempts or call right after someone prayed to God for guidance. I don't dismiss it as "coincidence". I dismiss it as INEVITABLE. No angels required. Thank-you very much. (Ok, getting down off rant-box now.)

  Here's the link if you want to see the rest:

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/132859/1.ashx

  Good reminder R.F.

  A variation on this theme is this: "Anything good = blessings from Jehober"

  "Anything bad = Satan and demons machinations"

  Open Mind
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  PrimateDave

  This, in fact, is exactly what happened to my grandmother, I am told. Then, after becoming a Witness, she endured years of opposition from my grandfather. Needless to say, this is the family's official miracle. Today, now past 90 years of age, she unfortunately suffers dementia and no longer recognizes anyone. It make me sad to think about it.
  
  Dave
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  R.F.

  It's possible that his prayer was answered, not necessarily in order to receive "the truth" via the WTB&TS, but merely to be lifted out of his depression. Since witnesses are just about the only ones going door-to-door regularly, and they CAN exude that loving helpful demeanor, and they DO know which scriptures can help such ones, it's entirely possible IMO that his prayer for that moment in time was answered.

  Good point. The problem with JWs is that it's all about the Organization and that Jehovah was using them to lead the distressed person to it.